Dr. Martha Beck

And the sense of letting go of everything else except letting that thing work with you and through you, that to me is freedom.

I had a gig in Boston, so I went back to Cambridge, which is next to it, and I went with my wife, something that couldn't have happened when I was 17. I had the sense of tapping my younger self on the shoulder and saying… I am from your future, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is possible for you to live in a state of almost continuous joy and that you can get there without dying.

I had a gig in Boston, so I went back to Cambridge, which is next to it, and I went with my wife, something that couldn't have happened when I was 17. I had the sense of tapping my younger self on the shoulder and saying… I am from your future, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is possible for you to live in a state of almost continuous joy and that you can get there without dying.

You can get there. In fact, your job in this world is to find a way to live in a state of continuous joy without dying.

You can get there. In fact, your job in this world is to find a way to live in a state of continuous joy without dying.

I would say, sit down with yourself and find a part of you that can say to your suffering, which is huge. I love you. It'll be okay. I'm right here. And that's something I call it kind internal self-talk. And the acronym is KISSED. And I didn't tell anyone about it for decades because it's so corny sounding. But that one thing in Tibetan Buddhism, they might call it the basis of loving kindness.

I would say, sit down with yourself and find a part of you that can say to your suffering, which is huge. I love you. It'll be okay. I'm right here. And that's something I call it kind internal self-talk. And the acronym is KISSED. And I didn't tell anyone about it for decades because it's so corny sounding. But that one thing in Tibetan Buddhism, they might call it the basis of loving kindness.

For years, sometimes, the monks who are trained there and the nuns will sit in meditation for days and days and do nothing but offer kindness to themselves.

For years, sometimes, the monks who are trained there and the nuns will sit in meditation for days and days and do nothing but offer kindness to themselves.

Yeah, it has to start that way. So you sit with your miserable self and you say, I would sit with her and I would say, may you be well, may you be happy. May you be free from suffering. May you feel safe and protected. May you live with ease. And as I offer her those wishes, I become the part of myself that is real. Because the suffering is part of the dream world.

Yeah, it has to start that way. So you sit with your miserable self and you say, I would sit with her and I would say, may you be well, may you be happy. May you be free from suffering. May you feel safe and protected. May you live with ease. And as I offer her those wishes, I become the part of myself that is real. Because the suffering is part of the dream world.

And the reality is infinitely loving. I mean... And intelligent beyond, so far beyond our silly monkey minds. And we can align ourselves with that. And it's like a lifeline that I could throw my younger self. Sometimes I wonder if I did.

And the reality is infinitely loving. I mean... And intelligent beyond, so far beyond our silly monkey minds. And we can align ourselves with that. And it's like a lifeline that I could throw my younger self. Sometimes I wonder if I did.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, but also the whole thing about we're all going to die and everything's awful and what point is there to it anyway? You know, suffering is certain and death is certain. Why don't we just get off the bus now? That kind of thing. That's the dream. Everybody who's had the awakening experience, Dante said it, Shakespeare said it, they're like, we are such stuff as dreams are made of.

Oh, yeah, but also the whole thing about we're all going to die and everything's awful and what point is there to it anyway? You know, suffering is certain and death is certain. Why don't we just get off the bus now? That kind of thing. That's the dream. Everybody who's had the awakening experience, Dante said it, Shakespeare said it, they're like, we are such stuff as dreams are made of.

Dante, in the last part of the Divine Comedy, which I believe is his description of his own enlightenment, said, He looks back at the earth once he's learned to love himself, and he calls it the little threshing floor that so incites our savagery. It's nothing compared. Now he's with the source of love in paradise, and he describes it as a rose unfolding and unfolding and producing light.

Dante, in the last part of the Divine Comedy, which I believe is his description of his own enlightenment, said, He looks back at the earth once he's learned to love himself, and he calls it the little threshing floor that so incites our savagery. It's nothing compared. Now he's with the source of love in paradise, and he describes it as a rose unfolding and unfolding and producing light.

And in Asia, the It's a lotus, same thing, a many-petaled flower that keeps opening and opening. Very similar imagery. And that's – I kind of feel that way. When you mention the part of me that used to be so unhappy, it's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, she thought that was real. But I haven't – and it is real. The way a video game is real.