changes each year it's just a tiny
little piece in the corner but you can't
just change that one piece because each
a new version is a different shape so
you could have chucked the whole thing
and by anyone so I was reading
industrial design journals from the
1950s when planned obsolescence was
really catching on so this is the point
but you know it would have done concept
would discuss how fast can they make a
steps break that still leaves the
consumer having enough space in the
product to go out and buy another one
it was so intentional but stuff cannot
break fast enough to keep this arrow of
flow so there's also perceived
obsolescence now perceived obsolescence
convinces us to throw away stuff that is
still perfectly useful how do they do
that well they change the way that stuff
looks so if you bought your stuff a
couple of years ago everyone can tell
that you haven't contributed to this
arrow recently and since the way we
demonstrate our value is contributing to
this arrow it can be embarrassing like
I've had the same fat white computer
monitor on my desk for five years my
coworker just got a new computer she has
a flat shiny sleek monitor it matches
her computer matches her phone even a
pen stand she looks like she's driving a
spaceship central and I I was like I got
a washing machine on my desk
fashion is another prime example of this
have you ever wondered why women's shoe
heels go from fat one year to skinny the
next to practice skinny it's not because
there's some debate about which heel
structure is the most healthy for
Lauren's feet it's because wearing fat
heels in a skinny heel year shows
everybody that you haven't contributed
to that arrow as recently so you're not
as valuable as that person in skinny
heels next few or more likely in some ad
it's to keep us buying new shoes
advertisements and media in general
plays a big role in this each of us in
the u.s. is targeted with over 3,000
advertisements a day we see more
advertisements in one year than people
50 years ago saw on a lifetime and if
you think about it what's the point of
an ad except to make us unhappy with
what we have
so 3,000 times a day we're told our hair
is wrong our skin is wrong our clothes
around our furniture is wrong your car's
wrong as we are wrong but it can all be
made right if we just go shopping media
also helps providing all of this and all
of this so the only part of the
materials economy we see is the shopping
the extraction production and disposal
all happens outside of our field of
vision it's important to bring
backgrounds into the foreground so
people understand because when we look
there's one of the things that painters
do so effectively van Gogh when when you
look at the shoes you know if you keep
painted several different but if you
look at the famous boots that he painted
with the straight you'll never look at a
pair of shoes the same way if you really
contemplate what he did because he was
taking something that's in the
background and bringing it to the
foreground and it's very important for
religious leaders for artists for others
to do that to let people know what's in
the background those things that were
not seeing the things that are hidden
one of the things that our prophet told
us is that there would be people towards
the end of time like locusts in their in
their consumption
you
every year we have martyrs to
consumption there are people that die on
these these buying sprees every year
this happens in this country people
literally died because they're you know
they're trampled to death in because of
these things but another aspect that we
don't think about is is just garbage
production and and the fact one of one
of the professor's that was at my
university
he taught environmental studies he had
zero garbage production in his home and
he used to take his students to his home
to show what he did in other words
people can actually live reducing their
garbage to a great extent but everything
is packaged totally unnecessary
packaging and this leads to these
landfills it's beyond belief what's
happening and again who suffers the
animals they're you know they eat this
stuff when you you know everything
that's off those helium balloons those
helium balloons go to the ocean they
eventually go down and turtles swallow
them they get the the obstruction so
these simple things that people are
doing without thinking and now we have
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is
bigger than the size of Texas it's a
huge massive swell of garbage in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean
that because of the kaiser tides and
currents it all tends to go to this one
area now there's a verse in the Piranha
Angel to ask God and obviously this is
shouldn't be taken like a literal type
conversation but the Angels asked God
when when God created man in our church
and the human being how can you put
someone there and who will cause damage
and bloodshed when we celebrate your
praise and proclaim your holiness so the
angels were asking this question the end
and there's a reason why the
commentaries given I'm not going to go
into that and and you can certainly see
that the incredible amount we over
almost two hundred million people were
killed at the hands of other people in
the last century the 20th century and we
came into the 21st century a lot of hope
but it begins with 9/11 and and then
these terrible wars that have affected
us but
the response that God made was in the
animal not animal I know what you don't
know about the human being and and this
is what we have to keep in mind I put
these pictures up because these are my
personal teachers these are people that
I studied with and there's there's a
verse in the Quran that says that we
elevate those who do not want to sow
