1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:09,139 --> 00:00:11,881 We are going on a journey this weekend. 4 00:00:11,924 --> 00:00:13,752 Welcome, everyone. 5 00:00:13,796 --> 00:00:16,059 The Search Weekend is about discovery. 6 00:00:16,103 --> 00:00:18,061 It is about surrender. 7 00:00:18,105 --> 00:00:20,107 Don't worry. 8 00:00:20,150 --> 00:00:22,500 All of your questions will be answered. 9 00:00:22,544 --> 00:00:24,894 I heard about Cursillo from a friend 10 00:00:24,937 --> 00:00:26,200 who walked in my office one day 11 00:00:26,243 --> 00:00:27,679 and said, "I'd like to show you something." 12 00:00:27,723 --> 00:00:29,159 They've selected you. 13 00:00:29,203 --> 00:00:31,553 You just can't sign up and go, so people sponsor you. 14 00:00:31,596 --> 00:00:33,946 We had a young couple who'd been attending our church. 15 00:00:33,990 --> 00:00:35,948 They went to the Cursillo weekend. 16 00:00:35,992 --> 00:00:38,995 They came back very excited, but very perplexed. 17 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:41,041 "Just relax. Breathe. 18 00:00:41,084 --> 00:00:43,347 Don't try to anticipate what's going to happen next. 19 00:00:43,391 --> 00:00:46,220 Everything said in this room is completely confidential." 20 00:00:46,263 --> 00:00:47,525 "Well, what is it?" 21 00:00:47,569 --> 00:00:48,744 "Well, we can't really tell you what it is, 22 00:00:48,787 --> 00:00:50,093 but it's going to be wonderful." 23 00:00:50,137 --> 00:00:51,790 All the windows and doors and clocks 24 00:00:51,834 --> 00:00:53,183 had been covered with paper. 25 00:00:53,227 --> 00:00:54,228 In the Christian Church, 26 00:00:54,271 --> 00:00:55,620 there are no secrets. 27 00:00:55,664 --> 00:00:58,058 Why is the world so full of unhappiness? 28 00:00:58,101 --> 00:01:01,191 Why is your life still so unsatisfying? 29 00:01:01,235 --> 00:01:04,586 I felt exhausted, mentally unstable. 30 00:01:04,629 --> 00:01:05,935 Some of these techniques 31 00:01:05,978 --> 00:01:09,243 are using mind control, manipulating. 32 00:01:09,286 --> 00:01:11,810 We have done some amazing work so far, 33 00:01:11,854 --> 00:01:13,943 but I think we can go even deeper. 34 00:01:13,986 --> 00:01:15,379 What do you know? 35 00:01:15,423 --> 00:01:17,425 How did religion get started? 36 00:01:17,468 --> 00:01:19,557 Something that you encounter as vast... 37 00:01:19,601 --> 00:01:20,776 Without consciousness, 38 00:01:20,819 --> 00:01:22,212 nothing has any importance for any of us. 39 00:01:22,256 --> 00:01:23,474 Let's not be ashamed 40 00:01:23,518 --> 00:01:24,823 of using the word "spiritual." 41 00:01:24,867 --> 00:01:26,956 You can produce awe. 42 00:01:44,278 --> 00:01:46,062 Julie. 43 00:01:46,106 --> 00:01:48,412 Did you hear about that party at Sandy Point? 44 00:01:48,456 --> 00:01:50,284 I was thinking maybe we could go together. 45 00:01:50,327 --> 00:01:52,329 No, we have The Search this weekend. 46 00:01:52,373 --> 00:01:54,853 I'm volunteering, remember, and you promised me. 47 00:01:54,897 --> 00:01:56,812 There's gonna be other parties, Patrick. 48 00:01:56,855 --> 00:01:58,814 This is special. 49 00:01:58,857 --> 00:02:01,947 But if you really don't want to go with me, 50 00:02:01,991 --> 00:02:03,384 I suppose I can just go by myself. 51 00:02:03,427 --> 00:02:04,211 Hey, no. 52 00:02:04,254 --> 00:02:05,690 No, no, no. I'll come. 53 00:02:08,128 --> 00:02:10,347 I was 17 in Grade 12, 54 00:02:10,391 --> 00:02:12,175 and the kids were talking 55 00:02:12,219 --> 00:02:14,177 about this thing called "The Search," 56 00:02:14,221 --> 00:02:15,961 this weekend retreat 57 00:02:16,005 --> 00:02:19,051 where everybody had this spiritual experience. 58 00:02:20,662 --> 00:02:22,359 I was pretty interested in that. 59 00:02:30,846 --> 00:02:31,760 I was born in the '50s, 60 00:02:31,803 --> 00:02:32,978 and as a child growing up, 61 00:02:33,022 --> 00:02:35,764 life really seemed very simple. 62 00:02:35,807 --> 00:02:38,332 We had Catholicism and the Church. 63 00:02:38,375 --> 00:02:41,552 It was all very clear what to believe. 64 00:02:41,596 --> 00:02:46,296 My mom had seven kids in a little over 10 years. 65 00:02:46,340 --> 00:02:47,471 Birth control 66 00:02:47,515 --> 00:02:49,647 was not part of the Catholic religion. 67 00:02:54,870 --> 00:02:56,480 I think the main reason we were Catholic 68 00:02:56,524 --> 00:02:58,874 was because my mother was interested in making sure 69 00:02:58,917 --> 00:03:00,919 we had a moral upbringing. 70 00:03:00,963 --> 00:03:03,531 My family had been Catholic for generations. 71 00:03:03,574 --> 00:03:05,533 I had my first communion when I was six. 72 00:03:05,576 --> 00:03:06,882 I was going to church all the time. 73 00:03:06,925 --> 00:03:08,797 I was an altar boy. 74 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:10,407 That was the way we lived. 75 00:03:10,451 --> 00:03:12,192 Well, I really believed, 76 00:03:12,235 --> 00:03:15,586 back in the '50s and '60s and that, 77 00:03:15,630 --> 00:03:18,894 that you had to be baptized. 78 00:03:18,937 --> 00:03:22,854 I just knew intrinsically that has to happen. 79 00:03:24,987 --> 00:03:27,119 There are many different religions in the world, 80 00:03:27,163 --> 00:03:28,730 and thousands more that have come and gone 81 00:03:28,773 --> 00:03:30,079 and gone extinct, 82 00:03:30,122 --> 00:03:32,908 and oddly enough, 83 00:03:32,951 --> 00:03:35,215 the religion that people tend to espouse 84 00:03:35,258 --> 00:03:37,695 is the one that their parents espoused. 85 00:03:37,739 --> 00:03:39,523 Why do you suppose that is? 86 00:03:39,567 --> 00:03:40,829 Is it in the genes? 87 00:03:40,872 --> 00:03:43,048 No, certainly not. 88 00:03:43,092 --> 00:03:45,877 It's that they are sheltered in their youth, 89 00:03:45,921 --> 00:03:47,401 in their infancy. 90 00:03:47,444 --> 00:03:49,229 They're only taught one religion. 91 00:03:49,272 --> 00:03:51,970 They're taught all the others are wrong. 92 00:03:52,014 --> 00:03:53,581 Having the kind of brain 93 00:03:53,624 --> 00:03:56,497 which believes what you're told by your elders and betters 94 00:03:56,540 --> 00:03:58,150 could have an advantage, 95 00:03:58,194 --> 00:03:59,543 but the child brain has no way 96 00:03:59,587 --> 00:04:02,372 of distinguishing the superstition, 97 00:04:02,416 --> 00:04:03,721 which is just silly, 98 00:04:03,765 --> 00:04:06,028 and the wise advice, 99 00:04:06,071 --> 00:04:09,553 which is vitally important for them to learn. 100 00:04:36,624 --> 00:04:37,755 Being an altar boy 101 00:04:37,799 --> 00:04:40,018 was really quite an amazing experience 102 00:04:40,062 --> 00:04:42,238 because when I was up on that altar, 103 00:04:42,282 --> 00:04:43,979 it really felt like I was important 104 00:04:44,022 --> 00:04:45,589 and I was doing something 105 00:04:45,633 --> 00:04:48,810 that the entire community would appreciate, 106 00:04:48,853 --> 00:04:53,162 and the priests made you feel like you were important. 107 00:04:53,205 --> 00:04:56,948 It was a very uplifting experience. 108 00:04:56,992 --> 00:04:59,429 At that time, early in my life, 109 00:04:59,473 --> 00:05:01,344 that was a big thing. 110 00:05:05,522 --> 00:05:07,132 It's Friday night, you show up, 111 00:05:07,176 --> 00:05:08,482 you've got your sleeping bag 112 00:05:08,525 --> 00:05:10,788 and a little duffel bag with your clothes in it. 113 00:05:10,832 --> 00:05:12,529 There were maybe 20 kids. 114 00:05:12,573 --> 00:05:13,748 Hey, Ben. 115 00:05:13,791 --> 00:05:15,837 There was my friend, Ben, who was there, 116 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:17,665 and we had played basketball together. 117 00:05:17,708 --> 00:05:19,797 We weren't really good friends, 118 00:05:19,841 --> 00:05:21,364 but I knew him well enough, and I thought, 119 00:05:21,408 --> 00:05:23,714 "Well, at least there's somebody here that I know, 120 00:05:23,758 --> 00:05:25,063 and I'll go through this weekend, 121 00:05:25,107 --> 00:05:26,369 and we'll hang together, 122 00:05:26,413 --> 00:05:28,371 and, you know, I won't be completely alone." 123 00:05:28,415 --> 00:05:29,764 Hello, everyone. 124 00:05:29,807 --> 00:05:32,375 Listen up. 125 00:05:32,419 --> 00:05:33,289 I'm Father Snow. 126 00:05:33,333 --> 00:05:35,335 Welcome. 127 00:05:35,378 --> 00:05:38,033 We are going on a journey this weekend. 128 00:05:39,469 --> 00:05:42,907 It's a journey from here to here. 129 00:05:42,951 --> 00:05:47,390 The Search Weekend is about discovery. 130 00:05:47,434 --> 00:05:49,653 It's about surrender... 131 00:05:49,697 --> 00:05:51,742 surrender to God. 132 00:05:52,917 --> 00:05:55,833 It is a real encounter 133 00:05:55,877 --> 00:05:57,531 with the Holy Spirit. 134 00:05:57,574 --> 00:05:59,881 And the first thing I noticed when I went in 135 00:05:59,924 --> 00:06:02,144 was all the windows and doors and clocks 136 00:06:02,187 --> 00:06:03,928 had been covered with paper. 137 00:06:03,972 --> 00:06:05,930 That was a little strange, but they said 138 00:06:05,974 --> 00:06:07,976 they wanted everybody just to focus 139 00:06:08,019 --> 00:06:10,718 on that weekend experience. 140 00:06:10,761 --> 00:06:12,284 Now let me introduce you 141 00:06:12,328 --> 00:06:16,288 to your spiritual advisors and helpers for this weekend. 142 00:06:16,332 --> 00:06:17,507 We've got Father Green. 143 00:06:17,551 --> 00:06:18,421 If you didn't participate, 144 00:06:18,465 --> 00:06:19,901 you didn't know about it. 145 00:06:19,944 --> 00:06:22,730 If you did participate, you couldn't talk about it. 146 00:06:22,773 --> 00:06:24,645 In the Christian Church, there are no secrets, 147 00:06:24,688 --> 00:06:27,691 so to come upon a secretive movement 148 00:06:27,735 --> 00:06:30,738 among the Christian Church is really quite surprising, 149 00:06:30,781 --> 00:06:32,130 so it piqued my curiosity. 150 00:06:34,437 --> 00:06:37,005 The actual name of the event itself 151 00:06:37,048 --> 00:06:39,224 is Cursillos de Cristiandad, 152 00:06:39,268 --> 00:06:42,880 so it's "Little Courses in Christianity," 153 00:06:42,924 --> 00:06:47,232 and I'm suggesting that mm, maybe not so much. 154 00:06:47,276 --> 00:06:50,410 It's little courses in having a cathartic experience. 155 00:06:51,454 --> 00:06:54,239 And now let me introduce you to your youth leader... 156 00:06:54,283 --> 00:06:55,545 Bruce. 157 00:06:57,025 --> 00:06:58,548 Hi, everyone. I'm Bruce, 158 00:06:58,592 --> 00:07:00,637 your Search youth leader for this weekend. 159 00:07:00,681 --> 00:07:02,422 I said, "Hi, everyone!" 160 00:07:02,465 --> 00:07:04,162 Hi, Bruce. 161 00:07:04,206 --> 00:07:05,163 Aw, come on, people. We need energy! 162 00:07:05,207 --> 00:07:06,469 Let's do it one more time. 163 00:07:06,513 --> 00:07:07,644 Hi, everybody! 164 00:07:07,688 --> 00:07:09,254 Hi, Bruce! 165 00:07:09,298 --> 00:07:11,213 This is going to be a fantastic weekend. 166 00:07:11,256 --> 00:07:12,649 Just go ahead 167 00:07:12,693 --> 00:07:13,911 and leave all of your things right here on the floor. 168 00:07:13,955 --> 00:07:15,478 If anybody's wearing a watch, 169 00:07:15,522 --> 00:07:18,176 go ahead and take it off now and give it Monica. 170 00:07:18,220 --> 00:07:19,439 Don't worry. 171 00:07:19,482 --> 00:07:20,831 Everything will be taken care of. 172 00:07:20,875 --> 00:07:23,443 All of your questions will be answered. 173 00:07:23,486 --> 00:07:25,836 Now... follow me. 174 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:27,621 Come on! Let's go for a run. 175 00:07:37,674 --> 00:07:40,285 The way that the Cursillo began 176 00:07:40,329 --> 00:07:45,769 was actually in the 1930s in Spain. 177 00:07:45,813 --> 00:07:49,469 The Catholic Church in Spain was really in trouble. 178 00:07:49,512 --> 00:07:51,079 It was weak. 179 00:07:51,122 --> 00:07:53,560 Young men especially were not participating in the Church. 180 00:07:53,603 --> 00:07:55,866 It was considered effeminate to be a part of the Church, 181 00:07:55,910 --> 00:07:59,827 and then there were inroads of Communism 182 00:07:59,870 --> 00:08:01,959 and also other ideologies 183 00:08:02,003 --> 00:08:04,353 that were denying the central tenets of the faith, 184 00:08:04,396 --> 00:08:07,356 and so the Church was really in trouble. 185 00:08:10,533 --> 00:08:12,143 Because of that, 186 00:08:12,187 --> 00:08:14,929 Roman Catholic leaders suggested, 187 00:08:14,972 --> 00:08:16,539 "Let's take a pilgrimage 188 00:08:16,583 --> 00:08:20,369 to the tomb of St. James the Greater," 189 00:08:20,412 --> 00:08:24,721 and they created some weekend trainings 190 00:08:24,765 --> 00:08:26,462 to prepare these folks, 191 00:08:26,506 --> 00:08:28,464 and they found that the trainings 192 00:08:28,508 --> 00:08:31,075 really had a work of revitalization 193 00:08:31,119 --> 00:08:34,601 that made the pilgrimage almost unnecessary. 194 00:08:34,644 --> 00:08:39,040 At that time, a very important figure named Eduardo Bonnin, 195 00:08:39,083 --> 00:08:40,520 a psychologist, 196 00:08:40,563 --> 00:08:41,999 was employed. 197 00:08:42,043 --> 00:08:45,437 He interjected a strong psychological component 198 00:08:45,481 --> 00:08:47,527 to the Cursillo movement, 199 00:08:47,570 --> 00:08:50,573 and because of his influence, 200 00:08:50,617 --> 00:08:53,184 the Cursillo is what it is today. 201 00:08:53,228 --> 00:08:55,099 It eventually came to the U.S., 202 00:08:55,143 --> 00:08:56,579 and in 1981, 203 00:08:56,623 --> 00:08:58,973 the Roman Catholic Church said 204 00:08:59,016 --> 00:09:00,714 that it was introduced 205 00:09:00,757 --> 00:09:03,934 in almost all of the 160 dioceses 206 00:09:03,978 --> 00:09:05,588 in the United States in America, 207 00:09:05,632 --> 00:09:08,678 so in this less than 40 years, 208 00:09:08,722 --> 00:09:12,421 30 years, really, it had a phenomenal spread. 209 00:09:12,464 --> 00:09:14,249 I don't think there is a place on Earth 210 00:09:14,292 --> 00:09:16,730 where it does not exist. 211 00:09:16,773 --> 00:09:18,470 Please, have a seat on the floor. 