The Three Cultural Poisons and Coronavirus Covid-19

Q: Is it worth wrecking the economy over this?

I would rather we overreacted and were wrong. You can rebuild an economy. Nobody has ever brought back a person by admitting a mistake afterwards.

Q: Why does the podcast keep going political?

Because the world does not stop at your front door and pretending otherwise is not peace. That said, this one is very much March 2020 and it should be read with that date attached.

Q: What is the offer at the end?

A live guided meditation every weekday at two o'clock, twenty minutes, camera and microphone off if you prefer. Pay what you want or nothing at all. That series is what eventually became the Inner Peace Meditations feed.

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buddhism · covid · suffering

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I'm Stephen Webb, your host of Living Deeper Lives.

And this is no ordinary podcast, apart from it's an awesome

podcast.

But I cannot do a podcast without talking about what's happening

in the world right now and with the experience of Facebook and

other people.

And I wanted to talk about the three cultural poisons and how it

fits in and how we can perhaps turn this around to some kind of

gift to ourselves.

But first, I just want to say, you know, hope you're staying safe,

hope you're doing what you can.

And what an absolute shitstorm this is.

You know, I'm.

I'm paralyzed with my chest muscles.

I cannot breathe through any of my chest muscles.

I breathe my diaphragm only.

I do have a problem with heart palpitations.

I took tablets for it.

I'm asthmatic and I'm diabetic.

That puts me in serious line of fire for this virus.

The virus is going to love me.

So I take a deep breath, and my carers are washing their hands,

they're doing everything they can, and I'm isolating myself.

I'm not panicking.

Well, a little bit panicking.

I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I'm feeling tired.

I cannot stop thinking about it.

You know, a few months ago, I was thinking, maybe I'll have a heart

attack.

Maybe I won't be healthy because I don't eat all that healthy.

Now all that's gone out the window, and I'm thinking, this might

get me.

And I'm a pretty positive thinker.

You know, all my life, I'm.

Everybody would.

I don't think anybody would say I was a negative thinker.

Anybody listens to my podcast, sees me do lives, my videos or my

blogs.

But this.

This is quite serious.

And I don't know quite how it's going to pan out.

I'm not an expert.

And what is refreshing is seeing so many countries come together,

so many leaders in companies that are changing the way they do

things.

And I think it's going to be over the next few months, some companies

are really going to win where they don't exploit the people, but

they change what they're doing in order to help people and real

leadership.

It's not going to be about making money.

It's going to be about looking after each other, seeing what you

can do to keep your workforce busy, seeing what you can do to stay

afloat, what you can help in your community.

It's not going to be about, oh, well, we're going to go under

and we're going to Suffer.

And we need a bailout from the government.

And the same with.

And exactly the same with governments, the governments that

really do put their people first and their economy second.

I know the economy is important, but because we're all

in this together, we're all dropping down the ladder of the economy.

It's not like one country's dropping down and the others are

all going up.

So it's quite.

It's one of those things.

It's a level playing field.

You know, let's all help each other out.

There's the government.

Let's try to help the people out as much as possible.

And then we've also got the situation of, you know, do we really

panic and close everything down and risk the economy and then

having it wrong and then it doesn't end up as bad as what they

say it might do.

Well, I would rather have that than I would have it the other way,

where we gamble.

Because the thing is, you can always recover an economy.

You cannot recover a loved one.

You cannot recover a loved one.

You know, once they're gone, they're gone.

It's no good saying, oops, we made a mistake.

And I think that's the case.

And I want to talk about the three cultural poisons.

And the three cultural poisons are denial, cynicism, and hypocrisy.

And I'm going to address each one in order.

But first I want to say that this could be a gift is here already.

You know, you're going to have this isolation for how long?

You might be one of the ones that have to go out to work.

And if you are, thank you.

My heart opens to you.

And if there's any way I can support you, please let me know.

And at the end of this podcast, I'm going to tell you what

I'm going to do to help people in isolation.

