The Hello, friends. Yes! All right, thanks. Ha, ha, ha. Welcome to Everything is Spiritual. So great. I'm going to start with a simple question. If I were to ask you, what is the Super Bowl? You would have a very straightforward answer. You'd say, oh Rob, the Super Bowl, that's easy. The Super Bowl is a series of 30-second short films designed to create within you an overwhelming sense of urgency that you are just one purchase away from happiness. Interrupted by a football game. But if I, this past year were to say to you, what is the Superbowl? You would have a slightly more nuanced answer. You would say to me, Oh, Rob, that's easy. The Superbowl, the Superbowl is a series of 32nd short films designed to create within you an overwhelming sense of urgency that you're just one purchase away from happiness interrupted by a football game, interrupted by dancing sharks. How many of you saw the Super Bowl halftime show and partway through the dancing sharks, you just said, you lost me. I'm not. And your really sort of informed friend was like, oh, but it's a song about California, to which you responded, but the Super Bowl is in Arizona. And they're not sharks and they're not really dancing. Then your other super informed friend said, yeah, but it's pop music. So it doesn't really mean anything. Which is kind of my point. How many of you, dancing sharks is like the perfect metaphor for your life? Bits and random pieces and fragments coming at you with no particular meaning or coherence. Yeah, see, ancient cultures and for thousands of years, people have told stories in order to hold them together as individuals, as individuals, and as people groups. People have told stories to give order and meaning and coherence to life, a sort of glue to hold things together. If you were visiting from some other place and you were to see what happens when our tribe gathers, what happens in our tribal fire, the stories that we tell, and honestly, something like the Super Bowl is about as close as we get to a tribal fire. Would you agree? Only the fire is a neon rectangle in the living room. If you were to observe this tribe and the stories it tells itself, your conclusion would probably be, in the stories it tells itself, your conclusion would probably be, oh, who are we and what are we doing here? We're here to buy things. Now, for thousands of years, people have told stories to hold them together. There's one story that's been around for several thousand years. The story goes our tribe is the best, our God is the best, our way is the best. So come, join us, or we'll kick your ass. And you can raise a lot of money with that story. And you can build some pretty big buildings with that story. And you can justify a lot of war with that story. Are you with me? Now, there's another story. There's another story that's about 300 years old. And that story essentially goes something like this. Human beings are amazing. We're smart and clever and innovative, and we have science and data and evidence, so just give us enough time, and we'll figure this place out. We have some old things in the past that we didn't really understand, but now we understand them, and things that we don't understand, we just don't understand yet. Just give us a bit more time and we'll have this whole thing sorted out. It's a big, buoyant, inspirational view of what it means to be human. And that story has had an incredible head of steam. It's had an incredible run, but the problem is the Titanic sank, and in the past century, more people died in wars than in all previous centuries combined. So that story has taken a bit of a beating. Would you agree? Then there's another story that's come on strong recently. That story goes something like this. Yeah, there's nothing going on here. There's no bigger story. All we are is a collection of our cells and synapses in our biology. There's nothing else going on here. And actually, those ancient, primitive, magical, mythical stories about forces and beings and gods, that's actually part of the problem. We need to leave that behind. that's actually part of the problem we need to leave that behind all there is is us here now everything is essentially a survival of the fittest to certain degree and then you die and that's it how many of you heard that story and for some people oftentimes that story seems to be simply a critique of some of the other stories and that story can be incredibly intoxicating because it says we are rational, logical people who have brains, so let's use them. And so what happens is these stories sort of bump up against each other, and sometimes they compete against each other. But I have this sense across our world that none of these stories are actually up to giving us the glue, None of these stories are actually up to giving us the glue, giving us the meaning, giving us the arc and the narrative we actually need to live with hope and courage in the modern world. So here's what I want to do. I want to take a shot at a new story that takes everything that we are learning and takes the best from where we've been and essentially integrates it into an explanation of who we are, what we're doing here, and what it all means. So I want to take a shot at a new story. And some of you might be like, yeah, but some elements of the story are really old. Yep. And some of these, some of this takes into account all sorts of new things, maybe things that we haven't even discovered yet. Yep Yep, so I want to take a shot at all this. So what we're going to do is first I want to talk about what we have learned about our universe So I want to start with our universe and what we're learning about our universe Then I want to talk about your heart And what you know about how your heart works. So first we'll start with the universe, then we'll move to what we know about how our hearts work. That will raise a question, a big question, which will actually raise another question. And after we deal with those questions, I want to offer just three very practical ways to think about all this in relation to your past, your present, and your future. Sound like a plan? Yeah. All right. Sound like a plan to the rest of you? Yeah. Okay. you have gps you have smartphones you have ipads you are highly connected you are the most sophisticated technological culture in the history of the universe and yet a man in public pulls out a marker and you cheer. In the beginning was a point. The general belief among scientists is that the universe expanding from that single point for the past 13.8 billion years. The general belief is that the universe started from a single point, there was a bang, and then 13.8 billion years of expansion. A single point, a boom, and then 13.8 billion years of ongoing creation. Now, when you read what scientists say about this point, they get downright poetic. They say things like, a single point of infinite density containing all the compressed mass space-time of the universe. Yes. One I really like. A sextillion-ton of the universe. Yes. One I really like. A sextillion-ton pinprick. By the way, do you know that sextillion is a number? Sextillion. It's more than a million and it has the word sex in it. What's not to like about that number? A sextillion-ton pinprick of cataclysmic energy. And my personal favorite description of this point, an ineffable singularity of stupendous fecundity. Word of the day, fecundity. A single point, a boom, and then 13 billion years of expansion. A point, a bang, and then 13 billion years of expansion, a point, a bang, and then 13 billion years of ongoing creation leading to this. Now, the general belief is that first, all there was, was particles, tiny bits and pieces of energy. And the general agreement is that somewhere about three minutes into the life of the universe, those particles bonded with other particles to form atoms. 13 billion years ago, three minutes in, because someone was counting, because someone was counting. Particles bonded with other particles to form something called atoms. Three minutes into the life of the universe, particles basically said to each other, hey, you guys want to hang out? And that brought atoms. Now, somewhere around the 300,000 year mark, it took 300,000 years for the whole thing to cool down to 6,000 degrees, the temperature of the sun. It took 300,000 years for the universe to cool down to the temperature of the sun. I feel a breeze in here. And then somewhere around there, atoms bonded with other atoms to form something called molecules. Somewhere in there, atoms began to bond with other atoms. Atoms essentially said to each other, hey, you guys want to hang out? And that brought something new into the universe, molecules. Somewhere about 400 million years into the life of the universe, you had the creation of the first stars. We love and accept everybody exactly as they are. Now, this is really interesting. The formation of the stars was a process called thermonuclear fusion. And in thermonuclear fusion, you had the creation of the first of heavier elements, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, which will come in handy later. And then somewhere around the 1 billion years in the life of the universe, you had the creation of the first group of planets. By the way, do you know what they named the first cluster of planets? They named them HIP 11952. Are you so bummed if you're one of these planets? All that pioneering, all that innovating, You broke new ground. Literally. Some of you will get that later. It's a slow burn. But it's a pretty strong one. You are traveling intergalactically and you stop in at a bar and you see a planet hanging his head on a stool. You say to the bartender, who's that? And he's like, it's HIP 11952. He's in here every night. Really. You see a planet hanging his head on a stool. You say to the bartender, who's that? And he's like, it's HIP 11952. He's in here every night. Really. You see another planet pull up a stool, leans over and says to HIP 11952, why are you so bummed? He says, I hate my name. I mean, look what I did, and this is the name I got. The other planet's like, really? I hate my name too. You do? Yeah, I'd give anything not to have this name, HIP 11952. Really? You don't like your name? Yeah, I'd give anything not to have this name, HIP 11952. Really? You don't like your name? Yeah, I know. It's like a badge of shame. Me too. Well, why don't we switch? What a fantastic idea. I would have any name other than this name. Me too. Great. What's your name? Uranus. I'm good. I love that joke i have to be totally honest i have a personal relationship with that joke it's just it's given me so much i'm glad we could share our love with you nine billion years in about 4.5 billion ago, you have the formation of our solar system with the sun and the planets. And some of them got rings and some of them didn't. And the sun gives off 4 million metric tons of itself every second for the life of the universe. The sun gives itself for the life of the universe. The sun gives of itself for the life of the universe. The sun gives itself for the life of the universe. The sun gives of itself for the life of the universe. And then right around the 10 billion year mark in the life of the universe, molecules began to bond with other molecules. Molecules turned and said to each other, hey, you guys want to hang out? And you had the creation of the first cells and essentially organic cellular life 