WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.729 Teachers: So our topic of the day is perspective or view. 2 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:10.860 Teachers: most of the days. This week 3 00:00:11.100 --> 00:00:12.989 Teachers: I'll be on topic with you. 4 00:00:13.450 --> 00:00:17.850 Teachers: I'm going to go off piste a couple of times, but still very relevant to our pain. 5 00:00:18.380 --> 00:00:26.709 Teachers: But today I'm on track. So I want to talk about uncertainty as part of our perspective. 6 00:00:28.450 --> 00:00:39.959 Teachers: So we've talked about an ethics of uncertainty already a few times the last 24 h. So this uncertainty issue is pretty key to our theme. 7 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:45.150 Teachers: so uncertainty, our relationship to uncertainty. 8 00:00:45.260 --> 00:00:48.650 Teachers: and the consequences of that relationship. 9 00:00:50.410 --> 00:00:58.519 Teachers: And in particular, I'm going to take a bit of a deep dive into the selfing process. In relation to this topic. 10 00:01:00.860 --> 00:01:02.929 Teachers: I live in 11 00:01:03.010 --> 00:01:12.690 Teachers: a safe liberal seat for those who are joining us from outside Australia, and don't know our political system. 12 00:01:12.710 --> 00:01:19.770 The Liberal party in Australia is the Conservative party, slightly right of center. We're fairly centrist. 13 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:27.560 Teachers: our major parties, but they are the they're the right right side of politics. and ever since my electorate was founded in 14 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:31.499 Teachers: 1950, whatever it was, it's been a safe. 15 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:38.680 Teachers: Liberal seats. So for many years I felt quite powerless. 16 00:01:38.870 --> 00:01:48.329 Teachers: and my vote didn't count, and was pretty frustrated, and 17 00:01:49.390 --> 00:01:55.660 Teachers: didn't know how to engage ethically in at least, that element of my world 18 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.450 Teachers: just as a broad thing. And I'll come back to this a few times as I've pondered this 19 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:15.230 Teachers: topic of engaging ethically in a world in crisis, I've sort of thought about it as having 3 concentric circles. our immediate life and the people that we live with, that we come into direct contact with 20 00:02:15.320 --> 00:02:18.560 Teachers: the next circle is our kind of community. 21 00:02:19.660 --> 00:02:30.260 Teachers: However, you might define that. But this story is in in that layer, the community layer. And then we've got the outside circle being our global 22 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.969 Teachers: world. And all 3 can be in crisis. So 23 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:43.879 Teachers: so anyway, I was feeling quite powerless. And so this is rewind. Maybe about 3 years or something. 24 00:02:43.940 --> 00:02:45.770 Teachers: and I came across this 25 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:56.490 Teachers: movement. I guess you'd call it called kitchen table discussions. And it was these people who'd organised 26 00:02:56.540 --> 00:03:02.900 Teachers: to literally meet over someone's kitchen table and talk about the issues that matter to them. 27 00:03:03.720 --> 00:03:19.529 Teachers: And I explored it enough that I remember looking at the website and seeing photos of people literally sitting around kitchen tables and talking. And the demographic was not dissimilar to this room. It was mostly older. People were smattering of youngies. 28 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:25.450 Teachers: and I, you know I wanted to do something. 29 00:03:26.260 --> 00:03:31.080 Teachers: but I felt really uncertain about it. I thought, what difference is it going to make 30 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:43.950 Teachers: sitting around talking about what we're unhappy with preaching to the converted it just, it felt really uncertain to me whether that was something that was going to be effective. 31 00:03:44.920 --> 00:03:47.950 Teachers: and so I didn't act. I didn't. I didn't 32 00:03:48.670 --> 00:03:49.710 Teachers: get involved 33 00:03:53.090 --> 00:03:56.960 Teachers: about 2 years, ish! After that. 34 00:03:57.540 --> 00:04:00.670 Teachers: That movement 35 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:08.140 Teachers: transformed into a woman offering herself as an independent 36 00:04:08.590 --> 00:04:11.679 Teachers: candidate at our Federal election last year. 37 00:04:12.630 --> 00:04:20.920 Teachers: So those people who were sitting around kitchen tables in an equal amount of uncertainty, no doubt that that I was. 38 00:04:21.140 --> 00:04:25.360 Teachers: They acted anyway. And here we had this amazing 39 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:32.279 Teachers: independent candidate standing at the Federal election, and that story is to be continued tomorrow. 40 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:45.620 Teachers: But in essence my uncertainty led me to do nothing in that instance. Others acted anyway. and eventually this inspired me to get on board. 41 00:04:45.670 --> 00:04:49.059 Teachers: That's to be continued tomorrow. I think 42 00:04:50.530 --> 00:05:04.309 Teachers: so. Uncertainty as we know. It's quite central to Gottman's teachings. He taught that there are 3 characteristics of life on Earth that we routinely fail to integrate into our perspective. 43 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:14.779 Teachers: They're traditionally called the 3 characteristics of conditioned existence. I call them the 3 faulty beliefs, or the 3 tragic misunderstandings 44 00:05:14.910 --> 00:05:20.729 Teachers: and the failure to really take them in and really integrate them causes a whole bunch of problems. 45 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:32.919 Teachers: So just to recap. I know many of you would be familiar with them. but I know we've probably got a variety of experience in the room, so let me, at the risk of boring you, recap. 46 00:05:33.330 --> 00:05:42.760 Teachers: So the first one is so I'm turning these on their head and stating them as faulty beliefs. So some things are reliable, stable, and permanent 47 00:05:43.390 --> 00:05:47.250 Teachers: is faulty. Belief. Number one, I call it the Rsp. Delusion. 48 00:05:47.900 --> 00:05:50.670 Teachers: reliable, stable, permanent. There are some things. 49 00:05:51.740 --> 00:06:02.500 Teachers: and the other 2 are kind of embodiments of this one actually so. The next one is people and things can provide me with constant, indelible happiness. 50 00:06:03.770 --> 00:06:11.609 Teachers: And the third one is who I am that is me. The identity. Lenori is a fixed 51 00:06:11.930 --> 00:06:13.520 Teachers: independent. 