So we will continue with the structure calculation of the nucleic acids. So we had this input parameters, coupling constants which translated into the torsion angles of the sugar geometries, then we also have some information from the energetics of the epsilon torsion angle. And then next we have the information from the NOEs, the NOEs information is in terms of the distances between the protons, the various protons inter proton distances. So this comes from the noisy spectra. So we have the input parameters, let me write here for the structure, the structure we have the sugar geometries, then you have the energetics, then you have also the NOEs, NOEs will give you the inter proton distances, which are the inter proton distances, these are the various proton in the noisy spectrum, these are derived from the noisy spectrum. And you know the peak intensity is proportional to 1 over 6th power of the distance, but we get certain distance ranges, so ranges, we do not say we get exactly identical exact distance that this is 3.5, 2.5 and so on, but we get ranges of distances and these are our input parameters. Now then what you do after this, we use this in a kind of an algorithm and that is indicated here. So you have here the distance constraints, you start with a particular model. In your particular model, the distance between 2 protons i and j is let us say Rij. Now from the noisy spectrum and you have a cross peak between i and j, from the cross peak intensity you say well this distance should be between this lower limit and this upper limit. So this is the lower limit of the distance and upper limit of the distance, I mean upper limit anyway cannot be more than 5 angstrom, this is the highest value is 5. However on the basis of the intensities, we can say that this distance should be between 2.5 and 3.5 or it can be between 3 and 4 or between 3.5 and 4.5, that kind of ranges we can give for the different peaks depending upon their intensities. These are called as distance restraints. Then what we have after that, you do a calculation to calculate the energy of the whole molecule. Energy consists of 2 components, one is the so called intrinsic energies, these are the various bond distances, bond angles, torsion angle energies and things like that. Then you have the NOE potential, you define an NOE potential which will tell you this is artificially introduced to potential and that is defined in this manner. So we have 2 components to it, this portion comes reflecting the deviation of the distance in your model from the lower bound, these are harmonic potentials here, harmonic oscillator potential functions. So deviation from the upper lower bound, take the scale, you have the force constant here, they are like a spring, force constant, this is the force constant there. And then you have a deviation from the upper bound, upper bound distance this much and you calculate this for all your distance pairs, let us say you have 1000 distances. For each one of those distances, you calculate this, 1000 distances meaning you have 1000 distance restraints there, each one of them have an upper bound and a lower bound. So for each one of those, these pairs of the distances, I calculate what is the deviation from the expected value. So you have this particular force constant which is kept there and then you define this potential function for violations of the distances for the lower bound and violations from the upper bound. If the violations are all removed, there even energy function has to be 0, therefore what you need to do on your computer, you have to keep optimizing your structure on the computer until you reach a stage that all the distance constraints defined here are satisfied. Once they are satisfied, then you have a E NOE is defined as 0 and that will be an acceptable structure for you once you have reached that stage. And this is done by what is called a particular algorithm called as distance geometry. Now distance geometry algorithm takes a certain set of distances and calculates, optimizes the structure to satisfy your distance constraints.  If it is a triangle like this, there are three atoms in a triangle, how many distances I have here? I have one distance here, another distance there and the third distance there. So if I define the three distances, then this triangle is uniquely defined. So if I have a quadrilateral here, let us say, then I have four distances 1, 2, 3, 4. If I define the four distances, the quadrilateral is uniquely defined. So in the same manner, to define the structure of the entire molecule, I must have a certain number of distances and which will define the structure of the molecule. Therefore, you have to develop an algorithm. This algorithm is defined called as a torsion angle distance geometry. This algorithm what I am describing here is called as TAN D. This was developed in our lab by a student who called Ajay Kumar and TAN D, torsion angle based distance geometry. So you start from a particular structure here. So this is a very random structure. These are not necessarily energetically most favorable. Some kind of a random structure you have for a particular molecule. This is the 12 more DNA segments here. And then you put in the constraints and allow the molecule to optimize the structure, allow the algorithm to optimize the structure by varying the six torsion angles along the backbone and varying the sugar geometry. The sugar geometry has to satisfy the constraints as you mentioned here from the coupling constant. You can also define the sugar geometry in terms of the distances corresponding to those sugar geometries. And these are within the sugar ring, 1 prime, 2 prime, 2 double prime, etc. You can translate the sugar poker in terms of the distances as well from what you get from the coupling constants. So you put in those constraints there and then you optimize the structure in the computer so that you ultimately have to reach there. Now you see these are the various intermediate steps, how the structure is changing. Start from here, the structure is changing as optimization is going on and eventually you see it come out with a very beautiful helical structure there, helical structure. Now it is a single strand here. In this case it was a single strand. Now what you do is after that you can add constraints of the hydrogen-bound base pairs. Then you can put base pair constraints. Once you put the base pair constraints and calculate the structure then you will get the duplex structure for the molecule depends upon the sequence what you have. So therefore you will have to start with any arbitrary structure. Start with an arbitrary structure, randomized values of the torsion angles, randomized sugar geometries, these are not necessarily the most stable structure. The energetically there may be quite a bit of steric contacts etc etc, all of that may be there. Now the EF part in the sugar geometry function which I have here, so EF part which is there if there are steric contacts etc, this will eliminate those because this also has to be taken care. This particular portion involves all the steric contacts and things like that. The NOE part is taken care only in this part. So therefore but this steric contacts also had to be satisfied. So when you do this put all that together in your algorithm, here distant geometry algorithm. So you reach a structure which is a beautiful helical structure satisfying all the NMR constraints. So that is from the structure calculation. Now certain times the hydrogen-bound base pairs, base pair information can be obtained from looking at the heteronuclear NMR. Therefore you will have to use carbon-13 NMR or nitrogen-15 NMR but this will require labelling of your nuclei with carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 and this will have to be obtained by specific synthetic procedures and these are certain examples shown here. I will not go into the details of these ones. A typical example of the spectrum of a particular molecule here and you have the carbon chemical shifts in this area and the proton chemical shifts in this area and all these cross peaks which will identify, this helps you to identify those cross peaks. This is the heteronuclear correlation spectrum and this actually is extremely helpful to figure out which ones are close by and that is various experimental sequences are present here and in this case you see these carbon chemical shifts are quite distinct. Carbon chemical shifts are C2, C6, C4, C5, C6, these are very distinct. These are quite wide range of chemical shifts are present therefore you can apply very selective pulses. We are not going into the details of these pulse sequences but these establish correlations of the type here. So here for example for the you will establish correlation from this particular proton to this carbon, from this carbon to this carbon and this carbon to this carbon you will establish correlations there and these ones appear at very distinct chemical shifts and similarly from here you can establish correlation from this proton to this carbon, this carbon you can go to this carbon and so on and so forth. You will also establish correlation from this proton to this carbon. So therefore such kind of correlation experiments are present and here we show you the chemical shift ranges. The chemical shift ranges for the various basis where all do they occur. This is for anionine, gonine, thymidine, ureidine and citidine. After all of these you have the proton chemical shifts anyway which is all known from the proton spectra. This we have already seen and these are the carbon chemical shifts. The carbon chemical shifts appear very distinctly in certain region here and the C4, C5, C6 you see they are very distinct chemical shift ranges. Therefore this will allow you to apply selectively pulses to this different carbon and therefore you treat them as individual channels and the magnetization transfer can be affected from one carbon to another carbon to another carbon and so on and so forth. So this similarly you have this information for the gonines and the citidines. And the comparison between the RNA and the RNA chemical shifts that is indicated here. So you have all the proton ranges which you already discussed earlier. These are the chemical shifts for the protons and the distinct difference between the DNA and the RNA is the H2 prime chemical shift. H2 prime is shifted to a higher lower field in RNA because with oxygen present at the 2 prime position. Whereas in the DNA these ones are at 1.72 to 2.3 and this is a very unique area which