10 billion years in and then somewhere a couple billion years after that you had in the 13 billion year range you had the first cells forming complex life systems and you had the first animals don donkeys in party hats, or unicorns. You can go freestyle on that one. And then later in that first 13 billion years, you had the first people who showed up. Now, to give you an idea of the relationship between the arrival of human beings and the age of the solar system, imagine if our solar system, from its formation to this moment, you broke it down and thought of it as a 24-hour day. Human beings showed up at 11.59.59 in the last second of that 24-hour day. So when your friend is like, oh my word, we waited for Carl forever. No, you didn't wait for Carl forever. Janet took an eternity. No, she didn't. She took 17 minutes. There's a difference we just got here we show up really really really really late in the game but then we show up and we get fantastically busy right away right away we invent fire fire fire fire fire, fire. Then we invent tools. Then we invent language in rapid fire succession. By the way, many believe that there was a 60,000 year window when human beings were interacting with each other prior to the invention of language. How do you feel about that? So we show up really, really late in the game, and then rapid-fire succession. We go fire, tools, language, clothes, tofu, Teflon, Toyotas, trapezes, toasters, televisions, Taylor Swift. What? What a weird story. And if I were to tell you the story, you'd be like, that is just the weirdest story ever. It's just that it happens to be the story. It's, it's not that it's that weird. It's, it's what has actually happened and is happening. And And you, you, you featherless biped, you are absolutely fascinating. You are made of systems, limbic, skeletal, muscular, circulatory, immune. These systems are made of cells, hundreds of billions of cells. Hundreds of millions of cells are dying in your body every hour, but your body is also giving birth to new cells to replace those cells that have died. Your body, several billion times a day, is going through a cellular process of death and rebirth. And so you, the you that I would have met, let's say I met you 10 years ago and I would meet you today, most of your body will have replaced itself over the course of any given 10-year stretch. So if I met you 10 years ago and then I meet you today, I am meeting the same person, but at a physical cellular level, I am meeting somebody whose physicality has mostly replaced itself. Imagine if your uncle gives you a boat. You take that boat out the first summer and you realize it leaks. So that first winter, you fix the hull. You replace all the planks on the hull. Second summer, you realize it leaks. So that first winter, you fix the hull. You replace all the planks on the hull. Second summer, you realize that the hardware isn't reliable. So that second winter, you replace all the hardware. Third summer, you realize you're getting splinters from the boards on the deck. So the next winter, you replace all those boards. If you keep this up, given enough time, you will have replaced everything on the boat. And yet if you take us out in that boat, you will say to us, this is the boat that my uncle gave me. The boat is more in the pattern than it is in the planks because the planks come and go and are replaced. It's the consistency of the pattern that makes that boat that boat. You are a pattern, a cellular pattern moving through time and space, constantly dying off and yet at the same time new birth billions of times a day taking part in your being. Now, cells are made up of molecules and molecules are made up of atoms and atoms are, scientific terminology, weird. Now, there are more atoms in a glass of water than there are glasses of water in all of the oceans combined. You are made up of roughly 7 billion billion atoms, and every atom in your body is at least a billion years old. This is why on Tuesday afternoons you like to take a nap. Now, this is what happened about 125 years ago. For a couple of thousands of years, there had been this philosophical idea of an atom. There must be some building block of reality. There must be something of which there's nothing smaller. And if we could just identify that, we could explain how we got here, what's going on, where we're headed, we could have all sorts of answers. And about 125 years ago, scientists were able, the first time to identify an actual atom. And there was this moment of, we've got it. But then they developed slightly more sophisticated technology and realized actually you can take apart an atom, and an atom is made of smaller bits and pieces called particles. But then they developed even more sophisticated technology and realized actually those particles, you can take them apart and those particles are made of even smaller particles. Then they developed even more sophisticated technology and realized you can actually take apart those particles. At this point, they've been able to identify at least 150 subatomic particles. And when you get down at the subatomic quantum particle level of materiality of the world, things get very, very, very weird very fast. They have identified subatomic particles that come into existence for a billionth of a second and then disappear. And they don't know where they come from and they don't know where they go. They have observed subatomic particles that leave at point A and appear at point B without traveling the distance in between. They have identified subatomic particles that leave at point A and travel to point B, but actually travel every single possible route from point A to point B, and only reveal which route they actually took when they're observed. Some of you have Apple Rainbow Death Wheel right now. You're just totally locked up. Like now as they kept going farther and farther and farther in, because forever, of course, the question was, where is the end of the universe? Like you at some point get to the outer edges of the universe and then you and Jim Carrey walk through a door, right? That was always the question. How big is the thing? But quantum physics raised this fascinating question. How small is the thing? Can you just endlessly take it apart? And what they're now saying essentially is that at the smallest particle level, particles are essentially bits and pieces of energy and an atom is essentially a relationship of energy. So you, my brothers and sisters, are a very, very complicated, several billion times over relationship of energy. Interacting with other relationships of energy. Wood, concrete, steel, glass, rocks, trees, rivers, frogs. Reality at its core is energy in relationship. You ever been with someone and they walked away and you thought, dear God, that person just took three years off my life. Maybe they did. Maybe they did. Whenever I'm with them, it's so draining. Yeah. It could be. Like, no, actually draining. I feel like they just plugged into me and sucked the life out of me. Maybe that's exactly what was happening. Because in the modern world, we were taught that we are self-contained, autonomous human beings, correct? And so we had a conversation in which we exchanged words, and then we went our separate ways. But who knows what else is going on in the space between you? How many of you, you know when someone is lying to you? And if we were to say that, how do you know? And because you're the kind of like, I'm a facts person. I'm very logical. I need the evidence. And we're like, how do you know they're lying? I just know. I just feel it. Really? That's quite logical. And yet you're like, I know they're lying. Or how many of you women know when you're unsafe? And if we were to say, well, tell us, like, give us the evidence and the data for why you're unsafe you'd just be like i just i feel i know i is it because we are highly calibrated incredibly complex billions of times over relationships of energy and there's all sorts of exchange going on all the time between us patterns cellular patterns we're made of the same stuff as everything else. Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen. Created in the formation of stars is what makes human life possible. You are literally made of stardust. We're made of the same stuff as everything else. The environment is both external and internal to us. You're made of the same stuff. I just feel connected with nature. Yes, it's because you're made of the same stuff as everything around you. And yet, and yet, you're this frail clod of dust. And yet, you also can hope and dream and love and extend compassion. You are an exotic cocktail. And how is the sentence going to go wrong? How is the sentence going to go wrong if it starts with you are an exotic cocktail? You know what I mean? So feel free to use that line if you need to. I'm an exotic cocktail. You are this exotic cocktail of dust and soul, spirit and bone. And you live in this strange place we call the universe. And as far as universes go, I think you chose wisely because this one is absolutely magnificent. Now, the universe that we live in is a self-transcending reality. So here's what that means. Our universe, for 13 billion years, keeps moving beyond itself. It keeps making more. And it isn't just that our universe continues to move beyond itself to make more, and it's been doing this for billions and billions and billions of years, but it does it in a number of very specific particular ways. Number one, the universe for 13 billion years has been increasing in complexity. Atoms are more complex than particles. Molecules are more complex than atoms. Cells are more complex than molecules. And a person is more complicated than a cell. The whole thing for 13 billion years has been getting more and more Complicated which I would argue is the less Probable direction would you agree if you leave some paint cans in your garage? You don't come out in the morning There's a mural on the wall Okay You leave a bunch of baking supplies in your kitchen cabinet You don't come out in the morning and there's like a cake on the counter baking supplies in your kitchen cabinet. You don't come out in the morning and there's like a cake on the counter. That's not generally the direction that things go. But for 13 billion years, the universe has been increasing in complexity. But it isn't just complexity. It's also been increasing in depth. Particles only have the depth of particles, but atoms have the depth of particles. Molecules have the depth of atoms, and atoms have the depth of particles. Each successive unfolding layer in this emergent phenomenon we know to be life itself adds another layer of depth as it unfolds. But now it isn't just depth. It's what happens when atoms bond together with other atoms. When you get atoms bonding with other atoms, you don't just get a group of atoms. You get something new, a molecule that has qualities and characteristics that aren't present at the earlier level. You put a bunch of particles together. You don't just get a group of particles. You get something called atoms that have all sorts of characteristics and qualities that aren't present at the earlier component level. Here's why this is interesting. It's a beautiful day, and you're at a park, and you're laying on a blanket, and you look up, and a flock of birds flies overhead. And they bank to the left, and they bank to the right, and they swoop down