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This is the original transcript of Maharaji's comments on the first day of a training session that took place in Arundel, England, in 1999. The transcript was written by Chuck Nathan, and the only edits that have been done are the replacement of attendees names with initials, and a few very obvious spelling corrections.
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M COMMENTS
UK SESSION #1
7/23/99
I guess you've already done a lot of work and put up a lot of posters. I'm sure you've got a lot of questions. Is it going to be difficult? Yes. Is it going to be easy? Yes. As easy as you make it. As difficult as you make it. There's no intent on my side or the facilitators' side to make it difficult.
What's going to happen? Whatever we do is going to be very confidential. Meaning you don't get to talk to it with anybody. I mean anybody. We have to have that so everyone feels comfortable and safe to say what they need to say.
What other things are going to happen? For emphasis purposes a lot of four letter words are going to be used. There's no mal-intent. They drive the point home, so they will be used.
What else is going to happen? It's really simple. In looking at some of these charts, I'm sure you want to learn something specific. Nothing specific is going to be taught. We have problems, veils, excess luggage. Can we drop those problems and really come together? That's what we're going to do, come together.
There will be times when you will wish you weren't here. Stick with it. Learning doesn't come cheap. Sometimes you have to let go of things. You will be uncomfortable because of you. Sometimes you will feel incredibly stupid. (M laughs.) That's probably because you are. Sometimes you'll feel really intelligent.
What you put into it, that's what you'll get out of it. If you are in observation mode, you'll get very bad reviews. You must, you must participate.
The other thing is, when I ask you a question, you must, you must answer me. It really pisses me off when I ask a question and people don't answer. You must, you must answer. When I ask are you clear, you must answer yes or no.
You must be honest. If you don't understand something, say so. If you have a language problem, ask for help. If you can't hear someone speaking, whose responsibility is it to speak up?
The other issue that's come up with past conferences: none of the facilitators or I are going to trick you. We're not out to trick you. We're not out to make a fool of you. You must remember this. This is not the issue. You must, must, must remember that. This is very straightforward. OK? See, everybody didn't answer that. You really don't want to piss me off.
The chances are you've never seen the other side of me. You've seen the event side of me when I'm on stage. But there is another side of me. If you evoke that side, you won't like it. It's a nasty side. You don't want to see that side. You're not missing anything by not seeing it.
Generally, that's the opening statement. Any questions?
We are all here. Everything has to be done very collectively. Whatever we do from now on will be done unanimously. We all must agree. If we want to have tea right now, we must all agree. If one person says no, then it won't happen. Do you understand that?
You're in good hands. V and T do this professionally. This is a little different training. I've done quite as few trainings. Raja Ji and Ved have been at the last two trainings. We're going to have Sampuranand and B observing the facilitators. We're going to have Chuck taking notes. Notes will be taken and will be passed on. Sometimes it comes in handy and sometimes it doesn't.
These books you have. You must not leave them around for other people to see. You have to be responsible for your notes and for a lot of things in this training. That might appear painful to you, but it's not.
If you want me to give you a hint how to sail through, stay conscious. There will be times in the afternoon when you will want to go to sleep. Even in those moments, you have to plow through and stay awake.
And don't take the observer posture. If you do, I will kick you out of the conference. And you know I have that right. Have I done that in past conferences? You don't know.
Things that happen here -- nothing personal. I might yell at you. I might scream at you. I'm not going to hit you, don't worry. But, nothing personal. The facilitators might scream, might yell, nothing personal. You don't have to feel, why is that person yelling at me? They're not yelling at you, they're yelling at your behavior, your unconsciousness.
I know a lot of you have bitched and complained about how things are obnoxious. They are. We get to change them. We can actually change them. Things need to change. I know that. We're going to change them. Little by little. And everyone is going to agree to change them. When you have a group and only half the group wants to change, nothing happens.
In the last few days, I have come to the conclusion that Miss Clarity has gone on vacation. In France. Or some nice place. I am hoping that she comes back, that she came back last night and got a good night's sleep. The things I've been faced with the last few days take me back to the l973's and 1974's. Can we change things? Yes. Sometimes those changes start with us, not with anybody else. Sounds like fun, right?
So one of the things we have to do and should do: we have this facility, there are chairs behind that curtain over there. Why don't we set up and make ourselves comfortable? OK. Let's do it.
(Chair setup exercise begins.)
(Comments about how to set up the chairs)
(M side comment to V:) Do we have the white poster sheets? (Put in facilitator checklist.)
Are you all satisfied with this? All happy? You are? How many things do you think you've violated so far?