212 00:09:18,514 --> 00:09:19,559 Come on in. 213 00:09:19,602 --> 00:09:20,864 It has also moved its way 214 00:09:20,908 --> 00:09:23,127 into virtually every Protestant denomination 215 00:09:23,171 --> 00:09:24,607 in the United States, 216 00:09:24,651 --> 00:09:28,393 Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians. 217 00:09:28,437 --> 00:09:29,786 So we'll have a brief prayer, 218 00:09:29,830 --> 00:09:31,005 then I'll lead a meditation 219 00:09:31,048 --> 00:09:32,180 before we begin our weekend 220 00:09:32,223 --> 00:09:34,574 of exploration and enlightenment. 221 00:09:36,663 --> 00:09:38,316 Just relax. 222 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:40,492 Breathe. 223 00:09:40,536 --> 00:09:42,538 Let's all hold hands. 224 00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:45,236 It was very quiet, and they said, 225 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,064 "We're gonna start with a meditation." 226 00:09:47,108 --> 00:09:49,327 I thought, "This could be an interesting weekend." 227 00:09:49,371 --> 00:09:52,766 Remember, it's important to just experience this weekend. 228 00:09:52,809 --> 00:09:54,898 Don't try to anticipate what's going to happen next. 229 00:09:54,942 --> 00:09:56,596 Just go with the flow. 230 00:09:57,771 --> 00:09:59,947 We know you have lots of questions, 231 00:09:59,990 --> 00:10:02,732 but all will be revealed soon. 232 00:10:02,776 --> 00:10:04,125 I was looking forward 233 00:10:04,168 --> 00:10:06,780 to this encounter with the Holy Spirit. 234 00:10:06,823 --> 00:10:08,608 I was in it. 235 00:10:09,652 --> 00:10:11,654 In many religious contexts, 236 00:10:11,698 --> 00:10:13,700 people are in some social context 237 00:10:13,743 --> 00:10:16,267 that has taken them out of their comfort zone, 238 00:10:16,311 --> 00:10:17,660 and they can have what presents 239 00:10:17,704 --> 00:10:21,316 as a truly rarefied state of consciousness. 240 00:10:21,359 --> 00:10:23,100 Then you imagine that it has been delivered 241 00:10:23,144 --> 00:10:26,147 from some invisible agent, right? 242 00:10:26,190 --> 00:10:29,541 It's grace that is showering down, 243 00:10:29,585 --> 00:10:31,718 or you've been touched by something unseen, 244 00:10:31,761 --> 00:10:33,502 and there's a lot of beliefs 245 00:10:33,545 --> 00:10:38,681 that seem to get justified by those haphazard experiences. 246 00:10:39,769 --> 00:10:42,859 Although we are at the centre of all God's creation, 247 00:10:42,903 --> 00:10:44,295 we feel... 248 00:10:44,339 --> 00:10:45,470 dissatisfied, 249 00:10:45,514 --> 00:10:46,776 anguish, 250 00:10:46,820 --> 00:10:48,038 hollow. 251 00:10:49,170 --> 00:10:50,954 We seek happiness in false values 252 00:10:50,998 --> 00:10:53,653 that activate new, insatiable desires. 253 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,831 Why have we failed? 254 00:10:57,874 --> 00:11:00,355 Why is your life still so unsatisfying, 255 00:11:00,398 --> 00:11:03,488 frustrating, and unfulfilling? 256 00:11:03,532 --> 00:11:06,013 It is possible to have 257 00:11:06,056 --> 00:11:09,712 an experience of profound meaning 258 00:11:09,756 --> 00:11:11,409 in anything. 259 00:11:11,453 --> 00:11:12,889 Awe is a matter of attention. 260 00:11:12,933 --> 00:11:15,500 It's not a matter of the object being attended to. 261 00:11:15,544 --> 00:11:19,200 Consciousness is fundamentally mysterious. 262 00:11:20,418 --> 00:11:22,899 Understanding consciousness... 263 00:11:22,943 --> 00:11:25,859 it's got to be one of the most important things 264 00:11:25,902 --> 00:11:26,990 that there is to do. 265 00:11:27,034 --> 00:11:28,905 Without consciousness, 266 00:11:28,949 --> 00:11:30,733 nothing has any importance for any of us. 267 00:11:30,777 --> 00:11:33,780 Consciousness in the end for each of us is all there is. 268 00:11:33,823 --> 00:11:36,434 We experience the world and we experience the self 269 00:11:36,478 --> 00:11:39,002 in virtue of being conscious. 270 00:11:39,046 --> 00:11:41,265 When we suffer, we suffer consciously. 271 00:11:41,309 --> 00:11:43,311 When we experience pain and pleasure, 272 00:11:43,354 --> 00:11:46,096 that's part of our conscious experience. 273 00:11:46,140 --> 00:11:47,750 It's only the fact 274 00:11:47,794 --> 00:11:51,188 there is something it is like to be you or me, 275 00:11:51,232 --> 00:11:52,929 rather than just be a kind of robot 276 00:11:52,973 --> 00:11:55,366 with no inner universe at all. 277 00:11:55,410 --> 00:11:58,065 That's the central mystery, 278 00:11:58,108 --> 00:12:01,024 and it's also the most familiar thing 279 00:12:01,068 --> 00:12:02,069 to each of us. 280 00:12:03,984 --> 00:12:06,073 Let us give up our old ways, 281 00:12:06,116 --> 00:12:07,465 our sinful ways. 282 00:12:07,509 --> 00:12:08,728 Let's open ourselves 283 00:12:08,771 --> 00:12:12,862 to the new light of enlightenment and love. 284 00:12:13,994 --> 00:12:15,778 Peace be with you. 285 00:12:15,822 --> 00:12:17,867 And also with you. 286 00:12:22,176 --> 00:12:23,655 We define "awe" 287 00:12:23,699 --> 00:12:26,920 as the moment when something that you encounter is vast 288 00:12:26,963 --> 00:12:30,140 and kind of makes the self feel small, 289 00:12:30,184 --> 00:12:31,751 and also, it involves a sense 290 00:12:31,794 --> 00:12:33,753 that your current knowledge structures... 291 00:12:33,796 --> 00:12:35,189 your concepts, your ideas... 292 00:12:35,232 --> 00:12:38,409 can't make sense of what you're encountering, right? 293 00:12:38,453 --> 00:12:41,369 And so it initiates this process of inquiry. 294 00:12:43,806 --> 00:12:47,288 We tend to interpret our spiritual experiences 295 00:12:47,331 --> 00:12:48,898 through the lens 296 00:12:48,942 --> 00:12:52,249 of whatever religious culture we've been indoctrinated by. 297 00:12:52,293 --> 00:12:53,816 It's not an accident 298 00:12:53,860 --> 00:12:58,255 that when a Christian begins to feel extremely expansive, 299 00:12:58,299 --> 00:13:00,083 let's say, you know, in church, 300 00:13:00,127 --> 00:13:01,998 he or she will interpret 301 00:13:02,042 --> 00:13:05,045 that sudden change in the contents of consciousness 302 00:13:05,088 --> 00:13:07,090 or in their emotional life 303 00:13:07,134 --> 00:13:12,182 as data in favour of the truth of Christian doctrine. 304 00:13:12,226 --> 00:13:14,315 I've spent a lot of time on meditation retreats, 305 00:13:14,358 --> 00:13:15,446 and, you know, I was meditating 306 00:13:15,490 --> 00:13:16,665 and having this kind of 307 00:13:16,708 --> 00:13:19,146 classically self-transcending experience 308 00:13:19,189 --> 00:13:22,149 where Jesus had supposedly delivered 309 00:13:22,192 --> 00:13:24,499 the Sermon on the Mount, by the Sea of Galilee. 310 00:13:24,542 --> 00:13:27,284 If I had been a Christian having that experience there, 311 00:13:27,328 --> 00:13:29,939 I would've interpreted it as data, you know, 312 00:13:29,983 --> 00:13:32,463 confirming the truth of Christian doctrine 313 00:13:32,507 --> 00:13:33,856 but because I'm not a Christian, 314 00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:35,553 there's no temptation to do that, right? 315 00:13:35,597 --> 00:13:36,990 I know that this is something 316 00:13:37,033 --> 00:13:39,993 that is the kind of experience I can have anywhere. 317 00:13:40,036 --> 00:13:41,864 Doesn't have to be at the Sea of Galilee, right? 318 00:13:41,908 --> 00:13:44,649 It's just a matter of paying close enough attention 319 00:13:44,693 --> 00:13:47,174 to the nature of consciousness. 320 00:13:47,217 --> 00:13:50,133 It can't be a matter of 321 00:13:50,177 --> 00:13:52,527 Buddhism or Christianity or Hinduism 322 00:13:52,570 --> 00:13:54,834 being the only true religion, 323 00:13:54,877 --> 00:13:57,837 because each of these expansive experiences 324 00:13:57,880 --> 00:13:59,751 are being had in every religion 325 00:13:59,795 --> 00:14:00,883 and in no religion. 326 00:14:00,927 --> 00:14:02,363 Atheists have these experiences. 327 00:14:05,018 --> 00:14:08,064 So there has to be a deeper layer here. 328 00:14:08,108 --> 00:14:10,066 There has to be something universal 329 00:14:10,110 --> 00:14:12,155 about the nature of human consciousness 330 00:14:12,199 --> 00:14:13,722 that we can come to understand 331 00:14:13,765 --> 00:14:17,117 in terms that are not merely a matter of, you know, 332 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,729 one or another religious culture. 333 00:14:22,731 --> 00:14:24,254 Through the ages, 334 00:14:24,298 --> 00:14:27,257 people have reported things like out-of-body experiences, 335 00:14:27,301 --> 00:14:29,999 that they've left their bodies and are floating above them, 336 00:14:30,043 --> 00:14:31,958 and even floating around the town or the city 337 00:14:32,001 --> 00:14:33,437 or the landscape, 338 00:14:33,481 --> 00:14:35,744 and some point they come back into their bodies again. 339 00:14:35,787 --> 00:14:37,398 These experiences happen. 340 00:14:37,441 --> 00:14:38,921 There's absolutely no reason to deny 341 00:14:38,965 --> 00:14:41,358 that people have experiences like that. 342 00:14:41,402 --> 00:14:44,361 But then the explanations that are often offered 343 00:14:44,405 --> 00:14:45,710 for these sorts of experiences, 344 00:14:45,754 --> 00:14:48,148 we should be more skeptical about, 345 00:14:48,191 --> 00:14:49,976 so it's not the case 346 00:14:50,019 --> 00:14:53,544 that there's an immaterial soul that leaves the body 347 00:14:53,588 --> 00:14:55,285 through the ears or through the top of the head 348 00:14:55,329 --> 00:14:56,634 and goes flying around. 349 00:14:56,678 --> 00:15:00,203 There's a danger to dismiss the experience 350 00:15:00,247 --> 00:15:01,944 along with that kind of explanation. 351 00:15:01,988 --> 00:15:03,293 I think that would be a mistake, 352 00:15:03,337 --> 00:15:05,034 and so what we should do instead 353 00:15:05,078 --> 00:15:08,211 is to figure out what in the brain 354 00:15:08,255 --> 00:15:13,390 would generate the experience of being outside one's body, 355 00:15:13,434 --> 00:15:16,741 and the conditions under which that might happen, 356 00:15:16,785 --> 00:15:18,613 and some researchers are beginning to find out 357 00:15:18,656 --> 00:15:20,267 some very interesting things about this. 358 00:15:20,310 --> 00:15:21,746 There are particular parts of the brain 359 00:15:21,790 --> 00:15:23,183 that are implicated 360 00:15:23,226 --> 00:15:25,925 in locating the first-person perspective in space. 361 00:15:25,968 --> 00:15:29,145 I think of consciousness as a material phenomenon. 362 00:15:38,111 --> 00:15:41,288 God loves us. 363 00:15:41,331 --> 00:15:45,466 He sent His only son to forgive the sins of this world. 364 00:15:45,509 --> 00:15:47,772 After the meditation session, 365 00:15:47,816 --> 00:15:49,470 then we get up and we do this thing 366 00:15:49,513 --> 00:15:51,428 called the "Stations of the Cross." 367 00:15:51,472 --> 00:15:52,995 You walk along the hallway, 368 00:15:53,039 --> 00:15:57,086 and there's all these pictures of the crucifixion of Jesus. 369 00:15:57,130 --> 00:16:01,873 It was quite an emotional experience. 370 00:16:01,917 --> 00:16:04,485 Man is a wretched sinner... 371 00:16:04,528 --> 00:16:07,792 yet our Father still loves us. 372 00:16:07,836 --> 00:16:11,796 Why is there so much strife and unhappiness in the world? 373 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,843 Why are you unfulfilled? 374 00:16:16,062 --> 00:16:17,585 I think from time immemorial, 375 00:16:17,628 --> 00:16:20,631 there have been Christians who have been going on retreats. 376 00:16:20,675 --> 00:16:22,982 The interesting dynamic of this one 377 00:16:23,025 --> 00:16:25,767 is the strong psychological component of it. 378 00:16:27,769 --> 00:16:29,814 We want you to look at your life 379 00:16:29,858 --> 00:16:33,731 and think about how your life is going... 380 00:16:33,775 --> 00:16:36,996 and isn't there so much more? 381 00:16:37,039 --> 00:16:39,824 We will now listen quietly 382 00:16:39,868 --> 00:16:43,219 as we walk together through the Stations of the Cross. 383 00:16:43,263 --> 00:16:44,742 Some of these techniques 384 00:16:44,786 --> 00:16:46,657 that are used on the Cursillo 385 00:16:46,701 --> 00:16:50,357 are recognized techniques by psychologists 386 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,577 as ways of manipulating, 387 00:16:53,621 --> 00:16:56,798 of, um, using mind control. 388 00:16:57,842 --> 00:16:59,018 For the first time, 389 00:16:59,061 --> 00:17:00,497 neuroscience is getting to the stage 390 00:17:00,541 --> 00:17:03,370 where it's starting to look as if we might understand 391 00:17:03,413 --> 00:17:07,069 the underlying brain mechanisms of what's going on, 392 00:17:07,113 --> 00:17:08,114 for example, 393 00:17:08,157 --> 00:17:10,029 when we experience strong emotions, 394 00:17:10,072 --> 00:17:12,553 when a message is repeated again and again 395 00:17:12,596 --> 00:17:14,424 and learned in the brain, 396 00:17:14,468 --> 00:17:17,514 when uncertainty and cognitive dissonance 397 00:17:17,558 --> 00:17:20,909 challenge our ideas about what we thought we believed, 398 00:17:20,952 --> 00:17:22,389 and when we're isolated 399 00:17:22,432 --> 00:17:25,392 and our environment is controlled. 400 00:17:26,741 --> 00:17:29,048 People are isolated on this weekend retreat 401 00:17:29,091 --> 00:17:32,051 largely to take them away 402 00:17:32,094 --> 00:17:34,662 from their normal support systems 403 00:17:34,705 --> 00:17:37,273 that continue to reaffirm their identity, 404 00:17:37,317 --> 00:17:40,929 allowing people to make commitments or decisions 405 00:17:40,972 --> 00:17:43,540 that they probably won't keep or wouldn't make 406 00:17:43,584 --> 00:17:44,889 in another context 407 00:17:44,933 --> 00:17:47,240 because they're isolated. 408 00:17:47,283 --> 00:17:48,545 Once you've isolated people, 409 00:17:48,589 --> 00:17:51,722 the next step is to control their environment. 410 00:17:51,766 --> 00:17:53,202 By doing that, 411 00:17:53,246 --> 00:17:55,726 you're controlling what goes into the brain. 412 00:17:55,770 --> 00:17:58,990 Giving up control is another part of the weekend 413 00:17:59,034 --> 00:18:01,428 where you do not know day or night. 414 00:18:01,471 --> 00:18:03,734 No one tells you what's coming. 415 00:18:03,778 --> 00:18:06,911 The event itself prides itself 416 00:18:06,955 --> 00:18:09,088 on its quote-unquote "surprises." 