and round. And they go lower and lower. And then they arc up, all of them in unison. Which bird is giving directions? Which bird is saying left, left, right, right, up, down, backwards? Which bird is using ways? Now, if you were to take each bird individually out of the flock, you would not find its brain making any decisions about which direction the flock will go. You could take bird after bird out of the flock and you could not locate the decision-making. But when birds fly together, a communal mind emerges in their midst that makes the decisions about whether they go to the right or the left. You cannot locate this communal mind in any single bird, but when birds fly together, it emerges in their midst. This is called holism or emergence or my favorite term for it, epiphenomena. This is what happens when the earlier component parts are added together and in their bonding together, something new is created that has properties and characteristics that cannot be identified at the earlier component level. Now, what does this have to do with you and I? How many of you have been betrayed? Yes. The rest of you, where do you live? Can we move there? Some of you are like, yes, Rob, I have. That's why I'm leaning forward. The knife is still in there. Where do you store that betrayal? Where do I keep it? Well, the obvious answer or the answer most of us, my heart. So you're telling me if we were to rip your rib cage open, which would hurt, and we were to pull out your heart and we were to go searching for the thing that happened with that person, the thing you said, the thing they said, how it was raining that night, how you stormed out of the apartment, the country song that was playing on the radio on the way home. The country song that was playing on the radio on the way home. We would not be able to locate that betrayal anywhere in your physicality, correct? How many of you have hopes and dreams for your kids? How many of you have goals for your career? Yes, fear, doubt, worry, stress, anxiety, euphoria, hope, joy, longing, desire. Where are these stored in your physicality? Could we take you apart and find out your opinions about ice cream? And yet these attributes, responses, feelings, opinions, experiences, wounds, longings, joys. These are what most essentially make you, you. And yet we cannot locate the elements that most uniquely make you, you anywhere in your physicality. You take a bunch of cells and you put them together and you get a person. But the essential elements of a person that make a person get a person. But the essential elements of a person that make a person uniquely a person cannot be identified at the earlier level. And the universe has been unfolding in this fashion for billions and billions of years with increasing holism, emergence, and epiphenomena in which each new layer in the unfolding of the universe births new qualities and characteristics that cannot be identified at the earlier component level. But it's not just depth and it's not just complexity. The universe is also increasing in unity. Particles bond with other particles of similar in essence and substance to make something new, bigger, and beyond themselves, atoms. Atoms bond with other atoms of similar essence and substance to create something new, molecules that the universe has never seen before. Molecules bond with other molecules of similar essence and substance to create something new, molecules, that the universe has never seen before. Molecules bond with other molecules of similar essence and substance. Each thing bonds with others of similar essence and substance to be a part of something bigger than themselves that has new properties that haven't yet emerged in the universe. Have you ever said, I just want to be a part of something bigger than myself? So does everything in the universe. We say it, I just want to be a part of something bigger than myself because we've had this moment of revelation or epiphany or I just don't want to be selfish and self-centered. Great. Everything in the freaking universe wants to be a part of something bigger than itself. Imagine if there was an atom that was like, I'm not bonding with other atoms. That's dumb. The story of the universe would be about three minutes long and there wouldn't be anybody to hear it. It would hold the whole thing up from its natural forward movement. Is this why loneliness is such a deep ache in the bones of humanity? In the bones of humanity. Because something deep within us tells us that loneliness isn't the direction the universe is headed. Is this why racism is so toxic and destructive? Each component bonds with others of similar essence and substance to create something new. Racism is the failure to bond with another of similar essence and substance. It's not just immoral. It's not just unjust. It's not just wrong and degrading to what it means to be human beings. It's going the opposite direction from the direction the universe has been headed for 13 billion years. Are you with me now? Yeah. Oh, by the way, side note. This is why fundamentalism rubs you the wrong way. And you got into that throwdown with your brother, Fox News brother-in-law at Thanksgiving. And it got so awkward. And you were like, you didn't quite know what to say, but at some sort of energetic level, you just knew that that argument was crap. Anybody know what I'm talking about? But you started arguing it, and you just couldn't do it. Fundamentalism often has as its animating energy or its animating set of beliefs that there is a perfect, pristine time and place somewhere back there. And if we could just get back there and do it like they used to do it in that perfect, pristine place, if we could just take this town, city, country, government, church back at its core. And the reason why sometimes you didn't have the right words for it and you were trying to be a real smart person, but you got all tongue-tied and peanut butter mouth, but you were like, you just knew that the argument was rubbish, even though you didn't quite know how to intellectually argue it, is because at some level, energetically, you were disturbed because the fundamental energy was the future is back there somewhere, but that's the wrong direction. The universe only knows how to go one direction, which has been going for 13.8 billion years, and that is forward. The universe has been increasing. The universe has been increasing in complexity, depth, and unity for 13 billion years at least. The whole thing being pulled forward. And then, and then, 13 billion years into the story, human beings show up on the scene. story, human beings show up on the scene and human beings become aware that they're aware. 13 billion years into the life of the universe, this complex life form arises that becomes aware that it's aware, that develops the ability to reflect on its own existence, that begins to ponder, wonder, analyze, talk about meaning, purpose, significance, hope, human beings develop something called consciousness. By the way, if you're one of the first people to develop consciousness, what do you point to? Like, hey, check this out. What? This. What do you mean by this? I know. I know. Were dinosaurs saying things like, I just don't feel fulfilled in my work? Was there a water buffalo on the Serengeti being chased by a pack of hyenas going, oh, this blows? Do cliffs regret? Do oysters worry? Do oysters worry? Does moss wonder? Do stars dream? Or, as the 12th century Sufi mystic Rumi said, What does a rock know of April. Roomie in the house. I love it. So weird and awesome. So now some would argue that consciousness is actually an interior dimension to all cellular life, therefore leaving room for all sorts of gradients of consciousness, which would explain certain levels of consciousness in animals, etc. Nevertheless, at some point with human beings, consciousness reached such a tipping point of complexity that you had human beings developing this ability to stand outside of themselves and ponder, analyze, feel loss, emptiness, meaning, significance. And it doesn't arise in the story until really, really, really late in the game. Have you ever found yourself driving to work thinking, what is the point of this? driving to work thinking, what is the point of this? Yes. Where did you get this idea that your life should be something other than what it is? Where did you get the idea that your life should be more? Where did you get the idea that there should be explanations for your suffering, answers for your questions? Where did any of us get the idea that there should be explanations for your suffering, answers for your questions? Where did any of us get the idea that this should be fair, just, equitable, that it should make sense, that it should be beautiful, that it should mean something? Where did any of us get the sense that our life should be something other than what it is? The question isn't why do you roll your eyes. We all know why you roll your eyes. Sheila talks too much in meetings. The much more interesting, I'm glad you like that by the way, much more interesting question isn't why do you roll your eyes? The question is how do you roll your eyes? You roll your eyes because the thing that you are experiencing, you think should be something else. Where did you get this idea that this thing should be something other than what it is? Just the capacity to have that reflective thought doesn't occur until 13 billion years into the life of the universe. 13 billion years into the life of the universe. And it's not just despair, wonder, longing for beauty, justice, equality. It also works on all sorts of other levels. For example, how many of you on a regular basis, maybe a Saturday night, a weekend. How many of you head downtown for a child sacrifice just to keep the traditions alive? You just laughed at a child sacrifice joke. That's kind of awesome. Yeah, you don't. How many of you are against slavery? Yeah. All hands raised would be kind of nice. I'll be honest with you right there. Just hoping for a hundred percent on that one. Yeah. Feel a lot better. A little lonely there for a second up here. Yes, of course. Imagine if you came in tonight and you're waiting for things to start and you're chatting up the person next to you and you're like, Oh, you ever been to this theater? And they're like, no, you know, I was really bothered when I came in. You were why? Well, I came in, there's only one drinking fountain in the back. I kind of like my theaters to have two drinking fountains for people of two different skin colors. You'd be like, what the fuck? Or as the French would say, quoi? You'd be like, what are you? And yet people used to practice child sacrifice and slavery was practiced in this nation within a a couple hundred years ago, and an establishment, a theater like this, even a generation ago, might have had two drinking fountains. So what is it within you that looks backwards to things that at one time were totally normal, commendable, standard ways of doing things, unkindable, standard ways of doing things, and you now see them as abhorrent, destructive, immoral, toxic, and in many cases, rightfully illegal. What is going on that things that people used to do, you now look back on with profound disdain and sometimes even anger and say, thank God that we've moved forward from that. And yet in the same breath in which we look back on all the things that we are so grateful that we moved