2023-10-08 | Class 9 | Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life | Joel Barna & Robin Bradford

TimeStamps and Poem by David Whyte 00:00:26 - Joel Opens up the Meeting 00:02:20 - Joel Talks About the Precept ‘Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life and Not Killing’ 00:15:06 - Poem by David Whyte - No Path 00:17:43 - Joel Guides Us All Into Sitting for 10 Minutes 00:19:01 - Robin Talks About the Precept ‘I Vow to Take Up the Way of Supporting All Life’, and Discusses the use of Language around the Precepts 00:29:20 - Robin Invites Comments 00:44:45 - Robin Introduces the Topics for the breakout Room Exercises 00:45:26 - !st Question - Is a “no kill” animal shelter working if animals suffer due to poor living conditions? 00:46:26 - 2nd Question - Can someone following the precepts eat meat? 00:47:19 - 3rd Question - Can one consume fossil fuels (drive a car, fly in a plane) knowingly contributing to climate crisis? 00:47:37 - 4th Question - Is euthanasia – the “painless killing of a patient with an incurable disease” – okay? 00:48:47 - Guidance for Connection Rooms - In Groups for 15 Minutes - sit for 1 minute - Discuss from the heart. Actively listen. Speak to essence. Notice what’s simultaneously happening in your body - where is there tightness, where is there heat, maybe boredom, withdrawal - just notice 00:51:16 - Robin Invites Reflections 01:05:17 - The Next Precept - To Not Disparage the Triple Treasures No Path ~David Whyte There is no path that goes all the way. Not that it stops us looking
for the full continuation. The one line in the poem
we can start and follow
straight to the end. The fixed belief we can hold, facing a stranger that saves
us the trouble
of a real conversation. But one day you are not
just imagining an empty chair where your loved one sat.
You are not just telling a story where the bridge is down and there’s
nowhere to cross. You are not just trying
to pray to a God you imagined
would keep you safe. No you’ve come to the place
where nothing you’ve done will impress and nothing you
can promise will avert the silent confrontation,
the place where your body already seems to know
the way having kept to the last its own secret
reconnaissance. But still, there is no path
that goes all the way one conversation leads
to another one breath to the next
until there’s no breath at all just
the inevitable
final release
of the burden. And then
your life will
have to start
all over again
for you to know
even a little
of who you had been. ~David Whyte