Coping With Chaos

Send us a text

Episode Transcript

Jim (00:02):
Hello and welcome to decide on Joy, a podcast coming to you
from Harmony Spiritual Center inFort Worth, Texas.
My name is Jim Alt

Pjae (00:11):
and my name is Reverend Dr.
PJ Stanley.
And welcome, so glad to have youhere.

Jim (00:16):
And today we're talking about out coping with chaos.
Mm.
And why you might ask, becauseit, this may not be a universal
feeling, I, I'm.
But for a lot of people it feelslike right now, the universe is
filled with a lot of chaoticenergy.

(00:37):
Yeah.
Not just in politics but in allsorts of areas.
Yeah.
And so it, it is a question, howdo you cope with that without,
without being dragged down byYeah.
Kinda surrendering to it or, or,or depressed by it.
Mm-hmm.
Or, or.

(00:58):
Crazy anxious about it.
Yeah.

Pjae (01:00):
Exactly.

Jim (01:01):
And what, what does new thought offer on that front?

Pjae (01:05):
I, and that's really, and I'm, I'm, I'm glad you put it in
that perspective or that, instating in that, like, what does
new thought think about it?
And I don't know, in all of mystudies and years in new
thought, whether that wassomething we specifically talked
about.
Mm-hmm.
But I can cobble together what Ibelieve is what we do.
Number one is that we we're,we're, we're, the, the number

(01:28):
one thing that we talk about is,is constantly being connected to
that which is greater thanyourself.
So.
So we don't have to concernourselves necessarily with what
is going on and chaotic aroundus.
Let's just, and I'm gonna bringit back down to say, family,
because we all have family orsome family resemblance.
Some, some, some group thatwe're connected to.

(01:49):
And there could be chaos withina person, a particular person in
that group that you may want tohelp or be a part of or love or
help them through.
But it's not necessarilysomething that you can do
anything about.
And so you, you don't.
Jump into the chaos with them.
You look from where you are, andthis is what I believe is it

(02:10):
keeps me at peace.
I, I, I think peace is a high,is a high value.
What keeps me at peace islooking at what is going on the
best that I can, from my pointof view, is the only way you can
look at something and say, okay,that is fairly chaotic.
What is mine to do about that?
What is mine to do?
Do I jump in?

(02:31):
And just bringing it back tofamily?
I can ask, can I help you withthis?
I might have some suggestionsabout it.
They may or may not beinterested.
There are friends that I haveand associates that I have that
we don't believe the same thing.
Not necessarily even about ourspirituality, but just about a
number of things, how familycomes together, how whatever it

(02:52):
is, we may not believe the samething, so I can't offer any
suggestions.
They can't offer me any as well,but that doesn't mean I need to
jump into.
What I feel is their chaoticramblings about it that doesn't
help, doesn't help them.
It doesn't help me, and it keepsyou off the path you're supposed
to be on and doing what it isthat you actually feel is yours

(03:13):
to do.
So that's one thing.

Jim (03:16):
Yeah.
On a larger scale though,sometimes it's things that are
going on that you feel are.
A threat.
You know, it's not just, oh,that's a family member having a
difficult time.
Sure.
But this is coming after mekinda feeling.
Yes.
And of course that's fear based.

(03:37):
So it's, well, there are somesabout how do Yes.
Yes.
And, and.
People's opinions about whatthose things are might be wildly
different.
I mean, yes.
I'm, I'm dancing delicatelyaround this because part of
Harmony Spiritual Center'spolicy is we do not ever discuss

(03:59):
politics and so Right, right.

Pjae (04:01):
We don't

Jim (04:01):
avoiding that.
Right.
We have within the membershippeer people at.
Both extremes Yes.
Of the current politicalspectrum.
Yes.
Which sometimes seems there areonly extremes in the current
political spectrum.
And, and just the fact that it'sokay for people on either side
to totally savage people on theother side.

(04:23):
Online or in debates orwhatever.
Right.
Call them idiots and morons andfools and

Pjae (04:30):
Yes.