corruption in the earth or to be
elevated and and and this is what we
have to remember as a species that we
have people in this world that remind us
of who we really are
we're not jellyfish we're not mindless
spineless consumers we have human hearts
we have the ability to know infinity we
can conceptualize it no other species
can do that we are something amazing and
we have to remind our young people of
that lost in this world of false idols
of images of women that are so degrading
they are so degrading and I don't need
to name names because you know them you
see them on the television you see them
on the covers of magazines this is not
who we want our young girls to grow up
emulating we don't want our young men to
grow up emulating the lowest forms of
life on this earth the cockroaches the
rats the jellyfish we want them to soar
with the Eagles and that's what we're
here to do and to remind people and
that's why as far as I'm concerned
religious people the religious
leadership we have failed so
dramatically we have failed our young
people we have the halo effect and then
we have the clay feet syndrome they they
don't see people walking their talk they
don't see people living it they don't
see the gift of sanctity in their beings
in their presence and that's what we
need to remind ourselves that we have to
become these people we have to be these
people that have graced this earth
reminding us this is not what it's about
we're here for a short temporal time and
we have work to do and our work is in
discovering ourselves and in serving
others this is the work we're not here
to consume we're not here to indulge
ourselves we're here for something much
greater and we constantly need to be
reminded because we're a forgetful
species when the elephants came to honor
the man who had looked after them and
some of you may have seen this but they
walked for over a day even before he
died and then held vigil in front of his
house these are signs for people that
reflect the animals pray for us
according to our tradition that the fish
in the ocean pray for the righteous our
prophet said that mr. Darwin was steady
at home in evil the one who has repose
and the one others have reposed from
them they said who are they or Messenger
of God and he said those who live
righteously when they die they have
repose and those who live corrupting
when they die people trees rivers and
animals have reposed from them that's
the choice and I I really want to drive
this point home because I think this is
one of the most important verses for me
in the New Testament I'm in a great
Christian city of Louisville
traditionally it's it's it's you see
churches everywhere
you know there was a love of
Christianity which is a great faith and
there's incredible amount of beauty and
truth despite the history we tend to
forget that the history of religions is
the history of their ego not of their
soul but for we wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against
principalities against powers against
the rulers of the darkness of this world
against spiritual wickedness in high
places people that that created planned
obsolescence this is from spiritual
wickedness in high places and and we
have to recognize that we cannot support
these people that there are people out
there that are actively engaged in
harming this world they're doing it
because they're complete slaves of their
own desires and you cannot be a steward
if you're filled with your own egoistic
desires you can't and that's why one of
the things that we have to remember the
the catholics divided the sins into the
hot sins and the cold sins and we tend
to forget you know the hot sins are easy
to recognize gluttony wrath and and lust
and and Dorothy Sayers reminded us that
when a when a society loses its
spiritual center sex is always the
spiritual outlet so this obsession with
sex which is also related to the rape of
the earth to the way we treat Mother
Earth because of our degradation of our
objectification of women and this is
much more male problem than a female
problem pornography is largely a male
problem and not entirely but we we have
to remember there are hot scenes and
Colton's but the cold sins are often
praised in our society the sins of
avarice right the sins of nd the sin of
pride the great sin which is a sin
against one's excellence and then the
sin of sloth which sloth is not laziness
acedia in the traditional understanding
sloth with spiritual laziness a CEO
could be out there working a 120 hour
workweek and he's still slothful because
he's forgotten his soul or she's
forgotten her
and this is what we have to remember
Robert Frost said some say the world
will end in fire some say in ice from
what I've tasted of desire I hold with
those who favor fire but if it had to
perish twice I think I know enough of
hate to say that for Destruction ice is
also great and would suffice it's the
hot sins of the cold sins that are going
to kill us and we have to really take
this seriously and it's our spiritual
traditions that address this root
problem it's not complicated the problem
is not complicated thank you very much
[Applause]
ah that was really remarkable thank you
you know it opened a lot of eyes both
educationally and particular your ending
in wrecked and our recognition it but
the spiritual desert lies beneath that
and just to remind everyone as we come
out of the sort of the Highness of that
encounter now the plan from here is that
we have about an hour to spend together
and I was asked to just a very brief
kind of response myself which is
basically really just lending some time
for you to be thinking about questions
that you'd like to ask because what we'd
like to do most of this time is just
have a an open dialogue Council on some
of the things that he's presented today
