Good evening, everyone. People here in the Zendo and people out there in Zoom land and check us here. This is our third on the broad subject of what is a good life. And Let's start with some music. Let's start with a song that we were playing. Okay. This is a real, this is a treat for me too as well. You get to play with Yassir. in our repertoire of Moroccan music.

[01:48]

And the words are not Arabic. They are Fulani or Hawsa. And I just like the melody. No.

[08:12]

They're not in the language that I speak. It's in an African language? Either it's Fulani or Housa. Those are the people from the northern Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali. So, most of their descendants are in Marrakesh. Because the big plaza called Jamerifna, the parking lot of It's a plaza, big plaza. They used to, at that time, a thousand years ago, slavery was there. They make money out of it. There is a big mosque called Kuchu. It's the highest mosque in Marrakesh. You can't build something higher than that. Every Friday, when they finish, Friday is the holy day. And so when they go to the prayer at noon, when they come out from there, there were some rich ones, Moroccans, especially some of the descendants of the Prophet, have lineage.

[09:25]

So when they go out to the plaza, they buy all the slaves that are there and say, you're free. They free them until they become no slaves. And those Marrakesh, when you go there, the descendants of those that were slaves are now Moroccans. They are the ones who brought this kind of music in the world and everything. So if you go to Marrakesh, you'll see them. They're there. Thank you. So Yasir was saying, we haven't talked about a good life yet. So I wanted to, I came upon a quotation I'd like to read for you. This is from an 11th century Zen master.

[10:37]

on a record or a saying of one of the earlier teachers. And he says, the accomplishing work of great peace has no sign. The work of great peace has no sign. The of the peasants is the purest. Only concerned with village songs and festival drinking. So the accomplishing work of great peace, a good life has no sign. It's just the simple life of the peasant, which is only concerned with village songs and festival drinking. So you could say that's a kind of spirit in

[11:40]

the heart of Zen Buddhism. You know, as that includes all of the elements of a good life, the elements of balance, the elements of the elements of kindness, the elements of justice, they all are expressed in music like we were just playing. And in fact, in the way we play music. You know, we listen to each other, we respond to each other, and give and take. So that, to me, that's the mark of a good life that has nothing to do exactly with Buddhism, nothing to do exactly with Islam. It has nothing to do with being human. So, I like that line.

[12:46]

It's only concerned with village songs and festival drinking. So, what would you think you're going to share about a good life tonight? Well, first, I hope this mic is not blocking the zoomers. I think in the position it's in, it looks good. It's okay like this? Yeah. Okay. Well, for two Thursdays, I didn't speak about good life. I speak about everything else except good life. Because good life doesn't zoom or point. to Islam. Islam is something else. I'm talking about good life.

[13:47]

From it, I come to the first thing that makes a good life to me, and I think to most people, is to have good health. If you're healthy, it's a good life. Because I know when I was sick how I felt. Even when food becomes like eating carbon, or if you have any sickness, makes you appreciate good life, feel healthy. So then you have to, how to maintain your health. It is a big deal here because people they jogging or they turn into the vegan eating only vegetables and fruits.

[14:57]

That health is what is the base of good life. Then you have the other stuff that goes with your physical body. is your inner personality. How do you deal with the anxiety or depression, worries, all the stuff that are not like your body, you can touch, you can see. This unseen stuff that we feel inside, grief, loneliness, How to deal with that? It's something that you start to, after health, okay, what's the next step? How come I am healthy, I eat good, I wash my head, I weigh myself in the morning to see if my weight is getting too much, etc.

[16:00]

We're looking at these things. For what? To maintain our physical health. Once you get into the rhythm of this, then What's left is all the other stuff. So we can say there is other stuff that are inside. Rumi, when he spoke about this famous Sufi guy, Jalal-Din Rumi, Qadda sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, you have to pretend you are a guest house. I don't know if you heard this from Rumi. No. He said, You are a guest on this planet. But you are not just a guest. You are a guest house. You are a house. And then there is some guest that come in. They come and go. They come and go. You have to welcome them all. Some guest is coming to visit. You have to welcome them with a smile.