will allow you to obtain the coupling constants from the structure and that is what is shown here. So the 2 prime deoxy-beta deribos this we have already seen before. So we will not go into that. Now we will switch to another kind of structure. So far we are talking about duplex structures. Now as I discussed earlier the DNA has to fold itself into multiple structures and there are various ways it can fold and various ways of hydrogen bonding are possible. One of the unique structures in this is the so called G-codorplex. We also talked about this in the hydrogen bonding patterns here. This is the G-codorplex. This G-codorplex means the G-trand. So G-trand there are 4 Gs with the hydrogen bonding pattern which is like this. Very symmetrical hydrogen bonding pattern it is present here and that is indicated in the schematic here. So you have 4 channels 4 strands which are running in a parallel way then you have these 4 Gs which are hydrogen bonded in this manner. Very symmetrically they are placed in this manner you have the hydrogen bond. This is one particular structure. But you can have many other structures. Many other ways this base pairing can be obtained. The strands need not always run parallel. So here the strands are running parallel but here you see there is a 3 plus 1 hybrid. So 3 strands are going in one direction and one strand is going in the other direction. And here you have anti-parallel 2 strands in one direction this and this are one direction this and this are in another direction. And all of this even so this 4 G-trand can be formed. What will then happen is that depending upon the orientation the glycosidic torsion angle will adjust itself. So with sometimes it can go from Nt to Sin to bring this gone in in resistor to be able to form this sort of a hydrogen bonding scheme. Now in this you have again an anti-parallel structure but now you see it is looking this way. We have this like this, this one like this and this one is like this and this one is like this. So all the 4 you can see the way the hydrogen bonding parallel is done. Different ways you can form the anti-parallel structures. And in this lower one here now you can have a loop. So double chain reversal loop chain runs like this there are only 2 G-trands. Chain runs like this then it actually takes a long loop and comes back and goes in a parallel way here. What is present in this loop area? They are not G's they may be some other nucleotides like the T's or the C's and things like that when they are present the chain can run like this double chain then there is a loop and these are put it in place there and then it can form a tetrad like this. Now similarly this can form within instead of going like this now if these are going parallel this is the turn it has to take. But if they are anti-parallel if these 2 chains are anti-parallel then you can simply go in a loop like this and form a strand like this and form a pair here. So similarly you can have another one here this across the diagonal so to say. So it goes from here to here forms then it folds the diagonal loop. So these are the this is called the edge wise loop this is the double chain reversal loop. Then in this situation you have one molecule which folds in different ways to form a structure. So in this case you see the chain starts from here it starts from this point it goes down then the loops then comes here then it goes in the opposite direction then loops comes to this position then it goes direction then this chain this kind of a chain loop and then you have this one. Therefore goins come in resistor to form a structure of this type. Now here it is 2 simple loops like this so the chain starts here and then the loop here goes in this direction then there are 2 molecules here there are 2 the connection between these 2 is not shown. So then you have another one going here and going like this and these ones are held together in this parallel fashion. So you see there is enormity there is so much variation possible in the structures and this is why it is not surprising that the entire DNA can be packed inside a small nucleus forming different kinds of structures. Now it is of course at the same time it is also a challenge to figure out what sort of a looping is happened. This has to be done from the proper NOE based experiments and the heteronuclear experiments to establish the nature of the hydrogen bonds which hydrogen bonds which an hydrogen is involved in the hydrogen bond. So all that has to be seen from this sort of different kinds of experiments. So here is one illustration there the illustration of course we will not go into the details of this what is the nucleotide numbering etc here how these were obtained but this is showing look at this the chemical shift spread this is the record this experiment is recorded in D2O this is recorded in H2O and all of these peaks are present here okay even D2O some of these are present these are these are the immunoprodoms the immunoprodom region the quadruplex the immunoprodoms appear from the 10.5 ppm to 12 ppm these are all G immunos you see how many how many are there these are 12 here the 4 4 4 into 3 12 and all of these are distinct these are distinct there is no symmetry here because of that you are seeing all the 4 G's are a distinct and they are all present here okay you can count here 1 2 3 okay there are 12 3 here 4 here 7 plus 5 12 all the 5 G's all the 12 G's are distinct these are all found within the same molecule you have a particular sequence running like this this goes like this then you have a loop of this type then it comes down here like this then you have make another loop like this and then of course it goes turns here then another loop here and then ends up here and this so it is amazing amazing the way the chain is folding here and because of that you will have different orientations of the glycosidic torsion angle the sugar geometries will change and they clearly because of that the nonic all of the become non equivalent and you see the distinct chemical shoots for the 12 G's which are present in the G quadruplex once we have this then you will also have the NOE is between these various immunoprotons to the sugar rings and then from then you will figure out what are the sugar geometries and the glycosidic torsion angles see what are the individual glycosidic torsion angles okay now this is another example there how these various the nucleotides are formed there are 2 nucleotides one particular sequence which goes like this other one which is like this then you form a quadruplex here and in this case this is a different kind of a structure you have this one go this starts here goes like this and comes down and another one which goes like this and comes out these are 2 parallel loops these are going in the parallel they are on the same side these 2 loops are on the same side of the quadruplex of the structure here the 2 loops are on the opposite side of the structure both the structures are possible both the things may coexist so when you have this you will have peak coming from both of them okay there is a certain symmetry here and those peaks this and you will establish the connections from the base base NOEs base base NOEs here and and the sequence that is given here is this T g4 T 2 g4 T these are the 2 4 G's which are forming the quadruplexes here okay so these are 2 3 4 5 then you have 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 because you see then you have the T 2 here the T 2 is in the loop and in the result T 2 is in the loop G4 T again this 4 genocletides here these are 8 9 10 11 and in the same sequence can form a structure of quadruplex in this case this is the symmetric this is symmetric and you have both the structures possible and you will see separate peaks for each of these structures and therefore you see so many peaks beautiful spectrum you can see all of these are very well resolved here all the amino protons the red and the things you can see for all the different strain peaks can be identified they are identified with the different colors as I indicated in this so therefore this can actually become as complex as protein spectra so see the small molecules even a small molecule like this is presenting such a wonderful dispersion and so many peaks and it is of course quite a challenge to establish all of these connectivity okay now this is the simple example of a small molecule a small molecule of T AG AG 3 T this is only a timer okay in potassium solution in potassium condition incidentally notice that this will not form in the in sodium the quadruplexes are formed in the potassium solution because it so happens that the space between in the G tetrides the potassium can fit in very well and that will stabilize the quadruplex structures the sodium will not be able to do this therefore typically you do not find this in the sodium solutions we will find this in the potassium solutions as in quite an interesting feature and in this case look at the stability of this quadruplex there are G3 there are T 3 G tetrides there and this is the immunoprodons of the G's okay and these are of course the aminos here and the base protons H8 H2 and the immunoprodons are stable all the way out to 330 degree these brought out here melting if you see this is extremely stable even your normal duplex DNA of the 12 more DNA will not be stable you will not be so much stable typically you will have the melting temperatures of 45 degrees 50 degrees and things like that so this is quite stable structure and these and by looking at these of course you can identify which nucleotide is which and incidentally in this case we also discovered something unique and that is this particular slide we show you you see here a cross peak these are the sequential connectivity as we see in the normal case this is the parallel standard four-stranded structure the G quadruplex you have the identification of the sequential connectivity is here T5 to G4 G4 to G3 G3 to G2 G2 to A1 and incidentally here you see a cross peak to the A1 H2 and this cross peak is seen to what this is seen to the amino protons these are to the amino protons this is A and H2 amino protons are normally not seen and they are typically in the in this area chemical shift area amino protons are not seen because they exchange with water unless they get involved in the hydrogen bond but now you see here we see an interestingly in this particular sequence AG3T you see these amino protons and what are these these are a two different mixing times this is 180 millisecond mixing time of the