The woke, sjw and feminist ideology has infected and poisoned western spirituality. The Buddhist temples where I live ask for your pronouns at the start of meditation and have Sangha practice that’s segregated. Yes that’s right encouraging identification with the mind through ego pronouns and identities and segregating not allowing white people attend sahnga and only allowing bipoc people. It’s nuts.

Jason said "they need to get off there cheetos" lmao

Thank you for the clarity your videos bring to my understanding of ancient knowledge and wisdom and to many others who benefit from your channel. Thank you so much! Be blessed

Respect you guys and your authentic presence in the world - so much needed. 🙏🏽👌🏽🌳🌌

Thank you both for such a great unpacking of this chapter. I am 59 and grew up with regular land line, no computer. Till my dad bought a computer when he could. Im in total agreement with gyungs ( i may have spelled your name wrong hon im very sorry) sentiment about cell phones (pocket computers)!

Great video and I'm in alignment with your guy's thoughts. Thank you for everything you do! ❤

One of the ads advertised "if you're in Europe and want to say connected 24/7.... I then clicked skip. The irony

Siddhartha: "I can think; I can fast; and I can wait." Blessings to you both.

"Politics is show business for ugly people." - Paul Belaga It has long been the folly of man to follow political partisans, they act like the "Busy ants, spoiling the picnic of life." - Benjamin Hoff. We must be patient with those still on their journey and encourage positivity in those around us as they gather wisdom "drop by drop is the water pot filled" - Gautama Buddha

A rule I'm playing with at the moment is, "If a person trying to influence my life and tell me how to live doesn't love me, they have nothing useful to say". ❤

Quote: "A censorship of what is right and wrong." 4:25 Everyone makes decisions about what is right and wrong. Chapter 58 of the Tao Te Ching gives an opinion of what is right and wrong. Even if someone states that it's wrong to state what is right and wrong, that is giving an opinion of what is right and wrong. If a person intentionally refuses to define or have an opinion about what is right and wrong, then they are amoral. How would an amoral person react to an injustice done to them? This leads to a moral dilemma.

Such a timely conversation and full of reminders! Thank you, both!👋🤓👍

Bill Hicks. 👍

Robust people with goodwill can make a joke without malice, but others with delicate egos will take offence and shut down the robust person. Thus, goodwilled humour leaves the world, to be replaced by po-faced witch-hunting.

Thanks i have grown up with such literature, as a family of prof of philosophy in India

Quote: "If government is muted and muffled" What does it mean to mute and muffle? How is the muting and muffling achieved? The word mute means to deaden, silence, or turn off. It seems that a judgment of right and wrong is being made, and that the judgment is that it's morally right to mute and muffle the government. Whatever standard is set, that standard should be uniformly applied. Hypocrisy is when a standard is not applied equally, and an unequal standard is unfair. A uniform standard that is not hypocritical would be to not mute or muffle either the citizens or the government. If one is not muted but the other is, then there is a double standard. Is it okay to hold one person to a standard and not the other? There's a reason why lying and slandering are morally wrong.

Yeah I remember the days when it was more normal to be with a friend doing something, just as simple as that we were more sociable before social media. It’s basically a parasite on human behaviour 😬

Moderation = Equanimity. Lovely talk; thank you both ☯👍

That was a great session 🙏

Great episode, got a lot out of it! Thanks again guys 🙏

Thank you guys! Great discussion!! ❤

Well said guys!

This was a great conversation. So true! Greetings from Germany! ❤

Well said.

I have a problem with the world govern as in control, cause i dont think lao tse would try to control others, or that daoism is about governing anything, but letting things follow their natural course, then the world Will be at peace

A much better critique of some of the current counterproductive political rhetoric than I have come to expect when so-called "woke" ideology is discussed. Often, such critics seem primarily interested in justifying their own prejudices and bolstering their own egos by kicking down. This video, in contrast, was a more thoughtful and gentle approach. Jason's statement that "I care about your health, not what you say," is a far more reasonable response than some of the backlash I am accustomed to hearing here in the US. I look forward to exploring this channel more 🙏

What a truly outstanding presentation.

