FIFTH EMERSON CIRCLE CLASS
‘Truth, God, Gandhi awakens Self-Reliance’
February 11th, 2017 – part 2 of 4 (30 minutes)
Barbara: He said it’s enough. If you believe in the strength of your ideas, you’re a
majority of one because you have God on your side. That’s how strong it is
when you are convicted. That’s the power. You don’t need anybody’s name
behind it. This is the power of every individual that’s not afraid to stand up,
speak what’s true and act on it, follow through on it. Did you want to say
anything, anybody else?
Participant 1: What about compatibility? Speaking like that about a lot of people that are
willing not to be looked at and be vulnerable? Society’s all about looking at
them on a conscious or a subconscious level, but it takes courage to stand up
and speak the truth.
Barbara: Even truth to power, right? You’re afraid of losing your position, so you
remain silent. That’s a problem. The truth is truth. You got to take the risk if it
matters to you.
Participant 1: When you speak the truth, you say something, you’re scared or your voice’s
shaking you feel better. Otherwise, you would walk out wishing you had said
something. Years after you’ll be asking yourself why haven’t you said that.
Barbara: Guess what? He starts the essay with that thought. Did you know that? Did you
read the beginning? Let me remind you because it’s a good thing. He says: “If
we don’t speak what comes to us in these moments, detecting that gleam of
light that comes across our mind then speak it.” He says: “What else tomorrow, a
stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all of
the time and we shall be forced to take with shame on our own opinion from
another.” That’s why it’s so vital. Miranda, you want to say something?
Participant 1: No, I understood that.
Barbara: I’ve done this, and I never felt good if I didn’t say what I wanted to say. We all
know that. It isn’t full of shame. Shame on you! I didn’t stand up for the
situation, or myself.
Participant 2: Is that like in Shakespeare’s Hamlet how awful a character is because he’s
turned out to be the person he has to be? If you identify groups and not
yourself, you may look good, but actually, you don’t. You’ll look awkward and
out of place. If you start to identify yourself, you might be specialized for that.
Then, you have to find a company that you can be in that allows you to be you.
Barbara: When I think to give Hamlet enormous, enormous statue, he’s a brilliant man
who’s in the situation that’s extremely hard. The ghost has come to town and
what happened to him is that he doesn’t know if that’s true. Before he takes out
Claudia, he must find the truth. Until he does that he cannot act. He says that
he’s with all of the thoughts. In the most important ceremony, he can’t do
because he must know the truth before he acts. It takes him 5 acts, but he
finally gets clear. He is one of the most brilliant of Shakespeare’s characters in
a situation that we can all enlighten to. Over-thinking, not being sure, not
having all the facts, right? This is the brooding of a mind that’s really
important just to give him credit.
Participant 2: I think, given millions of people the ability to trust what they’re doing right at
the moment without having to deal with some of the details of that life: “Is
there anybody who’s going to hear me? What are they going to think of me?”
Also, you can say: “You can have your reaction.” You can say something
about it, and it can start the conversation. Without the body, without that face
element, I’m not saying it works for everybody, but I’ve noticed that many
people, when they don’t have personality and their emotions, they can take one
step back and it’ll only get worse onto that interface that their real thought is
coming out.
Barbara: It’s reactive
Participant 2: Your thoughts are coming out. No one’s looking at your face. No one’s looking
at your age. No one’s looking at the boots you’re wearing. No body’s looking
at anything but your words.
Barbara: Often, I know most of the people would say that it’s usually the first thoughts
that come up on the screen. That’s why I’m saying the word reactive. Then,
they realize it’s good not to send out that version and they’ll go back later and
be more thoughtful about it.
Participant 2: I always do.
Barbara: There are thoughts, and there are real thoughts with a capital T. That’s also
something that’s gotten down on claim nowadays. Real thought is meaningful
words. The other can be just reactionary like the Don. His twitter account.