nosy this is 60 millisecond time nosy and you see these are present why did we have to do these at two mixing times because they should not be spin diffusion somebody may argue that this is not a direct interaction but there is a spin diffusion but when you go to small mixing time there is no spin diffusion direct and you see amino proton NOE is to the A1 H2P normally you do not see this for example if you took this molecule this is TAG3T TAG3T you do not find that and what does this tell you this actually is telling us that the A is also forming quadruplex A is also forming a tetran and that was an interesting observation here and of course this was confirmed by various other amino NOEs here from the amino protons you are seeing NOEs to the various amino protons amino protons to amino protons you see NOEs and also to these amino protons and otherwise you normally do not see the amino protons but here you are seeing the amino proton peaks as well because these ones got stabilized in the formation of a tetrad and that is shown here therefore this was a tetrad we called this as an a tetrad you can see the hydrogen bonding scheme here bond here see see this is the hydrogen bond now what happens is this amino group is close to this proton here and this is the H8 proton that was the peak which you were seeing H8 proton and this amino is also close to this proton this proton is H2 proton and we were seeing this amino to the H8 amino to the H2 we are seeing this and now there are two ways one can form this hydrogen bonds and these are the two different ways we have shown here and that indicated the structure one could calculate the structure now on the top here you have this 8 tetrad you not only have the g tetrads here there are 3 g tetrads there and the top you have the 8 tetrad as well and that was the previous one which I showed you in this one this is the 8 tetrad 8 tetrad is formed in this manner the hydrogen bonding scheme is slightly different in these two cases and these are called as I will show you what these ones are these are three two different kinds of structures as stacking of the A1 this shows the stacking of the 8 tetrads over the g tetrad this provides the stability to the 8 tetrad so the one which is in cyan color is the 8 tetrad and what is below is the g tetrad so look at this how this stacking is happening this stacking of the basis the purine basis provides enormous stability to the structure of the 8 tetrad otherwise you normally do not see this okay now this is another discovery there this is called the t tetrad so okay once you have the g tetrad can you also have a t tetrad indeed it turns out that you can also form a d tetrad and that is evident from the t4 NH to the t methyl so this NOE is very characteristic of that one and we will not go into the details of this discussion there with regard to the analysis this is typically the standard analysis of the one prime region of the base to the one prime area and then to the base to the two prime area two double prime area base to the methyl area and this one is the amino protons the amino protons to immunoprodons to the various NOEs immunoprodons to the various Gs there and then immunoprodons to the t4 NH okay now this actually clinched the issue that okay there can be t tetrad as well the t tetrad is also formed and that is shown in this particular way the t4 NH to this one you see is seen even at a high temperature like 313 these are the typical from the g tetrad this four Gs which are present here okay these form are shown here and one of these t is the central t is also involved in the tetrad formation and that is what you are seeing in this area there okay this physical peak is shown okay now t tetrad there are two different ways the hydrogen bondings can be formed which oxygen is involved in the hydrogen bond okay now this is the oxygen and this is the NH this is the t t NH and this is hydrogen bonding like this to the oxygen this uses the O4 this is the O4 in this case this is the O2 because two carbonyl groups in the thymine right at position 2 and at position 4 so you can use either one of those to pair with the t3 NH so once we have that then you have this kind of a two types of hydrogen bonding schemes and you can have different structures depending upon that you see you can see different kinds of structures that can be formed depending on this is the stereo picture of the one particular structure and you can have this is a space filling model of the same structure and here you have the comparison of a this kind of a tetrad G there are 4 Gs continuously opening here and in this case the 4 Gs are interspaced by a t in this case okay now what is the result of that you can see there is a kind of a flattening of the backbone here in this structure and that is this one and in this case this is more straight the backbone is going in the straight and the tetrad is formed in the middle it is the G TGG TGG C you also have the T tetrad in the middle okay so this sort of structures are formed and okay then I think we have to investigate this various kinds of DNA structures depending upon the sequence what we have the variety of structures is quite large you have we have talked about the quarter flexes there can also be triplexes the triplexes we talked about the triplexes earlier in the previous lecture when you talk about the structures and there are also characteristic NOEs for the triplex structures as well depending upon the base pairing scheme whether it is TAT or AAT triples we will have different kinds of NOEs so with that we will be able to calculate this triplex structures as well so therefore this establishes the enormity of the DNA structures which certainly enables the packing of the DNA inside the nucleus so I think we can stop there and that completes the nucleic acid structure calculations and the varieties of nucleic acid structures.


Alright, here we go. My first video on a Nintendo 64 game, and no, I don't want to talk about Mario Kart, or Ocarina of Time, or Perfect Dark, or Banjo Kazooie, or any of that stuff. Let's talk for a bit about Road Rash 64, one of my favorite games ever, and probably my favorite N64 game, period. Now, there are two things that I personally like in a video game, simplicity and carnage. The Road Rash series has always been a perfect combination of the two.  There's four different styles of bikes to choose from, two are built for speed and agility, and two are built for strength and endurance. There's also a huge roster of characters to choose from. I like picking this guy because he looks like Hollywood Hogan. Finish in the top three of a race and you unlock the next one, racking up prize money and combat bonus money as you go, eventually making it to the next set of races where you can upgrade your bike.  You can usually withstand between three and six knockouts or crashes per race, depending on which bike you've picked.  If you don't have enough money, it's game over. Every race takes place on this island. The races start out short and they're easy enough to win, so you can get a bit of money saved up. You're racing through farmland, highways, cities, and neighborhoods, but the further you progress in the game, the races get longer and longer to the point that eventually the goal isn't to win, but just to survive, it's a war of attrition. Eventually cops show up and try and chase you down. If you get knocked out by a cop, you're busted and you have to pay bail to rejoin the race circuit. Okay, so that pretty much describes every road crash game, right? So what makes the N64 version so good? There's two things here that stand out. One is that this game allows for a huge crowd of bikers to coexist on the screen at the same time, and the other is that the camera angle is ever so slightly angled in a way that you can see more of what's around you, so every race is just this huge chaotic mess of nonsense. It's so great. You've got people flying all over, getting bashed into oblivion. Even anonymous cars driving the other way callously plow into a giant group of bikers. I mean, look at this.  I gotta mention the sound design here as well. The grunts and groans and screams here are laugh out loud funny to me, and they're especially funny when you get to the end of the race and you get to see your combat scorecard. The music in Road Rash 64 is also fantastic and fits perfectly, but unfortunately I can't really use it in this video, since it's mostly major label bands like Sugar Ray and CIV, so this video would probably get taken down or something. But yeah, seriously, the more I play Road Rash 64, the less I care about winning the race or advancing.  If you mace an opponent, they'll clutch their eyes, losing control of their bike for a brief period as they helplessly careen forward.  I mean, it's simple. Either you think this is funny as hell, or you don't. As if the regular one-player mode wasn't fun enough, there's also a multiplayer here that's supported up to four players. How can you beat that? There's all sorts of different game modes here as well. A death mode batch where completing a lap earns you a point, but a crash or knockout loses you a point. A mode where you're hunting pedestrians, a tag mode, and of course just a regular race mode. Road Rash 64 is not perfect, obviously. The graphics suffer from the typical N64 bleariness, and that annoying omnipresent gray fog in the distance. Hey, just pretend you're racing in Beijing and the setting suddenly become a lot more realistic. Another con is that since this is an N64 game, that means you are usually stuck wrestling with the bulky, uncomfortable, and unintuitive N64 controller. Okay, that's my own personal hangup. I've always hated that controller, but I managed to play it on the Project 64 emulator and map out my SNES iBuffalo USB controller well enough that I didn't lose any functionality. So even if you hate the N64 controller like I do, there's still ways around that. So yeah, Road Rash 64 is so much fun. It's just pure chaos. There's bikes and bikers flying around in every direction, weapons bouncing off of bodies, people screaming.  Hey, if you like the Genesis or PlayStation or 3DO versions, better good for you. But I like the N64 version the best because of the hilarious sound design, the absurd physics, the four player functionality, and the fact that you can have a veritable mosh pit of bikers on the screen all at the same time with God knows what going on in there. Road Rash 64 is one of the best Nintendo 64 games out there and one of the funniest video games ever made.


