WEBVTT 00:00:14.990 --> 00:00:18.010 Welcome to the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast. I'm 00:00:18.010 --> 00:00:20.410 John, Father John Deere, and today I'd like to 00:00:20.410 --> 00:00:23.250 reflect with you about my new book, Universal 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:26.449 Love, Surrendering to the God of Peace, which 00:00:26.449 --> 00:00:30.160 just came out from Orbis Books. This is... the 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.640 first episode of two podcasts, which are a project 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:36.859 of BeatitudesCenter .org, where you can find 00:00:36.859 --> 00:00:40.020 about many other podcasts and Zoom programs on 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:43.219 the nonviolence of Jesus and practicing nonviolence 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.000 and working for a more just, more nonviolent 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.759 world. So let's begin with a little prayer. So 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:51.899 I invite you, wherever you are, just to take 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:56.560 a deep breath and to relax and to recenter yourself. 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:01.579 And together, let's enter into the presence of 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:05.280 the God of peace who loves you infinitely and 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.379 personally and everyone everywhere. And we welcome 00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:12.920 the risen nonviolent Jesus here with us. Just 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:15.159 take a moment to ask for whatever graces you 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.379 need to follow the nonviolent Jesus more faithfully 00:01:18.379 --> 00:01:26.750 and do God's will. God of peace, thank you for 00:01:26.750 --> 00:01:29.049 all the blessings of life, love, and peace that 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:32.750 you give us. Be with us now as we reflect on 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:36.450 your call to follow the nonviolent Jesus, to 00:01:36.450 --> 00:01:38.950 surrender our hearts and our lives and our will 00:01:38.950 --> 00:01:42.769 to you, and to work for a more nonviolent, more 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.870 just world. Bless us, inspire us, disarm us, 00:01:47.030 --> 00:01:50.469 strengthen us, and send us out to do only your 00:01:50.469 --> 00:01:53.959 will. to welcome your reign of peace and love, 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:57.840 to do our part then in your will to help end 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.900 poverty, racism, greed, injustice, fascism, war, 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:04.680 nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction, 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:08.419 that we might be your holy peacemakers and welcome 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:12.479 your reign of universal love and peace on earth. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:17.719 In Jesus' name, amen. So thank you all for joining 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.560 me. As I said, this is part one of a two -part 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.539 podcast on my new book called Universal Love, 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.759 Surrendering to the God of Peace, which is just 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:29.699 out from Orbis Books. I want to talk a little 00:02:29.699 --> 00:02:32.419 bit first about how the book happened, and then 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:34.500 I'll go through some of the themes of the book. 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:38.620 It came about at the beginning of the pandemic 00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:43.400 when I had just moved to California. And I'm 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.539 living here as a priest in residence in the Diocese 00:02:46.539 --> 00:02:49.879 of Monterey. And I was living alone in a cabin 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:52.219 with a black and white cat on a thousand acre 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:55.039 ranch right on the Pacific Ocean, just south 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:58.520 of Big Sur, California. It was spectacular. And 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.599 I had to bring in water and wood for the stove 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:05.159 and was writing. And I just published a collection 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:08.979 of meditations on the Psalms called... Praise 00:03:08.979 --> 00:03:12.060 Be Peace, Psalms of Peace and Nonviolence in 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:14.780 a Time of War and Climate Change, which I hope 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:17.780 everyone will get. And I was about to go on a 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:21.879 30 -city book tour when the pandemic struck, 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:26.960 and everything was canceled within an hour. So 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:30.340 I decided to try to use the time for more prayer, 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.860 reflection, and long walks along the coast. Like 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:35.900 everybody, I didn't know how long this was going 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:39.699 to last. And I threw myself into writing what 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:43.699 became my life's work. My last book called The 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:46.520 Gospel of Peace, a commentary on Matthew, Mark, 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:49.099 and Luke from the perspective of nonviolence, 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:52.599 which is a mammoth study of the synoptic gospels, 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:56.580 line by line, as if Gandhi and Dr. King were 00:03:56.580 --> 00:04:00.159 pointing out each instance of Jesus's spectacular 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.860 nonviolence. I also decided to join the local 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:09.139 gym and take exercising classes. And so the pandemic 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:11.439 is underway. And one day, the young kid who was 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.500 the class instructor, I call him Will in the 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:18.540 book, came up to me and asked me, he had looked 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:21.259 me up on the internet, if I would be his spiritual 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:24.620 director. Now, I've been a spiritual director 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:28.199 for many, many people throughout my life, nonstop 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:32.819 since 1983, when I first took a course in spiritual 00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:35.529 direction. I've never not been a spiritual director, 00:04:35.670 --> 00:04:37.670 actually, when I think about it. And I've had 00:04:37.670 --> 00:04:41.670 my own spiritual director since 1980. And I came 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:44.290 to the conclusion over time that a spiritual 00:04:44.290 --> 00:04:47.269 director is someone you meet with about once 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:51.610 a month to discuss the presence of God in your 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:55.629 life and how God might be trying to guide you. 00:04:55.670 --> 00:05:00.589 So it's not a therapist or a counselor. I think 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:03.540 it's like having a spiritual