Good evening.

Like to begin by welcoming all those that are here in Bethesda, Maryland and also to

honor and acknowledge all those of you that I know, listen from around the world.

A lot of the things I end up sharing in these talks come from your correspondence and

I thought maybe tonight I'd start with one little note that I received that I really

liked.

My young son and I were listening to one of your podcasts while making dinner and suddenly

he looked at me and said, I don't have any badness in me, just goodness.

And that goodness keeps getting gooder and gooder every day.

This is a good one for your refrigerator.

That goodness keeps getting gooder and gooder every day.

Some of you might know that the derivation of the word good from old English is very similar

to words that have to do with coming together and belonging.

And so what that means is that really our experience of basic goodness arises when we

feel that sense of connectedness.

And what we find in many spiritual traditions is that the word homecoming really has to

do with coming home to that sense of goodness and belonging when we feel that sense of loving

connection.

And you find this in our tipple stories and myths and some of the great romance novels that

a lot of it's about separating, leaving home, getting lost in some way and then coming

back to discover belonging.

Sometimes it's reconciliation and sometimes it's seeing what was always there but we didn't

...