The central theme of this discussion revolves around the concept of Wu Wei, which is articulated as "effortless action." Within the framework of both Christian and Taoist teachings, we explore its profound implications for achieving harmony in our lives and communities. In the context of scriptural references and philosophical insights, we examine how Wu Wei serves as a guiding principle that urges us to act in accordance with our true selves—our Te—while considering the broader goal of maintaining harmony with others and the world. Notably, we delve into illustrative examples from the lives of Jesus and biblical figures, showcasing how their responses to challenges embodied this principle of effortless action, often manifested as peaceful resistance rather than overt confrontation. Ultimately, this conversation encourages us to reflect on our own lives and the nature of our actions, inviting us to ponder how we can embody Wu Wei in our daily interactions and pursuits.

An insightful examination of the Taoist principle of Wu Wei juxtaposed with notable literary works unfolds within this episode, as Joshua Noel articulates the essence of effortless action through the narratives of the Biblical Book of Daniel and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Wu Wei, a concept that advocates for action without force, is intricately woven into the fabric of these stories.

In Daniel, the unwavering resolve of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the face of lethal consequences encapsulates the notion of peaceful resistance. Their steadfastness not only reflects their commitment to their faith but also serves as a testament to the power of non-violent action, illustrating that true strength lies in adhering to one’s principles amidst adversity. In parallel, the character of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables embodies the transformative potential of mercy and compassion, particularly as exemplified by Bishop Myriel. The Bishop's act of forgiveness towards Valjean, who had previously succumbed to desperation, illuminates the profound impact that effortless actions can have on individuals and their communities. This narrative arc emphasizes that the most significant changes often arise from quiet acts of love rather than overt confrontations or aggressive maneuvers. Noel encourages listeners to reflect on these themes and consider how Wu Wei can be applied in their everyday lives, particularly in fostering harmony in their own environments.

As the conversation unfolds, the episode invites a deeper contemplation of personal and communal harmony, urging a reflection on the nature of one’s true self ('Te') and the actions that arise from that authentic place. The synthesis of Taoist and Christian principles presented in this discourse provides a rich framework for understanding how we might navigate our lives with grace, authenticity, and a commitment to peace. The overarching message advocates for a compassionate approach to existence, one that recognizes the interconnectedness of all beings and encourages a gentle, yet steadfast, engagement with the world.

Takeaways:

1. The concept of Wu Wei in Taoism emphasizes the importance of effortless action, suggesting that sometimes the best course of action is to do nothing at all, thereby allowing events to unfold naturally.
2. Through examining the book of Daniel, one can observe that peaceful resistance and remaining true to one's beliefs can lead to profound outcomes without resorting to confrontation or violence.
3. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables illustrates the transformative power of mercy, as seen through the character of Bishop Muriel, whose acts of kindness change the trajectory of Jean Valjean's life without imposing conditions.
4. In both Taoist and Christian traditions, the notion of harmony serves as a guiding principle, suggesting that one's actions should align with creating peace and balance within oneself and the community.
5. The interplay between knowing one's true self, or Te, and practicing Wu Wei reveals a cyclical relationship where understanding oneself facilitates effortless action in life.
6. Ultimately, both the scriptures and literary works highlight that true strength often lies in the ability to act in ways that promote love and understanding, rather than force or aggression.

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Jesus once said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed. Nor will they say, look, here it is or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God is already in your midst.

Lao Tzu once wrote, if nothing is done, nothing is left undone. This is Be Living Water, a show that seeks to find a way to imitate Christ that's beneficial to all and in conflict with none.

In our modern context, I am Joshua Null, and I am a Taoist Christian who seeks to be true to himself and true to Christ to the best of my abilities.

I may not always be the smartest in the room, but I am committed to be honest about who I am and to look to both Christian and Taoist traditions for wisdom from sages, pastors and theologians who have paved the way before me to wisdom. Today we're talking about a concept called Wu Wei. Looking at it and how it's going to be seen in the books of Daniel and Lamez.

And I promise eventually we really will start getting into these books and not just preparing to get into these books, but I think it's important to go through some of these concepts. We talked about te last time. I'm going to talk about Wu Wei today and a little bit on how those two ideas are related, my understanding.

And again, for those who've stalled the show a long time know I'm a dummy. I might not have all this completely correct, but this is how I understand it at this time.

