An episode from 5/25/22: Tonight, I conclude with the last in a five-part series called Notes from the Grid. (A ⁠print version⁠ of NFTG has since been published.) The first section, "Simple Awareness," is followed by "The Uncomfortable, Unsolvable Middle" (begins at 20:30).The series concludes with "All Its Ways" (starts at 48:40) Taken together, these last three sections ask why it is, in the world that we've made, it is always easier to be selfish rather than selfless, and what can we do about it? Rather than putting forth some kind of program of political or social reform, I return to the transformative importance of those hidden moments in our private lives. If we are willing to live in the world and not dismiss it with cynicism, or literally go off the grid, the key to our own fulfillment seems to be in seeing the eternal and the everyday as inextricably intertwined. No specific cultural or religious pose is required, except the pursuit and search and finding of meaning, the joy, the bittersweetness, the perpetual learning. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to [email protected].

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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