on from, we also have to look forward because within us, we know that there are lots of things that are happening right now that aren't right. And we long for the day when we leave those behind. Are you with me? So what you just did is you affirmed some sort of trajectory or arc. You affirmed some sense that human beings were here. We are moving along at different speeds. We are moving along. Thank God for the movement. We are grateful for how far we've come. And yet in the same breath, we have to affirm the need to keep going. What do you call this? Why is progress deep in your bones and awareness that that is worse, this is better, and yet we still have a better up ahead. Or, as the great French paleontologist D. Chardin said, and if you're going to have a title, be a French Jesuit paleontologist. Desjardins said, Progress is the soul of the universe. How beautiful is that? Pierre Teilhard Des Chardin. Progress is the soul of the universe. Why is the whole thing moving forward? Why for 13 billion years has the whole thing been increasing in complexity, greater and greater complexity, increased depth, greater emergence, wholism, more and more epiphenomenon in which each new layer develops properties and characteristics not present at the earlier component level, greater and greater unity, things bonding with others of similar essence and substance to be a part of something beyond and greater than themselves. Why did consciousness reach a tipping point in which this particular phenomenon, human beings, began to develop the ability to become aware that they're aware? Why do you have this sense that some things are wrong and we ought to leave them behind? Yet in the same breath, you affirm the need to keep going. What is pulling the whole thing forward? What do you call this? What is this? How does it work? Why does it work? Why does this universe have a fundamental drive to self-transcend over and over and over again for billions and billions and billions of years? Now, when I was in high school, I was with my family, and we were on vacation in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Michigan, upper peninsula. And one day we're at the lake and we look up in the distance, we see these black clouds forming. And we have this conversation like, wow, it looks like a storm in the distance. We look up a few minutes later and those black clouds are racing towards us. They're almost to the edge of the lake. And we have this moment like, whoa, that is a serious storm coming. So we put like the toys on the beach away and we put the cover on the boat. So if it rains, it won't get filled with water. And we're like cleaning things up as fast as we can as the black clouds begin to come over the corner of the lake. And we hustle up to the cabin. And then we all line up as a family in front of a large double wide glass sliding door. And we stand in front of this glass double sliding door and we watch the tops of the trees across the lake begin to churn. And then we watch the clouds come over the corner of the lake and the water begin to churn. And we watch this churning, circular churning wind pattern as it moves across the lake making a circular pattern in the water as we stand and observe it in front of a large glass double sliding door the circular pattern of swirling air reaches the end of the dock and i hadn't had time and i'd left an empty gas can on the end of the dock, and I hadn't had time, and I'd left an empty gas can on the end of the dock, and I'd left this inflatable raft tied up at the end of the dock. When it reaches the end of the dock, it picks the gas can up and lifts it 10, 15 feet up in the air, and then throws it into the bushes in front of the cabin. At the exact same second, it takes the inflatable raft, lifts it up, and then the last we see of the raft, it just goes up into the sky and disappears. This pattern of circular swirling air then moves across the beach as we as a family watch it in front of a double-wide glass sliding door, it heads up into the trees. There are leaves everywhere, sand, branches. We hear large trees going down over power lines. We lose power. And then it's quiet. So we sort of stumble out of the cabin in a post-apocalyptic stupor. And we come down on the beach and there's just stuff everywhere. Branches, leaves, things are turned upside down. And I'm walking and other people are coming out of their cabins. And we're all just sort of surveying the destruction. And I'm walking down the beach and up ahead I see my friend Jerry Madsen. You guys know Jerry Madsen. And Jerry Madsen is walking towards me yelling, Rob, I got your boat. And he's holding the raft above his head. And he says, I was at my house in front of my large glass window and your boat dropped out of the sky and landed in my front yard. dropped out of the sky and landed in my front yard. Now, if you had been with me and you and I had been walking along and you had said, whoa, that was some tornado. And I had said, I didn't see a tornado. You'd be like, yeah, that's it. I'd say you can't see air. You'd be like, yeah, but the churning leaves and the water and the carnage. I'd be like, yeah, but you didn't see. You can't see air. You can't see a tornado. Air can't be seen with the eyes. You'd be like, yeah, well, and then you'd say, well, I mean, there's clearly a tornado came through here. Didn't you see it? And I'd be like, you can't see it. But at some point you would say, but its effects are everywhere. Whether or not you could debate whether you've seen it, you cannot deny that something came through here. What is coming through here? What do you call this? Why do things continue to increase in complexity, depth, and unity? Why, really late in the game, did this particular phenomenon arise with the ability to reflect on itself with progress as the soul of the universe? What do you call this? Now, some would simply say, there's nothing going on here. We're just a collection of particles, atoms, molecules, and cells. That's all there is. There is no larger narrative. There is no larger story. There's nothing else at work here. It's just survival in its most primitive form and that's all there is and then they would say that that is the open-minded position seems like the most open-minded position the most logical perspective would be simply to leave room for whatever this is. Now, you can see, obviously, for thousands of years, people have been naming this. Some have referred to it as a force, and they have hoped it was with you. It's been referred to as spark, like the fuel of the universe. Some have called it spirit. Some have called it like an engine of the universe. There are even some, you may have read about them in books, there are even some who have referred to this as God. Now, maybe you can't do the whole God thing. as God. Now, maybe you can't do the whole God thing. Okay. Maybe you're like, no way. I can't, that word God. No. Maybe for you, the word God is all wrapped up in what feels to you like a step backwards. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Okay. That's fine. Okay. Not a big deal. If you don't want to use the word God, that's okay. It's not a big deal. Then don't use it. Although this will probably come up under a different name. Are you with me? And actually my friends who don't believe in God, when we talk about the God that they don't believe in, I don't believe in that God either. And actually sometimes when people said like they could never embrace the idea of a god and i say well tell me about how you understand god and they talk about the god that they were handed growing up i think oh dear lord i think atheism is actually the most healthy spiritual response to that view of god are you with me so let's leave behind labels and names and words, if we have to, that aren't helpful. And let's get back to now, what is this thing at work here? What do you call this? Now, some are like, man, you got to leave behind all that religious baggage. You got to leave behind all that spirit, God, all that stuff. That's all primitive, magical, mythical thinking. You got to move into the future. You got to, man, it's all about love. That's what, and some of them will quote the great prophet Beato and say, all you need is love. Yes. Okay. Let's do that then. Love, Love. Excellent. I'm right with you. Love. Love is the engine. Love is the fuel. Love is the spark. Love is the spirit. Let's go with it. Let's call this love. But now what is love and what does love have to do with it? Sorry, that was just T-ball right there. It was just waiting for me. Well, if you've ever loved somebody How many of you tried to love somebody that didn't go so well? You loved them and had a wonderful plan for their life, but they wouldn't submit to it What is the problem here i've done the heavy lifting Stick to the plan and it just didn't work. And so what happened is you kept trying to convince them to see things as you see things like what is wrong. Let me correct your thinking. I've got everything all sorted out. Here are the steps and it didn't work. And you just kept pushing and things just kept breaking down. And then you had this moment of epiphany, and you tried something different. Instead of giving your best energies to trying to get them to see things as you see it, you shifted, and you began giving your energies to try to understand why they see it the way that they do. And what are they seeing that maybe you're missing? And when you did that, you suddenly became bigger, wider, as you grew in wisdom and understanding. Love requires tremendous complexity. Depth. How many of you, you fell in love because you realized with this person one plus one equals infinity? Yeah. You realized with this person there was something in the space between you way bigger than just the two of you You realize that somehow the thing the alchemy the chemistry the the love the thing flowing in the space between you was somehow Bigger than the two of you combined you experienced a depth There was an epiphenomenon in which the two component parts fused to make something bigger than the both of you combined. Yeah, love requires tremendous and produces tremendous gift. And then there's unity, this sense that loving this person, giving yourself to this cause, teaching this group of people, serving this group of people, raising this child, forging a partnership with those folks over there, that somehow that love, that movement to move beyond yourself, somehow you felt like you were participating in something much bigger than yourself, that you had this choice to stay here within yourself or to move beyond yourself. And with that person, with that group, with that mission, with that cause, with that family, with that mission, with that cause, with that family, with that spouse, with that partner, with that business, something within you told you, this is where things are moving. And I have to join this thing, which is bigger than me. Yes. Yes. Complexity, depth, unity. What do you call this thing that's pulling the whole thing forward? That's driving it, that continually moves beyond itself? Let's call it love. Side note, thousands of years ago, the writers of the scripture were saying that God is love, so it's actually not a new idea. Now, I find all of this fascinating because you can then begin to see that people have been talking about this in different ways for a long, long time. Are you familiar with