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Greetings. Namaste. Welcome friends. I'm so glad you're with us for this gathering.

We'll be exploring in this talk the power of hope on the spiritual path, the power of really

trusting and possibility. And to begin with a little story of a modern day Buddha who

fell off the top of a high sky scraper. And as he's falling past the 10th floor window,

somebody pokes their head out and says, are you okay? His response is so far so good.

And so I start there to so that we can just from the get go, our common ground is that

the awakened hope we're exploring isn't a kind of delusional optimism.

And just to say this topic really drew me to I've been reflecting on it a lot and to share,

reflect together. It feels important because for many that have been in touch with me,

there's a sense of flagging hope. You know, our pandemic continues here in the United States

and very, very horrifically around the planet. And wildfires, heat waves, the dangers that are

right here now of climate change. And so much societal suffering and dividedness and also many

individuals are continuing to feel the isolation from the pandemic and a real sense of uncertainty

and anxiety, just feeling stuck emotionally or spiritually. So in addressing this, we'll begin

with the Buddha scriptures. This is the Buddha saying, if it were not possible to free the heart

from entanglement, I would not teach you to do so. Just because it is possible to free the heart,

there arises the teachings of the Dharma of liberation offered open handedly for the welfare of all

beings. It's such a powerful statement. If it were not possible to free the heart, I would not

teach you to do so. So an essential part of the spiritual path really is this trust

...