WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Here is one of a series of talks by spiritual 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.459 leader Lola McDowell Lee spanning two decades 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:10.380 from the early 70s through the 90s. Lola was 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:13.599 a Zen Roshi whose Rinzai lineage included Dr. 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.440 Henry Plutov and renowned Zen master Shigetsu 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.039 Sasaki. Lola was a religious scholar as well 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.280 as an ordained Christian minister. While the 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.019 talks are focused mainly on Zen and Buddhism, 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:30.820 Lola drew on many spiritual traditions, including 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:35.320 those of Jesus, Plato, Lao Tzu, the Hindu Vedas, 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:41.799 Meister Eckhart and Gurdjieff. We have been doing 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:47.140 little things out of the Dhammapada, the path 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:53.799 to the Dharma as it is called. And it is the 00:00:53.799 --> 00:01:02.679 instructions. that the Buddha gave for lay people, 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:08.180 as well as for the monks and the nuns. Most of 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:10.280 the instructions that he gave were for the monks, 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:14.500 for the nuns. And this particular one, the path 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:24.120 to the Dharma, he gave for lay people. There's 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.060 quite a bit to it. Some of it is rather repetitive. 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:35.670 But here we come to this thing now. As the fletcher 00:01:35.670 --> 00:01:39.510 whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the 00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:46.930 master directs his straying thoughts. Don't you? 00:01:51.650 --> 00:01:56.109 Like a fish out of water, stranded on the shore, 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:00.019 Thoughts thrash and quiver, for how can they 00:02:00.019 --> 00:02:06.920 shake off desire? They tremble. They are unsteady. 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:13.300 They wander at their will. It is good to control 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:20.560 them, and to master them brings happiness. But 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:27.060 how subtle they are. How elusive. The task is 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:32.180 to quiet them, and by ruling them, to find happiness. 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:39.539 With single -mindedness, the master quells his 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:44.639 thoughts. He ends their wandering, and seated 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:52.560 in the cave of the heart, he finds freedom. That's 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.840 kind of nice. We should have it typed up and 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.360 put it on a mirror and so you would see it every 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:00.840 morning and every evening just to remind you 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.080 that you are supposed to stop all this wandering 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:08.939 around in the head. You know, that doesn't go 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:14.219 anywhere. You're still in your head. Big place, 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:22.719 isn't it, Maui? And, you know, life... As we 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:25.099 know it and as the Buddha did say, life is a 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:31.699 struggle. We struggle. Why do we struggle? We 00:03:31.699 --> 00:03:34.900 have many goals. That is, we have a lot of desires, 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.500 lots of wants, and we get the wants and the needs 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:46.259 mixed up. And we forget that the main goal of 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:53.990 life, if it is to have a goal, is freedom. And 00:03:53.990 --> 00:03:58.469 this is not an economic freedom. That is, whereby 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:03.169 you have everything that you want, materially, 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:06.009 it doesn't mean that. I mean, look at some of 00:04:06.009 --> 00:04:12.210 those teachers in the past who have been quite 00:04:12.210 --> 00:04:19.490 poor. Little Hotai, you know. He was like a hobo 00:04:19.490 --> 00:04:22.550 running around with his pack on his back. And 00:04:22.550 --> 00:04:24.670 if you asked him a question, he would say, Penny, 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:33.350 please. Penny, please. Laugh. And it's not a 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:36.230 political freedom, you know, and it's not social 00:04:36.230 --> 00:04:40.870 freedom. It is simply the freedom from this ego 00:04:40.870 --> 00:04:47.649 eye. It's freedom from desire. For all the ego 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:52.589 is desire in its way. And the moment that this 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:58.990 ego eye drops, it comes down like a curtain. 00:05:00.129 --> 00:05:03.170 The curtain falls from there down to there. Instead 00:05:03.170 --> 00:05:05.129 of the curtain going up, this one falls down. 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:09.629 The moment it drops, it just drops away. That 00:05:09.629 --> 00:05:14.649 moment we see what Immanuel Kant called the numinal 00:05:14.649 --> 00:05:19.910 world, reality. The numinal aspect of this universe. 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:27.730 Usually we're caught up in the phenomenal aspect. 00:05:29.110 --> 00:05:33.209 But the phenomenal aspect, you know, drops with 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:44.529 the ego. So we have now the reality. The Greek's 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:51.389 called the nous, the knowing universe. It's a 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:54.370 direct knowing. of the universe rather than coming 00:05:54.370 --> 00:06:02.589 to us through our senses. And our sense data, 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:07.810 you know, our egocentricness, you know, is a 00:06:07.810 --> 00:06:14.769 barrier between us and the reality. And because 00:06:14.769 --> 00:06:18.610 of this barrier, which completely surrounds us, 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:24.899 we live in what we could call a confined dark 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:34.100 cell. Plato's version of men living in a cave 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:39.379 and the light filters in from over here someplace 00:06:39.379 --> 00:06:43.019 and it creates all these shadows on the wall. 00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:49.199 And man has become identified with these shadows 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:58.519 on the wall. Once in a while, you know, in this 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:02.100 world of shadows and images, you know, somebody 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:07.560 turns around. You need to turn around, huh? And 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:14.660 he sees light over there. And he walks over to 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:20.540 it. And he looks. And he looks. And he looks 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:24.410 from the mouth of this cave, you know. And all 00:07:24.410 --> 00:07:27.470 of a sudden, you know, he thinks, my God, what 00:07:27.470 --> 00:07:33.689 are we doing? And he steps out of the cave into 00:07:33.689 --> 00:07:38.490 this brilliant sunlight. He is free of his chains. 