When Knowledge moves you to do something

Watch Reed Summers speaking during the Closing Night Broadcast of the 2019 Steps Vigil, June 14, 2019.

Full Broadcast

Reed: I went to a lecture in downtown Seattle late at night in kind of the less savory part of downtown. And if you’ve ever been to Seattle at night, there’s not a whole lot going on. But there are a lot of homeless people in Seattle and people struggling to live.

And it was a talk by a British MP who was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process for most of his political career. And his talk was something about peace, how was it achieved? I was like, wow, I’m kind of curious about that. It was at the Seattle Town Hall.

And this was kind of an amazing man with an amazing story of how he kept alive during this peace process that broke down multiple times across his career, went to the drawing board time and time again, flying to Belfast, you know, every two weeks for eight years, or something like that—huge piece of his life invested.

And it was evident that something was moving this man to do this that was not achievement. It was not achieve peace, fix the problem, you know, do something for my career, perhaps, or my country, right, because he was from the UK.

And so afterwards, I went up and talked to him and I asked him, “What fueled you in that? What enabled you to keep going when that broke down?” I was like really, really curious because I’m facing a similar kind of endeavor of a lifelong investment in supporting something that may break down time and time again. And he walked out of the building with me and he said, “Well, sometime in your work, you’ll realize there’s a Higher Power.” And, you know, he said a couple other things, and it was just like, wow!

I left that building, walked down the street, you know, steep, hilly Seattle, totally empty, totally dead, a drizzle of rain falling, probably 10 o’clock at night. And there’s a girl weeping on the sidewalk. And I walk right past her and I hear a voice that says, “Talk to her.” And I walked another half block beyond her because I’m not going to talk to someone in the middle of the night in downtown…and I could not keep walking. Something, some force field was impeding my ability to cross the street.

So I went back and talked to her. And I ended up, through some…I don’t know what I said or what she said, but I mean, she was in desperate straits. I invited her to stay in my home for two weeks, which she did, and it was actually kind of profound and important. But it comes to mind because I would not have maybe gotten that message or, let alone, acted upon it if that person had not shared his life experience, this politician. I’m pretty certain of that.

And I mean, maybe this is partly the effect we will have in the world, the New Message will have, is that you will share your experience of this, of you doing what you know—knowing, and then doing what you know—because if you do it, that is your life. You are expressing it. And that effect on others could be kind of profound.

So I’m just remembering that happening, really, because of what that man communicated. It was moving. I gained strength from it, strength to do something I would not have done, believe me. I’m not walking around inviting people into my home, you know. I got a day job, you know, and they’re gonna be in my home for two weeks straight; they don’t have a job.

So yeah, I think I think that is important. And I think it partly answers this question.