 So I was just looking at the videos I made yesterday and I was so excited when I made them And then I go back and I look at them and they're terrible Like the panning is like way too jerky and My voice is flat and weak and sounds depressed and I thought that what the hell that that's not what I remember right, you know, I remember like a whole whole more dynamic series of videos and that's not That's not what came out. So we just don't see ourselves Then I forgot everything I learned from Roger Love right where you're supposed to have that Rising melodic voice where you're going up in pitch as you go through a sentence to convey that that sense of excitement and It wasn't there guys And the panning just was way too herky jerky Now I'm having problems with my gimbal again Okay, let's see how we do this all right, so Thought for today now often there's a whole freight train of reality bearing down on us and We'd rather be obsessed with other people All right, I see that as common Reality is bearing down with us. We got financial emotional physical issues and We just you know rather be obsessed with With ourselves. No, not with ourselves with other people with lost relationships With all sorts of things that we did wrong Well, not with things we did wrong, but with what's wrong with other people, man Is this is this camera tilting and weaving as much for you as it is for me? This is not This is not the primo dream experience that I was hoping for this morning Right, so do you notice that freight train of reality is bearing down on you and you'd rather be obsessed with anyone else, but the reality that's heading your way I Remember in therapy I'd you know, I'd want to talk about what's going on with a friend of mine and There was this you know, why are you talking about her like why are you bringing up her? What way is she so important to you? And I couldn't figure it out But I'd rather get obsessed with what my friend was doing wrong and with what I was doing wrong And then finally my therapist says because she reminds you of you Hmm the freight train of reality. That's that's what I'm thinking about this morning and We'd rather get obsessed with how a football team's doing right international politics Rather than our own finances or our own job our own prospects our own relationships, so This this compulsive thinking That primarily serves to distract one all right, it's also a form of addiction man seems, you know, quite maladaptive I think so much about thinking about sports and politics it's often to Get away from the messes. We've created in our own lives. Do not like the job. I'm doing here Then I'd rather be obsessed with anything else aside from I have a tilted Tilted gimbal right now and that even makes the tilt even worse and get this sorted Come on back Come on back That was tilted too much the other way I'd rather be obsessed with anything right now. They're with the crappy job. I'm doing mastering my gimbal This is not what I signed up for Okay, here we go so I was listening to Misha soles podcast and he was interviewing this journalist from this historian from Georgia and They were talking about how Georgian identity is defined against That's the key. That's true for so many identities. I know like in large part Australian identity is formed against British identity American identity is developed largely against British identity that Jewish identity particularly in the diaspora is developed against The dominant Gentile identity. I really am going to get this gimbal right even if it kills me because you deserve that So how do Jews survive as a distinct people? Having lived for 2,500 years primarily as a minority Right by defining themselves against the majority So Gentiles do X, but we do Y Gentiles thinks think This you know, we think that you know Gentiles practice this you know, we practice that Gentiles have these traits. We have the different traits. So It's a lot easier to define yourself against Rather than define yourself for so it sounds a lot better to decide to define yourself now what you're for but I Don't think it really works that way now in theory like Jewish identity Christian identity Muslim identity Australian identity American identity British identity French identity German identity. He's really strong but All these identities, you know develop against other people, right nationalism Primarily depends upon being against Those who threaten you, right? It's a lot easier to have a strong identity Against that which threatens the survival of your people your group So yeah in theory much better to have a positive identity. I love I'm Jewish because I love Judaism I love Torah of the message of ethical monotheism, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way right and Theoretically Australians could go. Oh, yeah I'm I'm an Aussie because it's just a wonderful thing to be Aussie but it doesn't Don't really seem to work out that way like no Aussies define themselves as against China as against In New Zealand as against England as against Americans so I'm not sure I'm not sure the theory about our developing a positive identity It's really going to be a dominant way to go I think the reality Just Defining you're against what you're against. It's just so much stronger nationalism develops Because you have a fear of Some other group you know threatening your identity threatening the survival of your people But I think I almost have this gimbal down right now I'm just wandering around the central business district. Oh and We're we're quite near Sydney Opera House is a circular key I'm going to be a law abiding citizen here so this is where you get the ferry to Manley or to all-round Sydney Harbour We've got the Sydney Town Hall just up the street This is the central business district. It's really slack This is really slack so much to work on I think my gimbal is simply out of battery Okay, I can just rest here for a minute look out at circular Key out to Sydney Harbour And it's a beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge All right, it's 7 40 in the morning here