Jim (04:30):
Bad people and everything else.
Yes.
And just the fact that that'sokay.
That's part of the chaoticenergy.
That Right.
That's, that's troubling.
You know, that's meanness seemsto be,

Pjae (04:43):
yeah.
It feels, it feels like it'sthe, it's the, and, and then
again, not slamming anyparticular group, but you know,
we just had this whole thing inthis country about just cowboy
up, you know, and just go aheadand take whatever it is that you
want to do or what you think isyours to have or whatever.
That.
Idea comes from.
But the thing, the thing is,this is, again, it just, it's

(05:04):
back to, because you aren't, youcan't do anything about what
everyone else is doing.
But what you can do is do whatis yours to do.
And if there's something that isyours to do, there are other
people who wanna do the samething.
And so you surround yourself thebest you can with people who
want to be kind.
I'm not going to, I, I removemyself.

(05:27):
I'm not gonna change anyoneelse's mind.
So I simply remove myself frompeople who don't want to be
kind, who simply think thatcutting people off on the
freeway or talking bad about aparticular group.
That's, that's not, that's notokay, and it's never been okay.
And it might be a biggerpopulation that thinks it's okay
than not.

(05:47):
At this point.
Everything swings, everythinghas its rise and fall.
And.
You have a right to choose as towhat you're going to do and what
you're gonna believe and whatyou're going to stand for.
And again, back to what wetalked about and always talk
about what values do you have?

(06:09):
What, what, what, who, who doyou say you are, and when is it
that you wanna stand up and saysomething and get involved in
groups of people that are sayingsomething that is, that you feel
is okay to say in terms of.
What you value.
So for me, it's, it's kindness,it's love.
It's seeing that other peoplehave a right to say what they're

(06:31):
gonna say.
I also have that right to saywhat I'm gonna say, and you're
not gonna shout me down.
I.
You can try, but I won't allowit and won't allow it.
Not, not by continue to shoutyou down, but turning it away
and, and going elsewhere tospeak and be who I am.
There's room for that.
So, you know, we don't have tobuy into the ca, we don't have

(06:51):
to be a, we don't have to acceptthat.
What is chaotic?
Out there is necessarily meansit's what our life needs to be
about.
Part of not being chaotic or notaccepting that is saying, I'm
going to take peace with me.
I'm gonna find it'cause it'sthere.

Jim (07:09):
Right.

Pjae (07:09):
And be determined to do that.

Jim (07:11):
And I know some sources would.
Say, think about something else.
If you're having a bad thoughtabout that, think about
something else.
I don't think that actuallyworks, and I don't.
That's

Pjae (07:24):
in denial.
That's denial.
What I think, I think

Jim (07:26):
it's what seems to work better for me is yes, you say,
okay, I acknowledge thatthought.
Yes, I acknowledge that fear orwhatever, but it isn't me.
I'm not, I don't have to be,wedded to it.
We don't,

Pjae (07:41):
we don't, we have so many examples in our society at
large, the world at large, wherepeople wanted to rule over some
other group say that they werebetter than some other group.
And for temporarily, that's whatit looked like.
But those people stood up andsaid like, no, no.
That's not okay with me.

(08:02):
And to what degree you'rewilling to stand, to what degree
you're willing to take a standis an individual decision.
No one can say what that is.
Only you can, which I, I know Isound like a broken record, but
to me it's the most importantthing for you to actually know
what matters to you and what youwill stand up for.
And and what you say, you knowwhat, yeah.

(08:24):
I don't believe in that, but Idon't need to make a big noise
about it'cause it's notimportant enough.
And sometimes it is importantenough to take a stand and go,
no, I don't agree with that.
That's not how the whole worldis.
This is how my world is and thisis how I'm going to live it.

Jim (08:39):
Right.
You, you certainly can.
I mean, as you said, you canalign yourself in whatever way
with, with groups that are doingsomething Yes.
About it, for instance.
Okay.
I guess this is slightlypolitical, but climate change, I
know some people say thatdoesn't exist.
Sure.
But sort of in the face ofevidence.

(08:59):
Mm-hmm.
But but say whether it exists ornot, right?
That's not the point.
Say that it is a concern ofyours, then there are
organizations that you cansupport.
There are things you can do toExactly contribute to that.
Yes.
Which can help to, I think,alleviate the.
Anxiety?

Pjae (09:19):
I think so.
I think, I think, I think that'spart of our anxiety.
When, when you get it is, oh,oh, oh.
What do I do?
What do I do?
What do I do?

Jim (09:29):
And the feeling that there's nothing you can do.

Pjae (09:33):
Yes.