And you can all sign up and it will be free.

You can choose to pay for it or not.

But I'm opening up that you choose how much you want to pay for

it.

It's not going to be easy for people two or three weeks, let alone

eight, ten weeks in isolation not seeing each other.

We've never known anything like that.

And even with all the modern technology and Skype and Zoom and

all the other things, we've got an abundance of things.

We got more music we can ever listen to, more movies, more TV series.

We've got so much that we can do to entertain ourselves.

It doesn't matter, because it's relative.

If you gave somebody a Hundred years ago, all these things, they

would be fine.

But we've grown up with these things, so therefore they're nothing

special.

So isolation to us, even with all these things, is not going to

be easy.

It's going to be really hard.

We're used to freedom.

We're used to going where we want when we like.

We're not used to being isolated and such like.

So don't think it's going to be bliss just because we can talk

to our loved ones on Skype.

It really is not going to be bliss.

It's going to be bloody lonely.

It's going to be tough, and it's going to be a long, long time.

It's going to.

Each day is going to seem like a week.

But I want to talk about that.

You can really take advantage of this, you know, get some books,

use it as a personal growth.

And When I broke my neck when I was 18, initially, the first two

weeks intensive care, and then after that, I had about six months

in bed for that, on my back.

And I was about 20ft away from the nurses station.

So I would see the other patients coming and going.

They were just a few months ahead of me on their rehab.

And I was laying flat on my back.

And every 12 hours or eight hours or something, I'd be turned

one way and then turned the other way.

The only entertainment I had was the tv, little portable tv.

And I looked at it through a mirror above me because I could not

turn my head because my head was attached to four pins that went

in my skull on a rope that dangled off the top of the bed with

15 pounds of weight on top to keep my neck stretched out straight

and to stop me moving it.

And trust me, if I tried moving it, it really hurt.

So I didn't.

It was on the chance that if they stretch the neck out enough,

maybe the spinal cord might.

The swelling might go down, I might get some feeding and movement

back.

I did.

I got my arms back.

I can move my arms, but my hands are still paralyzed.

My wrists are very, very weak.

But I had this time in bed where they would come and wash me

every morning, about half a state, I think.

And then they would come and do me dinner.

And my family would come up and stay and friends would come up

and stay.

But I had a lot of time to think.

I had a lot of time out.

And I think really that was a gift.

If I'd broke my neck and immediately, a couple of weeks later,

let out loose in a wheelchair to come home, I would not have had

the mentality or the mindset to deal with it the way I do.

So taking time out, what can we do with this time out?

Well, read some books.

Choose a book a week, that's only an hour a day reading.

You could read a book a week.

Most books are about a five hour read.

And I'm, I'm dyslexic.

I really struggle to read and I can read now a book in most weeks.

I've just got to be disciplined enough to do it.

And there's normally way too much going on to not to do it or

to be distracted.

So we've got this perfect opportunity.

You can go for a walk, but isolate on your walks.

Don't have any contact with people any more than a high across

the road.

Of course, check with your authorities just in case you're not

allowed to do that.

But as far as I know, isolation does not mean actually

staying in your room unless you have the coronavirus.

That's a little bit different.

Check with your local health team to what you're allowed to do

but exercise, get fit.

You know, treat it as your, your time in the monastery.

You know, in a monastery they get out of bed at like 4 o' clock

in the morning.

Well, it's optional.

You can get out of bed earlier if you want.

You sleep on a hard bed.

You sit in meditation hours and hours a day in complete silence.

You just walk in complete silence.

You have to read, you have to do all these things.

And it helps us to grow, helps us to grow and open spiritually.

But I want to just end on what I've seen recently.

And I take a deep humble breath really in this part because

this will show human for what we are, our core values or not so

much our core values, but the level at which we are currently at.

And these levels go from, you know, me, my life slightly fantasy

thinking, which young child to absolutely me, me in control.

