Sunday Service: The Middle Way

Buddhism concept of the Middle Way is a foundational principle taught by Siddhartha Gautama who is the Buddha. The middle way represents a path of moderation between the two extremes of indulgence or hedonism and asceticism, which is under the extreme practice of going without or deprivation. What does that even mean? How does it apply to you and to your life, if it even does at all? That’s what we’ll figure out today. Welcome to the Sunday service, Siddhartha, the Buddhist father, King sued Oh, Donna, had shield him shielded him from the harsh realities of life outside of the palace. whole idea was, we want to help our prince to become a great king, a great leader. However, Siddharth is curiosity about the outside world eventually led him to undertake several journeys or excursions outside of the palace walls, he was curious what’s going on out there, it’s going on in the world outside of my perfect reality, inside the walls. So at about the age of 29, Siddhartha began to go out and explore. And on those excursions, he encountered what is today known as four sites. And those sites were number one, an old man, Siddhartha encountered an elderly person, which made him realize the inevitability of aging, made him realize the finite or fleeting nature of both youth, and beauty. Second Sight was that of a sick person, when he was inside the palace, rarely ever did he come into contact with people that weren’t doing great. When he was outside, he saw someone suffering from illness, and that made him confront the reality of, of human suffering, and the fragility of the human body. And just again, how fleeting, being healthy and strong is, the third site was that of a corpse. Siddhartha encountered a dead body, leading him to spend a lot of time contemplating the universality of death, and the berry impermanence of life itself. And then finally, the fourth was a wandering aesthetic. Finally, Siddhartha encountered this person who had renounced all worldly attachments. And it did that in search of spiritual truth. And when he saw this person, it inspired him to go out and embark on his own spiritual journey. So those four sites deeply moved him to, he became resolved and committed to figuring out is it possible to overcome all the suffering that appears to be inherent in life, and it made him it moved him to the point where he actually renounced being a prince. So he set that aside, and began a life as a wandering aesthetic. So pursuing asceticism, and what he was looking for was enlightenment, who was looking for freedom from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. And in Buddhism, that term today is known as samsara. So in service of trying to figure this out, because it does not necessarily clear when you’re going on a journey like this, how am I going to figure this out? Is it even possible to figure this out? Is there more to this? And he had made the decision that yeah, I believe that there is a lot more to life than what I had, in my very, very comfortable, normal existence living as a prince inside this palace sheltered from the realities, the cruelty, the fleeting nature, the pain of suffering, that is 100% part of the human experience. So he joined a group of aesthetics and engaged in severe austerity measures subject ship, subjecting himself to extreme forms of self denial, and deprivation. And I’ll tell you a little bit more about what he actually did. But his motivation for practicing these extreme things, was from his belief that by undergoing intense extreme physical hardship, it could transcend the limitations of the actual physical body and attain some form or level of spiritual liberation. He believed that extreme practices would help him to overcome his desires, his attachments which at this point he was identifying as the root causes of suffering. So why is it that? Why is it that I’m suffering? Why is it that I feel sadness and pain and regret and loss. And he was feeling like it was due to attachment to worldly possessions. So he thought, if I get rid of these a bit, that’ll bring me to the place that I want to be. So during this time, he took on these extreme practices, fasting to the point of death, and during exposure to horrible harsh weather conditions, as well as just intense meditation for really, really, really extended periods of time to things that you and I probably couldn’t get our brands around. Perhaps the closest person that is in popular culture, for lack of a better term is David Goggins. If you’re not familiar with David, he is a person that puts his body through the most challenging things that he can think and figure out. And there’s a handful of other people that that are like that. But it was in service of trying to figure out, how do I rise above these things. So but despite his dedication to those practices, he didn’t find what he was looking for. He didn’t find the spiritual liberation, liberation that he thought that he would. Instead, what he found was profound physical weakness, exhaustion, and it almost killed him. So he figured out that the extreme asceticism didn’t get him closer to enlightenment at all, it just hurt his body. And it was more distracting from his pursuit of deeper understanding and deeper truths. So he’s going in the wrong direction. So it came to the place where he came from the place of, for lack of a better term extreme privilege, went all the way to the other side of the spectrum on extreme physical hardship, and denial of, of comfort, and the pursuit of pain, what asceticism is, and I found himself still with no answers. So, he came to the realization that the path that he was looking for the path to what is known as enlightenment, is not in the extreme self mortification, not in in privilege and luxury, but in a more balanced and more moderate approach, which is known as the middle way. So that is what he decided he would focus on and his experience. Certainly, I think, it benefited both of them did, he found great benefit in the life he had up until the age of 29. And then had the experiences with the group of aesthetics. So the middle way, it’s, it’s really about finding balance and harmony with all aspects of life, as many as we want, as as we possibly can find. It encourages people to avoid excessive indulgence, like hedonism, just giving myself everything that I want, when I feel like doing something. When I I pursue all my desires, I feel like I pull the thread and I see where it lead. But he discovered that that leads to attachment and cravings for more. But he also said and figured out that the extreme self denial and extreme mortification leads to physical and mental harm. So the Middle Way, the middle way, is that balanced approach, and some hallmarks are mindfulness, ethical conduct, Mental Cultivation, the encouragement of moderating your desires and your pleasures, as well as a compassionate understanding attitude towards ourselves and towards others. So in essence, the Middle Way teaches that true happiness and liberation. It comes from transcending that duality of pleasure and pain of gain and loss, and finding a balance in mindful way of navigating the complexities of existence. We’ve always know, life is hard. It’s, it’s really difficult. We’re constantly dealing with so much and pulled in so many different directions. We are slave to so many different masters. And like the Buddha, when we can look inside for answers, and we can try to find that path of moderation. Not too hot, not too cold. That’s where we’re going to find success. And what the Buddha found out or figured out was that he’s pursuing the path of enlightenment.