52 00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:17.250 Teachers: That's how I get to be fixed, because I'm independent of conditions. 53 00:06:17.760 --> 00:06:20.949 Teachers: enduring and congruent. 54 00:06:21.050 --> 00:06:28.150 Teachers: that is, you know, I all make sense. I'm all tied in together nicely identity. 55 00:06:28.820 --> 00:06:29.930 Teachers: So 56 00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:39.800 Teachers: each of these is a faulty belief because it fails to see something we've already touched on today. the principle of dependent arising. 57 00:06:41.030 --> 00:06:48.089 Teachers: So that principle just simply being the principle that everything only exists 58 00:06:48.640 --> 00:06:53.380 Teachers: because the conditions were ripe for it to exist. 59 00:06:53.970 --> 00:06:59.609 Teachers: So now the knock on effect of this principle is that everything is always changing. 60 00:07:00.410 --> 00:07:08.419 Teachers: Reality is a constant interplay of many factors in any given moment. We've got our internal conditions, our 61 00:07:08.870 --> 00:07:16.029 Teachers: character structure, our personality, our physiology and neurophysiology. 62 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:18.400 Teachers: our 63 00:07:19.270 --> 00:07:31.260 Teachers: and our histories. And what have you are all embedded in that character structure? We have what mood I'm in right now. We have, you know. Am I hungry or not? All those internal conditions 64 00:07:32.130 --> 00:07:33.780 Teachers: moving, changing? 65 00:07:33.870 --> 00:07:37.679 Teachers: And then we've got our external conditions where I am, who I'm with 66 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:41.439 Teachers: what went on 5 min ago. 67 00:07:41.540 --> 00:08:02.279 Teachers: You know. Sense data smells. Am I in a beautiful place by the lake, or am I standing next to a garbage bin all of that sort of external stuff. So we've got these conditions and we've got our internal conditions, and they're coming together like a dynamic light show, and where they meet is 68 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.200 my experience right now. 69 00:08:09.280 --> 00:08:15.439 Teachers: So if, of course, our experience is the coming together of 2 dynamic light shows, then 70 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.950 Teachers: how can anything be reliable, stable, and permanent? 71 00:08:24.020 --> 00:08:27.839 Teachers: So faulty? Belief? Number one, everything is 72 00:08:28.390 --> 00:08:35.500 Teachers: the unfalty belief. Number one is that everything is unreliable, unstable, and impermanent. 73 00:08:35.940 --> 00:08:38.570 and because people and things change all the time. 74 00:08:38.809 --> 00:08:46.490 Teachers: how can any person or anything possibly provide me with an experience of constant, uninterrupted happiness? 75 00:08:47.560 --> 00:09:00.450 Teachers: And because I, Lenori Lambert, am also part of this system. So also in a state of constant change. the idea that the way that I show up in the world in any given moment. 76 00:09:00.590 --> 00:09:04.999 Teachers: That is me with the capital of it. Capital! M. My identity. 77 00:09:05.260 --> 00:09:07.380 Teachers: the idea that that could be fixed 78 00:09:07.630 --> 00:09:15.539 Teachers: and always consistent, and always internally telling a cogent story is just craziness. 79 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:21.099 Teachers: Now, we all probably know this. You're probably sitting there going. Yeah, yeah, we know this. 80 00:09:21.130 --> 00:09:23.199 and it's good in theory. 81 00:09:23.650 --> 00:09:26.799 Teachers: but to truly take it in. 82 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:39.189 Teachers: to truly allow the flux or the uncertainty that is inherent in reality to infuse our lens on the world, our perspective. That's how I think of perspective. You know the lens through which we see the world. 83 00:09:39.690 --> 00:09:51.950 Teachers: our expectations of it, our response to it, can be another matter. The impulse to reach for certainty is strong because uncertainty can feel unsafe. 84 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:58.720 Teachers: and you think about it. Most of our history uncertainty probably, was unsafe. 85 00:10:01.060 --> 00:10:08.669 Now this is relevant to engaging ethically in a world in crisis, in 2 key ways that have captured my attention 86 00:10:09.410 --> 00:10:11.070 Teachers: in recent times. 87 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.200 Teachers: The first one is. 88 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:21.610 Teachers: it's uncertain. And this came up today in one of the question time questions. 89 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:25.210 Teachers: It's uncertain whether engaging will achieve anything. 90 00:10:28.020 --> 00:10:32.460 Teachers: and if I don't believe my effort and attention is going to make any difference. 91 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:37.689 Teachers: Why would I engage with a turbulent world full of problems? 92 00:10:39.010 --> 00:10:43.349 Teachers: So if I'm unwilling or unable to be with uncertainty. 93 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.540 Teachers: that kind of unpleasant, slightly unsafe feeling 94 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:56.960 Teachers: I might be tempted to simply not engage at all like I didn't 3 years ago, with the kitchen table discussions 95 00:10:59.300 --> 00:11:08.419 Teachers: so relevant to again some of the conversations we've already had today. I need to be able to accept that the world is going to stay messy and problematic. 96 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:16.089 Teachers: despite my efforts that my actions are not going to fix it and engage. Anyway. 97 00:11:17.610 --> 00:11:21.819 Teachers: I need to be willing to accept unpleasant experiences and events 98 00:11:22.010 --> 00:11:30.060 Teachers: as part of being an alive and literally sensitive, sensitive creature on planet Earth 99 00:11:30.270 --> 00:11:32.730 Teachers: and respond ethically. Anyway. 100 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:40.339 if I'm not willing to accept the unpleasantness of uncertainty, I'll find a way to get rid of it. 101 00:11:41.430 --> 00:11:48.409 Teachers: And one of the most common ways of getting rid of that feeling of uncertainty is to adopt a belief system that rules it out. 102 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:56.019 Teachers: And then, because that belief system provides me with relief from this unpleasantness of uncertainty. 103 00:11:57.150 --> 00:11:59.489 Teachers: it gives me even if it's 104 00:12:00.810 --> 00:12:05.310 Teachers: delusional, gives me a sense of safety. 