this Jesus? No. He was Swedish. Fifth member of Abba. Long, brown, clairol hair. White robe. Hot, dusty, first century roads, white robe, no dirt on it. You know, Jesus, the one who kept saying, as long as I get to keep my guns. Yes, you love that. Yeah. Now, if you just say, what is You love that. Yeah. Now, if you were to say, what is the thing that Jesus talked about? Some people say, ah, he talked about faith. He did talk a lot about faith. How about money? Yes, he did talk about money. How about compassion? Absolutely, he talked about compassion. Some would say, oh, well, yes, he did. The thing he talked about more than anything was the cross. Actually, what he spoke about again and again was that he was headed to Jerusalem to confront the industrial religious military complex that exploited the poor and robbed people of their dignity and that maybe it would cost him his life in order to liberate people. Are you with me now? Yeah, he did mention that a few times. But what's the thing he kept talking about again and again? And when he would leave a village to move to the next village, he would say, I'm leaving because I have to go do this. What was it? He kept saying, I'm here to teach, to proclaim, to talk about, to preach. I'm here to announce something he called the kingdom of God. Now here's, what's interesting about this phrase, kingdom of God. If you were to read 20 scholars on what the kingdom of God is, you would get 30 opinions. He essentially took a word kingdom that people had an idea of because there were kingdoms and this word God that his people had an idea of. And he essentially duct tape them together, which is, I think, a sound theological term. He duct taped some phrases together to create this phrase, the kingdom of God, the K-O-G, is the kingdom of God. The KOG, are you down with me now? How did he talk about this thing called the kingdom of God? He talked about it in parables. So often he would say, and I'm going to give you another parable. Here's a parable. His disciples would say, explain that parable. He would say, are you so dull? Here's what it means. He spoke of the kingdom in parables. Now, why do you speak in parables? The word parable means to place beside. So a parable is when you take something that people are familiar with and you place it beside something that they might not be familiar with. And then you say, it's like this. with. And then you say, it's like this. So you do this when literal language isn't big enough. So if you were to say to me, why did you fall in love with your wife, Kristen? And I were to say to you, oh, that's easy because she's five, seven. She's from Arizona and she drove a Honda. You'd be like, it's one weird relationship, right? What is up with those two? Yeah, something right there. But if you were to say to me, why did you fall in love with your wife, Kristen, and I were to say to you, because when we got together, I feel like I found my other half. You'd be like, ah, yeah. But then you wouldn't say, oh, you mean like you were limping before that? No, like you were walking in circles? No, you would just understand that I had shifted into a different kind of language because certain things need larger language because some things are more true than just literally true. So when he comes speaking about the kingdom of God, he keeps speaking in parables and placing things that people are familiar with next to the kingdom of God. Like at one place, he says, the kingdom of God is like yeast that works its way through an entire batch. Well, how does yeast work? It expands and it expands more and more and more. Another place he said, the kingdom of God is like a seed that gets planted and then it grows and grows and grows. He essentially says, I've come to talk to you about a realm of the divine, a rule and reign of the divine, of spirit. It never stops expanding. It never stops growing. Where did he locate it spatially? He said, it is among you. It is upon you. It is at hand. It is now. And then he said it is within you. I've come to tell you about an expanding reality of the divine. It never stops growing. It is among you. It is here and now. It is as wide as the universe and as deep as the deepest recesses of your heart. And then he kept insisting that you could live in the flow of it. You could submit to it. You could line yourself up with it. You could taste it. You could experience it. You could be in its grip. be in its grip, you could line yourself up with it as it took you all sorts of interesting places. What was he talking about? And was he describing thousands of years ago something along the lines of this? What do you call this? What's pulling the whole thing forward? Why for 13 billion years has it been growing in complexity, depth, and unity? Which leads us to a question. Is the universe done? Is the universe like i'm exhausted being a universe is taking it out of me peace i'm out of here the universe has been unfolding for 13 billion years it continually through this constant unfolding and self-transcending, creates new layers that did not previously exist. Is the universe done? Or is the universe continuing to unfold? And if that's the case, are there layers that have yet to unfold that we haven't seen, and what would that look like? Well, let's ask the question then, how does it work? At each layer, like bonds with others of similar essence substance to create a new unfolding layer. Molecules bond with molecules. That eventually produces cells. Cells bond with other cells that eventually produces people. So that next layer then would be what happens when what? People bond with other people of similar essence and substance, Which of course. Raises. The question. What do we. Make up. Is there a new layer in the universe. That has yet to unfold. That will only unfold. When. We. Bond with each other. In in similar essence and substance. Is that the next forward movement of the universe? Well, now then let's ask the question, how would you explain this to somebody that they, if they were to bond with others, would bring about something that hasn't yet existed in the universe? How do you explain to somebody how they could be a part of something that nobody has ever seen? Well, let's go back then a few layers. Imagine you were talking to molecules and you were like, come on, get your molecule act together. We got things we got to see. We got things that have to come into existence. Come on, you molecules, work out your differences. things we got to see. We got things that have to come into existence. Come on, you molecules, work out your differences. What would you say to molecules? Come on, man, we could be chocolate. Molecules would be like, what is this chocolate you speak of? Trust me, it's going to be awesome yeah how would you do that what do we make up are you and i being invited to form something that the universe has never seen is this why terrorism, racism, inequality grieve you so deeply? It isn't just the individual events. It's some sense that there's something trying to arise here and something holding it back. Now, here's why I find this fascinating. why I find this fascinating. If you read the ancient sages, mystics, and apostles, I think you can argue that for thousands of years, people have been speaking to this. For example, in the tradition that I come from, the New Testament writers kept speaking of Jesus the Christ. Now, when they said the Christ, they kept referring to a universal animating energy that holds the whole universe together. Literally, there's a passage in the New Testament, the Christ holds all things together. They kept speaking of an energy that brought everything into being. He was there in the beginning. They keep speaking of some sort of energy at work in the universe, pulling the whole thing forward since the very beginning. And they kept speaking of this Christ consciousness in a very particular way. They insisted that we human beings make up a body. Now, why is this interesting? Well, atoms bond with other atoms to create molecules. Molecules have new qualities and characteristics, but what we know for sure is molecules at least have the properties of atoms. Make sense? Each new layer has at least the properties of the layer before it. least the properties of the layer before it. So based on the pattern that we know of unfolding for 13 billion years, whatever it is that we make up together would at least have the properties and characteristics of the earlier layer, which is personhood and personality. So whatever it is that we all make up together, it will at least have some sort of communal personhood and personality. And what the ancient mystics kept insisting is that humanity forms one body. They kept insisting you are all part of one universal human body. Each person has a role to play. I get so unbelievably excited about this stuff, I can't even stand it. Actually, what's really interesting is there's a 2,000-year-old ritual called the Eucharist, in which you would gather together with other people. They even had a phrase. They called it the New Human humanity, New Testament phrase. There is a new humanity emerging, and the defining characteristic of the new humanity is that it was Jews and Greeks. It was men and women. It was all sorts of people across cultures that would never associate with each other were coming together around a table because they had realized that there is a common humanity we share that trumps any of the ways we have cooked up to divide ourselves. You with me on that? That there is something that unites us that is more basic to our humanity than any way we could possibly cook up to divide ourselves. And they kept insisting that there was an emerging body of humanity. They called it the body of Christ. They had a ritual with bread and wine. And the idea behind the ritual, which was called Eucharist, Mass, Agape, Supper, Communion, the idea behind the ritual is that you would take the bread and wine together. First off, before you took the bread and wine, you'd go around and make sure that all the single moms had their rent paid. Are you with me now? Because we begin by taking care of each other. We begin by taking care of each other. We take the bread and wine to heighten our senses, to our bonds with our brothers and sisters in our shared humanity. For them, the meal, first and foremost, wasn't, hey, God is less grumpy because of Jesus, atonement theory in 17 seconds, and much more. We are in this together and there is a new way to be human that is emerging. They even spoke of something being incomplete, being brought to completion. Thousands of years ago, you have mystics, sages, and apostles saying there is something new entering into the universe. And it is trying to emerge and it involves people, all people from all different backgrounds, coming to see that there is a new humanity, a common brotherhood and sisterhood that we all share. common brotherhood and sisterhood that we all share and that when we embrace each other like this, something new arises in our midst. Now, can we take it farther? Well, we're going to. So, and you're going to like it. There are two British researchers, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. Pickett and Wilkinson, they sound like a country band. They are awesome. They wrote a book a couple of years ago called The Spirit Level. Here is the basic premise of their book. They're researchers. They deal in large