Reacting to ignorance with anger is ignorant - KINSHIP - 12.6.2025

The following is a recording of our live streams that take place on this court, which we call Kinship, because it's a time for us to come together and in real time have very meaningful, expanding and edifying discussions about some of the most important questions that come to mind. If you would like to join one of those Kinship meetings, you will find the link below this episode. You can choose to ask whatever question is on your mind or you can just choose to listen in. I hope you enjoyed the following discussions. So the question of the week was do I have any problems and I ended up coming into a kind of a Jungian perspective. So of course we usually talk about the ego and and then what the impact that it has on our perception of the world. And I tried to split it up. So first of all I looked at the ego and I thought do I have any problems? And then looking solely at the ego I would say yes I do. For example my work is very important to me and I feel very involved in the process of doing it. So if I do anything wrong, I feel it at the same time if I do something right I also feel it. Whereas if for example we take the topic of football or anything I'm generally disinterested in. I wouldn't really say that I have any problems. I wouldn't call myself a bad football player or feel bad if I call myself a bad football player simply because I'm not interested in it. So if I look at the the other side, the subconscious side, I haven't been able to find any foundation for problems at all. It's only the ego that I really felt has had any issues. Let's see here. And you could probably take it a step further you could say it's does the ego actually have any objective foundation? Or is it all subjective? And of course the ego creates its own reality in a sense. So the problems that I face are very subjective. There's no real issues in the world. It's only something that I experience. So to answer the question, I would say that probably one moment, I would say yes, I would say that I will continue to have problems or perceive problems until I undergo some sort of complete ego death and the place I am currently. I cannot say that I have reached this. I still have aspects of my life where I perceive problems even though I've become more more shielded from them, more aware of them. They still come up. I would say that that's probably my my round thinking on this specific question. And wow, I mean that is so amazing. I think we're all thinking that right now just listening to you. What a human triumph it is to say all of what you have just said and to see the true nature of problems, which are you haven't said it in so many words but that they are essentially illusions, right? Because like you mentioned, you would not be offended or see it as a problem at all that you might objectively be a bad football player because you have not identified as that. And so when you don't identify as something, nothing that is in connection to that thing that you have not identified is a problem to you and why should it be? And this ties in beautifully to our last question of the week, which was that are you a caring person or a loving person? And we show that care is anxiety is worry is burden of the mind very different than love actually. And this is sort of like that when we pick up a burden and anxiety or worry, of course the thing that we pick up will give us anxiety and worry. So the question is what is it in us that picks up anxieties that picks up worries? And what is it in us that doesn't do that? And it's so amazing to hear you say all of that because guess what? Most people and when I say most, I mean like 99.99% of people on earth think that they have problems. That they truly have problems that you I know you said you're not perfect and that you still fall into that way of thinking and let the ego sort of tell you that you have problems, but you are already able to see which is the biggest step and really the only step to see that you are not your ego. You are not your identities. You are not your problems. You have problems in the sense that you discussed, but you are not your problems. You see the difference between you and problems. You are not the same thing. And the more you see it, the more you will also see that, well, if I'm not my problems, then I don't have problems. And that will come, right? And we're all dealing with that. And we're all progressing to that. But I think you know I don't need to tell you that you have already done that work, that the rest is just letting it happen, letting it take effect, letting yourself see this fact in your life and in your in your past and your present and your future. And yeah, it's so it's so amazing to see people such as yourself work on themselves and understand these things and see these things. It's our privilege. And that's what we call the work of life. It's so amazing. So thank you very much for that. Was there anything that you would like to add or something else that you wanted to discuss? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. Now that we are having the conversation. So one thing about the ego that I'm also wondering here. To me, it's not entirely apparent that the ego is ultimately a bad thing. I've been a long time listening to you. I think I've listened to you for roughly a year. And I've also listened to these kinship meetings. For the most part, it's what been a while I've doing and doing something else. For example, while I've been working. So I must be completely honest. I haven't given these meetings my full attention, which I would like to change. But when it comes to the ego, I'm not entirely apparent that it's a bad thing. Completely. For me, it can be. I see sort of as a compass on the things that actually matter to me. For example, I want to be a good partner. I want to be a good worker. I would like to be. Well, the list goes on. I could continue. But I don't think that that's to anything. I think it's dangerous to completely 100%. Let the ego take over. Then we go into these issues where, as you say, as we've previously talked about, issues become overwhelming. Our personality or persona becomes broad. So I also think it's important to put energy into our spiritual and our consciousness side, or at least become aware of it. For example, I don't think that our ego has any influence on our subconscious. Maybe it could be argued that it doesn't dream. But I would disagree. For example, I made it to this also in relation to the question, if I were to be in a competition of holding my breath, I could continue until I would faint. But afterwards, my subconscious would take over. Even though my ego would want to win this competition, it has no apparent effect on this subconscious. There certainly takes over and tells me to breathe. Perhaps I'm completely okay. And perhaps also a bit of a rant. But I think everything is about balance. I don't think there's any extreme that is correct. To me, it seems to also be apparent for both the ego and the unconscious. You can't have one of the other. You have to have a balance of both. And that's been what I've this last year on this journey that I have both listening to you and in my reading has brought me to. Yeah, and thank you for that. Thank you for bringing that up. Thank you for your insights. Thank you for sharing your experiences with that. It's all extremely valuable. And we as a great discussion, we definitely want to talk about that, right? Because it does. First of all, the word ego means a lot of things to a lot of people. And as you know, I don't like jargon. And even though I myself say ego a lot, I try to always define it. Right? Usually when I say ego, I add to it that ego to me means there's the self. There's the false self. There's the you. There's the not you. And the ego is the false self. The ego is the not you. And so I know that sometimes when people say ego, they're talking about some Buddhist concept of, you know, there's the bad ego and there's the good ego, such and such things like that. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that this is exactly why I don't like jargon. It's because we think we're using a word that summarizes a lot. So we were saving a lot of time and energy, but what it's really doing is by us, even though we're using the same word, we mean different things. And that cannot be helpful for communication. Right? That's why I'm against jargon. And so I define the ego exactly as I've just done. But beyond that, I think, I think even with that definition, I think a part of you believes that some of the ego is good or necessary or whatever it may be. And so let's get into that. That's exactly the discussion that I would like to have that I think is very valuable. First of all, I want to ask because you mentioned it several times. Who tells you about the whole concept and idea of the unconscious? I think most of it comes from a Jungian perspective. And what good has it done you? And this is not a hypothetical question. I'm seriously asking this, what good has it done you to be told about the unconscious, to think about the unconscious, to give it any room in your life whatsoever? I think that's also a very good question, because often I have to ask myself that when I look into something, I like to go into details, but they can also become a bit, they can give a bad perspective. I would say on the focusing solely on the unconscious. I have to be honest with you. I can't say that it's done that much good. I can't say. I've been trying to in my meditations, I've been trying to use it as a medium. But in the real life world, I don't really think that it's done that much good. Yeah, isn't that amazing? And this is the issue, this is the issue with, I don't want to say with any particular thing, it's just our human nature. We want to understand, we want to know, right? And so there are all these theories, all these ideas that people have. And once again, one of the biggest gift privileges that we have is that is the gift of literacy, of writing, of speaking, language, written, spoken, whatever. And so we write books about all these ideas. But we never, and when I say we, I mean all of us, as well as humanity as well as, I mean anything, right? We as humans. Don't test them in experience. We enjoy learning what we think is learning about new things. And in many ways, we also enjoy the simple fact that we know something others don't know about. And so every time, not every time, I wish it was every time because I'm flawed in this way too. Whenever I learn, quote unquote, something like, like the unconscious or anything like it, in any book whatsoever, I try to make sure that this is actually something that as soon as I learned about it, I started living a different way. And that new different way was superior to my former ways. And if it's not