105 00:12:05.660 --> 00:12:09.859 Teachers: regardless of whether it's delusional. I'm going to protect it with a vengeance 106 00:12:11.190 --> 00:12:15.989 Teachers: because it delivers a feeling of safety, and that's what I want. 107 00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:25.369 Teachers: So you think about some of the some of the big crises going on in that third layer at the moment the war in Ukraine. 108 00:12:25.750 --> 00:12:39.310 Teachers: I remember early in the piece reading that one of the beliefs that Vladimir Putin apparently has that drives one among many, but that drives what he does is a belief that 109 00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:42.599 Teachers: Ukraine is and always was, a part of Russia. 110 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:47.060 Teachers: Certain he's certain about it. 111 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:59.809 Teachers: Now, all you need to do is what I did, and go looking for a podcast where some historian expert in Ukrainian history is being interviewed. And you find that this is nonsense. 112 00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:04.570 Teachers: that that you know historical facts just don't support 113 00:13:05.280 --> 00:13:09.589 Teachers: Vladimir Putin's certain belief. 114 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:18.630 Teachers: And yet, obviously, it's not the only one, but the least like that are driving untold suffering in the world at the moment. 115 00:13:21.810 --> 00:13:23.699 Teachers: I mean clearly. 116 00:13:23.970 --> 00:13:31.420 Teachers: Palestine. You know there are certain beliefs on both sides. There's certainty on both sides. 117 00:13:32.170 --> 00:13:35.030 Teachers: Well, faux certainty 118 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:42.030 Teachers: that are causing hideous suffering over there at the moment. 119 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:50.359 Teachers: so uncertainty can be uncomfortable. It can also be actually desirable. Research on it shows that. 120 00:13:50.520 --> 00:13:57.300 Teachers: you know. thrill seekers quite like it. You know, adventurers and people like that. 121 00:13:57.380 --> 00:14:04.459 Teachers: But for a lot of us uncertainty might be uncomfortable, unpleasant even. 122 00:14:05.140 --> 00:14:07.139 Teachers: But faux certainty 123 00:14:07.310 --> 00:14:15.040 Teachers: is not only delusional. It's destructive and downright dangerous. When you look at those couple of examples that I just mentioned. 124 00:14:15.420 --> 00:14:17.470 Teachers: so in order to engage it all. 125 00:14:18.310 --> 00:14:25.369 Teachers: I need to be willing to accept that it's uncertain whether my efforts will fix anything 126 00:14:25.610 --> 00:14:29.210 Teachers: I need to be willing to be. With that uncertainty 127 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:35.419 Teachers: I need to focus on the uncertain possibility that they might help something. 128 00:14:37.410 --> 00:14:42.100 Teachers: I need to focus on helpful thoughts, like many drops, fill a bucket. 129 00:14:43.630 --> 00:14:47.930 Teachers: I need to pay attention to the changes that are coming about. 130 00:14:48.050 --> 00:14:55.170 Teachers: because people are acting amid uncertainty. And there are. You don't have to look too far to see some inspirational 131 00:14:55.210 --> 00:15:00.059 Teachers: things going on because people are acting, even though it's uncertain 132 00:15:01.300 --> 00:15:03.630 Teachers: and importantly, that doing nothing. 133 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:09.040 Teachers: that not engaging. And this might go to your question earlier. Gowen, too. 134 00:15:09.290 --> 00:15:18.820 Teachers: is clearing the way for those who are reacting loudly, vigorously, and sometimes violently. on delusional certainties. 135 00:15:22.340 --> 00:15:32.469 Teachers: There is kind of no such thing as not doing anything. because choosing not to act is clearing the way 136 00:15:33.770 --> 00:15:34.920 Teachers: in a sense. 137 00:15:38.710 --> 00:15:53.279 Teachers: So that was the first thing that had been mulling around for me when it comes to perspective and our need to integrate the reality. The uncertainty into our perspective is that if we don't, if we don't 138 00:15:53.280 --> 00:16:09.770 Teachers: cultivate is that word again, the willingness to be with uncertainty, and I mean that in a really practical feed on the ground way, the physical feeling, that unpleasant tinge that you get when things are uncertain. 139 00:16:10.050 --> 00:16:19.710 Teachers: If I'm not willing to be with that as a routine manner of it's part of my perspective. I know that uncertainty infuses life. 140 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:22.930 then I may just not be willing to engage at all. 141 00:16:25.180 --> 00:16:27.080 And so if we're 142 00:16:27.290 --> 00:16:37.899 Teachers: genuinely interested in engaging ethically in this world, in crisis, then it's an ethical issue. Our willingness to be with that feeling of uncertainty. 143 00:16:41.520 --> 00:16:46.820 Teachers: The second thing, and what I want to spend the rest of our time together this evening on is 144 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:56.200 Teachers: a form of certainty, seeking that, I believe obstructs ethical engagement. 145 00:16:56.340 --> 00:17:00.720 Teachers: and that is the selfing process. 146 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:18.479 Teachers: Now, I just want to maybe again do a little recap, and at least orient towards the way that I speak about selfings. So 147 00:17:20.270 --> 00:17:30.169 Teachers: when I'm talking about selfing, Rick Hanson had a lovely way of setting out the definition of self. 148 00:17:30.670 --> 00:17:42.410 Teachers: because not self. And the selfing process I found, as I was learning about the dharma was probably the one concept that was really confusing I found. 149 00:17:43.110 --> 00:17:52.889 Teachers: and Rick Hanson laid it out nicely, he said. Well, self has 3 main meanings. There's the physical body, you know how many 1 billion of them that are running around the planet at the moment. 150 00:17:52.950 --> 00:18:06.199 Teachers: We're not dying that exists. There's the consciousness that I feel is the chooser of my decisions and the agent of my actions. 151 00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:09.950 Teachers: And we're not talking about that one either, in the helping process. 152 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:17.700 Teachers: It's the third one that we're talking about, which is the identity that I've decided is me. 153 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:21.270 Teachers: And we're going to work with that this evening. 