(Comments)
What else did we violate? Did we get full consensus from everybody? No. Everyone just started walking into that room. Did I explain to you that whatever we do we're going to do unanimously.
(Comments)
So here you are, in a very controlled learning environment, I am here, does that mean anything to you? I hope so. That's getting up very early in the am to come there? Is this really what you want to offer me? Doing what M wants personally, I see that written up there. I see passion to serve, I see wish to please him. Enjoying working with the team. I'm sure there are some goodies there too. Challenge to responding to please him. M's trust in us. Put M first. Trust and understand. Clear definition of roles and objective. I believe you wrote those things. Was that this group or another? I like to get that other group in here. Here you are and none of that is happening.
How can we begin? What do we need to do? Don't look at me, you figure it out. You tell the team what should happen.
(Comment: we should have asked M)
This is now the fourth time this issue of asking M has come up.
(Comments)
You do have this if you want to use it.
(Comments)
(In response to someone saying they feel a little nervous being with him) I don't have that effect on people. People say me and say "Oh I'm sorry." That's why I'm stepping back here.
(Comments)
I asked you if you are all happy with this. Are you all happy? Are you happy with the way it is in this room?
(Comments)
(Group agrees on protocol that people stand up when they address the group)
(Group agrees on protocol that people will raise their hands if they disagree with proposals)
(In response to someone asking M what he wanted done:) I'm out of here. I asked you to do a very simple thing. My instructions were very clear. There was nothing ambiguous about it.
(Comments)
We're going to take a 15-minute break. Please do not discuss this out there. You're not going to start talking about how to do this because that will break what? Unanimity.
(In response to someone asking about their notebook:) You're responsible for it. You lose it, and you're going to be out of the conference. 15 minute break.
(Break)
(Comments)
(Group unanimously agrees to have S be the chairperson.)
(Comments)
I explained it, exactly what the violations were. Let me ask you a question. Everything you've done so far, has it been unanimous? Has he (the scribe) agreed to everything? Has he (the chairperson) agreed to everything?
I asked for a very simple thing. I said we have this facility. There are chairs behind that curtain. You found the chairs, right? Very straightforward. I said let's get comfortable. We have this facility. Let's begin. What do you find that is so fucking unreasonable in that? That's all I said. You have now spent two hours. And you are nowhere closer that from where you started.
You're still violating exactly the same rules. You're not doing things unanimously.
You see, when you say you want to follow M's agya, M's direction, it's just a joke. Right? Well, I gave you a set of instructions that are about as clear as -- I know teachers give similar instructions to kindergarten students. And I am sure they don't spend two hours figuring it out.
You cannot follow a very simple set of directions. This is the reality. This is not fiction. This is reality. This is how things operate. "What M wants" is just a nice title. It doesn't mean anything to you.
This isn't even being said by someone else. It's not a second translation. This is first hand. This is about as first hand as it can get. This is not a set up folks. This is real. So we can begin. So we can begin with the training. We need to set up the chairs and get comfortable. And people keep bringing it back to M, like that means anything to you. You tell me, what is so unclear about those instructions?
We do record these things. Audio and video. It's not going to go anywhere. There's a camera there, microphone. Mostly for you. So you can review how great you were. Basically this is your response to what I've asked you to do.
You have a writer, who is no longer associated with the team. By whose permission I don't know. You have a leader who is also out of the loop, he comes in and out. He says "as a participant." You have any idea how long he has been up there? What has he facilitated?
Seats were swapped. Were they unanimous? It's not a reflection on him. It's a reflection on all of you. Because you elected him as a leader. By electing him as a leader, you're abdicating your responsibility. That's why people elect leaders, because they don't want to be responsible.
We have a very sad situation. There are all these posters. You want to serve, do what M wants, all this wonderful stuff. But it doesn't mean a damn thing. "Put M first. Clear definition of rules and objectives." Who wrote that? I want that group.
And that's cute too. Empowerment from top to bottom. I just did. I said it has to be unanimous. That's about as much empowerment as you can get. Everyone in the group is equally empowered. But you decided you didn't want it. You wanted S to facilitate this.
Let me ask you a question. How many of you at the point this was happening, when S was about to come up, how many of you understood what was about to take place? You want empowerment, but you don't want any responsibility with it. Typical premie shit. Give me the power, but if I fuck up, it's not my problem.
This is exactly what happened in the last two trainings in America. Why so similar? Because its premiedom. Same around the world. You realize you are all extremely intelligent people. You're not dumb. But as soon as you come into the premie environment, you abdicate responsibility. And all laughing about it. A group of people who can't follow simple instructions. Knowing that you will be given instructions. You still don't follow them.