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Moral force (called “te”) in Taoism is the force derived from following the natural laws or path of nature/universe. People will naturally gravitate towards you (I’ve heard the creative term “soul gravity”) when you practice the principals of the Tao or “the Way.” One does it without trying to do so- sometimes called actionless action, or Wu Wei- without forcing. This method of not trying or forcing removes any bias, ego driven decision or motive, politically motivated actions, and low or fake virtue signaling, fake compassion- as what woke liberals are endlessly preoccupied with, from the process, thus making it a pure act- like a flower or tree grows towards the sky without exception, or geese migrate, river flows- all without exception making those actions a higher and most purest form of virtue. It’s more of a selfless act where one removes the “self”, which is just the ego illusion- which includes political affiliations as with BLM, leftists practicing dogmatic wokeology, etc.. It’s common to get caught up on the phrase of “the flow of the Tao” and erroneously refer to it as an intentional decision to “just go with it” as I’ve seen many uninformed woke liberals describe the Tao. So one’s explanation of the moral standards of Taoism mustn’t be vague, and one needs to deeply study and detail what LaoTzu originally wrote 2,000 years ago in an approach without political bias- left or right, etc..

Thanks for the reassurance and for saying things as they are...what does one do when one's closest family and friends want to play all these silly, woke games. It's very hard to be yourself with the people who matter

Nice to hear the Jonathan Haidt name-drop; he called this trend in its infancy. I'm left to wonder if people have always been so easily led or whether critical independent thought has simply reached a nadir in the West. I'm just amazed that so many people have been seemingly so easily conditioned to reject the most fundamental basic truths about our existence. The weaponization of empathy, I think, has played a role, but so have the alienation and anxiety that social media has exacerbated. It's almost as if people are living in an alternative reality through their screens and feel a need to conform to it -- which I suppose means getting likes at any cost, even at the cost of ownership over your mind. As institutional religion declines in the West, I'm not terribly surprised to see wokeness filling the void. What I do find distressing is when the woke mind virus seeps into religion itself. Christianity and Western (i.e., white suburban liberal) Buddhism seem to be falling into the trap. Hinduism, Taoism, and Eastern/ethnic Buddhism, perhaps not so much -- and that's a relief. Great video, Jason. Many thanks.

Wow Jason, another great episode! Would I ever get the chance to interview you? Much love.

The original classic liberal!

Watching this on my smartphone.

Jason I just want to thank you both. In my 20s I studied many eastern philosophies and spiritual practices; Buddhism and Taoism being the ones that really resonated with me. Post pandemic I felt such a shift in the zen center that I would frequent here in Austin. It felt so hypocritical forcing people to be vaccinated, wear masks, etc. I started to see the woke mentality infect the space. It’s refreshing hearing how the truth of the tao speaks upon the hypocrisy of the woke mentality. Thank you. Much of my faith in eastern spirituality was diminishing as I felt it couldn’t stand up against the powers of control so thank you for reminding me the power and true meaning of the tao.

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Chapter 58 of the Tao Te Ching: If government is muted and muffled People are cool and refreshed. If government investigates and intrudes, People are worn down and hopeless. Bad fortune rests upon good fortune. Good luck hides within bad luck. Who knows how it will end? If there is no principle Principle reverts to disorder, Good reverts to calamity, People's confusion hardens and lingers on. Therefore the Sage Squares without cutting, Corners without dividing, Straightens without extending, Shines without dazzling. LaoTzu is explaining exactly what we have now in modern times- big government and big tech both working together mass censoring anyone who disagrees with them, intruding and investigating citizens through surveillance with NSA using the NDAA, social media, apps, etc.. It’s no surprise average hard working Americans are worn down, weary and leery. LaoTzu also explains in chapter 57: “The more prohibitions and rules, The poorer people become.” We’re taxed to poverty to enforce their rules for us. This chapter can also be used to describe all the corporate, big tech, and big government backed programs and groups such as DEI, radical left wing extremist groups like BLM, Antifa, LGBTQ+, which are pretending, perceived and disguised by corporate MSM and government officials to be good programs and groups based on good principles and under good intentions. Their actions have proven otherwise. These organizations and practices have given rise to calamity with corporations, big tech, companies and government now facing a tsunami of law suits; the mass censorship, deplatforming and canceling of anyone who dissents or opposes them; social and civil unrest, riots, chaos that have resulted in billions of dollars worth of property damage- including POC businesses; great loss of faith in our government; and worse- the deaths of those whom the corporations, officials and organizations claim to be helping and trying to save. Over 300 POC were killed during summer rioting- by rioters, disguised as “protesters” and “activists” by big tech, MSM and government officials who claimed they were “mostly peaceful protests”, but we all saw otherwise with our own eyes. As Chapter 30 of the Tao states: The most fruitful outcome Does not depend on force, But succeeds without arrogance. Without hostility. Without pride. Without resistance. Without violence. ….and in Chapter 57: The sharper people's weapons, The more they riot. The more skilled their techniques, The more grotesque their works. The more elaborate the laws, The more they commit crimes. Furthermore, the ideal under radical leftist socialist Marxism that there is an oppressed class and the oppressing class falls under the illusion of separateness, and so causes more separatism/division and calamity. The world needs unity, not division. As a Buddhist will state, there is no be who is born and no one who dies. There is no one who suffers and no one who is enlightened. There is no one who oppresses and no one who is oppressed. The soul does not buy into any of the nonsense that there is a “self”. The soul does not suffer, die, is not enlightened, is not born, is not oppressed, does not oppress, etc. Most importantly, let’s not forget that corporations, big tech and government cannot cancel, censor, or deplatform the soul.

