Hello my name is Aaron Cutan and I'm here at COP26 this week and it's been an absolutely incredible week where there's been loads of stuff going on in terms of climate change and the role that nuclear has to play in getting to a clean future. I'm really excited to be here because I'm with Director General Raphael Mariano Grossi and we're going to have a quick chat about his perspective on a few questions. So, DG, could you tell us something about yourself that many people might not know or that you might have an unusual hobby or embarrassing story anything like that? Well I don't know about embarrassing things but good things that perhaps people may not know is that I have eight children, eight, you know, seven daughters and a son, different ages but mostly young adults to the last one, the boy who is a teenager now so you know I think I have a pretty good idea of different ages and what's happening so I would like people to know that. Yeah, a nice big family that's very lovely to hear. And if you were thinking back to when you were in your mid-twenties as a young professional coming to somewhere like COP, would you expect there to be do you expect us to be where we are in terms of climate change now? No, I would say you know from my you know younger days I knew I wanted to be a diplomat. I'm a career diplomat, I work all my life in nuclear or non-proliferation, really large. So when I was you know when I had your age or even younger, climate change was not even an issue. So I would have could have never imagined that something like this could happen. So back then even if we were creating unknowingly perhaps the conditions of the problems we have now, we were really not aware. It was really not an issue. What was an issue those days was for example the oil crisis in the early 70s. I mean this is the time where I had your age. So there was it was more seen as a threat to our lifestyles. More you know more than the planet or the you know the environment being the issue. The issue was well there's no more petrol, what's going to happen, the prices are so high and that was my first realization of all these big forces at play around the world of energy if you want. Yeah, it's an incredibly complex problem, isn't it? It is. And getting to grips with it is half the challenge. I can really see that momentum is growing and it's youth day today and the IAEA is doing this youth pavilion shortly after this. But if you had some advice to give to yourself if you were attending something like this what would you tell yourself? Well you know it's it's difficult to imagine myself here at that age with the problems now but what I see is that and I like it is that you have so many possibilities here. You have all the expressions you have when you when you visit the stands for example you can really have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the world. So I would be under you know through the corridors and perhaps look at what attracts me more. And I mean just walking around myself this week I've been absolutely blown over by just the caliber of people around. You really want to make a difference but then also yeah just how much how much they're willing to listen which is really really helpful. Well one interesting thing there could be that you have like these two dimensions. You have the event like here you know have these people walking and as I was saying the stands and the events and then you have the the negotiation the diplomatic negotiation that is going in parallel. And one wonders to what extent there is an interconnection and I hope there is one. Yeah yeah and that's something I think as the young generation we're trying to build that bridge from the diplomatic side to the. How do you influence that. Exactly yeah yeah. So have you had any kind of failures over your career that have shaped your direction or your character and what have you taken from it. Not many but the ones that I had were quite you know important and made me think about what was I going to do next. And one was not so long ago because actually I only had to do with what I'm doing now because I was supposed to be a candidate at one moment and that didn't happen and it was postponed. So at that time I was very frustrated. I had this vision for the agency for the IEA or so enthusiastic about it and then all of a sudden for a number of reasons political reasons. I had to wait without really knowing whether I would still have a chance to do this. And in that time I had to decide whether I would be you know insisting doing something else. And I decided to pursue my dream and that and to try to feel the time that would be necessary to get to the next election. Yeah important things that would strengthen me strengthen my vision prepare me better for what I'm doing now. And I never regretted that. I was doubting whether you know insisting on something would be the right thing to do or whether you know I should reorient you know my life and be ambassador elsewhere you know and do something different. I said no I will wait for my chance to come. I convinced about this and it happened. So it's one thing that I think more or less fits the idea. I think there's a really nice lesson around there in terms of having patience and following through on that side of things. And do you feel hopeful for COP26 and what have been your reflections so far? Well I think that the conference is perhaps not going to be delivering what could be the best possible outcome but at the same time talking to the other leaders and I've been seeing many of them really. I see seriousness and I see that they all recognize the gravity of what is happening. Of course from that to seeing them walking the same kind of path it may be it may be different because at the same time we need to recognize that unfortunately we see lots of tension in the world now and these tensions come here and you can feel it among certain countries and that could perhaps affect I hope not would affect the best possible outcome. In any case these are processes were a little bit packing back to what I said now about my own life. One should persist when you are convinced about the necessity or the goodness of something I think you should never throw the towel. And it's honestly so inspiring to see you at COP26 for me personally and seeing the effort we really put in to have those diplomatic relations and get the word out and we almost consider ourselves as you are our leader and we're the troops on the ground trying to get the conversations going. Well in different times of our lives I think we all need I don't know if it's a leadership thing but the voices need to converge otherwise they are dispersed otherwise we may be right about something but if we do not find the most efficient way to to put the message across and hopefully influence and shape events it will never happen it will simply never happen you know talking to or about the cops when I started as DG many were saying well no the cops are not for nuclear there are people who are very critical they don't like you they may criticize you and it does happen it has happened but I believe that mostly and quite I think you know the vast majority of people appreciate that we come here that we explain not all may agree but they see the disposition to talk and to explain because at the end of the day I think there is a good story to be told about nuclear and there has been a lot of prejudice about it and one has to also have the humility to listen and to see when there is a legitimate concern or you know in some cases there may be a political agenda or whatever but one has to deal with that yeah yeah absolutely no other way and yeah I think something you said there around kind of collaboration is something that we embrace wholeheartedly and want to try and work with as many other groups as possible because together we will be so much stronger with that one message that one voice and and one of one of the messages that we've had is to have a clean and systemic sustainable and abundant low carbon future