superior, if it's not better or even if it's worse, I make sure to drop it and to never think about it again. And to me, and again, everyone's welcome to question me on this, question themselves on this and to have a discussion about this. To me, the whole idea of the unconscious is such a thing. It's an intellectual concept. It sounds good. It sounds interesting. But at the end of the day, what good does it do? And that's why I meant that question. It's not a hypothetical question. It's not a sassy question, right? I really do want to know because if it has done you any good, then I will look into it. I will study it. I will devote a lot of time to it. I've looked into it partially. I've read young. I've read man and his symbols, right? And I found not enough of that experiential real life value in it to pursue it any further. And so that's why when I hear you talk about it, I want it to know if you think about it, if you meditate on it, if you study it because it has added any real value to your life or just because it's something, you know, again, that sounds good. If it's no good, if it has done you no good, I recommend, I suggest that you drop it, that you don't think about it because again, it has no effect other than the effect that you give it. And so this idea of the unconscious, it didn't do you any good, like you are saying, if it did do you good, you wouldn't know about it, by the way. And that's why I asked you a question also. Does that make any sense? Yeah, complete sense. Yeah, drop it. Don't think about it. Don't think about anything that doesn't add value to your life and has a real impact. And so, but the ego very much does have a real impact on your life, right? And so we can discuss if all of that impact is good, if all of it is bad or if it's a certain mixture. Let's talk about that. And let's not at all bring the idea of unconscious or anything in there, okay? So now that we have, at least for this discussion, stripped that away from the idea of ego, what part of the ego do you think or do you think it might be good or it might be necessary? First of all, let's make that distinction. Do you think any part of the ego might be good or it might be necessary? Which one do you think it is? Do you think it might be? Just before I answer that question, I'll come back to it. I just want to say that actually what you've been saying now, it's almost like it's been given me a relief, a mental relief. I will try to use this kind of filtering more, also for other aspects that I've been focusing on. It's amazing, isn't it? I think it's a really, really good perspective you gave. So thank you. Yeah. So you asked if it's not bad. No, sorry. No, go ahead. So you asked if part of the ego, I can say that good or necessary. That is also a really good question. Really, really good one. I would say, again, some part of me says that it's still about balance. The ego doesn't become good if it identifies too much with something. I think then it can become quite bad. You've made multiple examples also in your videos and I've heard multiple examples in these kinship meetings. It's a really, really good question. Yeah, because you keep saying, if it identifies with anything too much, it becomes a problem. That, to me, indicates that you believe at least that there might be the possibility that there's a right amount of identifying with something or a good amount or again, a necessary amount, whatever it may be, but that it is in any way justified. So can you think of an example or of why it is good to identify with anything external, of course, why it might be necessary, why it might be good, to any extent? I think perhaps you can bring home the point of responsibility. I'm going to use my work as an example because it's comprehensible to me. It's probably the thing that I, that my ego is strongest in, at least in this part of life. For me, again, it's a two-sided coin. You asked if it was good. I think it can sometimes be good. How? It gives me a drive. There's a sort of progression in the things that matter to me. I would say that the ego gives me a drive when I'm involved in something that I feel responsible for and I feel part of. On the other side, if I do something that in some way negatively affects that, or if I receive criticism or the likes, I can also take it home with me. It can be a part of the daily struggle that I have. It can both lift my day completely and it can completely ruin it. And I know that external factors like that having such power, it's not healthy. In fact, I think it's very easy. No matter whether I do see that whenever the ego uplifts you, or whenever the, whenever the ego or externals rather bring you down, that power of them being able to bring you down come entirely from the fact that they have uplifted you prior to that. You know what's funny? I just realized something. The original thing I wanted to bring up today was the difference between peace and happiness. And my question originally was, it was apparent to me that many they searched for happiness. I recently read a book in regards to Hinduism where the term happiness kept being used. And I was wondering why that was the case, because if happiness is a goal, you're also accepting that there's going to be bounds of unhappiness, whereas peace on the other hand is, is completely neutral. There's no 100% 100%. And I think I just recommend to you that you listen to the last kinship meeting if you're, if you haven't already because that's where I really dive into the idea of up and down the roller coaster of up and down, which when we attach ourselves to the externals, we get on that roller coaster, right? Because externals are externals for the very fact that they are not under our control. Anything under our control is an internal. It's ours. So an external necessarily something that's not in our control, but that we attach ourselves to. And when you hang on to something that has its own mind, that has its own things happening in its life, then you're pushed and pulled and dragged up and down with it. So everything that can touch it is now able to touch you. Everything that uplifts it, uplifts you now, and everything that brings it down, brings you down. And happiness is often sought to be that upward motion of that roller coaster. And every upward motion necessitates the downward motion. And people are happy to go down with it because they are hoping to go up with it again. But just like you have pointed out, and this might be one of the greatest discoveries of humanity and you as a human being that you have made, is that peace is a state of being, which is not up and down, but constant. And that constant is not below the roller coaster. You know, one might say, "Okay, a constant is nice, but it's below any high, the roller coaster can give you." Not true. The high and low of the roller coaster is completely in a different separate place than the constancy of peace. The constancy of peace, I always say, is above and beyond the roller coaster all up and down. It has nothing to do with it. And so the ego is the one that promises you to take you out. And you sacrifice to it. And you trust it and you believe it and you give yourself to it in hopes of that. But you know, that's almost a separate point of discussion, although, of course, very, very important and very amazing. What I heard before, yeah. Sorry, yeah, I wanted to also bring it into the talk of ego and work and everything. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And I heard you before saying that you think that ego to some extent might be good or at least necessary because it gives you the drive, right? So I want to ask you, and this is very important, you circled into the core of the matter, really. I want to ask you what you need drive for, what you need motivation for that the ego gives you. You're asking how the ego helps me move forward. Yeah, you said it gives you a drive, the motivation to accomplish certain things, right? To do certain things. What's an example to that that the ego gives you the drive that is necessary for you to accomplish? What? Mainly emotions. It's funny, the primary emotion that comes up is actually fear. The fear of losing something, or the fear of not being enough for something. Who requires you to be enough for something? I put that responsibility on myself for the most part. So it is you who requires it. Yes, I think it is. So every time you fail to be enough, it is you who has made you fail. But since you required it, since you know that you required the thing that you can succeed or fail at, right? Whenever you fail at something, who is disappointed? That's me. Right? And this is where I want to tell you, it is not you who required that of you. And it is not you who rejoices when you succeed. And it is not you who is disappointed when you fail. You have identified yourself with the ego. This is why you were advocating for the ego. This is why you were saying some of the ego is good. Some of the ego is necessary. It gives me the motivation. It gives me the drive to succeed, which I myself have burdened myself with. God didn't require that of me. God requires nothing of you. And when I say, God, I mean truth, reality, the universe, the universe never, ever required anything of you. Never. And it is never disappointed with you. And it has never judged you. And it has never made you suffer. And it has never put you on that roller coaster and given you a high, only to give you a low and given you a low and then make you hope for a high. It has never done that. You're calling the ego you, which is exactly the plan and the only hope that the ego has to live inside of you. Because once you don't call the ego you anymore, you throw it out. You have no room for anything that is not you inside of you. Only you can exist within you. And so the ego's only hope is to delude you into confusing it with you and you with it. And every time you think you need to be a good friend, you need to be a good worker, you need to have a career, you need to make something of yourself. It's the ego requiring that of you. Because whenever you still need to make something of yourself and you haven't achieved that yet because every single goal, every single desire, every single wish is always in the future. It is never now. As long as you haven't accomplished something yet, you are not complete yet. And the ego, just ifies itself by telling you that it will complete you if you give yourself to it. And it comes up with new goals and new desires every time you achieve or fail one. It's never going to stop. Because its existence is in transient things. The ego does not know of eternity because peace is eternity. Peace is happy now. It's in the moment. It is content now. It was content in the past and it will be content in the future. In fact, it knows not even of the concept of past and future. It is always in the