coach. who keeps 00:05:03.540 --> 00:05:07.120 asking you, where is God in your life? What is 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.720 God saying to you? And as you slowly begin to 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:15.500 hear the question and answer the question, the 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.240 director, me, I point out how the person is evading 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:22.660 and resisting God. We don't even realize how 00:05:22.660 --> 00:05:25.540 we do it. And then I, the coach, urge the person 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:28.120 to go back to God and be with God and do God's 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:30.379 will. And actually, after that kind of conversation, 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.740 you feel really excited and you want to go back 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:37.019 to God. So in other words, a spiritual director 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:39.720 for me is someone who tries to get you into spiritual 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:43.879 shape. And that's how I started talking with 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:47.639 young Will. And we were having these conversations 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:49.980 and he tells me he wanted to be a journalist 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:52.540 in college and he liked to write and we were 00:05:52.540 --> 00:05:55.819 in lockdown and we were becoming friends and 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:59.480 everything is closed. We started to do timed 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.180 writing sessions along the lines of my friend 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:04.920 Natalie Goldberg and her book, Writing Down the 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:08.420 Bones, in conjunction with our spiritual conversations. 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:11.540 And we would do this regularly at the few coffee 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:14.579 shops that were open. Well, I didn't know any 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:16.860 of this, but between our conversations, our writing 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.120 practice, my intense study of nonviolence in 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:21.980 the Gospels, and the solitude of lockdown cabin 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:26.920 life, I began to feel drawn. deeper into a new 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:31.540 understanding of the spiritual life as total 00:06:31.540 --> 00:06:35.459 surrender to the God of peace. And that's what 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:38.240 my new book is about. So the book is in three 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.709 parts. The first part is on... You know, the 00:06:41.709 --> 00:06:45.689 first basic themes of meditation, living in relationship 00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:49.269 with God, surrendering to God, letting go of 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:52.850 control, and trying, learning, begging to do 00:06:52.850 --> 00:06:58.870 only God's will, not our will. And then Archbishop 00:06:58.870 --> 00:07:04.589 Tutu's great lesson to me about free will. The 00:07:04.589 --> 00:07:06.589 second part of the book is about the connection 00:07:06.589 --> 00:07:09.449 between surrendering ourselves to God and living 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:13.600 nonviolence. So how, if you're surrendering to 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:15.819 God, that means you're practicing to be more 00:07:15.819 --> 00:07:18.420 nonviolent every single day for the rest of our 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:21.480 lives. The third part, which I thought was the 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:24.500 point of the book, which I think is original, 00:07:24.740 --> 00:07:27.939 is that there are social and political implications 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:32.699 of surrendering our lives to God and doing God's 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:36.500 will. And that's what this mystics don't say. 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:40.459 In other words, that doing God's will leads to 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:45.079 selfless service toward humanity. And in a world 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.220 of, let's say, nuclear weapons and catastrophic 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:50.399 climate change and permanent warfare and extreme 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.879 poverty, it leads to full -time nonviolent resistance 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:57.139 to systemic violence, injustice, and fascism. 00:07:57.500 --> 00:08:00.259 So that we become, as Pope Leo said a few months 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.980 ago, like Jesus, quote, unarmed and disarming, 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:07.790 which is a beautiful phrase. So all the meditations 00:08:07.790 --> 00:08:10.009 in the book are actually based on real conversations 00:08:10.009 --> 00:08:13.089 between me and Will. So it's an unusual book. 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:15.990 It's very conversational. And it begins like 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:20.230 this. We sit down to talk and I say, okay, Will, 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:27.970 so you believe in God? And he goes, no. Oh, okay, 00:08:28.170 --> 00:08:32.169 I say. Well, what do you believe in? And only 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:34.769 later did I realize that was really helpful. 00:08:36.809 --> 00:08:38.970 And he started talking about, I believe in truth. 00:08:39.370 --> 00:08:42.230 I believe in love. I believe in compassion. I 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:45.090 said, well, I do too. That works for me. But 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:48.690 he didn't want to use the word God, which was 00:08:48.690 --> 00:08:51.730 fine with me because I get it, especially for 00:08:51.730 --> 00:08:56.610 young people. But he wants to learn how to meditate, 00:08:56.750 --> 00:08:59.029 he said, because he took a class in college on 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:01.070 world religions with this brilliant professor. 00:09:01.409 --> 00:09:05.330 And he realized that meditation was a key part 00:09:05.330 --> 00:09:08.059 of the... life of the greatest people who ever 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:15.559 lived. So he wants to practice meditation as 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:18.940 part of his life. So I say to him, okay, great. 