Are you being conscious? There are people who agree, those who disagree. I think you've got a serious problem. That's it. I'm stepping back. Continue. Remember I told you how hard it's going to get. Who do you think is making it hard? My instructions are very simple, very clear.
Do you understand the teachers in first grade tell the students this? OK, get your chairs, we're going to do this. Don't talk about this. Take another 15-minute break.
(Break)
(M comment to P during the break:) We should have food, water, soda pops in the room for the facilitators. They need to keep their weight up. (Put in facilitator checklist.)
11:20am
(Comments)
These three can't feel comfortable. They can't see the board. They don't know this. That's what I was doing back there, seeing if they could see the board. Can you see the board now? Clear shot at it?
I think V wants to say something. And T.
(V comments.)
I don't think anybody understood what he said. I don't know what he's trying to fix.
Are you insinuating that the instructions need to be repeated? Are you insinuating that the instructions were not understood by people? Then maybe your suggestion should be that we all eat fish so we improve our memory. Any preferences? Raw, cooked, baked?
(Comments)
Premie shit. That's mild. I have to live with it every day.
(Comments)
I'm just trying to get even. I can't in one lifetime even the score even if I wanted to. It would take several lifetimes, the stuff that I have gone through, that I continue to go through. My one question would be, have we begun? Have we begun? This is it?
(Comments)
V said something right? Do you all understand what he said? T?
(T comments.)
(Comments)
That's not the question. T said something very good. Something inside of us is telling us something. We think all we have to do is accomplish a task. You take the simplest things and you make it super-complicated. You make it hyper-complicated. And then the brain farts start to fly. You know what a brain fart is, right? You fart form this end, you can from this end too.
Is anybody trying to get back on line? Because the idea is, all that matters is accomplishing the task, it doesn't matter how it's done. Step on everybody's heads. Whoever has the loudest voice wins. Why wasn't a woman chosen to be the leader?
(Comments)
Any culture that doesn't acknowledge people as people is sick, it's doomed. Do you want to make the mistakes of a culture that is doomed? People, one of the things that's incredible about these trainings, if you've got shit, it comes out.
There's nothing wrong with being a premie. It's what we assume being a premie means, that's what's dangerous. All of a sudden, would we act like this, would we do this, if this was our job? We'd get fired very quickly. Are you bringing your weakness or your strength?
If for you, being a premie means bringing your weakness and getting away with it, you've got a problem. N starts off, with an incredible statement, in the future. It's like a captain said next time I'm not going to crash the airplane.
What do you mean future? What are we here for?
Aren't you interested in seeing clearly? When things start to be written on this board really quickly, you won't be able to read it. Your eyes aren't made to focus at that angle. Now if you were a lizard then you could close one eye. But the parallax is incredible.
Do you know that stomach has it's own brain? Sometimes you feel that brain type feeling in your stomach? The doctors said that. It feels uncomfortable. How many of you had that feeling? Why didn't you say so? If you were getting raped, would you wait to find the eloquent words? How imp is that to you? Scream, holler, do whatever it takes.
Why were we all laughing, talking? Not going anywhere. I could have taken a break. It still wouldn't be solved. I started this exercise. This is my brainchild. How many of you conceded? I know Y did, for the sake of it, I'll drop this issue. G can't be the only one with the light problem. How imp is it? How imp is it for it to be right? Then why are you conceding? Conceding to what? For something to go on that's wrong? I ask you this.
When does it become acceptable? How can we do this? My brainchild is too good. In India, it took almost a day. I'll cut you some slack. I'll tell you how it should be done.
All you have to do is not listen to me and you'll go around in circles. And you didn't. When did I know you hadn't listened to me? As soon as someone walked into that room to get the chairs.
What was said, was, we have this facility. Not we have this room. People, I did not trip you up. I said we have this facility. And you immediately assumed I meant we have this room. What would it take for someone to say, can we explore what's available? When do you start thinking on your feet?
M told you very clearly. I repeated in the first part, then I repeated it again in the second part. We have this facility.
(Comments)
But who tricked you? Did I? If someone said to you, here we have a car, let's find a spare tire, would it be that complicated. I already told you, we're not going to try to trick you. If the facilitators and I took the posture of trying to trick you, all it would be is a fight, we win, you lose. Nothing would be learned. How many of you study, study, study, pass the test and forget everything. Educators know you will dump more than 90% of the info. It's a game. People go on. This is not like that. It would be of no interest to me.