and welcome to Holistic Wellness Revealed. I'm Latisha Sharpe and I'll be your host today as we discuss Aloha culture. Today I have with us as a guest, Christiana Joyce. She's, and I may have butchered that name. She's a student and also a teacher as well as an adventurer of this planet Earth. Welcome, Christiana. Hello, thank you for having me. How are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm beautiful. It's a bit of a different experience where I am. You're in Germany, correct? Yes, I am. I'm in Bochum and it's freezing down here. So I thought that it would be great to be able to have your perspective on Aloha culture and Aloha spirit because I know that you were here last year and I think it's been a year, gosh, a little over, right? And I know that you've also visited other places in the United States. So I felt like it would be a really good representation of how the Aloha spirit and the Aloha culture translates to other places in the world. And you have a young perspective, so you're not super ingrained in any ways of things.  I'm 21 and yes. Okay, so you're 21 and you were here in, tell us a little bit about how long you were here and why you were here in Hawaii. Yes, so I did a semester abroad from August 2022 to December 2022, so for like five months. And I did my semester abroad for my English studies. Yeah, we have to go abroad for like three months and I just came up to the idea to go to Hawaii because it's always been a dream of mine to go there. And I felt like, okay, let's just live there. That's great. So in Germany, so I guess speaking about cultures, then in Germany, it's your culture that you go abroad for three months. Everybody does that. Is that just like natural? No, it's not. So basically only the students who are studying English have to do it, but many people who want to do like a semester abroad after school or just while they are studying, they take the chance to go somewhere, but it's not typical to go to Hawaii. Like many people are just going to the mainland or to Australia, New Zealand, but Hawaii is not so typical. Okay, but it is typical to do a semester abroad. More or less, it depends on the family and how wealthy they are actually. Oh, okay, got it. Because yeah, money is a factor. Okay, so you are here for five months and I'm curious what you experienced as far as aloha. And so if you could define aloha, just a short definition and then how would you define aloha? Love, family and being together, just standing up for each other. So that integrity, that family togetherness and being able to know that you're supported then is what I'm hearing, is that? Yes, something about right? Okay, good. And so what were some of the experience of aloha that you had when you were here? Actually, I started right away when I landed at the airport. I met my host mom and it was just like a warm welcome.  And then like coming up to the people I met in college, like all of the teachers and the students I met there, they were all just so warming and loving and they were just like open to meet new cultures and new people. And they were just like, hey, I wanna get to know you. I wanna get to know about Germany. I wanna get to know why you're here, what you're doing. And they were just like, yeah, let's just spend the time together that you're here and make your time great and unforgettable. So it was, and it feels like what I'm hearing you say is that it was an investment. It was like an investment in each other as people. Yes. Yeah. So as far as that goes here, is that very, how does that differ from maybe the other countries that you've visited or even your home country where you live right now? I mean, surely you have great family bonds and friends and love and laughter in Germany. How is that different or the same even? I would say it's different because in Germany, it's more like kind of playing against each other. Like you wanna have, okay, one person has a good job. You need a better job. It's like playing each other out. And it's not like, okay, you're getting a good job. I'm happy for you. I think it's different on Hawaii because everybody is like, okay, I'm living in the moment. I know somebody is having a good time. Somebody's having a bad time, but we're all here together. And in Germany, it's like, okay, I have to be better. It's always like you have one half in life that you need to achieve, that you have a good job, that you have family. And on Hawaii, the people are just like, okay, let's just live in the moment, celebrate it, live with the people we are, love the people and just being one big family. It's in Germany, it's like you have your family, of course, and you have like some close friends, but not on Hawaii, it's like you have everybody.  Let's do something. And nobody cares who you are and what you are doing. It's just, let's just do it together. So you have these experiences of Aloha within your family unit and your close friends, but on the whole as like a community, you're not seeing it as much. No, because it's like, it's a typical saying of Germans, like they're not friendly. I heard that a lot when I've been to the mainland, so let's like, oh, you're a German, but you're very nice. Why are you smiling? It's just like when you're on Hawaii, you're on the street and everybody smiles at you. It's like they have this friendly smile and it's not just on the surface, they just mean it. They just want to spread some friendliness and be nice to each other. So that's, I love that. So you can actually feel, because you know the show is all about holistic integration, right? And being able to access and be an active part of all parts of ourself, our body, our mind, our spirit, our emotions. And what I love, what I'm hearing you say right now is that you can feel the love and you can feel the authenticity. And that is such a beautiful sense that you get when you're here on the islands. And I think that that truly does define a lot of our Aloha culture. What about other places on the mainland? Because I know that you visited other places. I mean, do you find that, what are some other friendly places on the mainland, maybe that have like an Aloha-ish culture? I think I would compare it to Chicago, maybe just because I lived there for two weeks, but it's just the family I've been to, they were just so friendly and nice. And I got a connection to them, but it's still like they live in this big city and they have all of these people around and they're just like, okay, I know I have a student over here for two weeks and it's nice to be with them and learn something from them, but it's different. They're just like more, okay, we have only those two weeks and that's enough. We don't need more time. It's like with all the people I met there, I think I'm only still in contact with my host family, actually, with my host sister, but it's different, it's just different. I don't know, maybe it's the connection they have with each other, like that they have the bond together and they do not feel like, okay, if somebody's new is coming in, we need this. And on Hawaii, it's like, okay, there's so many different cultures. We want to get them all here, like connect all of them. And so would you say that if you feel like you could reach out to some of the other people, other than your host family that you connected with here in Hawaii and they would be open-hearted and accept you back and you'd be able to pick up and talk to them? Yes, I know that, because I already did it. So I know that I just can call them or text them and be like, hey, do you have some time? Do you want to talk? That's great, I love that. So, okay, so how do you, it sounds like this Hawaii culture and everything is super dear to your heart. How have you taken that and spread the aloha to Germany? What are there some ways that you've taken this back to your home or your country and been able to sort of, yeah, just spread that aloha culture? Yes, I actually try to be like more of this friendly smiley girl that I've been there to just spread like, look, I'm smiling. It's a good time, just feel this moment, enjoy it and just be here together. And I just try to spend more time with my family and my friends and teach them about how to be together and how easy it is to connect with the smallest things. It doesn't need to be something big, like a vacation or something. It's just like spending a night together and talking and chatting and something like this. It's just spending time together and living in the moment. Like, I don't want to look too much in the future to see, okay, where am I going? I just want to be where I am right now and what I want to do now. That's great.  I know that everybody has struggles in their life and I know that when I was 20, I had struggles that I went through with growing into the different stages of my life. And did you have any kind of specific struggles if you would be open to sharing them with us that maybe this Aloha culture helped you to be able to embrace or to be able to find peace with or make a lifelong connection with somebody? It's kind of a lot of it. I had a bad time before I came to Hawaii because I had to work a lot and I wanted to study and I just wanted to be one of the best in my studies. And it was just like so much stress on me that I couldn't even feel any connection to anybody or anything.  