and maybe some questions that you had in
your hearts and things that you wanted
to or think that you wanted to share so
I'll to about three or four minutes here
my own kind of response to these
challenges from a specific review
perspective I have questions I could ask
that was quickly noticed but we really
rather listen to yours so I'll be
thinking about the questions you might
post okay all right there's an illusion
it's a grand illusion it's been
perpetrated upon us that we have
perpetrated upon ourselves
it's an illusion that we are somehow
separate from the earth that we are
somehow separate from ourselves we are
all a domme one human family and we are
all part of Adama we're all part of the
earth what makes us think that there's a
barrier somewhere between my feet and
the wooden floor upon which they sit
between the floor and the foundation
upon which it sits between the earth and
the stone which holds it all and us
firmly here in place where does a tree
end and the roots begin
where do the roots nearly become
tendrils and the tendrils become one
with the earth which nourishes and
sustains the tree which nourishes and
sustains us what makes us think that
there's a difference between the air we
breathe and the one who breathes it
breathing breathe out the air enters us
it fills our lungs it enriches our blood
and it gives us life we breathe it forth
and we return it to its source as trees
and plants breathe in our breath
enriched and sustained by our souls
which have been added to this breath of
life what makes us think that there's a
difference between Chicago Yusef and
myself and yourself a difference between
all the children of adam' all the
children of God
all those precious parts of this earth
adamah which we must all share we are
one you and I we are one all of us here
in this room we are all the children of
one creator who has placed us here to
help build a world that is one as
goddess one and there's an illusion that
stands side by side with the first that
in order to be one we must all be the
same that to be different from one
another makes us somehow other we've
been taught this truth as if it were
true for so long we've come to accept it
and to feel that those who are likely
our selves are like and we come to fear
those who upon the surface of their
likeness seem unlike us it's as if we
see in the mirror only a reflection of
ourselves in order to be comfortable and
that is an illusion but we must seek
instead is a thing that's not in
reflection but in the soul this is an
illusion which we have get we who we
love gathered here today can often fall
prey to our selves
we gather as a people of faith in common
cause and common action with common
hopes and dreams through which we seek
to find common elements and come and
pass this is a well-meaning illusion
that we are all the same beneath the
surface that we strip away the
differences of language and culture and
we find that we are all the same beneath
the skin and we worship the same God
essentially the same ways and since
there is much that we share in common
this is a particularly useful illusion
and one which we've become very adept at
maintaining in Hebrew were commanded to
seek Shalom in Arabic it's called Salam
in English we strive for peace as Jews
we seek to heal the brokenness of our
world through acts of sadaqa in Arabic
it's called Sokka in English we call it
charity from the Latin word Caritas
which we carry in our prayers as Jews we
seek our community in Arabic Rahim in
English and strive for compassion and
because we share many of these potential
traits which make us human it's easy for
us to imagine that we are all the same
and to dream of a world of peace and
charity and compassion when we will all
sing with one voice in a single chorus
instead of inspiring the harmony of our
many voices or a symphony of the many
instruments creating together a song of
oneness that we can all share in the
mission a collection of ethical writings
now some eighteen hundred years old we
are taught that humanity was created
with a single adop the descendants of
one human being to demonstrate God's
greatness when a human being in Sequoyah
in the press each coin is identical but
when the ruler of all the Holy One
blessed be creates Humanity in the form
of a Dom not one is similar to the other
the lesson of dissolution ah
comes to teach us that diversity is
intended and an intended part of the
Divine Plan and this is the wondrous
part are many faces are many languages
are many faiths this too is part of
God's plan for us here on earth we are
children of one human family we cannot
be other from our brother we need not be
the same to feel a kinship with our
sisters we are all the children of one
creator of us all the path towards a
compassionate society requires of us the
courage I think to tear the veil of
these twin illusions from before our
eyes to see one another both as we are
and is together we might be we are one
human family many minds many voices many
hands to heal the world and we can work
together as one and build a
compassionate community and a world of
peace I'm not sure how much that balance
but I thought that it said a lot of the
things thank you to the one person was
clapping but we're not clapping
we're not happening
what I was hoping would come of that
though was a recognition of a lot that
we share and a lot of the wisdom that
we've learned but frankly we would not
have learned if it were not for an
Islamic scholar sharing us the wonder of
his particular traditions view and I
hope that you like I were listening and
saying you know there's wisdom there and
sometimes the wisdom was wisdom that I
don't find in my own sacred scripture
and sometimes it parallels so much that
it's almost difficult to believe that we