I know that things have to change. I have tried many, many methods to change it. It has to begin with us, not with somebody sitting across the room. Now you're seeing everything I told you in the first part, it's all materializing. I couldn't have given you better tips. Everything that I said in the first part has unfolded so far.
I said, if you want to sail through, all you have to be is conscious. Were you? So?
Leaders. It's amazing. People have this need. They want to abdicate responsibility. Then there are those who are frustrated and they want to take leadership. And in leadership, are things tainted? Leadership turns perfectly good people who have perfectly good sight and makes them blind.
The only reason people want leaders, is then they can bitch and complain. Before that, they can't.
So folks, I see a lot of unconsciousness. Ladies, are you going to be underdogs? Do you want to be underdogs? If you win by having a loud voice, then have one. Don't wait for the men to tone down their voice, they won't. Not this group. They're all correct all the time.
The only way men work well is if everyone working with them is a yes man. Let's compromise, let's do it my way. That's an extremely, extremely serious issue. Because the objective, to work as a team. And we are as far away in the universe as we can get from that objective.
I know this could go on forever. It really would. The instructions had it. But the instructions weren't listened to. When was there a clarification of instructions amongst yourselves? Isn't that the most important thing to a premie? You don't have the basic ability to listen. Not even under very very controlled circumstances.
Well, proceed.
(Comments)
Can you find a way to find out? You have a team. Can you not unanimously come to some kind of agreement about what to do?
Maybe somebody else can figure out a way to explore what needs to be explored.
Why ask M? If everybody keeps asking M, when M has already given very clear instructions, what is going to happen to poor M? M won't have time to rest, to sleep, to eat. Instructions were already given.
(Someone goes off to explore other rooms)
How can you break the unanimity of the team?
Wait, wait, wait. Jesus didn't have to be anybody divine to figure out somebody was going to betray him that night. As a general statement, that would have been accurate. Somebody said, can we get a couple of people to go look. He didn't say it loud enough. There is already a paper with the floor plan.
The issue is, let's explore. Someone has made a valid suggestion. How many of you listened to it? Why are you not willing to act upon it?
Let me ask you a question. Do you think the solutions to your problems have been mentioned during this exercise? Why weren't they followed? You're smart enough to figure it out, but you're dumb enough not to follow it.
If you come up with an exploration team of 1,2,3,4 people there may be something that's not even on that bloody piece of paper. But you will know.
When Wright Bros. made the airplane, they didn't say let's get the Boeing designs first. They were playing around with bicycle parts. It was an exploration. The solution comes and you don't want to listen. Proceed.
(Comments)
Two have been volunteered. You can't go around volunteering people. We've got to stop that. In America there's this commercial, they've got this character, Mikey, and the others get Mikey to try this new cereal. You can't go along volunteering. In America it's this phrase, "Lets get Mikey to do it." She offered her strength and volunteered to do it.
Everyone has to agree. Shouldn't be 15,000 volunteers for a job that 2, 3, 4 people could do easily.
You already have agreed not to say, "I agree." Pay attention. What you have agreed is to say, "I disagree" if you disagree.
Do you really want to send out a scout that doesn't talk loud enough? I told you, nothing personal here. But I have to bring that out. Would I choose a colorblind person to buy paint for my house? Either she overcomes her problem, or she doesn't go. She has to report back. Who wants to sit there for 15 minutes and say, What I can't hear you? Why send out a scout who can't speak loud enough to give a report?
What if the facility isn't on the map? It is, but what if it isn't?
(Comments)
You were not tricked. You're the ones who decided to set up in this room.
(V comment)
Too small. The problems never went away. But people merely sacrificed themselves. The windows are still there. But they didn't just sacrifice themselves, they sacrificed the whole thing. And they're feeling really good about themselves, they compromised.
At a party at the residence, somebody actually said that to me, why do we need the toilet facility? People are just coming to see you. I'm trying to up the standard for no reason at all.
The posters are up on the walls because I wanted to see them. It has to be a trick. We're the trickiest sons of bitches around.
So what are we going to do? Have we begun? This is another premideom problem. You can explain to everyone this is what we're going to do and this is when we're going to do it, and no one moves.
This is another problem that we have. I'm not going to go beyond that line. Whoops. Well, I'm definitely not going to go beyond that line. Whoops. Well, I'm definitely…. And then we end up on the other side of the room.
