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so here we have the story of Abraham
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Abraham has a child called Ishmael with
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Hagar
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because Abraham was unable to have
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children with his wife Sarah
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suggested have a child with Agra and
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they give birth to a child called
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Ishmael
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then miraculously Abraham and Sarah are
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able to have a child and they do have a
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child later called Isaac
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Isaac new schmal an interesting study
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because they would both be progenitors
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of Nations to come
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Ishmael is the father and ancestor of
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the Arab and later Muslim world
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Isaac the ancestor and father and
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patriarch of the Jewish world
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and the plot thickens which we'll talk
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about in coming weeks
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because Isaac would have two children
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twins Jacob and asaph and asaph is the
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ancestor and father of
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Rome
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of the Western Roman Christian world
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so we're focusing on what is this week's
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chapter that talks about Isaac and your
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small but you see how the plot thickens
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how it broadens and when you can
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understand that they were in Conflict it
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can help us understand how their
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children and descendants
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that ultimately became nations of their
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own have conflicts because they did
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begin with ideological spiritual
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conflicts
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so that's what we're going to talk about
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right now this feud between Ishmael and
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Isaac have brothers both shared a father
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called Abraham two different mothers and
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you find that Sarah the mother of Isaac
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tells Abraham
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small is a bad influence on Isaac I want
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you to send them away and he does he
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doesn't want to but he sends Ishmael and
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his mother hugger away God protects them
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but they were sent away what was the
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conflict there
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and it doesn't really status it just
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says there was something going on
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but when you look into the soul
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the spiritual and mystical and esoteric
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teachings you discover
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Abraham had done something revolutionary
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pioneering Abraham introduced the idea
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that life is not egocentric but
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god-centric
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in simple English we're not here just to
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serve ourselves we're here to serve
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others to serve a higher cause to
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experience a higher state of
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consciousness and to connect to a higher
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reality
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this was a pioneering and trailblazing
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approach to life because it countered
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everything that was going on in his
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world
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the Pagan World focused far more on
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control and power materialism
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a success on that level
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you can say it's not surprising we still
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have that conflict don't we but Abraham
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did introduce the father of monotheism
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the father of all Nations became the
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patriarch became the prophet that all
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major religions follow
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of course Judaism first Christianity and
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Islam and even they say Buddhism you
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have words like Brahman and other words
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many words that seem to associate with
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abraman as in Abraham
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which isn't surprising because the Bible
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does talk about Abraham sending his
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children with a certain set of beliefs
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and philosophies to the east
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however you turn it Abraham is a key
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figure in understanding the future of
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the world because had Abraham introduced
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the concept as we're told of Justice a
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virtue of kindness of compassion
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that yes we forgo our own personal
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comforts
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and our own self-interest for
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being virtuous being kind
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that's what Abraham dedicated himself
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and his family to so he has two so here
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he has two children you smile and Isaac
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seemingly all is good they're both
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following Abraham's path it shall lead
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to only Harmony and beautiful peace and
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yet it wasn't so simple because Abraham
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did live in a time of tensions what that
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means is the material world was not
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ready to just surrender to spirituality
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and to higher consciousness
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maybe they would if it was on their
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terms back to control
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how do you deal with a world a material
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world that's hostile to spiritual
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ethereal and refined values
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so there are three there are three ways
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you can ignore it
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which obviously is just avoiding the
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issue you can go to war
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with it or you learn to transform that
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world
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I should say there's another path a path
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of asceticism which is not just
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avoidance but finding a life on a
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mountain where you avoid the challenge
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but it's still a form of avoidance as in
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but it is a path it's a path of
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asceticism
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Isaac as I should go with you're small
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and Isaac both chose different paths
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Ishmael was the warrior
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he was a path of much more stronger path
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and because of his religious passion
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actually
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you see Ishmael actually comes from the
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word Ishmael god listen
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should listen
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it could be small was a man of prayer as
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his mother was they prayed and and the
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passion fervor of passion and religion
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saw the world around them as a conflict
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and therefore went with a far more give
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a very aggressive approach that's why it
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says you're small it says
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his hand is everywhere and everything
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within him a type of No Boundaries
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now I should say war is not really the
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right word because that really reserved
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for his son-in-law later we learn about
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ASA was the warrior but you're small
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also inherited from Abraham a type of
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love a deep love but love needs to be
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disciplined
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and for your small the boundaries were
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not there and therefore there was a
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confusion between the spiritual values
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and how do you actually integrate them
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into the world around around you Isaac
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was a man of discipline was a man of in
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the in the kabbalistic terminology
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gevora
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foreign
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but I love also that when you're dealing
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with a conflict what can you do you need
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to you need to fall you need to pose it
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the Hitchcock was initially a
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disciplined person with boundaries so
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his approach was far more based on
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boundaries you have to create boundaries
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between the material and the spiritual
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ultimately that too has its challenges