[17:03]

They say, come, welcome. Some is joy. Some is meanness. All kind of guests, they come. If you see them as guests, they're coming, it's easy. When they finish, they can go and you learn from them. If you don't see them as guests, you start to look at blaming yourself or blaming others for what happened. Then that gives you a different lifestyle and that can affect your health. Therefore, even if you watch what you're eating and you... and doing everything. These things can make you, for example, can invade you and make you not to sleep. All night long you worry. So there the night is gone, you didn't sleep. So everything becomes, you become behind the light. You want to catch up to your health again, your happiness.

[18:04]

You know, so this idea of the guest house, Yeah, this is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. There's a verse from, again, one of our . We have this thing called the bodhisattva vow. The vow to sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them. So living beings are numberless, I vow to save them. One of the ancestors of Zen said, sentient beings of your mind are numberless. I vow to save them all. So this is what you were saying about, you know, we're sitting and a feeling comes over us. It could be anger, it could be joy,

[19:07]

It could be sorrow. This is a sentient being of our mind. So it's a guest that's visiting the guest house. In order to take care of it, means we have to meet it respectfully. And we have to treat it in another expression we have. It says, You look upon all beings as if they're your only child. So you take care of. Whatever feeling arises, whatever guest comes to the house, you meet it respectfully. And you try to put it at ease. And you also try, as you were saying, you try to learn from it because it's teachings. And sometimes it's very important.

[20:12]

Because sometimes it's like the man who came to dinner. We want the guest to . But to meet it respectfully. I like that idea of a guest house. Yes. Can we actually raise the laptop? Sometimes the microphone, when it's positioned, it blocks your face. So we can... I think you can... You can... I can put a part of these. No, no. You can do that or you can... It's got those screw things which you could conceivably raise. Oh, maybe so. I'm just going to try and hold it while you do your thing.

[21:14]

There we go. He's got a box. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, don't use the pillow under here. It'll heat it up too much. How's that? Yeah, I would just be mindful of where the microphone lands. The stand also be in the center of you both. And now I feel like I'm getting really nitpicky. Sorry. That's all right. Okay. That's better. But Hozan, we'll just have to monitor on your end when it comes to you. Okay. All right. This is better. It's in the guest house. Yeah. Hi. Yeah, it looks better now. Okay. Let's go to the list. We were our guests. They are our hosts also. They are our hosts. Yeah.

[22:15]

We are their guests. We are their guests. So we're speaking about what makes a good life. Two Thursdays I was off. I was completely angry. So today I started saying let's start from what is common to human being. is your health first. Because you don't know about how your health is important until you get sick. If you get sick, then you understand how much you feel happy when you don't have any sickness, nothing. People are looking to be healthy. And that goes into your diet, and they we have in our culture, few bites is enough. That's the minimum.

[23:16]

You have to eat, you must eat, then you have to divide your stomach into three parts. One part, food. One part, water or drinks. And one part, air. This is if you have to eat. And then... Who doesn't have to eat? Everybody has to. Yeah. We have to maintain this vehicle, this body. So if you keep that system of if you have to eat, divide it into three parts, food, drink, air. And it's better to eat less than even that. That's what keeps the body healthy. Also, we have fasting during the week, Monday, Thursday.

[24:19]

Monday, Thursday. We fast from first light to sunset. That gives the body time to clear anything that is inside. Do you do that? Yes. Every Monday and Thursday? Yeah, except when I come here, I don't do that because I'm traveling. Okay. But I do. Yeah. So if you have a road you have to fix, there is a path hole. There is cars always going and coming and going and coming. You can't get to that path hole to fix it. Except if you stop the car in that freeway. Our intestines is like a freeway. Always there is food there going and coming and going. If you fast, then your body has time to work on the potholes that are inside of it. That's why fasting is very good for your health.