What's the big deal? This facility is good. We can make it work. The other side of it is, the conference won't happen. So you've got this meshing. Whenever there's meshing, somebody will be compromised. This is a long story. Last year, I had already told people that we were going to have an event in September in Amaroo. Better than a year's notice. Nobody did anything. I went there and asked for a report. I poked holes in it, Nothing was done. People were very uncomfortable. Compromise is a compromise. Has this not happened? It can easily happen in India, where the cost is cheaper. We have an air conditioned hall. We have a conference with 143 at one time there.
I had already said to people, I want to do microtours and training. Time rolled by. No microtours and no training. People said we can't do microtours, nothing is set up. No training, no training, no training. Then all of a sudden we found a facility. Was it inconvenient? Extremely. What is making you uncomfortable is a consequence.
What we have to do is change the whole system.
We did 2 trainings in the US, 2 here. That's not sufficient. These are the same old faces that have been around for years. If we had a larger facility, we could have more people. It's my time. (For discussion among facilitator team.)
Everything for this year, I outlined last year. In Barcelona, they do an event that doesn't even cover an event that all the Spanish and Portuguese premies.
The only bright side of it is, I hope we can change it. Consequences, we could spend the next six days talking about the consequences I have to suffer, others have to suffer.
Or, best foot forward, we can change.
Those three people haven't even started exploring yet. Those three people know exactly what you want to have in their report right? Who is going to make the report? Any idea what they are looking for? You want to abdicate your responsibility, have them do the dirty work. If this is how people are supposed to explore festival sites, event sites, it's a fucking miracle we ever get an event pulled off.
(Comment)
Sounds good to me. Concise, precise. I'm going to take you where it is. But the way you were headed, I would have taken you to the toilet. He said it, it's lucid.
We need a place where we can all sit, all hear. Is that so difficult? You're' pissing me off when you don't answer.
We've wasted half a day going around in circles.
(M comments to 3 explorers:)
Partition to be removed
Screen, stage, chairs need to be moved in, don't want chaos bringing in chairs, stage, 3-4 to set up
Stage
Fire exits
This is the room
Let's get chairs in here
Goldmine
(Back in Garden room)
(Explorers report and questions are asked)
You can always change things. It's not like the chairs will be screwed to the floor.
All we need is four people for the stage. You four, follow V.
Not everyone is going to take their chairs in there. I think the men are all volunteering the women this time.
There's something you need to tell all the participants to do. Take all your personal belongings with you.
(M to people moving chairs and setting up the stage:)
Safety, safety, safety.
Put the chairs randomly. (Said 3 times) (Put in facilitator checklist)
Safety, safety. Watch your fingers (Put in facilitator checklist)
Bring two flipcharts. (Put in facilitator checklist)
They made the stage so big that it comes out too far (V asked M if using just one of the stage sections was too small since it was only about 4' x 8'): No, it's OK.
Give the chair wheels to P. P do you want to keep the wheels?
They didn't decide on the length of the break, so now the team is in a pickle. It has to be unanimous for the length of the break.
(To one of the explorers:) Your leadership is over. You found the facility, It's over.
(Main group takes a break)
(To the rest of the group:) When you buy a ticket to go from Gatwick to Germany, don't you ask them what time it will be? Common sense stuff. How long should the break be? Common sense stuff. She became a leader. She didn't think about how long the break would be? You can trust the leader to fuck you up, sure. Now what do we do? This could go on, ad infinitum. Should you be let in there? When you're going to throw away common sense like that, there's no point to do the training. When you throw common sense out like that. What if this training was conducted in a language no one could understand, what good would it be?
(In the main meeting room:) Why is everyone grabbing a chair and sitting down? What was discussed was finding the room and then you'd decide how to set up the chairs. Why do I have to remember all these things for you?
How many of you think this was obviously a trick? This is what we decided. We'd decide once in the room how to set up the chairs. Why were people grabbing chairs and sitting down?
(Comments)
(M responds to someone asking M if he likes the chair arrangement:) You're not even comfortable with this, why are you blaming it on me?
(Comments)
We have to have you go to lunch because if not you'll be missing. Don't discuss this at lunch because it won't be unanimous. One hour lunch break.
(Lunch break)
2:45pm
(Comments)
If you were comfortable there, they're forcing you to move. You already told them I don't need to move. I'm fine here. Didn't you? So why are you moving? I don't understand this logic. Are you going to be the sacrificial lamb because B says you're uncomfortable? Fuck him.
And are you really ready? I thought it was a proposal to sit down and then discuss it because you weren't sure the chairs weren't in the right place. We have got a problem here. Nobody is standing on two feet.
Nothing personal B. He's not really not going to do that. We have your wife's number.