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.220 Well, if you want to enter into the spiritual 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:26.779 life and learn about meditation, here's what 00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:29.740 you do. I want you, this is what I said to him, 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.200 I think in the first meeting, I want you to go 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:36.719 and spend 30 minutes in silence every day. and 00:09:36.719 --> 00:09:43.059 ask God to be with you. Now, he had said he didn't 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:46.399 want me to use the word God. So I said, well, 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:48.679 how about we call God universal love? He said, 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:52.220 oh, that's good. Okay. So go and ask universal 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:55.500 love to be with you and speak to you. That's 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:58.259 what I do. And I was saying to him, in other 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:01.759 words, instead of talking about God or universal 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.940 love or the spiritual life, or you're going to 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:09.139 have a spiritual experience. Go and be with universal 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:12.139 love and then report back to me. So he said, 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:15.220 okay, I'll do that. A week later, he comes over 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:17.759 to visit and he says to me, he'd been sitting 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.200 in silent meditation for 30 minutes every day 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:22.980 and focusing on his breath so that he had learned 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:26.000 to become very still and he's breathing consciously 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.950 and he's saying, as I had taught him, Okay, universal 00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:33.950 love, if you would like to say anything, I'm 00:10:33.950 --> 00:10:38.350 here to listen. I want to be open to you. And 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:41.769 one day he's overwhelmed with a sense of infinite, 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:45.450 unconditional love, which brings peace and joy 00:10:45.450 --> 00:10:49.389 that he had never known before. And he felt he 00:10:49.389 --> 00:10:52.970 was in the presence of universal love, capitalized, 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.190 and that he was infinitely loved. And he starts 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:58.950 telling me this, and he burst into tears, sobbing. 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.740 Well, it's not something I'd ever heard before, 00:11:02.940 --> 00:11:06.620 you know, God as universal love. And he says, 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:11.720 I've been told I was created to be an extension 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:17.159 of universal love. And I was acting like the 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:21.940 wise spiritual guru and said, very good. But 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:26.440 inside I was going, wow. An extension of universal 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:30.139 love. So that's what set off years of our conversations. 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:33.179 And with the writing practice, I started writing 00:11:33.179 --> 00:11:35.740 about these themes, not knowing I was writing 00:11:35.740 --> 00:11:38.679 a book. So we talked about this question, which 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:40.879 I invite, of course, all of this is to invite 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:45.980 all of us to think of. How we might all become 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:50.200 extensions of universal love. And I think that 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.990 means starting our day in... quiet meditation 00:11:52.990 --> 00:11:56.370 to open our hearts and minds and spirits to the 00:11:56.370 --> 00:11:59.769 God who is universal love, universal compassion, 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:03.269 universal peace, the God who dwells within us 00:12:03.269 --> 00:12:06.789 and works within us. And this is the daily practice 00:12:06.789 --> 00:12:11.470 that I propose we begin to live out, that we 00:12:11.470 --> 00:12:15.470 might become universal love more and more in 00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:18.549 thought, word, and deed. And that over time, 00:12:18.610 --> 00:12:23.960 if we can consciously center ourselves in God's 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:27.139 universal love and peace, well, we will grow 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:30.039 in empathy and compassion for every human being, 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:37.700 for all creation. And so the journey is a journey 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:41.960 of nonviolence and compassion, which is deeply 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:48.370 rooted in the universal love of God. Life becomes 00:12:48.370 --> 00:12:51.669 an adventure in universal love, compassion, and 00:12:51.669 --> 00:12:54.549 peace. And all of this is a way to talk about 00:12:54.549 --> 00:12:59.029 the life of nonviolence that Gandhi and King 00:12:59.029 --> 00:13:01.129 calls us to. So that's where I get through in 00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:03.210 the book. And I'd like to walk through a few 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:07.509 themes with you, which is what I did with Young 00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:13.200 Will, beginning with meditation. So if we begin 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.240 each day in quiet meditation with universal love, 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.980 I was saying to him, and this is what I've tried 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:26.600 to do for 50 years now, then we can return to 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:28.960 that experience of unconditional love and be 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:32.460 filled with God's love. throughout our day and 00:13:32.460 --> 00:13:35.519 we can enjoy it and we get to know God who actually 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:38.940 loves us and likes us and sit with that God and 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:41.559 give our days to God and over time give our lives 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:45.679 to God. And that love, that relationship becomes 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:49.740 our lives, our ordinary day -to -day, the place 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:51.919 where we live and move and have our being that 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:56.240 our days flow out of. And over time, and I think 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:59.700 this is really important, in this spiritual practice, 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:02.879 which I hope everybody knows. I'm not saying 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.519 anything really new here. We let go of our false 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.639 images of God as a punitive, vindictive, punishing 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.639 deity who's eager to throw all of us into hell, 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:16.960 or at least, let's hope, some of them. Them. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.659 And instead, to our surprise, we meet the living 00:14:21.659 --> 00:14:26.600 God, universal love, who loves us and everyone 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.779 unconditionally. who's actually interested in 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:34.539 us, who likes us and likes being with us. This 00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:38.639 is very, very different. We can barely grasp 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:43.480 what this living God is like. So we begin to 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:48.100 move beyond our childish image of God, what my 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:51.840 friend Greg Boyle calls our puny God, into the 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.120 mystery of God as... Capital letters, universal 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:59.159 love, universal compassion, universal peace. 