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

2023-10-08 | Class 9 | Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life | With Joel Barna & Robin Bradford 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 00:43:41 - Robin Introduces the Topics for the breakout Room Exercises 00:43:46 - !st Question - Is a “no kill” animal shelter working if animals suffer due to poor living conditions? 00:44:45 - 2nd Question - Can someone following the precepts eat meat? 00:45:39 - 3rd Question - Can one consume fossil fuels (drive a car, fly in a plane) knowingly contributing to climate crisis? 00:45:55 - 4th Question - Is euthanasia – the “painless killing of a patient with an incurable disease” – okay? 00:46:45 - 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 00:49:15 - Robin Invites Reflections 01:03:37 - The Next Precept - To Not Disparage the Triple Treasures - Joel will be sending out Materials for this precept soon No Path ~David Whyte There is no path that goes all the way. Not that it stops us lookingfor the full continuation. The one line in the poemwe 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’snowhere 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 inevitablefinal 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 MB (Public)