as part of our net zero needs nuclear campaign and do you support what what we're doing as part of the your campaign is so refreshing in this regard because these things are not for just decision makers or for people in high places we have to build you know like grassroots movements that are going to be pushing this in real life because at the end of the day may sound a bit cliche but it's true it's your problem more than mine uh 2050 2060 most probably I won't be around and you know it's going to be you your children if you choose to have them or your friends and and if you have a planet that has become unmanageable and sustainable or dependent on a number of factors to lead a normal life well then it would be a tremendous tragedy why because you saw that it could have been different you saw a time where we were still able to prevent the words and he didn't have what a tragedy yeah would that be so this I think is what um inspires me in any case and I suppose all more reason for you for your generation to call us to come together and to work together with the older generations because at the end of the day I mean it's it's it's for all of us yeah it's a very simple truth and there's so much experience that you will have that we would love to kind of tap into and well this is something that we need to do I was you know I was blessed in having a couple of uh leaders in my life that were generous and were passing what they mean uh to me um and I feel this like a moral responsibility and this is why I was mentioning my children because it's something that has to be not that you need to be a father or mother but um it's something that you feel you have to give to somebody because you went through you went through this and in this case I think uh the global warming is something that is man made we did it uh it was not bound to happen so it is up to us to change it so let's see how to go about that yeah yeah and nuclear of course is so important a key part of that yeah absolutely so I'll end on one quote that that really strikes me and I'd like to hear what your comments are on it so this is a quote yeah if if we want to go fast we go alone but if we want to go further we go together is that a Chinese one I'm not sure where it's from but it's do what do you think about that I think it's um it's a very interesting one the problem with it is that we don't have a we don't have a choice to go alone we are in this together whether it's fast or slow we are in this together and we gotta go fast in the right direction yeah that's really good I really love that thank you I enjoyed it yeah and well let's continue enjoying this yeah so uh see you around yeah thanks so much thank you thank you very much thanks for tuning in


Please join me in a few moments of centering silence. And now let us lift up our voices and sing the in-gathering hymn, number 349. The words are printed in the order of service. And 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 March Schweitzer. And on behalf of the congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to visitors.  Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service and to visit the library, which is found directly across from the center doors of this auditorium. Bring your drinks and your questions. Members of our staff and lay ministry will be on hand to welcome you. You can also look for persons holding teal stoneware coffee mugs. These are members knowledgeable about our faith community who would love to visit with you. Experience guides are generally available to give a building tour after each service. So if you would like to learn more about this sustainably designed addition to our landmark auditorium, please meet near the glass window on the left side of this auditorium. Children are welcome to stay for the duration of the service. However, should they become restless and talkative, our child haven and commons are excellent places to see and hear the service. And speaking of noise, this would be a good time to turn off all those pesky electronic devices that might cause a disturbance during the service. I'd now like to acknowledge those individuals who help our service to run smoothly. The sound operator is Mary Manoring. The lay minister is Dorit Bergen. The greeter is Mary Elizabeth Kunkle. The ushers are Gail Bliss, Paula and Bob Ault, and Marty Hollis. The hospitality this morning is provided by Chip Quadi and Tim Potter. Please note the announcements on the red floors insert in your order of service. I've been asked to call your attention to the following announcements. Today following the 11 a.m. service, former FUS member Pat Holt will share her story of a remarkable friendship with Lila Wabag, a courageous and enterprising Palestinian woman whose work to improve the quality of life and during the JDN refugee camps is featured in this book, A Committee of One. This highlights what she learned of and from this remarkable and indefatigable individual. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase and snacks provided during what is for many the lunch hour. Or if I can find it. As many of you know, today is the day of our annual Art in the Right Place Art Fair. This is a fundraiser for our children's religious education program. We hope that when the service ends, you'll head over to the landmark building. There you'll find nearly 40 local artists selling beautifully handicraft items. Many of the artists are our fellow FUS members. This is a great opportunity for holiday shopping or for finding something special for yourself. And if you're feeling too hungry to shop, no problem. Stop by the right cafe in the Gabler living room for our bake sale. Scrumptuous breads, cookies, pies, and more will curb your appetite and increase your waistline. The art fair lasts until four o'clock p.m. Again, welcome. We hope today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your hearts, and stir your spirit. Enter this sanctuary, all who are saddened by life's caprices. For in this place, you will find sympathy and you will find understanding. Enter this hour, all who are burdened by worry and doubt. For in this time, you can find comfort and renewal of strength. Enter this community, all who are grateful or joyous. For in this gathering, you can find encouragement and kinship.  I invite you to rise in body or in spirit for the lighting of our chalice. And please join me in reading together the words that are printed in your program. From every disappointment after which we have new growth, for every disillusionment after which we have a relighting of hope, for every disaster after which we have a resurrection into new birth, we light this chalice. And now I invite you to turn to your neighbor on this warm November morning and exchange with them a warm greeting. Please be seated. This is the time of the month when we typically set aside a few minutes during the beginning of the hour for the sharing of joys and sorrows. A time for members, friends, and even visitors to our midst to relate to the entire gathered community some special event or circumstance that has affected your life or the life of someone close to you in recent weeks or months. General announcements, news items, and partisan appeals are discouraged during joys and sorrows. And so for the next few minutes, anyone who wishes is invited to step forward to the front of the auditorium and light a candle and either one of the candle lobby to my left or to my right and then using the microphone provided by Dorot, our lay minister, share your name with us if that feels comfortable as well as a brief message. Please note that our services are webcast, so listeners are not restricted to those who are sitting in this auditorium. You may also step forward and wordlessly light a candle of commemoration and simply return to your seat. And so now I open the floor for the sharing of these important and personal matters of our lives. A year ago my daughter moved to Maryland and she and her husband are moving back to the Fort Atkinson area. For my