Jim (09:33):
I mean that

Pjae (09:34):
yeah,

Jim (09:35):
of course is something that.
Dancing around this, but someThat's okay.
Some forces want you to feelthat you can't do anything about
it.
Correct?

Pjae (09:45):
Correct.
Correct.

Jim (09:47):
That opposition is futile.
And so

Pjae (09:51):
our history has shown us that opposition is not futile.

Jim (09:53):
Yeah.

Pjae (09:54):
The human history has shown us that yeah, opposition
is not futile.
It may take a while.
Yes.
And there may be a lot of lossor hurt or any number of things,
but.
That's what, that's what life isabout is saying yes and no.
When it's time for you to sayyes and no,

Jim (10:11):
and a perfect example of opposition not being futile is
the very people who arecurrently in power politically
in the us.
Were the opposition.
Yes.
And it was not futile there.
Exactly.
Now they're there.
Exactly.
Not exactly correct.

(10:31):
Yes, exactly.
Correct.

Pjae (10:33):
So it's never as much as whoever seems to be I don't
wanna say the word in charge,but whoever seems to be talking
the loud or whoever actually istalking the loudest, they're
just talking loud doesn't meanthat the, the lower voices
aren't being spoken.
And aren't being heard by oneanother.
And those rumblings continue to,to, to have an impact.

(10:54):
So whatever your rumble is, dothat rumble.

Jim (10:58):
Yeah.

Pjae (10:59):
Speak up.
Say what, what you're about,what, when it, where it matters
to you.

Jim (11:05):
And another thing that I think can help with the anxiety
side of it is because that,that.
Largely tends to be fear of whatmay be coming.
Yes.
But if you can manage to stay inthe present moment I love that

Pjae (11:23):
you said that.
Yes.
I love that you said that.
'cause the past, well, the, wecan learn from the past.
The future's not here.
The present is where theactivity is.
The present, whether it's youtaking a calming breath for you
in particular, whether it's yousaying, this is what I desire,
this is what my heart is asking,my mind is asking, whatever it

(11:43):
is, and so it, it, it, it soundslike I don't know, cliche or
whatever, but it isn't for youto ask yourself seriously.
What is mine to do?
Sometimes it is nothing.
Sometimes it is just to stand,just to, just to stand in your
own presence and know that what,what you believe and what you
know is actually true.

(12:04):
And you can stand there and holdthat energy of truth and light.
And one of the, I think, I thinkit was, it could have been MLK,
I'm not sure, but but yeah, itis the, that's where I read it.
But truth crushed to the groundstill gonna rise.
It gets crushed to the ground,but it's still going to rise.
'cause truth rise, sunlight,bleaches.
You know, so we we bring thingsto the light.

(12:25):
Bring it to the light.
Yeah.

Jim (12:27):
Okay.
We can, we can stop there.
So yes, yes.
Bring it to the light.
Bring it to the light.
Perhaps it will

Pjae (12:33):
Yes.

Jim (12:34):
Be changed.
And in any case that that energythat everyone is feeling at the
moment will eventually shift.

Pjae (12:43):
It always does.
It has.
If you look back over the, Ithink that's part of what gives
me, and we want to close thisdown, but just why, that's part
of what gives me hope is knowingthat things change.
They, they just, they don't staythe same.
And you look around the worldover history and over time
people are hearty.
We are hearty, we're energetic.

(13:05):
We, we, we can dream, we canchange.
One, a small group can change somuch.
So, and we know this, so youknow, you just.
Keep the faith.
Yes.
Keep your faith.
Yes.

Jim (13:19):
Change.
We tend not to like change, youknow, that's a Yes.
A problem that practicallyeveryone has.
I mean, sometimes we do if it'schanged that we were promoting,
but yes.
But yes.
Often we resist change, whateverit may be.
We, we

Pjae (13:35):
do.
'cause we get comfortable withwhat we know.
Yeah, of course.
Course.
You know, we just getcomfortable, you know, that's
again, human nature.
That's okay.
Yeah.
Well, we don't want anybodydisrupting our

Jim (13:44):
comfort.
Yes.
But yeah, stay in the presentmoments just to hear.
And yeah.

Pjae (13:50):
Be here now.

Jim (13:52):
Yes.
Yes.
And we will see you next time.
Yeah.
Be there now.
Thanks.
Be there then.
Yes.
Yes.
Thanks for being here.