Hey! Welcome to Thoughts on Talks!
Tthis is
my soft focus look.
Reverend Mike shinin' the light! And me,
Malayna Dawn, welcome you to listen to
thoughts on Sunday talks
Reverend Mike's Sunday talks, in this case
and yesterday was June 27 no 28 yes and
it's the completion of the mindfulness
for Mavericks for June, and we started
with Just Breathe, then Right intentions,
Right Speech, and this is Right Action...right? Very good and like you mentioned
it has all been very timely even though
these themes were created and the topics
were created last year by a team of
ministerial students, right?
Ministers. Ministers, ok.  Still, they
were created long before we knew what
was going to be happening in the world
and it coincides perfectly, which
tends to happen with people who align
themselves with Spirit, at least every
now and then. When you have a team of
people working that way
it probably happens a lot more often. So,
 Right Action fits right in with
stepping into protests and stepping
maybe beyond protests and and whatever
is next what is the action we need to
take to build our world when we're in
this unknown space.
Yeah, man, this is like
three months now?
March the mid March to
April to May to June, yeah. It feels
longer. I've been saying four months
because that's what it feels like but I
guess we're going
into the fourth month.
I miss the folks.
Yeah. It's challenging too
because I'm trying to come up with
new ways of connecting with people yeah
my mindset is still on the ways that
we've always done things so as we've
talked about My Grandmother's Hands,
maybe getting a group of people to read
the book together and go through the
experiential part together,
Yes. But I'm, I keep picturing it as
people gathering at the Center in the
sanctuary or in the in Sparks Hall and
I'm not sure how feasible that is so
then I have to keep like no no no we
have to come up with different ways to
do it so then I imagine a park or then
it doesn't feel like a safe space to do
you know kind of experiential things
dealing with trauma to bring up feelings
I feel like it needs to be a little more...
Well if we did it in a park and
everybody had a can we get a string and
then we could... We may have to learn sign
language... so that we can talk to
each other while wearing glasses at a
distance yeah yeah it's hard to imagine
really anything because we don't know... I
was telling you off camera I'm working
with a group to put a conference
together that's supposed to happen in
October and it's so difficult to figure
out what are we gonna be looking at in
October it's just a few months away and
everything changes from week to week
it's so hard to know well I can be
willing to put money on the fact that
we're not going to be meeting in groups
of more than one hundred yeah I can take
planning a conference difficult yeah I
mean even a small conference this we
probably had 70 last year and I wouldn't
imagine so many people being willing to
travel this year so I was aiming for
even 30 to 50 which when I told one of
the the people who had
offered to host um he said you think
that many people are going want to
travel in October he was surprised he
thought I was being very ambitious yeah
so well you know it's but the other part
of that to your point I think people
will be ready so I would not be
surprised to see a clamoring for people
wanting to come back to church once we
open back up but we're only going to be
able to have twenty or thirty at a time
yeah they can't touch each other and we
gotta take their temperature and squirt
their hands and make sure they have a
mask and you can't linger no part of the
fun now
I know no although I have been thinking
about maybe maybe we could set up tables
outside hmm you know out in front but
yeah that's the thing so we're talking
about right action and the only way we
can figure out the right action is to
keep checking in with our centers our
spirit our inner guidance and one step
at a time I think there's a Martin
Luther King jr. quote where you don't
have to see the whole staircase just one
step at a time and that's kind of where
it feels like it is so we just do our
best next step even though we can't
really tell where it might be going yes
and I was listening to the governor
today and of course the positive cases
are still rising and the people who are
getting sick that percentage is also
rising hmm even though it's
small eye even though it's a small group
of people per 1000 just thinks it can
get so out of hand so quickly and so
easily yeah
right now they're suspecting that the
reason why the numbers are jumping in
the Sacramento County area is because of
family gatherings mm-hmm and those are
difficult because especially with family
and you know people that want to gather
they usually want to gather and hug each
other and share food and solutions and
hand off each other's babies and stuff
like that right and so they've traced
him back to like you know family
gatherings in that County so you know
anyway it would be a great time for the
introverts who are prefer not to be in
large crowds who prefer because I'm
finding I have a bit of an introverted
side so I'm finding I'm pretty
comfortable with in call and I just done
my first four ray out to do something
social and saw one of my best friends
for the first time in three and a half
months and I think it's because I know
her so well and know her family so well
and I didn't it I didn't feel the need
to hug them like it wasn't difficult
because it's like oh I saw you and hug
you a minute ago and I'll see you later
and hug you later you know it was like
it just felt so familiar but it would
also be I found it okay but it was my
first one my first step out too so yeah
well you know it's just it's kind of the
for right now it's a new normal yeah
here from now hopefully we'll be looking
at this in the rearview mirror and
telling Tate
to the young tales of recovery yeah of
what the world was like when they don't
remember yeah it's it's pretty weird so
you had a lot of great quotes though
from people who shared those quotes a
long time ago and didn't know that it
would be so applicable to all kinds of