154 00:18:24.490 --> 00:18:25.960 Teachers: So 155 00:18:27.410 --> 00:18:29.510 Teachers: been lucky to read 156 00:18:29.560 --> 00:18:40.520 Teachers: bit over half so far of Steven's first draft of his next book, which takes a good long look at what was going on philosophically in Greece 157 00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:43.300 Teachers: at around the same time that the Buddha lived. 158 00:18:44.940 --> 00:18:50.629 Teachers: I think it's called Socrates, the Buddha and me. Isn't it stealing? Did I get that right 159 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:55.560 Teachers: or the other way around? So produce good. And us and us. Okay? 160 00:18:56.990 --> 00:19:10.940 And it turns out that some of the Greek philosophers arrived at this same insight and the same realization of the importance of resisting that temptation to use views in particular, to PIN down with certainty 161 00:19:11.110 --> 00:19:13.570 what is in reality quite uncertain 162 00:19:14.520 --> 00:19:16.800 Teachers: which is reality. 163 00:19:18.350 --> 00:19:20.780 Teachers: I've 164 00:19:20.950 --> 00:19:30.529 Teachers: I've stolen a passage. This is. This is a passage that Steven quotes in his book. It's not his quote. It's from the verses from the chapter of 8, 165 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:43.669 Teachers: and I'm going to suggest that you just close your eyes, and as I read it out, just listen, listen to it and feel it for me. It really it gives me the feeling of uncertainty. 166 00:19:44.120 --> 00:19:51.550 Teachers: So I'll read it, and I'll reread a few little passages of it, the ones that particularly spark that feeling for me 167 00:19:55.360 --> 00:20:01.310 Teachers: wrong minded people do voice opinions as do truth. Minded people, too. 168 00:20:03.220 --> 00:20:07.410 Teachers: When an opinion is stated, the sage is not drawn in. 169 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:11.779 Teachers: There's nothing arid about the sage. 170 00:20:14.190 --> 00:20:16.350 Teachers: nowhere does a lucid one 171 00:20:16.660 --> 00:20:21.070 Teachers: hold contrived views about is or is not. 172 00:20:22.690 --> 00:20:30.270 Teachers: How could he succumb to them? Having let go of illusions and conceit. he's uninvolved. 173 00:20:31.850 --> 00:20:39.080 Teachers: he does not take up or discard any view. He's shaken them all off right here. 174 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:43.989 Teachers: He lets go of one position without taking another. 175 00:20:46.290 --> 00:20:49.009 Teachers: He's not defined by what he knows. 176 00:20:51.010 --> 00:20:53.430 Teachers: nor does he join a dissenting faction. 177 00:20:54.550 --> 00:20:57.110 Teachers: He assumes no view at all. 178 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:04.750 Teachers: He's not lured into the blind alleys of is, and is not this world and the next. 179 00:21:05.110 --> 00:21:11.610 Teachers: for he lacks those commitments that make people ponder and seize hold of teachings. 180 00:21:15.260 --> 00:21:19.060 Teachers: He lets go of one position without taking another. 181 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.339 Teachers: He's not defined by what he knows. 182 00:21:27.850 --> 00:21:30.149 Teachers: nor does he join a dissenting faction. 183 00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:34.019 Teachers: He assumes no view at all. 184 00:21:38.870 --> 00:21:41.959 Teachers: He does not take up or discard any view. 185 00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:47.550 Teachers: Let's go of one position without taking another 186 00:21:55.490 --> 00:22:04.799 Teachers: quite literally. The imagery that came to me as I first started reading over that was of a monkey swinging between the trees in a jungle 187 00:22:04.870 --> 00:22:15.050 Teachers: and letting go of one branch and then going. I don't think I'll take that next branch, and just kind of floating there in midair. 188 00:22:15.610 --> 00:22:21.519 Teachers: I don't know. Did that sort of give you any sense of a feeling of uncertainty as you listen to that 189 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:30.370 Teachers: few knobs around the room. Yeah. 190 00:22:32.250 --> 00:22:41.540 Teachers: so uncertainty is a bodily feeling. and it has a Vaden, a feeling tone. And 191 00:22:42.780 --> 00:22:47.260 Teachers: for many of us much of the time it's slightly unpleasant. 192 00:22:49.340 --> 00:22:56.069 Teachers: and that unpleasantness can be a sense of unsafety. It can. It can feel like unsafe. 193 00:22:57.890 --> 00:23:08.320 Teachers: And I suggest that one of these commitments that makes people ponder and sees hold of teachings is the commitment to finding the safety of certainty. 194 00:23:08.830 --> 00:23:10.540 Teachers: It's much more pleasant feeling. 195 00:23:15.110 --> 00:23:20.280 Teachers: So I want to suggest that releasing the impetus of selfing. The grip that ego has on us 196 00:23:20.370 --> 00:23:26.330 Teachers: is an ethical act, and one that's needed desperately in this crisis, ridden world abouts. 197 00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:38.559 Teachers: This May. This identity is made up of a bunch of personal characteristics that we like to believe about ourselves, and often a bunch of views that 198 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:41.130 Teachers: coincide with those characteristics. 199 00:23:43.090 --> 00:23:44.370 Teachers: And 200 00:23:44.830 --> 00:23:59.380 Teachers: I often speak about this as our me brochure. You know we we decide what's in. and make it up into a nice brochure, and we offer it to passers by in the hope that they'll take it and believe it. 201 00:23:59.670 --> 00:24:01.000 Teachers: and 202 00:24:03.600 --> 00:24:07.420 Teachers: and we can get really hot under the collar if they don't. 203 00:24:08.520 --> 00:24:13.209 Teachers: So here's why I see it as an important ethical act. So for a long time. 204 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:19.940 Teachers: we, as humans, have known about this human tendency of ours to create in groups and out groups. 205 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:36.960 Teachers: I learned it back in psych in the early. It's even got a name, social identity theory. And what happens is we take one or more of the characteristics in our me brochure, and we decide this is me. 206 00:24:37.040 --> 00:24:42.639 Teachers: and we define ourselves as part of 207 00:24:42.710 --> 00:24:45.979 Teachers: the group of people who have that characteristic. 208 00:24:46.600 --> 00:24:56.530 Teachers: And what happens once we do, that is, we overemphasize our similarities with the in group we overemphasize and over attend to 209 00:24:56.670 --> 00:25:00.139 Teachers: the differences between me and the out group. 210 00:25:00.910 --> 00:25:06.440 Teachers: and then, voila! We have the conditions ripe 211 00:25:06.540 --> 00:25:07.960 Teachers: for conflict. 