[25:20]

Then we have once a year where we do the exercise of starving. That month is called Ramadan. I think you heard about Ramadan. The effect of Ramadan of getting your body to starve. You can find that your body is made to starve at least once a year. By its nature, it likes that. Then you clean up everything for your own health. But you eat after dark. And then when you think about eating after dark, it's once sunset. The sun goes under the horizon. Because you're fast from first light. Not the sunrise, first light. From first light to sunset, your stomach shrinks. Even though you want to eat a lot. As soon as you eat one date and one bowl of soup, you are totally full.

[26:26]

By the time you want to eat again, you are sleeping at night. So you wake up before sunrise and you eat a tea. or something, then you fast again. You do it every day. At the end of that month, like in the fourth week, you start eating just a few days and water, and you're fine. Your body is fine. This is if you exercise it from the beginning. You start feeling as much, and it's really an illusion for thinking that you have to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. You start getting away with just breakfast and one meal. You feel good. Your body gets healthier. This is the... of taking care of your health. So most of the sicknesses that come is from the things that we eat all the time.

[27:28]

That can make you sick. But here, people are really alert about that. You can see a lot of people start vegetables only, vegetarians, and also a lot of people do walking. They have a name for it. Exercise. Exercise, jogging, but also just walking. What's that walking? What's the name? Trails. Hiking. Hiking. Who said hiking? Are you serious? You want 10 minutes? Yes. He wants 10 minutes. Hiking. Hiking is so important. Hiking. This is the tradition to do hiking. Attached to something that you do regularly, regularly, regularly, it becomes a pattern, or you call it, let's say you have a favorite cup that you always want to use when you

[28:37]

If you're hiking and camping, don't use that camping anymore. You have something different. That breaks the routine. Sometimes you get into a routine. There is regularities and there is routine. Attachment can make you sick if you have a routine that you want to eat this kind of food at this day all the time. It's like a habit. A habit. Habits. Habits can make a routine and routine can make you attach to them and then you miss to be present because you have it already done mentally. I'm going to do this and this is my favorite cup, my favorite coffee, this and that and that. It's already planned. So you don't have creativity. That's why hiking and camping breaks the routine. Buddhist tradition, in the monastic tradition with their monks, first of all, every morning at light they go out and they walk and beg for their food.

[30:00]

And it doesn't matter what they like, they go from house to house and people put food in their bowls. And for some monks, that's their one meal for the day. And whenever I eat bowls, that's their food. It's not a question of, you know, I like pizza, you know, or put a hamburger in my bowl. No, it's like whatever they put in is what you eat. And that's the monastic life is... freed from your habits and your preferences, and just to appreciate what's being given. Because all of this is being given. Our body is being given to us. Our food is being given to us. Our health is taken away. But we do our best to preserve it.

[31:03]

But that's really, when you go to, if you go to Thailand, when you go to Sri Lanka, you see monks walking around every day, and the people in a village or a town come out and they're prepared to offer to the monks and knights. Yes. Yes. So, not least that's one step of what good life is. Your health, number one. I think people here are aware of this. The rest is the things that are not physical. Anger. They're mental. They're mental.

[32:05]

Emotional. Something you cannot physically deal with. Grief, sadness, sorrow. But they're real. They're real. They can affect your health. Yes. It can affect your health. There was a sheikh who was invited to this wealthy guy who has a little palace. When they were there, also the health. All the hospitals was there and the sheikh was also there. And the daughter of that wealthy man, she fell and she had an epilepsy seizure. And she was in epilepsy. And then the wealthy man, the sheikh said, please come help my daughter.

