There are places like in India and Pakistan where, politically, it is a terrible situation.  There is a lot of fighting, disharmony and hate between Muslims and Hindus.  This is more of a political thing because, if you really think about, if you really go down to the ground level, that is where people have been living together for several hundreds of years in relative peace and harmony. Muslims and Hindus have always been living in comparative harmony. It became a political thing. Pakistan separated from India because of that, because of the political thing.  That is the connotation they give it but, otherwise, the people at the ground level have a history of more or less harmony.  So, this is just an example.

We must look at the people level. If you go down to earth, if you go down to what really counts, if you go down to the people, the people are happy. They take care of each other. They love each other.

Ok. Sure.  Everybody is struggling. We are having difficulties. We are all in different processes but, this concept that is always looking at the bad, dadadada, this is a lot about politics. If you go down, it is true, people get along well, normally.

Why do we think like that?  Why are we always seeing the problems?  Why are we not seeing the good stuff?

It is because we focus on the negative aspect a lot. We overvalue that. Although bad things are happening, it is probably not even 1% of what happens.   If it were more than 1%, it is likely we could not survive. No doubt, it is much less than 1%. I bet, if we really check the difference between the positiveness and the negativeness, the negativeness will be less than 1%. However, that 1% is big for us because we overvalue it. We overvalue it more than positive things. It is the news we see in everyday life.  When something bad happens, we make a big deal out of it. For us, it carries a lot of weight.  It carries a lot of importance.

I understand. I agree. Yes, there are a lot of bad, crazy things happening. People, humanity is just repeating the same cycle, again and again. Absolutely. I love history. For me, I see we are repeating the same mistakes. In fact, what we are doing is the same mistakes but much worse. Much worse.

It is up to you. Wherever the mind is going, it takes you one way or another way, but you are the one who chooses. So, the mind, for example, is like wind. You have wind. You have a sailboat. If we all allowed the mind to act like the wind, then, probably, our sailboat would crash against rocks.

So, basically, Dharma is telling us how to sail the sailboat using the wind to get to where we want to go.  Dharma is telling us how to sail the sailboat of our mind so we can get to a safe port.  The Dharma is telling us how to sail the sailboat of our mind so we can get to a haven. That is why we must train the mind. That is why we must domesticate the mind. That is why we must get it to work.

Yes. I agree with you that there are bad things happening but I, also, must agree with you to disagree with you that there are many more good things happening than bad. There are many more good things happening.

Also, everything has its positive and negative parts. Now, when some bad things happen in our life, we are like, ‘This is so bad,’ but, then, maybe, in the long run it is positive. Maybe that bad thing helped us to get out of our comfort zone.  Maybe it helped us to really practice. Maybe, in the long run, it made us happy or more satisfied with ourselves.

So, we cannot really judge. We should not put things in boxes. The key to this is being equanimous. The key is not reacting. So, in this way, if we are equanimous and, if we are not reactive, then, we do not create the conditions or the habit to suffer. So, equanimity is an especially important aspect when you are practicing moderation.  It is especially important in the middle path.

Great gratitude is the beginning for all of this. When you are grateful, then, you are observing only the good things in your life. When you observe only the good things in your life, those are the things that are going to prevail.

So, I say we are living in a golden age because I think we are always in a golden age. We are alive. We can practice Dharma. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is here. We share the surface of the earth with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We share the air with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We share it with everybody. Right? We share space. We are sharing so many aspects constantly. We are interdependent.

So, the earlier we find this out, the better. This concept of existing independently is ridiculous even though we act like it every day. Then, we treat everything as if it exists independently. The fact that nothing exists independently is the first thing we need to understand. We need to understand the concept of reality so that we can start practicing renunciation. Ok, so, yes?  I hope we are together on this.