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:03.460 And daily meditation, dwelling with consciously, 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:08.059 fully awake, universal love can open up a space 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:12.679 for us, you know, to live our day. And that's 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.899 why I was trying to teach young Will that we 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:20.460 need to have a formal check -in time with this 00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:24.059 God every single day. That's what I'm trying 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:25.559 to get at. That's what I was trying to teach 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:29.000 him. You can't just do this once in a while. 00:15:29.179 --> 00:15:31.139 You need to have, if it's a relationship with 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:33.620 universal love, you need to check in every day 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:35.820 with this most important relationship in your 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:39.279 life. So one day, Will comes to me and says, 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:44.139 wow, whenever I meditate in the morning, my whole 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:47.460 day feels better. But then I noticed when I forget 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:51.590 to meditate, I'm not myself. And if something 00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:55.049 goes wrong or someone says something hurtful 00:15:55.049 --> 00:15:58.509 to me or I don't like, I'm suddenly ready to 00:15:58.509 --> 00:16:01.710 snap back at that person. But when I meditate 00:16:01.710 --> 00:16:04.350 in the morning, I'm pretty much more present 00:16:04.350 --> 00:16:07.090 and more centered and a little more thoughtful 00:16:07.090 --> 00:16:11.129 during the rest of the day. And so I'm less ready 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:15.110 to snap at someone and I'm more present and more 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:18.830 mindful and more compassionate. And I said, well, 00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:21.409 I think that's how the spiritual life works and 00:16:21.409 --> 00:16:26.370 how the way of peace works and maybe the path 00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:30.070 to becoming an extension of universal love. So 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:33.629 the key here is entering and living in an intimate 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:36.990 relationship with God as you understand God, 00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:40.970 in your case, as universal love. And once we 00:16:40.970 --> 00:16:43.029 understand that we are in a relationship with 00:16:43.029 --> 00:16:47.049 God that will never end. go ever deeper into 00:16:47.049 --> 00:16:50.309 intimacy with universal love, then this is not 00:16:50.309 --> 00:16:53.850 a chore or a duty or an obligation. We enjoy 00:16:53.850 --> 00:16:58.730 meditation. That's one thing that I heard Thich 00:16:58.730 --> 00:17:02.970 Nhat Hanh tell me a lot. And he lamented that 00:17:02.970 --> 00:17:07.069 people didn't understand how enjoyable it was 00:17:07.069 --> 00:17:11.410 to sit down in meditation. It becomes the one 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:13.910 place where we're truly safe and secure, where 00:17:13.910 --> 00:17:16.690 we can be free and whole. I mean, we just are 00:17:16.690 --> 00:17:19.190 full of gratitude for all our blessings. We feel 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:23.109 renewed and empowered to go forward with energy 00:17:23.109 --> 00:17:27.410 and hope in this spirit of universal love out 00:17:27.410 --> 00:17:29.849 into the public, into the world, into the mess. 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:33.549 This has been my experience in the best and the 00:17:33.549 --> 00:17:36.509 worst of times for my whole life. And I think 00:17:36.509 --> 00:17:41.259 gradually... This is something that I've been 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:44.460 talking about with Will for six years now. We 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:48.740 learn not to seek the feelings of bliss, you 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:51.940 know, the feeling of being loved. We don't need 00:17:51.940 --> 00:17:55.880 that anymore. But we're becoming mature human 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.579 beings in relationship with God. We enjoy just 00:17:59.579 --> 00:18:02.140 sitting with God and trusting that we're with 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:06.009 God. We become accustomed. to dwelling together 00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:10.150 in peace, in the intimate silence with universal 00:18:10.150 --> 00:18:15.849 love. Now, the key to all of this, I was learning, 00:18:15.970 --> 00:18:19.549 I told Will. And I've been learning the hard 00:18:19.549 --> 00:18:22.569 way all my life. It's total surrender to God. 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:24.670 And that's what this book is about. And it was 00:18:24.670 --> 00:18:26.509 never my intention to write a book like this, 00:18:26.569 --> 00:18:28.509 but I'm going to get to the point of why I did. 00:18:28.630 --> 00:18:33.309 I blame it all on Archbishop Desmond Tutu. God 00:18:33.309 --> 00:18:38.789 never coerces us, but gives each, every human 00:18:38.789 --> 00:18:41.490 being on the planet, whoever lived, complete 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:47.450 free will. This is just where God is God. God 00:18:47.450 --> 00:18:50.609 allows us to make our own choices. And because 00:18:50.609 --> 00:18:55.230 God is totally nonviolent and infinitely loving, 00:18:55.430 --> 00:18:59.589 this is really important, God cannot force us 00:18:59.589 --> 00:19:04.589 to love God or do what God wants. That's the 00:19:04.589 --> 00:19:06.589 whole ballgame in that sentence right there. 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:10.819 Finally, it took Desmond Tutu to really get that 00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:13.700 through my thick skull. God gives us freedom 00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:19.160 to choose God's will or not. And so we all run 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:22.220 away and do what we want and reject God's will. 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:26.519 And we've grown so used to being in control of 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.400 our own lives and the day -to -day and doing 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:33.319 what we want that our limited selfish self -wills 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:39.539 end up ruining our lives. We think we know better 00:19:39.539 --> 00:19:42.960 than God. That's because we're just so afraid, 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:46.980 of course. Our self -will serves only our ego, 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.599 our pride, our honor. It wants comfort, pleasure, 00:19:50.940 --> 00:19:54.940 riches, and power. This is all about power. Even 00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:58.480 though none of these things bring lasting peace 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:03.400 or happiness or serve God, much less open us 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:07.759 into the universal love of God. So the more we 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:10.440 want for ourselves, the more we're going to struggle 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:13.319 every day to gain control and get what we want. 00:20:13.619 --> 00:20:16.319 And we can't get it. So we keep trying to get 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.339 it. And it's going to cause us a lot of pain 00:20:18.339 --> 00:20:21.099 and suffering. And then we're going to leave 00:20:21.099 --> 00:20:23.960 a trail of wreckage. And then we end up as a 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:26.180 human race on the brink of nuclear destruction, 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:29.099 catastrophic climate change, permanent warfare, 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:35.480 devastating poverty. So, this is how I see it. 