DPAK Music, Meditation & Meaning

[Speaker 2] (0:00 - 3:47) What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Here for the Truth podcast. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Joel Rafiti. I've got my co-host Yerasimos with me, edging closer towards that episode 200 milestone. Today, we have Deepak in the house. Deepak is an incredibly dynamic human being. I met him for the first time this past June at the Music in Sky Festival. He performed incredible music, has an incredible voice, but he has principles, values, education, and knowledge that spans much further than just music as well. We're getting into an incredible conversation here bridging on a number of topics about self-actualization, self-responsibility, self-esteem, being creative, putting yourself out there, Eastern philosophies, Western philosophies, veganism, on the healthy side of things. I know we've had a couple conversations recently talking about regenerative farming and cows and things like that. So it's awesome to get some balance here on that side of the conversation as well. I think you guys are going to absolutely love this. Just before we get Deepak on, I've got one announcement. We have just launched our new free Here for the Truth community. This is a hub for all our listeners to join for free, to connect, to get to know each other, to say hello from wherever you are in the world, to get some knowledge. We're doing free global calls per month for now. So jump in and we'd love to see your face, say hello, let us know where you're from, how you found us, what you're into, and get to know you. So that is available. There's the link. It's going to be in the bio. It's on Skool, S-K-O-O-L. So if you go to Skool, S-K-O-O-L.com forward slash Here for the Truth, you're going to get to our free Here for the Truth community. You can join the group, drop a membership request. We'll approve you and come say hello. We'd love to get to know you and get to get you to meet up and be connected with other listeners from around the world. Deepak is a multifaceted musician, visionary, and acclaimed vocalist whose career spans performing, songwriting, and producing. He's collaborated with renowned artists like Rihanna, India Arie, and Jason Mraz, and contributed to major industry projects for Disney, Cadillac, Fox, ABC, Apple, and Toyota. He also created all of the original music and score for Plandemic the Musical, which recently won the top award at the Malibu Film Festival, a virtuoso in violin, piano, guitar, and more. His solo performances blend arena rock, dream pop anthems, and cinematic soundscapes, creating uniquely engaging, transformational experiences. Beyond music, he's a passionate advocate for spirituality, health, and wellness, focusing on meditation, diet, and holistic well-being. His philosophical stance promotes freedom and decentralized systems to maximize prosperity and personal responsibility. Through Deepak World and his team, Humanity Community, he aims to liberate and unite over 1 billion souls, dismantling societal divisions and fostering connection and empowerment. Brother, welcome to Here for the Truth, man. What's up, guys? What's up, bro? So great to have you here. Thanks for being here, brother. Yeah, yeah. We got the chance to connect recently at The Past Music and Sky, which was absolutely amazing, man. You rocked it, got to see it before multiple times, and, you know, kept the energy tight, for sure. So looking forward to this conversation, dude. One way we always like to start this one off, man, we're going to dive deep into your personal hero's journey, you know? So just really getting into some of those major, catalyzing, pivotal moments in your life that formed who you are today and shaped the path that you've walked. [Speaker 1] (3:48 - 4:04) Absolutely. And just to shout right back at you, it was great seeing you guys at Music and Sky and watching Erosmos present and watching you perform your new album. So congratulations on that. It was awesome to see that and to share the stage with you, brother. And I'm excited to be here and happy to dive in on anything you guys want. [Speaker 2] (4:04 - 4:29) Thanks, man. Yeah, dude. Absolutely, bros. It was so awesome, man. Just that whole Music and Sky experience. It's almost like a little escape, you know, from reality, but still within reality and just all the different energies that are bubbling and connections that are formed and networks that are made and experiences that I had. Yeah, just... I don't know. So I feel so nourished and filled after that, you know, especially with the community aspect of everything. [Speaker 1] (4:29 - 5:09) Totally. Like a total family vibe. Like everyone there is like your long lost brother or sister, and we're all on the same team, just team humanity, if you will, like looking to just, you know, create solutions and ideas and changes and also be curious and not be locked into the matrix of fixated thought and certainty and thinking we know stuff. And, you know, because that's, I think, one of the falls of humanity is thinking that we know, which blocks us from being open to infinite possibility and other ways of looking at things, you know, whether it's science or politics or just who we are. I think staying open and curious is one of the keys. And so it was nice to be in a community where people were generally, you know, open and that was very refreshing and energizing. [Speaker 3] (5:10 - 5:27) Yeah, I agree, man. I