212 00:25:09.320 --> 00:25:10.560 Teachers: So 213 00:25:11.850 --> 00:25:18.170 Teachers: the individual act of deciding this is me is one of the conditions 214 00:25:18.470 --> 00:25:24.209 Teachers: that leads to in group out, group, dynamic in group, out group 215 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:25.680 Teachers: conflict. 216 00:25:29.180 --> 00:25:31.739 Teachers: An easy example. 217 00:25:33.770 --> 00:25:43.819 I'm not a big Rugby fan, but we can all at least understand this example. Let's say Australia are playing England in the Rugby Union. 218 00:25:44.470 --> 00:25:50.780 Teachers: and that night, where all Australians. and then the next week, we have 219 00:25:50.840 --> 00:25:52.130 state of origin 220 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:53.630 Teachers: in 221 00:25:54.620 --> 00:26:09.589 Teachers: Rugby League. Just another Rugby code for those of you outside of Australia who may not know what I'm talking about, but it's a long standing rivalry between 2 States in Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales. And so that week I'm no longer an Australian. 222 00:26:10.150 --> 00:26:12.040 Teachers: I'm a new South Welsh person. 223 00:26:13.030 --> 00:26:24.839 Teachers: so all of a sudden my in group has changed from the whole nation. And now it's just the people in the State, because I'm focusing on a different element of the knee brochure. 224 00:26:27.710 --> 00:26:38.590 Teachers: Now I want to clarify one thing, which is, I'm not saying for a second that there's no benefit to belonging to groups. Quite the contrary, and I'll talk some about that a bit later in the week. 225 00:26:38.650 --> 00:26:42.970 Teachers: But it is the need to belong is in our DNA. You know 226 00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:49.609 we didn't survive as a species because we were faster or stronger or even smarter. We survived because we were more cooperative. 227 00:26:50.510 --> 00:26:51.590 Teachers: So 228 00:26:51.840 --> 00:26:56.419 Teachers: the need to belong. It's it's deep within us 229 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:08.209 Teachers: now, as Rick Hansen says, and another little one of his that stuck with me is that self-organizes around threat 230 00:27:09.330 --> 00:27:18.900 Teachers: self-organisers around. Threat. So when I'm feeling threatened. That's when I reach for the Me brochure. You can't speak to me like that. 231 00:27:21.040 --> 00:27:23.560 And the same happens in groups. 232 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:43.149 Teachers: and once we start doing that in groups, we have othering. So whatever definition we've decided is my in group and I'll give you something we can create a group we can create. We can co opt anything into our identity. I'll give you a whole stack of examples in a second. 233 00:27:43.690 --> 00:27:51.189 Teachers: But as soon as we have othering. We have sufferings, not okay for my group. 234 00:27:51.490 --> 00:27:57.029 Teachers: But it's more okay, at least, and maybe completely okay for the outgroup. 235 00:27:57.870 --> 00:27:59.170 Teachers: Now 236 00:28:00.130 --> 00:28:08.089 Teachers: let me give you some examples of groups here. Gender, skin, color, nationality, religion. 237 00:28:08.320 --> 00:28:22.039 Teachers: soccer team culture. political party. socioeconomic status. level of education. personality, type. species, species is huge. One. 238 00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:27.690 Teachers: My, let's bring it closer to home level of spiritual attainment. 239 00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.330 Teachers: I'm a spiritual person. 240 00:28:31.010 --> 00:28:36.090 Teachers: and even within that, maybe I'm an advanced spiritual person. 241 00:28:36.570 --> 00:28:39.409 Teachers: We can even create in groups and out groups around that. 242 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:55.160 Teachers: So we can Co opt anything into this identity making and that identity can then lead to the next step at a group level, which is the group belonging in group out group. 243 00:28:55.520 --> 00:29:00.199 Teachers: It's not okay for my group to suffer. But it's okay for anyone outside my group to suffer. 244 00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:05.989 Teachers: And can you see how the desire for certainty leads to this? 245 00:29:06.630 --> 00:29:14.140 Teachers: Because reality is? I am not that thing in the brochure that is one of a whole stack of things 246 00:29:14.380 --> 00:29:20.330 Teachers: that I can be in any given moment, depending on conditions internally and externally. 247 00:29:22.150 --> 00:29:26.199 Teachers: But I've printed it up in a brasher, as if it's the thing 248 00:29:26.370 --> 00:29:27.050 alright. 249 00:29:27.230 --> 00:29:28.580 Teachers: So 250 00:29:29.210 --> 00:29:34.210 Teachers: it's that desire to PIN myself down with an identity. 251 00:29:34.260 --> 00:29:38.739 Teachers: That is that starting point for all of these. 252 00:29:40.890 --> 00:29:44.469 So just stop and ponder for a second. What would the world be like 253 00:29:45.450 --> 00:29:54.559 Teachers: if we viewed others through the lens of our shared experience of being sensitive creatures on planet earth. 254 00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:58.990 Teachers: First and foremost. Yep, we're part of all these other groups, and what have you 255 00:29:59.020 --> 00:30:01.489 Teachers: but what is? First and foremost. 256 00:30:02.490 --> 00:30:04.210 Teachers: we were Earth dwellers 257 00:30:07.780 --> 00:30:14.300 Teachers: actually got that term from Jermaine Greer. I saw her interviewed, and I loved it. I've adopted it 258 00:30:15.990 --> 00:30:18.759 Teachers: so rather than I'm a woman. 259 00:30:20.890 --> 00:30:24.579 Teachers: What if I'm just a person? What if I'm just an Earth dweller? 260 00:30:25.300 --> 00:30:32.110 What if, instead of this or that sexuality, this or that nationality, this or that religion, this or that. 261 00:30:32.300 --> 00:30:41.109 Teachers: you know, sporting team culture, political persuasion, socioeconomic status, personality, type, species. What if we first and foremost 262 00:30:41.360 --> 00:30:42.780 Teachers: were Earth dwellers? 263 00:30:43.870 --> 00:30:46.700 Teachers: The idea of Assam becomes defunct. 264 00:30:47.630 --> 00:30:52.150 Teachers: least until we meet an intelligent life form somewhere else. 265 00:30:54.120 --> 00:30:59.250 Teachers: Of course, cellving's been around forever, no doubt, as long as humans have, I would guess. 266 00:30:59.410 --> 00:31:04.149 Teachers: but in our saculum we have this thing called social media. 267 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:07.050 Teachers: and that turbocharges it. 268 00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:15.280 Teachers: because now we don't just have the imagined me brochure. We have the timeline on Facebook. 