I want to control the world.

I have all the answers.

I am right.

Me, my country.

You know, you'll recognize that in a couple of leaders at the

moment.

You'll recognize that in some of your friends, especially some

narcissist.

And then you have the religion and things like that, what you believe

in and it's your group then me and my group, me and my, the Hell's

Angels, the religious groups and such like the mafia.

Can I put the mafia and a religious group in together?

I'm not saying they are the same, but it's the same thinking

in the way of me and my Group, gangs, My group have the answers.

My.

My group or my culture, it's where I fit in.

I lay down my life for my group.

Then you have more of a bigger picture where you love the world

and the world is your group and everybody's part of this.

And I think this coronavirus, this COVID 19 outbreak, will really

show us where we stand there as individuals and as groups and

as businesses.

So you'll have the three cultural poisons.

You've got denial, which is the first one.

The environment is fine.

While businesses in this denial, that will be all right, don't

have to worry about it.

We don't have to adapt well.

They won't be around in a few months time.

They're the ones that just won't survive.

But then there's an individual basis, you know, These are the people

that, oh, it's just a flu.

Don't worry about it.

It happens every year.

We don't have to do anything about it.

Well, I've got news for them.

The world's economies don't lose $3 trillion for just another

flu.

You know, it's way more than that.

You've just got it.

You don't have to be a mathematician.

You just have to look at the flu kills 0.1% in the Western world

because of hospital care and vaccinations.

It does kill a lot more in third world countries, granted.

And it kills thousands every year.

Yes, but we know about it.

It's something that I take a vaccination for every year.

It's something that I don't panic about every year because of

that.

It's something that my doctors and everybody knows kind of how to

treat.

This is different to that.

So it's not.

The environment is fine.

Get out of your denial.

You know, move out of that, because that won't do us any good.

In actual fact, it does it worse because you're probably making

the problem wor.

Oh, everything's fine.

I'm gonna go to the pub tonight.

I'm gonna go and mix with my friends.

I'm gonna go and have a party.

I'm gonna go and do all the other things, you know, get out of

that one.

And then cynicism.

What can I, one person, do?

Well, I recognize that.

I really do.

And I spoke about this on another podcast earlier on.

I came out of podcast three or four.

What can I do?

One person.

You can do a lot.

And yes, it does start at arm's length.

Wash your damn hands.

Don't be an ego chip about it.

Don't be, oh, well, I'm clean anyway.

I'll just do it for 10 seconds.

I can learn better.

Bollocks.

Wash your fucking hands, for Christ's sake.

You know, you don't know who quite you might pass that on to.

You don't know.

You don't know at what point you're stopping it.

And you could be the one that touches the one object that the one

vulnerable person may touch or the person that's going to the vulnerable

person next touches it.

And you may never know what cancer sufferer, what paralyzed,

what diabetic, what elderly grandma or grandpa that you've just

passed it on to because you were too damn stubborn to wash your

hands.

But what can you do as one person?

Well, you can do a lot.

You can do an awful lot.

You can phone friends, you know, and say, do you need anything?

Can I go and get shopping for you?

And leave on their doorstep, you know, at this time?

Give it another six weeks or so.

People are going to need their grass mode.

They're going to need shopping picked up.

They're going to need just maybe even, you know, the older generation

like to have their car started every couple of months.

Maybe you could offer one of them.

I don't know, that's probably a bad idea.

They'll probably think you're nicking it or something.

Note to Stevie Write out a plan before you start your podcast,

especially on big subjects.

But yeah, there's so many things you can do.

There's a girl called Emma in Falmouth that done a little card

that you can find online and it just says, hey, I'm so and so,

and my number is I can do this, this and this for you.

There's things you can do.

This is going to show us who we really are.

And there's plenty you can do as one person.

And even just isolating yourself and staying out of things

that's doing something.

It really is.

If you know a nurse or you know a doctor or you know somebody,

send them a thank you card.