[33:08]

So he held her daughter like this. and he was reciting some verses from the Koran. He was reciting. The minister came to him and said, that doesn't work. You have to look at what made her get into this. We are now in a science time where to find out what medicine and then We can cure her. We have medicines. This what you did, what you are doing, doesn't work. You're saying. So the sheikh, he turns to the wealthy man and said to him, who invited this donkey here? He called him a donkey. He said, there's a donkey with the clothes. Who invited him? That minister, his face,

[34:08]

became red and enraged. She became angry. If these words I said, I said, you are a donkey, who invited you here, you are a donkey with clothes, but you are really a donkey. If these words made you like that, you don't think my words are gonna affect her in a good way. They're Allah's words from the Quran. Look how I affected you with words. It's the same thing that I'm doing. So it shows you that also words have an effect on our bodies and our happiness. Somebody, the whole three days you are thinking about that word they say, that affects you. It can make you sick also. Words. Words are damaging, and that's why there's a lot of damage with politicians yelling at each other.

[35:16]

Very bad. So we put emphasis that communicating with words also are important. The Prophet said, if you're going to say something, say something good, or don't say anything, because he knows the effect of words. In the Koran, are there many instructions about speech? Yes. Because I think that's, first of all, that's common in Buddhist tradition. That's the hardest thing to work with is our speech. And also in Buddhist tradition, there are the rules of what's called Loshannara, which is wrong speech. It's unkind speech. So are there shuras and teachings in the Quran? Yes. Share a couple of them.

[36:21]

It speaks about speech of people. that cover the tooth with lies and how they can affect other people. I can't zoom to a particular verse at this point. We have rules in our not praising yourself at the expense of others, not slandering, In the Jewish tradition, there's a lot of rules about not telling untruths, even if they seem to be beneficial. Because it's always good to come back on you. So we have, there's lots of rules of that speech.

[37:37]

What the Buddha's instruction was, you should speak when what you're saying is true, useful, timely, and kind. True, useful, timely, and kind. And it's interesting because when we think about that, When I think about it, in a precise way, I don't know what's true. Something that may not be true for you. Something that I think I'm saying that would be useful, I think would be useful to you, you may not think so. Or it may be timely. All that I can know is my intention kind. You know, do I, or is my intention to sting you?

[38:45]

So, true, useful, timely, and kind. Those are, comes up again and again in the Buddhist early teachings. Yes, what we call that, we call it adab. Adab means this thing that you say, the whole thing is in one word, adab. also means good manners, good manners. And the prophet, he gave, it's not the amount of prayers you do and this and fasting and all the stuff that's going to make you in the hereafter to be in a heavenly place. It's your adept that takes you there. Can you spell that? A-D-A-B. A-D-E, okay. What does that mean literally? Manners. Good manners. So not in the Quran.

[39:47]

The Quran speaks a lot that the Prophet is on the top of good manners. But then he explains them in the hadith. So for Muslims, if you want to learn good manners, you look at how the Prophet did. and say. So the hadith is like commentaries? The commentaries is the prophet explaining the Quran. So in the hadith you find all the good manners that are there. Let me take a break and see if you have any questions. Questions here, questions out there and zoom land. Zoom zoom here and zoom zoom there. Yeah, get some. Both of you have mentioned depression as something that might get in the way of a good life or as a thing that can stop a good life.

[40:53]

How do you learn from depression? What do you learn? How do you go benefiting from it in some way? I think that for me, as somebody who has the main teaching that I find is the teaching of impermanence. That a state of mind is impermanent. And I think one of the really tricky things about depression is that when you're experiencing it, it can feel all-encompassing and like it's always going to go on.

[41:55]

That's always going to be, it's like where you're caught, you're always going to be in that, right? And what you can start examining, I think, is And I often say this, this feels bad right now. And I understand, if I understand that states of mind are impermanent, then I can watch the unfolding of that impermanence. And really try to note the circumstances and the occasions in which depression is not the defining characteristic. And so I always bring that to mind, you know, in those dark moments in any sense.

[43:07]

We call depression in Arabic. When you have the hem inside of you, then you turn to the root. What brought it in? What causes death to happen? From where did it come? Then you turn yourself to do the prayers that Jonah did in the belly of the fish. If you know the story of Jonah, He was probably depressed in there because not a good situation. So it tells you there that you repeat this prayer, Jonah's prayer. He said, There is no one except you. Perfection you are. I was wrong.

