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There is one quality that determines our capacity for happiness, for intimacy with others,

and as a society our capacity for living collaboratively in a true democracy.

And that quality is trust.

There needs to be some basic trust.

And I'm focusing on this because, as so many are aware, trust is at a real low globally, certainly societally. And for many, it's difficult

to trust others or even to trust ourselves to be who we want to be. Some of you might remember a favorite prayer that goes,

Dear God, so far today, I've done all right, I haven't been greedy

or judgmental or defensive or self-indulgent or controlling,

and I'm grateful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed.

And from then on, I'm going to need a lot of help.

So the reality is we can't trust ourselves or others not to cause harm.

I mean, the given is we have the same conditioning as other animals and under certain circumstances

will steal, we'll kill, will lie, we'll get addicted.

So what can we trust?

And maybe by way of definition, and this is what I'm calling basic trust.

We can trust that there's an intrinsic awareness and love that's waking up through each

of us, a basic goodness.

And that when it's fully manifest, we realize our belonging.

And that naturally leads us to serving the greater good. We belong to

wholeness. So trust evolves as we wake up. Trust evolves as we wake up. Many of you

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