00:07:41.009 --> 00:07:44.050 Once in a while, it happens that there will be 00:07:44.050 --> 00:07:46.490 one of these men that go or women that will go 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:50.110 back into the cave and try to tell the others. 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:55.740 He tells them, you know, turn around. Turn around. 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:58.720 Turn around. Look in the other direction. Turn 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.860 around. And you know what they do? They don't 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:08.279 listen, of course. They think he's crazy. And 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:12.500 very often, they kill him. Do not disturb my 00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:14.839 world. I don't care how miserable my world is. 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:18.519 Just don't disturb me in it. Never mind this 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:20.459 turning around. I can see right here what's on 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:32.120 the wall. We have done such crazy things, just 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:38.840 to protect our point of view. Because you know 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:42.720 how we are, we think, every ego thinks it's the 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.059 center of the universe. Everything revolves around 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:51.899 me. And of course we're on this planet, you know, 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:55.750 and... So the planet becomes the center of the 00:08:55.750 --> 00:08:59.389 universe. All the universe revolves around this 00:08:59.389 --> 00:09:05.090 earth. And again the ego has put to death men 00:09:05.090 --> 00:09:14.110 who have said, this isn't so. So when Saint Simeon 00:09:14.110 --> 00:09:20.850 says, in our incredible, incomprehensible self 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:25.679 -deception, We think ourselves somebody, and 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:32.600 there's somebody important. Yeah? That's the 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:35.179 ego. And the minute you feel that, or you think 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:41.000 that, what about me? What about me? That isn't 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:50.960 you at all. It's the ego. We have desires. And 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.559 some of them have been with us almost as long 00:09:55.559 --> 00:09:57.799 as we've been around. You know, as soon as the 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:03.440 ego begins to rise, we keep wanting, we start 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:09.519 wanting. And these old desires since the year 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.799 one, our year one, we keep projecting into the 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.539 future where we're going to be someday rewarded. 00:10:19.949 --> 00:10:23.169 And so this present is only a little stepping 00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:28.389 stone from a miserable past to a glorious future. 00:10:29.190 --> 00:10:32.509 All is happiness and all is abundance. That will 00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:35.190 surely be ours. Otherwise, you know, we have 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:39.970 suffered all this for nothing. We've suffered 00:10:39.970 --> 00:10:42.409 all this for the simple reason we won't look. 00:10:43.370 --> 00:10:48.070 We're so busy protecting our point of view. But 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:51.809 now say that the ego is dropped we try to do 00:10:51.809 --> 00:10:54.409 something about it finally and the ego is dropped 00:10:54.409 --> 00:10:58.389 and So the memories that we have are dropped 00:10:58.389 --> 00:11:02.830 also and the desires are dropped also So now 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:04.389 what are you going to project into the future? 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:22.399 So if there's no ego, where are you? If there's 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:30.659 no ego, who are you? See, in that moment, and 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:34.419 I don't care how a split second it might be, 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:41.200 in that moment of non -ego, there is no identification. 00:11:46.090 --> 00:11:50.029 And if there's no identification, you're nobody. 00:11:52.129 --> 00:11:55.710 You're not somebody important. You're nobody. 00:11:57.250 --> 00:12:03.330 And when you are nobody, then there is this vast, 00:12:04.169 --> 00:12:15.029 tremendous silence. And your thought processes 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:19.840 And your identification with them for that moment 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:29.919 is non -existing. And that silence, you know, 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:34.980 it comes again and again. And finally, instead 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.299 of being just, you know, and there it's gone 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:42.500 again. We come to know that it has such depth. 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:49.149 And it is... It is such a width, you know, immeasurable. 00:12:49.629 --> 00:12:59.210 It is all including. And it is immediate. And 00:12:59.210 --> 00:13:07.350 in its immediacy, it is immediate, holy. I mean, 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:12.110 it instills in one what one could call holy awe. 00:13:12.680 --> 00:13:28.940 which we usually say, reverence. Now, this whole 00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:31.639 world, you know, we look out here and it's a 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:34.879 garden. But, you know, downtown Los Angeles, 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:40.159 it's not very garden -like. But we include that. 00:13:41.450 --> 00:13:45.929 whole world, no matter where you go, this whole 00:13:45.929 --> 00:13:53.129 of nature is a garden of Eden. And the garden 00:13:53.129 --> 00:13:59.970 of Eden, the garden, is of itself content. It 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:08.269 is full of peace. It is beyond imagining this 00:14:08.269 --> 00:14:14.690 peace of this garden. And it is they tell us 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:19.190 in the Judeo -Christian tradition that it is 00:14:19.190 --> 00:14:25.470 out of this garden that we fell. And it is also 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:28.909 said that when we fell out of this garden state, 00:14:29.590 --> 00:14:35.809 you know, we became self -conscious. And this 00:14:35.809 --> 00:14:39.909 tradition, this story, this myth, you know... 00:14:40.750 --> 00:14:44.710 is told in various forms in all the