417 00:18:09,131 --> 00:18:11,829 By "surprises," they should say 418 00:18:11,873 --> 00:18:17,008 "very intense psychological shocks to your system." 419 00:18:17,052 --> 00:18:21,274 Every minute of the weekend is programmed. 420 00:18:21,317 --> 00:18:25,756 It is following a very carefully written script. 421 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,151 All of the leaders know what the script is, 422 00:18:29,195 --> 00:18:33,460 so they're completely in control for those 72 hours. 423 00:18:35,897 --> 00:18:37,377 The third thing you do is 424 00:18:37,420 --> 00:18:39,814 you have to weaken the beliefs that they come in with, 425 00:18:39,857 --> 00:18:42,686 and you do that by using uncertainty. 426 00:18:42,730 --> 00:18:46,212 I remember I went back to my bunk, 427 00:18:46,255 --> 00:18:47,648 and my bed had been made, 428 00:18:47,691 --> 00:18:50,607 and there was a little Bible sitting there on my bed, 429 00:18:50,651 --> 00:18:51,782 and it was like, 430 00:18:51,826 --> 00:18:54,045 "Who put this stuff here? Who did this?" 431 00:18:54,089 --> 00:18:57,527 You're constantly in this state 432 00:18:57,571 --> 00:19:00,617 of really not knowing what's going to happen next. 433 00:19:00,661 --> 00:19:03,620 The uncertainty is counteracted by the fact 434 00:19:03,664 --> 00:19:06,493 that the leaders are absolutely certain, 435 00:19:06,536 --> 00:19:09,452 so whatever sense that you are feeling 436 00:19:09,496 --> 00:19:12,977 of, "Boy, I don't know about myself anymore..." 437 00:19:13,021 --> 00:19:15,502 well, these people are coming across as they know, 438 00:19:15,545 --> 00:19:17,156 and they know about themselves, 439 00:19:17,199 --> 00:19:18,896 and they know what you should do as well. 440 00:19:18,940 --> 00:19:22,900 This book is the rock 441 00:19:22,944 --> 00:19:25,990 that the Church itself is built upon. 442 00:19:26,034 --> 00:19:28,515 It is God's word. 443 00:19:29,864 --> 00:19:31,822 We live in a very complicated world, 444 00:19:31,866 --> 00:19:34,564 and there are complicated dynamics, 445 00:19:34,608 --> 00:19:36,000 and a lot of times, 446 00:19:36,044 --> 00:19:37,915 we can get overloaded with the lack of simplicity. 447 00:19:37,959 --> 00:19:42,181 When you read from the Bible... 448 00:19:42,224 --> 00:19:44,748 you read a message from God Himself. 449 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,012 When the Bible speaks, 450 00:19:48,056 --> 00:19:50,058 God speaks. 451 00:19:50,101 --> 00:19:53,061 And when people start offering, 452 00:19:53,104 --> 00:19:55,716 in a repeated way, simple answers, 453 00:19:55,759 --> 00:19:58,893 we really tend to want to gravitate toward that. 454 00:19:58,936 --> 00:20:01,591 This is what we believe. 455 00:20:01,635 --> 00:20:04,681 This is why we are Christians. 456 00:20:04,725 --> 00:20:06,814 And it doesn't actually take very much 457 00:20:06,857 --> 00:20:10,557 of that kind of dreadful, grinding repetition 458 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,081 to really drum in a new message. 459 00:20:13,124 --> 00:20:14,778 So repetition is very important. 460 00:20:15,823 --> 00:20:17,433 Praise be to God. 461 00:20:17,477 --> 00:20:19,348 Praise be to God. 462 00:20:19,392 --> 00:20:22,569 Psychologists have clearly noted 463 00:20:22,612 --> 00:20:25,267 that you will slip into a state of suggestibility, 464 00:20:25,311 --> 00:20:26,790 a hypnotic state, 465 00:20:26,834 --> 00:20:29,097 by constant repetition, repetition, 466 00:20:29,140 --> 00:20:30,577 repetitious movement, 467 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:33,232 uh, dancing, 468 00:20:33,275 --> 00:20:35,886 um, clapping, chanting. 469 00:20:52,512 --> 00:20:55,428 One of my favourite features of religion 470 00:20:55,471 --> 00:21:00,607 is unison chanting, unison singing, unison rituals. 471 00:21:00,650 --> 00:21:03,479 You can have a religious community 472 00:21:03,523 --> 00:21:05,438 where there's, say... 473 00:21:05,481 --> 00:21:08,963 uh, a five-minute chant or song. 474 00:21:15,143 --> 00:21:17,406 And if you ask individuals in a group 475 00:21:17,450 --> 00:21:20,583 to do the whole thing solo, they couldn't do it. 476 00:21:20,627 --> 00:21:23,107 Put 'em all together in a group, they'll do it perfectly, 477 00:21:23,151 --> 00:21:25,414 because they'll drop out when they don't remember, 478 00:21:25,458 --> 00:21:28,112 and so you get this group memory. 479 00:21:28,156 --> 00:21:29,288 Very powerful, 480 00:21:29,331 --> 00:21:32,291 and it doesn't just preserve the text. 481 00:21:32,334 --> 00:21:35,598 It enhances collaboration 482 00:21:35,642 --> 00:21:38,122 and paying attention to what your neighbour's doing, 483 00:21:38,166 --> 00:21:40,168 sort of almost subliminally, 484 00:21:40,211 --> 00:21:44,781 and that creates a good group adhesion, 485 00:21:44,825 --> 00:21:47,567 good allegiance. 486 00:21:47,610 --> 00:21:49,612 So there are many features of religion 487 00:21:49,656 --> 00:21:51,614 that, if you think of them 488 00:21:51,658 --> 00:21:53,486 in these sort of engineering terms, 489 00:21:53,529 --> 00:21:55,270 make really good sense. 490 00:21:55,314 --> 00:21:58,404 It wasn't that clever ritual designers 491 00:21:58,447 --> 00:22:00,275 figured this out, said, 492 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:02,408 "We've got to have this group chanting." 493 00:22:02,451 --> 00:22:04,366 No, no. 494 00:22:04,410 --> 00:22:07,064 It's that groups that had it survived, 495 00:22:07,108 --> 00:22:08,936 and those that didn't, didn't. 496 00:22:10,024 --> 00:22:11,721 Many people have speculated 497 00:22:11,765 --> 00:22:14,158 that there are evolutionary forces 498 00:22:14,202 --> 00:22:16,726 that have given us religion as it is, 499 00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:19,599 that there's a so-called group selection advantage 500 00:22:19,642 --> 00:22:21,383 to being religious, 501 00:22:21,427 --> 00:22:22,819 and otherwise, 502 00:22:22,863 --> 00:22:25,169 we wouldn't see this as a kind of cultural universal. 503 00:22:25,213 --> 00:22:27,215 I think the jury is still out on this. 504 00:22:27,258 --> 00:22:28,347 I think group selection 505 00:22:28,390 --> 00:22:30,349 is certainly a controversial idea 506 00:22:30,392 --> 00:22:32,046 in evolutionary biology, 507 00:22:32,089 --> 00:22:33,395 and there are other ways 508 00:22:33,439 --> 00:22:36,050 to explain religious superstition and taboo 509 00:22:36,093 --> 00:22:39,662 as a kind of cultural universal. 510 00:22:39,706 --> 00:22:42,665 So we said the rosary just about every night, 511 00:22:42,709 --> 00:22:44,667 as I recall. 512 00:22:44,711 --> 00:22:48,367 I can remember the kids all getting home from school. 513 00:22:48,410 --> 00:22:50,499 James, Susan, and Dean 514 00:22:50,543 --> 00:22:52,283 really didn't have to say the rosary 515 00:22:52,327 --> 00:22:53,502 because they were too young, 516 00:22:53,546 --> 00:22:57,288 and we all got down on kitchen chairs 517 00:22:57,332 --> 00:22:59,334 and read through the rosary. 518 00:23:01,031 --> 00:23:03,947 I think the reason we said the rosary 519 00:23:03,991 --> 00:23:05,688 and said prayers 520 00:23:05,732 --> 00:23:08,865 was because somewhere there in my life, 521 00:23:08,909 --> 00:23:11,215 I knew, 522 00:23:11,259 --> 00:23:15,219 "the family who prays together stays together," 523 00:23:15,263 --> 00:23:18,875 and I... maybe for my own benefit 524 00:23:18,919 --> 00:23:21,312 that I didn't walk out the door, 525 00:23:21,356 --> 00:23:23,227 we said the rosary. 526 00:23:58,698 --> 00:24:00,090 I've been keeping bees 527 00:24:00,134 --> 00:24:01,483 for about 12 years now. 528 00:24:01,527 --> 00:24:04,355 Honeybees are in trouble these days, 529 00:24:04,399 --> 00:24:06,575 and hobby beekeepers are actually important 530 00:24:06,619 --> 00:24:08,272 for the survival of these bees. 531 00:24:08,316 --> 00:24:11,101 Also, the honey isn't too bad. 532 00:24:11,145 --> 00:24:14,017 I get about 25 litres of honey per hive. 533 00:24:15,062 --> 00:24:18,500 It's a pretty amazing feeling when I start working with bees. 534 00:24:18,544 --> 00:24:20,459 I lose all track of time. 535 00:24:20,502 --> 00:24:21,634 It really gives me 536 00:24:21,677 --> 00:24:24,201 an incredible sense of accomplishment, 537 00:24:24,245 --> 00:24:25,986 but also, it's... it's a mystery. 538 00:24:29,163 --> 00:24:30,512 I suddenly realize 539 00:24:30,556 --> 00:24:34,473 this is an incredible work of Mother Nature. 540 00:24:37,345 --> 00:24:39,129 One thing I remember when I was young, 541 00:24:39,173 --> 00:24:41,610 probably six, seven years old, 542 00:24:41,654 --> 00:24:44,178 I had questions for my mom and dad all the time. 543 00:24:44,221 --> 00:24:47,355 I was like, you know, "Why is the sun so hot?" 544 00:24:47,398 --> 00:24:49,139 "Where did we all come from?" 545 00:24:49,183 --> 00:24:50,880 "What is everything made of?" 546 00:24:50,924 --> 00:24:53,535 And finally my mom bought me this science book, 547 00:24:53,579 --> 00:24:55,015 and it answered a lot of the questions 548 00:24:55,058 --> 00:24:59,541 that I'd been asking for all these years. 549 00:24:59,585 --> 00:25:01,804 There was this picture of Albert Einstein, 550 00:25:01,848 --> 00:25:03,502 and I'll never forget 551 00:25:03,545 --> 00:25:06,983 because he seemed to understand how the natural world worked, 552 00:25:07,027 --> 00:25:10,683 so he really became my hero in a lot of ways. 553 00:25:10,726 --> 00:25:13,381 But then somebody said, 554 00:25:13,424 --> 00:25:15,862 "Albert Einstein doesn't believe in God," 555 00:25:15,905 --> 00:25:18,734 and for me, that was a shock. 556 00:25:18,778 --> 00:25:22,433 The thought of no God had never even occurred to me, 557 00:25:22,477 --> 00:25:25,915 so that was the first time when I realized, "Wow. 558 00:25:25,959 --> 00:25:30,398 There's this conflict between science and religion." 559 00:25:33,444 --> 00:25:35,751 It's an amazing project 560 00:25:35,795 --> 00:25:37,187 to convince a kid 561 00:25:37,231 --> 00:25:40,756 that this universe has been structured 562 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,453 by an invisible being, 563 00:25:42,497 --> 00:25:45,369 and you're gonna go to school, and you're gonna learn science, 564 00:25:45,413 --> 00:25:47,197 and all of this is going to be set 565 00:25:47,241 --> 00:25:50,853 in increasing tension and opposition 566 00:25:50,897 --> 00:25:53,595 with these other beliefs 567 00:25:53,639 --> 00:25:56,685 that we've given you as early as anything else 568 00:25:56,729 --> 00:26:00,602 that now no longer square with what you're coming to know, 569 00:26:00,646 --> 00:26:04,780 and you have to resolve this incompatibility some way, 570 00:26:04,824 --> 00:26:06,913 uh, and if you resolve it the wrong way, 571 00:26:06,956 --> 00:26:08,567 you're gonna burn in fire. 572 00:26:09,742 --> 00:26:11,613 What do you know? 573 00:26:11,657 --> 00:26:14,442 I mean, really know? 574 00:26:14,485 --> 00:26:18,620 What we know may be based on shifting sands. 575 00:26:18,664 --> 00:26:20,579 Man has a feeble mind. 576 00:26:21,754 --> 00:26:23,407 God's love and God's power 577 00:26:23,451 --> 00:26:26,759 is something that we really know because we can feel it. 578 00:26:26,802 --> 00:26:28,195 Right? 579 00:26:29,370 --> 00:26:32,155 Agnosticism has to do with what you know. 580 00:26:32,199 --> 00:26:34,505 It comes from a Greek word "not knowing." 581 00:26:34,549 --> 00:26:39,162 If someone were to ask... someone were to ask me, 582 00:26:39,206 --> 00:26:42,339 "Is there a superior being in the universe?" 583 00:26:42,383 --> 00:26:44,428 I'd say, "I don't know. How can I know?" 584 00:26:44,472 --> 00:26:46,735 So I'm agnostic when it comes to what I know. 585 00:26:46,779 --> 00:26:48,345 When it comes to what I believe, 586 00:26:48,389 --> 00:26:49,782 "Do you believe there's a superior being 587 00:26:49,825 --> 00:26:50,870 in the universe?" 588 00:26:50,913 --> 00:26:52,741 "No, I don't. I absolutely don't." 589 00:26:52,785 --> 00:26:55,265 And so, atheism is about belief, 590 00:26:55,309 --> 00:26:57,311 and agnosticism is about knowledge, 591 00:26:57,354 --> 00:26:59,618 and I'm both an agnostic and an atheist. 592 00:27:06,233 --> 00:27:10,846 Today, we're going to talk about creation. 593 00:27:10,890 --> 00:27:13,806 It has been suggested that creation myths 594 00:27:13,849 --> 00:27:18,506 might have some sort of advantage in social cohesion. 595 00:27:18,549 --> 00:27:21,161 You identify your tribe as the one 596 00:27:21,204 --> 00:27:24,164 that has this particular creation myth. 597 00:27:24,207 --> 00:27:25,948 Um, or I suppose creation myths 598 00:27:25,992 --> 00:27:28,211 could be just a kind of psychological by-product 599 00:27:28,255 --> 00:27:30,083 of the desire to understand. 600 00:27:30,126 --> 00:27:33,477 The ground upon which religion is standing 601 00:27:33,521 --> 00:27:34,827 continues to shrink, right? 602 00:27:34,870 --> 00:27:36,132 So it used to be 603 00:27:36,176 --> 00:27:38,395 that we didn't know anything about anything, 604 00:27:38,439 --> 00:27:41,398 and yet we felt the need to tell ourselves stories 605 00:27:41,442 --> 00:27:43,618 about, you know, where everything came from 606 00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:45,185 and what was happening. 607 00:27:45,228 --> 00:27:46,403 This is a world 608 00:27:46,447 --> 00:27:48,188 that was living before the Enlightenment, 609 00:27:48,231 --> 00:27:51,408 before the development of anything like modern science. 610 00:27:51,452 --> 00:27:53,715 The authors of the New Testament, 611 00:27:53,759 --> 00:27:55,978 many of them appear to have thought 612 00:27:56,022 --> 00:27:58,546 that the universe consisted of three layers. 613 00:27:58,589 --> 00:28:01,723 There's where we are now, here on Earth. 