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because it's still not full integration
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but you're small and and have brother
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um Isaac each had different approaches
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and therefore in their personal lives
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there was also a conflict the conflict
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between
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Abraham's hassad was that was a very
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humble has it is
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a very aggressive asset and whereas
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whereas Isaac was far more disciplined
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in our own lives what do you do when you
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have this child let's say your child
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comes home from school
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and did something wrong you can go with
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an approach that basically ignores it or
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just
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just pour some you pour on love but
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without boundaries and therefore you can
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create a spoiled child
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love is beautiful but it has to have
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boundaries you can take the other
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approach discipline Isaac's approach
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discipline also needs to be boundaries
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because too much discipline without love
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won't work as well
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and these two conflict with each other
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when you don't have the proper balance
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and hence they could not get along with
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each other
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fast forward turn the clock forward
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this would evolve into two Nations that
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have a very different approach to life
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Isaac the disciplinarian and Ishmael the
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giver without boundaries
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and that would lead to ultimately two
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different approaches that do not get
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along with each other
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the boundaries are critical because
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without boundaries you don't have
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structure and without structure you
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really cannot integrate anything
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when it comes to this battle between
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living a spiritual life a life of values
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in a material world
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if you just go without any boundaries
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becomes a totally confusion if you go
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with an approach that has boundaries you
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are at least laying the ground for some
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type of balance
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when you see what happens in the last
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century especially in the last few
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decades religious wars
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which will once the domain not of the
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the Muslims actually it was the domain
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of the Christians actually
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and others that fought religious wars
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what do you see it's about the name of
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God the only way to bring God to this
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world is to eliminate the opposition
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so you say how does that consistent with
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love well that's like a flood it's a
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love that doesn't have disciplines
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so the only way is either you love
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completely or you destroy that which you
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cannot control
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Isaac's approach is one of discipline
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discipline means yes we need to look at
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those that are different than us but
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understand that things take a process
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until you finally create a type of peace
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and Harmony the ultimate peace and
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Harmony would happen in the next
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Generation with Jacob but at this stage
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of the game you have these two forces
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now the truth is each of them has a
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verse with other does not have this is
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not about one winning another losing
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it's about finding the proper balance
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so when you look at events through
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history you look at the conflicts of
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being either too permissive
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or too restrictive that's where all the
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battles take place
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you need the balance between the two in
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our personal lives we all have a Ishmael
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and an Isaac within us we have the the
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giving love that sometimes needs to have
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controls and season be seasoned and be
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tempered and we have the disciplinarian
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with us within us you really need both
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to be a healthy human being
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so when you're faced with the situation
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that is hostile to your belief system
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you go with aggression you go with total
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permissiveness everything goes or do you
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have some discipline
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and of course that is not an easy thing
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it's easier said than done because the
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fact of the matter is that when you get
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down to it it's hard how do you really
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balance the two how do you teach your
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child what you did was inappropriate but
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you also don't demoralize your child
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discipline needs to be measured as well
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but there you have two so-called
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archetypes and essentially two
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personality types that allow us to look
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at ourselves and look at history and
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you'll see this conflict play itself out
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many many times
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what we ultimately need is a synthesis
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of the two and that will come in the
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Next Generation when asub and Jacob will
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confront each other where there you'll
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have the confrontation of total
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aggression and War
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and Jacob the balance the Harmony and
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the beauty that brings together the love
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and the discipline but in this stage
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where we are right now it's about
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looking at two features two qualities
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two archetypal
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resources or you could say emotional
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faculties that each of us has and one is
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the giving but you need to know when to
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stop giving and you need and discipline
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and knowing when discipline also needs
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to be controlled and both of them when
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they faced head-on without that balance
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will be a conflict and that conflict
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plays itself out throughout history and
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in our personal lives
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this isn't a nutshell a bit of this
00:11:46
family feud and how it and its
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implications as it developed throughout
00:11:51
history as we continue this story you'll
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see how this all comes to life in so
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many different ways in our own times as
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I said both on the microcosm and the
00:12:00
microcosm on a personal level and on a
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cosmic level and the key is obviously to
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get to the root once you know the route
00:12:06
what can we do to to to temper the the
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unbridled love of Ishmael and to
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as well use a healthy form of discipline
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and bring the two together that these
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two brothers can live side by side which
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ultimately does happen later on your
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small does reconcile with Isaac in the
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latter part of their lives so my friends
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let us all look at these two forces
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within us and try to find place to
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balance it within ourselves and when we
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do that on a microcosmic level it has a
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ripple effect that can allow it also to
00:12:40
spread and express itself in the larger
00:12:42
World The Butterfly Effect
00:12:45
thanks so much this is Simon Jacobson
00:12:47
meaningful live every Sunday at 3 P.M
00:12:50
eastern time but it's recorded and you
00:12:54
can look up into the archives on all the
00:12:56
different platforms and channels please
00:12:58
share your thoughts your feedback your
00:13:01
comments as well as any questions you
00:13:03
may have share with friends share with
00:13:06
others it's always an honor and pleasure
00:13:08
to speak to you Simon Jacobson here
00:13:10
everyone be well be healthy balance that
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love and discipline within yourself
00:13:16
thank you