Tei and Wu Wei, a little bit is a little kind of this chicken and egg question. So a lot of times if you look it up, Google or something might tell you that Wu Wei is how you get to your te.

By doing Wu Wei, you eventually find your te. Wu Wei means effortless action.

And I think the idea on some kind of face level is by doing these effortless actions, or I'm doing this action that's no action, I will find my Te, that thing that is my true self.

What I think it's missing out of here, though, is there's a little bit of a cyclical nature to this, because also when you have found your Te, it's easier to know when to Wu Wei, Wu Wei isn't you're always doing effortless actions exclusively, but it is this kind of thing of like what comes most natural to you. That's the action you're taking because it takes the less effort, the less push against yourself to do.

And knowing yourself makes it easier to do that. Doing that makes it easier to know yourself. So there's A little bit of a cycle here.

Wu Wei, it can't be understand as effortless action or action that's no action. And usually it's told through example rather than explaining exactly what it is. So I'm going to do that here in a little bit.

But I want to talk about something else first. On why it's not just open door theory. It isn't just whatever is available. Do that. Because what you have to do again, you have to remember your goal.

The goal in Naoism, Christian, Taoism, Taoist Christianity, whatever, finding harmony. And if your goal is harmony, you're not just going to go through any door.

If the door is, I'm going to stab this guy because I have the ability to do that right now. Well, that doesn't mean you should do it right now. That's not going to put you in harmony.

Or I have the ability right now to just take this money from the bank. Why wouldn't I do it? That would fall, I think a little bit more in open door theory, like the opportunity presents itself, I just do it.

Whereas Wu Wei is saying more of like, no, there's a goal. The goal is harmony. So if I have that money and I could just take it, why is it going to put me in harmony?

So Wu Wei, instead of the open door, just take it because it's there and I can. Wu Wei would say no action is the right action. Do nothing. Stealing that money would put you out of harmony. So just do nothing. That's Wu Wei.

That's why it's different than open door theory. I don't like open door theory if you can't tell.

And I am oversimplifying open door theory as well, but I think that kind of shows a little bit of the difference here. Remembering your goal is harmony.

Wu Wei looks like peaceful resistance standing in the way of those trying to cause harm or take the world out of harmony. You're standing in the way. You're not fighting against them. You're not your peaceful resistance. Think Jesus in Rome, right?

He disagreed with him, but he never went and took sword. Well, he told his disciples to take swords, but he never fought the Roman Empire. He didn't try to start a revolution or rebellion.

He allowed himself to be killed on a cross in peaceful resistance. Speaking up in love is Wu Wei. Wu Wei wouldn't just allow you to sit there and watch people be harmed because that's not harmony.

It should be that your nature is such that it would be so hard not to speak up. That Wu Wei, the Effortless action would be to speak up when you see harm being done to others.

Speaking up in love, being salt and light in the world, as Jesus tells us his followers are. If you know God, you know his word, you know love, then you should be trying to benefit others.

Doing things for others actually is easier than not doing things for others.

If you know your Te, if you found your true self, that self that wants to be in harmony with God, with nature, with one another, then it's easier to do something for your neighbor than it is to not do something. And that's why I think it's important to both have that knowledge of like my te is my truest self when I'm in harmony.

And Wu Wei is effortless action and having those work together with that goal of harmony in mind, of peace in mind so I've mentioned before, I like Benjamin Hoff's book the Dao of Pu and one of the I also love the Tae Pickle that we talked about some last time. But one of his things that he talks about in the Dao of Poo, when he talks about Wu Wei, he talks about a cork and water. Just a cork.

And the conversation is. I don't remember, but I think it's the author with Winnie the Pooh.

And they're talking and it's thinking about a cork in the water and something pushes up against it or tries to attack it. What's going to happen? The cork's going to go under, float back up. That's Wu Wei. It's going to float with the river.

When something pushes against it, it's going to get pushed down and then come right back up. A cork in the river. Cork in water. Another one. This is a quote from the author of Winnie the Pooh. So this isn't actually from the Dalipoo.

This is from Winnie the pooh itself. A.A. moun says, what I like doing best is nothing, says Christopher Robin. How do you do nothing? Asked Pooh after he wondered for a long time.

It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear and not bothering. Oh, said Pooh. Hearing what you can't hear, listening to what you can't hear, not bothering, doing nothing.

It's hard and important work to do nothing if you're doing it right. Jesus, he was with the woman that was almost stoned. These people are accusing her of, you know, whatever, adultery or something.