269 00:31:15.620 --> 00:31:20.700 Teachers: and we have nicely curated pictures and videos. And 270 00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:24.049 Teachers: you know, in Spau music in the background. 271 00:31:24.780 --> 00:31:32.620 Teachers: And if we ever do kind of get an inkling that well, maybe that's not me with a capital M. And maybe I am a bit more of a process. 272 00:31:33.050 --> 00:31:36.250 Teachers: That's how I think of me. I'm a process. 273 00:31:37.410 --> 00:31:45.780 Teachers: We have this weight of inertia because we've got this timeline of going out there and committing to being a certain person. 274 00:31:46.840 --> 00:31:49.569 Teachers: So it's a lot harder to be fluid 275 00:31:49.600 --> 00:31:57.099 Teachers: once we have a whole, you know 10 years of timeline history going out there and saying, This is who I am. 276 00:31:58.410 --> 00:32:11.030 Teachers: and of course the world punishes us for it, or they reward for us. It reward us for it, and either way it'll probably reinforce selfing because selfing organizes around threat, or we get the little dopamine hit 277 00:32:11.080 --> 00:32:14.720 Teachers: from the likes one way or the other reinforces it. 278 00:32:17.970 --> 00:32:32.089 Teachers: Now, weaning people off of certainty, I think, is no mean feat. I can't see society en masse, ever giving it up anytime soon. But what if we, as as dumb all as as dumber practitioners, were to take seriously this idea of 279 00:32:32.540 --> 00:32:39.380 Teachers: really genuinely getting to work on on letting go of this fixed idea 280 00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:50.450 Teachers: of who I am, being, these set of descriptors in my me brochure. and started thinking. First and foremost, I'm a sensitive creature on planet Earth. 281 00:32:51.490 --> 00:32:57.290 Teachers: living in this swirling world of causes and conditions that frequently hurt. 282 00:33:01.590 --> 00:33:04.640 Teachers: I think it's really important because 283 00:33:05.610 --> 00:33:15.110 Teachers: there aren't too many role models of this out there. And I think people like the people in this room are probably the best candidates 284 00:33:15.800 --> 00:33:23.459 Teachers: for being those role models. And I think about there was a guy. I was lucky to have a university lecturer 285 00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:33.220 Teachers: back in my twentys who he wasn't a Dummar practitioner, but he he kind of was, you know. 286 00:33:34.250 --> 00:33:45.519 Teachers: and he wasn't attached to certainty. He spoke provisionally. and I remember it was a real curiosity to me because the household that I grew up in was the opposite. 287 00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:48.470 Teachers: And yet he he didn't lack confidence. 288 00:33:49.060 --> 00:33:52.080 Teachers: and he 289 00:33:53.470 --> 00:34:02.620 Teachers: If he was ever challenged, it tended to result in communal exploration, whereas 290 00:34:03.210 --> 00:34:14.290 Teachers: people who are more certain sounding and more authoritative and more black and white, if they're challenged, they tended to be aggressive, and you'd find that you were. 291 00:34:15.080 --> 00:34:33.250 Teachers: You either had to pick aside or run away one of the 2, and I think I remember him all these years later, and he had a constant stream of ex students. Often, years after they'd left University, come through and tell him how much of a profound impact he'd had on their life. 292 00:34:34.949 --> 00:34:36.170 Teachers: And 293 00:34:36.219 --> 00:34:42.460 Teachers: so I think the importance of showing the world how to do this 294 00:34:43.730 --> 00:34:47.819 Teachers: can't be overstated. There's just not too many role models out there. 295 00:34:52.929 --> 00:34:54.440 Teachers: So 296 00:34:54.600 --> 00:35:01.010 Teachers: I'm going to offer you an activity to help with this ethical project of undermining the selfing process. 297 00:35:02.680 --> 00:35:10.599 What I'm going to suggest to you is you grab an a 4 sheet of paper and something to write with. 298 00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:21.900 Teachers: and then spread out because I don't want you to feel in any way inhibited about what you're writing, and you're going to be writing about yourself. 299 00:35:22.260 --> 00:35:28.629 Teachers: And sometimes people can feel a bit shy. It's self conscious when you're asked to write about yourself. 300 00:35:29.020 --> 00:35:32.220 Teachers: People at home are obviously, you know. 301 00:35:32.810 --> 00:35:43.339 Teachers: easy for them, but so if you can grab a 4 sheet of paper, a pen, and then move somewhere where you can still see me, because I'm going to show you how to do it. It's pretty simple, but 302 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:46.599 and just spread out so that you've got a little bit of privacy. 303 00:36:20.190 --> 00:36:22.410 Teachers: So 304 00:36:37.530 --> 00:36:43.159 Teachers: a margin across the top, you're going to have some titles across the top and 3 columns. 305 00:36:47.550 --> 00:36:50.090 Teachers: Hopefully, the people at home can see. 306 00:36:56.050 --> 00:36:57.320 Thanks. 307 00:37:14.090 --> 00:37:18.170 Okay, title at the top of the first column is me. 308 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.350 Teachers: and I'd like you to put in there 309 00:37:24.520 --> 00:37:34.020 Teachers: list as many doc points as come to you about to describe yourself. What do you believe about yourself? 310 00:37:35.490 --> 00:37:38.139 Teachers: So there might be descriptors like 311 00:37:39.080 --> 00:37:43.330 Teachers: funny. smart, caring. 312 00:37:43.550 --> 00:37:44.720 Teachers: generous. 313 00:37:46.300 --> 00:37:55.029 Teachers: please. I'm not implanting suggestions here, but they might be hopeless. 314 00:37:55.160 --> 00:37:56.819 Teachers: They might be disorganized. 315 00:37:57.990 --> 00:38:10.779 Teachers: they might be, whatever they can be. Nouns. I want them to describe your identity, though so, who am I? In terms of identity? 316 00:38:12.410 --> 00:38:21.359 Teachers: So not yet, I mean, it could be like woman. I might think of myself as a woman, which is a noun. But it's also potentially part of my identity. 317 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:24.840 Teachers: So just list them in dot points. 318 00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:30.360 So 319 00:39:00.330 --> 00:39:01.590 yeah. 320 00:40:15.500 --> 00:40:17.040 so 321 00:42:52.330 --> 00:43:00.289 Teachers: okay, I'm sure you've all got at least enough to keep working with, for now you can add to it later. If you find the activity useful 322 00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:05.440 Teachers: in your second column, can you put the heading Exceptions 323 00:43:11.970 --> 00:43:13.090 you. 324 00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:27.549 Teachers: The heading for the second column is Exceptions. and what I want you to do is for each of the descriptors that you've put there, or at least for some of them, whichever one's sort of a flow easiest 325 00:43:28.160 --> 00:43:35.920 Teachers: is, write an example of a time when you behaved in a way that was not consistent 326 00:43:36.010 --> 00:43:37.849 Teachers: with the descriptor you've got there. 