things I looked up the Alexander Pope
quote that he shared at the end that
happen if it's a spoiler alert top right
to the end
oh I kind of jammed that in there
because my intention was to pull out a
chunk of it but then you got into it and
you're like well that's just a piece of
it yeah why I googled it yeah because I
didn't hear if you had said who it was
so I'm the type of person that Google's
that so I took little a little snippet
from what you said and just did a search
on my phone what and found it so now I
know it's Alexander huh well and so
Alexander Pope is famous for many things
among them being one of the clues in The
Da Vinci Code yeah so but I loved that
that little poem that he wrote while he
as he's observing the way humans think I
think bring it up and so only that
portion see the inherent brilliance and
the inherent folly you know at the same
time yeah I don't know that it makes
that that great a visual
but and it's one of those because the
language I'll show it anyway because I
mentioned I would and I can mm-hmm okay
maybe I should make it fullscreen there
we go so I typed Alexander Pope in now
let's play rearrange E on the screen e
there we go can you hear the phone
ringing in the background Oh little song
that's good so it was this the whole
chunk that you had planned to share or
was there a part like in the middle I
thought I was gonna be able to cut it
off in the first pair of first few this
but like wasn't able to so I couldn't
figure out on the fly where to stop
right it is challenging proper study of
mankind is man the poem is called know
thyself note and thyself presume not God
to scan the proper study of mankind is
man placed on this Isthmus of a middle
state of being darkly wise and rudely
greats that's a great line with too much
knowledge for the skeptic side with too
much weakness for the Stoics pride he
hangs between in doubt to act or rest in
doubt to deem himself a god or beast in
doubt his mind or body to prefer but
born to die and reasoning but to err I
could have stopped there I suppose
that's kind of a downer I know so you
kept going alike in ignorance his
reasons such whether he thinks too
little or too much chaos of thought and
passion all
confused still by himself abused or
disabused created have to rise and have
to fall Great Lord of all things yet
pray to all I don't think you made it
this far
sole judge of truth in endless error
hurl oh yeah well I think the reason why
I liked it was this idea of mindful
action right yeah I think the reason I
think sometimes we get frozen mm-hmm
in action because we're afraid you know
we're you know we're just afraid we're
going to afraid we're going to screw it
up we're afraid we might be ridiculed
yeah so yeah and I don't relate to that
even this past week I had some work
opportunities come up and it was
different work than I've done before and
the person who offered it was moving
forward quickly and I I just had this
few hours of panic like oh my gosh is
happening so fast and I'm I've never
done this before and I'm not sure I can
and what is expected of me and I had to
talk myself down and say just one step
at a time and it's okay to be afraid
it's the unknown but it's an opportunity
and it's different and see where it goes
well and you know your buddy
Skye Skye Isaac uh yes the musician
writer yes this guy who came in and
saying for the first episode of flourish
yes mm-hmm
of course we talked about divine flow
and divine right action and so forth and
engaging with that you know that that
book that he wrote is an exploration in
the flow of intelligence yeah how we can
access that particularly in situations
precisely like the one you're talking
about
and because there is a and this is this
is the reason why I like religious
science or or new thought because when I
when we first considered when they were
first talking about this idea that
there's one mind mm-hmm right I just
thought well that's crazy my mind is my
mind and we're separate right so your
mind is your mind and my mind is my mind
if it were it was all one mind why would
you know then I should be Einstein right
might yeah I can access the mind of God
then you know what am i doing swinging a
hammer right right and so I got to but
at homes kind of addresses that kind of
he does address that when he speaks to a
trained eye trained mind being more
powerful than an unusual hmm Einstein
was able to access his insight to
relativity because he had a mind that
was trained in higher mathematics that
allowed him to that was trained to think
in abstractions hmm yeah and in such a
way in such a way that people thought he
was wrong and in fact for many years he
thought he was wrong on a couple of key
points within but it turned out that his
insights led to discoveries
yeah there's to me there's a lot of
there's a lot to be hopeful about in
that observation yeah cuz we do have
some very dire things ahead of us like
you know we really do need
you sort out this riddle of white body
supremacy yes right we need to we need
to find the language weeping you know
you and I as you know white people
people of light-skinned and I'm gonna be
speaking to this on Sunday okay because
it's so so rasma make sure this in his
book mm-hmm I also stumbled upon
something else in my reading about the
Victorian age and the emergence of the
British Empire and if we really want to
see this idea of white supremacy another
place to look is India yeah so this
white supremacy is really as its roots
in British imperialism which carried
over in course into the United States
and the British would love to wash their
hands of the slave trade the fact is is
that they were the perpetrators on the
North American continent in the
beginning all of the the colonizing
powers so for example in Sri Lanka
the Portuguese were their first I
believe then the Dutch then the English
and though European colonization and the
oppression that came with it was gradual
over time the English were just maybe
the most recent and also maybe the most
divisive because they did have a divide
and conquer approach know they had
divide and rule yes yes a little
different yeah so that I am living there
I