And I was like, okay, yeah, I don't need others in my life who push me down.  And that's actually one thing that I learned while living on Hawaii. And I'm very grateful for my host mom that she teach me this and that I could keep on being myself and now back in Germany. I am way more happier than I've been before because I just know, okay, I am myself. I am completed with myself, I know what I want to do. I know what I have to do when I'm feeling bad and just maybe, a lot of times I've been on a walk on Hawaii when I just needed to clear my head. And that's what I'm doing now in Germany too because I know, okay, when I'm out in nature feeling the air and just hearing the wind or the rain, actually anything, I just know, okay, going outside, I can clear my head and just think about everything I need to think about. I really thank you so much for opening up and being vulnerable about that because I don't feel like you're alone in any of that. I feel like these are things that all of us have struggled with in at least one part if not many parts of our lives. And I feel like what you brought up that is ringing super loud in my energy right now is the nature aspect. How did you notice how the people in Hawaii whether it was actual Hawaiians who were doing maybe some kind of chanting or ceremony or maybe it was just everyday people who have lived here for a while or maybe even a short time? Did you notice how that was different? How they regarded nature? It was completely different. So the people in Hawaii, they respect nature. They can feel the energy coming from nature. Like it doesn't matter if it's coming from the mountains, from the sea, from the sand, from the stones, like nature is just giving so much energy and people in Germany do not realize how much energy you can get from nature. Like just being outside of your flat or your room, it just can bring you so much good energy and being close to mother nature. It's like this connection to nature is not here in Germany. It's not as widespread then as what you're saying. Like, so like here in Hawaii, it feels like that's just natural for people to be like that. Yeah. In Germany, maybe you have to find those people who are like that, right? Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of people who care for the nature, but it's just different. It's not like, okay, we're just climbing up a mountain and looking down and seeing what nature gives us and what we can see from nature, but yeah. Speaking of mountains, did you have any experiences with mountains here? I know you're an avid hiker. What were some of your favorite hikes that you did on Island? Free peaks. I mean, I only made a first peak, but the view is breathtaking. Like you can see so much from the Island. It's amazing. And what I really enjoyed doing was Cocoa Head Crater Trail, because there was like a community and this community just picked me up and was like, hey, come and join us. And I just know on Christmas day, no Christmas Eve, sorry, on Christmas Eve, we just did this hike together and all of the people celebrated Christmas on the top of the mountain. And it was just like beautiful, just looking down and seeing all the people going up this mountain. I mean, it's a pretty rough hike. It's short, but it's rough, but I just enjoyed every second. And the sunrise from Cocoa Head is just amazing. Just seeing how the sun comes up, bringing you the energy for the day. It's amazing. Again, with the community, it feels like that's a common theme. Community and nature and that openness and that heart. So, were you completely well and healthy the entire time you were in Hawaii? No. Did you get sick? I got sick and had some knee injuries, so I've been through so much ice, but I made it. So, the reason why I asked that question is because I want to know if there's any different types of injuries I want to know if there's any differences with how maybe things were addressed in Hawaii than how things are typically addressed in Germany. And, you know, how did you deal with that? So, for example, I got a cold one day, one time. And I know in Germany, most of the doctors just give you some nose spray, some antibiotics, or something else. But my host only actually lived with herbal medical treatment. And that was pretty interesting and very good actually for me, because just using all of those herbs were just like, okay, you were using nature to get better and to heal and you don't need to use anything with chemicals or something. And it was just, it was very different because they were just looking for what nature gives us to heal. That's nice.  I did. You kind of got me burnt. I'm still trying not to use too many, too much medicine because I know it's not the best for the body and I'm trying to do a lot of herbal medical treatments, but I'm also trying just to, when I'm getting sick, just to lay down and rest my body. I love that because that's talking to, listening to yourself first, right? And listening to your own rhythm and really getting in touch with yourself first. And that's, I feel like that's always the first step to our greatest healing and being able to then know how maybe nature can find its way into our bodies to help us out. So did you notice anything? Here's what I really wanna know is because I love chanting and I love dancing and I love hula and I love all of these things. And I wanna know how you felt Aloha and Aloha culture translate through those very cultural practices. I actually had a hula class in college. So I did the whole hula dances for five months straight and I loved it. Just like all of this chanting for the hula dances. I mean, they're all referring to Hawaii and the nature and how other people are connected and dancing to this love of Hawaii is just amazing. And I had a special moment on Maui with my host mom where we were sitting in a river and she was chanting. And after that, we were just listening to the nature to the river and we picked up some stones and we actually also got some water just to feel the energy and always have some of this energy with us. And yeah, it was just like the chanting just made all this moment complete. Like, you know, you have this nature and then just chanting and all of this just connected to each other and you could just feel all of this going through your body and feeling relieved. So it's a full body experience and it's not just the nature being outside of you but being able to feel that nature in and around you. Yeah. This is what I'm hearing you say. Correct? That's actually what I mean. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like that's what I heard you saying but I just wanted to make sure. So I feel like as far as Aloha culture goes the common themes that it keep coming up in your stories and in like your smiles and everything are this, is this feeling of oneness really? Oneness not just with nature but with each other and even with ourselves. And I feel like that also leads to us being one with our spirit as well. And that is such a gift that you were able to really hear that from your experience in Hawaii. And I just love that you came on today to share all of your experiences. And I love also that you're taking that back home and across the country. And I really feel like you're the type of person that will take that with you wherever you go around the world because you travel quite a bit like all over, I mean, in Europe you travel to many countries, right? Yes. Right. And it's almost like I feel like that's what is needed is for this sense of Aloha for people to really embody it and bring it into their hearts and then be able to share it around the world. So that's what I really wanted to bring you on for is because I know that that's what you do around the world. And I just wanna give a big mahalo to you for spreading that Aloha and really accepting the call of that oneness that we are all part of a one collective being and space and so mahalo, Christiana mahalo, mahalo. Thank you. Yeah. So with that, I'm just gonna say thank you, keep doing the great Aloha work out there. And I hope to see you soon back on the islands and we'll go up, we'll go up Coco Crater and go visit all your old friends and then some. So keep on creating more of the Aloha culture and more experiences that help us and others embody that sense of Aloha. So mahalo so much. Mahalo. And thank you to Think Tech Kauai for providing us a platform for being able to have these conversations and being able to bring what everybody is feeling and thinking and maybe wanting to discuss forward so that we can all have these topics together. And if you like Think Tech Kauai and this episode and this show, then please subscribe and like us so that you can get updates. And so for now, go with this Aloha in your hearts and knowing that we really are all one. Until next time, mahalo.


