you don't know what's possible and 00:00:00

you don't know what's possible and you're not as much as you could be and 00:00:01

so god only knows what you could what 00:00:04

you could do and have and give if you 00:00:06

sacrificed everything to it and that's 00:00:10

the reason that a brand is constantly 00:00:13

making sacrifices and it's our kid right 00:00:15

he's burning up like baby lambs but like 00:00:18

well they're alive you know that's 00:00:20

something and and they're valuable and 00:00:22

that's something it's you have to admit 00:00:24

even if you think about it as a modern 00:00:26

person that the act of sacrificing 00:00:28

something might have some dramatic 00:00:31

compulsion to it you know to go out into 00:00:32

a flock and to take something that's 00:00:35

newborn and to cut its throat and to 00:00:36

bleed it and to burn it might be a way 00:00:39

of indicating to yourself that you're 00:00:41

actually serious about something and it 00:00:43

isn't so obvious that we have rituals of 00:00:45

seriousness like that now and so it's 00:00:47

not so obvious that we're actually 00:00:49

serious about anything and so maybe 00:00:50

that's not such a good thing and so 00:00:52

maybe we shouldn't be thinking that 00:00:54

these people were so archaic and 00:00:55

primitive and superstitious it's 00:00:57

possible that they knew something that 00:00:59

we don't it's certainly in neither 00:01:00

hammock stories one of the things that 00:01:03

maintains Abraham's covenant with God is 00:01:04

his continual willingness to sacrifice 00:01:07

it so that sacrificial issue is so 00:01:08

important because you are not committed 00:01:11

to something unless you're willing to 00:01:13

sacrifice for it commitment and 00:01:15

sacrifice are the same thing and I think 00:01:17

it's borders on miraculous that those 00:01:20

concepts are embedded into this 00:01:22

narrative at the level of dramatic 00:01:24

action you know instead of abstract 00:01:26

explanation people are acting this out 00:01:28

and then the fundamental conception is 00:01:30

so profound that it's really quite it's 00:01:32

quite inspiring it's breathtaking really 00:01:34

when you understand what message is 00:01:38

trying to be conveyed you have to make 00:01:40

sacrifices what do you have to sacrifice 00:01:43

you have to sacrifice that which is most 00:01:45

valuable to you currently that's 00:01:48

stopping you and god only knows what 00:01:50

that is it's certainly the worst of you 00:01:53

it's certainly that and god only knows 00:01:55

to what degree you're in love with the 00:01:57

worst of you so well so you move from 00:01:59

the unbearable present to the ideal 00:02:05

future and and you can't help that you 00:02:06

have to live in the structure like that 00:02:09

that's your house that's another way of 00:02:10

thinking about it and it 00:02:12

you want to get your house in order and 00:02:13

if you want it to be a place that you 00:02:15

can live properly then you have to plan 00:02:16

the future that is perfect and then I 00:02:20

think well what does that mean and it 00:02:25

means it's good for you right and one of 00:02:28

the things that I'm I do all the time 00:02:31

with my clinical and consulting clients 00:02:34

is trying to figure out what would be 00:02:36

good for them but we do more than that 00:02:37

we try to think okay well what how can 00:02:40

we set this up so it's really good for 00:02:41

you 00:02:43

and that all the side consequences of 00:02:43

that are things that are good for other 00:02:46

people and so because people are often 00:02:47

also tended about trying to get 00:02:50

something that's good for themselves 00:02:51

because they feel that it's selfish or 00:02:52

that they don't deserve it 00:02:54

so we set it up so that well look we're 00:02:55

going to set it up so that it's plainly 00:02:57

obvious that this will not harm the 00:02:59

structure of the universe for you to 00:03:02

have what you need and to do it in a way 00:03:04

that's of benefit to other people 00:03:07

there's no downside to that and so it's 00:03:08

okay 00:03:12

it's okay if you reach out and take that 00:03:12

and one of the things that's interesting 00:03:14

about the biblical stories Abrahamic 00:03:15

stories as well is that God doesn't 00:03:18

really seem to be opposed to the success 00:03:20

of the people that he's chosen you know 00:03:22

what happens to them is that they 00:03:24

progress through their journey as they 00:03:26

get larger flocks and they they get more 00:03:28

Authority and they they get they get 00:03:31

more they get life more abundant that's 00:03:33

what happens it's God isn't does it seem 00:03:35

to be a miser in the Old Testament it's 00:03:37

like if you put in the effort and you 00:03:39

and you accept the Covenant and you make 00:03:42

the sacrifices then you get to be 00:03:44

successful and maybe successful beyond 00:03:46

your wildest dreams and that that 00:03:48

actually seems to be okay with God and 00:03:50

that's pretty cool given that you know 00:03:52

that the general notion of Old Testament 00:03:55

God is that all he's doing is casting 00:03:57

out curses and death you know wherever 00:03:59

he happens to wander and I mean there's 00:04:01

certainly no shortage of that but but 00:04:04

again it seems to me that that's very 00:04:07

good news and that you also don't have 00:04:08

to be perfect in order for to have that 00:04:10

happen and then the other thing this is 00:04:11

the issue about going into the unknown 00:04:14

it's like well if you leave your country 00:04:16

and your kin and your father's house and 00:04:18

you go out into a land that your 00:04:21

intuition guides you to you're going to 00:04:23

undergo these radical 00:04:25

transformations this is the sacrificial 00:04:27

transformation - because you're you're 00:04:29

moving forthrightly and voluntarily into 00:04:31

chaos right and that's the same as the 00:04:33

dragon fight that's the hero story and 00:04:35

what will happen there is that you will 00:04:37

transform yourself and so the call to an 00:04:40

ideal is also the call to a sequence of 00:04:42

deaths and rebirths that move you closer 00:04:45

and closer to the ideal and that's what 00:04:48

that's what God is calling Abraham to do 00:04:50

in the first sentence of this story 00:04:53