see that the ideas that came from being
oppressed for generations continue on in
the modern society and so it is easy to
see that those mindsets are as we talked
about an ancestral they're handed down
inherit them and I have a my grandma
goes back to what Reza was saying as far
as those of us again of the European
races hmm or the European bodies because
we're I love the way that he speaks to
you know we really are only one race
yeah what we do have different bodies
yes that our bodies carry within them
trauma that is encoded and it's encoded
within us through our DNA mm-hmm natural
selection yeah well actually if you
think about it it's unnatural selection
because it's the result of you know
centuries and centuries and centuries of
wars on the European continent where
people were fleeing yeah they were
fleeing all of that jive and the carnage
and the violence yes and watching
historical fiction and the ones that are
accurate trying to get a sense of how
violent life was for pretty much Betty
everywhere throughout history and that
we have been very fortunate I guess
maybe it's just part of privilege to not
experience that level of just like daily
violence or threat
but there's it's also just made subtle
it's not overt anymore but it's still
there and I think that's what's bubbling
up now is for everybody to see that it's
still there
well except that we do have people who
did experience that you know enslave
African certainly and their generations
their descendants mmm-hmm
but also in the indigenous peoples who
were here who managed to not be killed
off yeah you know and it's it's not that
you know I don't think it's helpful to
try to affix blame to anything per se
understand how it happened so that we
can know what to address right so this
goes to res m'as point and the many
exercises that he has in his book so so
for instance when someone wants to talk
to when people of color want to talk to
us about white frailty or privilege or
even white supremacy right well the
trigger is I can't be that right I'm not
that right right which which is probably
actually more a reaction oh well I don't
want to be that right that's them yeah
That's not me no this thing thing is
isn't that the same reaction when
someone is accused of a crime they
didn't commit so and that's what's
happening to black people all the time
so but then I think the response then
for a black person who is trying to have
a conversation with a white person is
that they end up having to comfort the
white people so that they can get the
message through well our minutes
got schooled on that one a few weeks ago
on the listserv really yeah yeah so it
was so here we have even within the
ministerial community mm-hmm
where we know better we still say stupid
things we would say things that are not
meant to be offensive for which people
take offense anyway so it's and then
they get called out you know this one
buddy of mine I love them because he you
know he's you know white middle-aged guy
on the upper end of middle age and he's
just putting things out there and taking
this taking the licks for the rest of us
Wow
but it really has been helpful watch
your discussions and then watch watch
him man up go ahead and take it on the
chin and to say I'm sorry and then to
watch the the other person who was
offended to accept the apology mm-hmm
right
yeah I suspect there was probably a
phone call or two but you know this is
within the ministerial circles yeah
we've been talking about diversity
inclusion really ad nauseam right but
the thing is is that you know because
I'm like oh gosh are we still gonna are
we just gonna keep talking about because
this whole social justice thing has been
going on for years because before we
started talking about race concern
we were we as an organization the
greater conversations were kind of
consumed with marriage equality mm-hmm
and gay rights right so you know we've
been speaking to this stuff and you know
there's a part of me like well just go
back to the happy prosperity talking
about how to generate more income and
more increase in our life and the answer
is but see it doesn't have to be
either/or right all the same principle
and then of course underneath all of
that is the awareness for someone like
myself that for me it's an option yeah
side whether I want to deal with it or
not deal with it
and yet I know that if I was a black man
you know that that's just it's just
always there and again rasma does a nice
job of trying to share what that's like
although i think w eb Dubois and his
double consciousness hmm
concept that he developed in the early
20th century right so it's just it's
always there in the back of our minds
yeah so I can't imagine what it's like
to live with that and and then you know
I I just think of all the
african-american people who I know and
love and who I came up with mm-hmm folks
in our congregation and you know
including our Assistant Minister Salam
yeah different families that we have and
then just the guys that I came up with
so whenever this stuff has come up and I
think this is part of that it actually
does tie into mindful action because
part of it was you know if it's not a
mindful action sometimes it's an
unconscious reaction yes right so and I
have you know I don't know if I've
talked to you about this before maybe I
have but it's been significant I ate
with when I was visiting my mom I asked
her about it again mm-hmm because I had
a situation like when I was like eight
eight or nine my hero we lived in these
courts in the Air Force and out of
Dayton Ohio and I lived on Cobb Drive
and it was the enlisted area and my hero
was Bobby Mac
Bobby Mac was you know african-american
they went to public school we went to
Catholic school but you know every day
in the summer we were playing baseball
all right so this is like that that age
when you know you know and not just boys
either I mean in my day girls played
baseball too until they got to be a
certain age I suppose but at any rate so
Bobby was you know he was the stud in
the court and I just really looked up to
him and we're good friends and we were
going somewhere
all these courts head up back to him and
a long sidewalk that kind of tied the