[44:08]

If you say that, then Allah understands that your understanding moves this depression from you. Also to say, staghfirullah, staghfirullah, staghfirullah. These are the staghfirullah. I'm sorry, oh Allah. I'm sorry, oh Allah. Maybe I did something that pulled this depression within me. So I'm asking forgiveness. Forgive me, oh God. But we don't say it like that. We say, Astaghfirullah, [...] Astaghfirullah. 100 times. I do it like 300 times. That removes hem, depression. And also I do the prayer of Jonah, La ilaha illa anta. No one but you. Subhanak. Subhanak means absolute perfection. Inni kuntu min al-zhalimeen. I was oppressing myself. Because Jonah was thinking that Nineveh, because he was a prophet, he tells them to believe in the Creator.

[45:22]

They didn't. And then he told them, because you don't want to believe in me and I'm sent by God, something is going to be having a problem. It was a dark cloud. gently coming, and Jonah, he knew that in that dark cloud, there is punishment, some fire, rain or something. So he decided, oh, these people are, they deserve, I'm not gonna be there to get punished with them. I'm gonna run away. So he ran away, and his thinking is, when God wants to punish, he always does it to volcano or this rain. of rocks, he thinks about stuff like that. He never thought that he can punish him with a fish, with a big fish. He said, I'm going to show you another kind of punishment. He said, oh, I didn't know God can be so creative. Then he prayed that prayer in the darkness of that belly, of that big fish.

[46:30]

And he said, These are the tools to take care of depression. So staghfirullah, staghfirullah, staghfirullah. So in the hadith, the Prophet has all these tools. It's like if you're a mechanic and you open your bag and you have all these tools, each tool is specific for something. So they have all that there. Because the answer after that, when Jonas said, la ilaha illa anta subhanaka. comes right after that the verse said and then we saved him. And that is for something quick. And we saved him. And that's the prayer we do for depression, specifically for that. There's a hand up online.

[47:32]

I can't see who that is. Go ahead and unmute Kabir. It's good to hear. As-salamu alaykum. Wa alaykum as-salam. Sorry I missed you in person tonight. I got family stuff. A couple of things, you know, since I was a child, you know, we did the Alhamdulillah. And until this day, if I am worried or if I have trouble sleeping, And I recite one alhamd and three khulwallah. And my mind is peaceful and I go to sleep. It's like magic. It's very powerful. And the other thing is, I wanted to just... So Jalalid al-Balhi, he was actually from Afghanistan. Because Balkh... Yes. Yes. Yeah.

[48:36]

But anyways, or every time we say Bismillah, and I think also it's because that brings us to the present moment. You know, anytime I remember, you know, even when my wife is cooking, before she pours something in the dish or she does anything, she says Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. And getting the blessings of Allah, remembering Him. But at the same time, I think... you become aware of the present moment. Because when you say Bismillah, it's just this moment. It brings you to the present. I think that's another word in Islam. To remembering Allah is you become present with Him or with the energy. I hate to give Allah any gender, but for conversation's sake. You know, but just saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, it's a very powerful thing.

[49:43]

But I also want to thank you. It's been a wonderful experience and we've been waiting for you for a very long time. So glad that you're here. So thank you. We welcome you. Everything that I believe and that's what's what Islam offers. is these tools of presence. Yes. Even though when I entered here, I made sure to enter with my right foot. Yes, yes. My father always said that, yes. I live with my left foot so I know I am here. So my heart is not ahead of me. And there's many, many little things. Even we grow our nails, then you have to cut your nails. How can you, which way to cut your nail? and be in presence. And which finger is the most important finger in your hands? So you cut them in a way of mindfulness, otherwise you can just cut them and you're not aware, just cutting your nails.

[50:51]

But if you want to cut your nail with mindfulness, then you have to check your hands, which you are using in general more, the right hand. Which finger is the most important finger? is the one that you can point to anybody. Who killed you? That one. That means the index is important. The important thing that keeps you mindful in your presence. After you do the index, do you go on your right side of the index or the left side? You go on the right side of your fingers, of your index. So you go like this to the pinky. When you get to the pinky, where do you go? You go to the other pinky until you finish with the thumb. So it makes a loop, a circle of mindfulness. Yes. Just cutting your nails. So at the end of the prayer, namaz, we put our hands on our lap and then we... Yes.