didn't have the same hands writing them
but that the key here is that there's a
wisdom beneath all of this and that when
we listen to each other and learn from
one another we can see perspectives we
would not have seen otherwise and
sometimes when lessons that we are that
we're waiting to be taught to us now I
have a nice list of questions I'm going
to ask one and then you're on okay so
you're thinking and the stuff has some
people who are going to be around with
microphones who will give you the
opportunity there's someone waiting back
there for an opportunity for you to get
in line for the place I thought I'd
start just give them a chance to
consider is with a wisdom of the Jewish
tradition a Midrash a legend of its from
Guatemala it says that God created Adam
as the last of all the creations and
then toward a domme throughout all
creations so that we would truly
appreciate the wonder of the gift that
was being given us and then God said
this is given to you as a gift
care for it for if you do not there will
be no other to be received and there is
a sense there I think that we've lost
perhaps of the religious and spiritual
legations of the earth I feel like we
get caught up in the scientific
conversation of you know global warming
you know or climate change and arguing
back and forth about how fast and human
deliverance just occurs to me that
polluting the earth is a bad thing you
know and if you can just recognize it's
not complicated
right the Beneatha
there's a spiritual thing and that's
what I really got I think mostly from
well for me one of the things that you
know every time you go into these places
where they give you these throw aways
and for them way you just have to you
know this kind of content thing where
think if everybody did that and and it
became a universal fact because not
everybody is doing it like there's
places where it's amazing how little
garbage they produce no an Aboriginal
guy lives with Bedouins spent a lot of
time with Bedouins and Aboriginal people
and it's a nice word because it means
you know in Latin it's the idea from the
original people you know have origin you
know it's out of the the first people
and the word is bedroom which is what
they call themselves in Arabic means the
first people and this is why in
assumptions they call them the first
nations the first peoples that that we
there's great things that come I mean
I'm glad
Shakespeare's in the world I'm glad
Mouton ed B's in the world Rumi I think
a lot of people you know feel like the
world would be less than it is without
Bach or without and some people without
you know Lady Gaga you know I mean
there's whole exclusive people that just
get something out of the artist you know
so but all of the things that we we love
about civilization the question we have
to ask ourselves now is it all worth it
in terms of what civilization is doing
to us as a species and and that is
that's I think that's a real question
because we have to somehow learn what
Aboriginal peoples have known how to
live sustainably on on the planet and
and and they have great things to teach
us but they're messed up too so it's not
because I know in firsthand just living
they have their problems they're
grappling they a lot of Aboriginal
peoples do not have a way of
with the modernity when it's introduced
and exampled that for people that know
the work of gerrymander not the
political word but the writer he he
wrote a book called the four arguments
for the elimination of television and in
that book one of the studies they did in
Canada they had the good fortune of
being able to watch a Inuit Native
American village as electricity was
introduced and they studied it to see
what would happen so they basically
determined it took five years to destroy
their their traditional culture once
television five five years and I saw
that firsthand in Mauritania because I
lived with Bedouin I was in a town that
had no electricity every night it was
literally chanting the whole village was
chanting the Quran it was like being
buzzing and it was one of those
extraordinary and then you have the sky
see I think one of the reasons why we've
lost our spirituality is because of our
official life and it's interesting we
call it artificial light because if you
look up at the sky in the Sahara Desert
and I've been reduced to tears on many
nights just look the heavens declare
your glory I've been in the Sinai it's
it's breathtaking blessing and there's a
reason why those guys fled to the desert
you know because if you want to be close
to the heavens that's as close as you're
going to get we don't see the Stars
anymore you know Plato said God put the
Stars there to show us the order of the
heavens that we would desire to bring
the order down into ourselves so what
happens when we don't see the heavens
anymore and I would really like to see
the city you might think of this there
Fisher might think of just having an
hour
you know once a month where all the
lights in the city are turned off on a
clear night so that people can actually
go out and see the heaven
does it see the heaven it's amazing
cars are amazing I'm the chair of the
planetarium which if you think about it
for a second is a sad reality which is
that in cities we build I can only play
people where you can see with stars
because we projected it does leap them
and they do it gooo centrically nobody
points that out but when you're in a
planetarium they don't have you
revolving around the heavens they have
the heavens revolving around the ultimen
but they have to do a Ptolemaic
planetary visit us at the planetarium so
you'll know what to look for in the sky
ok do we have some questions waiting
check on that my question is about
spirituality and food and the Quran
talks a lot about eating with Helen but