327 00:43:39.500 --> 00:43:42.679 Teachers: so it might be. You know the time I you might have 328 00:43:43.430 --> 00:43:51.640 Teachers: kind and friendly as descriptors, and except for that time when I yelled at my neighbor for chopping down my tree. 329 00:43:51.790 --> 00:44:03.100 Teachers: so just can just be a few words so that you can identify what's the situation? That was an exception 330 00:44:03.730 --> 00:44:11.219 Teachers: in terms of the way that you behaved. It was not consistent with that descriptor. 331 00:48:50.430 --> 00:48:57.430 Teachers: So when you finish that thought your column heading for the last column is reasons for exceptions. 332 00:48:58.940 --> 00:49:01.870 Teachers: and I want you to just jot down brief 333 00:49:02.470 --> 00:49:03.980 Teachers: indication 334 00:49:05.130 --> 00:49:11.529 Teachers: of why you behaved differently in that instance. 335 00:53:58.480 --> 00:54:06.309 Teachers: So we're talking about selfing. We're talking about the lee brochure. and we're talking about the important 336 00:54:06.950 --> 00:54:11.319 Teachers: ethical act of loosening our grip on this 337 00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:13.639 Teachers: certainty about who I am. 338 00:54:14.370 --> 00:54:18.599 Teachers: So if we think about that first column as our Mi brochure. 339 00:54:18.740 --> 00:54:20.249 or at least part of it. 340 00:54:22.170 --> 00:54:25.550 Teachers: what do columns 2 and 3 341 00:54:25.900 --> 00:54:28.150 reveal to you. 342 00:54:31.900 --> 00:54:36.330 Teachers: Stidelity, consistency. 343 00:54:37.980 --> 00:54:45.350 Teachers: Oh, sorry! Well, in my mind just was not a constant or consistent 344 00:54:45.360 --> 00:54:52.260 Teachers: or stable pattern. And why not? What meant? It wasn't 345 00:54:52.570 --> 00:55:02.050 Teachers: because what's going on in me and what's going on out there keep moving around so causes and conditions maybe interesting. 346 00:55:04.270 --> 00:55:05.960 Teachers: So I am 347 00:55:06.030 --> 00:55:07.590 me. 348 00:55:07.670 --> 00:55:14.859 Teachers: except when I'm not. except when causes and conditions are such that I'm not. 349 00:55:16.540 --> 00:55:18.530 Teachers: What's in the knee brochure 350 00:55:21.370 --> 00:55:24.569 Teachers: other thoughts, insights, reflections. Yeah. 351 00:55:29.380 --> 00:55:38.130 Teachers: My name's Jessica. What really interests me about the reasons for the exceptions are things like desperation, jealousy, rage. 352 00:55:38.370 --> 00:55:40.849 Teachers: are pissed. 353 00:55:43.260 --> 00:55:53.780 Teachers: Yeah, that there's sort of discomfort in a social situation that they are. They are. They are really kind of extreme extreme evidence of 354 00:55:54.720 --> 00:56:03.040 Teachers: being pushed to a limit that is right outside my comfort zone, that is to do with probably not being 355 00:56:03.990 --> 00:56:15.790 Teachers: comfortable about expressing a reality. Yeah, anyways, yes, just very interesting. Just the strength of the words. You know, the exceptions are very. 356 00:56:15.890 --> 00:56:18.020 Teachers: very powerful. 357 00:56:19.060 --> 00:56:26.269 Teachers: often very negative feelings. Yeah, sounds like a lot of reactivity in there. Yeah. 358 00:56:35.440 --> 00:56:36.300 thanks. 359 00:56:36.520 --> 00:56:40.790 Teachers: I'm James. By the way, I forgot to introduce myself yesterday. But 360 00:56:41.480 --> 00:56:52.829 Teachers: I guess with the one thing I was just thinking about there. The traits, let's say I don't know. Thoughtful, or something like I wasn't thoughtful when I was thoughtless. 361 00:56:52.960 --> 00:56:53.860 The 362 00:56:54.480 --> 00:57:08.679 Teachers: th their tendencies right? You can always find an exception. But could we say, like you took a probability distribution? These are the things you know, that are really quite probable about ourselves, but there are will be exceptions, so there is some. There is some 363 00:57:08.740 --> 00:57:20.529 Teachers: probabilistic certainty in those things, but there will be exceptions. It's not certainty, though, is it? No? So yeah, we have patterns. 364 00:57:20.620 --> 00:57:30.199 Teachers: We have personality characteristics. I'm born an extrovert. I'm going to die an extrovert. It's a neurophysiological setup in this body, mind. 365 00:57:30.440 --> 00:57:34.159 Teachers: So I'm probably more likely to 366 00:57:34.170 --> 00:57:39.370 Teachers: seek social stimulation on a more frequent basis, possibly with more people 367 00:57:40.210 --> 00:57:41.510 Teachers: as a 368 00:57:42.390 --> 00:57:46.100 Teachers: as a pattern, but it's certainly not a certainty. 369 00:57:47.050 --> 00:57:50.289 Teachers: So if I think of myself as outgoing. 370 00:57:50.850 --> 00:57:55.100 Teachers: and then somebody calls me boring. 371 00:57:55.970 --> 00:58:01.009 Teachers: Oh, I can be boring. The conditions are right 372 00:58:02.020 --> 00:58:06.020 Teachers: rather than getting hot under the collar about the fact that someone's 373 00:58:06.740 --> 00:58:14.300 Teachers: seeing me as something that's not in this brochure. because I can be the things that are not in this brochure, as I've just revealed to myself. 374 00:58:15.960 --> 00:58:22.729 Teachers: If the conditions are right. then I guess I would say like, Yes, you can have. 375 00:58:22.770 --> 00:58:35.380 Teachers: you know. Is it valuable to have this knowledge about ourselves of being a certain way? But it's the attachment to that, or the grasping, or the 376 00:58:35.530 --> 00:58:46.810 Teachers: the fixed view, or whatever you want to call it, that causes us suffering, the inability to be excepting of the exceptions, I suppose. 377 00:58:47.540 --> 00:58:56.930 Teachers: seeing it as a set concrete thing this is who I am versus seeing myself as a process. 378 00:58:58.550 --> 00:59:07.280 Teachers: And yeah, some of the internal conditions that that affect my experience are personality variables what I call character structure. 379 00:59:07.370 --> 00:59:29.130 Teachers: You know my own set of sensitivities and reactivities that I've gathered over the course of my life through my life experience. They're part of the internal conditions, too. So it's not that they're not there, and it's not that they don't exert an influence, maybe even frequently. 380 00:59:30.660 --> 00:59:32.979 Teachers: but it's not fixed. 381 00:59:34.510 --> 00:59:35.520 Teachers: Hmm. 382 00:59:36.980 --> 00:59:38.640 Teachers: yeah, Leslie. 