614 00:28:01,767 --> 00:28:05,031 Below us is where the dead live, 615 00:28:05,074 --> 00:28:06,554 and there's a level above us. 616 00:28:06,597 --> 00:28:09,165 And when you look up, you see the heavens, 617 00:28:09,209 --> 00:28:11,690 and they understood that was a dome, 618 00:28:11,733 --> 00:28:14,431 and the dome had stars in it, 619 00:28:14,475 --> 00:28:18,087 and above the dome was water, 620 00:28:18,131 --> 00:28:20,220 and above the water was God. 621 00:28:25,878 --> 00:28:29,620 They had no idea that we're in a solar system 622 00:28:29,664 --> 00:28:32,362 and that we're revolving around a sun, 623 00:28:32,406 --> 00:28:33,712 and that this is one 624 00:28:33,755 --> 00:28:37,367 of a hundred billion stars in a galaxy, 625 00:28:37,411 --> 00:28:39,195 and that there are two trillion galaxies 626 00:28:39,239 --> 00:28:40,283 in our universe, 627 00:28:40,327 --> 00:28:41,850 and there might be many universes. 628 00:28:41,894 --> 00:28:45,027 No conception at all of any of that. 629 00:28:45,071 --> 00:28:46,942 It's a mistake to think 630 00:28:46,986 --> 00:28:50,685 that when they are imagining the world, 631 00:28:50,729 --> 00:28:53,427 they're thinking what we're thinking. 632 00:28:54,645 --> 00:28:56,473 People enjoy stories. 633 00:28:56,517 --> 00:28:58,606 It gets handed down from generation to generation, 634 00:28:58,649 --> 00:29:01,870 modified, perhaps improved with the telling. 635 00:29:01,914 --> 00:29:04,177 There's no very great problem in understanding 636 00:29:04,220 --> 00:29:07,049 why different tribes have creation myths. 637 00:29:07,093 --> 00:29:10,270 What I suppose is significant is that they're all different, 638 00:29:10,313 --> 00:29:11,967 and you'd expect them to be all different. 639 00:29:12,011 --> 00:29:14,927 And there's no reason why any tribe's creation myth 640 00:29:14,970 --> 00:29:17,277 should be regarded as any truer than any other. 641 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:18,495 Indeed, none of them are true. 642 00:29:20,149 --> 00:29:22,935 Let's talk about life. 643 00:29:22,978 --> 00:29:24,806 "And God made the beasts of the Earth 644 00:29:24,850 --> 00:29:26,329 according to its kind." 645 00:29:26,373 --> 00:29:27,853 Many people won't admit 646 00:29:27,896 --> 00:29:29,811 that there's a conflict between science and religion, 647 00:29:29,855 --> 00:29:31,595 but they will easily recognize 648 00:29:31,639 --> 00:29:32,901 there's a conflict 649 00:29:32,945 --> 00:29:34,947 between believing things for good reasons 650 00:29:34,990 --> 00:29:36,687 and believing things for bad reasons. 651 00:29:38,472 --> 00:29:40,343 Evolution is a fact. 652 00:29:40,387 --> 00:29:42,432 The evidence for it is as solid 653 00:29:42,476 --> 00:29:45,827 as the evidence that the Earth orbits the sun. 654 00:29:45,871 --> 00:29:48,830 We know that it happened from comparative anatomy, 655 00:29:48,874 --> 00:29:50,571 from comparative molecular biology, 656 00:29:50,614 --> 00:29:52,268 comparative biochemistry. 657 00:29:52,312 --> 00:29:54,357 Do not ever accept a belief 658 00:29:54,401 --> 00:29:57,143 on the grounds of tradition or holy books 659 00:29:57,186 --> 00:29:58,492 or that kind of thing, 660 00:29:58,535 --> 00:30:00,146 or private revelation. 661 00:30:00,189 --> 00:30:02,801 Evidence is the only reason to believe anything. 662 00:30:05,020 --> 00:30:08,110 It's not that I have a categorical animus 663 00:30:08,154 --> 00:30:10,112 to religious claims. 664 00:30:10,156 --> 00:30:13,028 It's just that they're so reliably put forward 665 00:30:13,072 --> 00:30:15,335 on bad evidence. 666 00:30:15,378 --> 00:30:16,510 That's why we have this distinction 667 00:30:16,553 --> 00:30:17,859 between religion and science. 668 00:30:17,903 --> 00:30:21,167 If Jesus showed up on the White House lawn 669 00:30:21,210 --> 00:30:22,516 and announced himself 670 00:30:22,559 --> 00:30:25,519 and proved his divinity with various miracles, 671 00:30:25,562 --> 00:30:28,304 which would be trivially easy for him to do, 672 00:30:28,348 --> 00:30:29,958 I mean, he did it the first time around... 673 00:30:30,002 --> 00:30:31,699 then belief in him 674 00:30:31,742 --> 00:30:34,310 would not be a matter of having bad reasons. 675 00:30:34,354 --> 00:30:36,138 It would be a science. 676 00:30:36,182 --> 00:30:38,706 You know, the Christians would be proven right. 677 00:30:43,015 --> 00:30:45,060 Ladies and gentlemen, 678 00:30:45,104 --> 00:30:46,801 boys and girls, 679 00:30:46,845 --> 00:30:50,718 skeptics, non-theists, 680 00:30:50,761 --> 00:30:55,984 and especially the believers who may be here, 681 00:30:56,028 --> 00:30:57,856 as we stand before this shrine 682 00:30:57,899 --> 00:31:00,380 to one of history's 683 00:31:00,423 --> 00:31:02,425 most thoughtful critical thinkers, 684 00:31:02,469 --> 00:31:04,166 Abraham Lincoln, 685 00:31:04,210 --> 00:31:07,474 I cannot help but feel that we are at a critical time, 686 00:31:07,517 --> 00:31:09,519 a turning point in the history of humankind. 687 00:31:09,563 --> 00:31:16,091 Critical thinking, reason, and science got us here. 688 00:31:16,135 --> 00:31:18,398 I speak against phony atheists. 689 00:31:18,441 --> 00:31:21,488 I like atheists who actually believe that atheism is real, 690 00:31:21,531 --> 00:31:22,837 and if that's true, 691 00:31:22,881 --> 00:31:24,404 then all we are is just a collection of elements 692 00:31:24,447 --> 00:31:25,709 on the periodic table, 693 00:31:25,753 --> 00:31:27,711 and none of the elements on the periodic table 694 00:31:27,755 --> 00:31:30,105 can feel love or morality or justice. 695 00:31:30,149 --> 00:31:32,673 So when they use words like "good," "bad," 696 00:31:32,716 --> 00:31:33,935 "evil," "moral," 697 00:31:33,979 --> 00:31:35,719 "love," "right," or "wrong," 698 00:31:35,763 --> 00:31:38,548 they're not being consistent with their atheistic world view, 699 00:31:38,592 --> 00:31:41,551 so I'm here to tell them either quit being a phony, 700 00:31:41,595 --> 00:31:43,771 either come to Christianity where you belong, 701 00:31:43,814 --> 00:31:45,468 or really believe it. 702 00:31:45,512 --> 00:31:47,906 Be a real atheist and actually live your life 703 00:31:47,949 --> 00:31:50,212 as if you're just a sack of chemicals. 704 00:31:50,256 --> 00:31:51,605 Your life has no meaning. 705 00:31:51,648 --> 00:31:53,476 You start at nothing, you end at nothing, 706 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,523 and everything in between is meaningless nothingness. 707 00:31:56,566 --> 00:31:58,394 That's what I'm looking for out here, 708 00:31:58,438 --> 00:32:00,570 is atheists who actually believe. 709 00:32:00,614 --> 00:32:01,658 I respect them. 710 00:32:01,702 --> 00:32:02,833 Yeah, we gotta go, brother. 711 00:32:02,877 --> 00:32:04,923 They're gonna arrest us if we stay here. 712 00:32:07,969 --> 00:32:10,015 The Bible isn't a science book, 713 00:32:10,058 --> 00:32:14,019 yet it is scientifically accurate. 714 00:32:15,150 --> 00:32:18,501 The Bible and the Big Bang do not contradict each other. 715 00:32:18,545 --> 00:32:20,373 Okay. 716 00:32:20,416 --> 00:32:22,462 Thank you, Monica. 717 00:32:23,463 --> 00:32:26,988 We will now break for a silent meditation. 718 00:32:27,032 --> 00:32:29,164 We all have a lot to think about. 719 00:32:30,296 --> 00:32:31,819 By Saturday night, you know, 720 00:32:31,862 --> 00:32:34,343 I was really starting to feel somewhat disoriented, 721 00:32:34,387 --> 00:32:36,606 because it was just one thing after another 722 00:32:36,650 --> 00:32:38,565 after another after another. 723 00:32:45,050 --> 00:32:47,008 I was under a lot of pressure 724 00:32:47,052 --> 00:32:50,098 from the leaders and everyone around me 725 00:32:50,142 --> 00:32:52,971 to make this spiritual connection. 726 00:32:55,669 --> 00:32:57,279 Everybody was saying, 727 00:32:57,323 --> 00:32:58,541 "When I went on the Cursillo, 728 00:32:58,585 --> 00:33:01,109 it was the greatest experience of my life." 729 00:33:01,153 --> 00:33:03,024 It reinforces this idea 730 00:33:03,068 --> 00:33:06,288 that "I'm here for a purpose, I'm on a mission," 731 00:33:06,332 --> 00:33:09,813 and I'm much more willing then to participate. 732 00:33:09,857 --> 00:33:12,033 I feel peer pressure, really. 733 00:33:12,077 --> 00:33:13,513 So I better pay attention what they're doing 734 00:33:13,556 --> 00:33:14,775 and go along with them. 735 00:33:14,818 --> 00:33:18,518 The gentleman in the elevator now 736 00:33:18,561 --> 00:33:20,259 is a Candid star. 737 00:33:20,302 --> 00:33:21,564 These folks who are entering, 738 00:33:21,608 --> 00:33:22,652 the man with the white shirt, 739 00:33:22,696 --> 00:33:24,045 the lady with the trench coat, 740 00:33:24,089 --> 00:33:27,657 and subsequently one other member of our staff, 741 00:33:27,701 --> 00:33:29,268 will face the rear, 742 00:33:29,311 --> 00:33:32,749 and you'll see how this man in the trench coat... 743 00:33:36,275 --> 00:33:39,887 ...tries to maintain his individuality... 744 00:33:41,889 --> 00:33:43,195 ...but little by little, 745 00:33:43,238 --> 00:33:47,155 turning just a little bit more... 746 00:33:47,199 --> 00:33:48,461 to the wall. 747 00:33:48,504 --> 00:33:51,420 It's difficult to simply argue for the truth, 748 00:33:51,464 --> 00:33:53,596 and extremely easy to convince people, 749 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,033 "You should believe certain things 750 00:33:55,076 --> 00:33:56,686 because then you'll be part of the group." 751 00:33:56,730 --> 00:33:59,863 Because then you'll feel certain emotions 752 00:33:59,907 --> 00:34:02,736 like warmth and connectedness, and so on. 753 00:34:02,779 --> 00:34:04,216 In a way, that's what mind control does. 754 00:34:04,259 --> 00:34:05,695 It just uses language, 755 00:34:05,739 --> 00:34:07,175 what it was actually, I think, originally meant for, 756 00:34:07,219 --> 00:34:10,396 which is to persuade people to be part of a group, 757 00:34:10,439 --> 00:34:12,050 not necessarily for rational reasons, 758 00:34:12,093 --> 00:34:13,921 but simply to be part of a group, 759 00:34:13,964 --> 00:34:16,097 because that's what we evolved to be. 760 00:34:16,141 --> 00:34:18,708 You define a group membership, 761 00:34:18,752 --> 00:34:21,102 and you say, "If you want to be part of this group, 762 00:34:21,146 --> 00:34:22,538 you believe these things. 763 00:34:22,582 --> 00:34:24,236 You shouldn't associate with the other group." 764 00:34:24,279 --> 00:34:26,194 You appeal to emotion. 765 00:34:26,238 --> 00:34:27,674 That persuades people. 766 00:34:29,110 --> 00:34:30,503 When I was just lying there, 767 00:34:30,546 --> 00:34:33,288 I was really beginning to question myself, 768 00:34:33,332 --> 00:34:35,899 "What do I really believe?" 769 00:34:35,943 --> 00:34:39,773 I realized I hadn't thought about it that much. 770 00:34:39,816 --> 00:34:41,601 "Is this stuff really making sense?" 771 00:34:44,169 --> 00:34:45,431 They want you to go 772 00:34:45,474 --> 00:34:48,999 into a very deep, dark, introspective place 773 00:34:49,043 --> 00:34:51,263 where you are then destabilized, 774 00:34:51,306 --> 00:34:52,568 questioning yourself, 775 00:34:52,612 --> 00:34:54,570 questioning everything you believe, 776 00:34:54,614 --> 00:34:57,007 and they want you to dwell down there. 777 00:34:57,051 --> 00:34:59,271 They want you to really feel it deeply. 778 00:35:03,144 --> 00:35:04,189 Then suddenly, 779 00:35:04,232 --> 00:35:06,756 it seemed like the middle of the night, 780 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:10,325 when all of a sudden, this bell is ringing... 781 00:35:10,369 --> 00:35:13,807 and there was this loud Christian music playing... 782 00:35:18,246 --> 00:35:20,640 And I was actually a little afraid. 783 00:35:20,683 --> 00:35:23,251 I thought maybe the school was on fire or something, 784 00:35:23,295 --> 00:35:25,688 but they rush us into a classroom, 785 00:35:25,732 --> 00:35:28,169 and they started talking about the Rapture. 786 00:35:28,213 --> 00:35:31,172 They talk about Armageddon and the end of the Earth. 787 00:35:31,216 --> 00:35:33,087 They talk about Heaven and Hell. 788 00:35:34,219 --> 00:35:36,134 John described "an eternal Hell," 789 00:35:36,177 --> 00:35:39,485 the final resting place of the unbelieving... 790 00:35:39,528 --> 00:35:42,314 where you were in conscious torment. 791 00:35:42,357 --> 00:35:44,751 Teaching certain ideas, such as Hell, 792 00:35:44,794 --> 00:35:47,188 can be genuinely terrifying if you believe it, 793 00:35:47,232 --> 00:35:48,885 and many people do believe it, 794 00:35:48,929 --> 00:35:50,800 and even believe it right into adulthood, 795 00:35:50,844 --> 00:35:52,541 right until the moment they die. 796 00:35:52,585 --> 00:35:54,674 They remain terrified of this ridiculous idea 797 00:35:54,717 --> 00:35:56,806 that they're taught in childhood, 798 00:35:56,850 --> 00:35:59,069 that they'll fry in Hell. 799 00:35:59,113 --> 00:36:02,247 I still hear from adults who are atheists 800 00:36:02,290 --> 00:36:04,901 but who are still trying to shake this fear of Hell 801 00:36:04,945 --> 00:36:07,556 that had been drummed into them by their parents. 802 00:36:09,515 --> 00:36:11,995 We need to continue to look into ourselves 803 00:36:12,039 --> 00:36:14,389 to see how we have failed to love others. 804 00:36:14,433 --> 00:36:16,696 Why do we only love our self? 805 00:36:16,739 --> 00:36:19,220 And how have we failed to love God? 806 00:36:19,264 --> 00:36:20,395 It's imagined 807 00:36:20,439 --> 00:36:23,181 that there are still some few questions 808 00:36:23,224 --> 00:36:26,749 that religion is the only plausible authority on... 809 00:36:28,098 --> 00:36:31,754 ...things like morality and what life means, 810 00:36:31,798 --> 00:36:35,018 but more and more, that is becoming untenable. 811 00:36:35,062 --> 00:36:38,370 I think when people cite scriptural authority, 812 00:36:38,413 --> 00:36:39,762 one has to note 813 00:36:39,806 --> 00:36:42,200 it isn't just a matter of interpreting the Bible. 814 00:36:42,243 --> 00:36:45,246 It's also relying on an argument from authority. 815 00:36:45,290 --> 00:36:48,031 "Ah, well, the Bible says..." 816 00:36:48,075 --> 00:36:50,120 Or, "The Koran says..." 817 00:36:50,164 --> 00:36:51,774 A lot have travelled down that route, 818 00:36:51,818 --> 00:36:56,518 and I think that arguments from authority are worthless 819 00:36:56,562 --> 00:36:58,433 unless you've also got the argument 820 00:36:58,477 --> 00:37:04,265 as to why you can rely on that particular authority. 