now. Whenever you have been peaceful, whenever you have been content, you have been away from your regrets and your past pride, your past successes, as well as your future dreams, wishes and worries. The only times in your life you were content was when you were away from the past and the future and when you were living in the now, when you were present, which is exactly where peace dwells. But the ego exclusively dwells in the past and in the future. And so every time you say I am not yet complete, you're listening to the ego. Every time you have a desire unfulfilled and a goal not yet succeeded, you're listening to the ego. Because as the question of the week makes you think and you have already said this and you already know this, it is the ego that pushes you into forgetfulness about this. You don't have any problems. You only allow the ego because the ego keeps promising you that it will fix your problems in the future. And that you need fixing due to your past, all the regrets you have in your past, everything you've done wrong in the past. And you mentioned fear, which is the one and only tool that the ego the devil has. It says, if you let go of all your identities of being a good worker, of being a good parent, of being a good son, of being a good friend, who will you be? It feels like you're going to evaporate. If you really let go of all your identities, it feels like you're going to evaporate, you're going to just disappear, you're just going to fade into nothingness, you're going to stop existing. Isn't that what it feels like? That's what fear tells us. And that's the only reason why we stick with the ego and why we defend the ego, why we say it might be necessary to some extent. It gives me the drive, it gives me the motivation, but fear is an illusion. Because when you turn on your reason, when you are aware, you know exactly that you can do everything that you can do with fear, without fear. You say fear gives me the drive, the motivation to succeed at something. Every single thing that you can do with fear, you can do without fear. People say the same thing about every emotion. They say anger gives me motivation. When something is wrong in the world, it makes me angry, which in turn gives me the energy, the motivation, the drive, the compassion to go and do something about it, to go and fight injustice, and to go fight for justice. And that's why they let anger in their lives, and that's how they justify it. Every single thing that you can do with anger, you can do without anger. Because if you are guided by justice, what other choice do you even have than to do what is right? What do you need anger for? If anger tells you you see criminal activity, what can anger tell you that reason cannot, that justice cannot, make sure you see the license plate, make sure you remember their description, call the police, give a clear and lengthy description of everything you've observed, and then pursue whatever legal action you need to do. You hire an attorney you need to file these certain papers, you go through the process and you do what you need to do. If anger tells you that, don't you think reason, logic, awareness can tell you that? And in fact, isn't reason much more clear headed, level headed, patient understanding, logical and smarter than any anger that you've ever experienced? And so how could it be possible that anger is a good thing? How could it be possible that fear is a good thing? Anger, as Seneca says, is temporary madness. Whenever we're angry, we do things like an actual crazy person. We never approve of what we've done in anger. But in the moment, we let it happen because we say, this is natural, this is normal, this is necessary. Without anger, I would just accept this injustice. I would just let it happen. And the guilty people would get off scot free without any punishment. So of course, I need to be angry, otherwise, I'll just, I'll just let it happen. I'll just let it go. Not true, justice, which you are one with when you are reasonable and aware already tells you exactly what right is and what wrong is and what needs to be done. Anger is only after vengeance. Anger does not know anything about justice. Anger only knows about an eye for an eye and it leads you into doing the exact same wrong thing that was done to you. And anger people to think that that is justice, that an eye for an eye is justice. But anger only makes turns you into that which you hate. Someone takes an eye from you and you take an eye from someone else and you've just become what you hate. You've just become your enemy because your enemy was angry too. Everything that they have done was out of anger. There's no person in the world who's aware, who's reasonable and who does anything wrong or regrettable. And fear is the same thing. Your enemy acted also just out of fear. You think anyone calmly, logically, goes and does anything that anger is anyone or that is against justice. Do you see how ego makes itself look like it's necessary and even at least partially a good thing and makes us defend it? And that is the only method and possibility of its existence within us. It's pure at least, much care. It's given that this is given a lot of everything that you can do with fear, you can do without fear, everything that you can do with anger, you can do without anger, everything that you can do with the ego, you can do without the ego, and in fact, you can do it much better. There is nothing that reason awareness cannot do better than the ego because the ego is unawareness. The ego is all emotion as you yourself have pointed out. And whenever we are emotional, we are unaware. We're being dragged by the rollercoaster and we don't know what we're doing. And in fact, we purposefully let go of control. And we think the ego knows better, the external things know better. Yet at the same time, we also try to control them. It's madness. It's madness. Realize that the universe, God, whatever you believe in, whatever you think is the right word, requires nothing of you. And that all your desires, your goals, your dreams, your disappointments, your resentments, your regrets, are your own. You put them there. Every requirement, every obligation comes from you. It does not come from other people because although other people say that they require things of us, they have no right to require anything of us. Just like you don't have the right to require anyone from anything else, right? No one owes anyone anything. And so if other humans don't get to require anything of us, and God, the universe, does not require anything of us. Who is it then? Who puts all these painful, up and down duties, requirements, obligations on us? It is us. And if it is a point of resentment to you, if it is a point of suffering to you, why do you put it on yourself? Because it's necessary. It is not. Other people don't get to say that and God, the universe does, does not say that. So it is you who says it's necessary. So are you going to keep saying it is necessary because I say it is necessary and I say it is necessary because it is necessary and it is necessary because I say it is necessary. Or are you going to go into finally realize that that necessity comes from an illusion within me and that I put all these worries and anxieties and problems on myself. This is why to let go of the ego, which is identity. This is why to let go of identity because identity puts requirements on you, but you are the one who puts identity on you. And identities are not necessary. They are not good, one bit. You are not your ego. You are not your trauma. You are not your past. You are not your future. You are not your body. You are not your work. You are not your name. Your age, your nationality. You are not what happened to you. All right. It does. It does. I have taken up a lot of time now and I see there are also a lot of people here. I have a single thing left and perhaps it might be a silly question. But now that we are having this talk, I have a question for you. Why do you think that the ego exists in the first place? Because the shadow exists. There is light in the shadow. It is the fundamental contrast in the universe, light and shadow. And when I say light and shadow, I literally mean something. I mean the shadow is unawareness and the light is awareness. If you notice you, you know, I sometimes don't want to say this because people then go on identifying with that. But there is a real you. You know, there is a real you. That real you is what is listening to me right now. And the real me is the one who's speaking to you right now. That's it. That's all we truly are. And what is it that is listening to me right now? It's attention. You are not your eyes. You are not your vision, but you are that which uses the vision to go find a book in the bookshelf. You are not your senses. You are what makes sense of sense perceptions. Right. When you are looking for a particular book in your bookshelf, your eyes are giving you the vision of the bookshelf. But you are not your vision. You are the one which scans the vision, the image that it receives for a particular book. That scanning, that looking is attention. That's what you truly are. And attention is awareness. And if you notice every single thing in the universe has awareness. Humans have awareness. Animals have awareness. Plans have awareness. It's different expressions of it, different forms of it. My awareness is not the same as my dogs awareness, but it is the same awareness in the sense that there's only one awareness. And if you think about it, even the laws of physics, what we call the laws of physics, what we see them as, this is just our interpretation, but they do exist also, is a kind of awareness. Because there's not a single object in the universe that gravity does not act on if it's supposed to act on it. There's no single object in the universe that is supposed to be falling right now, but gravity forgot about it. So it's just hovering in the air. There's not a single thing like that in the whole universe. So that's in a way of form awareness. And the billions of other things that we just don't know about as humans, right? We don't know hardly anything, but we can see certain things. And unawareness is the absence of awareness. Bad is not itself a real existing thing. There's no such thing as bad, really, and it's by itself on its own. Bad is the absence of good. Shadow is the absence of light. You can shine a flashlight into darkness, but you can not shine a darkness flashlight into light and create shadow. And this is sort of the point where language starts to fail us, right? Because it's limited. But ego lives in unawareness. So ego is just the absence of something that's supposed to be there. You are supposed to be there. And light displaces the shadow, right? Whenever there is light, there is no darkness. It cannot be. And so you are that awareness which