Please let's all join in a few moments of centering silence, being seated as we sing our in-gathering hymn, number 1031, and the words also appear in your order of service. Welcome to the first Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual, as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Karen Rose Gredler, and on behalf of the congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to any visitors who are with us this morning.  Visitors are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service and to look for people carrying teal-colored stoneware coffee mugs. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our programs and community life, and they look forward to the chance to speak with you. You can also stop by our information table outside the library, where you can find more information about upcoming events and programs at the society. In this lively, acoustical environment, it can become difficult for those in attendance to hear what's happening in our services. So we remind you that our child haven back in that corner, high folks back in the child haven, and the commons area out behind the auditorium are great places to go to see and hear the service in case somebody wants to hop around or sing or dance or whatever. We do have hearing assistance devices available, so please see one of our ushers if you think that would be helpful to you. This would in fact be a great time to turn off any electronic devices that might disrupt the service, especially cell phone ringers. Experienced guides are generally available to give building tours after each service, and I do believe we have someone signed up for after this service, so if you would like to learn more about this sustainably designed addition or our National Historic Meeting House across the parking lot, please meet near the large glass windows which are at your left side of the auditorium right after the service, and someone will meet you there. I'd now like to acknowledge those individuals who help our services run smoothly. This morning we have David Bryles on sound. The minister is Lois Evenson. Our greeter is Kayo Tade and Claire Box. Our ushers are Chuck Evenson, Tom Dalmage, and Brian Channis. Our coffee makers, hospitality folks, are Sandy Plish and Biss Nitschke. I believe that John Powell is going to be our guide after the service, and the Pulpit poems have been tended to by Hannah Pinkerton. Thank you. We generally have a few extra announcements, not many this morning, and Smiley would like to remind us all to leave our hymnals on our chairs after this service, so they'll already be in here for the folks coming. Your announcements are in this red floors insert to your order of service. There's lots of interesting stuff in there. Look how chocked full it is. One thing that's not in there, and that's my responsibility, is an announcement of the caregivers group, which will be occurring the same Saturday that our art fair occurs from 10 to 12. And it's scheduled for the Gabbler living room, but I'm not sure if that's... Yeah, it'll be in a classroom because of the bake sale that will be in the Gabbler living room. So art, food, treats, whatever, come and get some. Again, we hope today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. Here in the refuge of this Sabbath home, we turn our busy minds toward silence and our full hearts toward one another. We move together through the mysteries, the bright sunshine of birth and the shadowed questions of death. In our slow walk between the two, we will be wounded and we will be showered with grace, amazing and unending. Even in our sorrows, we feel our lives cradled in a holiness we cannot comprehend. And though we each walk within a vast loneliness, the promise we offer here is that we do not walk alone. This is a holy place in which we gather, the light of the earth brought in and held, touched then by our answering light, the flame on a chalice, the flicker of a candle, the lamps of our open faces brought near. In this place of silence and celebration, we make a sanctuary and name our home. Into this home, we bring our hunger for awakening. We bring compassionate hearts and a will toward justice. Into this home, we bring the courage to walk on after hard losses. Into this home, we bring our joy and gratitude for ordinary blessings. By our gathering, we bless this place. In its shelter, may we know ourselves to be blessed. And if you will rise now in body or spirit and join together in our words of chalice lighting printed in your order of service, community is the spirit, the guiding light of the tribe, whereby people come together in order to fulfill a specific purpose, to help others fulfill their purpose and to take care of one another. And before we join together in song, if you will turn and greet those around you. Please be seated. And if anyone would like to come forward for our story, come on down. You totally were first. Yes. Hello. Hi, Finn. I know I love the way you come in. It's always like you're trying to steal home base. You have a princess? Are you a princess? It's a better day when you've got a princess. How are you today? And a piggy? We have a piggy? You have a sticker book? A what kind? A minion sticker book? Super fun. You do. Oh my gosh, now we have, okay, you're like all piggies now.  Yeah, your brother, Finn. Here he comes. Keen, have you ever had trouble falling asleep? No, it's not true. Elliot, what keeps you from sleeping sometimes? You just don't know, you just can't sleep, right? What keeps you from sleeping? The alarm clock makes noise when you're sleeping. Mine does that too. It's totally annoying, isn't it? Just turn off the alarm. How about we just never set them in the first place? You guys are brilliant. Yeah, what keeps you up? Oh, they turn the lights on and off and you can see that. It's automatic that it wakes you up when the light shines in. Yeah, noise, noises wake us up.   Hello, Max. You weren't there a second ago, were you? No. Wow. I'm scared that Max can appear and disappear at will. Hey, have any of you ever been scared in your bed? Maybe you have. What are some things you're scared of? Yeah, if Ian makes noise and then that startles you awake, Max, what? The window? What about the window is scary? Like the wind? The wind. Well, our story today is about a little boy named Mark and it's called Mark Just Couldn't Sleep. Fireworks can be really scary. Yeah, they're loud. I don't like those really, really big booms that shake the whole house. Like quiet, pretty ones. Any of you had Halloween candy for breakfast? I think that might be what's going on here. I will admit that I think my children had Halloween candy for breakfast. That's good parenting 101 there. So there's Mark up there. Do you see Mark? Does he look happy? Does he? Well, how does he look in that picture? He looks suspicious. Yeah, you guys are awesome. Let's just make that clear. So I'm going to tell you a story, talk about Mark after and see what happened. Mark wanted to go to sleep. Really, he did, but he couldn't. He just couldn't sleep. He called out for his mom. I'm afraid a giant mosquito will fly in and bite me, he said. Don't worry, little one. His mom answered, I'll fix that. And soon you'll be asleep. She made him a special pair of mosquito-proof pajamas, complete with a helmet, a sword for protecting himself and a buzz repellent teddy bear. And then she left. Soon Mark called out for his mom again. I'm afraid I'll fall out of bed, he told her. Don't worry, my love, I'll fix that. And soon you'll drift off to sleep. She gave him a mountain climbing rope, secured it to his pillow with an anchor, and slipped a parachute over his back. And then she left. Shortly after Mark called out once more, what if the moon melts and the world goes dark? He asked, don't worry, honey, I'll fix that. And soon you'll fall fast asleep. She gave him a pair of glasses with glow in the dark lenses and sent a letter to the moon. The letter said, moon, don't even think about doing anything silly like melting or something. And then she left. A few minutes later, Mark called out yet again. I'm afraid a mean wind will blow in my face and I'll catch cold. Don't worry, darling, I'll fix that. And you'll fall asleep so easily. She hung a sign on the front door of the house that said, mean wind, you took the wrong road. Buy yourself a map. She covered Mark, goose feathers, and a real live duck. And then she appreciated, if you asked your parents, to bring you a real live duck. And then somebody send me a message tomorrow and let me know. Finn, Finn, Pinky swear, real live duck, OK? Finally, Mark called to his mom one last time. I think I'm afraid of everything, he said. Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll fix all of that. And you'll sleep soundly through the night. She began running around the house. She closed doors, windows, suitcases, and notebooks. She scared away all the monsters. She even scared away the dentist and all the relatives.  And even though it wasn't really necessary, she went up to the roof to keep watch just in case. How does she look in that picture? Above and beyond. Yeah, yeah. But suddenly she heard Mark's voice. What do you think he said? I'm still scared. Mark's mom exhausted from trying to find the right solution came down from the roof. She took off Mark's mosquito-proof armor. She unfastened his mountain climbing equipment. She ripped up the letters to the moon in the mean wind. She sent the duck off to have a bath. And she took away the traps and the sticks.  