Yes, agreed. We are creating a weaker, more anxious and depressed society that are slaves to social media and political agendas 😢

I believe society is balancing itself out. For so long as it has been far right maybe it has to go thru the far left to regain balance

It's very simple (when you realize it) Only physical pain exists (and the body will always handle it) The mental gymnastics of ideas is what we call suffering. Suffering is absolutely not necessary. When you have had enough of suffering, you will understand how not to pay attention to mental gymnastics. Over time, mental suffering will literally stop nagging you. Then you are always in PEACE within. Fear, desire, thought no longer have any attraction for you. God is within - that’s exactly the meaning.

Can someone explain to me why their heads are going all fuzzy at times? is it to show coming in and out of the Tao? When they’re lying? And so not ignore those moments but bright them back into truth? It seems that way

What is the natural state of society with no government? What is an example of a society with no government?

I was brought up in the 70s and the 80s back when people's backs were alot bigger and stronger any ridicule or cuss words Said to someone was responded with sticks and stones will hurt my bones but words will never hurt me plus computers were not available apart from atari we used to laugh it off as kids or it would come to blows or stop the freinship, but as far as hate speech goes one should learn the live and let live and get on with their own lives ,and as for mobiles mine is out of contract i don't go out with mobile I use landline for calls, I only use mobile for spiritual music frequencies and meditation and your talks and ramana maharshi nisagadatta maharaj and swami annamalai talks via medicine of one and organic down tempo chill music, we need a new golden age like commune living when people work for each other not for money growing their own foods together building together using green energy eating together like the kemet golden age of old before money

The coddling of the young in the western world has been of no real benefit. Inmho. Every snowflake is different but they are not more significant than the other snowflakes. The wave is not separate from the ocean. I grew up in 1960's. When the telephone rang in our house it was usually family or friend calling for something important. There was no IM, no voice mail, no answering machine. Social media has decreased our ability to be social. ❤

Kinda funny that the translation of the word Daoism in this video became DSM, The holy bible for health professionals. As soon as one starts to talk about a subject like this they (or the ego) immediatly wants to run away, luckily they have this thing called DSM so within no-time you are the one who's probably in a psychosis thanks to this wonderfull labeling system. But actually it's them who need a proper evaluation (or Self inquiry) as they can't cope with different opinions, points of view or other levels of consciousness (although there aren't levels and it comes down to being awake or in Avidya) you then become a hazard of their reality. When one is lucky and able to ensure them you are not in a psychosis, again the magic book comes forward because we can't live without labeling, they won't get paid without a diagnose so maybe one ends up with a dissociative disorder instead, and again it's the world upside down.

Money rules our world with greed a close second followed by ego and power. If one can walk between these elements not being entangled to deeply it makes life a lot easier. But the above things are part of modern day life and more so than in the past.

Is this new technology promoting social division bad? … we’ll see Division has always been there, Country vs Country, Religion vs Religion. If anything tech is bringing to the surface how insecurities are emotionally manipulated to suit the day’s rulers. The thing where people freak at different points-of-view is called an “amygdala hijack”, they have traumatic stress and their brain turns off. So if it causes people to heal their trauma and gain better emotional skills, it’s good? … we’ll see

I share your obvious frustration with the woke mentality.

@JasonGregoryAuthor I just watched some content from iskcon to do with adi shankaracharya and Advaita Vedanta. It speaks about mayavada philosophies and how shankara was an incarnation of lord shiva meant to create an atheist philosophy for the kali yuga. I know iskcon can be very extremist but the points they make are quite powerful. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rduFidFmq5ism4U.htmlsi=I7INZaehgUZO6idI I'm certain you've come across this, can you maybe provide some insight on the matter? It's quite a daunting perspective.

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