And they said, took this lady to Jesus and said, let's we have to stone her. She broke the law. What say you? And Jesus said Okay, cool. Whoever is without sin, you go ahead and throw the first stone.

Jesus didn't stand up and argue with them. He's playing in the sand. The Bible says he doesn't stand up and fight them. He doesn't try to get in the way.

He just has this calm reaction, like a cork. They came to try and push him, to test him, and he lets them push him and he bounces right back up.

Okay, whoever's first stone, go ahead and throw it. Of course, there was none. They all had to drop their stones and walk away. Mercy, Love, Wu Wei. Effortless action.

Anytime the Pharisees would come and try to question Jesus and get him in a trick, he'd usually just respond with a question or a hey, that's interesting. Or like, he always found a way to turn it around with effortless action. He never tried to fight them. He never got into a shouting match.

There was the time, and this is important, I think, of flipping tables, right? And I think that also was Wu Wei.

I think it would have been harder for Jesus, who is in harmony with God completely, because he is God, just sit there in the temple and watch people who are using the temple for money exchanging goods with Rome. There was, you know, I think there's a lot of politics behind this particular story, but we won't get into that now.

Jesus hasn't seen people misuse money and mistreat the temple of God. I think it would have been harder for him to do nothing than to do something. He started flipping tables, he protested. He didn't hurt anyone.

But he set animals free. He did. He showed fire. That was almost being one with nature. Nature isn't always peaceful and calm. Sometimes it's a lightning storm. That's nature.

A hurricane's nature. A rushing river is terrifying. That's nature. Fire is nature. I think a little bit that was the most effortless action Jesus could have done.

It would have been harder for him to walk away. If he's in harmony with God and he's seen people misuse this area, that was the most natural action for him to take.

I also think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. When we go to World War II. There's actually a lot of debate whether or not he was part of assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.

From what we see, it seems more like he wasn't against it, but he wasn't necessarily a part of it. But it's really hard to tell. A lot of historians have different takes on this. I don't know what the thing that right there is.

Bonhoeffer seem not to be completely sure either. Is it just this peaceful resistance all the time? Or sometimes we have a Hitler, we got to do something about it.

Or sometimes it's people are mistreating the temple of God. I have to do something.

I think sometimes the most effortless action, if you're in harmony with nature, is act like a lightning storm, flip some tables. I think a lot of the times though, we're thinking too hard. That's what it is. It's more about thinking too hard than not doing anything.

Effortless action is doing the action that's most natural to you when you have found your te. Your truest self. So it's not always people want to stone this lady and Jesus saying, okay, cool. Whoever has. Without saying, go ahead and.

Go ahead and start. It's not always that. Sometimes it's flipping tables. I think it's understanding what it means to be in harmony, to be your truest self.

Then whatever is most natural to do with that, whatever is the easiest to do as that as you. That is what we weigh. Thinking too much, I think is key here. I've recently watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Wonder Man.

Phenomenal show. Loved it. You guys should check it out. And check out Systematic Ecology, where they'll be reviewing it and they say something.

So you have two actors are having a conversation. I won't get too much into the nerdy stuff here, but two actors are having a conversation.

The show is about different actors in Hollywood and fictional actors, that is they. One guy is trying to like, really figure out his character. He's like, I'm trying to figure out everything that's going to happen.

I'm that way when I come, I know my full character. I know everything that's in between the lines. And the other actors a little bit wiser who's done this for a little bit longer.

Your subtext is getting in the way. You're doing too much. You're thinking too much. Stop thinking so much. Now. This isn't anti intellectualism.

It's saying that sometimes you think so much, you cloud your brain so much it's impossible for you to just do. And sometimes you gotta learn to find a way to just do that effortless action.

The Tao Te Ching often talks about being an empty vessel, emptying yourself. And I think if sometimes we gotta get all the noise out of our head, find our truest self. Yeah, let's find harmony. Let's embrace intellectualism.

I love science. I love studying philosophy. Sometimes we gotta get the noise out of our Head. Find our truest self. Find God, Find love, Find harmony.

Find, then just do. I think the only way to do that is to find ways more often to do nothing.

Like Christopher Robin is telling Pooh, when you think of Wu Wei, when I think of nature, I think of being like a river. Rivers can be calm and peaceful and beautiful. And just sitting by a river or taking a nap reading a book is an incredible experience.