goes unaware when you exit. And wherever you are not, the ego is. Wherever you are not, the ego is. And so that's not necessarily why the ego exists. I don't know why it exists. I don't know why there is any room for shadow. Although, if everything was light, we could not see anything. Did you ever think about that? If everything was good, we would not know what good is. And we could not act in accordance to it. We could not see anything. We would literally be blinded by the light. If there was only light, we would not be able to see anything. If there was only right, we would not know what wrong is or what right is. And so this is sort of the way that ego exists. It doesn't truly exist. Does that make sense? It dwells in the absence of something else. That's not real existence. It's not real being. You are the real being. Awareness is the real being. And unawareness. Although it is there, it does not take its existence from itself, but from the absence of true existence. That which has existence of itself. That's why the ego needs you to survive because it does not have existence of itself of its own. And that's why it's trying to live in the bodies of real things, really aware things. And as much as it can get from your awareness, whatever you leave room for it in terms of unawareness, that's where it dwells. And it wants more and more and more until you're completely unaware. And I know I'm personifying the ego here, the awareness here. I told you this is where language sort of fails us. I would like to be as precise and clear sounding as a young in his books. But as you see, a lot of those things don't have any real experiential value in our lives. Whereas the ego where very much does, and even though we language fails, we see the real effects in our lives. And so while this is not precise or scientific in any way, when you shine a light on darkness, darkness disappears. And that's truth. And I could never write a doctoral thesis on that and have it accepted. But truth is larger than what happens in academia, right? And truth is larger than science. And truth is larger than we'll ever know. All I do know is light displaces darkness, but darkness cannot display light. It can only hope to dwell in its shadows. And if you don't leave it any shadow, it cannot exist. If you shine the light of reason, awareness into your being, you will be all light and you will be all peace. And absence will be absent from you. I think it's been a very long time since a conversation has left me so physically drained. I feel it now after we've had this discussion. I think that must mean that there's a lot here to look into. I want to say thank you very much for taking the time. Thank you for taking almost an hour of focus. Yeah, and that's fine. That's just how it goes. And that's all you need to do. And again, need and quotation marks, because there's no battle word for it, as you know, there are no requirements. But if you want peace, if you want awareness, then this is what you need to do. And all that you need to do is to just sit with it, be with it, live with it. Nothing's required of you in terms of oh, you need to figure this out by next week. By the next kinship meeting, I want you to have figured ego out. I'm not allowed to say that to you, and I don't want to. And the universe doesn't say that to you. You take all the time you need and you have the right to not do it as much as the right you have to do it. It's all up to you. This is your human privilege to think about these things, to live with these things, to accept or reject these things, or to not have any opinion about them at all. This is your human privilege that as far as we know, no other animal experiences. And so why forget these privileges for the demands of the ego? It just doesn't make any sense. So I thank you very much for this question. You cannot talk about something for an hour that does not click with people. And so clearly we discuss something that is relevant to all of us, to every human being. And that's where its value is. And time really is an important time is another illusion, but we'll get to that in a different time. So I thank you very much. I'll move you to the audience just like because like you said, we want to see what other people have to have to say to this, to the question of the week and to everything. So I moved you back to the audience, but thank you very much for that discussion. That was amazing. And we're very grateful for your attention. And we hope to hear from you again, of course, although no requirements as you know. And I will take I think right away our next speaker will punch to get to and I've sent the invite. Hello. Hello. Excellent profile picture there. Thank you. It's from Michael Cutser, I think. Yes. I discovered him through you. And I liked some of his pictures in Momenta Mori. And I was like, oh, I like this one. I'm putting this as my profile picture. Yeah. For anyone who's listening, who's unable to see Fahad has a profile picture from my friend who is now deceased, who was an artist, a phenomenal artist, whom whose work I've been using on the website. If you ever go to accepting the universe.com, all the little images for all the little separate little pages are of his work, Momenta Mori, as you know, which means remember, you must, you must die. Remember, you are a mortal. So it's a bunch of skeletons doing different things in each image. There's a skeleton, for example, that or an image that talks about marriage, essentially, where someone is, I think the groom is a human regular human being and on the bride is a skeleton in a wedding dress. And it sort of makes you think about, you know, marriage is a mortal thing. So to speak, right? This, it's sort of like that saying, this too shall pass. That saying is always used when something bad happens, right? People say, oh, well, you know what? This too shall pass. But that's only half of it. The other half is that all so-called good things it applies to them too. This too shall pass. And so he was an amazing artist. I all, I recommend to all of you to sort of check out his little website that I made for him some time ago. If you go to the except in the universe.com and you see one of those little images right next to it, it has a little link. It says artist info. If you click on that, you will be led to his website. His name is Michael Cutser, K-U-T-Z-E-R, where you can just go to MichaelCutser.com. So I was just great to see that. So thank you very much. But go ahead. Yeah. I just want to say it's my first time speaking here. Welcome. And I want to thank you for creating this community. I feel it's like a pier where all of these different ships come to on the weekend. Some lost, asking for directions, and other bringing their adventures with them. And so my question today is I want to share one of these adventures and of my experiences that I had. Yeah. And so we went to this work experience with the army as a part of our college trip. And with the on there, we basically did activities relating to the army like making camp, taking up formations in army gear and everything. So one day we were going to make camp for the night. And we had all of these army kits with us like the backpacks with their tents and everything. And before we actually pitched our tents and made camp, we were supposed to take formation. So I as the hypothetical gunner in this scenario, I had to post up beside a tree, lay my backpack down, get on top of it with my fake gun and knock out into the forest into the hypothetical where the hypothetical enemy might be. So after that activity, we had to make our tents and they told us to leave our bags right where they were. And so while we're making these tents after we're done, they told us to get our bags. So I go to where I left my bag and I see this person who is pitching their tent on their own, that was where I left my bag. And so I go there and I see two bags there. We had a bag assigned to us. We had each of us had our own specific number. So I lift up both of the bags and I'm looking for my number, which is two, but I don't see it. And this person, they stop what they're doing and they turn their attention towards me and they're like, what do you think you're doing? And I'm like, oh, I'm just searching for my bag. I think I left it here. And they're like, no, this is my tent. What would your bag be doing here? Obviously, it's not here. And they just turned, they just had this out of nowhere aggression towards me. And I was really taken a bag by it because it was completely out of nowhere. And then they also made a sarcastic remark saying that people have to use their brains. And I was just sort of taken a bag by it because this was where I left my bag. And then turns out somebody had taken my bag and bought it to my tent without me knowing. So my bag was actually there, but someone just moved it. And so I didn't really say anything. I thought to myself, you know, this person is working on their tent alone, probably frustrated. I don't know where their partner is. And they're looking for an outlet to, you know, express that anger and they just saw me and took that opportunity. And then it was something that I couldn't control. And so I didn't really let it affect me that much. But it got me thinking about the bigger picture, about the fundamental question that how should you deal with ignorant people, with ignorance and aggressive people? How should one deal with it regarding to on stories and more philosophy? Yeah, the excellent question. And thank you for that story. It's just something, even though we might have never experienced it, we experienced a version of that all the time. And we will, right? It's always still in our future for that to happen. And whenever we deal with so-called ignorant people, we should have a set of things, I think, I mean, there's just my suggestion, right? And there are many ways to do this. But I think there should be a set of things that we remind ourselves of. Very simple. It doesn't take any intelligence, any whatsoever. It just takes dedication as truth generally it does. And the first thing I would immediately ask to that is, when you say how to deal with ignorant people, I want to ask, have you ever been ignorant? I won't say I've never been ignorant, but definitely I have been. Right. Especially before I discovered philosophy and stoicism. Yeah. And when you have been ignorant, or every time when you make a silly little mistake, it's out of ignorance, right? So we're ignorant a lot actually, maybe every day. Do you know from yourself that whenever you did something ignorant, did you do it with intention, meaning did you know what you were doing and you did it out of a malicious intent? No. I wouldn't say that. I did it intentionally. Right. Because it's ignorance. Ignorance by its definition is the opposite of intentional. Isn't that amazing? Intentional