821 00:37:06,702 --> 00:37:07,921 The idea 822 00:37:07,964 --> 00:37:09,966 that you have to have religion to be moral 823 00:37:10,010 --> 00:37:11,533 is a preposterous 824 00:37:11,577 --> 00:37:13,231 and actually deeply immoral idea. 825 00:37:13,274 --> 00:37:16,712 If you've ever read the Bible or the Koran, 826 00:37:16,756 --> 00:37:19,280 you will know that if you got your morals from there, 827 00:37:19,324 --> 00:37:21,108 you would be a deeply horrible person 828 00:37:21,151 --> 00:37:22,631 to be avoided. 829 00:37:22,675 --> 00:37:25,982 You would be in favour of subjugation of women, 830 00:37:26,026 --> 00:37:27,245 you'd be in favour of slavery, 831 00:37:27,288 --> 00:37:28,550 you'd be in favour of the death penalty 832 00:37:28,594 --> 00:37:31,858 for trivial offenses like breaking the Sabbath. 833 00:37:31,901 --> 00:37:34,382 The other rationale might be 834 00:37:34,426 --> 00:37:35,775 that people are moral 835 00:37:35,818 --> 00:37:40,083 only because they're frightened of offending God, 836 00:37:40,127 --> 00:37:42,085 or they want to suck up to God. 837 00:37:42,129 --> 00:37:46,176 The idea of the great spy camera in the sky 838 00:37:46,220 --> 00:37:47,569 that's looking at everything you do 839 00:37:47,613 --> 00:37:49,267 and even reading your thoughts, 840 00:37:49,310 --> 00:37:50,833 so that if it wasn't for that, 841 00:37:50,877 --> 00:37:53,314 you would do all sorts of wicked things, 842 00:37:53,358 --> 00:37:57,187 and it's only the fact that you are policed by God 843 00:37:57,231 --> 00:37:59,320 that leads you to do good things. 844 00:37:59,364 --> 00:38:02,628 What a deeply immoral reason for being moral. 845 00:38:02,671 --> 00:38:05,631 Our ethical views today are a long way 846 00:38:05,674 --> 00:38:07,633 from what they were a few thousand years ago. 847 00:38:07,676 --> 00:38:11,463 Nobody today would live with Old Testament ethics. 848 00:38:11,506 --> 00:38:13,203 It's barbaric. 849 00:38:13,247 --> 00:38:17,338 Uh... were the churches responsible for the changes? 850 00:38:17,382 --> 00:38:19,514 No. They were dragging their feet. 851 00:38:19,558 --> 00:38:26,478 It was secular, political, educated communities 852 00:38:26,521 --> 00:38:30,830 of people talking together and persuading each other 853 00:38:30,873 --> 00:38:32,875 that there were better ways of doing things. 854 00:38:32,919 --> 00:38:35,878 This has been one of the triumphs 855 00:38:35,922 --> 00:38:39,317 of enlightened, reasonable, informed thought 856 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:41,797 over the last few thousand years, 857 00:38:41,841 --> 00:38:45,888 and so I think it's demonstrable 858 00:38:45,932 --> 00:38:51,938 that religion has played largely a regressive effect 859 00:38:51,981 --> 00:38:56,203 on the improvement of human morality. 860 00:38:56,246 --> 00:38:58,205 We're to break for one hour 861 00:38:58,248 --> 00:39:00,381 of silent meditation and contemplation. 862 00:39:00,425 --> 00:39:03,341 Please observe complete silence, 863 00:39:03,384 --> 00:39:06,126 and we'll meet back here when the bell rings. 864 00:39:07,388 --> 00:39:09,912 They wanted us to make a decision. 865 00:39:09,956 --> 00:39:12,698 Are we going to commit to this new life, 866 00:39:12,741 --> 00:39:16,571 or were we going to go back and revert to our old ways? 867 00:39:19,313 --> 00:39:21,663 Let's pour you some tea here first, 868 00:39:21,707 --> 00:39:22,838 if I can, 869 00:39:22,882 --> 00:39:24,362 without pouring it all over the place. 870 00:39:24,405 --> 00:39:26,755 Do you want a little honey in your tea? 871 00:39:26,799 --> 00:39:27,800 No, thank you. 872 00:39:27,843 --> 00:39:29,323 This is honey from my hive, Mom. 873 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:30,368 Too bad. 874 00:39:30,411 --> 00:39:32,021 You don't want any? Oh, geez. 875 00:39:32,065 --> 00:39:34,589 No. I've never drank tea with sugar or... 876 00:39:34,633 --> 00:39:36,243 You don't put milk in it either, do you? 877 00:39:36,286 --> 00:39:37,549 No. 878 00:39:37,592 --> 00:39:39,289 Why don't we just talk a little bit about... 879 00:39:40,465 --> 00:39:41,683 ...when you were growing up? 880 00:39:41,727 --> 00:39:43,598 I mean, how religious was Grandma and Grandpa? 881 00:39:43,642 --> 00:39:45,295 Like, Grandpa wasn't religious, was he? 882 00:39:45,339 --> 00:39:46,558 No. No. 883 00:39:48,429 --> 00:39:53,086 Well, my mom saw herself as an Irish Catholic, 884 00:39:53,129 --> 00:39:55,741 very traditional. 885 00:39:55,784 --> 00:39:57,612 Well, she really wanted, I think, 886 00:39:57,656 --> 00:40:00,572 to raise us as good Catholics. 887 00:40:00,615 --> 00:40:01,964 When I was five, 888 00:40:02,008 --> 00:40:04,706 I went and made my first communion. 889 00:40:04,750 --> 00:40:05,881 Do you remember that? 890 00:40:05,925 --> 00:40:07,056 Oh, God, yes! 891 00:40:07,100 --> 00:40:09,058 Because to make your first confession, 892 00:40:09,102 --> 00:40:12,453 you needed to know what your sins were. 893 00:40:12,497 --> 00:40:13,541 Right. 894 00:40:13,585 --> 00:40:15,630 And I started to manufacture sins. 895 00:40:15,674 --> 00:40:17,719 Like, "Should have I said that?" 896 00:40:17,763 --> 00:40:19,329 Or "Should have I thought that?" 897 00:40:19,373 --> 00:40:21,157 Or "Was that an impure thought?" 898 00:40:21,201 --> 00:40:22,028 Right. 899 00:40:22,071 --> 00:40:23,551 ...over everything. 900 00:40:23,595 --> 00:40:25,118 Did you, like, I mean, as a kid, 901 00:40:25,161 --> 00:40:27,860 did you believe that God could hear your thoughts? 902 00:40:27,903 --> 00:40:29,252 Probably. 903 00:40:29,296 --> 00:40:32,952 I don't think I ever really had the concept of... 904 00:40:32,995 --> 00:40:34,606 uh... 905 00:40:34,649 --> 00:40:37,652 ...the love and fear of God, 906 00:40:37,696 --> 00:40:39,480 because the "fear" part 907 00:40:39,524 --> 00:40:41,482 kind of throws off your "love" part. 908 00:40:41,526 --> 00:40:42,918 You know what I mean? - Yeah. 909 00:40:42,962 --> 00:40:46,269 You know? Anyway, when I was nine, 910 00:40:46,313 --> 00:40:49,925 I went to 13 First Fridays in a row 911 00:40:49,969 --> 00:40:53,451 because that was a clear path to Heaven. 912 00:40:53,494 --> 00:40:55,148 I never had to worry about that again. 913 00:40:55,191 --> 00:40:56,279 Well, those were... 914 00:40:56,323 --> 00:40:59,282 Sin, or whatever you did in your life, 915 00:40:59,326 --> 00:41:02,068 you were guaranteed Heaven. 916 00:41:02,111 --> 00:41:04,026 So that was kind of your ticket to Heaven, 917 00:41:04,070 --> 00:41:06,289 and then it didn't matter what you did after that. 918 00:41:06,333 --> 00:41:09,510 The day that I got our 13th time, 919 00:41:09,554 --> 00:41:12,208 we went over 920 00:41:12,252 --> 00:41:14,472 to the Daylight Theatre in Saskatoon 921 00:41:14,515 --> 00:41:16,299 and snuck in somehow 922 00:41:16,343 --> 00:41:19,389 to a condemned movie called "Dragonwyck." 923 00:41:19,433 --> 00:41:20,478 Yes? 924 00:41:20,521 --> 00:41:22,392 -Condemned by the Church. -Oh! 925 00:41:22,436 --> 00:41:24,525 Because we had it made, we were in Heaven forever. 926 00:41:24,569 --> 00:41:26,309 You bought your golden ticket, or whatever. 927 00:41:26,353 --> 00:41:28,486 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 928 00:41:28,529 --> 00:41:30,531 Even if you think you're a compassionate person 929 00:41:30,575 --> 00:41:32,664 whose job is just to spread love in this world, 930 00:41:32,707 --> 00:41:33,969 if you believe in Paradise, 931 00:41:34,013 --> 00:41:35,971 really believe in Paradise, 932 00:41:36,015 --> 00:41:39,061 well, then, any real world concern 933 00:41:39,105 --> 00:41:40,889 that seems not to... 934 00:41:40,933 --> 00:41:43,936 I mean, it must count as nothing compared to Paradise. Right? 935 00:41:43,979 --> 00:41:46,242 Like, what could nuclear war mean 936 00:41:46,286 --> 00:41:49,855 if the good people go to Heaven and the bad people go to Hell, 937 00:41:49,898 --> 00:41:51,334 and God wants it that way? 938 00:41:51,378 --> 00:41:56,383 This is something you see with Muslim suicide bombers. 939 00:41:58,211 --> 00:42:00,648 It is impossible for them to kill the wrong people 940 00:42:00,692 --> 00:42:03,390 because the good Muslims that they kill inadvertently 941 00:42:03,433 --> 00:42:04,478 go to Paradise, 942 00:42:04,522 --> 00:42:05,871 and they're gonna thank them for it. 943 00:42:05,914 --> 00:42:08,003 The bad people go to Hell, where God wants them. 944 00:42:08,047 --> 00:42:09,744 There is no downside. 945 00:42:09,788 --> 00:42:13,400 Everything works out the way God intends it. 946 00:42:15,402 --> 00:42:18,536 This is a very common intuition which I have never understood, 947 00:42:18,579 --> 00:42:20,581 and you hear of this from religious people all the time, 948 00:42:20,625 --> 00:42:23,236 which is, "If there's nothing after death, 949 00:42:23,279 --> 00:42:25,412 then what's the point?" 950 00:42:25,455 --> 00:42:27,283 Like, why not just start killing and raping 951 00:42:27,327 --> 00:42:29,024 and let's just all die tomorrow, right? 952 00:42:29,068 --> 00:42:33,420 Like, the only thing that could make this circumstance precious 953 00:42:33,463 --> 00:42:36,075 is that it never end. 954 00:42:37,816 --> 00:42:40,688 Now, that's the opposite of the intuition I have, 955 00:42:40,732 --> 00:42:42,603 which is one of the things 956 00:42:42,647 --> 00:42:44,562 that makes this incredibly precious 957 00:42:44,605 --> 00:42:45,737 is that it ends. 958 00:42:47,260 --> 00:42:50,306 This is the only situation you can be sure of. 959 00:42:50,350 --> 00:42:52,700 You can't know what happens after death. 960 00:42:52,744 --> 00:42:54,746 Certainly there's no reason to be confident 961 00:42:54,789 --> 00:42:57,487 that you get everything you want after you die. 962 00:42:58,837 --> 00:43:00,882 This is the opportunity to make the most of, right? 963 00:43:00,926 --> 00:43:04,407 This is the only opportunity for beauty and creativity 964 00:43:04,451 --> 00:43:06,279 and love you know you have. 965 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,718 The experience of being a self 966 00:43:10,762 --> 00:43:11,980 seems so continuous, 967 00:43:12,024 --> 00:43:13,329 seems so unified, 968 00:43:13,373 --> 00:43:14,983 and seems so central to us 969 00:43:15,027 --> 00:43:16,985 that it's really, really very difficult 970 00:43:17,029 --> 00:43:19,292 to appreciate that it's also a perception, 971 00:43:19,335 --> 00:43:22,904 that it's also a construction that's generated by the brain. 972 00:43:22,948 --> 00:43:25,951 Of course, this is why people, from time immemorial, 973 00:43:25,994 --> 00:43:28,954 have thought in terms of concepts of soul. 974 00:43:28,997 --> 00:43:31,652 At one time, people even tried to find evidence 975 00:43:31,696 --> 00:43:33,262 for the existence of the soul 976 00:43:33,306 --> 00:43:36,265 by measuring people as they died. 977 00:43:36,309 --> 00:43:39,094 The Scottish surgeon MacDougall 978 00:43:39,138 --> 00:43:42,097 was very famous at one time for weighing people, 979 00:43:42,141 --> 00:43:44,926 and he noticed this change of 21 grams 980 00:43:44,970 --> 00:43:47,494 that apparently happened at the very moment of death, 981 00:43:47,537 --> 00:43:49,496 and so that became the weight of the soul, 982 00:43:49,539 --> 00:43:50,758 21 grams, 983 00:43:50,802 --> 00:43:52,455 and he also did experiments on dogs 984 00:43:52,499 --> 00:43:54,327 and found they didn't change their weight 985 00:43:54,370 --> 00:43:55,502 as they died, 986 00:43:55,545 --> 00:43:57,112 and that made perfect sense to him, 987 00:43:57,156 --> 00:43:58,548 because, of course, in that view, 988 00:43:58,592 --> 00:44:00,942 in his world view, dogs didn't have souls, 989 00:44:00,986 --> 00:44:02,770 and it made sense that only humans did. 990 00:44:02,814 --> 00:44:05,120 Now, that experiment didn't stand up. 991 00:44:05,164 --> 00:44:07,993 People did try to replicate it and completely failed, 992 00:44:08,036 --> 00:44:10,125 but of course, it's the wrong thing to do. 993 00:44:10,169 --> 00:44:14,390 There is no reason to think there's an immaterial soul 994 00:44:14,434 --> 00:44:18,525 that leaves our body at the moment of death. 995 00:44:20,875 --> 00:44:22,747 The difference between thinking about consciousness 996 00:44:22,790 --> 00:44:25,140 and thinking about spirit or soul 997 00:44:25,184 --> 00:44:27,882 is that, in the latter case, 998 00:44:27,926 --> 00:44:31,886 you are making a claim about an underlying dualism. 999 00:44:31,930 --> 00:44:33,540 The religious idea 1000 00:44:33,583 --> 00:44:36,586 is that this thing we experience as consciousness in ourselves, 1001 00:44:36,630 --> 00:44:39,459 the fact that it's like something to be us, 1002 00:44:39,502 --> 00:44:41,069 it is... 1003 00:44:41,113 --> 00:44:43,071 a property of a person 1004 00:44:43,115 --> 00:44:45,944 that can lift off the brain at death and go elsewhere. 1005 00:44:50,557 --> 00:44:55,170 That is a picture of mind and matter 1006 00:44:55,214 --> 00:44:58,434 that has very little justification at this point. 1007 00:44:58,478 --> 00:44:59,740 It's not that it's impossible. 1008 00:44:59,784 --> 00:45:01,742 It's not that we know that it can't be true. 1009 00:45:01,786 --> 00:45:03,439 We haven't proven it to be false, 1010 00:45:03,483 --> 00:45:05,746 but there's very good reason to be suspicious 1011 00:45:05,790 --> 00:45:09,881 of that picture of what a conscious mind is. 1012 00:45:22,894 --> 00:45:25,723 I think we will one day very likely 1013 00:45:25,766 --> 00:45:29,727 be in the presence of computers that seem conscious to us, 1014 00:45:29,770 --> 00:45:31,076 that we will have built, 1015 00:45:31,119 --> 00:45:34,775 and we will know how we built them, and... 1016 00:45:34,819 --> 00:45:36,864 uh, we might be able to, you know, 1017 00:45:36,908 --> 00:45:39,606 integrate our own brains with these computers 1018 00:45:39,649 --> 00:45:41,390 and change our conscious experience, 1019 00:45:41,434 --> 00:45:43,566 and then the information- processing basis 1020 00:45:43,610 --> 00:45:45,394 of our own mental life 1021 00:45:45,438 --> 00:45:47,570 will seem even more salient to us, 1022 00:45:47,614 --> 00:45:49,572 and there will be very little temptation 1023 00:45:49,616 --> 00:45:51,400 to imagine that somehow 1024 00:45:51,444 --> 00:45:54,795 souls or spirits crept into these machines, 1025 00:45:54,839 --> 00:45:56,405 and now when we turn them off, 1026 00:45:56,449 --> 00:45:59,060 they go elsewhere and may go to Paradise, 1027 00:45:59,104 --> 00:46:01,367 but most people are common-sense dualists, 1028 00:46:01,410 --> 00:46:03,238 where they feel that this thing they are 1029 00:46:03,282 --> 00:46:04,587 as a matter of experience 1030 00:46:04,631 --> 00:46:06,154 can't just be identical 1031 00:46:06,198 --> 00:46:08,069 to the body that they experience. 