Rivers are also strong and rushing. It's hard to swim against the current. And yet they're adapting. They're going with the crevices, they're going with the path laid out before them.

At the same time, a river can carve out the entire Grand Canyon given enough time. Solid rock being carved by a river that's just kind of going with the flow of the path set before it.

And yet at the same time, by doing that, it carves a new path. That's Wu Wei. I also think of the Disney animated film Pocahontas.

In fact, this might be a little silly, but I would like to play a little bit of a song from Pocahontas. Just around the riverbend. When we think about Wu Wei, I want to literally hear what she talks about the river here.

What I love most about rivers is you can't step in the same river twice. The water's always changing, always flowing. But people, I guess, can't live like that. We all must pay a price to be safe.

We lose our chance of ever knowing what's around the riverbend, waiting.

Just. I think a lot of times people think of being like a river, about Wu Wei Taoism kind of stuff.

And they think that it's just this kind of like mumbo jumbo, hippie peace stuff. But listen to what she said. We risk never knowing to be safe. Because being like a river is not safe. It is scary. Say, I'm gonna go with the flow.

I'm gonna see where things go. I'm not gonna think too much about this. That's hard, hard work.

And it's scary because it means acknowledging you don't have all control that you're not God. And, yeah, that's scary. And the thing about rivers is you can't step in the same river twice.

Once you know you're gonna be like a river, you gotta accept that water's always changing. You're gonna be adapting a lot, moving with the flow. It's gonna be scary, but that's what it is.

You're always changing, you're always learning, you're always growing. You're never safe. We're always adapting to something new.

Wu Wei is just acknowledging that in a way that allows yourself to accept it and to move like the river instead of trying to swim against the current life. Other things I want to get to with this. It's slow but steady. The Grand Canyon didn't happen overnight. It adapted, right? The river is adapting to.

It's going with the path, and as it does, it's rushing. And the river then is carving out the rock, which creating new paths. And then it keeps flowing. And it's not the same river as it once was.

The Grand Canyon, not the same rock that it once was. And yet every. All that happened was the water went with the flow. Our lives can be like that too. If we learn the flow, we can make real difference.

It won't be the same river, it won't be the same rock, same world we live in. It won't be the same if we learn to flow and to be like a river. I also think of another song by Bassinger, my favorite artist, called Whispers.

And he's talking about the world that we live in and says, it's all just noise and all I want is a whisper and a world that only shouts. I won't play the song, but it's powerful because he sucks. How do I know if it's like. He talks about how courage isn't the absence of fear?

Does that mean I'm fearful to be fearless? And he talks about all this stuff, and he's asking these big existential questions, and he's talking about what's going on in the world.

And he goes, I just need a whisper. I just need a soft voice in a world that only shouts when everything does rock, another rock isn't going to change anything. A river will.

When everyone's shouting, shouting back just adds to the noise. But a whisper, a whisper can make a difference. I think back again to the Bible. You know, Elijah's looking for the voice of God.

He doesn't hear it in the whirlwind. He doesn't hear it in the earthquake, and he does hear it in a still, small voice.

Sometimes going with the flow, being quiet is harder, it's scarier, it's bigger work, but it's the right work. Sometimes it's gonna look like flipping tables. Most of the time, it's gonna look like asking the Pharisees a question.

But I think you have to know your te. You have to know the circumstance. You have to be able to discern to know when to do what. When does Wu Wei look like being lightning.

And what does it look like being a river? We're gonna learn a lot of that as we look at the Book of Daniel and the novel Les Misera from Victor Hugo.

But first, I want to backstep a little bit. I think Taoism, I love Taoism, but I think it needs something else. It needs Confucianism, it needs Buddhism something.

And I think that's pretty evident. And the thing is, like, in the Eastern thought, a lot of times you're not like, I have a religion. This is my religion. That's it.

That's just not how religion typically works over there. It's like we have this American Western mindset, whatever, and we assume that religion works the same way everywhere, and it just doesn't.

Confucius, he had a lot good to say about Taoism. And a lot of the times they kind of go hand in hand. Says the thing with Taoism is learning to let things be what they really are and think.

Confucius was finding a way to add structure, to add order. Order is a good thing. If you've ever seen Kung Fu Panda, you have the two senseis actually debating.

The one's like, well, whatever you do with this seed, it's gonna become a apple tree. And the other one goes, okay, well, I still have to dig a plank, I have to plane it, I have to water it, I have to do all these things.

