So tonight's talk is called Loving Life, Loving this earth.

And a friend of mine in the

sangha reminded me or told me a few days ago that tomorrow night is the anniversary of

St. Francis's death and he was known as the patron saint of animals in the environment. So Pope

Paul, Pope John Paul, second called him the patron of ecology. So in a way we get to claim

this as a fitting time. It's one way. So here I'd like to maybe name the question that I contemplate a lot within myself,

which is given the sense that this earth is struggling, suffering, and in trouble.

What will help us to wake up collectively

in a way where it's real enough in our bodies and hearts

so that we care enough to respond?

You know, what will help us to be sensitive and awake to both the suffering of the earth

and the preciousness of life?

So we actually step out of our routines and in some way collectively try to bring healing

to our planet.

What will it take? That's my inquiry.

One of the things that I'm aware of is that in the United States, we spend on an average

about 90% of our time indoors.

And of that time, you might wonder how much of that is in front of a screen.

Probably a good chunk, right?

What it tells us is that we're indoors and in a virtual world a lot. And that has to affect our relationship with our larger

body of the earth. It has to. I think of our children and more than ever that they're living

in such a cyber world, such a virtual reality,

...