amounts of data. And they essentially begin the book by saying, as researchers, we now for the first time have access to more data than ever. And so what they did is they took all of the known data they could find about first world developed nations, and they looked at health in those nations. They developed like a health index. So how long people live, how physically healthy they are, how education works, crime. They developed across a massive amount of data a way of measuring how healthy a nation is. First world developed nations. They then were able to discover in those nations how big the gap is between the wealthiest, richest people in those nations and the poorest people in those nations. And what they discovered is they looked specifically at life expectancy, how long people live. And they discovered that in countries with a bigger gap between the rich and poor, the rich had lower life expectancy. And they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait. So they looked at a whole number of nations and they were able to show through the data that in countries with a larger gap between rich and poor, the larger the gap, the lower the life expectancy of the rich. That if you are the wealthiest in a nation, and you want to live longer, according to the statistics, you will work to narrow the gap between rich and poor. They're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's sort of counterintuitive. But because of this ability to look at lots and lots of data, they then looked at a number of other factors, and they discovered the larger the gap between rich and poor in a nation, the more people will be in prison. The larger the gap between rich and poor, the higher the rates of mental illness in that country. Larger the gap between rich and poor, more homicides. They literally are able to show you in the data, larger the gap between rich and poor, lower the literacy rates of 15-year-olds. the literacy rates of 15-year-olds. And they realized gap between the wealthiest and the poorest is the single determining factor in all these ways in which a group of people are healthier or not healthier. They then said, well, wait, this is very, very strange because they did a lot of studies in America. They said, let's see, let's push the theory farther. They broke America down into 50 states. And when they broke America down into 50 states and looked at the data in terms of which states have a larger gap between rich and poor, which states have a narrower gap, direct correlation mental health, life expectancy, literacy, homicide rates, number of people in prison. They then said, well, wait, wait, wait, this is very, very odd. Do we have an instance in human history where a country had a wide gap between rich and poor, then had a narrow gap, and then had a wide gap because that would be fascinating and they realized we do during world war prior to world wars england had a large gap between rich and poor during the world war specifically world war ii because of the war effort the gap narrowed between rich and poor and then after world war ii in England, the gap increased again. And what they discovered is during World War II, while England was being bombed by the Nazis and the gap was narrower, life expectancy went up. After the war, gap started to grow, life expectancy among the rich then declined. What Pickett and Wilkinson are showing through the data is that we are all way more connected than any of us first realized. Now, I'm through the intro. Now, let's take... you doing everybody how's everybody doing yeah oh my word so much fun to talk about okay now let's take all of this and i want to give you three very practical ways to think about this in your everyday life first i want to give you three very practical ways to think about this in your everyday life First I want to talk about your past then I want to talk about your present and then I want to talk about your future so first How many of you let's just find out how many of you have a past? And how many of you when you think about your past, your first thought is, yep, I pretty much nailed that. Yeah. A bit wobbly there at times. Would you agree? Yeah. How many of you have stuff that you just don't want to talk about? Period. Cause somebody please not bring that up. You're at a party and there's that friend from college and you're watching them at the party and you're like, oh, they've had two martinis. They're going to bring it up. I know. And you're all talking. All of a sudden you hear him like, remember that time when? And you're like, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel. Anything not to talk about that. We have this stuff that we drag around. We just don't know what to do with. Do you have a friend who you just know there are certain things, or is it you that you just know avoid at all costs? Yeah, we all have a past, and we have that stuff we just don't know what to do with. Scientists are now telling us that our universe is made of 4% known substance and essence, but that 96% of our universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy. Scientists are like literally 4%, maybe 5% of the universe is known essence. And we actually can talk about it because we know exactly what it is. But then most of the universe, 96% of the universe, is basically unknown dark matter, dark energy, supermassive black holes, and other things on the new Muse album. things on the new Muse album. And there's, I find this absolutely fascinating. And they essentially say, we know some things about dark matter. We know certain things about dark energy. We know certain things about black holes, but a lot of it's really, really dark and kind of mysterious. Here's why I find this fascinating. Because I assume you were raised like me with what are called binaries. There's good. And then there's bad. There's right. And then there's wrong. There's winning. And then there's losing. There's success. And then there's losing, there's success, and then there's failure. We were raised with these very clear boundaries between one thing and the other. And at one level of human development, this is absolutely crucial to becoming a healthy human being. If you do not pay your taxes, you are going to have a bad problem. And human trafficking is wrong, and it's a good thing to be generous. Are you with me? Especially if you have kids. With kids, you are trying to help your kids develop a moral compass, a strong sense of right and wrong, a sense of distinguishing, a sense of distinguishing, a sense of conscience, a sense of the ability to discern which is beneficial and which is more destructive, which is right and which is wrong. So if you're a parent, you know exactly the importance of this at one level. But you are an exotic cocktail of dust and soul, spirit and bone. and soul, spirit, and bone. It's not that you have a spiritual life. You are a spiritual life. And you have had these experiences. If we were to ask you to name three or four experiences that you have had in your life that most shaped you, if we were to ask you to tell us your story, the events that have most created within you character and substance and fire and gratitude for this gift of life. You probably wouldn't tell us a story like, well, I was born and I was awesome. And then I kept winning and everything I tried, I was just, I crushed everybody. We don't like your story and we kind of don't like you because it's not an interesting story. But if we were to say, tell us the two, three, four significant moments in your life that shaped you, that created within you compassion, integrity, character, spinal fortitude, you would probably say things like, well, my friend died, but at the funeral I had this realization that I'm here, and to honor them, I need to take my life more seriously. You might tell us stories about bankruptcy. You might tell us stories about failing out of school. You might tell us stories about wrestling with an addiction. And what you would say to us is you would say it was awful, it was a nightmare, it was a hell on earth, and yet you would then say, but in some sort of strange way, I realize now that it's how I got to this place, and I don't know what I'd do without that. And the thing that you want to say, it's on the tip of your tongue, but sounds totally upside down to say, is now you look back on that, and you wouldn't have wished upon your worst enemy, but now you find yourself actually being grateful. If you were to tell us about these events that have shaped you, that have made you into who you are, you would probably tell us a lot of stories from this column. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You would probably tell us a lot of stories about dark matter. The unknown, the mysterious, the ominousous the foreboding you would probably tell us lots of stories about things that made no sense at the time that were terrifying ambiguous hard to navigate and yet you're here and in some strange way it made you who you are i tell you this because scientists say we don't quite know exactly what dark matter and dark energy are, but there seems to be universal agreement that this dark matter and dark energy is somehow necessary and vital for the ongoing life of the universe. Whatever it is, it allows this whole thing to be what it is. A year ago, I was in Miami doing a Q&A, and we were outside, and there was this crowd, and they could pass the mic through the crowd, and people could ask anything they wanted, which is my idea of a good time. And on my left was my beloved friend Elizabeth Gilbert. Big magic, eat, pray, love, signature of all things, Elizabeth Gilbert. And on my right was Deepak Chopra, how you been? So we're taking questions. And by the way, earlier in the day at this event, I had told this story about a pen, and I really liked my pen story. I'm very proud of my pen story. And I told this pen story, and at one point someone got a microphone and they said, Deepak, do you have a story like Rob's pen story? Deepak says, why? Yes, I do. And then he proceeds to tell a story about his friendship with the Beatles. I've got a story about a pen. His story involves the line, and then John leaned in to say to me as George sat next to me, transcend this, pal. So good. So we're taking questions. And the microphone makes its way all the right way to the far, my far right. And a woman gets the microphone and she says, my young daughter just died of a rare illness. What do you have to say to me? of a rare illness. What do you have to say to me? And Liz says, that is a great question for Rob. And so I talked to the woman about the nature of suffering, that suffering is not an intellectual exercise. It is an experience. And if you are looking for intellectual explanations, they may never come. And actually, suffering is an experience, and how you honor it, and how you honor the dignity of a human being in suffering is you join them in silence. Sometimes silence is the only way. So I said for you, beware of people who charge in with certainty and Bible verses, because sometimes the only way you can properly honor human suffering is just to join the person in the silence and the suffering as an act of solidarity. And I said, now, this may not happen right away, but I said, there's always the chance that somewhere down the road, you're going to run into another mom who has lost or is about to lose her daughter to a rare illness. And you're going to lean in and you're going to tell her your story. And then you're going to say to her, me too. And for the first time, she may get a tiny little sliver of hope that she can make it through this thing that she is in the midst of. In that moment, when you are able to tell your story to her, your place of greatest wound, pain, and loss will be the exact place where divine healing love flows through you to her. And you might find yourself healing in the process. I said I don't know how that works. But I've seen it happen. Over and over. And over again. You enter into each other's dark matter. You journey into your own dark matter. And something happens. And you come out the other side. A different person. and you come out the other side a different person. 