whole back housing area together and
some some Tufts showed up and started
you know picking on him and calling
names and so you were about eight years
old how old were the bullies
and I don't know because my mom tells me
the story right so they took me because
I I stood up to him
mm-hmm Bobby took off to get my mom and
they got ahold of me and took my clothes
off and threw me in the bushes so so
when my mom showed up right I'm like
hiding in the bushes and crying because
I'm all embarrassed and you know down to
my skivvies right mm-hmm
here's but I don't remember it right
body it's stored in there somewhere
right because that's I'm reading this
book on cuz I'm like oh gee I don't why
you know I mean I had friends and stuff
but I I always have had this
the unjust the unjustness of it all and
I don't know if it's because I was
raised that way or maybe this incident
encoded it in you know into my
subconscious because I really don't read
I sort of remember it but I don't really
remember it yeah and so but I think
about things like that and other
instances where I have had the
opportunity to speak up mm-hm but you
know I have to say I was a lot braver
when I was a kid Wow there were other
times that I had opportunities to speak
up as an adult and it just kind of went
along with the Matis quick no it wasn't
yeah anyway I guess what I'm getting at
is that there's room for improvement for
all of us
yeah I think the people who find it
difficult as we've talked about before
people who are raised and taught to
think that way to to see that way to see
others that way to see the hierarchy of
like this type is better than this type
and it happens humans are wired like
this it's how tribes survived so even in
countries where everybody's the same
color of skin they find reasons to look
for different of them and divide it's a
human thing the the part that we're
facing now is that it's gotten to such a
place where we are pretending that we're
a society that is equal and just and
fair and has freedom and yet people are
dying for no reason and it's from the
people who are supposed to be protecting
us and that is
but the like horrifying thing that we
were looking at the Elijah MacLean story
are you familiar with that that's been
coming up a lot in my social media feeds
he was a young man on the autism
spectrum young black man he played
violin he taught himself and he used to
play violin for stray cats so that to
calm them and soothe him because the
type of person he was
he was seen walking home from a
convenience store police stopped him
said he was acting strangely he's on the
spectrum they told him to stop and he
said I have a right to go back to my
house and I think because they didn't
get the reaction that they wanted from
him they kept on and kept on and
eventually did the the kind of holes in
the story I read it was described as
like a pressure on a certain vein or
something I can't remember the name of
it but he passed out two or three times
to be eventually cuffed him there were
three cops and he had ended up with an
injury that took his life within he
ended up at the hospital but he died
within a few days and he actually hadn't
done anything wrong he hadn't even
suspiciously stolen anything he was
walking suspiciously home he was
listening to music so he didn't respond
initially because of that and he I guess
could be seen as talking back or
resisting because he said I haven't done
anything wrong I'm an introvert please
respect my boundaries please leave me
alone
he was communicating clearly and still
ended up dying and that's horrifying
that anybody would be that innocently
walking around doing nothing but just
walking and that's you know you
fear of african-american parents having
to have that talk with their children
saying because you're black you have to
be extra careful of these things and
teaching them how to act when they're
pulled over and to know that now as it's
becoming so clear for everybody that our
friends who have been walking alongside
us where we've heard it occasionally and
thought oh my gosh that's terrible that
you have to deal with that and it's just
a momentary blip in our consciousness
and yet they continue to have to deal
with it and it's just getting worse and
worse
why we all have to step in now because
the thought that our friends could die
that our loved ones that our family
members and our community members could
die I mean we all need to feel the
import of that on so we have we have
this this opportunity with everything
that's going on and we have this bloody
virus underneath everything and really I
think the big question is what what is
the mindful action that we're going to
take that will actually you know because
we've been living so much from outrage
for the last four years yeah from both
sides of the political spectrum which
has been amplified by social media and
by opposing news organizations with
their own biases yeah and then this
crazy thing of this commitment by the
idea in journalism that you you put you
present both sides of a story right well
I think and
it's admirable and it needs to happen
but but both sides of the story also
need to be fact checked all right
that that is the diligence has not been
there for that I don't know why and I
don't know what the answer is well I
think for mindful action right right so
one of the actions that each one of us
can take is to make sure the crap that
we're reposting is that least true yeah
not helpful don't post the damn thing
yeah so have to take that journalistic
integrity that ideal of journalistic
integrity which may or may not be shown
by the journalists right now not all of
them just some of them and do the
fact-checking ourselves and be our own
little news agency when we share things
on social media
- there was a there was a story that was
about a Night Hawk that was shot down in
Afghanistan that had like I don't know
12 or 13 troops American soldiers right
and the thing was you know how come this
isn't making the news hmm right well the
reason why is not making the news is
because it's like three years old right
yeah but without but without
fact-checking I - sent it on and then