383 00:59:38.990 --> 00:59:41.839 try and look at you, Leslie, as if because I know 384 00:59:43.140 --> 00:59:59.069 Lesley Synge: Hi, I think, Lori, you assumed we're all just going to write a list of all our good qualities, and that alone, so that you could then, you know, play with that. But I actually wrote some of my bad quality, so 385 00:59:59.370 --> 01:00:01.390 I'm not quite sure 386 01:00:01.640 --> 01:00:08.400 Lesley Synge: what that all means. For example, I wrote that I could be bitchy and smart arsey. 387 01:00:08.790 --> 01:00:15.090 Lesley Synge: and then the exceptions to that, of course. Then I had to expand on that. 388 01:00:15.330 --> 01:00:25.659 Lesley Synge: And I just wrote things like, you know, my dharma practice helps me to pull back from those things. So it's kind of not what you expected. I guess 389 01:00:25.740 --> 01:00:31.439 Teachers: we can be just as attached to unflattering characteristics as we can fluttering. 390 01:00:32.950 --> 01:00:36.490 Teachers: I can make an identity out of being bitchy. No problem. 391 01:00:36.790 --> 01:00:44.070 Lesley Synge: but I wasn't making an identity out of it. I was saying that these are sometimes my passing qualities. 392 01:00:44.390 --> 01:00:57.890 Teachers: so I guess you wanted me to think more that I was always stuck in those things, but I don't feel as if I am. Well, maybe you're not holding on tightly to an identity. Maybe you're not doing a whole lot of selfing. Maybe you're letting 393 01:00:58.140 --> 01:01:06.280 Teachers: yourself be a process rather than getting hung up on a solid, fixed identity. Maybe you're making some progress on that task. 394 01:01:06.590 --> 01:01:21.550 Teachers: Let's hope so. That's all I wanted to say. I just felt that you were making assumptions about I am yeah in the activity I am. But the first one is not an assumption. I was made. I wasn't assuming that that would all be positive. We can definitely. 395 01:01:21.760 --> 01:01:26.589 Teachers: You know, I can be a tough bitch that could easily be someone's identity. 396 01:01:27.530 --> 01:01:33.119 Teachers: I'm not saying it's yours. but we can make an identity out of unpleasant things. 397 01:01:34.990 --> 01:01:44.040 Teachers: I can. I can tell you stories, many of them just popping out of my head. Now, yeah, thanks. 398 01:01:50.390 --> 01:01:53.369 Teachers: Other thoughts and reflections. 399 01:01:53.560 --> 01:01:55.730 Teachers: questions, confusions. 400 01:02:05.130 --> 01:02:09.609 Teachers: I just wanted to say I oops 401 01:02:10.610 --> 01:02:18.969 Teachers: felt that really resonated me with what you were saying, James. 402 01:02:19.090 --> 01:02:23.550 Teachers: about a sort of tendency to lean one way or another. 403 01:02:23.710 --> 01:02:29.389 and also with what sorry I missed her name Lesley Leslie was saying about 404 01:02:30.380 --> 01:02:37.370 Teachers: not really feeling strongly attached, or that I do really 405 01:02:37.780 --> 01:02:49.090 Teachers: care about these parts, but I don't think it's through any particularly fantastic dharma work I've been doing. I just 406 01:02:49.840 --> 01:02:55.940 Teachers: yeah. I don't relate so strongly to that idea of having a fixed 407 01:02:56.730 --> 01:03:00.219 Teachers: being very certain about these things about myself. 408 01:03:00.560 --> 01:03:08.330 Teachers: yeah, I think that's all I wanted to say. 409 01:03:08.890 --> 01:03:11.520 Teachers: Sure. yeah. 410 01:03:14.260 --> 01:03:17.740 Teachers: But I mean, people will vary right in terms of 411 01:03:18.130 --> 01:03:20.759 how strongly invested, we are 412 01:03:20.960 --> 01:03:32.870 Teachers: in this identity, we've cooked up for ourselves. I don't think you're so invested as adequate. I'm gonna 413 01:03:32.910 --> 01:03:37.970 Teachers: we missed it got to eat quick 414 01:03:48.500 --> 01:04:02.990 Teachers: the thing I noticed that was that it's reversible. So what I had for example, I had confident as a general characteristic. But then I thought of an exception, and something that 415 01:04:03.090 --> 01:04:18.000 Teachers: led me to be not confident, and then I thought, well, I could easily have said that I'm not confident, except that there are conditions under which I am. So. What those have too got in common is that confidence is an issue. 416 01:04:18.180 --> 01:04:29.729 Teachers: But whether it's I'm confident, except not always, or I'm not confident, except sometimes, and on different days the story will go different ways. 417 01:04:30.180 --> 01:04:41.750 Teachers: On some days, of course, the issue of confidence won't be there at all, but but where it does come up it's very fluid as to whether it reads left to right or right to left. 418 01:04:41.880 --> 01:04:44.740 Teachers: I mean, that can be helpful in some ways. 419 01:04:45.350 --> 01:04:47.159 Teachers: If if it's not. 420 01:04:47.580 --> 01:04:54.849 Teachers: if you're aware that on any given day causes and conditions. I can feel like this, or I can feel like that 421 01:04:59.030 --> 01:05:04.889 Teachers: as teenagers. We desperately want to fix down an identity because we 422 01:05:05.170 --> 01:05:08.629 Teachers: it feels socially unsafe not to have one. 423 01:05:09.650 --> 01:05:11.370 Teachers: But I do. 424 01:05:12.450 --> 01:05:13.590 Teachers: I do. 425 01:05:13.670 --> 01:05:25.370 Teachers: I see it as an important ethical task before us as we grow. as people just slowly. Let that go, for the reasons 426 01:05:25.910 --> 01:05:28.690 Teachers: that I've outlined. So let me just finish then with 427 01:05:29.720 --> 01:05:35.039 Teachers: So this is the Oh! I threw my glasses on the ground hang on. 428 01:05:39.740 --> 01:05:53.670 Teachers: So just back to the purpose of this is, we're talking about perspective. We're talking about building and integrating uncertainty into our perspective, and how helpful that is, and a particular instance of that being 429 01:05:53.880 --> 01:05:58.159 Teachers: uncertainty about the idea I have of me 430 01:05:58.360 --> 01:06:06.639 Teachers: as a really helpful ethical task to help undermine some of those 431 01:06:06.720 --> 01:06:10.979 Teachers: us and them in group out group conditions for conflict 432 01:06:11.300 --> 01:06:26.610 Teachers: processes. So you probably have heard the the quote with little doubt, little awakening with great doubt, great awakening, I mean, that's in itself got the uncertainty in there. 433 01:06:27.110 --> 01:06:31.039 Teachers: So to doubt, we need to willingly inhabit uncertainty 434 01:06:31.770 --> 01:06:37.829 Teachers: and to engage ethically, we need to willingly inhabit uncertainty. 435 01:06:42.470 --> 01:06:48.599 So that's it for my session. We now have 35 min 436 01:06:49.110 --> 01:06:54.930 Teachers: for any. We had a couple of burning questions. 437 01:06:55.450 --> 01:06:59.679 Teachers: so perhaps if Stephen and Wynton want to come out. 438 01:07:00.980 --> 01:07:02.620 Teachers: we can address those than any other.