1032 00:46:08,113 --> 00:46:09,462 Because in truth, 1033 00:46:09,505 --> 00:46:12,508 you don't experience the body with any fidelity. 1034 00:46:12,552 --> 00:46:15,294 I mean, you simply do not experience your brain. 1035 00:46:15,337 --> 00:46:17,775 When you talk about spirit, 1036 00:46:17,818 --> 00:46:19,602 what are you talking about, then? 1037 00:46:19,646 --> 00:46:21,126 What do you mean by that? 1038 00:46:21,169 --> 00:46:22,823 Do you... have you ever really thought about it, or... 1039 00:46:22,867 --> 00:46:24,738 Yeah. I think of it all the time, actually. 1040 00:46:24,782 --> 00:46:26,000 Well, then what do you mean by it? 1041 00:46:26,044 --> 00:46:28,089 I think that what connects me 1042 00:46:28,133 --> 00:46:30,135 to Grant and Eva 1043 00:46:30,178 --> 00:46:31,658 and Bev 1044 00:46:31,701 --> 00:46:33,442 and... and the tree. 1045 00:46:33,486 --> 00:46:36,532 We're all connected in a kind of a way. 1046 00:46:36,576 --> 00:46:39,840 Obviously, our bodies are just bodies. 1047 00:46:39,884 --> 00:46:43,104 We grow old, we die, and that's it, and... 1048 00:46:43,148 --> 00:46:46,804 but there's still the spirit that you started with 1049 00:46:46,847 --> 00:46:50,198 that can't really just... just... 1050 00:46:50,242 --> 00:46:51,460 "It's dead now." 1051 00:46:51,504 --> 00:46:52,810 You know, no matter what. 1052 00:46:52,853 --> 00:46:54,159 You know what I mean? 1053 00:46:54,202 --> 00:46:55,856 So you're talking about sort of connectedness 1054 00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:57,336 of all life and everything. 1055 00:46:57,379 --> 00:46:58,380 Yeah, connectedness of all life. 1056 00:46:58,424 --> 00:47:00,208 And why are we kind of connected? 1057 00:47:00,252 --> 00:47:01,949 Because we have a spirit. 1058 00:47:01,993 --> 00:47:03,821 -Right. Okay. -The spirit. 1059 00:47:03,864 --> 00:47:09,217 And I believe that when you die, spirit doesn't die. 1060 00:47:09,261 --> 00:47:11,524 That's what I really believe. 1061 00:47:44,731 --> 00:47:46,037 Five years ago, 1062 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:47,865 my students and I here at Berkeley 1063 00:47:47,908 --> 00:47:49,301 started to do 1064 00:47:49,344 --> 00:47:52,086 the largest study of awe that's ever been undertaken. 1065 00:47:52,130 --> 00:47:55,176 You know, we've studied awe in 30 different countries, 1066 00:47:55,220 --> 00:47:56,786 and the first thing that really struck me 1067 00:47:56,830 --> 00:47:58,440 about what we discovered 1068 00:47:58,484 --> 00:48:01,748 is that awe comes from many different sources. 1069 00:48:04,055 --> 00:48:08,537 The central sources of awe, first, are other people. 1070 00:48:08,581 --> 00:48:10,409 People you admire. 1071 00:48:10,452 --> 00:48:12,759 Seeing a child be born, 1072 00:48:12,802 --> 00:48:16,197 and you're just awestruck at life. 1073 00:48:20,506 --> 00:48:24,597 The second main source of awe is nature, 1074 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:28,209 and then the third main source is spirituality, 1075 00:48:28,253 --> 00:48:31,212 and fourth is art and music. 1076 00:48:37,958 --> 00:48:42,006 When you read the classic accounts of awe, 1077 00:48:42,049 --> 00:48:44,573 for 2,000 years, 1078 00:48:44,617 --> 00:48:47,576 people thought of awe as a religious thing. 1079 00:48:47,620 --> 00:48:49,317 But prior to the written word, 1080 00:48:49,361 --> 00:48:52,233 there is evidence in hunter-gatherer societies 1081 00:48:52,277 --> 00:48:54,061 that they feel awe towards nature, 1082 00:48:54,105 --> 00:48:55,410 that they have a sense 1083 00:48:55,454 --> 00:48:58,326 that their spirit is located in nature, 1084 00:48:58,370 --> 00:49:01,982 that they feel awestruck by clouds, right? 1085 00:49:02,026 --> 00:49:04,115 Or growths, or rainfall. 1086 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:10,599 It's pretty sound to say 1087 00:49:10,643 --> 00:49:12,688 we had these awe-inspiring experiences 1088 00:49:12,732 --> 00:49:15,778 that brought us together in hunter-gatherer societies 1089 00:49:15,822 --> 00:49:17,258 in communities, 1090 00:49:17,302 --> 00:49:18,607 and then as our culture developed, 1091 00:49:18,651 --> 00:49:20,087 religion came in and said, 1092 00:49:20,131 --> 00:49:23,873 "We'll take these pieces and put them into the church." 1093 00:49:43,415 --> 00:49:45,721 How did religion get started? 1094 00:49:45,765 --> 00:49:48,463 I think it started with an instinct 1095 00:49:48,507 --> 00:49:50,422 that we share with other animals, 1096 00:49:50,465 --> 00:49:54,034 which is an orienting response, or a, "Who's there?" 1097 00:49:58,691 --> 00:50:01,563 But in us, with our echo-chamber minds, 1098 00:50:01,607 --> 00:50:04,392 we don't stop there, we don't just go back to sleep. 1099 00:50:04,436 --> 00:50:05,828 We think about it... 1100 00:50:05,872 --> 00:50:07,047 and pretty soon, 1101 00:50:07,091 --> 00:50:10,224 we're imagining little invisible agents 1102 00:50:10,268 --> 00:50:12,574 that we sort of maybe got a glimpse of, 1103 00:50:12,618 --> 00:50:15,577 and all the leprechauns and imps and elves 1104 00:50:15,621 --> 00:50:18,189 and fairies and dragons 1105 00:50:18,232 --> 00:50:20,365 and all of those imaginary things 1106 00:50:20,408 --> 00:50:22,715 get elaborated in our minds, 1107 00:50:22,758 --> 00:50:24,499 and we talk to each other about them. 1108 00:50:24,543 --> 00:50:27,763 Pretty soon, the village all knows about the tree god 1109 00:50:27,807 --> 00:50:32,464 and the talking rock and the fish that flies. 1110 00:50:33,552 --> 00:50:35,554 Some of these go extinct 1111 00:50:35,597 --> 00:50:37,512 because they're not interesting enough. 1112 00:50:37,556 --> 00:50:38,948 Some of them are unforgettable. 1113 00:50:38,992 --> 00:50:41,603 So each tribe, each little community, 1114 00:50:41,647 --> 00:50:46,217 has its resident population of imaginary creatures. 1115 00:50:46,260 --> 00:50:48,349 That's a sort of polytheism. 1116 00:50:48,393 --> 00:50:52,484 Gradually, that turns into monotheism. 1117 00:50:53,615 --> 00:50:55,443 Well, what's religion for? 1118 00:50:55,487 --> 00:50:56,705 It's not for anything. 1119 00:50:56,749 --> 00:50:58,533 It just happens because it can, 1120 00:50:58,577 --> 00:51:00,057 and these ideas reproduce 1121 00:51:00,100 --> 00:51:03,277 because they're exploiting susceptibilities 1122 00:51:03,321 --> 00:51:06,193 in the human brain, in the human cognitive system, 1123 00:51:06,237 --> 00:51:10,458 fear and curiosity and the capacity to tell a tale. 1124 00:51:10,502 --> 00:51:13,679 And so all of this lore grows up, 1125 00:51:13,722 --> 00:51:17,161 and then it gets domesticated. 1126 00:51:31,175 --> 00:51:34,308 People begin to realize that it can be put to good use. 1127 00:51:34,352 --> 00:51:37,224 It can be used to keep children in line. 1128 00:51:37,268 --> 00:51:40,227 "God is watching you." "Big Brother is watching you." 1129 00:51:41,707 --> 00:51:44,753 It can be used to hide behind. 1130 00:51:44,797 --> 00:51:46,451 "Don't blame me. 1131 00:51:46,494 --> 00:51:48,670 I don't make the decisions. 1132 00:51:48,714 --> 00:51:50,803 The guy upstairs makes the decisions. 1133 00:51:50,846 --> 00:51:54,981 I am simply God's representative here on Earth." 1134 00:51:58,550 --> 00:52:02,119 Everything said in this room is completely confidential 1135 00:52:02,162 --> 00:52:04,382 and will never be repeated again. 1136 00:52:05,470 --> 00:52:07,298 We will now pray together. 1137 00:52:07,341 --> 00:52:11,215 Please repeat after me with, "Lord, hear our prayer." 1138 00:52:12,651 --> 00:52:14,609 Dear Lord, 1139 00:52:14,653 --> 00:52:18,091 please forgive me for my deceitful ways. 1140 00:52:18,135 --> 00:52:20,180 I have lied and lusted 1141 00:52:20,224 --> 00:52:23,444 and had unclean thoughts. 1142 00:52:23,488 --> 00:52:25,620 Forgive me, Lord. 1143 00:52:25,664 --> 00:52:28,884 Please help me to see and hear your words 1144 00:52:28,928 --> 00:52:31,104 so I might find my way home. 1145 00:52:32,236 --> 00:52:33,628 Lord... 1146 00:52:33,672 --> 00:52:35,021 ...Hear our prayer. 1147 00:52:35,064 --> 00:52:37,284 It was later, in the afternoon, 1148 00:52:37,328 --> 00:52:40,069 we went to another one of these very intimate 1149 00:52:40,113 --> 00:52:42,463 personal confessions, 1150 00:52:42,507 --> 00:52:46,075 and at this point, I noticed a lot of people 1151 00:52:46,119 --> 00:52:48,469 were really starting to break down. 1152 00:52:48,513 --> 00:52:49,949 People were crying. 1153 00:52:50,993 --> 00:52:52,995 You'd want to associate positive feelings 1154 00:52:53,039 --> 00:52:55,346 of love and belonging and security 1155 00:52:55,389 --> 00:52:56,869 with the new environment, 1156 00:52:56,912 --> 00:52:58,218 and negative feelings 1157 00:52:58,262 --> 00:53:00,916 of anxiety and fear and repression, 1158 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,092 and all the rest of it, with the old environment. 1159 00:53:08,054 --> 00:53:10,187 When I attended, 1160 00:53:10,230 --> 00:53:13,190 there was this very dramatic talk 1161 00:53:13,233 --> 00:53:17,368 about a man who was, uh, just vicious with his family, 1162 00:53:17,411 --> 00:53:19,500 and then he went on the Cursillo, 1163 00:53:19,544 --> 00:53:22,503 and he wept the entire time, 1164 00:53:22,547 --> 00:53:24,331 and now he's a new man, 1165 00:53:24,375 --> 00:53:27,029 and tears were starting to fall, 1166 00:53:27,073 --> 00:53:29,380 and the people around me, 1167 00:53:29,423 --> 00:53:31,599 they have this emotional movement 1168 00:53:31,643 --> 00:53:33,601 that is building. 1169 00:53:33,645 --> 00:53:36,038 Lord, please forgive me. 1170 00:53:36,082 --> 00:53:39,216 I am lost and confused. 1171 00:53:40,565 --> 00:53:43,437 I know you know my thoughts... 1172 00:53:44,569 --> 00:53:47,572 ...and I am sorry for who I am. 1173 00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:50,618 There's huge dangers there. 1174 00:53:50,662 --> 00:53:51,924 They're gonna go too far down, 1175 00:53:51,967 --> 00:53:53,926 and they're going to have a break. 1176 00:53:55,101 --> 00:53:57,756 I have lust in my heart for someone I shouldn't. 1177 00:53:57,799 --> 00:54:01,629 I am trying to control my desires. 1178 00:54:01,673 --> 00:54:03,762 Please. 1179 00:54:06,025 --> 00:54:07,853 Okay. 1180 00:54:07,896 --> 00:54:09,681 Thank you, Ben. 1181 00:54:09,724 --> 00:54:11,552 Okay. 1182 00:54:11,596 --> 00:54:12,988 Lord... 1183 00:54:13,032 --> 00:54:14,468 ...Hear our prayer. 1184 00:54:14,512 --> 00:54:16,383 They are in a world of hurt 1185 00:54:16,427 --> 00:54:18,951 because of the Cursillo method. 1186 00:54:18,994 --> 00:54:20,909 You all have made a big commitment 1187 00:54:20,953 --> 00:54:23,390 to this weekend, so... 1188 00:54:23,434 --> 00:54:26,175 we have a decision to make. 1189 00:54:26,219 --> 00:54:30,136 Are we going to move forward, or go back to our sinful ways? 1190 00:54:30,179 --> 00:54:31,790 I fear that there is a lot 1191 00:54:31,833 --> 00:54:34,967 of psychological work that's being done 1192 00:54:35,010 --> 00:54:38,275 under the guise of spiritual work, 1193 00:54:38,318 --> 00:54:42,279 and I wonder how genuine it is. 1194 00:54:51,462 --> 00:54:53,420 When I'm working in the hive, 1195 00:54:53,464 --> 00:54:56,467 I sometimes feel this sense of mystery. 1196 00:54:56,510 --> 00:54:59,426 How do they know what to do? 1197 00:54:59,470 --> 00:55:01,820 They only live for six to eight weeks, 1198 00:55:01,863 --> 00:55:05,519 yet each bee knows its role in the colony. 1199 00:55:05,563 --> 00:55:06,825 Some are guard bees. 1200 00:55:06,868 --> 00:55:08,696 Some go out foraging. 1201 00:55:08,740 --> 00:55:11,003 Some are making honey. 1202 00:55:11,046 --> 00:55:12,787 I should actually try to find the queen. 1203 00:55:12,831 --> 00:55:15,442 It's really quite amazing. 1204 00:55:15,486 --> 00:55:17,792 Somehow they have this intelligence. 1205 00:55:17,836 --> 00:55:20,055 As individuals, they know what to do, 1206 00:55:20,099 --> 00:55:21,579 and yet collectively, 1207 00:55:21,622 --> 00:55:24,538 they're all working for the survival of the community. 1208 00:55:24,582 --> 00:55:26,975 People think of Darwin as, like, 1209 00:55:27,019 --> 00:55:29,064 you know, it's bloody in tooth and claw, 1210 00:55:29,108 --> 00:55:30,892 and it's survival of the nastiest, 1211 00:55:30,936 --> 00:55:32,154 and it's brutal. 1212 00:55:32,198 --> 00:55:34,809 I think his philosophy is more aptly put 1213 00:55:34,853 --> 00:55:36,333 to be "survival of the kindest." 1214 00:55:37,725 --> 00:55:39,205 You know, I'm going to quote almost verbatim 1215 00:55:39,248 --> 00:55:41,686 from Descent of Man, from 1871, 1216 00:55:41,729 --> 00:55:44,036 that "sympathy is our strongest instinct, 1217 00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:46,995 that those communities with the most sympathetic members 1218 00:55:47,039 --> 00:55:48,257 will get along better 1219 00:55:48,301 --> 00:55:50,259 and rear the greatest number of offspring." 1220 00:55:50,303 --> 00:55:53,393 He writes a lot about connectedness. 1221 00:55:53,437 --> 00:55:56,788 He writes about astonishment, sympathy, love, 1222 00:55:56,831 --> 00:55:58,703 different kinds of love, 1223 00:55:58,746 --> 00:56:00,400 and gets close to awe, 1224 00:56:00,444 --> 00:56:04,752 and talks about how they're really community-based emotions. 1225 00:56:07,712 --> 00:56:12,847 Religion is structured in a way that captures these emotions 1226 00:56:12,891 --> 00:56:16,503 and then ritualizes them within a shared space. 1227 00:56:16,547 --> 00:56:18,375 I was raised without religion, 1228 00:56:18,418 --> 00:56:21,421 and when I was growing up, I would... 