different 00:14:44.710 --> 00:14:51.250 cultures, but all pointing to a non -ego state 00:14:51.250 --> 00:14:57.929 prior to. And it points to the state of the ego 00:14:57.929 --> 00:15:03.730 now and the succeeding non -ego state later on 00:15:03.730 --> 00:15:06.470 upon achieving, you know, getting back into the 00:15:06.470 --> 00:15:11.179 garden. Cherubims with a sword and a fire. You 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:18.320 got to do right. That's Genesis. The non -ego 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:27.399 consciousness prior to preceding this consciousness 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:37.000 state now. And the non -ego state prior to is 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:42.299 very different than the non -ego state that finally 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:48.379 comes about. In some ways similar, in some ways 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:54.539 not. In the non -ego state prior to, we were 00:15:54.539 --> 00:16:00.320 very ignorant. In the non -ego state that is 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:05.019 to come, here we are aware. There's a difference, 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:10.070 huh? and without an ego, you know, then the garden 00:16:10.070 --> 00:16:15.710 is light and it's joy and here is this contentment 00:16:15.710 --> 00:16:20.389 and it's unpolluted, it's uncontaminated, you 00:16:20.389 --> 00:16:26.149 know, it's innocent. And there is in it a wonder 00:16:26.149 --> 00:16:34.509 and a reverence and a majesty and a dignity. 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:41.559 And in the Kabbalistic system it is called splendor. 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:48.179 We're not very splendiferous in our ego states. 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:55.100 We're self -conscious and we keep ourselves as 00:16:55.100 --> 00:17:00.480 separate entities. We are islands, all well -defined. 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:07.950 And because of that we're confined. because definitions 00:17:07.950 --> 00:17:14.369 confine. This is the prison wall, our definitions. 00:17:19.210 --> 00:17:23.869 Now, the Buddha, you know, he had many hundreds 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:31.490 of disciples, monks, 1 ,500 or so, and one of 00:17:31.490 --> 00:17:42.599 them was called Malankya, Malankyaputra was a 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:47.240 scholar. He was very intellectual. He could reason. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:54.880 But this man became so frustrated while he was 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:59.619 in this Buddhist sangha because there were certain 00:17:59.619 --> 00:18:02.880 things that had not been explained to him, to 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.440 his satisfaction. So he went to see this Buddha 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:10.940 and he wanted to confront him with his problem 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:14.720 So he comes and he bears his shoulder and he 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:17.599 kneels in front of him and he says Blessed one, 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:20.200 you know the Tathagata he's the Tathagata he 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:25.799 is thusly come come From whence cometh thou so 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:31.299 they call it thusly come And he says to him there 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:36.440 are theories which you have left unexplained," 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:42.559 he says to his teacher. And they have to do with 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:46.799 whether the world is eternal or not, whether 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.500 it is finite or not, whether the soul and the 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:55.940 body are one or different, whether a person who 00:18:55.940 --> 00:19:00.400 has attained nirvana exists after death or does 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:05.250 not. The fact that the Blessed One has not explained 00:19:05.250 --> 00:19:09.910 these matters neither pleases me nor suits me. 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:16.150 If the Blessed One will not explain this to me, 00:19:16.150 --> 00:19:19.230 I will give up my spiritual discipline and return 00:19:19.230 --> 00:19:24.849 to the life of a layman. The Buddha in his kindness 00:19:24.849 --> 00:19:31.269 didn't say, well pack up your gear and go. Instead 00:19:31.269 --> 00:19:38.529 he says, malunkia pats putra, when you took to 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:42.809 the spiritual life, did I ever promise you that 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:49.049 I would answer these questions? No, Blessed One, 00:19:49.109 --> 00:19:57.990 you never did. Why do you think that is? Well, 00:19:57.990 --> 00:20:01.230 Blessed One, I haven't the slightest idea. I 00:20:01.230 --> 00:20:09.289 haven't the foggiest notion. Suppose, malunkya 00:20:09.289 --> 00:20:16.309 putra, that a man has been wounded by a poison 00:20:16.309 --> 00:20:20.690 arrow. His friends and his family are there with 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:23.450 him and they're about to send somebody for the 00:20:23.450 --> 00:20:26.730 doctor. Wait, he says, wait a minute, wait a 00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:31.089 minute now. I will not let this arrow be removed 00:20:31.089 --> 00:20:33.950 until I have learned the cast of the man who 00:20:33.950 --> 00:20:39.910 shot me. I have to know how tall he is, what 00:20:39.910 --> 00:20:45.450 family he comes from, where they live, what kind 00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:48.950 of wood his bow is made of, what fletcher made 00:20:48.950 --> 00:20:52.990 his arrows, and when I know these things, you 00:20:52.990 --> 00:20:56.250 can't proceed to take the arrow out. And then 00:20:56.250 --> 00:20:58.450 you can give me the antidote for the poison. 00:21:00.430 --> 00:21:06.069 What would you think of such a man? Hmm? Well, 00:21:06.069 --> 00:21:09.809 he would be a fool, replies his disciple. You 00:21:09.809 --> 00:21:12.069 know, and his little shame face now, you know. 00:21:13.269 --> 00:21:15.529 All of the questions that this man is asking 00:21:15.529 --> 00:21:18.170 has nothing to do with getting the arrow out. 00:21:18.710 --> 00:21:21.490 He could die before these answers, these questions 00:21:21.490 --> 00:21:30.900 were answered. Ah, ah. Similarly, I do not teach 00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:35.079 whether the world is eternal or not eternal, 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:39.960 whether it is finite or not, whether the soul 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:43.519 and the body are the same or different, whether 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.359 a person who has attained nirvana exists after 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:50.539 death or not, or whether perhaps he both exists 00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:55.009 and does not exist, or whether he exists nor 00:21:55.009 --> 00:22:03.930 does not. I teach how to remove the arrow. The 00:22:03.930 --> 00:22:09.430 arrow is the basis of suffering. It is its origin 00:22:09.430 --> 00:22:15.589 and it is its end. So then another disciple, 00:22:15.650 --> 00:22:18.589 because there's usually several seated around, 00:22:18.789 --> 00:22:21.730 parked around, you know, and another disciple 00:22:21.730 --> 00:22:26.250 then pipes up and he says, These are matters, 00:22:26.309 --> 00:22:29.529 perhaps, which the Blessed One himself has not 00:22:29.529 --> 00:22:39.970 cared to know. And to this the Buddha didn't 00:22:39.970 --> 00:22:43.869 respond immediately. But then he smiled and he 00:22:43.869 --> 00:22:46.549 grabbed up the tree under which he was sitting. 