(Comments)
I was going to give all the tests to these five. If they flunk, you all flunk. They stick out. Don't you feel that?
(Comments)
Do you all think this is a trick?
M to Chuck: There's a utility where you use those keys (the function keys) and assign them to whole statements. (Quick keys)
(Comments)
I think they hold the record now, don't they? Now you've broken the record. Many things I observed. Let's move on. Does that mean that the assignment given to you originally can be chucked out the window? How close do you think you are to that?
You have basically told these three guys, you're uncomfortable, fine, let's just move on. Everything that happens here is really a reflection of what happens in real life.
This is really bizarre. Everybody brings their personality to it. H has been giggling, look at the bunch of idiots. She's in observer mode.
What is the goal? What is the objective? What is your goal now? To move on. This thing of making everyone uncomfortable has become too much of a problem, so let's press on. Even though that was part of the assignment. The assignment was let's get comfortable and begin.
What are we bringing to this? I could lecture you for 8 hours and I couldn't bring this out. One: that you can't remember what you've been told to do, irregardless of by whom. Two: that you can't reach consensus.
The US was a British colony. These little bizarre reps from all these little states that weren't even official, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, they all came together, they were all bitter enemies of each other. But when it came time to sign the declaration of independence, one of the conditions that was placed was that it would have to unanimous. Everybody would have to agree. And they did it. They actually did it.
Their job was far far more difficult than yours, which was just chairs. It's really a simple little task. But what is it that stops you? There's so much abdication of responsibility. There's a pleasure in disagreement. There's a wonderful tendency to forget what are we trying to accomplish. M said it, fine, forget it, let it go.
On the other hand, when it comes to giving satsang, I've heard the word heart, but it comes from up here. Good ideas are brought up but they're not tried, they're killed. Bad ideas are brought up and they're entertained.
I know a lot of you came here to learn something specific. I don't do that. I don't do that in real life. All I can provide you with is a vision, not the details. But you have to have the ability to understand the vision, to share the vision, and to never forget what you are trying to accomplish.
So my vision was really simple. Let's get comfortable and let's begin. Now vision is gone, details exist. And even the details are compromised. Easy to compromise unanimity. I said these chairs are not screwed to the carpet. How far have you taken that?
Surely you could have arranged the room many times over. How many times? Maybe more?
Let's say that you right off the bat listened to the instructions, in the next 20 minutes got the instructions really clear among yourselves, then 30 minutes to get into this room. You could have arranged the room 71 times before lunch, with everyone getting their way.
It's not a question of methodology. It's a question of what you consider your objective to be. There are going to be times when you have to say, I see what I see, but no big deal, let the group move on. And you're going to have to do it. But when it is in direct conflict with what the vision is… I say to people, don't stay up all night long, get sleep. I'm a weird boss. I insist my employees take time off. I insist they have a backup.
Usually a boss thinks it's great when they work Saturday, Sunday. I'm the opposite. I'm sending my secretary back to take time off. Take two weeks. If I need you, I'll call you. I want response, good response. I want people who will take the vision and provide the support that it needs. Not support that is idiotic and stupid and done in an unconscious fashion.
In this training there are a lot of exercises. There's all kinds of goodies planned for you. It's fun. Even outdoors. But, but, they're really going to set you up, you're going to find them difficult if you keep doing what you're doing.
Has anybody tricked you so far? I know there's this little monkey in the back of your head, this is a trick. It's not. I don't know what and how you want to approach the next few days. But the way you're approaching it now, it's severely bad. You're going to find it incredibly painful.
How many of you are sitting there going, there are too many people to reach consensus? The thing is, it isn't hard to reach consensus. It isn't. Every group says, no this is too big. If we just had this number of people. The thing is, the chairs have been arranged and they fit and they fit properly. And they provide plenty of space. It's not like you have to reinvent the wheel. You don't. You've made it very complicated.
How many people look at M's direction, and say it can't be simple? If it's simple, I must be doing something wrong. Here's practical example. How many of you think now this idea of team really sucks? We've got one, two.
So how many of you that think the idea of team really sucks would like to do this all by yourself? How many of you think this idea of team is new? Have you seen pictures of the mahatmas with Shri M? Teams have always been there, because it's too much for one person to do. Teams will be there. You cannot not have a team. Team will be there.
So the teams are going to be there. There's only one option that we have. Get them to work. They have never worked. But we've got to get them to work.
How many of you are taking yourself out of the loop by not participating? I don't want the facilitators to make a comment about you that you're not participating. Don't pull yourself out of the loop.