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:38.740 Our will, self -will, human will always obsesses 00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:42.819 over itself and can't give any other room to 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:48.900 others and certainly not God. So, what Tutu was 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:51.559 trying to show me, I went to him to talk about 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:55.079 peace and justice, and he's saying we deliberately, 00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:59.700 consciously turn away from God. especially people 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:03.400 who think they're living godly lives. And in 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:07.619 doing so, we sever our ties to universal love 00:21:07.619 --> 00:21:12.680 and peace. Our problems, difficulties, and crises 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:17.779 arise because of our own selfish self -will. 00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:21.940 And then we blame God and we resent God, like 00:21:21.940 --> 00:21:25.200 a kindergartner, for not being there for us when 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.910 we were trying to do our will. Even though we 00:21:28.910 --> 00:21:31.809 long ago were the ones who rejected God and are 00:21:31.809 --> 00:21:35.430 not there for God. And of course we resent anyone 00:21:35.430 --> 00:21:41.230 who does seem to do God's will and invite us 00:21:41.230 --> 00:21:46.329 to a more godly, spiritual, peaceful life of 00:21:46.329 --> 00:21:49.410 universal love and nonviolence. And so we keep 00:21:49.410 --> 00:21:54.740 falling downward. more and more and deeper into 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:56.839 the darkness of our own selfishness and inner 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:00.960 violence. And our selfishness, self -will leads 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.079 us to reject the loving and wise will of God. 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:08.839 And we really enter into a peacelessness, which 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:12.539 leads to violence, which is just death. We're 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:16.380 talking about death as a social methodology, 00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:19.980 as Dan always said it to me. So here's my thesis. 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:23.579 The secret to the life of peace, the life of 00:22:23.579 --> 00:22:27.180 God, the life of universal love is to renounce 00:22:27.180 --> 00:22:31.359 our self -will and surrender our self -will completely 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:35.740 and all our lives entirely to the God of universal 00:22:35.740 --> 00:22:41.119 love and peace. Every moment, every day from 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:47.650 now on. That's what I talked about with Young 00:22:47.650 --> 00:22:49.930 Will, and that's what I tried to write about 00:22:49.930 --> 00:22:53.410 in the book as I was studying the Gospels and 00:22:53.410 --> 00:22:56.269 thinking about this conversation I had with Tutu. 00:22:57.009 --> 00:23:00.250 If we want to be extensions of universal love, 00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:03.589 I suggest we have to surrender our will over 00:23:03.589 --> 00:23:08.910 and over to universal love. And we have to allow 00:23:08.910 --> 00:23:13.210 ourselves to be transformed into extensions of 00:23:13.210 --> 00:23:16.650 universal love. so that our lives are no longer 00:23:16.650 --> 00:23:22.609 our own. We belong completely to God. Our day 00:23:22.609 --> 00:23:26.589 -to -day is run by God. And now we want only 00:23:26.589 --> 00:23:29.930 to do God's will, which is universal love, universal 00:23:29.930 --> 00:23:33.329 compassion, universal peace, which Gandhi and 00:23:33.329 --> 00:23:38.570 King insist, and so does Jesus, means. Universal 00:23:38.570 --> 00:23:42.349 nonviolence, total nonviolence. It's all so clear 00:23:42.349 --> 00:23:45.049 to me now. Some people fight God their whole 00:23:45.049 --> 00:23:48.089 lives and never know peace and never surrender 00:23:48.089 --> 00:23:51.289 until their last breath. And they live in misery 00:23:51.289 --> 00:23:53.849 because they're never satisfied, never peaceful, 00:23:53.970 --> 00:23:56.309 never present, always trying to be in control 00:23:56.309 --> 00:23:59.470 and doing a lot of harm, hurting everyone in 00:23:59.470 --> 00:24:02.309 their path and unconsciously leaving a trail 00:24:02.309 --> 00:24:06.950 of wreckage. And everybody becomes... victim 00:24:06.950 --> 00:24:09.269 of their peacelessness. And I think that's one 00:24:09.269 --> 00:24:11.029 way to, I mean, the old days, they called that 00:24:11.029 --> 00:24:13.369 original sin. We all do this to varying degrees. 00:24:14.750 --> 00:24:17.529 But the gospel invites us to total surrender 00:24:17.529 --> 00:24:20.230 of ourselves to God of universal love and peace, 00:24:20.349 --> 00:24:23.410 to let God's universal love and peace flow through 00:24:23.410 --> 00:24:27.529 us freely, and in the process to do only God's 00:24:27.529 --> 00:24:32.049 will every day. And what's so strange is that 00:24:32.049 --> 00:24:36.869 apparently, oddly enough, we become much happier 00:24:36.869 --> 00:24:42.730 and peaceful and kind of helpful to others. That's 00:24:42.730 --> 00:24:45.029 a great mystery. You'd think, hey, if God only 00:24:45.029 --> 00:24:48.490 did things my way, I'd be a lot, you know, we'd 00:24:48.490 --> 00:24:52.750 all be happier. No, when we do things God's ways. 00:24:53.470 --> 00:24:55.750 Each one of us is much happier, and everybody's 00:24:55.750 --> 00:24:57.549 happier and more peaceful, and the world would 00:24:57.549 --> 00:25:00.430 be so much better. Our ongoing surrender to God 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:03.509 allows God to enter us, take over our lives, 00:25:03.569 --> 00:25:06.430 solve our problems, heal our relationships, and 00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:09.589 then use us to serve humanity and creation. This 00:25:09.589 --> 00:25:12.609 was always God's plan to use us, if we're willing, 00:25:12.769 --> 00:25:16.250 to draw us and everyone into God's universal 00:25:16.250 --> 00:25:19.730 love and universal peace, and through us to spread 00:25:19.730 --> 00:25:22.349 God's universal love and peace far and wide. 00:25:22.460 --> 00:25:25.579 and wide. Now, sooner or later, whether it's 00:25:25.579 --> 00:25:29.579 today or our last day, our last hour, we will 00:25:29.579 --> 00:25:34.279 discover the freedom and peace of total surrender 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:37.539 to God. This is what I was telling young Will. 00:25:37.859 --> 00:25:41.079 And I said, we'll wish we had done it long ago. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:44.319 And that's what I was encouraging him to do. 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.680 The sooner we surrender everything to God, the 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.740 better everything will be starting within us 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:53.509 and around us. And that's how I encouraged him 00:25:53.509 --> 00:25:59.950 to practice his spiritual day -to -day living 00:25:59.950 --> 00:26:03.069 so that he would live his way into being an extension 00:26:03.069 --> 00:26:06.390 of universal love. Now, when I look at the nonviolent 00:26:06.390 --> 00:26:08.450 Jesus, which is what I was studying when I was 00:26:08.450 --> 00:26:11.490 writing this, I see that he surrendered. every 00:26:11.490 --> 00:26:13.849 moment of his life to God over and over again. 