00:22:46.650 --> 00:22:48.990 He grabbed a handful of leaves from one of the 00:22:48.990 --> 00:22:54.569 branches. And he says, what do you think? Are 00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.390 there more leaves in my hand or on the tree? 00:22:59.390 --> 00:23:02.190 Well, says this disciple, Blessed One, you know 00:23:02.190 --> 00:23:06.450 that your handful is only a small part of what 00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:10.130 remains on those branches. Who can count the 00:23:10.130 --> 00:23:16.670 leaves of the Shimshapa tree? What I know, this 00:23:16.670 --> 00:23:20.069 Buddha said, is like the leaves on the tree. 00:23:20.829 --> 00:23:25.200 What I teach is only a small part. but I offer 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:36.660 it with an open hand. What do I teach? How to 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:41.460 remove the arrow. What do I not teach? What is 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:46.839 fascinating to discuss? That which divides people 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:52.119 against each other, but has no bearing on putting 00:23:52.119 --> 00:23:59.940 an end to the sorrow. What do I teach? Only that 00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:03.759 it is necessary to take you to the other shore. 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:08.339 You know, it comes with this koi parada. Anyone 00:24:08.339 --> 00:24:14.700 for the other shore? Koi parada. That's what 00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:23.980 I teach, he said. So as an archer, aims his arrow. 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:30.779 The wise aim their restless thoughts. Hard to 00:24:30.779 --> 00:24:38.539 aim. Hard to restrain. And so you sit for meditation. 00:24:39.619 --> 00:24:42.920 When you sit for meditation, you do have an opportunity 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:48.039 to look, you know, to observe yourself. Are your 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:50.279 thoughts directing you, or are you directing 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:56.690 your thoughts? I think that's a simple answer, 00:24:56.690 --> 00:25:10.250 huh? Who bids the mind to think? Do your thoughts 00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:13.890 go hither and thither? And then do you become 00:25:13.890 --> 00:25:19.369 lost in them? Do they make suggestions to you? 00:25:21.450 --> 00:25:30.569 Do they fascinate you? Who is the master? Where 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:40.710 is this master? There is a Tibetan parable. It's 00:25:40.710 --> 00:25:45.029 a little story I've told before. But it shows 00:25:45.029 --> 00:25:52.200 very well what goes on with us. There was in 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:58.000 Tibet a man who served his master for many, many, 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.380 many years. And this service was not pure. The 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:09.019 service was given with a motivation. This attendant 00:26:09.019 --> 00:26:12.140 was motivated by something. He wanted something. 00:26:12.779 --> 00:26:18.119 He wanted some secret from this master. He had 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:22.750 heard that the master had a secret. And with 00:26:22.750 --> 00:26:27.470 this hidden desire, he served. But at the same 00:26:27.470 --> 00:26:29.809 time, you know, he is serving a master and so 00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:32.630 he's afraid to say anything really about this 00:26:32.630 --> 00:26:35.210 thing. You know, he just hopes he's gonna stumble 00:26:35.210 --> 00:26:39.470 on it someday. And at the same time, this master 00:26:39.470 --> 00:26:44.349 is continuously watching him. He's waiting for 00:26:44.349 --> 00:26:49.230 the motivation to make itself known. I mean, 00:26:49.250 --> 00:26:51.720 of course, he knows it's there. You know, it's 00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:54.319 got to spring up and come to light of its own 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:59.039 accord. So one day, this master finally says 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.559 to him though, it is better that you speak your 00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:05.799 mind. Because I am always seeing this motive 00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:08.940 in your service. You do not serve out of love. 00:27:09.420 --> 00:27:12.220 And the service, you know, is not necessarily 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:15.900 for the master, it is for the master within you. 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:20.500 So that you serve with love. and that's why you 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:24.500 serve the Master. So, but in yours I see no love 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:27.819 and I see no humility. Your service is a kind 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:32.000 of a bribery. So would you please just be plain, 00:27:32.539 --> 00:27:39.859 just be factual. What do you want? Oh, and like 00:27:39.859 --> 00:27:42.059 a fish leaping to a fly out of the water, you 00:27:42.059 --> 00:27:45.640 know how they do, this man says, I want the secret 00:27:45.640 --> 00:27:52.079 of doing miracles. then why have you wasted my 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.599 time for so long? You could have said that the 00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:58.579 very first day. You could have saved yourself 00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:02.599 a lot of misery. And me too, for that matter. 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:07.400 It's difficult to be around those who have ulterior 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:12.079 motives. It's ugly for them to deal with, and 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.480 it's ugly for me to look at. It's just ugly. 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:19.039 So why didn't you say something? The secret is 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:22.549 so simple. Oh, it is so simple, you know. And 00:28:22.549 --> 00:28:24.130 this is it. And he took a piece of paper and 00:28:24.130 --> 00:28:27.029 he wrote something on it. Three little lines. 00:28:27.890 --> 00:28:31.430 I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in 00:28:31.430 --> 00:28:36.289 the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha. And 00:28:36.289 --> 00:28:39.730 he hands the paper to this servant and says you 00:28:39.730 --> 00:28:42.609 take this with you everywhere. But you repeat 00:28:42.609 --> 00:28:48.390 it five times. Only five times every day. No 00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:52.789 more. No less. But the paper stays with you all 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:57.809 the time. Very simple process. But there's one 00:28:57.809 --> 00:29:06.789 condition. Why are you repeating it? You take 00:29:06.789 --> 00:29:10.990 a bath and you close the door and you sit silently 00:29:10.990 --> 00:29:15.329 and you are repeating it. Please do not think 00:29:15.329 --> 00:29:31.890 of monkeys. Nasty teacher, huh? And his servant 00:29:31.890 --> 00:29:35.170 says, what nonsense are you talking about? Why 00:29:35.170 --> 00:29:37.970 should I remember monkeys? I never think of monkeys. 