father who passed away a few weeks ago. Even I would like to thank the share of the care people who came to help us this fall when we were going through a most trying time. Eva had surgery from which she is recovering nicely. Led by Sharwolf and many others who came to help us at a time when it was most unexpected and most welcome. We profoundly thank you from the heart. And I just want to say that of the many cards and prayers and the shawl ministry which I was able to unfold myself with love. You're wonderful. Thank you. Five years ago I completed radiation and chemotherapy for cancer of the throat. I am joyful today to say that I had an appointment with my oncologist last week and I'm completely free of the cancer and that I probably have no likelihood of its return. And I'd like to thank my wife Amy and Michael and many people of this congregation who joined me in my battle with the horrible disease. Thank you. This is for my mother or grandmother who just successfully got out of hip replacement surgery and is doing really, really well and up and walking already. So personal note and to reflect what the two individuals just said I think all of us feel the same way. This is thanks to modern medicine which has improved the quality of our lives and preserved those lives past where many of us would have expected to live had it not been the case. For my dear friend Monica who just lost her infant son and was then diagnosed with breast cancer to give her the strength and support that she so dearly needs right now. I like this candle for Pete Jeffress one of my former runners who perished on a mountain hike in Colorado last week. Good morning, I'm John McGavin, a new member here at FUS and I just wanted to rise and let a candle join my brother Peter down in Greenville, South Carolina who underwent successful double bypass heart surgery and a valve replacement. He is now in our recovery and slowly but surely making some progress and hopefully we are cautiously optimistic that all will go well and he'll recover fully. Thank you.  Hi, my name is Amalia Hicks and my father was diagnosed with leukemia about a year ago and in a couple of months probably over Christmas he'll be having a pretty dangerous bone marrow transplant so I just want to let a candle in the hopes that it will all go well. And so Dorit if you will light one more candle to symbolize all those unarticulated joys and sorrows that may have occurred to any of you as others were speaking. We hold those with equal compassion and concern in our hearts. I invite you to join me now in the spirit of meditation. We have gathered here this morning in this familiar place gathered as a communion of kindred spirits a people committed to ongoing spiritual exploration a people dedicated to living with ever greater integrity and compassion listening closely and sympathetically to one another may we grow in mutual regard and empathy may the pain and sorrow expressed here remind us that in life's darker moments we need never feel alone and may any revelations of recovery and good fortune we have heard may they make us more aware of the beauty and goodness in our own lives deepening our appreciation for these gifts of grace we have gathered as a communion of kindred spirits may this communion serve to nurture us inspire us and heal us may it be so. And now as our children depart for their classes I invite you to join with me in singing hymn number 17. The first of our readings comes from the well-known grief and loss counselor author of many books on the topic, Earl Grohlman. Every grief counselor has heard a similar statement oh my God, the holidays are coming how am I ever going to get through it? Fear, dread, anxiety may all be well founded significant holidays and occasions can be especially difficult birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's and Father's Day Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Eve looking back at former jubilant shared experiences can be mementos of wrenching memories, lost dreams and fear for the future special occasions may also elicit negative feelings that we may still harbor unresolved quarrels with the deceased may suddenly lurk like monsters in the closet casting shadows on their past turbulence how do we persevere through the holiday that now only intensifies our feelings of grief? Some mourners feel that they should be sad during the holiday to demonstrate their love for the one who has died they awfulize the day denying themselves any feelings of joy whatsoever but no one should feel guilty about enjoyment with the belief that overwhelming grief is the truest measure of love the highest testimonial to our loved one's memory is our ability to endure through adversity and to live creatively and as meaningfully as we can and so find creative outlets to remember and honor your loved one a particular prayer light a memorial candle look through old photo albums write a poem or a letter to the loved one make a contribution to his or her favorite charity but above all respect each other's uniqueness don't compare one's feelings with another give permission to express emotions whether they are happy or sad make the best decisions and compromise as possible and more than ever you the mourner need an interlude of emotional and spiritual rest by leaving spaces in the day to get in touch with old memories take a quiet walk, meditate or pray there is healing in solitude for respite, reprieve and recreation recall Ralph Waldo Emerson's words can bring you peace but yourself and so chart your own course by doing the things that give greatest satisfaction and consolation for all your family members remember each day you open new doors and walk new paths you turn feelings of helplessness into a sense of hopefulness and promise and then the second selection from the Irish poet John O'Donoghue when you lose someone you love your life grows strange the ground beneath you gets fragile and your thoughts make your eyes unsure some dead echo drags your voice down where the words have no confidence your heart has grown heavy with loss and though this loss has wounded others too no one knows what has been taken from you a sense of absence deepens flickers of guilt, rekindle, regret for all that was left unsaid or undone there are days when you wake up happy again inside the fullness of life until the moment breaks and you are thrown back onto that black tide of loss there are days when you have your heart back when you are able to function well in the middle of work or some encounter suddenly with no warning you are ambushed by grief it becomes hard to trust yourself and all you can depend on now is that sorrow will remain faithful to itself more than you it knows the way and will find the right time to pull and to pull the rope of grief until that coiled hill of tears has reduced to its last drop gradually you will learn acceptance with the invisible form of your departed and when the grief work is done the wound of loss will heal and you will have learned to wean your eyes from that gap in the air and be able to enter the hearth in your soul where your loved one has awaited your return all the time Thank you Amber and Paul for programming such perfect compliments to today's theme The third chapter of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes begins with these very familiar words for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven and that line is followed by a series of dichotomous observations reflecting the human condition we are born, but then we are destined to die but then we pluck up what is planted we love, but then at times we hate and what many of Ecclesiastes contrasting pairs highlight is the inevitability of loss there are references to things breaking down becoming unraveled, being cast aside and thus we must accept that tears and grief are unavoidable and in fact a necessary feature of our lives yes there are times for dancing but for grieving as well or as it says in the Beatitudes blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted not that scripture is entirely consistent on this point in the ninth chapter of Luke's gospel an admirer approaches Jesus wishing to become part of his growing entourage follow me Jesus urges the man but then the latter hesitates asking if he might first be permitted to fulfill certain religious obligations to his recently deceased father expressing little sympathy for the man's loss Jesus in effect tells him hey get your priority straight let the dead bury the dead he says and as for you go proclaim the kingdom of heaven now to be fair throughout the gospel accounts Jesus does display a sense of urgency and he demands a very high level of commitment from his followers and I doubt therefore that he intended this casual remark let the dead bury the dead to be interpreted as a general rule and indeed the bible contains plenty of evidence to the contrary upon the loss of loved ones those early biblical heroes Joshua and David they wept freely they tore their clothing they fasted publicly unashamedly announcing their grief to one and all and this is of course a far cry from the attitudes and the customs that prevail in today's modern world impatient with the amount of time required to recover from a significant loss afraid of getting stuck in a quagmire of painful and negative emotions we routinely seek to avoid circumvent or sort-circuit the grieving process writing in 1946 shortly after that horrendous war that claimed the lives of tens of millions of men women and children rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman of Boston's temple Israel complained that we moderns have assimilated from our environment a sense of shame about emotionalism and a disinclination to face the tragic realities of life and while this is certainly not true in every case one must concede that the culture at large is not very receptive to or supportive of those who need to grieve as C.S. Lewis complained after his wife a love that this lifelong bachelor had discovered only in late middle age after his wife had died Lewis said an odd byproduct of my loss is that I'm aware of being an embarrassment to everyone I meet perhaps the bereaved ought to be isolated in special settlements like lepers during my 35 years in the ministry I have presided at hundreds of memorial services I have spoken with countless family members and close friends about the deceased and in many cases I have watched as people tried to cope with and recover from their losses it is hard to generalize because some people are very open and expressive about their grief while others are more quiet and closed down some are very deliberate and thoughtful in their approach to mourning while others want to leave it all behind as quickly as possible now from an ethical standpoint there is no right or wrong way to respond to a major loss but there are I would suggest better and worse ways to respond but at this point before going further let's draw a distinction between two terms that are often used interchangeably grief and mourning they're closely connected but they refer respectively to a subjective experience and its objective manifestation grief represents those powerful upwelling emotions images, memories, thoughts that beset us when a major loss has occurred Alan Woefelt, a recognized expert in this area defines grief as the constellations of internal thoughts and feelings that arise under such circumstances think of grief as a container he says for all this powerful all of this unsettling stuff mourning on the other hand occurs when we take that grief stuff that we have on the inside and express it outside of ourselves in any number of ways mourning, Woefelt says, is grief gone public the rituals of mourning in whatever form they take are vitally important because like the physical therapy that we receive following a bodily injury those rituals promote the healing process without active mourning the grief lingers stays bottled up or becomes repressed but it is not resolved and it creates significant problems further down the road and that's the reason why traditional cultures develop elaborate rituals for bringing grief out into the open and to ensure that individuals were not left isolated and bereft of support Judaism's rabbinic literature prescribes a mourning process consisting of four stages that lasts up to a year and the objective Rabbi Lieben says was to create an unashamed atmosphere of sorrow and so for instance during the several days following burial when Jewish mourners are confined to their own home friends and neighbors visit but conversations are strictly limited to praises of the deceased and this provides the mourners with an opportunity to articulate their sense of loss, Lieben writes the Irish tradition responds to death in a similar fashion when someone dies, John O'Donohue writes everyone in the village goes to the funeral and they all come to the house to sympathize neighbors gather around to support the family to help them and it is such a lovely gift and in Ireland he says there are also these people mainly women who come in and keen for the deceased and the narrative of this high pitched wailing is actually the history of the person's life as these women had actually known him or her it's certainly heartbreakingly lonely but it makes a hospitable ritual place for the mourning and the sadness of the bereft family it helps people to let the emotion, the loneliness the grief flow out in a natural and uninhibited way dramatic but powerfully liberating communal rituals such as these are far less in evidence today and the reasons for this I believe are several first our culture does discourage overt displays of disquieting emotion the expectation is for the individual to keep a stiff upper lip to show that they have the inner fortitude to keep it all together even when they feel that their life is falling to pieces around them and I have often witnessed this resistance when meeting with a family to plan a memorial gathering now it is our practice as many of you know in Unitarian Universalism to invite friends and family members to participate in these services offering their own personal tributes to the deceased but quite often those who are closest to the person will decline to speak because they are afraid that they'll get up there and they will become too emotional thus embarrassing themselves and others and even when I often offer reassurances that these displays of heartfelt feelings in this particular context are both natural and completely acceptable most people still demure now I agree that taking this step is hard but in so doing in making a public profession of one's sorrow and one's gratitude for the person's life one testifies to the depth of affection that they felt for that person and this in turn really does touch those in attendance and it elicits from them greater sympathy and support which is important in today's culture because most of their traditional public indicators of grief and mourning have disappeared they're notably absent how many of us today after the death of a loved one don black clothing how many of us place a black wreath on our front door or display any other overt sign of our bereaved status just the opposite there is often a presumption that once the funeral or the memorial service is over life should return to normal as quickly as possible and unfortunately then the individual is left to stew in his or her own juices and in the absence of such outward forms Judith Martin writes the bereaved are unprotected from the demands of normal social life which they will be unable often to handle indeed they are frequently encouraged to plunge back into social situations where joviality is expected and then if they happen to succeed in behaving as if nothing happened they are deemed to be heartless etiquette's codifying behavior under bereavement allows a period of readjustment free from the prying judgments of others as well as from any social expectations a second contemporary cultural value that gets in the way of effective and meaningful mourning is