WTM Port Elizabeth, South Africa

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Transcript of Sharon Jessop's WTM Port Elizabeth Centre Video

I clicked on the link and I watched THE Interview and I was blown away, you know. And I thought to myself, “Oh, my gosh, I knew it! I always knew it! I always knew there was something out there”, you know. It’s been enlightening to say the least. It was just such a revelation to me, and I think to an extent, such a relief to know that or to realise that what I always instinctively thought and felt, that there was actually an explanation and logic behind it. Because I looked at so, so many things—I’ve been seeking literally all my life to validate what I’ve been feeling and thinking. And I was just reading one of the Freedom Essays and where God is explained [in Freedom Essay 23], and I always say it when people say to me, “But who are you? What are you?” I would say to them, “I think at my core, at my essence, I am love, I am compassion.”

I’ve always kind of felt that there must be something more, better explanation, something out there: Why are people angry? Why are people doing horrible things to beautiful animals? Why are people destroying Earth? Why can people not change? Why is it so hard for people to change? And when I started reading or listening firstly to this interview, I was literally blown away. And that’s why I knew; I always knew, but I could never explain it. There were no words and there was no…I don’t want to call it scientific…yes, it is actually scientific backup. It wasn’t there. And, you know, you dabble in so many different things you seek, you look, you constantly question. And this is just providing all the answers that I’ve been looking for my entire 52 years. So, yeah, it’s just been—WOW! It’s just been mind-blowing. And every time I listen to a Freedom Essay or I read something, I’m, oh, my gosh, this is it!

So, yes, I was super excited, because I’ve always had this discussion, and yes, they often turns into arguments, where I maintain humans are inherently good, with my husband, because he’s a lawyer—and for my sins in a previous life, I’ve got a law degree!—but I cannot possibly subscribe to the notion or the idea that humans are bad. OK. Yes, they’re depressed. Yes, they’re angry. Yes, there’s lots of issues. But we’re not inherently bad. We’re inherently good. We inherently are love. We are compassion. All those things have just been suppressed and killed off just about over centuries [see Video/​Freedom Essay 3: THE Explanation]. So we’ve always had this “argument”. And I say, but people are inherently good. You know, if you could find that one good thing in a person and hone in on that and bring that out. But the thing is—I believe now after reading and listening and looking and going, whoa! This is what I’ve been looking for—I now realise that people are also so afraid, so fearful of actually confronting all of this where I’m just excited. I’m just so excited! This is a revelation for me. OK, so that’s my “Ah-ha! moment”! And I’m still so excited about it every time I go back and I read, or I listen to, or watch one of Jeremy’s videos, I’m just like, this is amazing! This is awesome!

I also love where, as you progress along in this journey, you learn to look at others without judgment, understanding where you’ve been, where you’ve come from, you can now, when you do get to that ‘Deaf Effect’ [see WTM FAQ 1.16], you can actually understand why people don’t actually want to hear about it; why it’s just too overwhelming and actually kind of approach it from a ‘zero judgment’ point of view, because you’ve been there, done that, basically. So I think that’s also something that really resonated with me, to look at it with no judgment. I am progressing slowly through this, and I find there’s quite a few things, I’ll listen to it or I’ll read it and I’ll go “Hang on a second, I don’t get this.” And I go and listen again or I’ll read it again and again and again. And then sometimes I’ll go for a run and I’ll go “Ah, I get it!”.

I just feel with something like this, it is so important to be part of a community because it really helps with questions and helps, you know, sometimes when you’re feeling a bit down, you’re feeling a bit low. I don’t really consume a lot of mainstream media at all. It’s my choice. Obviously, I stay abreast of the rhino poaching crisis because, you know, it’s kind of my job to do that. But I try not to get too involved, but inevitably, these things, you get to hear about them, like the shootings in America, the Ukrainian war. We had a massive, massive poaching spree towards the end of last year, where in 24 hours we had 36 rhinos poached. 36! It’s mind boggling. And I must be honest, things like that in the past would make me extremely angry and lash out and go, “You know, I knew it! People are bad, people are evil!” And now with this information, when you want to go into that dark place, you can kind of go, “Hang on”, there’s a logical explanation and it really gives me hope. It makes me excited because, this information, this knowledge has the power to actually save the world. And that makes me really excited. And yes, I realise, when you first learn about it, you go, “Oh, this is the solution. This is it. We’re going to change the world.” And then you go, “Hang on a second. But, we just have to proceed with caution.” [Sharon is referring to the unavoidably confronting nature of understanding the human condition.] Just proceed slowly. So I think that and that for me is the big value because I’m that person—I want to go, go, go, go, go, you know! But with the assistance, with the backup of the [WTM] community, you realise you need to tread with caution. You need to go slowly and equip yourself first. Get the knowledge to really marinate and become part of you and then live it, because that is just the best way to go. Thank you so much. Thank you.