book says so. You see it yourself. You're banging your head against the wall, and it hurts. You're banging your head against the wall, it hurts. You bang it again, and it hurts. You bang it again, and it hurts. This is how it is. As soon as you see that, you say, "OK, I'm not going to bang my head against the wall because if I do, I'll be hurting." So that choice is up to you, right?
Now, right now, you know, as I already said, I'm dumping all these sound waves on you. Let's say I'm telling you something and you get really inspired, or you're listening to another talk and you get really inspired. And you're all pumped-up. I'm going to go and observe myself for the next 18 hours. I'm going to do something about this. And I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. OK, so that's great. You do all that. And what happens the next day? Nothing. You don't have that inspiration so you go out hunting for those sound waves again. And, you know, if you've seen a movie that inspires you, you can't see it 20 times and have the same effect. The first time it's just something - so you look for different variations. You're always hunting, hunting, hunting, and it just never ends. And then there's money. People always criticize others chasing money. But you can start chasing inspiration. You can have this spiritual currency. Oh, well, I want tobe in this state. I want to feel this way. I want to feel this. I want to have this and that. And it's all the same thing. Right? You're just hunting.
How many people ever say, "I have arrived. This is a moment I've been waiting for all my life," or "This is a moment that's a culmination of all my life, all my experiences and this is it. I am here." This Berkeley Buddhist monastery isn't a pit stop from doing x, y, z -- coming here and then going and doing something else. This is it. You have arrived. This is all there is to it. You have arrived. There's nowhere to go. But this is all hard to do, right?
You have to have that sense of observation. And that observation - as soon as you start to observe this process, as soon as you observe selfishness, it disappears because there's no solid foundation holding it down. So you watch it and you say, "OK, that's just stupid. I'm not going to do it anymore." As soon as you do that, that is the start of inspiration. It's not dependent on anything I'm saying. It's not dependent on anything you saw. It's nothing external. It's nothing related to any of these things. It's internal. You are there. You are living that inspiration. Wherever you go, wherever you are, whether you're in a car, you know, or you're doing ServiceSpace stuff, or you're doing something else, or you're shaking hands with a stranger, that inspiration is with you, and it does not go away from you.
It's not something that's induced. You know, "Oh, yeah, give me this drug. I'll feel this way." It's there. It's permanent. It's solid. That is true inspiration. And that inspiration has nothing to do with going on a hundred-day meditation retreat. Or going to the Himalayas and meditating. Or going this place or that place. There's nothing wrong with those things; they're there and they may work for a lot of people, and they may inspire a lot of people in different ways. And that's fine. But the thing is you can never escape action. Whethere you're meditating and doing nothing, so to say, or going out or doing all these complex activities, you're still acting. It's all action. You can't escape action. And with each action is an opportunity to learn, to observe, to come out of this process of selfishness. And as soon as you observe, the selfishness drops away, and inspiration starts to take birth. And that inspiration is something very, very simple. It's something very pure, something very genuine. And that is the spirit of service.
There's no way I can describe it. The only thing I can do is tell you why I, myself am not in that state. And that's it. Why am I not? Because I'm selfish. I have that chance for that pure, simple spirit of service in this moment, and that's all there is to it. That opportunity of inspiration lies in each action and each action can manifest the purest spirit of service. Starting right here, right now.
Now, right now, you know, as I already said, I'm dumping all these sound waves on you. Let's say I'm telling you something and you get really inspired, or you're listening to another talk and you get really inspired. And you're all pumped-up. I'm going to go and observe myself for the next 18 hours. I'm going to do something about this. And I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. OK, so that's great. You do all that. And what happens the next day? Nothing. You don't have that inspiration so you go out hunting for those sound waves again. And, you know, if you've seen a movie that inspires you, you can't see it 20 times and have the same effect. The first time it's just something - so you look for different variations. You're always hunting, hunting, hunting, and it just never ends. And then there's money. People always criticize others chasing money. But you can start chasing inspiration. You can have this spiritual currency. Oh, well, I want tobe in this state. I want to feel this way. I want to feel this. I want to have this and that. And it's all the same thing. Right? You're just hunting.
How many people ever say, "I have arrived. This is a moment I've been waiting for all my life," or "This is a moment that's a culmination of all my life, all my experiences and this is it. I am here." This Berkeley Buddhist monastery isn't a pit stop from doing x, y, z -- coming here and then going and doing something else. This is it. You have arrived. This is all there is to it. You have arrived. There's nowhere to go. But this is all hard to do, right?
You have to have that sense of observation. And that observation - as soon as you start to observe this process, as soon as you observe selfishness, it disappears because there's no solid foundation holding it down. So you watch it and you say, "OK, that's just stupid. I'm not going to do it anymore." As soon as you do that, that is the start of inspiration. It's not dependent on anything I'm saying. It's not dependent on anything you saw. It's nothing external. It's nothing related to any of these things. It's internal. You are there. You are living that inspiration. Wherever you go, wherever you are, whether you're in a car, you know, or you're doing ServiceSpace stuff, or you're doing something else, or you're shaking hands with a stranger, that inspiration is with you, and it does not go away from you.It's not something that's induced. You know, "Oh, yeah, give me this drug. I'll feel this way." It's there. It's permanent. It's solid. That is true inspiration. And that inspiration has nothing to do with going on a hundred-day meditation retreat. Or going to the Himalayas and meditating. Or going this place or that place. There's nothing wrong with those things; they're there and they may work for a lot of people, and they may inspire a lot of people in different ways. And that's fine. But the thing is you can never escape action. Whethere you're meditating and doing nothing, so to say, or going out or doing all these complex activities, you're still acting. It's all action. You can't escape action. And with each action is an opportunity to learn, to observe, to come out of this process of selfishness. And as soon as you observe, the selfishness drops away, and inspiration starts to take birth. And that inspiration is something very, very simple. It's something very pure, something very genuine. And that is the spirit of service.
There's no way I can describe it. The only thing I can do is tell you why I, myself am not in that state. And that's it. Why am I not? Because I'm selfish. I have that chance for that pure, simple spirit of service in this moment, and that's all there is to it. That opportunity of inspiration lies in each action and each action can manifest the purest spirit of service. Starting right here, right now.
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