that's usually coupled with the word
title ending with legal and maybe can
you comment on what you feel Talia would
sort of mean in our current sort of
culture and then also what do you feel
is the spiritual effect of consuming
artificial foods like high fructose corn
syrup and you know all these sort of
processed things that are added to foods
and packaged you know what's the
spiritual effect of eating artificial
food and how you know can you sort of
comment on the idea well just to use
another tradition in tradition in some
traditional Buddhism the the chef in the
monastery had to be enlightened like
they didn't let just anybody into the
kitchen and in in the Islamic tradition
there's a whole tradition about prep
food preparation and the intention of
the cook and so that you I my teachers
the people that cooked always made the
intentions that the food was a healing
one of the things is really interesting
in our culture you know they when you go
to
when you go to they would teach grammar
anymore so people use transitive verbs
as intransitive verbs but when you go to
a restaurant they say enjoy right enjoy
you know I mean I guess you could make
it a transit in transit but usually
enjoy something but here it means the
food so but they just say enjoy you know
in traditional cultures they never would
say something like that they would say
like salud you know with help in the
Arabic culture they say the spell would
add via with health and well-being which
reminds us of the purpose of the food
it's not to enjoy enjoyment is part of
it I mean it's wonderful that food is so
enjoyable but that's not the reason why
you're actually eating it that's why the
glutton needs but but somebody who's
serious about maintaining their health
they eat for help and and you know we're
we're literally digging our graves with
our teeth I mean in our culture we are
literally killing ourselves with the
food we eat and so so you know I would
say that all traditional people's ate
with with just a knowledge of what food
was about and this is why the key
Shabbat tradition you know the halal
tradition that you have - there's a
whole you know Native Americans took
permission in many of the their
traditions they took permission from the
animal in the Islamic trees in the
Jewish tradition there is actual you
have to do it in a way you know in our
tradition you're not allowed to kill an
animal in front of another animal and if
you look I mean it's arguable that it's
unethical to be to meat to eat meat
today unless you're on a farm where
you're you're you know and there was an
interesting article about a man who
decided for one year I didn't see the
film but he did a documentary where he
only ate what he killed for one year and
when he would buy the the sheep one of
the sheep farmers told him you know he
said I think I'm going to call that you
know Zeke and and he said no no don't
name them because you'll get
you'll get attached to them and but he
chose to name them what he said was the
thing that struck him most was the
gratitude he felt to the animal when he
ate it and in our tradition there's a
belief that the animal wants to be it
wants to be energy for good deeds
because by becoming part of a righteous
person it's elevated in its state from
an animal that doesn't have free will
that only behaves according to its
nature to part of being with free will
and it and the animal hates to be used
for profoundness or for misdeeds and so
that whole cosmology which might I'm
romantic but it was it was real people
and I met people that still live like
this and my wife does this she cooks
with that intention if I cook I cook
with that intention when I serve food I
cook with that attention I'll just tell
you one quick story I have a friend of
mine who's a connoisseur of tea and he
will only drink certainties and in
England PG tipps is like the worst tea
and and and and he went to a friend of
Mines house and I know both of them and
it was tea time and the English take
this very seriously and so he he only
had PG tipps in the house and so he said
God he's going to know this is horrible
TV so he goes in and he told me that he
made a prayer over the tea and he said
he said O God make this delightful for
my friend and he went in and poured the
tea and he told me that he drank and he
said you know that's the best cup of tea
I think I've ever had
and you know there's a reality to these
things we don't realize just the power
of intention
you know Nia in Arabic which means
intention also means seed it's the seed
of the thing y-you do and so many of us
do things without intention there's no
intentionality and intention I know in
your tradition and our tradition
intention is everything while you're
doing something and coffee asking
yourself why am i doing this to check on
intention okay I just disavow that we're
not going to clap thing I want to that
applause was also for the question of a
good class because I don't want to
deflect too much but from a Jewish
tradition this is something we struggle
with a great deal because the laws of
kashrut were written thousand years ago
and more and they were designed to be
more humane and to make the exact
connections that you're talking about
and the world in which we live has
advanced to the point that one needs a
you know a variance from the USDA
because it's not as advanced and we lost
something in that there was a speaker
who came just a couple years ago rabbi
Arthur Wasco and he's sort of the front
of something we call the echo kashrut
movement and artists perspective is if
you're saying a blessing over wine it
was made with grapes that was sprayed
with pesticides that made the people who
made them ill it's not holy and if you
take organic wine it's been you know
it's been made in the purest way and