00:29:38.730 --> 00:29:41.009 You know, all my life I've never thought about 00:29:41.009 --> 00:29:46.190 monkeys. Well, that's up to you. If you're going 00:29:46.190 --> 00:29:48.369 to think about monkeys or not think about monkeys, 00:29:48.450 --> 00:29:51.069 it's up to you. I just tell you the conditions. 00:29:51.430 --> 00:29:56.910 Don't think about monkeys. You've never remembered 00:29:56.910 --> 00:30:01.009 monkeys so far, so good. Now you go home, never 00:30:01.009 --> 00:30:03.829 come back. You have the secret, you know the 00:30:03.829 --> 00:30:07.130 conditions, fulfill the conditions, and you will 00:30:07.130 --> 00:30:10.769 have all these miracles at your fingertips. You 00:30:10.769 --> 00:30:13.650 know, all these powers. You can do what you want. 00:30:13.750 --> 00:30:16.750 You can fly in the sky, you can read people's 00:30:16.750 --> 00:30:19.470 thoughts, you can materialize things, and so 00:30:19.470 --> 00:30:25.440 on and so forth. Et cetera. And finally, I got 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:29.880 another one. E -A -C, Susi Belanti. And then 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:32.119 we come again to et cetera, et cetera, and so 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:36.640 on. Right, et cetera. Most languages is et cetera. 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:40.359 Anyway, this man, you know, he's got everything 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:43.000 now on this piece of paper. And he rushes away, 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:45.500 he's going to go home. He didn't even thank the 00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:49.980 master. That's how greed functions. It doesn't 00:30:49.980 --> 00:30:52.779 know thankfulness. It doesn't know gratitude. 00:30:53.130 --> 00:30:55.930 You know, it's completely unaware of gratitude. 00:30:56.609 --> 00:30:59.549 It never even stumbles over it. Because greed 00:30:59.549 --> 00:31:07.630 is a thief. Thieves don't thank, they take. Anyway, 00:31:07.750 --> 00:31:11.410 the man's rushing home and he's already kind 00:31:11.410 --> 00:31:13.589 of puzzled. You know, he's only gone two blocks 00:31:13.589 --> 00:31:16.490 and already the monkeys are appearing in his 00:31:16.490 --> 00:31:24.500 head. All kinds of monkeys. Small ones, large 00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:28.920 ones, red mouth ones, black mouth ones. And by 00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:30.339 the time he got home, he couldn't think of anything 00:31:30.339 --> 00:31:35.819 but monkeys. And they were getting larger. And 00:31:35.819 --> 00:31:37.720 they were crowding in there, more and more and 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:40.180 more and more, bigger crowd. And he went in the 00:31:40.180 --> 00:31:42.660 bathroom and he took a bath. But the monkeys 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:46.039 wouldn't leave him. And he was beginning to get 00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:47.599 a little suspicious that they were not going 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:50.839 to leave him. He hadn't even said the prayer 00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:53.710 yet. And here are all these monkeys. He was only 00:31:53.710 --> 00:31:58.589 simply preparing. And he closed the door. And 00:31:58.589 --> 00:32:02.390 the room was full of monkeys. And he was so crowded 00:32:02.390 --> 00:32:03.910 in there with the monkeys, he almost didn't have 00:32:03.910 --> 00:32:08.089 any room for himself. So he closed his eyes. 00:32:08.349 --> 00:32:12.109 And there were monkeys. He opened his eyes and 00:32:12.109 --> 00:32:15.369 there were monkeys. He couldn't believe what 00:32:15.369 --> 00:32:19.869 was happening. All these monkeys. And all night 00:32:19.869 --> 00:32:25.009 he tried. He got up and he'd take a bath, and 00:32:25.009 --> 00:32:26.569 there were too many monkeys. He couldn't repeat 00:32:26.569 --> 00:32:29.750 the prayer. He'd go back to bed. And the bed 00:32:29.750 --> 00:32:32.450 was full of monkeys. He'd get up and take a bath, 00:32:33.450 --> 00:32:35.289 get ready to say the prayer, and it was all full 00:32:35.289 --> 00:32:42.589 of monkeys. So the next morning, early, he went 00:32:42.589 --> 00:32:45.849 to the master, and he returned the paper, and 00:32:45.849 --> 00:32:50.940 he said, keep it. It's driving me crazy. I don't 00:32:50.940 --> 00:32:53.160 want to do any miracles. Just help me get rid 00:32:53.160 --> 00:33:02.779 of the monkeys! And we laugh, huh? At whom are 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:14.440 you laughing? Try it someday. Go take a bath, 00:33:14.839 --> 00:33:18.099 close the door, and then repeat five times after 00:33:18.099 --> 00:33:22.099 you've had your bath. I take refuge in the Buddha. 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:29.000 I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:38.799 the Sangha. Yeah. Hopefully no monkeys. Maybe 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:45.819 you'll have squirrels instead. And now a great 00:33:45.819 --> 00:33:53.339 deal... of what we think of what we call thinking 00:33:53.339 --> 00:34:04.500 is caused by and is based on our emotions. And 00:34:04.500 --> 00:34:08.400 if you do not observe, if you do not ever observe 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:16.360 what you think, you will never come to know that 00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:19.829 your thinking is based on your emotions. And 00:34:19.829 --> 00:34:23.110 if you can't get that far, what in the world 00:34:23.110 --> 00:34:26.110 are you going to do with yourself? And of course, 00:34:26.150 --> 00:34:29.030 this is always some more than others. I mean, 00:34:29.170 --> 00:34:39.510 there is no state we can say that's normal. Now 00:34:39.510 --> 00:34:43.650 and again, we may reason to a higher purpose. 00:34:45.449 --> 00:34:52.530 And again, some more than others. And we come 00:34:52.530 --> 00:34:58.510 to know that there are qualities in man. What 00:34:58.510 --> 00:35:04.130 in Sanskrit are called gunas. And we have the 00:35:04.130 --> 00:35:08.090 tamasic, and the rajasic, and the sattvic gunas. 00:35:08.130 --> 00:35:12.530 And the tamasic are those inert, lazy qualities 00:35:12.530 --> 00:35:15.929 in us. And then the sattvic, of course, are these 00:35:15.929 --> 00:35:23.199 very fine, high frequency. qualities, gunas. 00:35:23.820 --> 00:35:28.980 And again, some more and some less. And with 00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:34.480 this sattvic guna, this fine frequency, there 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:39.219 comes a sensitivity and there comes a love of 00:35:39.219 --> 00:35:44.360 beauty and there is a sensitivity for texture, 00:35:46.820 --> 00:35:50.099 for the taste and the flow of life that is around 00:35:50.099 --> 00:35:59.219 us. and for this silence in which we can hear 00:35:59.219 --> 00:36:05.679 the crow calling in an empty sky or the screeching 00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:13.420 of a squirrel. There are values we give to life. 00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:18.340 Life itself doesn't hold values. We give values 00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:24.440 to life. And we call them aesthetic. These sattvic 00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:32.659 gunas. To look for beauty. The aesthetic beauty 00:36:32.659 --> 00:36:38.280 of something. And there is aesthetic color. And 00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:40.760 there is music in the heart. There's a certain 00:36:40.760 --> 00:36:44.119 harmony within. This is aesthetic. We put it 00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:50.860 under this label. We can and we do at times exist 00:36:50.860 --> 00:36:54.239 as a noise and you would be surprised if you 00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:57.000 were listening to yourself how it rattles around 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:01.920 and means nothing And maybe how you are fooling 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:06.840 yourself, huh? When we exist as a noise So we 00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:10.760 can exist as a noise or we can exist as a temple 00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:17.559 in which there is this What we could call a sacred 00:37:17.550 --> 00:37:22.289 silence. You know, to be a poet of life, to be 00:37:22.289 --> 00:37:29.849 an artist of life, it needs an inner approach. 