There's a lot to learn. You've learnt a lot. You've actually learnt more in this period of time than you think you have. You don't understand what you've learned. That comes about two days after the training. You get hit by a nuclear bomb.
Look at the possibility. Teams really worked, synchronized, compensating for each other's weaknesses, pitfalls.
There's always been a residence staff. They always used to burn out. Not my doing. When someone became residence staff that was fulfillment of a lifetime. They would go at it, wash the car to the point the paint was coming off. People would fry. When people needed time off, they couldn't have it because their service would suffer.
Then the residence staff went through a training, and now they can take off if they need to see a doctor or whatever they need to do. Every morning meeting - what are we going to do today? Can you cover for me today? I have to do this. Now they have more time off, get to travel to events. And none of the service, jobs suffers.
So team can compensate for our weaknesses. Maybe someone can point out something we've never seen before.
Can teams work? You must realize that teams now are at embryo stage. Around the world having teams, knowing exactly what the next person is going to do, is supposed to do, it could be wonderful. You can walk into events with confidence.
However it needs to evolve it will evolve. And it will be the best. Rather than bringing our weakness, our strength. And finally after all the years - the things you hate - the politics, the bureaucracy, the nonrespect, we can change it. We get a shot at changing it. You get to rebuild Rome w/o having to burn it.
Nobody is saying it's easy. It requires a totally different level. 110% - that's peanuts. Now we're talking about millions, zillions. You literally have to fly. That's what it's going to take.
This is the time I was telling you about. Right? See no tricks. I lay it out very clearly. Let's take a 15-minute break.
(Break)
4:20pm
You want to tell them to move these chairs. They can't figure it out. Those seats, you're going to be responsible for moving those seats. And we're going to rotate. Tomorrow all the back seaters are expected to be in the front.
It wasn't so hard. We've got 3 exits back there. And other exits there, there and there.
Everybody comfortable? How many of these chairs without armrests do we have? What we could do tomorrow is change them.
OK, very good. Time. Are you all aware of time? You're not. We're going to do everything by time. If you're late, you're not going to be let in. Is that extreme? Why not? Why don't we talk about it? What should we do if someone is late? You discussed it yesterday, right?
(Comments)
United Airlines wouldn't wait for you, you're late, you're late. Is that clear? What about coming too early? I have a problem coming early. When I give you a break, maximize that time. A lot of you haven't spent 5 days with me. Clear your head, if you need to get some tea, get some tea. Sugar will make you tired. It gives you a boost, then there's the other side.
This is a safe environment. People are not going to talk behind your back. That's a no no. You can whatever you want to say, within reason.
(Comments)
The idea of coming closer was mentioned many times. But it was automatically assumed that would be a violation of fire and safety codes. Which is a good point. But you can't just assume it. One give away are these bloody microphones. Look where they are now.
I disagree you couldn't have done better this morning. If you had just listened to each other.
Leader means they abdicate responsible. What if the team itself becomes a leader? I've seen it. There's no reason why it can't. The only question is if there's a real sense of commitment and if people are willing to work consciously or not. Why do you want a leader?
M is where M is, and M is who M is. That doesn't change. But why do you want a team leader?
I think it's very clear. People are not paying attention. Everybody agree? When it's already been decided that those who disagree will raise their hands. But as you will see in the next few moments, people don't listen. There are certain qualities a human being has.
Have you ever seen a snake? Keeps popping its tongue out. Why? Because that's its resource to find out what's happening around it. For us, when we come together as a team, it's very imp for us to listen. But we are a snake that doesn't keep popping its tongue out. Yes there are proposals that are made that are garbage, which we call brain farts. But still you have to listen, so when the good proposals are made, you hear them. But people don't listen.
To me a football team - they understand - they go play. -- the referee provides the vision and they go play. Except in this one video, this guy keeps running and running and no one is cheering and everyone is looking in total disbelief. He just ran the wrong way. The ability to stay with it is going to be very difficult for a lot of people. But that's what you have to do.
You are going to be stretched. How many people actually listen? Very few. Not have conclusions. In this group, I'm sure one person is going to be the brain farter of the day. Some people will say just the right thing one day and the wrong thing the next day.
In the last group there was a guy [text missing from transcript]
It is the simplicity of the situation. That wasn't an exercise. That was a real thing. There are those who [text missing from transcript]
It took a lot but you got there. And along the way you learned your pitfalls, your weakness. All the correct proposals were made from the onset. But immediately they are gone. And you will see that all the way through.
There's no lack of intelligence here. No lack of ability to solve any problem. But when it comes to the execution, the team will break down, and as soon as it breaks down, it can't do anything.