That’s real thought. That’s not thoughtful. It’s in retaliation. Very often we
have to be on guard about that. Nevertheless, they’re words and words are
powerful. Let’s take it to the next part here because it’s really important. We
know a lot about the road and why it’s good if we could understand the why of
it. Why we rely on other people for our thoughts? In 1948 which’s being read
again ferociously in the neighborhood, Georgiollo says “If you don’t do you
thinking others will do it for you. If you don’t do your speaking others will do
it for you.“ After they painfully collect the exact words of others, I’m picking
up theirs. Afterward when they come into the point of view which those who
had others’ sayings they understand them and are willing to let the words go.
That’s an interesting shift. Then, he says: “For anytime they can use words as
good when the occasion comes. What’s the change there?” They’re not
repeating them so much. What happened?
Participant 3: They learned to know when to say the right time at the right time.
Barbara: It doesn’t have to be someone else’s words. Anybody else? Emerson is the
most quoted American writer, so they pick lines out of all of this. This is one of
them coming up, but now that you know to lead-up to this sentence, you’ll
appreciate it. “If we live truly we shall see truly.” To wake up out of that
nightmare of having to quote and never be yourself you start to see things as
they are. You’re living more truly, than you’ll see more truly. After that, you’ll
speak more truly. Does that make sense to progression here?
Participant 3: Sure.
Barbara: We’re doing a very careful study this time, in this essay, and that’s why we’re
taking the parts like this. Living truly – what does that mean? Seeing truly –
what does that require?
Participant 4: Honesty.
Barbara: You can learn from anyone. Every moment is new; everything is passively a
teaching moment.
Participant 4: Constant listening.
Barbara: That’s living truly. It’s Hamlet to drive himself to the truth. If you are, you
can’t be false to admit. There’s no false who admit who in the truth you are.
By the way, Gandhi said it beautifully, we have it outside of the school now,
today. When your thoughts, your words, and your actions are in harmony that’s
what means to be true. Not you say something, and you don’t follow up on it,
you say something, and you do something else, you think something, and you
never utter it – God should leave you judged, right? All of that is being true.
Thought, words, and action. That’s what he’s talking about. That’s living
truly.
Participant 5: Otherwise, there’s something in the way. Your thoughts become your words,
and your words become your acts.
Barbara: Then, he says: “It is easy for the strong man to be strong as it is for the weak to
be weak.” When we have a new perception, we shall gladly disperse in the
memory of extorted treasures as old rubbish. When a man lives with God, his
voice shall be as sweet as the mermaid of the brook and the bristle of the corn.
Remember, the last time I gave you definition of the word miracle. Anytime
you have a new perception is it a miracle? He was a minister, Emerson, so he’s
in that Arena. Let’s talk about the end of it. How does it strike you? Haven’t
we had that experience of giving up something so old and treasured when you
see something new? Have you ever had that experience? It’s extremely
beautiful. Life does that. The minute you see something, unless you’re holding
off a deal of your life, it’s gone. Let’s talk about that for a minute. This is a
miraculous moment. Remember, we’re featuring as miraculous. When is the
last time or when did this happen? What was that like? The way you talk about
this kind of stuff, but here. What happened to you? Think about it. Give me
some thoughts. When you’ve seen something new that helped disperse you of
rubbish. Lies are rubbish. Then, you’re set on with living with God. When did
it happen? This moment, everybody. Let’s give it some thought. I’m sure it’s
happened to you.
Participant 5: It has happened to me.
Barbara: Yeah. Let’s speak about it. Everybody, what do you think? The last part is
being reflective in examining your life and what has helped you. This is an
enormous part. I can bet that it has happened to every one of us many times. In
examples of real life. Not just small words.
Participant 5: I think for me that it mirrors with what you’re saying that sometimes these
epiphanies come to you and I think they come to us a lot.
Barbara: So do I.
Participant 5: For me, this mirror for the last couple of months has been very important
because I’m asking myself real questions. I’m demanding real answers from
myself. I’m making promises to myself to stay determined. I realize that the
only way I can keep it by actually doing something.