I still have to have some structure. And then goes, yeah, you're right. But then it's going to be an apple tree. You're not going to be able to make it an orange tree.

Both lines of thinking are incredibly important. You have to have both. You need that kind of structure to say, I'm going to dig out a place, I'm going to plant the seed, I'm going to water the seed.

You need to have those practical things.

What Daoism says, though, is I also need to set my expectations that when I do that stuff and I plant an apple seed tree, that I don't expect it to be anything but an apple tree. And that's where those two kind of things go side by side with Confucius and Taoism. Again, we talk about that Wonder man show in the mcu.

You see this a little bit with the two actors in there. The one is telling the one not to think too much. But then he also says, you do have to read between the lines. You do have to know some of the stuff.

You still have to know the script. It can't just be never thinking at all. So there's a little bit of balance here. Push and pull.

There's one quote from Confucius I wanted to read before we go ahead and talk some about Daniel. Confucius says, the way out is through the door. Why is it no one will use this method?

And sometimes, yeah, that's the thing is Taoism says, do effortless action. That kind of stuff. I believe in that. Confucius says, sometimes there's a door, you just gotta open the door. I think a little bit of both is good.

Sometimes knowing when to act is important and knowing when not to act is important. And that's what we're gonna see a lot as we go through, especially Daniel.

Some of the chapters I want to highlight, chapter three, six, seven, and some of the other prophecies beyond that. We look at Daniel, we see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

In chapter three, the three Hebrew kids who get thrown into the fiery furnace, right, because they wouldn't bow to the giant chocolate bunny. I think that's how it goes. Veggietales reference. For those who don't know, what do they really do here?

The story is that, you know, they listen to their God. They get thrown in the furnace.

A fourth man shows up, they get let out, and then Nebuchadnezzar, you know, the evil emperor, is like, hey, maybe your God's pretty cool. When you really think about the story, though, all they did was stay true to their tay. They peacefully resisted. They said.

They didn't say, we're going to go out and make a giant protest. We're going to go fight the king. They said, we're still going to worship our God the way that we were told to, because that's. We're Hebrews.

This is what we believe. We're going to be true to our beliefs. They were thrown into a furnace for that. They didn't resist. There was a fourth man. They were let free.

They didn't do anything. It was that effortless action did everything for them, like a river. That made a difference in Babylon.

In chapter six, you have Daniel being thrown to the lion's den. I think most people probably know that story. Same thing. What did he do? They were told not to pray to anyone except for the Babylon God.

And Daniel goes, well, I'm still going to pray to my God, because I am. This is what I believe. This is who I am. These are my beliefs, things that I think are important to do.

He didn't go in front of the king and pray really loudly. He didn't make a big protest. He stayed in his own room, prayed to his God, got caught, accepted the punishment for it.

He didn't fight being thrown into the den. He's okay, gets thrown into the den. And then the lanes didn't eat him. He was like, oh, okay. And he was let out.

And then Nebuchadnezzar again changes my Nebuchadnezzar changes his mind every story. That's why I don't believe it's so literal, because it's just what some people really are. Like that, though. Then we go to Daniel 7.

What I think is the crux of the book of Daniel, when the prophecies begin, you see Daniel receiving this prophecy, and there's someone who's like the Son of man. So all these other kings come up that are like these weird creatures, right? And none of their rules last.

But then the Son of Man comes and he's given the kingdoms and his rule is going to last forever. He doesn't conquer. Even in this prophecy, the Son of Man doesn't come and conquer those other kingdoms.

He doesn't come and conquest or take them for himself. God gives him the kingdoms. He just receives, doesn't really do anything.

Then all throughout the prophecies in chapter seven through 12, Daniel's passive. He's seeing the visions. People are explaining it to him. He has no power here. He's not taking control. He's not doing anything. He's seeing the visions.

He eventually tells us what the visions are. He's being told what they mean. That's it. Then after receiving all the prophecies, Daniel is.

He's not told to go and take back God's land or to go do anything, really. In fact, the last word spoken to Daniel, after all these cool prophecies of the kingdoms and like the final days and all this stuff is.

It says, but as for you, go on your way to the end, you will rest, and then you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance at the end of days. So rest, just be, go. Exist. That was his command.

After all that learning to be like a river and a world of rocks, Babylon was not good to the Hebrew people. They were not good. They were not in harmony. I would say they were not good to those who loved God.