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:17.069 He could walk into the world and proclaim God's 00:26:17.069 --> 00:26:19.609 reign of universal love, peace, and nonviolence 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:21.890 come what may, because he was totally surrendered 00:26:21.890 --> 00:26:24.809 to God. And he's showing us what living in God 00:26:24.809 --> 00:26:27.349 looks like through this steadfast universal love, 00:26:27.470 --> 00:26:30.950 compassion, and peace. Even then, turning to 00:26:30.950 --> 00:26:33.809 Jerusalem and marching into the temple where 00:26:33.809 --> 00:26:36.309 he confronts the religious authorities who are 00:26:36.309 --> 00:26:41.599 working with the empire to rob all the poor people 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:44.839 of their money in the name of God, and they arrest 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:48.019 him and execute him. And he goes to his death, 00:26:48.099 --> 00:26:52.440 total nonviolence. He is the fullest extension 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:55.839 of universal love and peace and nonviolence. 00:26:56.380 --> 00:26:58.839 So there are these teachings I was discovering 00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:01.380 as I was going through the Gospels line by line. 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:06.079 Anyone who does the will of God is my mother, 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:11.150 my brother, and my sister. In the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:27:11.170 --> 00:27:13.529 he's about to be arrested. And what's his prayer? 00:27:14.009 --> 00:27:18.869 His one single prayer. Not my will, your will 00:27:18.869 --> 00:27:21.849 be done. Not my will, your will be done. Not 00:27:21.849 --> 00:27:25.210 my will, your will be done. And that's at the 00:27:25.210 --> 00:27:28.369 heart of the Sermon on the Mount. And then you 00:27:28.369 --> 00:27:31.369 see it's all through the Gospel. If you begin 00:27:31.369 --> 00:27:34.269 to... Read the gospel from the perspective of 00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:37.210 nonviolence and surrender. Your kingdom come. 00:27:37.329 --> 00:27:41.009 Your kingdom of peace, love, justice, and nonviolence 00:27:41.009 --> 00:27:44.410 come. Your will of peace, love, and nonviolence 00:27:44.410 --> 00:27:47.309 be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's what 00:27:47.309 --> 00:27:50.589 we're supposed to be praying. Jesus could endure 00:27:50.589 --> 00:27:54.329 torture and execution and remain totally nonviolent 00:27:54.329 --> 00:27:57.890 and forgiving unto death because he had already 00:27:57.890 --> 00:28:01.849 completely surrendered himself to God. This is 00:28:01.849 --> 00:28:07.289 very deep, deep waters. His last whispered words 00:28:07.289 --> 00:28:10.869 were stunning, consistent surrender to God. Father, 00:28:10.869 --> 00:28:14.109 forgive them. They know not what they do. Into 00:28:14.109 --> 00:28:18.130 your hands I commend my spirit. And that's kind 00:28:18.130 --> 00:28:20.470 of the way we're to live every single day of 00:28:20.470 --> 00:28:24.230 our lives, living in that sentence, especially 00:28:24.230 --> 00:28:27.250 as people who care about justice and disarmament 00:28:27.250 --> 00:28:30.819 and creation. If we want to practice nonviolence, 00:28:30.819 --> 00:28:36.019 we have to do this. So notice he's not debating 00:28:36.019 --> 00:28:40.599 my will versus God's will. He spends his entire 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:43.960 life only doing God's will, not his will. And 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:48.140 that's the challenge for us. And that's why that 00:28:48.140 --> 00:28:51.000 statement in John's gospel written years after 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.119 the synoptics is so important where he says, 00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:55.819 I mean, the writers are trying to bring this 00:28:55.819 --> 00:28:59.829 teaching to us. Jesus says, I can do nothing 00:28:59.829 --> 00:29:03.430 on my own, but only what I see God doing and 00:29:03.430 --> 00:29:05.750 what God tells me to do. In other words, I'm 00:29:05.750 --> 00:29:07.690 not in control of my life. I've surrendered my 00:29:07.690 --> 00:29:10.490 life completely to God. I'm only doing God's 00:29:10.490 --> 00:29:13.170 will. But when I surrender myself completely 00:29:13.170 --> 00:29:15.849 and do only God's will, then anything is possible. 00:29:17.289 --> 00:29:20.940 And that's... what we're called to do. He does 00:29:20.940 --> 00:29:23.859 that and hell is breaking loose around him. And 00:29:23.859 --> 00:29:26.019 he's completely surrendered to God and transforming 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:29.500 anyone open to that. He's showing us how to live 00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:32.720 and love and be compassionate and to be nonviolent. 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:35.460 The invitation is to take up his same attitude. 00:29:35.900 --> 00:29:39.339 And all of this, by the way, this talk is reflecting 00:29:39.339 --> 00:29:43.059 on how to grow deeper into the nonviolence of 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:46.400 Jesus. And what I'm trying to propose here is 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.700 that this way of total surrender is a key ingredient 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:55.980 that we haven't discussed that much. We can't 00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:59.200 do anything on our own, but if we surrender ourselves 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:02.960 completely to God, oh, God can then take us and 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:05.140 use us and lead us and work miracles through 00:30:05.140 --> 00:30:07.720 us, and our lives will be infinitely better and 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:11.200 more meaningful, and all will be fruitful. Everything 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:13.539 will bear good fruit, but we're not in charge 00:30:13.539 --> 00:30:16.000 of it. And we're not in control of it. And we 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.220 may not live to see any of it. And all of that's 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:21.980 just fine because our lives are long ago surrendered 00:30:21.980 --> 00:30:25.599 to God. As we become more and more surrendered 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:31.099 to God, we become extensions of universal love, 00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:36.220 universal peace, universal nonviolence. So I'm 00:30:36.220 --> 00:30:38.579 laughing at myself because I'm so full of myself 00:30:38.579 --> 00:30:41.660 as my friends know. talking about all of this, 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:44.539 and I am teaching this to the young kid, you 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:47.619 know. And I go up to see my spiritual director, 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:49.839 who's a monk up at the monastery in Big Sur, 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.680 and we're walking out in the grounds, and I'm 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:54.700 explaining this to him. Somebody has to teach 00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:58.920 the monks. And I think this is the ultimate prayer, 00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:02.420 I say. I figured it out. This is the prayer every 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:05.180 human being should be saying over and over throughout 00:31:05.180 --> 00:31:08.440 the day. Not my will, but your will be done. 00:31:09.170 --> 00:31:13.490 That's our mantra. So we're walking up by the 00:31:13.490 --> 00:31:17.589 cliffs overlooking the ocean. And I'm, you know, 00:31:17.589 --> 00:31:21.349 explaining all this to the monk. And he doesn't 00:31:21.349 --> 00:31:23.809 even lift his head and he says quietly as he's 00:31:23.809 --> 00:31:27.130 walking along, will I say that prayer a thousand 00:31:27.130 --> 00:31:36.309 times a day? Oh, boy. This is what I was teaching 00:31:36.309 --> 00:31:39.109 young Will. and what I started to really focus 00:31:39.109 --> 00:31:42.269 on and what I'm working on these days. I remember 00:31:42.269 --> 00:31:46.849 once I texted Will and said, the more you surrender 00:31:46.849 --> 00:31:49.690 to God, the less you have to struggle over anything. 