pour it into a Styrofoam cup if not
kosher and what he means by that is that
the word used to mean something it meant
to fit and the purpose of
of the sharing with food the enjoyment
wasn't in the consumption and how much
you know can we pump into it with you
know corn syrup but rather the meal and
and the story of your friend praying
over is tea you know that's what that
was what it was intending to people okay
our next question over that way where
are we here okay
yes Sheikh Hamza when you spoke of the
purpose of human purposes of human
existence I realized I've created mushed
together two of those three meaning the
cultivation of the earth and stewardship
and I wonder if you could distinguish
for us a little bit develop that idea of
what are the ways in which we cultivate
the earth and how do we steward it well
the stewardship would be more about
sustainability where the cultivation is
more about how we're using it for for
our needs so the stewardship is is is
more about making sure that what we're
doing in our cultivation is not harmful
crossed over here I think here's a lady
up here okay but we need a microphone
the next connector right here
career-high um what you guys are talking
about is beautiful stuff but it's not
very realistic like I can't see myself
finding a person to buy a goat firm so
that I could harvest to go and show
gratitude to so after I kill it and eat
it in Allah I I don't know who the bad
girls huh and I don't know no and I
wasn't suggesting that I don't know and
I don't know where to buy affordable
organic food from because I went to the
whole food store the other day and spent
thirty dollars on nothing yeah
and this is one of the big bun and
finding it out around the community yeah
so so I'm not bringing up a really
excellent point is it yeah I want to
know how yeah yeah this is a really
excellent point it's it's the incredible
discrepancy we have between much of like
the fair trade movement which I'm I feel
a lot of it is is upper-middle class
luxury the ability to assuage our own
personal guilt and things like that but
I that snot why I would promote it
because I think that it's important to
take positions about these things in
terms of disenfranchised communities
underprivileged communities you know the
disparity which I was highlighting in
that picture of starving kids with these
completely overweight kids I mean one of
the problems that we have in this
country is that processed food is
incredibly cheap to buy and the reason
that the all processed food came out of
war that the Americans in World War two
I mean margarine came from Napoleon they
needed butter for these troops so we
tend to forget that processed food is
actually a direct result of war because
they needed to feed these armies as they
were moving and so in in in in World War
two they learned how to do this stuff to
a degree scientifically that they'd
never achieved before and and they could
keep long life shelf life and they
realize you know because this
military-industrial complex the same
people that are doing supplying that
during wartime are the people that are
selling you know the foods during
peacetime they realize that this is a
great way we don't have to worry about
perishables because it's they lovable
parents they lose a lot of money except
because when you take you know it's
amazing how many the reason it's so
expensive at Whole Foods is because they
lose a lot of that food and and this is
the problem and farmers know this so one
of the really important movements is
urban homesteading where people are
beginning to put gardens in there on
their rooftops african-american
communities in Detroit are beginning to
do this and it's really interesting
movement where they're bringing
food to to disenfranchised communities
and having some of the schools are doing
it this is really important so I think
Louisville it would be really useful to
bring some of these people in to show
them how to do we can grow our own food
and it actually is realistic people can
have gardens in World War two they had
what we're called Victory Gardens where
unlike these recent Wars let I encourage
you to go out and spend they used to
encourage you actually to save and
recycle World War two was a great year
of recycling people were recycling
everything and you know if you go to
third world countries people wear
sandals made out of used tires because
it's a really good heel a sole for the
for the the shoe and and so these are
the things where we need to get creative
in our communities and not you know so
many of our communities in the inner
cities they can go and get it's easier
to get liquor than it is to get food and
and it's much easier to get you can't
get vegetables in a lot of these
inner-city stores it's all processed
food they get corn out of a can and and
so that movement I think is a really
important movement that's starting to
take place
instead this ads brought to you by the
Center for interfaith relations up here
which has a program for building a box
gardens or urban gardens throughout
rural and we need to expand and children
love to do it they love to plant you can
get the kids involved in they get
connected to the earth you mentioned
earlier we're called the know Adam you
know in the Jewish and the Muslim
tradition and Adam is Adama you know
who's denying Arabic is the top soil and
and in our tradition the reason he was
called Adam and really it's the first
Adam had the male-female and then it
splits into the two of Adam and Eve so
the first Adam that the first creation
was was was the human being you know
which was and and but the the leader is
called top scholars because we're told
the problem Hamlet Pilate said I'm said
that God took white soil black soil
brown soil all the different color
the topsoil in the world and put them