00:37:31.989 --> 00:37:34.989 It's not just a matter of listening to some music 00:37:34.989 --> 00:37:38.690 because it is called good and it is called good 00:37:38.690 --> 00:37:41.949 because it's classical and then to compare this 00:37:41.949 --> 00:37:44.989 good music to some modern music which we say 00:37:44.989 --> 00:37:50.650 then is bad. That's silly. You know, for instance, 00:37:50.769 --> 00:37:54.230 you know, the Beatles songs. They played them 00:37:54.230 --> 00:37:56.710 at Carnegie Hall. They changed the tempo a little 00:37:56.710 --> 00:37:59.869 bit. And not the notes, but the way they were 00:37:59.869 --> 00:38:04.730 played. And it was hailed as genius, good classical 00:38:04.730 --> 00:38:11.690 music. And Helen Keller, you know, blind and 00:38:11.690 --> 00:38:16.489 deaf and dumb. She would touch water and feel 00:38:16.489 --> 00:38:22.469 it. She would feel the flow of it. She would 00:38:22.469 --> 00:38:25.769 feel its coldness. She would feel its wetness. 00:38:27.510 --> 00:38:32.510 We look at water and oh yeah, it's water. We 00:38:32.510 --> 00:38:36.789 don't feel it. She would feel the texture of 00:38:36.789 --> 00:38:42.329 a rock, you know, and it would convey to her 00:38:42.329 --> 00:38:47.260 something. Someday when you're all alone, You 00:38:47.260 --> 00:38:51.980 close your eyes and you just hold a rock and 00:38:51.980 --> 00:38:56.139 you feel it, you touch it. And you feel as if 00:38:56.139 --> 00:39:01.760 you had, you feel it as if you only had hands. 00:39:03.179 --> 00:39:06.840 That was your communication with it, your hands. 00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:12.719 You use the hands in place of an eye. After all, 00:39:12.780 --> 00:39:14.940 you had the hand long before you had an eye. 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:20.260 We've just buried some of these things. Bring 00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:27.360 them out again, you know, too. And we have been 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:33.940 given great gifts. We have been given the great 00:39:33.940 --> 00:39:41.860 ideas of philosophers of all the ages. The old 00:39:41.860 --> 00:39:46.639 sense of philosophy. which simply means the love 00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:54.679 of wisdom. It's missing nowadays, they say. It 00:39:54.679 --> 00:39:57.380 has become rather like religion has today, morals 00:39:57.380 --> 00:40:02.320 and ethics. There are those like Bloom and Needleman 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:05.579 and our good friend Houston Smith, and men of 00:40:05.579 --> 00:40:13.159 that caliber. They speak of our loss. Because 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:21.980 to them, Philosophy presents great ideas that 00:40:21.980 --> 00:40:29.179 point to a process in us. The ideas that point 00:40:29.179 --> 00:40:34.480 to a potential in us. Now philosophy, the ideas, 00:40:35.059 --> 00:40:41.139 do not transform us. It points to, but for the 00:40:41.139 --> 00:40:44.440 transforming we need what is called the noesis. 00:40:44.650 --> 00:40:48.809 The noetic quality, the noetic quality in us 00:40:48.809 --> 00:40:59.829 is a transforming philosophy points to it. Now 00:40:59.829 --> 00:41:01.650 Plato, and I talked about him in the beginning 00:41:01.650 --> 00:41:04.070 a little bit, but none is going, and speaking 00:41:04.070 --> 00:41:09.309 of aesthetics, Plato, he presents his aesthetics 00:41:09.309 --> 00:41:18.500 as the role of art and education. Art and education 00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:23.800 in the development of man. And his ideas are 00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:27.000 very difficult for most modern people to understand. 00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:34.360 They don't accept them. For Socrates says, we 00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:38.619 must carefully regulate the sort of art that 00:41:38.619 --> 00:41:45.280 is allowed in our city. and the hue and the cry 00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:48.619 that rises to the very heavens when people hear 00:41:48.619 --> 00:41:57.219 that. And he goes on to say, the proper development 00:41:57.219 --> 00:42:03.460 of man depends on the influence of art, especially 00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:15.820 music and story. So he says then that the state, 00:42:19.719 --> 00:42:24.199 the city, the state, can allow only a specific 00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:28.800 kind of art. All others must be banned. And you 00:42:28.800 --> 00:42:32.960 know, hackles rise. This is censorship. This 00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:38.820 is offensive. Right? I know you. Right on, huh? 00:42:45.579 --> 00:42:48.019 Plato, this is all comes about in his thing of 00:42:48.019 --> 00:42:53.739 the Republic. And now he entitles this thing 00:42:53.739 --> 00:43:00.920 the Republic. And it has a secondary title. It 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:10.900 is called the conquest of self. Plato is not 00:43:10.900 --> 00:43:14.019 necessarily speaking about government out there. 00:43:14.510 --> 00:43:24.050 He is speaking of you. He is speaking of this 00:43:24.050 --> 00:43:31.570 state that is ruled by a philosopher king. Have 00:43:31.570 --> 00:43:34.110 you ever read Plato with yourself in mind that 00:43:34.110 --> 00:43:36.829 this was never projected out on any kind of government 00:43:36.829 --> 00:43:39.769 except what was in here? There is a philosopher 00:43:39.769 --> 00:43:42.610 king in here, huh? And all the other hierarchy, 00:43:42.610 --> 00:43:52.800 he says. Who is your philosopher king? Do you 00:43:52.800 --> 00:44:01.219 have one? Are you a state without a leader? See, 00:44:01.340 --> 00:44:04.719 and the role of the guardians. These are the 00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:07.719 factors which guard this king, and they guard 00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:12.050 the people. And these guardians, he says, should 00:44:12.050 --> 00:44:19.050 not be allowed so much imitation. And when he 00:44:19.050 --> 00:44:22.050 speaks of the strength and the courage of the 00:44:22.050 --> 00:44:26.269 warriors, he is speaking of a specific inner 00:44:26.269 --> 00:44:31.590 energy that obeys and it struggles to carry out 00:44:31.590 --> 00:44:34.110 a vision of truth in us even though we do not 00:44:34.110 --> 00:44:40.289 know it. And it is called will. It is known. 