Interconnectedness and "becoming the Buddha"

Here's a wonderful little TED talk by Bob Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University. Dr. Thurman became a Tibetan monk at age 24. In this video, you can see him in a very short amount of time — sitting front and center on stage — engage the TED audience and give a little peak at the essence of Buddhism. All the while, of course, he can't help but make the audience laugh from time to time. Indeed laughter is very much apart of Buddhism. When you really become aware you can not help but laugh. Not the laugher that comes at another's expense, but the kind of laughter that comes from silence. Naturally it comes to you. That's the best kind of all. As Buddha said, "When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky."

You may find the talk starts slowly for you, but stick with it, Bob gets very interesting. I've watched it now 4-5 times. I love his quirky, natural, casual style. And what he says is spot on, of course. I love this line:

"I think the key to saving the world, the key to compassion is that, it is more fun. It should be done by fun. Generosity is more fun, that's the key."

Keynote slide

As far as the book goes, all text (first draft) will be ready tomorrow for the editors. There is still a ton of work and a mountain of design work to do. I am doing the design myself in InDesign and have made one sample chapter galley all ready so that it can be tested for printing. According to Amazon (shocked that the book is up there all ready; cover is not exactly right) the book will be ready for sale by November 17. I probably have way too much text. There will be lots of images and sample slides and lots of white space too, so I really have to scale the text back. This is the hardest thing.

Hope you enjoy the TED presentation.

Comments

[Gabriele Barni]

The presentation is really nice.. but the topic sounds very much like church stuff.. boring.

good luck for the book.. i think gonna buy it immediatly.

bye bye from italy

[James Lillis]

Hi Garr

The quote about fun as a motivator got me thinking about an interesting topic, one that I think is relevant to presenters (it's a little off topic, but...).

That idea is game playing.

It's fun to play games. Do you think that presenters can (should?) include game like elements in their presentations?

For example, in Made To Stick the authors mention the idea of making a presentation like a mystery (in the unexpected section). Isn't that essentially creating a puzzle game dynamic?

We presenters play all sorts of games with our audiences - guessing games, mystery games, puzzle games, competitive games, role playing games etc. Don't we?

I don't think there is any more effective way to engage an audience than to draw them into a game.

Your thoughts?

[Michael Sporer]

Garr

I'm glad you shared this TED talk. Inspiring!

[Wade M]

Politely surprised to find some Zen/Buddhist links on here, rather than it's influences which I see often from you.

Thanks for sharing.

Peace,
Wade
themiddleway.net

[Jason Nicholls]

I really like the point Bob makes as well, unfortunately that slide you put together is lame. It's lame because it's so sedate and looks more like a "love" angle (to a partner) versus compassion. Certainly not fun, and not the message.

Sorry, I'm trying to help ;)

[Garr]

>unfortunately that slide you put together is lame.

"Lame!" Remember, slides can not be judged out of context, except perhaps for design elements such as contrast, balance, etc. You have to be there to hear the story...

The story I told of "generosity" and what that means to me was by an example. I've always been a bit troubled by seeing elder people alone and lonely. Perhaps I see a myself in their eyes -- if I am lucky (if it can be called that) I may make it to my 80s or 90s. Will I have any friends, any family? When I visit the senior care center in Oregon to visit my mother, it would be easy to get depressed in such a place. But instead by spending time even with strangers there to chat and listen to them, you can see just a little glimmer of something special in their smile. I have a lot of respect for people who volunteer time to spend with the elderly who may be lonely and in need of companionship. I don't know if you call this "generosity" or "compassion" or just what it is, but a very funny thing happens when you slow down to share time with someone who may be lonely, you feel a little less sad yourself. I can not explain it well, but "generosity of time" was what I was talking about, specifically with folks in senior centers who are often "forgotten" in our societies. Perhaps this is "lame" as you say. But that was the topic....

[ehollo]

Hello just passed by your site and your blog is extremely professional looking. Knowing that I am off topic, I will be brief. I knew a few people over in Japan over the years teaching or permanently living there. They seemed to enjoy the people and the environment there. Hope you find its enjoyable as a foreigner. Good luck.

[Jon]

I'm looking forward to the book. I just pre-ordered it from Amazon. Keep up the good work.