into atoms so that all these colors
would be reflected in his creation from
all the soils of the earth we have the
same scans we probably borrowed from you
well you know look the Prophet Muhammad
you know people say that Islam a lot of
it's just from Judaism but the problem
Ahamed the Quran says you didn't make
this stuff up your you're not an
innovator from the message your being
the same message so much of it is in
Jewish tradition we know that and the
Jewish tradition is part of our
tradition so and there are many I mean
all my tears are filled with Midrash and
and you know the Gomorrah story it's all
in Islamic Jews they never shied away
from that and we had rabbis that became
Muslim there was interactions between
rabbis and and and Muslim scholars and
and so these are these are all this is
wisdom it's just jicama you know hook
nut oh yeah so this is this is this
belongs to everybody thank you again you
for putting this a very practical thing
and anyone's interested a great
organization called youth youth to
Louisville will help you build art yes
don't like art and if you do the
community center declare that that's
part of amazing how much food you can
get out of a very small yes over here I
want to thank you for what you said
about human trafficking is a 21st
century outrage an estimated 20 million
billion people are affected by it
I want to say the good news about it
just as a little bit of a commercial
there's an organization called soap SOA
P save our adolescents from prostitution
headquartered in Columbus Ohio I am part
of the group and we go before large
sporting events like the Super Bowl NCAA
Kentucky Derby world equestrians and we
meet in hotels all over the place to
provide literature photos and soap with
an 800 number to go in every hope
room in Louisville and Columbus in New
York and LA wherever we did it I
participated twice in Louisville we did
it before the truck show in Louisville
and 90% of the hotels accepted the
material the good news is that it's
working in lots of places before the
super during the Super Bowl in New
Jersey 16 teenage girls were rescued
because of soap and four hundred
volunteers covered New York in New
Jersey in Indianapolis Super Bowl two
teenage girls were rescued multiply that
over in Detroit the Auto Show girls
rescued in Columbus Ohio the Arnold
Schwarzenegger bodybuilding your'e girls
were rescued further point is its there
are groups working we need more people
involved well there's a worldwide war
against girls and women around the world
and also the reason why these are all
events that involve large numbers of men
that that's where they literally bring
them in and in cars and and these are
the places and there's something that
the Romans for people are familiar with
the Coliseum the prostitutes were always
bought at the Colosseum's and and people
would get very excited and go down and
abuse them but we're I think we're doing
such a poor job at educating our young
men and to honoring women and that's
something I have five boys and it's I
constantly bring that home to them never
dishonor a woman that that women that
they're their gentle beings they're
easily seduced and men know this about
women because women are trusting and and
and and and when a man tells her certain
things he has the keys to her heart very
often and too many wolves out there
really prey on on that knowledge and
there's books out there of how to seduce
women that are now bestsellers thank you
very much
it's a little hard for me to see this we
over yeah over here so I see these
slides and I hear these facts and
they're very disturbing of course and
they should be to my soul and so my
question is what kind of daily practice
can I do I do things with my deeds you
know I own a farm and I am trying to
help that part of the world but in my a
daily practice that you would suggest
that could help because I do believe in
intentions being able to actually help
these problems but I'm up for
suggestions okay well I first of all you
know I we have to honor our small
farmers because you know I'm fortunate
to be in Northern California with a slow
movement that slow food movement started
that we have local farmers markets that
we can go to on a regular basis so we
get all our foods from local growers I
would much rather support them than
support you know even though you know a
Whole Foods has some pretty enlightened
leadership there but I would still
rather support the local growers as much
as possible and I think that's something
really important so you know and people
you were talking earlier downstairs just
about you know this loopy feeling about
being connected to the land but the
truth is farmers suffering then see the
highest suicide rates in India are from
the small farmers they get them into
these you serious deaths and we had
people remember the 80s crises the
highest rates of suicide were among
small farmers we're losing our small
farmers and agribusiness is taking over
and this is what I'm talking about you
know these these you know the rulers of
darkness of this world you know a lot of
these people and there's good people in
that I'm not a Mackay I'm not in any way
manichaean
I don't you know there's there's good
CEOs there's decent people working but
these are soul destroying institutions
that we've set up and and so I'm not in
any way I don't I'm not a revolutionary
in that I
don't believe and you know if we just
can kill the evil ruler suddenly
everything's going to you know be fine
it's not like that and there's good
people in Washington DC there's good
people in government there's really
amazing police and then there's people
that abuse these powers you know and
some of them you know and there are
really dark demonic people that we have
termed Psychopaths