one of my friends said yeah Mike this
happened like it 2013 or whatever it was
yeah a lot of people are posting about
Confederate statues being taken down but
that also happened three years ago for a
lot of the articles that are being
Reshard now so the in the context of
today when you see that poster do you
think if the reaction to the protests
that are happening today but it's not it
happened years ago I always thought that
was just stupid I never understood why
we had statues to loser's up all over
the south they lost
that's the power of loyalty to a cause
or you know dedication to a belief
system it's its power when I was a kid
you know cuz I'd have these guys who'd
show up you know they'd have their
little you know that's like a hundred
years ago you got the wrong flag right
all right it's like you know I don't
know you know I don't think there's any
statues to George Washington in London
right that would be something
interesting to think out maybe in France
and say we're our first Ally Oh
certainly Benjamin Franklin's probably
got it yeah you know what I'm saying
that just the idiot it's just the whole
notion is idiotic you know it just it's
just this idiotic notion of the no
bleach of war anyway my charge of the
night the charge of the Light Brigade
rode the six hundred
yeah to their death Tennyson poem like
there's gallantry and blah blah blah
well me think about the history of
storytelling and the power of stories so
this kind of goes back to last week's
talk which was right speech but that the
way stories were conveyed were through
these songs and through you know
minstrels would go from town to town
like this is a long time ago like
medieval for those search of the Holy
Grail right right so this is how humans
actually internalize stories is with
song and with poetry
with storytelling and with you know
statues things to remember history and
you know we could put up a statue
ourselves if we wanted to if you you
know like in art in LA you probably need
to get a permit and stuff but still
there are steps we could take we could
take a statue of anybody and put it up
and it doesn't mean that they're being
honored by the entire country because
that statue is that that man if they got
the permits and they have the money and
they put it up and it it's a long
lasting thing a tribute to whatever and
then you have to deal with the fallout
of the people who aren't gonna like the
statue or or all of that I saw an
article about people defacing Winston
Churchill's statues in London as part of
the black lives matter protests and the
conversation I saw between friends who
have lived in different places all over
the world were that there was a
historical importance to interests in
Churchill I mean he he did a lot of good
just because he wasn't a hundred percent
wonderful human I think that's part of
what we have to wake into is that our
leaders should be good leaders it
doesn't mean they're gonna be faultless
people and so the suggestion that I've
seen over and over again is if we're
gonna take statues down let's put them
in a museum where we can put them in
context like this statue wasn't it this
period of time for this purpose and this
is why it's not out there anymore or
something like that alright so we'll put
them in the Holocaust Museum exactly I
am NOT Dallas saying oh let's have the
museum for the you know right know lads
of the Confederacy there's a hundred
years ago time to get over it join the
Union - I mean history worked at
creating in a more perfect union right
bring your concerns and your cares to
the table you know get over that just
get over your white resentment man
history is the story told by the victors
right the winners so but it's not that
the people who didn't win don't hold on
to some story I mean if you look at
Germany between World War 1 and World
War two they were a beaten people who
was trying to build up their self-esteem
again and kind of took it to an extreme
let's say under there a very extreme
leader and so in that case that's the
story of losing side that very extreme
and of course you always say why didn't
he go straight to Hitler for all healthy
arguments if I was trying not to say it
but that's where I was going but you
know that it was the kaisers arrogance
and hubris that started World War one
also
mm-hmm well it didn't start it but
certainly it was part of it because he
had his own plans for ambitious plans of
course it was Franz Ferdinand being
killed and Serbia and all that that was
everybody did the whole you know a lie
right and next thing you know those are
symbols like the Confederate statues are
symbols of enough of an ideology and
taking them down does not erase the
ideology it might help for future
generations to not know have those
people who were trying to keep slavery
going glorified in the middle of a town
that you have to walk by every day and
but it's the ideology and
changing hearts and minds of the people
alive today we're not going to be able
to erase history and we shouldn't
because we need to know that we as
humans have made all of these mistakes
and all of these progress and and they
think they're correlated that we learned
from this mistake one of the things a
great analogy that keeps coming to my
head is I was married to an airline
pilot and so one of his favorite things
was to watch a National Geographic show
about flight disasters and what were the
things that happened what were the
things that had to go wrong and it's
always a series of things that has to go
wrong before the plane crashes and that
was what I got from that was that it's
not just one thing like it's a cascade
yeah it's like all of these fail-safes
have to go wrong and line up for this
bad thing to happen but what the what
the airline industry does after that is
put in another failsafe and so that's
why we now have the lights along the
pathway in the middle of the plane so
that you can find your way to the door
those didn't used to be there until the
disaster happened that's why they have
you know all these different protocols
and so we have to look at the whole
picture of what was tried what was what
failed what we learned and otherwise if
