Tonight I hosted the virtual pub night of the Scientific and Medical Network during the holiday season.

I started by showing people the now famous six six six car and ask them what they would do if they met the driver.  We had 37  people attend the zoom call and about half a dozen said they would like to speak to the driver and find out their aims and objectives without being evangelical or making any assumptions.

There was one person who dissented  said that she survived by finding the light in the world and the good in the world and so she said she would have no affinity towards the person with the car. It’s not a conversation I would be having and I wouldn’t be evangelizing to the person either.  I just believe you should ‘Live and Let Live’. That kind of thing. I’m just a lot more selective than many at this point. I’m okay with the way that I am and with the people I have in my life and I’m open to things but I don’t need people in the same way that I used to and I think it’s healthy thing.

One person said he loved cars and would be interested in meeting the driver mainly to talk about cars. He was interested how the skulls were mounted on the bonnet.

The main question I asked to people was how they managed to embrace change, and how they actually managed to thrive.  In the breakout rooms we divided everyone into groups of four but some chose not to join so we had two groups of two and these people had the most marvelous time and felt they were able to share in a way that was not possible in a bigger group.

I said that I  grew up in a disadvantaged way in that I didn’t have a role model for sociability so I had to learn from watching other people. I said that life is the place where we learn lessons and do something. I said if we can forgive ourselves first and just remove all the judgments it’s the practice that restores harmony.

One person said that in times of difficulty there is only one answer, it comes down to putting one step in front of the other and you keep walking. You pick yourself up you brush yourself off and you keep going and that’s how it seems we’ve got out of the situation that we were in at the time and that’s how we did it.

I made the point that you could say something which seems quite ordinary to your mind and yet it is something that another person was waiting to hear.  I said my least favorite brand of people are certain evangelicals who want to make sure you convert to a relationship with Jesus Christ but never listen to your life story.

We discussed the need for forgiveness  as a way of being released and avoiding resentment which can create acid in your soul. The other person treated you badly because he did not know any better as he’d not had an example from his parents. The sins of the Father … etc…

Someone who does ancestral healing mentioned that she picked up on her grandmother’s grief so we can be carrying things that don’t even belong to this time. I commented that St. Matthew  said ‘we are all members of one another’. You could write books on that.

Someone recommended a book called Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping.  Radical forgiveness is even deeper because it suggests that the events in your life are destined to happen to you for your learning and yes Earth is a school so we mustn’t complain if teachers appear from time to time.

A way out of a situation is to realize the you are bigger than the situation. Someone gave the example of Jesus, he could feel sorry for every poor soul who wasn’t okay and who did terrible things. Jesus was bigger than all the things in the world and he could feel compassion even for horrible people. To forgive you’ve got to be big and indeed you can feel sorry for the people as Jesus had compassion and showed us by his example.

Someone else preferred the term acceptance and said that it meant more to them than forgiveness. I again jumped in and said that when someone tries to cut me off in traffic I blessed them and let them get on with it. What’s the point of secreting a lot of  adrenaline. It’s a bit pathetic that you let small Things bring you down.

Someone’s greatest takeaway is that we are in our own bubble and dealing with something which is so difficult but if we only reach out and open our ears we can realise that we are not on our own.

50 years ago someone worked in a neonatal unit. She was a nurse and would take the new born baby from the mother, clean it up and take it back to the mother in what was called a receiving blanket. There was great symbolism in that and people loved the idea..

Many of the group said that they spoke to strangers and had no problem with rejection. I said that if you were not sure about someone just give them a compliment. Even a smile is sometimes enough,  someone said that acceptance of the situation was important and when I gave forgiveness from the heart it is a different thing to just accepting. They went to forgive someone who stole their property, the thief didn’t want to listen to them but they felt relief and even felt like saying ‘thank you’ to the person.

One lady loved to compliment people by saying that she loves their shoes or their dress and the husband thinks that’s the craziest thing in the world to do but she did not think so and she talks to everybody including dogs.

I again said I could talk to single women for example in art galleries and when I have talked to them I mark the end of the conversation by walking away in another direction so they don’t think I’m following them.

We spent a few moments in silence at the end of the 90 minutes session which seemed to go very fast.  I finished by saying that we should all take our functioning brains away to the four corners of the planet and bring light to all we meet.

Everyone was in a good humour and we looked forward to the next event next Friday.