and about one out 22 Americans is
considered to be psychopathic and there
are functional psychopathic people often
in CEO positions that don't have morals
I mean this is this is social science in
our culture I would recommend there's
several books on this one of them is
associate that next door a lot of people
think sociopaths the serial killer no
there are sociopaths that are surgeons
they're sociopaths that are CEOs and
they really don't they don't think like
other people they just don't feel
remorse about harming others or harming
the earth or whatever so in terms of a
practice I can't I want to advise you on
that
I think people you know we're living in
an age that enables us to experiment it
with religions this is in some ways
unprecedented in other ways
we've always had eclecticism and
interaction of traditions muslims and
jews lived together for centuries in
places like Morocco and Sarajevo and so
there's always been these and we know
that different traditions adopted
methods st. Francis was influenced by
the Sufis when he got back he adopted
some of those practices and certainly
you know the Muslims of India found the
Hindus doing certain things that they
thought were interesting so you'll find
a chakra a type of chakra understanding
in certain Indian Sufi badia clubs and
things like this so there's always been
that kind of eclecticism but I come out
of a spiritual tradition that really
says that it's good to take a serious
tradition and to practice it and and for
me personally there are certain things
that I have to do
day I think the only thing that I really
incorporated outside of of Milan
tradition is I've been practicing chi
gong for some time now and derived a lot
of benefit from it just physically
because I was having a lot of energy
problems but I think we really we need
to have time with ourselves alone where
we can just disengage and turn off all
these things I have a friend of mine
he's an imam in Washington DC so it has
a box in the end of in the front of his
house and when everybody comes in they
have to put the cell phones in the box
and they're not allowed to use any cell
phones inside the house and Jesus
Sudanese man and I thought that was
really an excellent practice I think a
lot of us need to disengage from from
the madness of these constantly being
you know texting and getting called we
don't have to answer the phone every
time it ring you know you really don't
now you're really something
revolutionary huh it's true okay before
you do that though I was going to do
this as an ad anyway my best suggestion
would be come tonight at 7 o'clock
because from 7:00 to 9:00 Wendell Berry
is going to be here with Gary Snyder and
Jack shoemaker and Wendell is a
phenomenal community resource for those
of you who have the opportunity you know
exactly what I'm saying because you may
not come tonight at 7:00
Wendell did I'd say the kind of
intention that you're speaking of for my
entire congregation when he came to
speak and we established the farm works
a farmers market that comes to Temple
Mondays and Thursdays are local farmers
and what he was saying was that we've
begun to look at food he'll say this
better tonight I hope but in a sentence
we come to look at food as a commodity
and we lose the nature of the
relationship you're feeding people okay
that is gift okay and when you receive
the food from the people
grew it you create something different
than going to a market and buying it
you're recognizing that the people who
you feed and we're recognizing who feeds
us and we create in that community and I
think what you're doing is that
intentions honestly but come tonight it
will be wonderful okay now a question
there are we yeah thank you I have a
question regarding I think is a
challenge that we face in the US and
it's very pervasive and that we are we
have a sense of entitlement that is is
much stronger than a lot of places you
find in the world and what would be your
response in sort of a spiritual sense to
that sense of entitlement that I really
don't have to do anything to change
because I have earned what I have earned
and I've worked hard for that yeah that
was one of mine too yeah the you know
when when you go to other put like I was
just in West Africa I was in Senegal and
in Mauritania and you know I think it's
really important for us to to get our
kids over to places to do work in in
other communities and places to see the
reality I'll give you an example I had I
had a friend of mine I teach a course at
a junior college nearby with a friend
and and and she was having trouble
controlling this class because they were
just you know they're college kids
behaving like high school kids so I
suggested that she bring in a friend of
mine who was a leading member of one of
the dominant African American gangs in
LA went to prison for murder spent
several years in prison and he converted
transformed his life in prison it came
out he's actually a teacher now so I
suggested that she bring him into the
class and she did and she just said the
transformation these students was
amazing with him telling his story and
and you know I I just I tell them
this junior-college if you were in Kabul
in Afghanistan this would be the Harvard
of Afghanistan you know and we have
people in a lot of countries that
literally commit suicide because their
scores are too low to get into the
colleges you know so we just it's
amazing the opportunities if you look at
when people come here from places like
African countries the first thing they
do is an enroll in junior colleges you
know it's just so amazing for them to be
able to get an education that doesn't
cost very much and so I think part of it
is really trying to inculcate this early
on narcissism was you know just it was I
think it was designated in