the emphasis that we now place on convenience and efficiency now while we might expect that people would modify their expectations in this regard when a friend or a loved one has been lost our overbooked schedules and our native ingenuity keep pushing us ever forward toward more and more convenient solutions thus in recent years we have seen the advent of drive through mortuaries where visitors can view the deceased through a plate-grab glass window never getting out of their automobiles memorial websites have also become increasingly popular every funeral home now has one and there are these independent websites such as muchloved.com forevermissed.com that families can use those websites to tailor them to their own requirements I have occasionally logged on to these to read comments posted about recently deceased members of our congregation and I do understand that they serve a valid purpose that they allow distant friends and relatives to quickly convey a message of condolence but they are not a substitute for meaningful human contact as the columnist Mitch Album wrote back in 2002 at the very beginning of this developing trend the very thing he says these websites spare you is the thing the mourner needs most human contact which is better achieved through a phone call or a handwritten letter you are supposed to be inconvenienced by death sure he says I dread the whole funeral thing but it's a part of paying respect he died he was not deleted and many of us today are in such a hurry and so it's not all that unusual for me to observe people ducking out of a memorial service before it's over and of course forgoing the reception afterwards families are always asking me advice about the amount of food that they should order on such occasions and they are often surprised when I say cut the estimated number of attendees in half or you'll be taking an awful lot of that food home with you many of us do not seem to realize how comforting it can be for a family to be surrounded by a virtual crowd of well-wishers in such a difficult time in their lives I'm not suggesting that we should adopt a specific protocol or institute uniform mourning practices people have different temperaments families have their own distinctive histories and expectations and needs there is no one-size-fits-all approach to end-of-life planning what is important I think is to be more intentional recognizing that grief must be given its due and that certain rituals ought to be developed and observed the poet John Dunn once observed that he who has no time to mourn has no time to mend for earlier generations this was pretty much self-evident but in North America today Alan Woefelt remarks we are often encouraged to think around our losses rather than feeling through them and thus the individual never fully assimilates his or her loss and it remains an unresolved issue now when mourning is absent when inadequate, painful emotions get trapped and the bereaved begins to wonder why am I still feeling this way am I going crazy am I abnormal or if that's not the case when the emotions go underground and they are repressed you don't even recognize they're there perhaps for years that's what's called carried grief and studies have linked carried grief to depression, anxiety, confusion and even severe physical ailments Harvard's Dr. Eric Lindemann worked with patients at Mass General Hospital in Boston and he discovered a close relationship between the onset of ulcerative colitis and the loss of an important person in the patient's life and after these people had been encouraged to express the pain and the sorrow that they were still holding in sometimes for decades the condition of many of them improved dramatically now it's often supposed that if we surrender to the strong emotions and thought patterns of grief that we're going to be overwhelmed, incapacitated unable to find our way back to sanity again but while the ability to think and to act and to feel normally will indeed be compromised at certain intervals when we're grieving giving into one's feelings is almost always a better option in the long run instead of managing the grief Wolfelt says the grief should be allowed to manage the individual or as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote more than 2,500 years ago the soul has its own source of unfolding now it's hard to do this kind of major grief work well if we have not been willing or able to work through the lesser losses that are a part of all of our life experience children leave home, we become empty nesters a career ends and with it an enterprise that gave a great deal of meaning and purpose to our lives a marriage breaks apart even if amicably there is still this serious sense of something lost and if we have been in the habit of blithely bypassing these difficult life passages it's not surprising that we're not going to know what to do that we come up short when a loved one, a dear one leaves the scene and so perhaps if we recognized our ordinary grief sooner Ken Wilbur writes this is the room for the greater griefs now the fact that grief has become such a foreign country that we just as soon never visited all that has some implications for our community our civilization and our planet as well as for us as individuals how can we muster the courage how can we maintain the commitment to promote economic and social justice to heal the earth we cannot get in touch with our sorrow when things don't go the way we hoped that they would here's an example over the past year we have learned of a profound equity gap that exists in our progressive community of Madison and Dane County and this is a reality that has troubled African-American and white citizens alike but the former, our African-American brothers and sisters are far more likely to feel that injustice and to respond to it at an emotional level and thus the Reverend Alex G. wrote passionately about his justified anger over this long-standing state of affairs and although our community's white leaders have certainly expressed their share of dismay and concern they began moving very quickly toward remedial actions and practical solutions I heard very little mention of any grief any real regret that they might be feeling whites were embarrassed and perhaps appalled by Madison's failures but shouldn't we also be deeply, deeply saddened African-Americans may be skeptical about the white establishment's commitment to change because our more recent meeting of minds has really not been accompanied by a meeting of our hearts a number of years ago the Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh was asked what must we do to save our world and his questioners expected him to offer them some specific instructions but instead Thich Nhat Hanh said simply what we need most to do is to hear within us the sounds of the earth crying the fact is every major transition whether in our personal lives our social and political arrangements our relationship with the planet the dear planet that we inhabit every one of these transitions is likely if we will allow it to induce grief and to invite us into mourning and Forrest Church shortly before he died from cancer said that such grief is a sacrament and it's the sacraments that bring us together the measure of our grief testifies to the power of our love we empty ourselves that we might be filled we lose ourselves that we might be found we give our hearts away even knowing that they will be broken and when they are we remember that pain spiritual as well as physical is a sign of healing may it be so as you know we are collecting turkeys today for the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and we are also sharing our offering with St. Vincent de Paul today as well a portion of all of your gifts today will be given to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry which is the largest one in Dane County please be generous if I had only good moments it would be the same as having only bad ones only in having both can I know what the truly good is I am sad because I have lost that which made me happy but in being patient with my sadness happiness will return again please be seated for the post-lune