1229 00:56:21,465 --> 00:56:23,118 I would do things like 1230 00:56:23,162 --> 00:56:24,859 I'd be part of a collective gathering 1231 00:56:24,903 --> 00:56:26,208 and we would sing, and I would tear up, 1232 00:56:26,252 --> 00:56:27,471 and I'd feel connected. 1233 00:56:27,514 --> 00:56:30,952 And I remember some of my early experiences 1234 00:56:30,996 --> 00:56:33,259 of, like, going to a religious ceremony, 1235 00:56:33,302 --> 00:56:35,479 and they had it all right there in one place. 1236 00:56:35,522 --> 00:56:38,917 You go in, you see the stained glass windows. 1237 00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:40,266 You sing together. 1238 00:56:40,309 --> 00:56:42,529 You embrace people. 1239 00:56:42,573 --> 00:56:45,097 And I'd be tearing up and have these goosebumps, 1240 00:56:45,140 --> 00:56:47,578 and I had no sense of what the content was, 1241 00:56:47,621 --> 00:56:50,929 but it was the way that it embodied these emotions 1242 00:56:50,972 --> 00:56:52,365 that... I think 1243 00:56:52,409 --> 00:56:55,281 that's what religion came into human history to do. 1244 00:56:57,109 --> 00:56:59,067 To my surprise, 1245 00:56:59,111 --> 00:57:03,768 when I left Christianity, the greatest loss that I felt 1246 00:57:03,811 --> 00:57:07,249 wasn't a sense that I had lost God 1247 00:57:07,293 --> 00:57:09,077 or that I had lost faith. 1248 00:57:09,121 --> 00:57:10,775 Those were losses, 1249 00:57:10,818 --> 00:57:13,125 but the greatest loss that I experienced 1250 00:57:13,168 --> 00:57:15,301 was a loss of community. 1251 00:57:15,344 --> 00:57:17,346 Christians, 1252 00:57:17,390 --> 00:57:19,653 at least in the form of Christianity I was practicing, 1253 00:57:19,697 --> 00:57:21,742 Christians got together every week. 1254 00:57:21,786 --> 00:57:26,486 We worshipped together, prayed together, sang together. 1255 00:57:26,530 --> 00:57:27,922 We would share our lives. 1256 00:57:27,966 --> 00:57:29,271 We would support each other. 1257 00:57:29,315 --> 00:57:30,490 We would eat together. 1258 00:57:30,534 --> 00:57:32,492 There was community, 1259 00:57:32,536 --> 00:57:34,625 and when I left the faith, 1260 00:57:34,668 --> 00:57:36,191 I left the church, 1261 00:57:36,235 --> 00:57:38,585 and that community wasn't there anymore, 1262 00:57:38,629 --> 00:57:42,371 and it was probably the biggest void in my life. 1263 00:57:48,682 --> 00:57:52,294 I was raised sort of "cafeteria Catholic," 1264 00:57:52,338 --> 00:57:55,123 where my family didn't go to church a whole lot. 1265 00:57:55,167 --> 00:57:56,603 I grew up in Utah 1266 00:57:56,647 --> 00:57:58,692 as a fully-believing and active Mormon. 1267 00:57:58,736 --> 00:58:02,304 I spent two years on an LDS mission. 1268 00:58:02,348 --> 00:58:03,305 I was born in the U.S. 1269 00:58:03,349 --> 00:58:04,872 My family's from Pakistan, though. 1270 00:58:04,916 --> 00:58:06,308 My name is Mohammed. 1271 00:58:06,352 --> 00:58:07,527 I'm the founder and president 1272 00:58:07,571 --> 00:58:09,224 of Ex-Muslims of North America. 1273 00:58:09,268 --> 00:58:11,183 I was raised a Maronite Catholic, 1274 00:58:11,226 --> 00:58:12,880 which is like Lebanese Catholic. 1275 00:58:12,924 --> 00:58:15,317 Got a Master's degree in geology, 1276 00:58:15,361 --> 00:58:16,536 and through all that, 1277 00:58:16,580 --> 00:58:17,885 stayed as a believing Mormon 1278 00:58:17,929 --> 00:58:19,147 until I was 45. 1279 00:58:19,191 --> 00:58:21,976 As I grew, it stopped making sense. 1280 00:58:22,020 --> 00:58:23,412 I had more questions, 1281 00:58:23,456 --> 00:58:25,502 and any time I came up to anyone with questions, 1282 00:58:25,545 --> 00:58:26,503 the answer was always, 1283 00:58:26,546 --> 00:58:27,808 "Well, we don't talk about that." 1284 00:58:27,852 --> 00:58:29,810 I ran across DNA evidence 1285 00:58:29,854 --> 00:58:32,552 that counteracts the Book of Mormon, 1286 00:58:32,596 --> 00:58:34,336 and started really... 1287 00:58:34,380 --> 00:58:36,425 considering what that meant. 1288 00:58:36,469 --> 00:58:37,601 Then I read the Bible, 1289 00:58:37,644 --> 00:58:39,646 and that didn't answer any questions. 1290 00:58:39,690 --> 00:58:41,648 And about two, three days later, 1291 00:58:41,692 --> 00:58:44,651 decided that the foundational beliefs 1292 00:58:44,695 --> 00:58:46,566 of my entire life were wrong. 1293 00:58:46,610 --> 00:58:47,872 I personally met somebody 1294 00:58:47,915 --> 00:58:50,918 that had never met another brown atheist, 1295 00:58:50,962 --> 00:58:53,268 and she didn't believe me for a while, 1296 00:58:53,312 --> 00:58:55,488 that I'm probably lying, that we don't leave religion. 1297 00:58:55,532 --> 00:58:56,576 She had already left. 1298 00:58:56,620 --> 00:58:57,664 She thought she was the only one. 1299 00:58:57,708 --> 00:58:59,710 The pushback that I got from my family 1300 00:58:59,753 --> 00:59:02,190 is actually what made me push harder. 1301 00:59:02,234 --> 00:59:04,932 It can't be overestimated how hard that is, 1302 00:59:04,976 --> 00:59:06,934 as an adult, to do that, 1303 00:59:06,978 --> 00:59:09,546 when all of your adult decisions... 1304 00:59:09,589 --> 00:59:11,548 you know, how you raised your children, 1305 00:59:11,591 --> 00:59:13,593 who you married, everything, 1306 00:59:13,637 --> 00:59:15,203 is surrounded by the church. 1307 00:59:15,247 --> 00:59:16,683 Siblings haven't told each other 1308 00:59:16,727 --> 00:59:17,902 because they were afraid of how the sibling would react 1309 00:59:17,945 --> 00:59:18,946 and they would tell family 1310 00:59:18,990 --> 00:59:20,426 and they would lose their family. 1311 00:59:20,469 --> 00:59:21,906 We had husbands and wives that didn't tell each other 1312 00:59:21,949 --> 00:59:23,081 because they were concerned 1313 00:59:23,124 --> 00:59:25,213 that, in Islam, if you're an atheist, 1314 00:59:25,257 --> 00:59:26,693 your marriage is null and void, 1315 00:59:26,737 --> 00:59:29,566 that if they mention it, they'll be divorced. 1316 00:59:29,609 --> 00:59:31,089 The big thing for me is 1317 00:59:31,132 --> 00:59:33,700 I've always considered myself relatively intelligent, 1318 00:59:33,744 --> 00:59:35,267 and to find out 1319 00:59:35,310 --> 00:59:37,878 that I was fundamentally wrong about everything I thought 1320 00:59:37,922 --> 00:59:39,314 was very, very difficult, 1321 00:59:39,358 --> 00:59:43,101 and led to a lot of problems between my wife and I, 1322 00:59:43,144 --> 00:59:46,321 who was still, at that time, a believing Mormon. 1323 00:59:46,365 --> 00:59:48,410 That was sort of my downfall, 1324 00:59:48,454 --> 00:59:51,892 so it was less a peak and then a crash, 1325 00:59:51,936 --> 00:59:55,766 and more of just a slow roll away, I think. 1326 00:59:55,809 --> 00:59:56,941 Mormons believe 1327 00:59:56,984 --> 00:59:58,595 in the burning in the bosom, you know. 1328 00:59:58,638 --> 01:00:01,075 When you get the goosebumps and all that, 1329 01:00:01,119 --> 01:00:02,903 and that's a sign that you believe, 1330 01:00:02,947 --> 01:00:04,992 and the last five years, 1331 01:00:05,036 --> 01:00:07,255 since I have really started to investigate 1332 01:00:07,299 --> 01:00:09,606 neuropsychology, particle physics, 1333 01:00:09,649 --> 01:00:11,042 cosmology, all of that, 1334 01:00:11,085 --> 01:00:14,611 I have far more wonder than I ever did before. 1335 01:00:14,654 --> 01:00:17,396 There's enough numinous wonder in the universe. 1336 01:00:17,439 --> 01:00:18,615 Look up at the night sky. 1337 01:00:18,658 --> 01:00:19,790 Go outside of the city. 1338 01:00:19,833 --> 01:00:21,922 You don't need to believe in fairytales. 1339 01:00:21,966 --> 01:00:24,359 And the fact that when I die, it's over, 1340 01:00:24,403 --> 01:00:26,753 is actually kind of restful to me. 1341 01:00:26,797 --> 01:00:29,060 I feel more wonder now than I ever did before. 1342 01:00:40,419 --> 01:00:43,378 I think it's very important to realize 1343 01:00:43,422 --> 01:00:46,773 that many, many people in the world 1344 01:00:46,817 --> 01:00:50,211 need to contribute to a cause, 1345 01:00:50,255 --> 01:00:52,344 which is what will give them happiness. 1346 01:00:52,387 --> 01:00:56,348 If we can do that without the valorization 1347 01:00:56,391 --> 01:00:59,133 of irrationality and myth and falsehood, 1348 01:00:59,177 --> 01:01:01,005 that would be a great thing. 1349 01:01:01,048 --> 01:01:03,660 More and more young people 1350 01:01:03,703 --> 01:01:07,489 are less and less interested in religion at all. 1351 01:01:07,533 --> 01:01:10,797 The fastest-growing category in the world 1352 01:01:10,841 --> 01:01:12,799 is no religion at all. 1353 01:01:12,843 --> 01:01:15,410 It's growing faster than Islam. 1354 01:01:15,454 --> 01:01:17,674 It's growing faster than the Mormon church. 1355 01:01:17,717 --> 01:01:23,244 If a society has a strong social safety net, 1356 01:01:23,288 --> 01:01:26,204 if it provides security and health and food 1357 01:01:26,247 --> 01:01:28,032 and has a low crime rate, 1358 01:01:28,075 --> 01:01:30,251 religion vanishes. 1359 01:01:30,295 --> 01:01:33,690 In the countries that are terribly poor 1360 01:01:33,733 --> 01:01:35,039 and corrupt 1361 01:01:35,082 --> 01:01:37,389 and where they have despotic leaders, 1362 01:01:37,432 --> 01:01:41,436 where people are basically quite miserable, 1363 01:01:41,480 --> 01:01:43,700 that's where religion flourishes. 1364 01:01:54,580 --> 01:01:56,538 It's the final evening. 1365 01:01:56,582 --> 01:01:58,018 We're all together. 1366 01:01:58,062 --> 01:01:59,628 The candles are lit, 1367 01:01:59,672 --> 01:02:01,630 and it's very, very quiet, 1368 01:02:01,674 --> 01:02:06,331 and each person gets their little bundle of letters. 1369 01:02:18,778 --> 01:02:21,868 The unknown and unsaid part of this 1370 01:02:21,912 --> 01:02:26,394 is the palanca, another Spanish term. 1371 01:02:26,438 --> 01:02:28,614 "Palanca" means "lever"... 1372 01:02:31,530 --> 01:02:35,534 And I think it's a lever really to open up people 1373 01:02:35,577 --> 01:02:39,059 who are emotionally closed and unwilling. 1374 01:02:39,103 --> 01:02:42,236 "I've prayed several rosaries for you 1375 01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:44,673 in hope that God will touch you. 1376 01:02:44,717 --> 01:02:48,547 You are, and will be, in my prayers." 1377 01:02:50,854 --> 01:02:52,986 They're from people I know. 1378 01:02:53,030 --> 01:02:54,118 Some are classmates. 1379 01:02:54,161 --> 01:02:56,685 "St. Jude, pray for us." 1380 01:02:56,729 --> 01:02:59,123 Some were from people I didn't know. 1381 01:03:00,298 --> 01:03:03,301 I got one letter from Julie... 1382 01:03:04,693 --> 01:03:07,609 And it was really very powerful. It was really emotional. 1383 01:03:07,653 --> 01:03:10,177 These were very personal letters. 1384 01:03:10,221 --> 01:03:13,485 "I trust our Lord met you... 1385 01:03:13,528 --> 01:03:16,314 where he needed to. 1386 01:03:16,357 --> 01:03:19,099 He always does. 1387 01:03:19,143 --> 01:03:22,799 If not me, then who?" 1388 01:03:22,842 --> 01:03:24,365 They give this 1389 01:03:24,409 --> 01:03:27,804 at the very point where you're feeling most vulnerable, 1390 01:03:27,847 --> 01:03:31,503 and so it reinforces this idea 1391 01:03:31,546 --> 01:03:33,810 that "I'm here for a purpose. I'm on a mission." 1392 01:03:33,853 --> 01:03:37,117 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 1393 01:03:37,161 --> 01:03:40,555 On your own intelligence, rely not." 1394 01:03:40,599 --> 01:03:42,819 The folks who were involved in this, 1395 01:03:42,862 --> 01:03:44,037 I know many of them. 1396 01:03:44,081 --> 01:03:45,343 They're dear people. 1397 01:03:45,386 --> 01:03:47,301 They're very warm and genuine people, 1398 01:03:47,345 --> 01:03:51,305 so again, I'm not suggesting that they are these monsters 1399 01:03:51,349 --> 01:03:53,830 that are trying to manipulate people, 1400 01:03:53,873 --> 01:03:56,180 but the question is often asked, 1401 01:03:56,223 --> 01:03:57,529 "Well, is it just a cult?" 1402 01:03:57,572 --> 01:03:58,965 And I will say, "No." 1403 01:03:59,009 --> 01:04:01,228 There must be a charismatic kind of leader, 1404 01:04:01,272 --> 01:04:02,664 an almost God-like figure... 1405 01:04:02,708 --> 01:04:03,796 a David Koresh, 1406 01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:07,756 or a Sun Moon, who is nearly divine, 1407 01:04:07,800 --> 01:04:12,500 or Jim Jones, who is worshipped. 1408 01:04:12,544 --> 01:04:14,154 Don't find that in Cursillo. 1409 01:04:14,198 --> 01:04:16,330 Nothing like that at all in Cursillo. 1410 01:04:16,374 --> 01:04:19,856 Second part is some kind of exploitation. 1411 01:04:19,899 --> 01:04:21,509 Financial exploitation... 1412 01:04:21,553 --> 01:04:24,034 so, "Join the Moonies, renounce all your property. 1413 01:04:24,077 --> 01:04:25,600 or, actually, give all your property to us 1414 01:04:25,644 --> 01:04:27,689 and go sell flowers for us," for example. 1415 01:04:27,733 --> 01:04:29,343 So financial exploitation. 1416 01:04:29,387 --> 01:04:31,780 None of that in Cursillo, not a trace of it. 1417 01:04:31,824 --> 01:04:34,827 The third element of a destructive cult like this 1418 01:04:34,871 --> 01:04:38,570 is manipulative mind-control techniques. 1419 01:04:38,613 --> 01:04:40,528 Oops. 1420 01:04:40,572 --> 01:04:42,356 Oops. 1421 01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:46,360 The Cursillo movement is up to its ears 1422 01:04:46,404 --> 01:04:50,756 in these kinds of manipulative mind-control techniques. 1423 01:05:00,984 --> 01:05:02,942 Go into the whole world 1424 01:05:02,986 --> 01:05:04,901 and proclaim the good news! 1425 01:05:04,944 --> 01:05:06,946 This is the Holy Spirit. 1426 01:05:06,990 --> 01:05:09,166 Can you feel His love? 1427 01:05:10,254 --> 01:05:12,560 -Hallelujah! 1428 01:05:12,604 --> 01:05:14,780 And then suddenly, bang! 1429 01:05:14,823 --> 01:05:17,391 The door opens, and all these people burst in. 1430 01:05:18,610 --> 01:05:19,741 And everyone is crying 1431 01:05:19,785 --> 01:05:21,656 and laughing and hugging each other, 1432 01:05:21,700 --> 01:05:25,095 and it was just this incredibly overwhelming experience. 1433 01:05:34,191 --> 01:05:35,496 And you shoot through the roof, 1434 01:05:35,540 --> 01:05:39,761 and you have this joyful, tingly kind of euphoria. 