00:44:40.590 --> 00:44:43.989 to the philosopher Qing, but the ego doesn't 00:44:43.989 --> 00:44:49.690 know it. And when he speaks of laborers and artisans 00:44:49.690 --> 00:44:52.610 and merchants, he is speaking of our desires 00:44:52.610 --> 00:44:58.469 and our appetites. And with the help of the guardians, 00:44:59.289 --> 00:45:03.110 you know, our desires can submit to wisdom, and 00:45:03.110 --> 00:45:13.659 they can strive for higher perception. Certainly, 00:45:13.820 --> 00:45:17.219 nobody really thinks, sincerely, that we are 00:45:17.219 --> 00:45:21.019 beyond a censorship of art and music in ourselves. 00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:27.320 No. It is, after all, in dealing with ourselves 00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.420 and trying this conquest of self, it is very 00:45:30.420 --> 00:45:33.699 simply what he is saying, discipline yourself. 00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:42.179 And who is above discipline? Without discipline, 00:45:43.260 --> 00:45:46.699 How in the name of all that's holy are you ever 00:45:46.699 --> 00:45:49.699 going to know that which is holy? Discipline 00:45:49.699 --> 00:45:58.260 is so necessary. Did you train a child, you know, 00:45:58.679 --> 00:46:01.420 that it doesn't, a child learns by imitation, 00:46:01.820 --> 00:46:04.480 present to it what is good for it to imitate? 00:46:08.079 --> 00:46:11.260 This is what he's saying. He says, look how many 00:46:11.260 --> 00:46:15.079 patterns of feelings that we have adopted automatically. 00:46:16.679 --> 00:46:21.260 We were young. We imitate our parents, we imitate 00:46:21.260 --> 00:46:24.480 our friends, we imitate our teachers, you know, 00:46:24.699 --> 00:46:27.920 we had the TV stars and the singers on the TV 00:46:27.920 --> 00:46:30.139 and so on, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera again. 00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:33.960 We imitate. And I think then, you know, of the 00:46:33.960 --> 00:46:36.340 movies that I saw when I was very, very young. 00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:46.449 You know, like four. Perils of Pauline. Lone 00:46:46.449 --> 00:46:52.329 Chaney and the Phantom of the Opera? Yeah. And 00:46:52.329 --> 00:46:55.690 then you turn around from that, and I can remember 00:46:55.690 --> 00:47:02.730 watching, what was it? Remarks, they did a thing, 00:47:02.849 --> 00:47:07.449 Lou Ayers was in it. And they did a movie on, 00:47:08.130 --> 00:47:13.750 it was on World War I. I sobbed all the way through 00:47:13.750 --> 00:47:17.559 it. I just sobbed all the way through the thing. 00:47:23.079 --> 00:47:32.099 This is Remarque. Who? No, you're thinking of 00:47:32.099 --> 00:47:35.119 Hemingway. I'm talking about Remarque. Eric Remarque. 00:47:36.699 --> 00:47:39.300 Fall Quiet on the Western Front. They've made 00:47:39.300 --> 00:47:41.519 a sequel to it, which I didn't see, but that 00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:43.579 first one with Lou Ayers. You know, a little 00:47:43.579 --> 00:47:45.320 four or five year old kid sitting watching this 00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:47.679 and this guy reaches for a butterfly and he's 00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:52.260 shot. Boy, I couldn't stand it. Anyway, but I 00:47:52.260 --> 00:47:55.380 look at those things and these emotions, these 00:47:55.380 --> 00:47:59.280 almost pure emotions that were aroused, the fear 00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:02.920 of that Pauline was going to get hurt. And that 00:48:02.920 --> 00:48:06.059 the fear that this lone Cheney's swinging through 00:48:06.059 --> 00:48:08.780 this opera house, you know. And then you look 00:48:08.780 --> 00:48:11.139 at the movies today with all the rape and the 00:48:11.139 --> 00:48:13.780 pillage and... You know, it's a big difference 00:48:13.780 --> 00:48:18.659 of what was then and what is now. What emotions 00:48:18.659 --> 00:48:22.300 do they rise to what we see today in children 00:48:22.300 --> 00:48:29.800 three and four? What do they encourage in us? 00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:37.659 You know, feelings. They're a tool to be used. 00:48:40.539 --> 00:48:43.500 Bob said that last Sunday didn't we yes he did 00:48:43.500 --> 00:48:56.179 we can use them to overcome fears You know there's 00:48:56.179 --> 00:48:59.059 the old saying esoteric saying you feel your 00:48:59.059 --> 00:49:02.079 way you don't think your way you feel your way 00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:06.059 Thinking isn't going to accomplish it Because 00:49:06.059 --> 00:49:10.679 we block ourselves from ourselves with our emotions, 00:49:10.699 --> 00:49:13.579 and we wonder what's wrong. What's wrong with 00:49:13.579 --> 00:49:20.659 me? And the art that Plato talks about, of course, 00:49:20.739 --> 00:49:24.460 is everywhere. Everywhere. We're surrounded by 00:49:24.460 --> 00:49:26.800 it. You don't have to go to a museum and look 00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:31.920 at a picture. Music is something we always hear. 00:49:33.400 --> 00:49:36.219 We go downtown, go to the mall, it's playing, 00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:39.840 there's music. It's in the stores, it's in the 00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:42.719 elevators, it's in the offices, you make a phone 00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:44.679 call, you put on hold, here comes the music. 00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:51.599 You sit on an airplane and here comes the music. 00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:58.780 Art. And all the things we handle every day. 00:50:00.340 --> 00:50:08.389 Someone designed them all. That's art. All of 00:50:08.389 --> 00:50:16.389 this impinges on us all day long. Don't you ever 00:50:16.389 --> 00:50:21.090 wonder what thoughts and what desires are truly 00:50:21.090 --> 00:50:24.750 your own? They're all caused by all this stuff 00:50:24.750 --> 00:50:27.690 around us, you know? Well, of course, we got 00:50:27.690 --> 00:50:29.929 sex and we got hunger. And when you're tired, 00:50:29.969 --> 00:50:33.369 you sleep. Okay, that's you. The rest of it is 00:50:33.369 --> 00:50:40.840 all impinged upon us. Art, says Plato, is an 00:50:40.840 --> 00:50:45.679 immense power in our lives. Especially when we 00:50:45.679 --> 00:50:50.059 are young. And also especially when something 00:50:50.059 --> 00:50:54.820 in us is young and growing. And are you not young 00:50:54.820 --> 00:51:06.860 and growing? Art has power. It fixes patterns 00:51:06.860 --> 00:51:16.610 of feeling. What sort of emotions are evoked 00:51:16.610 --> 00:51:21.710 and supported by the art that surrounds us? In 00:51:21.710 --> 00:51:28.329 your house, in your closets, in your cupboards, 00:51:29.489 --> 00:51:33.989 in your yards, where you work, where you go to 00:51:33.989 --> 00:51:39.170 school. You know, a man gets up and he gets ready 00:51:39.170 --> 00:51:40.610 to go to work, he gets dressed, he goes over 00:51:40.610 --> 00:51:42.090 and he picks up a tie and he says, I'll wear 00:51:42.090 --> 00:51:46.139 this today. Why? Oh, he says, oh, it makes me 00:51:46.139 --> 00:51:52.559 feel good. Why? Hmm? What emotion has been aroused? 00:51:53.900 --> 00:51:55.480 See, a woman says, oh, this is the blouse I'm 00:51:55.480 --> 00:52:03.460 gonna wear today. Why? Hmm? What value? Have 00:52:03.460 --> 00:52:08.380 you ever examined this in yourself? You know... 00:52:08.349 --> 00:52:10.730 There is, in the traditions of India, you know, 00:52:10.929 --> 00:52:13.650 there is a samka yoga upon which most everything, 00:52:14.250 --> 00:52:16.889 all the other traditions are based. And samka 00:52:16.889 --> 00:52:21.389 yoga goes into this in very great detail. What's 00:52:21.389 --> 00:52:25.550 going on here? You know, not just surface. What's 00:52:25.550 --> 00:52:30.150 going on here? And of course we know there are 00:52:30.150 --> 00:52:32.429 feelings that are less desirable than others. 