Oh, a story out of China. I found this really fascinating, right? So AI is one of the big technologies of the future, big technologies of the present, and a lot of money is flowing into it. For a long time, it was thought that China had a real advantage in AI. The China had invested a huge amount in AI, and there was a lot of very sophisticated Chinese AI companies, and I think that's probably true. Among other things, the AI in China has a lot of information from which to learn, if you will, learn in quotes, because there are a few privacy considerations and they can just get all the government information, get all the information that's on the Chinese internet, on Alibaba and WeChat and things like that. But of course, this kind of innovation is a real threat to a regime like China. What is the chat GPT, the Chinese chat GPT, going to say about different political systems? What is it going to answer to a variety of different questions about different regimes? What about the history of China? I mean, this regime spends a lot of effort to try to whitewash the history, to try to whitewash Mao Zedong to make Tiananmen Square just disappear. Well, what if the equivalent of chat GPT in China discovers the truth about these things and releases them? In anticipation of this, Beijing is moving to rein in China's chat bots. You know, the government is committed to keeping a tight regulatory control over technology, a technology that's going to change the world. It's going to change the world moving forward. So that I think yesterday, the cyberspace administration of China unveiled draft rules for generator artificial intelligence, for chat GPT-like applications. According to the regulations, the company must heed the Chinese Communist Party strict censorship rules. So censorship will be applied to AI. Just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China's leaders or rehashes forbidden history, the same is going to apply to AI. So imagine all those brilliant engineers working on machine learning and now they have to insert into all the code rules about what the chat GPT-like product can say, can't say what history it can look at, what history it cannot look at. These rules, I'm sure, are evolving as the bureaucracy in China, the regulators decide various issues. I mean, just think of the energy, the effort, the time that the brainpower devoted to censoring technology, energy, brainpower that could have been devoted to enhancing it, to making it better, to driving it forward. This is exactly why I'm not too concerned about China leapfogging the United States technology-wise. The content of AI systems will need to reflect, quote, socialist core values and avoid information that undermines, quote, state power or national unity. What does any of that mean? What are socialist core values? What undermines state power? What undermines national unity? Do you want to take a risk as a programmer that any of that, that your product violates any of these things? Sounds pretty risky to me. You might land up in jail or worse. Means you're going to put in all kinds of constraints on the software, all kinds of limitations on what it should could do. Think about how that slows progress, slows innovation. What is it? It's force applied to the human mind. It's a gun pointed at your forehead. Don't mess with state power.  And it brings about lousy technology. It brings about you know, failure to innovate, progress, succeed, grow. All the things we're afraid of China for, it's not going to happen because of these kind of things. Companies will have to make sure their chatbots create worlds and pictures, words and pictures that are truthful and respect intellectual property. Truthful, truthful based on socialist core values and respect intellectual property of Chinese. Not clear if they will respect intellectual property rights of anybody else, given the Chinese government doesn't respect the intellectual property rights of anybody else. And they'll all be required to register their algorithms with regulators. Now, this is part of a story out of the New York Times published. I know I'm not supposed to cite the New York Times. Forgive me. Published yesterday. Fascinating story about the growing regulatory appetite. Growing regulatory appetite of the Chinese government when it comes to AI. These are our final rules. They expect that these rules will change after consultation with Chinese tech companies. They could soften the rules, but they're not going to undermine the basic principles of censorship. Indeed, the fact that these are not final rules just against suggesting uncertainty that Chinese regulations like this create for the industry fear and uncertainty that could only, again, harm progress, innovation and success. So there's plenty of reason here to believe that the United States is going to have a significant and dramatic and maybe long term lead over the Chinese companies because of these kind of regulations. All right. That I thought was interesting. And again, both interesting and kind of following the path that I've been talking about in terms of what happens to Chinese innovation. Thank you for listening or watching The Iran Book Show. If you'd like to support the show, we make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening. You get value from watching. Show your appreciation. You can do that by going to iranbookshow.com slash support by going to Patreon, subscribe star locals and just making a appropriate contribution on any one of those, any one of those channels. Also, if you'd like to see the Iran Book Show grow, please consider sharing our content and of course subscribe. Press that little bell button right down there on YouTube so that you get an announcement when we go live. And for those of you who are already subscribers and those of you who are already supporters of the show, thank you. I very much appreciate it.


We don't achieve success alone. We succeed because of the people who surround us and show support for our hopes and dreams. This one is for every porter on the mountain, this is Mount Kilimanjaro. At 19,341 feet above the clouds stands Mount Kilimanjaro, Mlimma Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single freestanding mountain in the world. Out of the seven routes that take you up Mount Kilimanjaro, our hearts were set on the Machame route, a wonderfully diverse route, 37 miles long and 7 full days of trekking, and our adventure starts right here, right now. As we make our way out of Moshi, we get our first peak at the mountain and the thought that in a few days, you might be up there, you might be up high and you might be celebrating from the roof of Africa is mind-blowing. And then things get real at the Machame Gate. You see your bags that travel across the globe being passed along. You see your guides, busy with the paperwork.  It hits you that this is as real as it gets. And that what used to be a dream, maybe for a very long time, might become a reality. All fueled with joy and excitement, we start our hike for the day from an elevation of 1,800 meters. The Machame route passes through five distinct climate zones and today we get to experience the rainforest. The rainforest jungle is simply amazing. Ancient trees coated in moss with every shade of green imaginable. Add to that some wildlife unique to the area. This is a perfect treat for a successful first day on the mountain. Our first breakfast this morning on the mountain and it's very, everything looks really appetizing and delicious. We've got fresh fruits early in the morning, local coffee, hot water to make drinks like hot chocolate and a bucket of peanut butter. And they're probably still bringing more. They have been feeding us quite a lot. We declined like Mount Kilimanjaro, sticking to a schedule is very important. As we were wrapping up breakfast, porters had already started packing and tearing down tents and ascending to our next camp for the day. A steep climb ahead of us today. We just left the camp where we spent the night yesterday. The Machame camp had a good breakfast and we are aiming for the Shira camp today. We have a lot of climbing to do, but we are so pumped to be here.  