She ruffled his hair and said, my dear, I really don't know what else I can do to help you stop feeling so afraid. I think I'll just have to sit here next to you and you can tell me everything. Smiling and yawning at the same time, Mark took his mom's hands and whispered, I'll tell you later, I'm much too tired now. Mark wanted to stay awake. Really he did, but he couldn't. He just couldn't stay awake. So what finally helped Mark in the end? Yeah, right, his mom stayed next to him. And sometimes when we're scared, what do we need? We just need people around us. And then suddenly it'll be OK. Yeah, Jack, right, that's really important. Jack's reminding us that when we're scared of things, the best thing to do is to talk about it, to try to figure out what it is, and then to find a grown-up, find some friends. You have lots of grown-ups around here who are more than willing to listen. So I want to thank you for listening to my sort of silly story about Mark. We are going to rise in body or spirit, and we're going to sing you out to your classes. Please be seated. Thoughts today from Vanessa Southern. I was in Northern California on my college campus in 1989 when an earthquake shook our world. It registered 6.9 on the Richter scale, no small event. We all walked around in a daze afterward blinking in disbelief. People returned home to find that their dorms had been condemned or closed down until they could be inspected by engineers. At the time my roommates and I lived in a trailer park which had been erected as temporary housing on campus 20 years earlier. It turned out to be one of the safer places to be. Its aluminum sides shook but rarely broke. So once the gas connections were checked for leaks, we were clear to return. And soon our floors were covered with homeless friends and their belongings in one big post-disaster sleepover that lasted for weeks. Immediately after the quake, we had no idea what would follow. And we could do nothing but wait and see how things settled out. We had to wait to hear what the experts ruled about what had been ruined, what needed repair, and what miraculously remained unscathed. Moreover, in the midst of this waiting, an unsettling number of aftershocks continued for days, mild and unpredictable bouts of quaking would send us looking for some place to stand until they stopped. These were not serious, but they made the world feel like a perpetually uncertain and unsafe place. It is hard to live a life amidst all that. Ready to dash to safety, living and sleeping even as if on your toes and harder still when you have no clear place to run to where you know you will be safe. We were told at the time to stand in the doorways. This, they said, was the best and safest place to ride out the shaking. When you think about it, it is such a great metaphor, the commandment to stand in the threshold. In our lives, we often stand in just that place. In the aftermath of some massive personal or collective upheaval, we stand at the doorway to who knows what, hanging on to the frame of that threshold until the world stops shaking. There we stand uncertain, waiting, hoping, and wondering what we will find when the dust settles, preparing also to step through to whatever survival will demand of us. Priest and writer Henry Nowan compares such places to the flight of the Trapeze artist who's between two rings, having let one go the acrobat sails through the void for a little while, suspended there, unmoored until another ring swings out of the darkness. The truth is that the shaking will always end and a new world with a new normal will greet us. That world is just beyond the threshold of what we know. Like the Trapeze artist, we always have a ring heading toward us to give us a handhold, even as we launch ourselves blind into the wide open world of uncertainty. Yet it will forever feel scary to be in those waiting places or to be flying temporarily without a net, standing in the quivering doorways, watching whenever it is that the world decides to shift the ground on which we stand. Meeting House Chorus for that beautiful gift this morning. So this past Monday, I embarked on a new adventure. As I prepared myself that morning, making sure I had everything I would need to make it through this adventure alive and whole, I noticed a sense of unease within me. It was small and gnawing at first, but it seemed to grow before my very eyes. Would I be able to do this? Who was I to think that I could do this? Someone else, heck, anyone else, to be honest, could do this better. This was going to end in failure. And then what would people think of me? The fear was almost overwhelming. I must say, I was taken aback by my reaction. And looking back on it now, it is quite dramatic for the kind of adventure I was beginning. Mountain climbing, no. Long distance running, not going to happen. Skydiving, never. I was going on the adventure of teaching mindfulness to kindergartners. So yes, my sense of dread and outright fear was over the top. It went extremely well. And the kids asked if I would come back the next week. Even my own kid asked if I would come back. So mama is putting it in the win column. I had emailed the mindfulness-based kindness curriculum that is created by the Center for Healthy Minds to Owen's teacher back in September. I sent it along with a simple email that read, hi, Holly, I don't know if you've seen this resource. I'm passing it along just in case you're interested. Owen's teachers used it last year at the Weissmann Center. They were really impressed. Hope it's a great day, Kelly. Less than an hour later, I had a reply that said, hi, Kelly, I love this. It's something I've been wanting to incorporate into the classroom, but I don't have any personal experience with it. Any chance you'd be willing to lead it on Mondays? We could have mindful Mondays. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Holly. What do I think? I'm thinking, why did I send it to this woman? I'm thinking that I am nowhere near qualified enough to do this. Sure, I teach mindfulness to adults, but kindergartners. I think I would need training and certification and something, anything more than what I have now. So it took me a few days to respond. And during those days, I wrestled with this growing fear that I was not good enough, smart enough, qualified enough, definitely hadn't meditated long enough to do this. Those five and six-year-olds were going to see right through me and know me as the fraud I was. I would lie awake at night with worst-case scenarios of classroom chaos running through my mind and the principal asking me not to return to school for a little while. So much for being mindful. During those days, I was reminded of the words of Parker Palmer, who said that he would like to write a book on the spiritual teaching Be Not Afraid. He says he struggled with this passage because it just seems unrealistic. We all have fear. It's natural. It's with us since birth. So what do you mean Be Not Afraid? How is that even possible? He writes that fear is so fundamental to the human condition that all of the great spiritual traditions originate in an effort to overcome its effects on our lives. With different words, they all proclaim the same core message, Be Not Afraid. Though the traditions vary widely in the ways they propose to take us beyond fear, they all hold out the same hope. We can escape fear's paralysis and enter a state of grace where encounters with otherness will not threaten us but will enrich our work and our lives. It is important to note, he says, with great care what that teaching does and does not say. Be Not Afraid does not say that we should not have fears. And if it did, we could dismiss it as an impossible counsel of perfection. Instead, it says that we do not need to be our fears. Quite a different proposition. When I was asked to teach those kids, I was at what Vanessa Southern calls a threshold place. This was a positive threshold for me, a doorway into an unknown experience, uncertain as to the outcome, but opening up a new possibility just slightly outside my comfort zone. We all have these places. We've all been to a threshold. There are much more difficult thresholds we face as well. Think of a time when the world as you knew it changed, most likely in a way that you didn't expect, most likely in a way you didn't want. And you were filled with uncertainty and dread. This is where fear comes in strong and is ready to freeze us in our tracks. What we're talking about here is not the healthy kind of fear. The fear that makes us jump out of the way of a speeding car or the fear that arises when a doctor says the news isn't good or the very real fear of too many adults and children in our country who don't know where the next meal is coming from or where they will sleep at night. I recognize with deep reverence the very real fears that many experience in our world today, deep-rooted fears for safety and survival. And if we have a desire to help those with those kinds of fears, if we wish to begin reaching out more to those right here in our own communities who walk with that kind of fear, then we need to work on what is immediate to us all the time. We need to work on ourselves. We need to come to terms with the fears that are living within us so that they don't stop us from the very important work that we are each called to do. The Buddhist monk Pema children says that the news we hear these days is almost entirely bad. And that makes us afraid. It can be quite discouraging. Yet we could actually derive inspiration for our warrior ship from these dire circumstances. We could recognize the fact and proclaim the fact that we are needed. We are needed in this world today. For those of us with privilege, we need to know how to pass through those threshold places, holding and recognizing the fear and discovering how to go to the scary places anyway, because we are needed. This asks us to face the fear that keeps us from being fully ourselves, that stops us in our tracks when we think about taking a risk, that whispers in our ear that the world is too dangerous of a place, and really, we're not brave enough to make a change. This is the fear that Elizabeth Gilbert spoke of when she wrote, Around the age of 15, I somehow figured out that my fear had no variety to it, no depth, no substance, no texture. I noticed