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I really consider today and this gathering of this notion of creating a good human society
and that it has to go beyond all of our kind of spiritual borders and personal borders
and finding some kind of common language.
And I think that my experience has been travelling to various places,
that this is an issue that is really directly or indirectly affecting all of us.
So it used to be that meditation was something that you didn’t mention too much at the office,
because people might think you're doing something odd.
And now it’s clear that the notion of meditation and how we work with our mind and heart
is essential for our own personal happiness, but also as a human being in terms of
the ability to relate to their own emotions and thoughts that that is not just a soft issue,
but that is integral to the vitality of our own being and all society itself.
So the way I'm looking at the meditation now
and the uses of language in meditation altogether
is trying to extend it out so that it is not something that we do in isolation;
but that as we meditate, and I believe this, that as we meditate it’s a very powerful act;
contemplation is a powerful act and that that itself is a socially viable experience.
If you look at the tradition of meditation in any culture,
it is basically a way of acknowledging the dynamism and power of the human mind.
And so how was it that, you know, we are... how is it that we can come in contact with that?
So to myself it doesn't matter how long you meditate or how long you connect;
but that there is some kind of ability for us in some moment
to allow ourselves to connect with our own feelings, emotions and experiences.
That we all got up today and we're moving through this thing called life, by the way,
and as we move through what is happening?
We’re living and we’re curious and we’re engaging;
and sometimes because of the stress of our own life, we can only live a two-dimensional life.
So sometimes when it’s time to go to bed, we think, "Oh that wasn't too bad". [laughter]
"That wasn’t too bad"; so basically nothing went wrong.
So there's the notion of just making it through, making it through life.
But then if you take a whole society, if the whole society is just trying to make it through,
what kind of society is that? What are we creating?
And I think the notion here is that we have to address the human heart and mind.
And so part of our ability here I think when we’re exploring this
is how do we have the language, the expression and the skillfulness
by which to take this personnel experience and to bring it into every sphere of life?