Mount Meru is a dormant stratovolcano located 70 kilometers west of Mount Kilimanjaro. On a clear day like today, you can see it from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. That first look at Mount Meru standing at 14,980 feet was jaw-dropping. Even more so when you realize that your destination, your final destination, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is standing way higher than Mount Meru. Leaving the rainforest behind, we continue our ascent crossing a small valley and up a steep rocky ridge. In the moorland zone, the temperature drops significantly, especially at night. Very few animals live here, but the views are out of this world. The landscape completely changed from where we started earlier. There's a lot of fog and it started to get a little bit chilly, but we only have about 400 feet of climb, which is not bad for how steep this section of the trail was today. We are almost to camp for day two and it feels great to be almost done for the day. We do have another acclimatization hike, but so excited to have some warm food. Just hang out here, explore the area. Every end of the day is well celebrated with some warm food. On the menu today, we have pasta, tasty meat sauce, a lot of fruit and hot drinks. Enough fuel to prepare for our short acclimatization hike. We just got to the end of our bonus hike, which is our acclimatization hike. Nothing too impressive really, but just to climb a couple of hundred feet and get adjusted to the high altitude in here. We did, however, see some vegetation that was unique to the area. We stopped by the Shira Cave and then we got to the end of the trail. Everything was covered in fog until the mountains started clearing up a little bit and you can see the peak of Mount Konimanjaro. Beautiful view and it's just surreal to think that in a matter of few days we will be up there. It's just incredible. For our group of eight climbers, it took 30 crew members to make it this far. Meeting for the first time with our crew, including porters, guides, assistant guides and chefs made us realize that you can't achieve success alone and that it truly takes a village to make it to the peak, any peak. It made us realize that success doesn't happen overnight. It happens day by day with forward progress, both large and small. Thank you. Thank you. I woke up today around 5.45 to use the bathroom and the view of Mount Meru was just amazing. The cloud conversion and the whole sky was just incredible. But even right now, as we get ready to have a breakfast and prepare to start hiking, the view is so gorgeous. It's just amazing to wake up to this view of Mount Meru. A very important thing for our morning ritual is this basket right here where we would place all of our water bottles, camel bags and then the porters would treat water just because we're not accustomed to the water in the area. They would fill them up, get them ready for us before we depart for our hike. And right behind me here is the breakfast, dinner and lunch hall. This is where we would gather the whole team to have our breakfast since this morning and also to have our health checked. Make sure that the levels of our oxygen are looking good. Make sure that we're not suffering of any symptoms like dizziness, headaches, severe headaches, nausea. I'm going to show you how that goes. Good morning. Are you eating okay? I am eating okay. Are you feeling tired? No. Are you feeling dizzy? No. How did you sleep? Fantastic. Fantastic. Like an old baby. Like an old baby, exactly.  Today's the hardest day so far. We leave Shirak Camp from an elevation of 3,850 meters and ascend to Lava Tower at 4,600 meters. For many of us this is the highest we have ever been. We are still ascending for the day. Today we're going to be spending about 4 hours to get to Lava Tower and then we will have lunch in there and then we will start descending. So 4 hours of hiking will take us to about 15,000 feet. So that will be the highest we have been on this hike. And I think the highest we've ever been other than Rainbow Mountain once in Peru, so pretty exciting. At this elevation the human body starts experiencing what's known as high altitude sickness. The higher we go up in altitude the thinner the air becomes the less oxygen there is for our body to consume. Symptoms of high altitude sickness vary from headaches, shortness of breath nausea and sleepiness. The most severe form of high altitude sickness is high altitude cerebral edema and it happens when there is fluid in the brain. This is a territory not made for the human body to thrive and yet we are eager to challenge our bodies and push ourselves to the limit. We entered the Alpine Desert Zone not too long ago less vegetation a little bit dry and living in Arizona I always find the desert to be very impressive but here it's so unique it's unlike anything that I've ever seen it's just amazing. We are about to start making our way up to Lava Tower and we have around 800 feet of climb so really looking forward to getting there because that's where we will have our hot lunch but boy we're climbing. Lava Tower is a 90 meter tall rock formation that was formed from Lava Way where Lava Tower was still an active volcano. The lava spurted out of vent, cooled and hardened plugging up the vent and creating what's known as a volcanic plug. We just made it to Lava Tower Camp I really love this camp especially the views of Lava Tower right behind me we had a very steep hike today but the good thing is on the way down getting to Barranco Camp we only going to go down for about 2 hours the majority of the camps right here on Mount Kilimanjaro they do have a lot of information about the name of the camps the elevation that you are at and how much time is going to take you to get to the next camp there's so much activity going on right here and I'm going to show you what the portals are up to. From Lava Tower we spent 2 hours descending to Barranco Camp this section of the trail is my favorite the landscape changes quickly to more vegetation and for the first time we get to see the famous Kilimanjaro Cinesio tree Here we have Cinesio Kilimanjarica we can also call this giant Cinesio Kilimanjarica it's one of the endemic species which means it founds only in Kilimanjaro these 3 live up to 50's so it lives longer according to the weather or the environment where it is I'll call it's one of the kind of smart plant also so since they are small they don't drop the leaves at all it stays there so that it can give the steam warm and if you take a look down underneath of the leaves they are fluffy kind of cotton so it gives the steam warm gives the steam warm and it really consumes lots of water so wherever you see this it must be close to river source so even where we are now we have river source surrounding this tree I want to show you 2 buckets of water that we left out yesterday and they are completely frozen this is one this is the second one it is day 4 of our adventure up Mount Kilimanjaro and it's very hard to believe that we are very close to summit day yesterday we finished our hike at Baranco camp this is where we are right now and I think this camp is my favorite so far I love that there are so many trees that are native to the area we had clear skies yesterday and we were able to see the mountain which was amazing I woke up late at night and I saw the sky so clear freezing cold but I took a moment to take a picture on my phone so sad to leave this camp behind but we have to get going today is going to be pretty exciting because we are going to get to the famous Baranco wall or the Kissen wall as people know it feeling good so far and I think they are waiting for me to get my health check done for the morning get breakfast get packing and get