we erase stuff we're just doomed to
repeat it and try to learn again right
how to teach that and how to communicate
that as our challenge now I don't have
any answers I'm just looking at what
like where to even start we don't have
any statues up for the guy who
discovered COBOL no that revolutionized
the way business is done so I don't
understand why we've got some you know
yeah matches up to rednecks who
I mean yeah they were generals great
right but you know it is a lot of them
went to West Point - mm-hmm so the whole
thing is just it's just absurd it's time
being we just need to get over it
it might take it Janet get rid of the
damn statues and within a generation no
one will even remember they were there
and I don't think that's such a bad
thing
um no and these statues can come up of
you know celebrating different things
yeah like how about the Underground
Railroad ya know or you know then there
are probably statues of Harriet Tubman
somewhere yeah I'm sure
anyway I'm talking out my hat and I and
I understand that but I'm just saying as
a kid I never got it right I still don't
know and and I guess our work our next
action is to help find the people who
are willing to listen willing to take
steps to change and to be more aware and
to connect to create that maybe if we
kept the statues in and just kept
defacing them and let them stay in place
a clinic a cleansing of yeah but how
could it be done that it I mean it could
be used as a conversation starter of
like a place where people who want to
protect the monuments and people who
have reason to take them down and focus
all their conversation on one so you
know in Portland there's a beautiful
golden statue to Joan of Arc
hmm it's in it's over on the east side
near Laurelhurst first it's an older
district and there's a roundabout that
the cars drive around and she's mounted
I have no idea what she's doing there
and it's and it's gold Wow
so I mean to me okay so that's pretty
safe yeah I mean what's his name
Beauregard whatever I don't know but I
don't have roots in the history of the
south really so that it's not it doesn't
trigger any protective mechanism for me
it doesn't trigger any family history
doesn't you know but I it's one of those
flashpoint things but really it's just a
symbol statues are just symbolic and we
have to we're adjusting our connection
to symbols in our society right now then
the the white body black body blue body
analogy and languaging rasma menachem
talks about in his book brings to mind
oh if we're just if those are just the
bodies then we that implies that we're
talking to each other's souls right it's
a soul to soul connection that we have
to heal the trauma is that we've been
somehow taught to believe that we're
separate when really if you look into
the eyes of a person of any color and
you can make that connection through the
eyes the windows to the soul you see
that it's another you know spirit in
there it's a reflection and I don't know
how anybody could have
so cut off to not be moved by that and
it's sad because that means that person
must have had so much trauma one of the
stories I posted to Facebook which you
might have seen it's another statue is a
statue to like the guy who's considered
the father of gynecology and that he
supposedly operated on he bought slave
women to experiment on anesthetic so
before I reposted it I did do some
research and I found in a peer-reviewed
article about taking a fresh look at
medical ethics in that situation and
that you can do a soundbite saying that
he was a an evil doctor who purposely
put these women through pain but if you
look at the bigger story he found women
who had a specific diagnosis and he was
trying out an operation to help them and
that anesthetic was not very they hadn't
had a lot of experience with it then and
it was very dangerous to use yeah so
that's why he didn't use it of course
when he started doing the procedure on
white women after he had tested it he
did use anesthetic but um the women who
he the the slaves that he bought were
suffering without having the operation
and he did eventually was able to help
them I think I mean so their names are
Lucy and ARCA and Betsy and so I think
for now yes there are women protesting
that the statue be taken down but maybe
we should put our focus somewhere else
on the women whose ultimate sacrifices
help to make it possible for women to
have surgeries
save them today so it's just a shift of
focus let's let's try that all of us
yeah well it is you know there's enough
there's enough to work on in the present
yeah we don't need to relitigate the
past that's for sure goddess to the
present so we have to take it into
account because it's part of the
backstory that we're all trying to
unravel and all of our attachments to
those back stories and all of the
traumas that we may have forgotten that
are connected to reactions that happen
today and we all need to tap into that
one mind that knows all and knows heart
and knows spirit and that we are all
expressing and that that's the only way
that we're going to be able to heal this
is to heal that connection within
ourselves and between each other because
we're each that one spirit
remembering that living it helping each
other remember that's the work and to
remember that when you lose you need to
be a good sport about it look at you
getting in that last little um no I
appreciate what you're saying but you
know I was gonna say what if we don't
call it losing but I'm not sure how that
works if you didn't get your point
across to be the point that everybody
agrees with I don't know how else like a
lot of stuff happened right the
carpetbaggers came down and took
advantage yeah of the whole situation
down there black and poor white yeah the
thing that I guess I guess the reason
why I'm just not buying it is because
most of these statues when
you know in the 1890s well after the
Civil War during Jim Crow hmm which was
even more pernicious yeah when slavery
itself because now you're making
everybody practice self-responsibility
but then they're denied equal
opportunity yeah it's it's amazing it's
amazing to me that I heard one woman say
