...
First of all, I despair of ever finding the patience to deal with beginners, let alone ever rising to the eminence where I'd have to not slap pompous university types, and so my admiration for his holiness is strong, despite a fairly clear view of his failings.
It pains me to report that a number of the Princeton freshmen in the audience prefaced their questions to him with, no shit, "Hello, His Holiness...." My intestines have a bunch of new twists and turns in them.
Princeton.
A number of students from Kansas were asking how to deal with the fact that they wanted to kill the trigger-happy fuck who just decided he'd resign without a severance package to protect the lives of his fellow trigger-happy fucks, and, luckily for them, they were addressing someone whose ear for English might not be as unforgiving as mine, and he managed to just stick to telling them very politely that it takes practice to manage one's baser instincts.
At one point I could have sworn I heard him say "fuck it" but after replaying it a couple of times I think he actually said "forget it"... and he reminded me so much of the tribal delegations who got themselves up to go visit the president in the early days of our demoralized nation because he doesn't worry about things like burping and scratching himself up there in the midst of all the earnest attention. The delegations were ridiculed — looked down on — for such uncouth behavior, but maybe we are not that crude anymore. I guess I'd have to have been in the room to know for sure.
Anyway, in case you're skipping it, he made two things very clear over the course of both talks: [1] you need to use your animal nature to find enough compassion to use it well in life; and [2] holding onto anger is extremely unhealthy for your body.
Sage advice.
always and any time....