1435 01:05:39,805 --> 01:05:41,589 "Catharsis" is an emotional washing, 1436 01:05:41,633 --> 01:05:43,461 but the catharsis comes 1437 01:05:43,504 --> 01:05:46,594 when your emotions are just so overloaded 1438 01:05:46,638 --> 01:05:48,770 that you either weep or laugh. 1439 01:05:50,642 --> 01:05:52,992 It was a shock to the system. 1440 01:05:54,994 --> 01:05:56,256 I was gonna start crying. 1441 01:05:56,300 --> 01:05:59,477 I felt right away this sort of adrenaline rush. 1442 01:06:02,132 --> 01:06:03,872 There's Julie, and I hug her, 1443 01:06:03,916 --> 01:06:05,178 and I'd actually been looking for her 1444 01:06:05,222 --> 01:06:06,353 throughout the whole weekend, 1445 01:06:06,397 --> 01:06:08,834 but I hadn't seen her at all. 1446 01:06:14,753 --> 01:06:16,624 And then for some reason, 1447 01:06:16,668 --> 01:06:18,496 I thought to myself, 1448 01:06:18,539 --> 01:06:20,454 "Wait a minute. 1449 01:06:20,498 --> 01:06:23,805 This isn't the Holy Spirit." 1450 01:06:23,849 --> 01:06:26,808 This felt like it was staged. 1451 01:06:26,852 --> 01:06:28,114 I kind of felt cheated. 1452 01:06:37,950 --> 01:06:39,299 As it turned out, 1453 01:06:39,343 --> 01:06:40,822 The Search Weekend 1454 01:06:40,866 --> 01:06:44,826 was the last chapter of my life in Catholicism. 1455 01:06:44,870 --> 01:06:47,742 The final emotional moment of the weekend, 1456 01:06:47,786 --> 01:06:49,135 the moment that fell short 1457 01:06:49,179 --> 01:06:51,833 of a real encounter with the Holy Spirit, 1458 01:06:51,877 --> 01:06:53,052 made me see clearly 1459 01:06:53,096 --> 01:06:56,055 the fundamental deceit of religion. 1460 01:06:56,099 --> 01:06:58,405 I realized how the Cursillo method 1461 01:06:58,449 --> 01:07:01,321 produces an intense emotional experience 1462 01:07:01,365 --> 01:07:04,890 and artificially connects it with the concept of God. 1463 01:07:06,370 --> 01:07:08,285 Belief can be manufactured 1464 01:07:08,328 --> 01:07:11,462 by inducing and manipulating moments of awe, 1465 01:07:11,505 --> 01:07:12,898 and once I realized this, 1466 01:07:12,941 --> 01:07:15,466 I was able to start shedding the burden 1467 01:07:15,509 --> 01:07:16,902 of years of indoctrination. 1468 01:07:19,774 --> 01:07:23,082 Julie and I broke up shortly after that weekend. 1469 01:07:23,126 --> 01:07:24,910 She was part of the world I was leaving behind. 1470 01:07:26,216 --> 01:07:28,914 I often wonder if she kept her faith, 1471 01:07:28,957 --> 01:07:31,003 but I've never looked her up. 1472 01:07:32,222 --> 01:07:35,094 For her and many of my friends, 1473 01:07:35,138 --> 01:07:37,879 the Search Weekend was a conversion, 1474 01:07:37,923 --> 01:07:39,794 their born-again moment. 1475 01:07:43,450 --> 01:07:46,801 My friend Ben had an extremely emotional experience 1476 01:07:46,845 --> 01:07:49,543 at the Search. 1477 01:07:49,587 --> 01:07:52,111 I felt like he was trying to unburden himself 1478 01:07:52,155 --> 01:07:53,460 of something, 1479 01:07:53,504 --> 01:07:54,940 but never quite got there. 1480 01:07:59,249 --> 01:08:02,121 Three months later, at our graduation, 1481 01:08:02,165 --> 01:08:07,518 a friend ran up to me and said that Ben had committed suicide. 1482 01:08:09,259 --> 01:08:11,217 I can't say what part 1483 01:08:11,261 --> 01:08:13,480 the Cursillo played in Ben's death, 1484 01:08:13,524 --> 01:08:14,568 if any, 1485 01:08:14,612 --> 01:08:16,004 but I believe 1486 01:08:16,048 --> 01:08:18,833 that the intense emotional journey he went through 1487 01:08:18,877 --> 01:08:23,011 was delivered recklessly, and without adequate support. 1488 01:08:28,843 --> 01:08:33,805 The experience of that weekend was a turning point in my life. 1489 01:08:35,981 --> 01:08:39,463 It was at a moment that the Catholic religion, 1490 01:08:39,506 --> 01:08:41,639 which was the fundamental belief system 1491 01:08:41,682 --> 01:08:44,120 in my family for many generations, 1492 01:08:44,163 --> 01:08:46,252 probably hundreds of years, 1493 01:08:46,296 --> 01:08:48,646 finally lost its grip. 1494 01:08:52,911 --> 01:08:54,347 I've experienced 1495 01:08:54,391 --> 01:08:57,698 several transformative moments of awe over the years, 1496 01:08:57,742 --> 01:08:59,831 and these moments have stayed with me 1497 01:08:59,874 --> 01:09:02,703 and shaped the way I experience my life. 1498 01:09:04,314 --> 01:09:06,185 Very early one morning, 1499 01:09:06,229 --> 01:09:08,492 I went out fishing with my father-in-law. 1500 01:09:08,535 --> 01:09:12,017 It was very quiet and dead calm. 1501 01:09:12,060 --> 01:09:14,062 The water was flat. 1502 01:09:25,857 --> 01:09:30,601 Suddenly, we were surrounded by a large pod of orcas. 1503 01:09:32,516 --> 01:09:35,258 They were only a few feet away from the boat. 1504 01:09:46,399 --> 01:09:49,446 We could see those whales looking right at us... 1505 01:09:55,800 --> 01:09:58,281 ...and then they were gone. 1506 01:10:01,806 --> 01:10:03,503 Awe is this compass. 1507 01:10:03,547 --> 01:10:04,591 It tells people, 1508 01:10:04,635 --> 01:10:05,897 "This is your purpose, right here." 1509 01:10:05,940 --> 01:10:09,335 When people feel awe in nature, it tells them, 1510 01:10:09,379 --> 01:10:13,383 you know, "This natural process is where you should be." 1511 01:10:14,558 --> 01:10:17,517 There is this universal structure to awe. 1512 01:10:17,561 --> 01:10:20,781 The self is connected to something vast. 1513 01:10:20,825 --> 01:10:22,435 It opens up the mind. 1514 01:10:22,479 --> 01:10:26,091 But what the self connects to really varies. 1515 01:10:27,397 --> 01:10:30,226 This is our life right here. 1516 01:10:30,269 --> 01:10:33,054 The idea that you've got one life, 1517 01:10:33,098 --> 01:10:36,797 and that it is unbelievably precious, 1518 01:10:36,841 --> 01:10:40,888 uh, and that you should 1519 01:10:40,932 --> 01:10:44,152 think about the possibilities 1520 01:10:44,196 --> 01:10:48,548 that have been made available to you 1521 01:10:48,592 --> 01:10:51,116 thanks to the efforts of others. 1522 01:10:52,987 --> 01:10:57,253 If you want to feel gratitude, for heavens' sakes, 1523 01:10:57,296 --> 01:11:01,257 yes, I feel so grateful that I'm alive, 1524 01:11:01,300 --> 01:11:03,781 but I'm grateful to all those people 1525 01:11:03,824 --> 01:11:07,263 who, before me, have made it possible for me 1526 01:11:07,306 --> 01:11:11,267 to have such a spectacularly interesting life, 1527 01:11:11,310 --> 01:11:14,444 and I can't repay them, 1528 01:11:14,487 --> 01:11:16,446 so I can pay it forward. 1529 01:11:16,489 --> 01:11:18,926 I can try to make the world a little better 1530 01:11:18,970 --> 01:11:21,146 for the next generation coming along. 1531 01:11:21,189 --> 01:11:23,931 I recently went to Bhutan with my daughter. 1532 01:11:23,975 --> 01:11:25,759 It's a sacred place. 1533 01:11:25,803 --> 01:11:28,022 Hiking up at 10,000 feet, 1534 01:11:28,066 --> 01:11:32,940 we were fortunate enough to be in this Buddhist temple, 1535 01:11:32,984 --> 01:11:34,159 just with Buddhist monks. 1536 01:11:34,202 --> 01:11:36,988 They were chanting 2,500-year-old chants, 1537 01:11:37,031 --> 01:11:39,599 and I was awash in awe. 1538 01:11:39,643 --> 01:11:41,862 You know, just currents were moving through my body. 1539 01:11:41,906 --> 01:11:44,212 I was crying. Goosebumps. 1540 01:11:44,256 --> 01:11:46,040 My daughter and I embraced, 1541 01:11:46,084 --> 01:11:48,521 um, and it... and it changed my life. 1542 01:11:49,653 --> 01:11:51,132 I'm a runner. 1543 01:11:51,176 --> 01:11:52,960 I love to run in the mornings, 1544 01:11:53,004 --> 01:11:55,223 and on a fine spring morning 1545 01:11:55,267 --> 01:11:57,182 when we've been through a winter, you know? 1546 01:11:57,225 --> 01:11:58,966 And suddenly, there are birds singing, 1547 01:11:59,010 --> 01:12:00,968 I break into hymn 1548 01:12:01,012 --> 01:12:03,797 because I see the goodness of God 1549 01:12:03,841 --> 01:12:05,669 in the creation He's made. 1550 01:12:06,931 --> 01:12:09,455 I have very large numbers of moments of awe. 1551 01:12:09,499 --> 01:12:12,240 Let's not be ashamed of using the word "spiritual." 1552 01:12:12,284 --> 01:12:13,590 Only the other day, 1553 01:12:13,633 --> 01:12:15,896 I was at the Grand Canyon in the dead of night, 1554 01:12:15,940 --> 01:12:17,245 on the edge of the canyon, I lay on my back 1555 01:12:17,289 --> 01:12:19,204 and looked up at the Milky Way, 1556 01:12:19,247 --> 01:12:22,860 and was filled with a great flood of emotion, 1557 01:12:22,903 --> 01:12:24,688 and thought to myself, 1558 01:12:24,731 --> 01:12:27,473 "The light that is entering my eyes at this moment, 1559 01:12:27,517 --> 01:12:30,824 I'm looking at a scene 100,000 years ago," 1560 01:12:30,868 --> 01:12:32,739 and then the next morning, 1561 01:12:32,783 --> 01:12:34,393 I looked down into the canyon, 1562 01:12:34,437 --> 01:12:38,919 and was looking at rocks two billion years old, 1563 01:12:38,963 --> 01:12:42,749 so I'm looking back in time both directions. 1564 01:12:42,793 --> 01:12:46,318 Human life span, how petty, how trivial that is, 1565 01:12:46,362 --> 01:12:51,192 in comparison to the time spans that we can now understand, 1566 01:12:51,236 --> 01:12:53,194 that science gives us the ability... 1567 01:12:53,238 --> 01:12:55,501 privileges us with the ability to understand. 1568 01:12:55,545 --> 01:12:57,198 This is wonderful. 1569 01:12:57,242 --> 01:12:58,765 Science is wonderful. 1570 01:12:58,809 --> 01:13:02,682 We live in a golden age of science. 1571 01:13:02,726 --> 01:13:04,554 There's this misconception about science 1572 01:13:04,597 --> 01:13:07,208 that it drains the beauty and the awe out of everything, 1573 01:13:07,252 --> 01:13:08,732 and I certainly feel differently, 1574 01:13:08,775 --> 01:13:11,691 and I've felt differently about that in my own life, 1575 01:13:11,735 --> 01:13:15,565 and I remember from being a kid, being out in nature, 1576 01:13:15,608 --> 01:13:18,785 I grew up in a small village in the English countryside, 1577 01:13:18,829 --> 01:13:20,787 and from then on, really, 1578 01:13:20,831 --> 01:13:22,702 being out in nature is the experience 1579 01:13:22,746 --> 01:13:25,052 that generates for me 1580 01:13:25,096 --> 01:13:28,969 the most powerful experiences of connectedness with the world, 1581 01:13:29,013 --> 01:13:30,231 and probably the states 1582 01:13:30,275 --> 01:13:33,757 of highest emotional contentment. 1583 01:13:33,800 --> 01:13:37,456 Now that we understand at least a bit about the universe, 1584 01:13:37,500 --> 01:13:40,067 that we're not only looking out into space, 1585 01:13:40,111 --> 01:13:42,156 we're looking back into time, 1586 01:13:42,200 --> 01:13:46,073 that makes the experience more inspirational, 1587 01:13:46,117 --> 01:13:49,033 more wonderful, more emotionally powerful. 1588 01:13:50,991 --> 01:13:52,428 About four or five years ago, 1589 01:13:52,471 --> 01:13:54,647 I started a meditation practice. 1590 01:13:54,691 --> 01:13:55,996 When I do that, 1591 01:13:56,040 --> 01:13:59,826 I find that I have a very similar moment of awe 1592 01:13:59,870 --> 01:14:02,481 that I used to have when I was very religious, 1593 01:14:02,525 --> 01:14:04,004 and frequently, 1594 01:14:04,048 --> 01:14:08,269 when I'm thinking about just how complex the human is, 1595 01:14:08,313 --> 01:14:10,924 the human body, the human mind, 1596 01:14:10,968 --> 01:14:12,970 the words of scripture come to mind... 1597 01:14:13,013 --> 01:14:14,754 the psalmist who said, 1598 01:14:14,798 --> 01:14:18,497 "O Lord, I am fearfully and wonderfully made." 1599 01:14:20,151 --> 01:14:21,500 And it's just this sense 1600 01:14:21,544 --> 01:14:24,198 that this is just quite amazing that we exist, 1601 01:14:24,242 --> 01:14:26,374 and that we are who we are. 1602 01:14:27,680 --> 01:14:29,856 What we're all hungering for 1603 01:14:29,900 --> 01:14:34,600 is an honest conversation about what makes life worth living. 1604 01:14:34,644 --> 01:14:36,689 All of human knowledge has to be brought to bear 1605 01:14:36,733 --> 01:14:38,517 on that conversation. 1606 01:14:38,561 --> 01:14:42,347 There is no job that is just a matter of science, 1607 01:14:42,390 --> 01:14:43,827 or just a matter of politics, 1608 01:14:43,870 --> 01:14:45,306 or just a matter of philosophy, 1609 01:14:45,350 --> 01:14:47,308 or just a matter of religion. 1610 01:14:47,352 --> 01:14:48,484 I mean, we are all in the business 1611 01:14:48,527 --> 01:14:50,311 of making claims 1612 01:14:50,355 --> 01:14:52,488 about what matters and why it matters, 1613 01:14:52,531 --> 01:14:54,490 and how to safeguard it. 1614 01:14:54,533 --> 01:14:57,536 What I'm finding worth doing 1615 01:14:57,580 --> 01:15:00,321 is having more and more conversations 1616 01:15:00,365 --> 01:15:03,803 that don't respect the boundaries between disciplines, 1617 01:15:03,847 --> 01:15:05,501 and where you just get, 1618 01:15:05,544 --> 01:15:09,026 you know, smart, well-informed, courageous people 1619 01:15:09,069 --> 01:15:10,375 thinking out loud. 1620 01:15:23,606 --> 01:15:25,651 You still pray. 1621 01:15:25,695 --> 01:15:26,913 You told me you still pray. 1622 01:15:26,957 --> 01:15:28,567 Three times a day, dear. 1623 01:15:28,611 --> 01:15:30,395 I'm certainly not praying to God. 1624 01:15:30,438 --> 01:15:31,701 Right. 1625 01:15:31,744 --> 01:15:33,441 God has nothing to do with my life, really. 1626 01:15:36,270 --> 01:15:38,185 I pray for you every day. 1627 01:15:38,229 --> 01:15:40,187 I pray to St. Jude. 1628 01:15:40,231 --> 01:15:44,540 Then I have a little prayer I say by Kahlil Gibran. 1629 01:15:44,583 --> 01:15:47,020 "Look to this day, for it is life. 1630 01:15:47,064 --> 01:15:48,848 In its brief span 1631 01:15:48,892 --> 01:15:52,199 lie all the verities, joys, and expectations 1632 01:15:52,243 --> 01:15:54,071 of our experience. 1633 01:15:54,114 --> 01:15:58,554 For yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is only a vision. 1634 01:15:58,597 --> 01:16:00,251 But today well-lived 1635 01:16:00,294 --> 01:16:04,037 makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, 1636 01:16:04,081 --> 01:16:07,388 and every tomorrow a vision of hope. 1637 01:16:07,432 --> 01:16:11,088 Look well, therefore, unto this day."