[51:59]

Right? What does that mean? What does that mean? That's the oneness that I believe. No duality. Yeah. There is only one that created us. That's why most of the people, they have two legs only. They don't have three. So you point to that, you say, with your index. And you're witnessing it. And you have to look with your eyes. You have to look at that side. It keeps you humble when you pray. It keeps you look at your finger. I witness there is no other deity except Allah. And that also keeps you present. Oh, there are so many. Yes, yes. Thank you. One of the Zen masters, Gute,

[53:01]

His entire teaching method was this. Whatever anybody would ask him, he raised his index finger. And he awakened that he... What Zen is complicated was once he asked one of his students a question. The student raised his finger. He took it in half. Because that was an imitation response. Anyway, we don't do that here. We don't hit people. We don't cut cats in half. We don't cut fingers off. But that was Gute's one finger. Other questions? I can't see if there's anything out there.

[54:13]

Oh, Hannah, is your hand up? Rumi, his poems, you know, mean a lot to many of us. Yeah. teaching us Islam? Is he speaking your truth? Absolutely. Because Rumi was a jurist. Before you get into mystical knowledge, he was knowing all the do's and don'ts of the guardrails of the life he's taken between the guardrails. He had to guard the do's and the don'ts. He was a and a master in that, before he started to explain. Most of the explanations that were translated by bark, for people here to be able to digest that, he stripped Islam out of it, to make it look eatable and digestible.

[55:33]

But if you look at it, you can see all that of the Prophet is there. The names of the prophets? The teachings. The teachings, yeah. The teaching of the Prophet Muhammad. Because this word Muhammad was very allergic word to the Europeans when Islam was So they made sure to stick to that name, anything negative, instead of checking what he was teaching. They were not happy with that. And you can see that this name, Muhammad, every family, when they have first born is a boy, you name Muhammad. So my biggest brother, the oldest, of course, his name is Muhammad.

[56:40]

All my uncles, when they have a son, they name Muhammad. Everything, Muhammad, Muhammad. But then, we name other boys, Isa means Jesus, Musa means Moses, Daniel, Dawood, Suleiman, Solomon, Yusuf means Joseph, and we have access on these universal names of all the prophets that came before us. We don't make differences between them. We love them all. Therefore we can name after all these. The other people before us, they cannot name their son Muhammad. They cannot. Which people? Christian and the Jews behind us. They don't... Why? What does Yasir mean?

[57:41]

Easy going. Ask my wife. It's not a prophet's name. No, it's a companion. It's one of the companions of the prophet. So I have a prophet's name, you know. What's that name? Abraham. That's my Jewish name. Yes. Yes. Anyway, in general, I'm saying you don't find this name. And so the guy who made the translation from Rumi, he made sure not to the people by introducing anything that has connection with Islam, he made sure to strip everything and then give Rumi only as a mystical saint. And that's it. What was his education? What did he do?

[58:44]

He used to protect the country by going with his best horse all the way to the borders to fight against the Mongol at that time. He was not just making poetry. He was active, and he had tremendous knowledge of the mystical way of Islam, which we call Sufism. But before Sufism, he was a Jewess. He didn't get into Sufism until he met his shaykh. His name is Shamsu Tabriz. Shamsu Tabriz, you can find the 40 ways What are they called? 40 ways of Shamsi Tabriz? The 40... 40 rules of love. 40 rules of love by Shamsi Tabriz. You can find all that there. So, I'd like to see that.

