Edited Transcript
Welcome to "Beauty and Mr B." I'm Mr B! This is the first episode of my podcast, and the only purpose of today's episode is to provide those who are listening with a brief introduction to what this podcast will be about.... Most people would probably agree that, today, the world is in a state of decline, in fact, that the world is in a state which is declining at such a rate as has never before been witnessed in history. The question this poses for most people, myself included, is "how well are we coping with this unprecedented change, this unprecedented disintegration of society around us, here and around the world?" The answer, I'm afraid, is, in fact, not so well.... Most people I know -- whether they're friends or coworkers, whether it's family -- they don't know where to go, in what direction to turn. Having said this, I do think that virtually everyone I know is doing the best they possibly can, including me. I know so many people who have become remarkably adept at identifying a great many of the issues that mark the modern day. Many of the people I know can go even farther, identifying much of the present-day thinking which has contributed to the problems of society. I even know a few who can go farther still, and intelligently discuss the origins of this descent, this decline into disintegration. But, usually, there's a point in whatever conversations I have where there is just a pause,... a pause that turns into silence, a silence that can sometimes become a bit awkward. Sometimes this silence feels like a hard stop, and it's at that point when discussion, usually, simply ends. When I ask the question, "how do I move forward under these circumstances?" or "how can I live a life constructively in this reality, with genuine meaning and purpose?" or, even, "how can I take whatever qualities I have and contribute positively toward the restructuring, the resurrection, of the world?", discussion,... it just stops. And that, my friends, is why I've created this podcast. My goal is for us to resume the discussion at the point where conversation has left off, for us to begin moving the discussion again and, hopefully, to begin moving this discussion in the direction of forward. What I'm planning is, each week or so, to upload a podcast with the potential to encourage and support new and active ways of thinking, acting, and living in the world here and now. I want to promote new and larger ways of seeing reality and thinking about reality. My hope is that these new ways of seeing will be deep, high, and wide. Once we can see the world and think about it from the widest possible perspective, within the beauty of truth and goodness, the question turns into, "how do we live with meaning?" "To what extent can we align our lives within the full scope, the full spectrum, the infinite fullness of reality?" And, after we have started to gain a sense of how to better our individual lives, "how can we then go out into society, in relationship with others, in relation to the institutions of the society we live in, and begin to actively reorganize the frameworks around which the structures of modern society revolve?" The goal of all this, at least in my mind and heart, is to begin making progress that can benefit not just ourselves or our own communities, and not just our own states, our own regions, our own nations. My goal encompasses more, much more, that is, to apply ourselves, each of us, individually and collectively, in small and big ways, toward the unification of the whole of humanity within one world civilization. In the end, if our actions work in ways that are truly positive, actually moving us forward, who we are and what we do in the world can contribute constructively to the lives of others. Somehow, in all kinds of ways, we possess the capacities to move our lives forward toward a spiritual richness, a sense of fullness that can enrich our lives and guide humankind to live within the treasuries of an ever-greater sense of meaning and purpose. Ultimately, I want to live my own life in ways that can help to move myself and others I come in contact with toward a universal sense of material prosperity and spiritual peace. I look forward to you joining with me, and us, as, together, we travel this path together. Thank you so much for listening... Mr B!