Barbara: Follow through.
Participant 5: Yes, I don’t do goals that I’ve separated for myself before the day’s over. I
created this year for myself to talk about the things that did I want to see
happening this year. That burdened me to do this, this and this. I like to see
these things come through. I’m going to pick this one thing. One thing and see
it through to the end.
Barbara: Excellent!
Participant 5: It’s not easy because we have social employments and it takes all kinds of
things that every reason in the world is not to do the right thing for yourself.
Barbara: Hence the importance of this particular essay is self-reliance that you can’t
blame anybody else. It’s not about blame; it’s about every day remembering
what’s in your vision of your life. In the school, it’s a beautiful way of looking
in vision, the will of God in your life. Where are we meant to be? What’s the
high road for us in our lives, in vision? This is why idealism is so vital in our
world because then you have something to work towards. You have that vision,
and it’s your vision. Yours will be different; mine will be different because
each of us has different work to do. You can say it’s going in the same
direction, but it’s a very particular to each and their karma, what they need to
learn and transcend. That’s a really good point. The simpler – the better.
Otherwise, we have our check-off list, and it becomes meaningless. There isn’t
heart that sends the satisfaction to the soul. That’s a really good point, isn’t it?
[…]
You’re getting distracted. Crystal?
[…]
New! What’s new? Everything. Great! Would somebody like to read this next
one? We’ll take part and, I’ll have you start and stop. Diane, do you want to
read?
Diane: “Now it lasts the highest truth on this subject remains unsaid.”
Barbara: This is a big paragraph. He’s saying it up that way. Go ahead.
Diane: “What probably cannot be said. For all that we say it is far of remembering
intuition.”
Barbara: I’m stopping you for one second. Intuition – let’s define intuition. Intuition –
the power of knowing something without analysis. It comes to you from within
as the post to tuition. The knowledge that you pay for without. Do we all know
that they’re called insights? Insight? You get insights; intuition’s the thing that
allows that. Are we aware that that’s happening? Is that a lady’s thing? In fact,
Krishna talks about it in his capital I intuition. It’s a very powerful thing
beyond analysis. It could be that you’re picking something up that isn’t the
whole story but you still picking something up. Maybe you’ll need a little more
knowing, but you’re still picking up something. That’s what he means by that.
Diane: “That thought what I could nearly approach to say is this: When good is near
you, you have light in yourself, it’s not by any known in an accustomed way.
You shall not concern of footprints of any other. You shall not see the face of a
man. You shall not hear any name. The way, the thought, the good shall be
holy strange and new. It shall explore the examples of the experience.”
Barbara: Let’s step here in a minute. There’s a lot there. Put it in your words. What’s he
proclaiming?
[…]
Exactly, Bill! Being two of those visitations of truth you just say it. You write
it down. You share it. It’s important to you; you value it. What else?
Participant 7: It seems like it can’t come to you. It just comes, and you have to be open to it,
listen to it, feel it, see it, and you cannot be lectured. You cannot be taught.
Barbara: You would notice what he says. What are the qualities of this? There’s no other
person’s voice connected to it, right? No footprint of any other. No face of any
other. Not anyone else’s name is attached. Pure insight. What else did we say?
The way, the thought, the good is holy strange and new. Wow! That’s why he
tells to keep the journal every day and spend time in solitude because if you
don’t allow these moments, they’re not going to come. You have to give it time
for things to bubble up of meaningfulness. Then he says he shall exclude
examples and experience. What do you get from that?
Participant 7: How do you know that’s original?
Barbara: Right! What’s he concerned about? He said that in the first paragraph too. The
people that were not here – that was the very first thing he said. I read the other
day some verses written by an imminent page who’s William Blake which was
original and not conventional. He’s talking about a painter who happens to be
writing, but he was so struck that what he said was so original that he had to
say it. How often do we have to say what’s original, comes from within? That’s
everything he’s talking about in this essay. The origin, original, authentic!