folks are lucky that we're looking for
equality and not revenge as far as this
one that is very heated I mean I I had a
reaction to the word revenge um and the
problem is that the revenge would be
directed toward generations ago acts
that were started generations ago or
revenge on specific individuals well it
was the conversation was around
reparations actually right so anyway
it's it's a complex thing and it's going
to have many facets to be addressed yeah
yeah you know we have to take
responsibility for our own triggers and
our own reactions as we work through the
conversation because yeah and this is
going to take years to get sorted out
right but when you look at Japanese
reparations for the internment that was
fifty years yeah we this cannot wait
that long
this things that we've done much quicker
than that yeah so it seems to me
the first order of business is just to
address the culture of brutality and
militarization within our police
departments but that's just that's just
the surface stuff right we as a people
each one of us just as citizens go
within and do our own work yeah and then
in creating this consciousness of
healing within ourselves and within our
families and within our communities then
it will naturally out picture in these
other areas to to where the culture of
policing itself so one of the things
that I found interesting this week in my
digging around was that you would think
that having more people of color and the
police force would change everything up
but the culture is still the same so
black police officers feel like they
can't speak up because then they'll be
found to be favoring you know the
criminal right oh it's it's a really
it's a really weird complex thing that's
going to I think just a strand at a time
is going to need to be addressed and for
people like ourselves even though it's a
small spiritual community but you know
it's it's big enough to where we can
make an impact at least on on this
little corner of the valley mm-hmm
because it's not just about black lives
either it's you know our Latino brothers
and sisters you know we need if we can
get the race thing figured out and deal
with the immigration
at that same time and figure out how to
get that sorted out then you know we
might actually be able to hit the real
sacrifice that's coming down the pike
which our children are going to have to
deal with and that is climate change
right because we need as a human family
need a total 180 reboot if we are to
survive because we are on the brink of
mass extinction if we don't yeah how do
we bring this teaching right and seeing
not only seeing the positive it's it you
know it's it's more than right yeah it's
about healing it's about healing the
shadow aspects of our consciousness so
that the brightest side of our inherent
being then comes forth courage truth
goodness beauty and these then are able
to come forth authentically is glazing
you know pleasing over the rotten apple
myself yes you did
good job but but so much of so much of
spiritual practice it's too easy to do
that too but yeah
to just you know smear some positive
thinking on it mm-hmm right so the
Conservatives not wanting to look at the
fact that there's a corrupt guy who's
running the show yeah I mean you know
and then there's got some good things
for conservative love a lot yes okay but
it doesn't cut the fat that doesn't
change the fact that the way that he's
operated in the world is deeply rooted
in an unprincipled
oh good egocentric yeah way and it just
has not made for effective leadership at
this level so I mean this is this is the
kind of thing that we're going to have
to be become willing to look at as
people of faith yes as either we're
going to because and not as people of
one particular faith system make it as
broad and truly ecumenical mm-hmm truly
and you know if I don't even like that
faith that that word I prefer interfaith
yeah so much of the ecumenical talk is
just you know waiting time to wait until
everybody wakes up to where Jesus as a
savior and then we can bring in the you
know the golden millennium of when
Christ comes down and so forth which is
it which is a lovely story
but there's no responsive builders no
self responsibility built into that and
you know I think we need to build to
build a society and a life that Jesus
would want to come visit about that and
you might want to you know be able to
actually stick around you know we need a
jet you know you never have company over
until you've done you know I don't want
to get your house clean invite somebody
over yeah oh you want Jesus to come down
and have a second coming then let's
clean this place up and make it a place
but you know they almighty wouldn't want
to come visit let's make it a place that
Gandhi would get bored and he just you
know have plenty to eat and he wouldn't
he have lots of bloomed clothes because
he has nothing better to do he doesn't
have to fight fight he's just like hey
we've all about these natural farms
they're organic we're making handloom
clothes we're meditating for hanging
it's all good all of our martyrs can
come back and be like no I got nothing
to do no chill swim in the lake I'm not
sure that I think as humans and in this
material realm there's always going to
be challenges and we get bored without
them but there are other things we can
focus on so I don't think we're gonna
get bored so have you found this book
sapiens I'm letting you read it and tell
me about it because you'd bring it up a
lot so I figure I'm getting the good
bits
this young I don't because I've been
I've been watching him on YouTube he's
happen is it books like four years old
okay he's an Israeli professor oh he's
young I took this young guys who are so
smart like simon Sinek you know him he's
another one of these guys he's a
leadership training guy it's like you
know he's probably 40 now but he's been
or Wilbur ken wilber right I mean 20
years ago 30 years ago he developed
spiral dynamics he was like you know
guys are like super young and I'm like I
mean influential yeah but he's been
making this connection the reason why
I'm bringing it up is because of your
flourished show and he's talking about