96% of the universe is dark matter. And yet, the universe keeps going. It keeps increasing in complexity, depth, and unity. Death, extinction, disease, war, supermassive black holes, conflict, strife, terrorism, whole species dying out, second law of thermodynamics, everything falling apart, entropy. The whole thing is loaded with death, darkness, chaos, and yet it keeps moving forward. It keeps moving forward. And when you no longer deny or repress or avoid the dark matter of your own life, but you wade into the pain, you wade into the suffering, you go all the way into the heart of it, something happens, something deeply mysterious and redemptive. And when somebody that you know is hurting and you enter into it all the way with them, something deep happens and you tap into something that carries you both forward. I don't know how it works, but apparently it's the story of the universe and it's the story of countless people just like you and me. We all have a past. You own that dark matter. You enter into it. You embrace it. You acknowledge it. You stand in the midst of it and something happens. Something surges through you. You tap into something as big and wide as the universe itself. Now, that's a bit about the past. Now, let's talk about the present. In 2011, I wrote a book called Love Wins, and it was unique in the history of publishing because everybody who read it really liked it. And some of the people who didn't like it even read it. And some of them had Twitter followers, hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers who had very strong things to say about me and my book. These are the kinds of people who change the world with their thumbs. Yeah. Now, this wasn't the first time that I had experienced people not appreciating my efforts in the world. In 2002, I would have been in my early 30s, I gave a series of teachings on women's equality and how women should be free to lead, to teach, and to preach, and to do whatever they're here to do, because that's obvious. And by the way, what was so bizarre about it is how heated up men would get about this. I distinctly remember at that time having a discussion with a surgeon who was so hot and bothered. He was trying to argue that women shouldn't be able to lead because they're too emotional, but he couldn't get his words out because he was too emotional. You can't make this stuff up. And then my first book was called Velvet Elvis, and some people were like, and then I did a series of sermons questioning the war in Iraq and spending $10 billion a month on a war that everybody's kind of fuzzy on what exactly we're doing. And some people had a problem with those sermons. I did them at Christmas time. Maybe not the best timing. And some people had a problem with those sermons. I did them at Christmas time. Maybe not the best timing. And some people had a problem with those sermons, especially some parents whose kids wouldn't be home at Christmas time because they were fighting as soldiers in Iraq. And then it got to be very normal that I would go to speak places and there would be protesters out front. People with signs and bullhorns saying horrible things about me with big posters and such. By the way, they don't appreciate it when you order them pizza, interestingly enough. Who knew? Also, by the way, side note, if you're a protester and you're doing great, you know, well done. But you wouldn't believe the number of times I walked by protesters and they didn't recognize me. I'm just saying, I just want to help you up your game. A quick Google image search would up your street cred just a bit. I'm not telling you how to do your thing because you're doing great. Oh, one time I was on tour in the UK, and we were in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and some people were passing out flyers because that's sort of the medium of the future. They're passing out flyers denouncing me as the son of the Antichrist or something quite clever and fresh and original. And Kristen, at that time, our boys were very young our boys at that age were very young at that age. They were very young at that age. At that time, our boys were very young. And Kristen's in a store buying something, and she goes up to the cash register, and next to the cash register is a whole stack of flyers denouncing me. And she hands the credit card to the woman, and the woman takes the credit card, sees the name and like figures out who Kristen is. And then she just looks at Kristen and she says, it's okay. It's Belfast. We protest everything. The best ever though was showing up to speak someplace. And there's one guy all alone out front with a massive sign, just marching back and forth like it's the end of the world. And he's going back and forth, did not recognize me when I walked in, but I get a good look at what the sign says. And it says in huge letters, believe in hell, not Rob Bell. Ah, points for rhyming. Ah, so good. So that just became a normal part of life and that's fine. It's not a big deal. But then this book came out and it was like all the knobs got turned out, all the knobs got turned up. And so I got to travel around and you do like interviews and you do book signings and you give talks and all that. And you're on lots of airplanes for a couple of months there. And at one point I'm getting ready to do a television interview, and I'm in the green room, and the producer comes in, and she says, the host is a very spiritual man, and he really appreciates your work, and I think you're going to have a really enjoyable discussion. So I hear this and I just shift into relax and groovy, like, all right, let's do this. I go full McConaughey. All right, all right, all right. You know what I'm saying? Let's do this. So they take me out onto the set and I sit down and they're in commercial and the host is looking at notes. They come out of commercial and he asks me the first question. And the first question is a little bit like, what? It's one of those either or questions that you can't, that everybody knows you can't really, one of those like, do you walk to school or take your lunch questions? You know what I mean? Where you're like, what the, what? What kind of, everybody, what? Like, I'm supposed to make a sandwich out of these turds? What is this? You know what I mean? It's just one of those like, huh? And then the second question has a knife in it. And the third question is like, pow, what are you going to do about that? And all of a sudden I realized, oh, this is what they say when they say like an ambush. Like they totally set me up. Like this guy just wants to take me down. And so part of my brain is like, just stay, just relaxed and groovy, man. Just relaxed and groovy. But this part goes to DEFCON 9 terrorist alert magenta, like, and this side is like, no, no, no, no. all right, all right, all right stay calm stay groovy We are nothing but peace and love here man. And this side is like oh, oh gloves off You want a piece of me and this side is like how about right before the next question you say to him? How about you ask me a real question next time and this side is like don't do that man Because if you shift to a higher gear, he may have other higher gears You don't know about. You do not want to mess with the bull here, young man. And I'm having this discussion. It's literally like that fast in my brain. And I'm like, just stay calm. Just stay calm. Just don't get rattled. And this side is like, oh, yeah, let's do this right now. And it's just getting. And then all of a sudden the interview is over. And I'm just like, oh, my word, what a train wreck. And then they go to commercial and I swear to you, he leans forward and he says, this time you've gone too far. I'm like, what the, what, what the, what? He's like, you quoted Luther in your book. I was like, yeah, I quoted Luther. Luther asked a great question. And here's what you have to understand. I quoted Luther. Luther asked a great question. And here's what you have to understand. I'm a pastor. And so sometimes my job is simply to let people know that the questions they are struggling with, others within their own tradition have wrestled with the same questions. And sometimes just knowing you're not alone is all you need. And that's part of what I do as a pastor. He's like, well, that's crossing the line. You have crossed the line. And he's like just going off. And so I stood up, I lean over the desk, I stick out my hand and I say, but we could still be friends, right? And he says, get out of here and kicks me out of the studio. So I leave the studio. And I cannot stop replaying this interview in my head. This thing is like on repeat. I'm like, what I wish I would have said. Maybe I should have been more aggressive. Maybe I should have been more laid back. Maybe I should have just let him talk more. Maybe I should have talked more. Maybe I should have looked less. I can't. How many know what I'm talking about? You got, you had a hundred interactions that day. 99 of them were great. One of them was awkward. And that night you are laying in bed and your partner is like, what are you doing? And you realize you're Kung Fu in what you wish you would have said. Like anybody know what I'm talking about? Because in the moment, next to the cooler in the back hallway between the photocopier and the exit, and they were like, what are you going to do about the report on the whatever? And you were like, yeah, well, peanut butter, Clooney, Vietnam with the licorice. And then later you're like, what the, that was a weird one, wasn't it? I kind of like that total free association there. You made no sense whatsoever. But like that night laying in bed, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're on fire and fuego. You're just 10 hours too late, right? I call this the Tim Buesen factor. Here's why. When I was in eighth grade, Tim Buesen moved to our town. You know, Tim Buesen, he was in eighth grade, Tim Buesen moved to our town. You know Tim Buesen. He was Todd James' cousin. And Tim Buesen moves to town, and Tim Buesen and I have social studies with Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams, cardigan, 69 years old, flat-top social studies teacher. Do I need to say more? Ran that thing like a military operation. One day, Tim Buesen has his feet up on his desk. One day, Tim Bueson has his feet up on his desk. Mr. Williams walks by, sees it, and says, Tim, what would your mother say if she saw you sitting like this? And Tim Bueson leans back in his chair, smiles, and says, She'd say to me, Tim, where do you think you are, School? That is the Tim Buesen factor, right? I had no Tim Buesen factor. And this interview is eating me alive. I