00:31:50.730 --> 00:31:53.410 And he texted right back and said, that's a game 00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:57.309 changer. And I said, everything becomes easier 00:31:57.309 --> 00:32:00.309 because it's now in God's hands, the hands of 00:32:00.309 --> 00:32:03.539 universal love. So it's easy to live the Sermon 00:32:03.539 --> 00:32:05.680 on the Mount. We don't have to worry. We don't 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.240 have to be anxious. We don't have to be afraid. 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:08.960 We don't have to judge people. We don't have 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.480 to be angry even. We don't have to be resentful. 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:13.640 We don't have to have any hate. Everything we 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:16.319 can let go. And maybe, by the way, we'll be more 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:19.220 useful and helpful to the others around us. So 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:21.279 this is what the first part of my book, Universal 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:23.799 Love, is all about. It explores these themes 00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:26.240 of surrender, prayer, and becoming extensions 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:29.619 of universal love. And I'd like to end this first 00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:36.789 podcast. which is a two -part podcast, by sharing 00:32:36.789 --> 00:32:39.430 about my conversation with Archbishop Desmond 00:32:39.430 --> 00:32:43.009 Tutu when I visited him after a month of traveling 00:32:43.009 --> 00:32:46.009 through South Africa with some close friends 00:32:46.009 --> 00:32:52.089 of mine. I think it was in January 2016. And 00:32:52.089 --> 00:32:54.410 I get there to see him. Now, we'd been friends 00:32:54.410 --> 00:33:00.730 for many, many years. And we emailed. almost 00:33:00.730 --> 00:33:04.250 every other week for almost decades. This was 00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:08.309 his doing. He asked me to be what he called his 00:33:08.309 --> 00:33:11.630 pen pal. And we worked on several projects together. 00:33:11.910 --> 00:33:16.349 And so I knew he was older and had cancer. And 00:33:16.349 --> 00:33:19.990 I organized a trip with my friends to South Africa 00:33:19.990 --> 00:33:24.049 specifically to see him. And I get there and 00:33:24.049 --> 00:33:27.150 we had mass. And he surprised me by he catered 00:33:27.150 --> 00:33:30.460 a large luncheon for me. And it was just magical. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:32.759 And then he says, okay, come over. And we went 00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:35.160 off to a corner and we sat and talked for several 00:33:35.160 --> 00:33:37.200 hours, him and me, and we were drinking coffee. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:40.680 And he's sitting there and I'm just over the 00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:43.619 moon to be with him. And he says, I'm so glad 00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:50.759 I'm not God. And I'm like, huh? I have no idea 00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:54.660 why he's saying this or the wisdom he's trying 00:33:54.660 --> 00:34:01.240 to share with me. Now, I see. Tutu has my guru, 00:34:01.380 --> 00:34:03.759 my spiritual director, my teacher, my friend, 00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:07.079 and he says, I know this because I took very 00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:13.360 detailed notes as soon as I left. Quote, think 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:16.840 of the patience of God waiting for us to get 00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:20.239 it, waiting for us to organize movements for 00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:23.420 justice and peace. He's really talking to me. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:26.699 There's more I could tell you, but you wouldn't 00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.809 believe it. So few people, he says, see, they 00:34:29.809 --> 00:34:31.989 were all sisters and brothers of one another. 00:34:32.090 --> 00:34:34.010 I'll never forget him saying that. And now his 00:34:34.010 --> 00:34:38.570 hands are out and they don't get it, John. Imagine 00:34:38.570 --> 00:34:41.250 what God went through during the Holocaust. And 00:34:41.250 --> 00:34:44.690 now he starts looking off into the distance, 00:34:44.969 --> 00:34:48.889 waiting while some of his children kill his other 00:34:48.889 --> 00:34:51.170 children and there's nothing he could do about 00:34:51.170 --> 00:34:54.309 it. You know, I've gone all the way around the 00:34:54.309 --> 00:34:57.619 world to see him. prepared. This is what he wanted 00:34:57.619 --> 00:35:02.500 to say to me. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, 00:35:02.519 --> 00:35:05.900 but he has decided to gift us with the gift of 00:35:05.900 --> 00:35:10.500 total freedom, to give us total free will, to 00:35:10.500 --> 00:35:16.579 let us choose between love and goodness or evil 00:35:16.579 --> 00:35:21.440 and hate and death. And because God gives us 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:24.579 this gift of complete freedom, the gift of free 00:35:24.579 --> 00:35:28.800 will, God cannot intervene. And God cannot and 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:32.679 will not stop us when we hurt others or wage 00:35:32.679 --> 00:35:36.639 war or commit genocide or actively work to blow 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:40.059 up and destroy all of creation. So this is what 00:35:40.059 --> 00:35:43.219 Tutu said to me. This omnipotent God is completely 00:35:43.219 --> 00:35:47.679 weak and powerless before the evil we do. This 00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:51.559 is the God we have, he said. And he's very weak. 00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:54.920 And so, John, I'm so glad I'm not God and that 00:35:54.920 --> 00:36:00.920 God is God. I was just utterly astounded and 00:36:00.920 --> 00:36:04.840 flabbergasted. I hadn't expected any of this. 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:08.460 And he's launched into this very profound reflection 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:11.360 about the mystery of God and free will. Although 00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:14.460 this has always been my experience of being with 00:36:14.460 --> 00:36:16.760 the really great people. And he starts to cry. 00:36:18.920 --> 00:36:21.440 And now he's sobbing and he's falling into my 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.380 arms and he's saying, our sisters and brothers 00:36:23.380 --> 00:36:26.039 are dying and suffering all around the world. 