how climate change climate change in the
way that capitalism is currently
practiced are at direct odds yeah to
each other because of course capitalism
uses the resources reign to create
product and so on and so forth so he was
you can to the prot the challenge right
how to bring the obvious there's just
well he likes to talk and do you mention
this earlier which made me think about
it the power of story and the power of
fact he speak not myth but story mm-hmm
and he talks about the story of money
being one of the most successful stories
oh is that simon Sinek no no this is
what's his name from sapiens okay yeah
so he's he's speaking to the idea of the
story of money has been the one driver
that has lifted many people out of
poverty mm-hmm that has really been a
real driver that capitalism has been a
driver of innovation and technology but
that so the next big thing is going to
be you know how to figure out as humans
now become less less involved in in work
because now we're moving out of the
we're now in the post-industrial
revolution because we are now no longer
actually making and fashioning things
and instead moving into a technological
era where there's going to be less to do
mm-hmm
because we're going to Creek because
we're creating machines and data so the
next age is data and the that it's
really quite it I mean he's actually
saying that everything is now an
algorithm that a human being or anything
that we know in this existence mm-hmm is
an algorithm
so I know it's already I think of that
as like the evolution of consciousness
back toward spirit or one mind is is
that the way that we've created
computers and language and the way that
the operating systems are also an
interpretation of how we are in
connection with one consciousness and so
everything is consciousness so in in
computer language everything's an
algorithm everything is binary
everything is you know it it's all
electric impulses and numbers which is
can be you know the language of the
universe it's one way of interpreting it
and communicating it but our
understanding has gotten to the point
where instead of like you said
fashioning things are getting machines
to do it because that industrial machine
era informed the way we as humans
thought about the world that things were
parts and components that put together
to work and that you take them apart
that that the human body was just you
know a heart and a brain and some bones
and now we're coming to this whole sort
of integrated idea of that there is
information behind all of that that
infuses all of it so we know that you
know I'm in the body that it's not just
parts that are disconnected our feelings
are stored in our muscles and in our DNA
and all of that so it's an evolution of
consciousness that we're seeing and so
our right actions to take it back to our
topic
are to assist in that evolution of
seeing and sharing this consciousness
level that we are all one we're all the
expression of one being one
consciousness of one's
and to move back toward an expression
that maybe feels more worthy of that
oneness of the yes I love at the heart
of it right that's all okay that's all
we have to do it's all we do good news
save the planet save humanity save I
don't know everything
bye-bye saving our little part of it
yeah yeah I I just taking the
responsibility to take that right action
that each of us needs to as our
co-creation of this world
well I'm just doing one simple thing
right now as I'm going around wearing
these masks and all that I am trying to
make with my mask on trying to make it
obvious that I am a friendly and loving
guy without being creepy about it so do
you walk around like doing that or do
you mean in the eyes and you talk to
people I just feel like you know since
I'm getting older I just feel like it's
important that people see older white
guys being friendly and nice loving and
open well that's nice of you
yeah well good right action today no out
and be loving even at a distance at a
safe don't share my air man well I think
we've done all we could do today for
thoughts on top yeah so if you didn't
see Reverend Mike Sunday talk go back to
the sea SLT
YouTube channel and watch it there and
we had two talks we've done just two
with Salaam and and remember Nancy this
past week because Reverend Mike was
traveling and Salaam and I didn't cord
me we did Salaam and I both watched are
you showing your wingspan I just realize
how dirty my desk was now we both watch
I shared a Paley Wow look you're wearing
shorts Haleigh center for media shared a
conversation between journalists of
different backgrounds one of them is an
Asian White House correspondent a woman
and then they had a CNN journalist whose
name sounds like he's from a mixed
background and and as Salaam saw that I
was sharing it on Facebook and so we're
both commenting on it so if you look on
my facebook and you can see the Paley
Center for Media conversation with
journalists you can watch that it was
really interesting talking about how
there's no way to tell the story without
you yourself being part of the story and
when it comes up against you know
objective journalism and being part of
the story it was really interesting so
even though we didn't have our own
conversation a Salaam and I were both
participating in a conversation I think
I also put it on my pop conscious page
on Facebook and we will be continuing to
explore how and when we're going to step
into doing something that involves more
of these conversations and leaving it
quite formulated it yet haven't given up
on it right what's that
oh that's the Paley Center
well then the impact of it so this shows
backwards on my screen but does that
show I see it regular I can read the
impact of journalism hopefully the
people who are watching this make their
you can see it like I see it very good
yes and maybe I'll do a flourish - it
seems seems like time is coming I'm
watching a tomato grow so when it gets
to that beautiful stage that might be
the time is right
that will be my sign to slurp it down
now this show and celebrated tomatoes
yes okay great thanks for watching bye
everybody on this I have a great week
see you Sunday love you Mina