And you have all these stories of peaceful resistance. Then you have the prophecies of all the kingdoms ending, and you're like, yeah.

And then God doesn't say, now I'm going to go get the bad guys for you. God says, okay, now go Rest, go, do nothing. So what God tells Daniel at the end, that's something.

Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, we have a few examples of this. Bishop Muriel, at the beginning, that bishop died, said, I love. We're probably gonna do a full episode on soon.

He shows mercy to young Valjean, Jean Valjean, who steals a loaf of bread and he forgives him. He shows mercy to the kid. He doesn't tell the kid, now, this is important.

He doesn't tell the kid, you have to go change, convert, be a member of the church. You're going to work here now. He doesn't say, I'm going to take you in if you will accept this. He doesn't say, say Jesus's name real loud.

He just lets him go. This is fine. Just shows mercy, does nothing. And that effortless action, that inaction, changes Zhao Bajong's life forever.

Jean Valjean, later on, he has the opportunity to kill Jean Vert during revolution, during a war. He chooses inaction. He chose not to kill him to do nothing. That changes the whole ending of both Jean Valjean's narrative as well as Javert's.

Again, when Jean Valjean enters the barricades, he doesn't do it to conquer or to fight. He does fight. He's there to protect the ones he loves.

He loves so much that it would have been harder to do nothing than it was to enter in and try to protect those that he cared for during the war. His presence allows a quiet redirection for those around him. Even Javert, most notably.

The novel as a whole you need to look at takes place during a failed uprising in Paris. People were rising up against an oppressive government and they fail.

With the novel taking place, it shows that taking place during a failed uprising, violence and those loud actions, they made very little impact compared to the quiet, merciful, effortless actions of men like Bishop Muriel and Jean Valjean. And I think that shows us a bigger truth.

The uprising didn't really accomplish much, but that quiet mercy, that effortless action, that inaction of not condemning, of not killing, of not getting revenge, did way more than any of the violence ever could. As always, I like to end the show with three takeaway questions. Not takeaway actions, but questions. And then a point of meditation. So question one.

What is it that might be out of tune in your local community? What around you specifically? Not like nationwide or worldwide. Look just to your community for a minute. What might be out of harmony?

What's out of tune? Are there people who think it's okay to mistreat their neighbor for speaking a different language?

Is there people who just think it's okay to hate all Republicans or hate all Democrats? Are there people who don't care about nature or don't think they need to recycle?

Or they're like, ah, you know, it doesn't matter what's out of tune in your local community? Going back to that Jesus quote we started with, how is the kingdom of God made realized presently in your midst?

Not something that we're looking for someday in the future, but something that's in your midst right now. How is the kingdom of God made realized presently in your midst?

Our third question what might effortless action look like in your home life, your work life, or even online at home when your kids want to throw a fit or your husband or wife do something that upsets you? What would it look like to have effortless action? To have inaction?

Not that you're not saying anything back or not responding, but way your work life when your boss is maybe not treating you the best or you're given an assignment you don't like?

What does effortless action look like then online when someone says something about the politics of our time, or they say something that you think is just dumb, or talk about a movie you liked? What does inaction look like? What would it look like to show them love and mercy like Jean Valjean or Bishop Muriel or Jesus?

What might it look like to be living water? So again, our three questions today. What is it that may be out of tune in your local community?

How is the kingdom of God made realized presently in your midst? What might effortless action look like in your home life, work life, or even online? Now for our meditation, I want you to find a quiet place.

A place that feels gentle or soft to you, and do nothing. Empty your mind. Just be you can start on focusing on your breath. Breathe in. Start from your stomach into your chest. Fill your lungs.

Breathe out first from your chest, then your stomach, focusing on your breath until you're not focusing on anything. Empty your mind. Let it all melt away. Just find a safe, quiet place. Whether it's the park, the woods, your backyard.

Find somewhere soft and gentle to just empty your mind. Rather than providing you with any clear answers or instructions on what to do with your life or how to find wisdom.

I hope this conversation has instead helped you struggle with and ponder how to best be true to yourself as a unique individual and be true to Christ as the true source of all life.

Remember, we are all to be water, beneficial to all in conflict with none and we are called to be Christian, loving everyone and ready to lay down our lives for others. Thank you all for joining me in my own struggles to love myself, to love others and to love God better.

I hope this has encouraged you to continue to be living water. Sa. Sam sa.