00:36:27.099 --> 00:36:29.860 And we're all rejecting God's will. So you and 00:36:29.860 --> 00:36:32.179 I have to keep working for peace and justice 00:36:32.179 --> 00:36:36.239 till we die. And then he says, you know, kind 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:40.019 of brushing himself off. So I'm off to Iran tomorrow 00:36:40.019 --> 00:36:42.880 morning. Well, I nearly fell off my chair when 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:46.360 he said that. He was very elderly. He was really 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:49.380 sick with cancer. And he was getting death threats 00:36:49.380 --> 00:36:53.559 from the ANC because he was denouncing publicly 00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:55.480 the corruption of the ANC, if you know about 00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:58.420 South Africa. I was utterly stunned because flying 00:36:58.420 --> 00:37:03.019 off to Iran is no joke. So I say, how do you 00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:06.380 keep going? And he says, my favorite prophet 00:37:06.380 --> 00:37:09.860 is Jeremiah. And of course, he's lost me right 00:37:09.860 --> 00:37:13.579 there. And he goes, do you know why? And I go, 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.400 no. And he goes, because he cries a lot. And 00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:20.659 he bursts into tears and he's whispering to me. 00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:23.760 I cry a lot too, John. I've cried and he's trying 00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:27.119 to pull himself together and he's really confiding 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:29.699 in me. And he says, I have cried every single 00:37:29.699 --> 00:37:33.980 day of my life. think how much God cries. We 00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:37.920 have a God who weeps. God weeps because we don't 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:40.719 get it, because we don't understand that we're 00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:43.599 all sisters and brothers of one another, and 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:46.400 because God is here to serve us and give us this 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:49.559 incredible reign of universal love, compassion, 00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:51.940 and peace. But we've all rejected that. We do 00:37:51.940 --> 00:37:56.780 our will, not God's will. So I cry a lot. And 00:37:56.780 --> 00:37:58.760 then he kind of pulls himself together and says, 00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:01.579 but I also laugh a lot. And he went on to detail 00:38:01.579 --> 00:38:05.219 about this. He said since he was five, he'd cried 00:38:05.219 --> 00:38:07.320 every day and laughed every day since he was 00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:11.559 five. And then he bursts into laughter and starts 00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:14.119 making fun of me, which I thought was a little 00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:18.610 over the line, Archbishop Tutu. And he kept teasing 00:38:18.610 --> 00:38:21.010 me, and now he's really making fun of me, and 00:38:21.010 --> 00:38:23.409 he's bringing his friends over. He's really kidding 00:38:23.409 --> 00:38:25.289 me. Like, why are you hanging out with this guy? 00:38:25.369 --> 00:38:27.530 Why do I hang out with this guy? He's just a 00:38:27.530 --> 00:38:31.809 big kid. He says, you know, I always think so 00:38:31.809 --> 00:38:34.010 highly of you, but now that I'm seeing you, you're 00:38:34.010 --> 00:38:36.369 just a big baby. I don't know why I hang out 00:38:36.369 --> 00:38:40.699 with you. All my friends are now hysterically 00:38:40.699 --> 00:38:43.480 laughing, and he's laughing so hard, and I'm 00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:46.639 going, well, I don't think it's that funny. And 00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:50.059 he was so much fun, and we all had the best time. 00:38:50.179 --> 00:38:52.380 And as we were leaving, he's going, never give 00:38:52.380 --> 00:38:55.380 up, John, never give up. You and I have to work 00:38:55.380 --> 00:38:58.860 for peace and justice till the day we die. We 00:38:58.860 --> 00:39:01.960 just give ourselves completely to God and God's 00:39:01.960 --> 00:39:04.400 will. I'm sharing this story with you because 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:07.239 this is the story, one of many. that I shared 00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:11.380 with young Will, because this is what my teacher 00:39:11.380 --> 00:39:15.440 and spiritual guide shared with me. Archbishop 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.159 Tutu exemplified for me how to surrender our 00:39:18.159 --> 00:39:21.699 wills and our entire lives to God, to universal 00:39:21.699 --> 00:39:25.260 love and peace, and what that looks like over 00:39:25.260 --> 00:39:29.579 time as we become more and more full -on extensions 00:39:29.579 --> 00:39:33.539 of universal love and peace. Desmond's life was 00:39:33.539 --> 00:39:38.719 not his own. It belonged entirely to God. He 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:41.940 was always at the surface of humanity, creation, 00:39:42.340 --> 00:39:46.300 justice, and peace, as well as his family and 00:39:46.300 --> 00:39:49.739 all those he encountered along the way. But what 00:39:49.739 --> 00:39:54.059 I've not been able to explain to people, to activists 00:39:54.059 --> 00:39:57.659 around the country, is he learned a way to move 00:39:57.659 --> 00:40:02.639 way beyond anger, fear, and despair, which is 00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:06.329 right there in the Sermon on the Mount. where 00:40:06.329 --> 00:40:09.429 Jesus instructs us to avoid anger, fear, and 00:40:09.429 --> 00:40:12.150 despair, and worry, and concern, and judgment, 00:40:12.269 --> 00:40:16.409 and so forth, but to cultivate grief and joy, 00:40:16.690 --> 00:40:21.789 to cry and to laugh. As we work for justice and 00:40:21.789 --> 00:40:24.230 peace, we grieve the world's insane violence 00:40:24.230 --> 00:40:26.949 and the insanity that's happening in our country 00:40:26.949 --> 00:40:29.650 and the world these days. And we go forward and 00:40:29.650 --> 00:40:33.070 take public nonviolent action to stop it. And 00:40:33.070 --> 00:40:35.869 along the way, we enjoy the fullness of life 00:40:35.869 --> 00:40:39.550 and joy and wonder and celebration with our relationships 00:40:39.550 --> 00:40:42.469 with one another and all of creation. Even when 00:40:42.469 --> 00:40:44.909 we get persecuted, as Jesus teaches, we rejoice. 00:40:45.210 --> 00:40:47.590 And that's what I was encouraging young Will 00:40:47.590 --> 00:40:52.050 to do on his journey. into becoming an extension 00:40:52.050 --> 00:41:01.150 of universal love. So in part two of this reflection 00:41:01.150 --> 00:41:04.869 on my new book, Universal Love, I'll walk through 00:41:04.869 --> 00:41:10.610 the rest of the book where I talk about the connection 00:41:10.610 --> 00:41:14.750 between our surrender to God and nonviolence, 00:41:14.789 --> 00:41:19.380 and then the shocking political consequences 00:41:19.380 --> 00:41:22.380 of surrendering our lives and our wills to God. 00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:25.679 I invite all those who are listening, please, 00:41:25.739 --> 00:41:28.199 to order the book and get it. It's called Universal 00:41:28.199 --> 00:41:31.840 Love. You can get it at orvisbooks .com or wherever 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:34.539 you get books. And please join me, if you can, 00:41:34.579 --> 00:41:37.219 by helping to promote the book on social media 00:41:37.219 --> 00:41:40.199 or writing a review on Amazon or telling your 00:41:40.199 --> 00:41:42.980 friends about it or giving copies of it to priests 00:41:42.980 --> 00:41:45.460 and ministers. Thank you for listening to the 00:41:45.460 --> 00:41:47.780 Nonviolent Jesus podcast. You can hear many more 00:41:47.780 --> 00:41:50.619 podcasts and find other upcoming Zoom programs 00:41:50.619 --> 00:41:54.750 at beatitudecenter .org. And they offer a donation 00:41:54.750 --> 00:41:58.070 to support this free work and also sign up to 00:41:58.070 --> 00:42:01.349 receive a free e -blast with news about other 00:42:01.349 --> 00:42:04.630 upcoming podcasts and Zooms. And thanks for leaving 00:42:04.630 --> 00:42:08.409 some positive feedback or review at NCR or whatever 00:42:08.409 --> 00:42:11.210 platform you use. But please spread the word 00:42:11.210 --> 00:42:14.409 by telling your friends about this podcast and 00:42:14.409 --> 00:42:17.369 my book. And in light of what I've been reflecting. 00:42:18.409 --> 00:42:21.190 May the God of peace bless you all. Keep on following 00:42:21.190 --> 00:42:24.110 the nonviolent Jesus. And more and more, let 00:42:24.110 --> 00:42:27.110 us all surrender ourselves completely to God 00:42:27.110 --> 00:42:31.150 and go forward and stand up and nonviolently 00:42:31.150 --> 00:42:34.469 resist war and justice and fascism and become 00:42:34.469 --> 00:42:37.909 who we were created to be, like young Will, extensions 00:42:37.909 --> 00:42:41.230 of universal love. See you next time.