can't stop replaying it. And then my friend is like, you know that that was on national TV, right? I was like, yeah. And he's like, you know that somebody put it on YouTube. I was like, really? And they're like, you know that it's gone viral. And you know that he's actually doing interviews about the interview to help sort of bolster his name recognition. And that didn't help. And so I'm, that was in New York. I'm home and I'm home like two, three days later. And I'm still in a constant, like she said this, she said that she said, later and I'm still in a constant like, she said this, she said that, she said, and I'm running errands, grocery store, post office, whatever. And I go to get gas for my car and I get the gas and I'm driving away from the gas station and I hear the loudest bang, like an explosive grating sort of bang. And I look in my rear view mirror and I learn the sound that it makes when you drive away from the gas pump without taking the nozzle out of your car. So the car is like halfway between the gas pump and the road and I just put it in park and I'm just walking. By the way, I also learned what it does to the side of your car. And I'm just walking. By the way, I also learned what it does to the side of your car. And I'm walking back over, and I have like a moment. Some of you have moments like I was out in nature, in the desert, the mountains, the ocean. I have moments in gas station parking lots. I have this moment as I'm walking back to pick up the hose that's laying in the middle of the gas station parking lot, I have this moment like, Rob, you are experiencing, you're humiliated, you are experiencing shame because you and your ego wants to appear smart enough and quick enough and clever enough and mature enough and spiritual enough and educated enough and seasoned enough. And in your estimation, none of that happened on national television and it went viral and it's eating you alive. picking up the hose and sticking it back in that holder thing and realizing the ego's worst fears came true on national television. But I'm here. And I'm not just here. I'm okay. And I'm not just okay. I'm good. I'm not just good. I'm fine. And I'm not just fine, I'm fine I'm not just fine, I'm great Like that is what I would never want to happen But I'm here See, because you're like me, we get shot at We get criticized, we get misunderstood Sometimes it's strangers in a studio somewhere Sometimes it's very close relatives Sometimes it's siblings, neighbors, co-workers, former co-workers, business partners, spouses, kids, parents. And we give ourselves to the world, and then we discover there are snipers on the roof. We give our best and it's not received with gratitude. We're treated with suspicion. Our motives are called into question. People think we've completely lost the plot. They say really, really damaging things. How many of you, somebody has said something about you and it looped on repeat for like years and you found yourself like it just was like stuck in there, just buzzing around. Yeah, that's what happens. And in those moments, every fiber of your being says, if this is the cost, why would I keep giving myself? You give yourself to a group of students and they don't appear to be learning. You pour yourself into that business and there's no money. You give yourself to that project and it blows up in your face. You give years to that relationship and then it's over. And you ask that perennial question with the ache, did I waste my time? And everything within you in those moments wants to shrink back. Why would I keep giving myself if this is how I'm going to be treated? Why would I keep extending myself if this is how it's going to be received? Why would I keep stepping forward if my motives are going to be called into question and my character and my integrity and everything within us in those moments says, why would I extend myself like that? Everything within us wants to step back, to retreat, to say, no way, no way, no way. But here's the problem. That's not the direction that the universe is headed. The universe is a self-transcending reality that moves beyond itself, creating more, more, more. Love is when you move beyond yourself for the well-being of the people and the world around you. And in those moments when we're shot at, criticized, misunderstood, when we're slandered, in those moments, everything within us wants to step back, to shrink, to remove ourselves. But it's the wrong direction. Why, when Jesus is asked, sum it all up, Rabbi, does he say love God and love your neighbor? Sum it all up, Rabbi. Does he say love God and love your neighbor? Love is when you line yourself up with the fundamental direction of the universe, which choose to expand and to self-transcend and to move beyond itself for the well-being of the world around you. And so here's the thing. The thing is learning to identify that you're in one of those moments. You get shot at. You get slandered. Somebody says something about you, and everything within you wants to step back. The real art of being alive is to realize, oh, this is one of those moments. And I may need to heal, and I may need to rest, and I may need to retreat for a moment, need to rest. And I may need to retreat for a moment. But in my heart, I keep myself alive. And I remember, I will not go this direction. I will go this direction. I will line myself up with the fundamental direction of the universe. Are you with me? And if you can do that, you do that and you learn to identify those moments. Well, then you become downright dangerous. What will they say about me now that Ooh, what will I do? You have a past. You have a present. And now let's talk about your future. There's only one problem with this drawing. It's not accurate. It's about an hour and a half, and it's not not accurate. It's about an hour and a half and it's not that accurate. Here's why. Because I started with a point. And what you and I did dimensionally is I started with us standing outside of the point, observing the point as there was a bang, a boom, and 13 billion years of expansion. But this two-dimensional awareness we have of outside analyzation and observation of the point isn't accurate because everything that we know to be everything was present in that infinite singularity of stupendous fecundity. That sextillion ton pinprick of cataclysmic energy containing all the compressed mass space-time of the universe. Everything we know to be everything was present in that point. That infinite point. Now, scientists call this the pre-life of the universe. Or, a term I prefer, the embry-life of the universe or a term I prefer the embryogenesis of the universe. Everything was present in that point and came out of that point, including us. So for us to stand outside of it is a nice and helpful in terms of a drawing, but it's not actually accurate because we were present in it. Now, what if though we could go back 13 billion years, and you and I could observe that point, and we were to see it just billionths of a second before that bang, and what if I were to say, your whole life is in that point? You'd be like, what? Oh, yeah. Food. Your friends. Your loved ones, salsa, symphonies, sex, surfing. It's all in there. You'd be like, no way. Oh yeah. I was like, see that little point of infinite density? Everybody you've ever loved, every embrace, every moment when you were barely hanging on and someone lent you a hand, every tear you've ever shed, every song you've ever sung along to with the windows down on a summer night. Yep, it's all in there. Every moment in which you feel like you failed, every moment you stood at the graveside mourning the loss of someone. Every moment when you felt like your little effort somehow made the world a better place. All of it is present in that point of infinite density. You'd be like, no way, no way, no way. And then you'd say, come on, Rob, be realistic. And I would say, I am. Here's why I find this interesting. Because scientists are saying that our universe has been expanding for 13 billion years, and an expanding reality is a place of what's called omnicentricity. Omnicentricity means many-centered. And what they're saying is that in a universe that is constantly expanding, every point within that universe is the center of that universe. So you are sitting in the center of the universe, and you are sitting in the center of the universe, and you are sitting in the center of the universe. Every one of us is actually in the center of the universe. Think about your moments in life of greatest love, joy, and connection. They're moments that begin from a grounded center and move outwards. Love begins from a grounded center, but love is when you move beyond yourself, when you self-transcend for the well-being of another. What is joy? Joy is a propulsive energy that starts here, but it can't be contained, and love is an overflowing generative reality. What is connection and peace? When you discover that whatever it is that resides within you is present in others and you feel something built between the two of you. All of your greatest moments in life, moments of solidarity, connection, peace, joy, creativity, are all moments that begin from a grounded center and then move outwards. So, if you are a center of the universe, and the greatest moments of your life are moments that began from a grounded center and moved outwards, then the really interesting question is, what is present in you in pre-life embryogenetic form, but it just hasn't come out yet? And what is it present in you that if we were to describe it to you, you would say, no way, that can never happen through me. And yet look what has already come through you. Is there any way in which you have limits, boundaries, smallness? Is there any way in which you have already cut off that which would flow through you by saying that could never happen, not through me. And yet the nature of the universe is you would have said, no way could all of this come from that. That's the mystery at the heart of the whole thing. What is it that has yet to come into the universe through you? And what does it look like for you to open up and allow it to emerge? This has been such joy for me to share all this with you. In the ancient tradition, they have something called a benediction from the word benedictus, which means good words. And when people gather to be inspired and to hear a fresh word about who they are and where we're headed, when people gather to hear good news, at the end, somebody would place good words on them. In the ancient tradition, in the ancient tradition, they believed that those good words would then hover over you as you left and went out into your life. So now, my brothers dark matter and may you find in it all sorts of new and unexpected explosive life. when everything within you wants to shrink and retreat and step back, may you catch yourself and say, no, no, no, no, no. Love, love opens up. And may you line yourself up with the fundamental energies of the universe, which always moves forward and beyond in love, complexity, depth, and unity. And may you, my brothers and sisters, see yourselves as a grounded center from which all sorts of new life is just waiting to explode into the universe. And may you open yourself up so that can happen and may you come to see that everything is spiritual and may grace and peace be with you every step of the way. Thank you. Thank you.