00:52:32.909 --> 00:52:35.829 and we have not much good to say about hatred 00:52:35.829 --> 00:52:40.010 or self -pity or sentimentality or fear, no. 00:52:41.309 --> 00:52:44.369 But if we really begin to look at the art that 00:52:44.369 --> 00:52:47.289 surrounds us and our responses to it, which are 00:52:47.289 --> 00:52:48.969 certainly more important than the art itself, 00:52:49.110 --> 00:52:52.349 our responses to it, why we respond the way we 00:52:52.349 --> 00:52:57.230 do, then we can begin to know that that art deals 00:52:57.230 --> 00:53:03.559 precisely with these emotions, fear. Hatred, 00:53:03.880 --> 00:53:06.320 self -pity, sentimentality. How many dishes won't 00:53:06.320 --> 00:53:08.699 I throw away because I'm sentimental about them? 00:53:09.079 --> 00:53:16.460 Stupid. Hmm? Sure. Habits. How are you going 00:53:16.460 --> 00:53:21.460 to break them unless you look? And we could experiment 00:53:21.460 --> 00:53:23.719 a little bit, too, in all kinds of experiments 00:53:23.719 --> 00:53:28.139 today. When you're at the theater, look and see, 00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:33.179 during the thing, what kind of... feelings arise. 00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:36.360 When you're watching TV, you know, you won't 00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:38.059 be able to stick with the story long if you're 00:53:38.059 --> 00:53:41.260 watching yourself. Or we could go to a concert 00:53:41.260 --> 00:53:44.159 and what does the music do to us? In front of 00:53:44.159 --> 00:53:47.179 any form of art, which means no matter where 00:53:47.179 --> 00:53:51.619 you turn, huh? I mean, you look at that. You 00:53:51.619 --> 00:53:58.079 look at that. Hmm? Something is responding. Some 00:53:58.079 --> 00:54:04.099 sort of emotion is coming up. And mostly, we 00:54:04.099 --> 00:54:10.800 ignore it. Totally. Totally. You know, if the... 00:54:10.800 --> 00:54:12.820 And you look at that, and what you're interested 00:54:12.820 --> 00:54:21.099 in, immediately, is yourself. We should be. There's 00:54:21.099 --> 00:54:24.019 a movie on TV, and maybe it's about some moral 00:54:24.019 --> 00:54:27.159 issue, and you may find that the emotions you 00:54:27.159 --> 00:54:30.289 have are anger, or self -righteousness. Oh, I 00:54:30.289 --> 00:54:33.030 need to have revenge here now. Vengeance, you 00:54:33.030 --> 00:54:42.730 know. From whence cometh this? Many people, excuse 00:54:42.730 --> 00:54:46.250 me, are surprised to find out how difficult it 00:54:46.250 --> 00:54:50.429 is to know exactly what emotions they experience 00:54:50.429 --> 00:54:53.650 in front of art. They don't know. They stand 00:54:53.650 --> 00:54:59.960 there, huh? habitually they have covered these 00:54:59.960 --> 00:55:02.800 feelings and covered them and covered them until 00:55:02.800 --> 00:55:04.619 it's such a habit that they don't know how to 00:55:04.619 --> 00:55:08.780 get out of them anymore. Just to experiment with 00:55:08.780 --> 00:55:12.300 oneself and discover some emotions about ourselves 00:55:12.300 --> 00:55:17.079 is quite enough to bring home Plato's point about 00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:22.440 the unrecognized influence in art. You know that 00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:26.199 for a long time it has been so Working with a 00:55:26.199 --> 00:55:28.599 teacher, very often a teacher will say, you can't 00:55:28.599 --> 00:55:32.280 read anymore. You got to get a chance to get 00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:34.619 rid of all of this stuff. Or you can read only 00:55:34.619 --> 00:55:36.820 such and such and such a book. You can't go to 00:55:36.820 --> 00:55:38.940 the movies anymore. You can't watch the television 00:55:38.940 --> 00:55:41.159 anymore. You want to get serious about this thing? 00:55:41.619 --> 00:55:49.599 Maybe not. Maybe someday we can come to a point 00:55:49.599 --> 00:55:53.579 where we begin to think about this sea of emotional 00:55:53.579 --> 00:56:00.949 influences. that we swim around in. So you sit 00:56:00.949 --> 00:56:05.769 for meditation, so that this philosopher king 00:56:05.769 --> 00:56:12.349 can be born, so that it rises. When you sit, 00:56:12.489 --> 00:56:19.329 you drop everything that does not pertain to 00:56:19.329 --> 00:56:23.969 that precise situation. and you govern yourself 00:56:23.969 --> 00:56:28.510 accordingly through the days to that precise 00:56:28.510 --> 00:56:35.650 situation the philosopher came. Art, he says, 00:56:36.090 --> 00:56:39.829 the formative influence on the development of 00:56:39.829 --> 00:56:42.309 any given one. That's you and you and you and 00:56:42.309 --> 00:56:48.769 me. The influence. And so, you know, we've lived 00:56:48.769 --> 00:56:52.960 a certain number of years and it has all concretized 00:56:52.960 --> 00:56:57.280 and solidified and become congealed in us. And 00:56:57.280 --> 00:57:00.380 we see that this has happened and we want to 00:57:00.380 --> 00:57:05.260 get rid of it in an instant. Lots of luck, folks. 00:57:07.900 --> 00:57:13.679 All we can do is just sit and, you know, get 00:57:13.679 --> 00:57:16.139 those thoughts, keep those thoughts from straying. 00:57:16.659 --> 00:57:22.030 You know, become single -minded. And you sit, 00:57:22.230 --> 00:57:26.809 and you sit some more. And when you see this 00:57:26.809 --> 00:57:30.269 influence, and this sitting, and when they coincide, 00:57:30.289 --> 00:57:36.550 all of a sudden it penetrates through. And suddenly 00:57:36.550 --> 00:57:47.010 you meet yourself. To be so trained, and they 00:57:47.010 --> 00:57:51.809 call it thusly trained. thusly disciplined from 00:57:51.809 --> 00:57:58.210 early on, that the process and its culmination, 00:57:58.969 --> 00:58:01.630 which to Buddha would be enlightenment and Christianity 00:58:01.630 --> 00:58:04.269 would be becoming the everlasting light, and 00:58:04.269 --> 00:58:07.889 in Zen it would be Satori, the culmination, but 00:58:07.889 --> 00:58:11.550 the process would be the base, would be the foundation 00:58:11.550 --> 00:58:17.150 of education. Wouldn't that be terrific? And 00:58:17.150 --> 00:58:19.250 you know what Plato said we should study first, 00:58:19.409 --> 00:58:24.769 if this were the case? Mathematics. It's pure. 00:58:25.190 --> 00:58:28.449 You see, there's no emotions in it. It's pure. 00:58:28.750 --> 00:58:31.030 And then would come geometry, because this is 00:58:31.030 --> 00:58:34.510 now pure idea. And then would come gymnastics. 00:58:35.710 --> 00:58:38.070 And then would come music, and then would come 00:58:38.070 --> 00:58:41.750 story. And the stories then, because it comes 00:58:41.750 --> 00:58:47.300 after all of this, would no longer be live. And 00:58:47.300 --> 00:58:55.739 of course, by this time we're 35. Yeah. But anyway, 00:58:56.119 --> 00:59:00.019 these ideas, and they are great ideas of these 00:59:00.019 --> 00:59:05.360 philosophers, of all the ages, they are ours. 00:59:07.079 --> 00:59:09.360 But, you know, why are they so misunderstood? 00:59:13.869 --> 00:59:18.690 A really great idea is concerned with one thing 00:59:18.690 --> 00:59:31.489 and it says, go within. It points to where you 00:59:31.489 --> 00:59:36.489 can take it. And because you have this no -edit 00:59:36.489 --> 00:59:42.050 quality, you can transform single -mindedly and 00:59:42.050 --> 00:59:48.219 you will be free. Hmm? Yeah, that's Plato's conquest 00:59:48.219 --> 00:59:59.719 of the self. The republic. Right? Sorry, folks. 01:00:00.139 --> 01:00:36.760 I get it. I like these. If you find Lola's talks 01:00:36.760 --> 01:00:39.639 valuable, more will be posted in weeks to come.