means aware, unintentional, ignorant means unaware. So this is the first thing to realize about anyone and everyone who is being ignorant, right now that we have to deal with. They literally don't know what they're doing. And they don't know that they are doing it. And yes, we are all responsible to know what we're doing. Right. You can't just say, "Oh, I was ignorant. I was unaware." And so you have no responsibility. Of course you have responsibility. But nevertheless, everyone who is ignorant is ignorant. The very reason why we get upset with people we say is because of their ignorance. Well, if we know that it's ignorance, we also must remind ourselves that ignorance is the same exact thing inseparable from unawareness. So how can you be angry with someone who has confused awareness with unawareness, right with wrong? And also how can you be angry with someone who is doing something that they don't want to be doing? Because do you really think that ignorant people want to be ignorant? No one wants to be ignorant. We know that from ourselves. We don't want to be ignorant. We want to be smart. We want to be capable. We want to be competent. Right. So no one wants to be ignorant. So consequently, whenever you do see someone who's ignorant, whenever you have to deal with someone who's ignorant, no for a fact and without a doubt that they are in a condition that they don't want to be in, they are confused. And even if they seem very confident, they're scared. And they're conflicted. And they have confused the right with wrong. And kindness with harshness. And once you know this reality, I'm not even going to say once you think about it like this, but once you know this reality from yourself, every time you've been ignorant, you know for a fact that you've never, ever intentionally been ignorant. And that every time you were ignorant, you were in a state that you yourself did not want to be in. The harm you caused to others is the least of your worries when you're ignorant, right? You have much bigger problems. The problem being that you don't know who you are, where you are, what you're doing. And so you can't hate anyone. You can't be angry with anyone who is in this sorry state, right? If anything, ignorant people should receive your pity, not your anger. And I will immediately follow that up with that pity is absolutely no good either. But it is better than anger if you have to think about it that way. I'm not against crutches. I'm not someone who thinks that we should either be imperfect or perfect. I do think that crutches so long as they are always used for improvement and not to say, "Okay, well, it's better than this and that's good enough." But if it's used for improvement, I'm all for crutches, okay? If I can get myself away from anger, I will do that by any means necessary. And if that is pity, then I will use pity. It's better than anger. And once I'm with pity, I will say, "How, eh, by any means necessary, can I get away from pity?" And so on and so forth, right? But the first response to ignorance is always anger. And so let us remind ourselves of the fundamental truth, fact of ignorance, that it is unwilling. It is an unwilling state. It is a conflicted state and it's an unconscious state. And someone who is doing something that they themselves don't want to be doing and who's deeply confused and afraid and conflicted is not someone who deserves or anger. But if anything, if you have to feel anything, deserves your pity. And as soon as you pity someone, if you are not completely dead within yourself, right? Which in that case, someone else's ignorance is the least of your problems. You will immediately feel compassion with someone whom you pity. Right? Anyone who's pitiful is in a state where you want to help them because you see that you yourself are often in that pitiful state. You would not be able to recognize a pitiful state if you hadn't been in it yourself before. And as soon as we see someone else deal with something that we have been in before and we know was again, a pitiful, confused, unhappy state of being. We want to help them, right? And that doesn't mean that you have to go and help someone, someone who's being ignorant. Especially while they're being ignorant, like in that moment that you describe when someone was sort of being very unkind to and sort of angry with you also due to their ignorance, you leave them alone. Don't never, ever argue with an angry person and never, ever argue with an ignorant person, especially in the moment when it's happening, right? Just go within yourself and remember this truth that ignorance does not at all deserve your anger. That in fact, to respond to anger with, that respond to respond to ignorance with anger is ignorance itself. Whenever we respond to ignorance with anger, we are being ignorant. Because we're forgetting, we're being silly, we're being ignorant of the fundamental nature of ignorance, which is unawareness, which is confusion, which is fear being afraid. And it's inhuman to be angry with someone who is afraid, who's confused, who doesn't know any better. And so that's number one. That's the one, that's the first thing to remember, to get yourself from a state, to get yourself out of the state of anger with these fats that you remind yourself of. The second step, in my opinion, is this, that this person who is clearly confused and afraid and doesn't even know right from wrong and doesn't really know what they're doing, certainly does not know who you are. This person is in ignorance, in the groups of ignorance. They don't even know who they themselves are. They certainly don't know who you are. They don't know the real you. They might know your name. They might know your position in a group, in a place. They might take guesses at your age, at your ethnicity, whatever, whatever it may be. But you are not your age, you are not your body, you are not your name, you are not your perceived nationality. So whenever someone attacks you, or whenever someone says anything about you really, they're literally not attacking you, because they don't know who you are. They think you are Eric who's from Canada and who's 40 years old. But Eric is not his name, and Eric is not his nationality, and Eric is not his age. And so whenever someone talks about us, says anything about us, and that goes for so-called good things too, when someone compliments us, when someone flatters us, when someone says we're so smart, and so competent, and so whatever, they're not really talking about us. They're talking about the illusion of a person that they have themselves assembled in their own heads, and which is highly, highly, highly subjective, and therefore untrue in many cases. So number one, when someone is attacking you, they're ignorant, and ignorance does not deserve your anger because to respond to ignorance with anger is ignorance itself. So if you don't want to be ignorant, you get yourself away from anger as quickly as far as you can. And number two, the ignorant person who's attacking you or dealing with you in any way is not actually attacking you because they don't know who you are. Most of us don't even know who we ourselves are. And so how can we be offended? How can we be attacked? Someone can attack you physically. That's very true and very real, and you protect yourself physically, whatever you need to do, but you are not your body. So as soon as you're out of that situation, in which you are being attacked, which, like I said, at most could only be physically, as soon as you're out of that physical attack, you're done. It's over. It's over. You're not in it anymore. So if you keep thinking about it, then you are just in your head. You are just in your own illusion and delusion. And now you are being ignorant. So if you truly despise ignorance in the sense that you want to have nothing to do with it, look within yourself. Always look at yourself. Say, why does this affect me? Why does this bother me? Let me examine my opinions. Let me examine my beliefs of right and wrong, true and false, and you will always come out benefiting yourself out of that pursuit. But notice how you never benefit yourself when you think about other people, just like those ignorant people do. You never benefit yourself when you attack someone else, even if it's because that other person attacked you first. Never ever has it been, nor could it ever be of any benefit to you. And reason tells you this. I'm not telling you this. You yourself know this, and you experience it every time. But we give into anger like we earlier talked to our first speaker about because we think anger is necessary, because it gives us the motivation and the drive to do something against ignorant people. Truth and goodness and beauty does not need your defending. Truth would not be truth if it needed your defense. Truth would not be truth if someone could attack it and destroy it or even put a scratch in it. That's not truth then. Truth is that which cannot be harmed or saved or defended. So don't have any illusions about, oh, I need to defend truth. This person is against truth. They're attacking truth. They can't attack truth. They can think they attack truth. Let them do that. It's just an illusion. It's just a illusion. Truth is in no danger ever. Truth is within you, and so why focus on others? So there's a bit of a tangent on the original question, but I hope you can get some practical suggestions out of that. I hope that made sense. Yeah, definitely. And I wanted to say, as you said, truth does not need to be defended. Then why do lawyers defend truth in courts? Lawyers don't defend truth. You know, sorry, but now go finish what you said. I thought you were done. I was just going to say that I don't know if this is still a, if that still falls into a philosophical discussion or if that goes into us. No, of course, because anything that's a question in your mind that you think holds even the potential of furthering you on the path in your exploration of truth and timeless and universal ideas is 100% philosophy. And so yeah, of course, we always make everything physical. So when we think of justice, we immediately go to the justice system, the courts, the lawyers, the judges, but that's only a physical manifestation of the idea of justice, right? We hope that the justice system is aligned with justice, but that's not necessarily the case, as you know. So when lawyers defend something that's true, they might be doing that. They might also not be doing that, right? And the thing is, even if you go to prison for something that you have not done, that doesn't mean that the lawyer failed to defend truth. It just means that they failed to prevent ignorance in the physical real world. But the idea, the concept, the very existence of justice has not been harmed just because an injustice has been done to you. That injustice falls on the people who did