If you know a nurse or a doctor or emergency services person

or someone, a delivery driver or something like that, send them

a thank you card.

Send them something that you appreciate them because they've got

to go on the front line and treat these people.

That could be you, that could be anybody else.

And I wouldn't like to be doing that right now.

So I'm glad they're doing it then.

The third of the three cultural poisons is hypocrisy.

My behavior is exemplary and this is probably the most annoying

one of all.

I can understand the denial.

That's ignorance.

That's not knowing.

I don't mean ignorance as in you're an ignorant person.

I mean ignorance as in not knowing.

You're just denying it.

Cynicism.

I can get that.

I really do get that.

It's difficult to know what one person can do but hypocrisy.

Wake the damn self up.

Wake yourself up.

My behavior is exemplary.

Nothing to do with me.

I'm all right.

I've only bought three packets of toilet rolls.

I don't care.

You know, I didn't start this.

It's nothing.

You, you know, I'm still going to go about my business.

Yes, it's the problem.

But I'm perfect.

You know, I don't think there's many of them around at the

moment, but there probably is a few.

I think we're.

Most of us have grown past that.

So look for the gift.

Look for the gift.

In this time of difficult circumstances.

I don't know what else to call them.

You know, it's not like a war, but it's a bigger effort and more

fearful than the war.

In a war effort, you have certain people that are going into

danger zones, which is horrible.

And I'm not taking anything away from that.

I feel blessed that I don't live in a time where I've ever had

to be asked to go for.

Go to war or ever been affected by someone directly in the

war.

But this affects all of us.

Everybody from the highest of president right down to, I'm going

to say the lowest.

But every, every human is important.

Every one life is important.

And I do hear governments not putting the same.

Well, I feel like they're not putting the same level to what's

going on to everybody.

It's almost like the elderly are not as important.

And that I just, it just annoys me.

If this was children dying, oh boy, you would see a different story.

And you see a different story of the whole of the people.

You really would.

You wouldn't have this complacency.

So just a quick recap.

Recognize the three cultural poisons.

That's what's going to damage us most of all at the moment.

Denial, cynicism and hypocrisy.

And recognize what you can do to grow yourself.

And I've got this offer for you.

And below this podcast and on my page, StephenWeb.com below this

podcast is a link.

And on my.

If you go to stillnessinthestorms.com the top

link will take you to a page where you let me know that you want

to be in every day.

Starting next week on Monday at 2pm, I'm going to do a live guided

meditation every weekday in Zoom.

You don't have to have your camera on, you don't have to have

your mic on.

Just turn up and we're just going to meditate every day for about

20 minutes and they're going to be guided.

You don't have to be a meditator.

It doesn't matter if you never meditated before.

But this is to ground ourselves and not to feel overwhelmed.

And the overthinking and the busy people just get a little inner

peace from this because unless we approach it from the ground up

and from our hearts, we're going to really struggle because

you cannot approach this from the mental thinking because it will

just exhaust you, it will overwhelm you and it will drown you.

So, reminder, go to stillnessinthestorms.com let me know

that you're in and I will email you the details.

And it's pay what you want, by the way.

And I'm going to use this money to hopefully raise enough money

for me to buy a new electric wheelchair, because mine is really

stuffed.

It's 15 years old now and it's falling apart.

So that's what you'll be funding if you can pay something

towards it.

But don't be put off if you can't, because I want to help as

many people as possible.

Take care.

I'm Stephen.

And go to stillnessinthestorms.com I love you

and thank you for your time being here.

The Three Cultural Poisons and Coronavirus Covid-19

In this episode

The question this answers

The heart of it

One small thing to try

Questions people ask

The transcript

One calm email.
Every Sunday.

The Three Cultural Poisons and Coronavirus Covid-19

In this episode

The question this answers

The heart of it

One small thing to try

Questions people ask

The transcript

More honest conversations

One calm email. Every Sunday.

One calm email.
Every Sunday.