[59:47]

Yes, 40 rules of love. Okay, please. Do you have the 40 rules of love? So it must be possible then to find a... These poems in English, which includes Muhammad? Definitely. One American guy, I know him, he wrote a book about this. And he used to do the twirling, you know, the spinning. Oh, dervish, the whirling dervishes? Yeah, dervish. I forgot his name since years and years. But he wrote a book about this matter. I see another hand. It looks like Carol. Is that right? Yes. Hi. I had a question. We're talking about this. What if you're struck down with some disability? You maybe had a good diet all your life. Yeah.

[60:49]

So it's not through your own misbehavior, so to speak. How do you define... Can they have a good life? How do you define that good life without good health? Is that kind of when bad things happen to good people? Is that the question? Well, I guess you put it that way. That's another way to put it. How do you have a good life when you're When you're limited, when you have ailments, when you have problems. Yeah. But it depends. It depends. But you can have a good life. I mean, I know the first thing you're talking about is good health, but some people don't have good health. Right. So it's like, well, then... When I talk about in general, good health, yes.

[61:55]

These are particular. But I have met people that had their limb broken from an accident. And they live a good life even though they had only no legs. They still were maintaining a good life. you can find that they were not attached or blaming. They were just expressing their inside happiness without attachment to what's missing. I never met some others that are miserable because they lost their leg or anything.

[62:56]

That's something we can search for. I don't know the answer for this. Well, what you're saying is kind of accepting whatever you're dealt with. And your attitude about it. Yeah. And then you don't feel they are missing anything. because of the way they are. Never felt they're missing something or they're blaming. You can forget that they have no lens because of the way they are. I don't know the... Accept it. That's what you're saying. They're accepting, yes. They're accepting, but they're not saying it. I am happy because I'm accepting, they are in different dimensions.

[63:57]

They are in different dimensions. So it's really, it hinges on your mind, your attitude towards yourself, your attitude towards the world. in particular circumstances. Circumstances may be hard, but we still have opportunity to be grateful. We have opportunity to have faith. That's always available to us. Because of our habits, some people are not able to continue to. Which is very sad. Yes, sir. There's a lot of details about this.

[65:02]

They are particular. They're not the general. When you come to the particularity, then it needs a different way of understanding. We, inside of us, we feel like, oh, We feel this empathy. It makes us feel empathy. I met people in a wheelchair. You never think they are in a wheelchair. They are so happy and they do everything and everything. It never crossed my mind that this person is unhappy because he is there that way. or how they carry themselves. Maybe their inside is what makes them be happy.

[66:09]

No attachment to the home, the body becomes just, I used to live here, I live here, maybe my legs were not really my legs, I was using them. I will say people that have faith are different than the others. I never met others who have this blaming or depressed or doing something bad so far that I don't know. This is a good question. This is important because as we see, as we're getting older, abilities that we have, even with the best of care about our health, our diet, our exercise, we're subject to old age.

[67:14]

We're subject to illness. I was talking with somebody today, you know, for years I sat cross-legged. And now I can't sit cross-legged anymore because my knees don't allow that. Khadija's knee doesn't allow that. So I sit in a chair and I don't curse the world because I can't sit cross-legged. When that happened, I said, oh, things have changed. How do I adjust to the circumstances that are in front of me? And that's a good way to live. It's not always possible.

[68:17]

It may be very difficult. And sometimes you may grieve. But even with the grief, you could still you can find some acceptance because that's, if you look, you know, when we're younger, kind of, we sort of assume we're immortal. We assume we're going to live forever and everything is gonna work. But really, if we look around, it's very clear that that's not what the way How is that a gift? How is that difficult reality a gift to us? Maybe you have the answer. What do you say?

[69:22]

I think you make the best of what you have. And as we could just go back to attitude. Because on the other hand, you could have really good health and be miserable. Yes. Coming from within, how you're holding things. I think a lot of it comes down to gratitude. Very good. Being grateful. Yes. For what you have. Yes, and in our tradition, our traditional knowledge is made of two parts. One part is gratitude and the other part is patience. That's what we... I'm sorry, what was the second part? Patience. Patience. Half is gratitude and half is patience. That's what we picked. And then in the image... that we have in our traditional knowledge, we have to pretend you're holding a rope, that really this rope is your life, you're taking care of it and everything, it's like a rope.