that my fear never changed, never delighted, never offered a surprise twist or an unexpected ending. My fear was a song with only one note, only one word, actually, and that word was stop. My fear never had anything more interesting or subtle to offer other than that one emphatic word repeated at full volume on an endless loop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, which means that my fear always made predictably boring decisions, like a choose your own ending book that always had the same ending, nothingness. Our fear has the power to make us stop, to convince us to never venture out into the unknown, to stay in our very comfortable places. But there's so much we miss when we stay tucked away inside and comfortable. My colleague, the late Reverend Marnie Harmony, wrote about this beautifully when she said, If on a starlit night with the moon brightly shimmering, we stay inside and do not venture out, the evening universe remains a part of life we will never know. If on a cloudy day with grayness infusing all and rain dancing rivers in the grass, we stay inside and do not venture out, the stormy threatening energy of the universe remains a part of life we will never know. If on a frosty morning dreading the chilling air before the sunrise, we stay inside and do not venture out, the awesome cold quiet and stillness of the dawn universe remains a part of life we will never know. If throughout these grace given days of ours surrounded as we are by green life and brown death, hot pink joy and cold gray pain and miracles, always miracles, if we stay inside ourselves and do not venture out, then the fullness of the universe shall be unknown to us. And our locked hearts shall never feel the rush and power of life. Now Martin Luther King once wrote a sermon on four steps for dealing with fear. And I figured that he was a pretty good source to go to.  His first step, he said, is that you have to face fear, you have to see it, and you have to ask what are we really afraid of. You can't fight an enemy, he said, that you don't understand. Now in a similar vein, Pema Children tells a story about a student warrior who was told that she had to battle fear. She didn't want to do it, because fear seemed too aggressive. It was scary, and it was definitely unfriendly. But the teacher said that she had to do it, and she gave her the instructions for the battle. And when the day arrived, the student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, because fear was looking really big and really wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior stood and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, may I have permission to go into battle with you. Fear said, thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission. Then the young warrior said, how can I defeat you?  If you don't do what I tell you to do, I have no power. You can listen to me, you can respect me, you can even be convinced by me. But if you don't do what I say, I have no power. And in that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. When afraid, face our fears. Look at them. Pema children says, smile at your fears. You can listen, you can try to understand it, you can even see where it's coming from, but you don't have to let it stop you. And this is King's second step. He said, see your fears and go on anyway. He started his sermon with the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. Can your fears mean go instead of stop? Can you see them, acknowledge that they're there, and instead of seeing them as a signal to freeze, see them as something telling you that you are in a threshold place and that what is needed now is to muster as much courage as you can and go forward anyway. For if we stay inside and do not venture out, we miss the fullness of the universe and the miracles, always miracles. Third is to remember that fear is mastered through love. When we recognize our deep connection with all life, when we see those who we are afraid of as fellow travelers on this journey with needs and vulnerabilities, strengths, and fears of their own, then we work from a place of connection. King said, only love, understanding, and organized good will can cast out fear. Love, understanding, and organized good will. And finally, he tells us to confront fear with faith. Now, for him, he said faith was in the larger goodness of things, and I would add faith in ourselves and in each other. Now, last week, eight of our staff traveled to Unity Temple in Oak Park to attend a regional large church staff gathering. And the keynote speaker was Rashida Graham Washington, Executive Director of Communities First Association in Chicago, and she's a powerhouse of a woman. And she started by saying that she likes to do presentations and go to places she has never been before because she believes that all of us have gifts inside of us, our own gifts, and we hold the gifts of others. So if we are not doing this work together, if we are not reaching out and meeting each other, we're never going to find all of our own gifts because I have some of yours and you have some of mine. We can only be our fullest and most whole selves when we're in this work together. We help each other shine. Or as Marianne Williamson said, that our deepest fear isn't that we're inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light that most frightens us.   We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. I have your gifts and you have mine. And we can only do this work together. For all those who are living with those daily fears of survival, we have to figure out how to step over the threshold of our own fears. We have to go into our uncomfortable places and do the work that is ours to do. For me right now on Mondays, I'm with kids who have difficulty controlling strong emotions. And I'm teaching them how to use their breath to calm, to soothe, and to heal. That's my work. What is your work in the world? Is it scary? Does it keep you up at night? Can you feel that and think, this is telling me something? Could it be that now is the time to move forward, now is the time to go? The world is too beautiful to be praised by only one voice. May you have the courage to sing your part. The world is too broken to be healed by only one set of hands. May you have the courage to use your gifts. The world needs you. Your beauty, your message, your light. May you be brave enough to step over your threshold places and shine. And our offering this week, our outreach offering, will be shared with veterans for peace. You can find out more about their work in your order of service, also in the commons after the service, and we thank you for your generosity. We gather each week a community of memory and hope. We come together here bringing our celebrations and our joys, our struggles and our losses, and we seek a time to be held together in a spirit of support, connection, and love. This week we hold in our hearts Karen, a member of our society choir and her husband, Paul, who was in a serious bike accident on Thursday. We send them our thoughts of strength and healing.  This is a practice that comes from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and it's called Tonglin. Tonglin is also known as giving and receiving because in this practice we take into ourselves the suffering of the world and we breathe out our compassion and our loving kindness. So just for one brief minute, I invite you to be together in prayer and then to sit with the suffering in the world, our own, of those we love, for those who live in daily fear and breathe out of our goodness and our kindness, our wish for all to be well. Spirit of life, help us. Following another week of brutality, we continue to be a nation in mourning, a nation full of anger and fear, filled with pain and grief, confused and at risk of becoming numb to hatred. Help us to find our way through the turmoil that turns people against each other instead of turning toward each other in love. Help us to see that good comes when we find our common humanity. Then we can find peace. As exasperated as we may become, we go on. The future beckons us to come to it bearing a faith and a resolve that brings hope and healing. Like the birds of the air that can't help but sing their songs, we too have a song. We sing of love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion. We believe in the power of love to repair us, not the same as before but stronger in some places. Living out our lives potential in the warmth of one another, in the light of what restored we may become. And now in the next minute, if you will just join me in breathing, breathing in the suffering and transforming it through the power of your own heart into love. We ask this prayer and offer this practice in the name of all persons present and absent, remembered and forgotten, known and unknown. Amen, blessed be, may it be so. And if you will join me now, rising in body or spirit for our closing hymn, we'll build a land. Please be seated. That we have been separately and all that we will become together is stretched out before and behind us like stars scattered across a canvas of sky. We stand at the precipice, arms locked together like tandem skydivers working up the courage to jump. Tell me friends, what have we got to lose? Our fear of failure, our mistrust of our own talents, what have we got to lose? A poverty of the spirit, the lie that we are alone? What wonders await us in the space before the first leap and the moment our feet, our wheels, however we move our bodies across this precious earth, touchdown softly on unknown soil? What have we got to lose that we can't replace with some previously unimaginable joy? Blessed are you, spirit of life who has sustained us, enlivened us and enabled us to reach this moment, give us courage in our leaping and gratitude in our landing and share with us in the joy of a long and courageous life together. Blessed be and go in peace.