it, who acted against justice. They harmed themselves by being away from truth, by being people who are not just, right? And the kind of life that unjust people live, that lying, cheating, deceiving people live, are greater than any punishment that could ever unjustly befall you. Truly. I mean, imagine all those times, or remember all those times, when you did something wrong, or when you were angry, or when you resented someone, you couldn't sleep, you couldn't eat, you would cry randomly, right? You would always feel this extreme, crushing weight on yourself, and you didn't know how to get out of it. You confused, you were afraid, you were angry at the same time, scared at the same time. There's no worse way to live than that. I would rather spend my entire life in prison knowing that I have done nothing wrong, than to live outside of the physical prison, but to be confused, angry, resentful, hateful, constantly looking how I can take my revenge, failing to do so, thinking that I succeeded a few instances only to realize that it never ends. I would much rather be in the physical prison, than be in that kind of spiritual prison. And that's really what it is, just because people are not in the prison walls within those physical walls, does not mean that they're not prisoners. Truly, a prisoner can be free within a physical prison, and the real prisoner can never be free whether they're inside or outside of a prison, right? There's that much higher internal prison that so many of us are in. And a truly peaceful person, a just person, a truthful person, really a good, beautiful person, is free wherever you put them. And you know that, right? And a person who is well and truly a prisoner of themselves, of their wrong beliefs, of their hate, of their anger, of their own disgust with the world, that's the true, that's the true prisoner. And so when I talk about justice, and when you rightfully raise the question of, well, what do lawyers defend then? Do you now see how lawyers act in the physical realm, which is below the realm of ideas? Yes. In that physical realm, mistakes happen, and wrong things happen all the time, but they do not affect justice itself, right? When the justice system fails, justice doesn't take any damage from it. And when the justice system does its job right and succeeds and everything's good, justice does not become enabled. It does not become better than it was before. It was perfect before and it will always be perfect, right? It's our adherence, our alignment to it that can be good or bad, right or wrong. But to justice itself, we cannot do anything to it, we cannot touch it. Good or bad, we cannot touch it. It does make sense. Yeah. Okay, I appreciate you sharing with us that story. And like I said, it's something that we all not only have to deal with, deal with all the time. And so I hope that was helpful to everyone. It was helpful to me to think about that because again, it sneaks up on you. And that's what we talked about before to the speaker before also about awareness, right? We have to remain aware. Because as long as you're aware, there's no chance for you. There's no possibility for you to fall into ignorance. And so what better cure is, is there then to be in the very state that makes ignorance impossible. And to attain that state of being is what philosophy is for. It's the method of attaining that state. And so that's why we do any of this. That's why we're here today and all these days, right? All right. Is there anything else you wanted to share or discuss? Yeah, a quick question I had. I recently purchased Man's Search for Meaning as per your recommendation on your website. And I wanted to read it in a way that would benefit me. So I wanted to, I want to journal as I read it. And so I'm still a bit confused on how to exactly journal because I used to journal before. And I would journal in a way, which is not that efficient, which you say, you shouldn't journal like dear diary today, this happened and this happened. I used to journal that way. So I want to start again, but this time fresh and better than before. And so my question was how, how can I journal efficiently by taking yourself out of it? It's all you have to do. Read with the mindset of not applying it to your own life situations, past, present, future, and right in the same way too. And when you read in that way, Man's Search for meaning or any other book that is conducive to that, you will already not think about yourself anymore, right? Read it for the idea of justice, for example, which in that book is prevalent. And then when you write about it, write about justice, but take yourself out of it. So whatever comes to mind that you might want to put down on the page, scan it for the word I, or me, or my, and if it's in there, don't write that sentence. And if then another sentence comes to mind that doesn't include any of that, then write that down. And if you can deal with the idea of, for example, justice, whatever it makes you think of, the book or the passage that you're reading, if you can deal with it, think about it, write about it, talk about it in a way that does not involve you, that's how you know that you are with the essence of it, with the spirit of it, with the truth of it. So that's all you need to do whenever you journal. And in fact, I recommend that we live this way. Take yourself out of it. And try it that way. I haven't journaled to a man's search or meaning. Of course, you can do that with any book that you want. I only recommend, for example, Seneca's letters to journal with just because they're so short and like each letter is fairly short and each letter has its own topic, right? Because sometimes it can be difficult to read a whole book. I mean, however you plan the journal on it, I don't know if you're looking to go chapter by chapter or whenever you feel like you stop and journal, you're going to, you just experiment with that. That's half the fun to just experiment with your method and how you want to go about it. But that would be my only suggestion. Everything else is your playground, right? Yeah. Okay, I'll try that. Try that. Just whenever you think, whenever you want to write, take yourself out of it. Don't allow any thoughts, not so much thoughts, but any sentence on the paper that has anything to do with your life. Because notice whenever you read something that feels super personal to you, as in it feels really relevant. And you say, wow, how does this person know that I deal with this? Whenever it feels personal in that sense, it's super impersonal. Meaning the other person obviously does not know you, but they also don't mention themselves in it. Everything that is personal feels impersonal and everything that is written in an impersonal way feels personal. So that's why in your writing, be very, very impersonal. As impersonal as you can be, and that will make it as personal as it can be. Okay. Just try that. Yeah. I feel like I felt that way when I was reading of meditations. Yep. Excellent example. Yeah. Especially with the one where he says he cannot get out of fit. I relate to that one. Exactly. Yeah. But he doesn't really talk about himself, right? He talks about, you say that's just a human thing. He doesn't say, oh, today's Thursday and yesterday I had a long conversation with so-and-so. And so I got the bed really late. So now this morning, I don't want to get up to meet general so-and-so and discuss this and that, right? He doesn't say any of that. He strips everything, even though it was his personal journal, so to speak. He could have it. He didn't want to because he understood that the most personal things are the most impersonal ones. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Of course very insightful. And thank you very much for the discussion. I was very valuable to all of us. I'm sure. And it was great for you to join. You said it's your first time. I think it went well. I hope you think the same way. And I do before before we let you go, we have to ask you though, I think the question of the week. Do you have any problems? Yeah. I didn't really reflect on the question of the week as others may have, but I do have something short to say. I would refer back to Microsoft as he says, um, I won't say I have any problems, but that problems exist. I don't want to attach myself to those problems. Like, oh, I have an issue with my car. For example, I have these tests to do someone sick in my family. I would, I would just say, I would just look at it from a third point of view. Meaning, oh, this car has an issue in it. Oh, this person is feeling sick. Oh, this test is due and it needs to be done. So that's, that's a thought that I could think of. Excellent. Regarding. Yeah. I think that's excellent. I think that's absolutely true. Yeah. Problems are only problems really in the sense that they give us anxiety, anger, worry, right? When we identify with them, when we say it's my problem, but when you, like you said, detach yourself in the sense that you were never attached to it and you're realizing that, then it just becomes an issue to deal with. A challenge, I hurdle, right? But not something that necessarily you get emotional about. It's just something like an issue, a work. A machine is defective. And so you say, okay, let's analyze it. Let's see where the, where the defect is. Oh, we need a spare part. Okay, let's acquire that and let's install it. Has it fixed the issue? Yes, it has. Okay, I move on. You don't sit there and saying, why does this, why does this machine hate me so much? And the universe always does this to me. It always sends me these defective things and it's just an attack on me. We only think about problems that way. Not challenges, not difficulties, not issues. It's when we make it personal that they become problems. Otherwise, they're just issues. There's just things that happen in the world, as you said. And so thank you for that response also. I'm collecting responses that they're all very valuable. They all make us think about something different. And that's the power of accumulated knowledge. You add something, I add something, someone else adds something and we all benefit from it. I will put you back to the audience for now. And once again, thank you. That was so valuable. And we all appreciate that you spoke here today. And I hope again one day. And I will invite our next speaker quickly. Hello. Hello. Hi. How are you? Good. Good to see you. Good to see you, sir. Question of the week. So I've been thinking about the question of the week. Do I have any problems? And yes, I do have some problems. I wish I didn't have any problems. But then I realized that wishing to not have any problems is my biggest problem itself. Because I tried to recall of a time where I didn't have any problems and I couldn't recall any. But then I remembered a story that I read some time ago. It was a