[70:34]

Your life is like a rope, you're holding it. Holding the rope from the top, Allah is holding that rope, which is your life. You're holding it like that. And then your feet, You don't know where is Allah going to move this rope on a place. So you're in between where is your feet going to land and the rope that Allah is holding. You are in between them. So you always pray, oh Allah, and then you watch where you're going to put your foot. Oh Allah, make me, put me there for an accident or something that I can't see. So you're always in between what we call du'a. Du'a is always saying, you're holding my life. I know you are. And you also can put me in any place you like.

[71:35]

Please put me in a good place. Nice place. You keep that going. But your life is always holding on these two. And these two is gratitude when you look at Allah. Thank you. And patience. Watch what... Where are you going to put your foot? What's your language? What you're going to say? This is the number of this whole thing you are saying. Thank you for that great teaching. May Allah bless you. You're welcome. Thank you for the great question. Hello? It's been said that good people of faith, if good people of faith can't find a way to get along, everyone else is really in trouble. And what's being done here with the class is an example of interfaith. But what do we do in our personal lives, maybe more understanding between people of different faiths or even people of faith and other faiths?

[72:44]

Good manners. Important. that you respect everyone because they are made by the Most High. Don't look at them. Look at them in that way. Respect. And the other one, love. If we use two ingredients, not just one, it has to be two. If we look at everybody with respect and love, or with love, it can't be only one. It has to be both. Because you can love some other people the way they look, but you don't respect them. You can respect some people, but you don't love them. You have to have these two to make this work. Everybody carries with them respect for each being they see. That can work. I think that another manifestation of the

[73:49]

love and respect is justice. That manifestation of love and respect in this world has to be justice, which means to see the equality of all beings. And when you see something that is out of balance, justice is picked it as holding scales, then it's one responsibility to bring that into balance. And so that's the aspect of the world. In our minds, things begin in our minds, but they take shape in the world. And when things are out of balance, We have to act.

[74:51]

I'm thinking about five years ago, I went to Bangladesh to these Rohingya refugee camps. And so these are Islamic people who've been driven out of Burma. And they're living, there's a million... living in these sprawling camps. And we had an interfaith witness to them, and it included Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Evangelicals, Hindus, you know, and the common bond that we had was the respect and love that we had to do what we could to do what we can to restore that balance and actually to persist because that balance is still not restored so not to turn your back on anyone

[76:19]

But to keep them in sight, which is very important, because it's frustrating. But I think that's what love in action looks like justice. Oh, one more, Deputy. I'm wondering, okay. From my perspective, much of It feels almost overwhelming how out of balance the world is. I guess I'm wondering... I think I have a question about our collective responsibility for that. It feels clear... I think we need to take care of our own and recognize that that is a state of mind that you have some control over.

[77:46]

And also I really really relate to this expression of, to shine one corner of the world. So it's not a question, there's so much that can be so overwhelming to deal with, but to take one corner, to take one thread, which is part of the entire tapestry, and work with that thread, weave it back into the fabric. That's our work. And really important to find people to do that work, to work together. Which is why, you know, you go to, I was overwhelmed when I went to the mosque.

[78:51]

for the first time because at the end of the services, everybody kissed each other. All the men kissed all the men, all the women kissed all the women. It's like, I walked out of there like in a totally different state of mind, you know? And that was the intimate connection. And we have that intimacy here by sitting together. And so, we need to attend to our collective work, our religiosity, our collective faith. So maybe that's a good place to stop. I think so. Shall we sing? Meeting is over? Is everybody happy we can start doing the song?

[79:57]

Okay, thumbs up. We did this the first night and we'll do it again because it's a good song. It comes from... the Appalachian tradition. I learned it from a woman named Jean Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky, and actually had the pleasure of recording this with Yossier. to help. all.

[85:05]

Have a good night. Thank you for having me. It's wonderful to be able to do this with you. Thank you so much for having me.

[85:14]

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