going we leave Baranco camp and our day starts with a fun scramble to the top of the great Baranco wall a steep climb that doesn't require technical skills but might look intimidating to some people step by step and with some help from the guides this scramble can turn into a fun adventure a section of the Baranco wall is named the Kissen wall in narrow section where you come face to face with some boulders get a big old smooch there you go it's really nice to sit here and look back to where we started our climb for the day it was quite a scramble to be fair it was fun I'd rather do this than just shug along for hours and hours uphill we did pass the Kissen wall which honestly was not as exposed as I thought but fun nonetheless so we have a little bit more climbing to do and we are looking forward to make a successful day on this climb how do you feel after climbing the Baranco wall I feel good I feel really good I feel pretty comfortable in this altitude I think some evenings after hard work your body can definitely start to feel like it's recovering slower and you notice that but when I'm on the hike I feel very good we have just made it to the top which is the highest point for today I think around 13800 feet beautiful views we can see Kilimanjaro very very very close it's amazing to even think that we would need a couple of days in order to get there and then the views of Mount Meru are just gorgeous we took so many photos up here the landscape is out of this world it's just a treat to be here the rest of the day is going to be a lot of downhill and we are going to sleep at a lower elevation today so we're finishing up day 4 we can see the camp in the distance and after you start the hike you really kind of go up and down and cruise around 13000 feet going up to 15000 or so and coming back down for a few days on Limachami route and we're kind of cutting through a little area of vegetation again here we're going to go drop down by the river and then we're going to go hit our camp for the day a short day which we're happy with but they're also trying to get us to to get some good rest tonight and tomorrow night so that we're ready for the summit day get my fingers very in the other guy's name so on our way to camp tonight there are two trails right behind me one of them switchbacks it looks really steep and then there is the other one that looks a little bit more gentle so our guides right here just told me that we will be taking the switchbacks up and then the other trail is dedicated for the porters and they will take it to get to the water source to fetch the water for us every single day poley poley slowly slowly in Swahili language it's the motto on Mount Kilimanjaro it's not a race up the mountain going slow allows your body to adjust to changes in the elevation and helps you preserve energy for harder days to come just made it to Karanga camp and I have to go over a group picture what a day today is day five of our adventure we stayed here at Karanga camp where we spent the night beautiful views of Mount Meru and the rest of the Moshi valley behind us today we've got a short trip four kilometers four and a half to base camp where we're going to get ready for our push to the summit after the day to day feeling like absolute shit but we're still going solid I've got my guide Ilyes here with me being very supportive and helpful and in front of us right here is a hefty climb to Baraf base camp and then from there get to Kosovo camp that's the camp where we'll be spending the night before the summit push just taking it slowly today not feeling the best but we'll do what we have at this altitude everything becomes difficult breathing is hard walking is hard stopping is hard talking is hard and it all comes down to how much you are willing to push through the pain can you dig deeper and find it in yourself to keep going and how bad do you really want it congratulate you for getting up here at the base camp this is the achievement as well good job for all of you yeah you are here with your good shape with your smiling faces the five of you still smiling up here at the base camp at the 1500 feet 1500 that is something to probably yeah today is summit day we started our push around midnight now a lot of sleep this is going to be the longest two miles of my life going very slow it's really exhausting we think that it would probably take around six hours to get to the summit over a peak but we'll see we're just taking a break right now and we'll get going a little bit here summit day is the most mentally and physically challenging part of the trek we leave Kosovo camp at an elevation of 4863 meters around midnight we start hiking through heavy loose up the mountain in below freezing temperatures in this cold morning the water in our bladders is completely frozen our electronics completely drained from the cold and the lack of sleep making every step a lot more difficult it is so very cold and we still have ways to go but I didn't want to miss the opportunity of showing you this beautiful sunrise here it's just so gorgeous I had to debate with myself for ten minutes should I start to get the phone but here we go fire sky we are close to Stella Point it is about half an hour or less left to get in there so from Stella Point it's going to be about an hour hike in time normally from Stella Point the hike is going to be more easier it's going to be easier the most difficult one hour and a half we are proud of you you are doing very well thank you so much Stella Point is located at 5732 meters getting to Stella Point itself is a huge accomplishment but that's not the end yet from there on it's a different type of excitement knowing that you are closer to the peak and a different type of pain too every person you pass is congratulating you already and encouraging you to keep pushing for they know that it's more of a mental game right now almost there congrats thank you I just can't wait to get there 20 minutes 15 minutes so tired so here we are the sign as we start seeing the sign from far away a wave of emotions hits no matter how strong and tough of a person you think you are no matter strong of a person you actually are you will break you'll start thinking about your reasons to be on the mountain the people who mean the most to you the hard work for months now to make it here to make it this far every moment of strength every moment of weakness all of the training to get here all of the sacrifices you had to make running out of juice and you are here you are here at Uhuru Peak Uhuru freedom in Swahili and freedom is what you feel standing at the roof of Africa freedom is what you feel knowing that you made it up here you pushed through the pain you conquered your fears and you didn't give up on yourself that is freedom we begin we started making our way down from the summit you would think that getting to the summit is the end of the hard work but descending is another level of concentration and physical activity and we have a very very long descent our goal right now is to get to Kosovo camp this is the same camp where we spent the night yesterday and then we'll take one hour nap we'll have lunch and then pack our stuff and we'll descend some more it's going to be a very very long day but we are very happy that we made this in the summit and we'll just push through I guess our prayer we're going to go we're going to go our last day we're going to go we're going to the summit we're going to go we're going to do a little walk and then we'll get down and we'll go we're going to go we're going to go down it's gonna take probably around three hours to get to the gate and then we're having a last sneak peek the mountain right there behind me really beautiful view of the mountain it's hard to believe that we were up there just yesterday we have just made it to muéka gate this is the last point for our very long trek and we all are very happy to have made it this far very much looking forward to take a shower warm meal and to enjoy the rest of Tanzania Ibariki Tanzania