story about a farmer in the Buddha. So this farmer went to the Buddha and he started narrating some of his problems. And the first problem was that he was having a bad agricultural season. And he talked about how he was not being able to produce what he wanted to produce. And then the Buddha said that I cannot do anything about it. And then the farmer started narrating about his family that his son was not working and that his son wasn't good for anything. And then the Buddha replied again that I cannot do anything about this as well. Now the farmer started bringing his finance into it. Told how some people have borrowed some money from him and has not returned the money. And that his finances were really messed up. And the Buddha said again that I cannot do anything about this either. So the farmer really got angry at this point and yelled at the Buddha that what good is your enlightenment for? That people say that you are enlightened but you cannot solve any of my problems. And then the Buddha who was very polite and enlightened of course, he told the farmer that at every point in a person's life, they have 84 problems. And if you can get solved the 84 problem, then all your previous 83 problems will disappear. So the farmer got really excited about this and he asked Buddha then like what's the solution to my 84 problem? And the Buddha replied that to know the solution of your 84 problem, you have to identify your 84 problem. And your 84 problem is the problem that you want to get rid of all your other problems. So it kind of reminded me about the about this fact that we have to be detached as the other person was saying right before me. Problems are only problems when we attach ourselves to them, right? So from that point of view, problems will always be there because this is a life and life has all the difficulties and the trivial and non-trivial things. But we have to detach ourselves from it. That's what your question made me think. And another thing that I was thinking was the similar way code that you have shared do not accept and even in the world is to wish that the world didn't exist. So if we see something as a problem, then we are denying ourselves of reality, right? Just by classifying something as a problem, we are turning ourselves against reality. Now to give us the benefit of the doubt, we can even say that okay, we have the power to discard reality. If we are discarding reality, then problems are not problems because they do not have the power because we are discarding them. We are not accepting them. On the other hand, if we do accept reality, then how can anything be a problem? Because everything carries like the potential for great meaning in that situation. So every event, every situation can turn into something very meaningful and add value to our lives. So that's also one thing that I thought about that, you know, problems are only problems because we classify them as problems. But if we are accepting reality, then there are no problems at all. And the third thing that I was thinking about is the question, how your question, every word in your question has deep meaning because you didn't ask us that did you have any problems in the past or you didn't ask us, are you going to have problems in the future? Do we have problems? Well, it reminds me of a video that you once made and you asked your viewers about this question that you asked your viewers to ask themselves, what is that one thing that's truly making life unbearable at the present moment? And you told this very powerful sentence that if we truly ask ourselves this question, then we will be ashamed about the answer because there is absolutely nothing that makes life truly unbearable. So at the present moment, so that hints that there are no problems in the present that's stopping us from living our best life in the present moment, right? All the source of the source of all our misery is either in the past or in the future. We get, we think about problems that might come from that might come from the future or the problems that we faced in the past. For example, we, we cannot feel the pain of a surgery that we had in the past, right? We can think about it, but we cannot feel it because sensations are only from the present. So, so if we live our lives in a way that where we are just focusing on the present moment, taking one moment at a time, then just like Markus already said, and we know that there are no problems in the present moment, then if we're living one moment at a time, then there are no problems in life at all. So these are some of the things that that your question made me think. And I'm still thinking about it and I'll still be thinking about this question. Amazing. I mean, what is one supposed to say to all of that? It blows my mind every time when you guys talk and every kinship and and thank you so much, please. I mean, this is, this is everything. This is everything. And as you have just shown, even though you haven't said anything new, right, in a good sense, because these are timeless and universal truths, right? They've always been there. Just by reminding us, you have essentially solved our problems because you're showing us, reminding us how we don't have any problems to begin with. Problems are unawareness. Problems only exist. There are problems only exist when we forget these truths that you have reminded us. And that's why Socrates is so right when he says that all learning is remembering. And a true friend, he didn't say that, I'm saying this now, a true friend is someone who reminds us, right? And in that sense, Socrates is a true friend, Marcus Aurelius was a true friend, you are a friend. And everyone here is a friend to each other because we are people who remind each other. A true friend is someone who makes you remind. And everyone who makes you forget is not a friend. And so many people make us, not make us forget, but create an environment that is conducive to forgetfulness. And so all we need to do, it is so simple, it's so easy. We think we have so many problems, but all we really need to do is put ourselves in an environment that is conducive to remembering, rather than conducive to forgetting. That's it. And that's why this place is so special and so valuable because it is a place conducive to remembering. And that's all there's to it. It's so simple. We overcomplicate it. Again, the ego, the world, forgetfulness itself overcomplicates everything. The truth is simple. And everything that is simple, anyone can have. So truth can be had by anyone. And that is the nature of truth. So there's nothing to add to what you said. I mean, I just want people to keep remembering that. You know, just listen to that and keep it in mind. And it is on each of us to to remind ourselves that it's great that we have friends such as you, right? But we cannot rely on that we need to we need to have it within ourselves. That's the ultimate goal. And so friends help us with us, but with that, but friends are not the source of that. Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for the questions because these questions are universal and timeless themselves. You know, how I was just thinking how these this question relates to the previous two. And it does relate to the previous two. For example, once you realize that problems are unawareness and just forgetfulness, then then you are in the correct piece of mind to truly work on what really matters, right? The first question was, do you work on something else and expect progress in something else? So if there are no problems, then you don't have problems to work on you will work on the most divine thing that you were just trying for. Right. And then and then if you if you if you do not have problems, then you are no longer a caring person because you are not thinking about things that you need to fix or control. You you become a loving person and you accept reality and what is a loving person is a person who is flexible who has accepted reality, right? So yeah, these questions are very interlinked. They're very transcendental and I'll keep thinking about this and thank you for your questions. Yeah, and thank you, by the way, for connecting all the questions because you're so right. And I didn't intend them to be corrected connected, but truth is always connected and you're right. And someone like you who sees the underlying truth and the nature of truth itself will see that connection because of course it is there. Everything that is true is connected to each other because truth is one whole. And yes, that's another thing to be grateful to you for. And I will put you back in the audience with with great gratitude and thank you so much for being here. Thank you. And I would love to take more speakers, but I think we're a little bit out of time, especially since because I still owe you an answer to the question of the week. So as you know, that might take some time because this guy is a talker. So everyone who still has a request in the speak, please next time just put it in first, like be the first person so I can get to your first. And I hope you forgive me that we're once again out of time, but you know, I know that you know that it doesn't matter that everything is one, right. And our goal is to get to the truth, not to get to the truth through a certain person or a certain question or a certain idea, but just to get to truth. And as long as that happens, we're all satisfied, right. I don't think there's anyone here right now who is dissatisfied because how can you be with such amazing ideas that all these people have contributed to our own common understanding. And so I want to share sort of maybe how the question of the week came about because it is deeply connected with also my answer to it. I had this moment a few weeks ago where I was I was driving, I was in the car, and I don't even remember what I was thinking about, which is always the case with so-called problems, right. We never remember them if they're always only a problem now, but they don't really have any weight. But I was thinking about maybe something in the past or a future challenge, right, whatever a problem is. And from just the reading I've been doing at the time, which again, I don't even remember the source, but it it had this effect where just like what Marcus Aurelia says, how it is always the past or the future that weighs on us and never the present moment. I don't remember what it was, but I felt the urge to bring my problem into the present. In that moment I realized that my problem, again, whatever it was, was either in the past or in the future that it wasn't in the present. And so I asked myself, but I am in the present, technically, so let me bring my problem to the present. And guess what happened? I grabbed it from the past or the future wherever it was. Like I said, I don't even remember. I grabbed it and I started moving it from