Speaker 1 0:49

You know there's so much hate around and , as meditators and spiritual people who practice , you know are spiritually inclined and relate to compassion and love . But how do you balance the two things when you know ? If there's difference of opinions in a room like this , I'm sure we can navigate it in a way that is compassionate and sensitive and you know we see each other and understand more . Yeah , but there's so much hate in the world and like polarizing . You're here or you're there .

Speaker 1 1:29

It doesn't seem like there's much space in the middle , yep , and so my question is more advice

Balancing spirituality amid global hate

Speaker 1 1:36

for us as people who maybe want to operate in the middle , and the nuance and compassion and sensitivity and love , how do you like ? How , any tips for dealing with the world as it currently is , with so much hate and polarization around Yep ?

Speaker 2 1:56

sure , so a part of what I was referring to before when I said , you know , the next phase of human evolution is a spiritual sort of transformation of some sort . Spiritual sort of transformation of some sort . What that implies , what that is as an experience , is complexity , consciousness , and we are currently in a crisis , and the crisis is as a result of our inability to contain complexity and nuance and , in fear , what we tend to do

Crisis of complexity and polarization

Speaker 2 2:43

is to either go that way or that way , and we've got hundreds , if not thousands , of that way and that way things going on . We are so splintered the divide , I think , is probably greater than we are able to have our opinions and to feel what we feel about a thing . It's very important because , we can't deny it , when we do that , we run the risk of getting swept up in somebody else's experience . Getting swept up in somebody else's experience . But there is a big responsibility that we each have as human beings and , unfortunately , the current collective state of consciousness makes it almost impossible to facilitate an experience of complexity nuanced , you know , conversation without being deeply reactive . An experience of complexity , nuanced conversation without being deeply reactive and offended or fearful , right , the only way that we can generate space for that to occur is to embody it , is to become it and is to be disciplined in cultivating it . And what it is is having clarity about what your position is and then loosening the grip on it . Because what we know we've done an enormous amount of research in this what we know is that while ever we are white-knuckling a position , whatever we are experiencing now is only going to be exacerbated .

Speaker 2 4:57

We've done so much research in trying to annihilate the other . And I'm not just talking about what's happening in the Middle East right now . I'm talking about everything Politically . We've never seen politics so dirty . They're trying

The road out of collective mess

Speaker 2 5:15

to throw each other in jail . I mean , it's as ugly as it gets and it's across every facet of our existence . It's polarized and the question is how much further do you think we can go before annihilation events start occurring ? Because that's where it's heading rapidly . It's on the cards . Well , those cards are on the table . It's not too hard for us to think about the possibility of terrible , terrible things happening on a global scale because of the incredible divide that we're experiencing right now . Incredible divide that we're experiencing right now and do we go ? Well , seems like it's the great inevitable . We humans , we tend to just spoil it for ourselves , don't we ? You know there have been many civilizations that have wiped themselves off the face of the earth . We know that . Was it because of this ? Have we been here before ? Have we played out this story before ? I suspect we have . What is the road out of this mess ? What is the road out of this mess ?

Speaker 2 6:55

We have a responsibility to hold in our hearts the hope that is actualized every day through compassion and to the extent that we can . Now it's easy to say it from here in Mullumbimby , because you know no one's rocking up with guns or you know threatening to throw us in jail or you know whatever . We're not in any immediate danger , so we can have these kinds of conversations . And because we're not in immediate danger , we should be having these conversations . It's our responsibility because in other places in the world right now it's impossible for people to have those conversations . All they can think about is protecting themselves and destroying the other , because that's their reality . And we owe it to the people that are in conflict in other places in the world to hold the higher vision of humanity , our potential , and to generate what it is that they're unable to generate there at the moment . Generate it here , to create community that's based on love , that's based on compassion .

Creating communities based on compassion

Speaker 2 8:25

And if we find ourselves in a dialogue with somebody that has a conflicting view , the question is do you want to live in peace or do you want to be right Now ?

Speaker 2 8:42

We in the West , right now , have the capacity to explore this . We have the capacity to explore it Because , if we take the position of one or the other somewhere in the world from here , we're just throwing petrol on the fire and pushing us ever closer to that annihilation event , whereas we're saying , hey , we might not be able to agree on something that's happening over there , but can we agree that it's important for you and I to love each other and care for each other in our community ? Can we agree on that ? Yes , okay , can we just put our attention on that While we're together , we may have differing opinions on things , but the thing that's not changing because opinions change all the time but the thing that's not changing is this universal , timeless responsibility that we have to care for one another , and things aren't so bad here where that can't be exercised . We might be upset that someone we know that we would consider a friend has a different opinion to us about things that are happening in the world .

Speaker 2 10:11

I challenge you all to move past it to the extent that you can and try and have this conversation and then , once there's love , say , hey look , let's try and share our perspectives without it being I'm right , you're wrong . Can we just talk about it as content and explore it so I can understand your perspective and you might be able to understand mine ? Can we do that ? And once we start doing that , then we've created something new that is not existing very much anywhere . That something new is going to emerge out of it and we are becoming the embodiment of the solution . If two people with very strong opinions about things with deep conviction opposing can come together and do this , we have an example of how we get out of the mess .

Speaker 2 11:21

What's stopping us from doing that ? There's a huge amount of cultural and societal pressure for us to either be here or here , and to the extent that you feel like you want to dwell somewhere in the middle and explore the nuances of it all , then the simple answer to your question is you need to just do it . You need to just be that . If that's your sensibility , then honor that and don't be afraid that initially it might cause some upset .

Embodying new solutions through dialogue

Speaker 2 12:03

Sit quietly and go . It's not my intention to upset you . What I'm trying to do is create a space here for something new to emerge . Can we talk ? And then we've created something , something that's very unique , that stands to be , something that is going to elevate us out of this Now will . It Seems unlikely to be completely honest with you , but we are living in accordance with our deepest sense of conscience and intelligence , and we are . We are doing it , we're doing it . We're doing it and we're not just aimlessly adding petrol to the fire .