If you were sitting theater style, you'd be very disconnected from each other? How would you know when someone is raising their hand to object?
People have been in your situation. Completely out there on the first day. Fuck this team. I am right. They are wrong. All you need is point one percent of that attitude to disengage from the team. I am right. They are wrong. There is no they. It's all us.
And there's no trick. The trick is the trick you're going to play on yourself.
The ability to think clearly. Maybe I can't make this decision because I'm not well-informed. Is that a problem? I can't pretend.
That one analogy. It says, you are driving a bus. 5 kids get on, 10 get off. What is the driver's age? When that is explained, people are taking notes, they forget to write you are the driver. What's essential are 5 kids get on, 10 get off. Those people who were totally illiterate who figured it out. But engineeers and doctors couldn't figure it out.
What did we do today with the simple instructions that were given? It took us over 6 hours to do it. Why? You forgot the instructions.
The instructions get left behind. What's being asked to be done is not that complicated.
(V announces the envelope exercise: once separated it cannot be put back together again)
(Comments)
You have just violated the unanimity law. You have taken an action that was not unanimous. You have also all agreed to stand up when you talk. We know what we have to do. Does everyone know to stand up? Have you been doing that? Does everyone know that you have to be unanimous? Have you been doing that?
The problem is far simpler than wanting a leader. The problem is there being 70 assholes in this room. There are 70 assholes in this room, right? Because you are not an asshole right? Everyone else is an asshole, right?
(Comments)
Now wait you can't use a bomb analogy. If it's a bomb, you don't want to dick with it, you'd want to clear the area.
Does anybody know the translation in Spanish for a riddle? You have to raise your hand and ask for help. Help is here. If you don't ask for it, you don't get it. We have Spanish, French, Italian, we even have Sanskrit available. Proceed.
(Comments)
Unfortunately we have reached the end of the day. A typical problem that exists, that may be peculiar to this group or to Europe. On your ID cards, the names aren't big enough. The pictures are big enough. Obviously the pictures are too large, the names are too big. But the computer is 200 miles away. Why? They weren't given instrucitons not to. I have a particular expression: Shit for brains. Instead of having brains, you have shit. What if somebody got their card wet and wanted a reprint? What would you do then? What if we switch a person? Do you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the computer is needed? So how do we deal with situations like this?
(Comments)
Common sense, is that the solution?
So I gave you that analogy, that was an interesting situation because everyone said that a minimum amount of info was given. But the amount of info you have is relative to your assumptions. Too little or too much. But people are not willing to look at their assumption. They are willing to look at V. You're all assuming. All it is is an assumption. You're split. The listrening part gets a little clearer, right?
We're trying to get together, trying to be a team? I'm going to make it easy on you.
What can we do, what can we bring in to accommodate the functioning of this team smoother? Don't discuss it.
Do I need to repeat it? The team has it. Why don't you ask the team?
You just have to remember there are 70 assholes. Not 71. At any given time just 70. The person who is saying that never thinks they are an asshole. When you make a proposal and someone starts speaking right after you, it's hard not to think they are an asshole, unless you're superhuman.
Today was really light as conferences go. Tomorrow you can count on. We have started the ascent. Got problems, right? At lest the 70 other people do, right? Hard to see it. That is begins with you. All right.
OK. 9am tomorrow? You've been assuming all day, why stop now? This morning, I know I called it an exercise, but it was real. Not a test. Very real. I'm not trying to take a revenge. I should be, but I'm not. I'm not a revengeful person. 9am we'll begin. Don't come too early. Don't come too late. I'm not the one who decided to be out there. I decided to be in here. Lights are here, cameras, mikes.
I don't know why you want to thank me. Save it. How many of you understand that whtever difficulty is placed, is placed by you? Well we'll see. Not a riddle. We'll make it a riddle. Not a problem. We'll make it a problem. Not tricky. We'll make it tricky.
You want to ask a question relative to this team? You will find out. There were so many opinions. Do I agree with you? Be here. Be conscious. That's all you can do. I'm not against you. The fs are not against you. You will make mistakes. You will do things right. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and don't be afraid to be right.
A long time ago Deepak asked me, I'm afraid. I said don't be afraid. He said I don't want to make mistakes. I said, don't worry about making mistakes. Just don't make them again. And he took that to heart.
You're driving along, you get a flat tire. You're complaining about it. And then you go a little ways further and you realize there was this danger ahead and then you're thankful you were delayed by the flat tire.
OK. Enjoy yourselves.
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