And that led him to these profound realizations. And it all culminated for him in his awakening under the Bodhi tree in, in India. And that event marked the beginning of his teaching career as the Buddha or the awakened one, the middle way, so much to be learned, so much benefit to be had, by finding you’re just right. And of course, we all remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears were Goldilocks was wandering through the forest and came upon a little house. And it was where these three bears lived, there was a great big bear and medium sized bear and a little bear. And at first in the kitchen, she found three bowls of porridge, she was hungry. So the first one was too hot. Next one was too cold. The third one was just right. And she went upstairs, because after you eat, you’re kind of tired. And there were three beds, one for the huge bear one for the middle sized bear One for the little bear. And she’s a small person, so the small bed was just right for her. So that’s really the moral of that story is, and what the Middle Way is, in a very clumsy way teaching us that too hot is not good. To cold is not good. Just right is in fact, just right. So I think that we are looking for, at least I am looking for consistency in my life. I’m looking for repeatability, I’m looking for sustainability. When you run too hot, you run too cold, you’re going to stop doing it, whatever it is, if, and that’s it’s anything in our lives. And I think it’s worth examining all the important areas to find are just right, the foods we’re putting in our mouth. So what what’s our diet? How are we feeding our bodies, if all I do is just eat rice cakes all day, and that’s it, I’m gonna get sick of that. But if I’m eating pizza and ice cream for every meal, well, that’s also not good. And it’s true of our exercise routines. If I all of a sudden go from not exercising, to try to copy David Goggins, I’m not going to have a very, very, not gonna have a good result. And if I never get my butt off the couch, and don’t exercise my body, I’m not going to have a good result either. So I need to find what’s going to fit. What’s going to be just right, what’s going to be consistent. What can I be consistent at? What can I repeatedly do, so that this activity, which is a value to me, is sustainable in my life. Same thing is true of money. If you just save and save, and save, and never spend it all, while you’re not going to enjoy money. If you spend and spend and spend and never save Well, you’re not going to be financially successful. And when you get a little bit older, that older version of you is going to be pretty upset that the current version didn’t put any money aside for the long term. That’s certainly true of our relationships, and of the way that we entertain ourselves. It’s true of everything. Too much. Not enough. These are both not good. We want to find our just right, we want to pursue the middle way. So finding, you’re just right, and it really demands that you first determine what matters. What matters to you, what is of value to you. Just because the Buddha discovered certain things for himself, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Just because Goldilocks likes things. Lukewarm doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Maybe you want a really big bed, maybe you want to bunk bed, maybe we’re going to sleep on the flight. Maybe you want to sleep in a hammock, I don’t know. But for whatever matters in your life, things that are truly important. We need to make the determination and consider is this the path for me? Is this the path for me? Where it’s just right, what’s actually going to fit? What’s gonna get me closer to life that I really want. So I think that it means creating habits and routines around doing what matters. That’s this is that’s the sustainability part. Because I could certainly do most anything for short durations. But I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to Yo Yo my way through life with a diet be five pounds overweight, and then 10 pounds overweight, and then really skinny and then put the weight back on. I don’t want to be broke, and then in debt and then add a debt. I just, that’s exhausting. It’s not going to make me happy. It’s going to cause more suffering than if I could just be consistent with this. And that’s where habits, that’s where routines come in. So understanding what matters to me. And then creating habits and routines around doing those things that matter. Like that. That’s a big unlock. I think that that’s a human superpower. As always Do your part by doing your best

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.