there to the present. And as I was doing that, it slipped through my fingers. And when my hand stopped moving to bring it to the present, it had completely dissolved. It wasn't there anymore. I didn't know what to do with it in the present. I realized there was nothing to do. There literally was nothing to do. And if there's nothing to do about a problem, there is no problem. And what else happened is, as soon as this realization, as soon as this occurred, all of a sudden I realized that this entire time I was driving right at one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen. But I wasn't able to see it as I was thinking about my so-called problem. I literally was not perceiving the sky. I was, I'm sure, looking at the road, right? Just doing what I needed to do. But I literally could not conceive the colors, the shapes, the time of day, the beautiful landscape. But as soon as I brought my problem to the present and it dissolved, I was all of a sudden able to perceive what was already there, not an imagination, not an illusion, not wishful thinking, what was truly really happening in the moment. And that's exactly the problem with problems that they make us go unaware, that they push us into unawareness, and that they take us to the past or the future, which literally do not exist. The past only seems like it exists because we have a record of it, we have memory of it. There are certain things that remain from it in terms of effects. But well and truly, the past does not currently exist. And the future definitely doesn't. I mean, there's no one who argues about that. Some people think that the past is a real place, that someone can go to the past and live in the past. And they dilute themselves. But everyone knows that the future literally does not exist. That seems easier to understand, because it hasn't happened yet. And so when we bring anything that can only exist in illusion, to reality, it truly dissolves. Whenever we bring anything from the past to the present, it dissolves, whenever we bring anything from the future to the present, it dissolves. But your life, everything that has ever happened, anything that has ever happened, has happened in the present, anything that has ever happened has happened in the present. There has never been anything that has happened in the future or in the past. Everything that has ever happened has happened in the present. And so anything that brings you out of the present, brings you out of the place in which life takes place. How can you ever justify that? How can you ever say but my problem requires me to go into the past or the future? How can you ever justify giving that up? And by the way, this does not include logistical problems. If you to solve a logistical issue, meaning, what am I going to eat tonight? Okay, I need to find a recipe and then I don't need to go get the ingredients. That's not a problem. You know that. You don't feel anxiety about that or worry about that. And if you do it, it's because you're attaching something else to it. That's just a logistical issue. And you know exactly what to do about that. And then you just go and do that and it's done. A problem is something that is an illusion. And so to solve a problem, you truly never need to go to the past or to the future. That's only for logistical challenges. And that's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. That does not push you into awareness. And you can get out of that as soon as you've satisfied the logistical challenge that requires you to go to your memory or to your future projections. As soon as that is accomplished, you can come back to the present and live your life. It's problems that say, well, I'm not solved yet. I'm not letting you go ever. And this wasn't even what I wanted to really discuss. That was just sort of or brought on the question of the week. What I want to draw your attention to for the coming week. Because as you know, we're sort of structuring the question of the week in a way that it goes for two weeks. The first week, I just ask it without any explanation or without giving my answer, without collecting any answers. And I just ask us to think about the question. Whatever it may bring about. And then the second week, I sort of give my answer to it and I want to draw your attention to something particular about it. And then that week, we continue that week thinking about that particular thing, that particular aspect of it. And then again, the next week, we collect the sort of experiences of having gone through that week by focusing on a particular aspect of the question of the week. And that aspect of this question and for this week that I would like you to pay attention to and to consider for yourself is this. Notice how every so-called problem is based on the concept of loss. Every problem is based on the concept of loss, where there is no potential or danger of loss. There is no problem. Did you notice that? So when we say, oh, my job is in danger. That's a problem. Why? Because there's a potential loss. I might lose my job. Or my test results are a little weird from the doctor. There's a potential of loss, of health. So now the doctor's results, the tests are a problem. Or my friend seemed a little dismissive on the phone, a little rude on the phone. I feel like they might be having an issue with me. I feel like they might be holding something against me. So that's a problem to me now. Why? Because there's a potential for the loss of this friendship. I might lose this friend. Or we say, you know, I thought this was the right career for me, but I'm not getting any enjoyment out of it. It's very stressful to me. And I realized that I just don't enjoy this work. This work is not for me. And so I might need to change my careers. And that's a problem because now I might have wasted all these years doing this other job, this other career. And so it feels like if I change careers now, I will lose all those years of my life. And so that's why it is a problem for me to be in the wrong career because otherwise, I would just make the switch. And I would move on with my life. What's the problem in that? It's great that I realize that I don't want to do something that I might want to do something else. Why is that a problem? It's a problem because it feels like, oh, but you're known to be doing this. Everyone knows you as this. And you've been doing here for so many years. So if you stop that now, if you switch that up now, you will have wasted all those years. So notice how all problems are based on the concept of loss and that the concept of loss is an illusion. There is no such thing as loss. You cannot waste the years that you've already put in this because those years are already gone. And they're not lost. They're just gone. They used to be the present moment and now it's not the present moment anymore. That's all. That's all. It is us who come up with the illusion of now, oh, that was put to good use or it was not put to good use. My past 10 years, I've put into this career. Since I am still continuing that career, they are of good use. Oh, but now that I'm realizing that I don't want this particular career anymore, now there are loss. How can the past 10 years change depending on your interpretation of them now? Loss is an illusion because loss requires that we see a continuation into the past or into the future. But that continuation is an illusion. And if there is no continuation, what is it that we are losing? If the present moment does not indeed expand and is connected into the past 10 years, then what are we losing? Nothing. It is always only about the present moment you are using and living only in this present moment. The past 10 years that seem attached to this present moment, which is the moment in which you are making the decision to change careers, is not connected to the present moment. The past 10 years worth of past present moments are not connected to this present moment in which you are making the decisions to change careers. If they were connected, yes, it would be a loss. But they are not connected. Well, what about the doctor's results? What if I lose my health? Your health is not, was not, will never be yours. You don't own your health. Your health is not your right. Your health is never was, never is, never will be guaranteed. It is not owed to you. The world, just like in your career, the world does not owe you a living. When your house burns down, it is not a loss because you never really own that house. You owned it on a deed physically. You had the legal right to live in it, but you never owned it. Your friend, you never owned your friend. Your friend was not your property. You know, you cannot own another human being. So if your friend decides for whatever reason, right or wrong, just or unfair, that they don't like you anymore, that they don't want to spend time with you anymore, then that is not a loss because you never own that human being. So what is left to be a problem? If there is no loss, there is no problem. And if there is no problem, we can finally be in the one location where life takes place, which is the now, which is the present moment. And we finally have permission to not be in danger anymore, which makes us escape into the past or the future. So I want you to pay attention to this every time you come across a so-called problem, try to see why it is a problem and why ever you identify it as a problem if it has anything to do with the concept of loss. Why is this a problem to me? What would I lose? What am I in the danger of potentially losing in the situation? And whatever it is, realize that it was never yours to begin with or that it is not connected to the past 15 years or that it is not connected to the future seven months. You are not in danger of losing the past 10 years, 15 years, five years, five minutes. They are already gone. And you are not in danger of losing the upcoming seven months of your life because they haven't happened yet. They are not real and they are not yours. Think of it in this way. Just try it, try it on, see how it feels. Think about the concept of loss every time you think about a so-called problem and do what I did that one time and see what remains of your problem when you pull it into the present. Take your problem, first of all realize that that problem is living in the past or is living in the future which are not real places and bring it into the now which is a real place. All of reality, all of what is happening, all of what is true is taking place right now. And everything that ever has taken place has taken place now in the past. Whenever it did take place, it always took place in the now. Grab all your problems one by one and bring them, pull them into the present moment and see if during the transportation of them from the future or the past into the present moment, if they do not dissolve altogether by themselves.