think we met at Music and Sky like two or three years ago was the first time we connected. It's just a great gathering, man, of human beings and souls and being creative and honoring each other for the individuality. So I really dig that element of it. Yeah, I love it. [Speaker 2] (5:27 - 5:34) Totally. Yeah, bro, let's get into that hero's journey, man. Like, what are those deep moments, bro? What are those turning corners? [Speaker 1] (5:36 - 9:16) Yeah, I mean, there's so many, I guess, and part of the hero's journey is that there's multiple moments that where, you know, there might be, again, getting back to certainty, a thought of like, oh, this is who I am. This is my life path. Like, I knew that when I was growing up as a first-generation Indian in America that I was either going to be pretty, you know, stereotypical, a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or computer scientist, and that's it. So I was like certain of that. And in our culture, we do music and we do all these multicultural things. So it's sort of a given in our culture to be well-rounded and to learn science and math, but also spirituality and music and everything, but not as something you're going to do as a career. It's like, oh, great. You want to learn that. You want to be enriched as a human. And I really appreciate it about my culture and especially my family. But the path, you know, growing up was to be one of those main things, doctor, lawyer, computer scientist, engineer. So that's all I knew. So, you know, I didn't think anything of it. I didn't know there was a possibility of being an artist. It wasn't in my reality. It wasn't in where I grew up. Like, everyone in our family has gone to either Georgia Tech or Harvard or MIT or some school, and then they go to another grad school and then another grad school and get a master's and PhD and, you know, end up at Microsoft or, you know, becoming a doctor or something. So that's my reality was. And even though I was doing music and arts the whole time. So, I mean, some of the main pivotal moments would be even questioning that path. You know, like, oh, that's possible. You can actually do something different. And I think that really happened for me in college. Like, I went to college for pre-med and pre-law. I did neurobiology, physiology, did criminology, criminal justice, studied engineering and all sorts of other things like that. But it was during college, one of these heroes journey pivotal moments was when I was singing in an acapella group. And I'm sure you guys have heard of the movie Pitch Perfect, which really kind of brought the acapella scene of college to the mainstream. But this is like a whole scene. And I think in performing acapella on weekends, meanwhile, I'm doing this pre-med, pre-law, taking all these crazy classes and pushing my brain and not sleeping and like, just like I've got to overachieve, got to get grades, got to do this and do that. But like my refuge was on stage on weekends, you know, not getting an A on a test at all. I was like, whatever. I couldn't wait for the weekend to go perform and be in front of people and feel the energizing feeling of almost like a Tesla free energy spiral of being on stage and singing in the audience, giving joy back, you know, and the joy they were receiving, I think, was a big paradigm shift for me of like, oh, I could have an impact through the hearts of people, through reaching the masses, through music, through my influences, like Michael Jackson and Coldplay and, you know, bands that I love growing up. All the greatest music has changed all of us. We can all probably have a story that each of us can tell of some of the music that changed our lives, whether it's, you know, hip hop or whatever. So, I think that would be the first one I would name would be seeing that and going, oh, this is different. I don't have to be a doctor. I could be a performer, you know, and I had a friend that moved out to Los Angeles at one point. It was like, hey, there's this magical place called Los Angeles. It's like a big, you know, playground for adults where they can audition for stuff. And if you get, you do good on the audition, you'll be on stage and you'll get paid. I'm like, what? You can get, it's not just a hobby. It's not just an extracurricular activity doing school theater. I just never knew any different. I grew up in Maryland and D.C. We didn't know about L.A. and New York and stuff like that. So, anyway, I want to, you know, keep talking with you guys. But that's sort of like, I could go on for days with all these moments, but that's one big one was seeing that and then making the choice at some point to just say, hey, you know what? I'm going give this a whirl. I'm going to, you know, stop. And I finished my pre-med and pre-law. I did finance for a little while, you know, right after college, but I just literally stopped all of it and drove across country and haven't looked back since. I love it, dude. [Speaker 3] (9:17 - 9:38) I think, well, all three of us are first generation, you know? So, I think that certain things come with the territory of being first generation. But what was that moment like for you when you communicated to your parents? Like, hey, listen, I'm not going to be a doctor. I'm not going to be a lawyer. I'm not going to follow, let's say, a little bit more of a stereotypical path. And I want to do the hobby thing and make it my life. [Speaker 1] (9:39 - 13:18) Totally. I think there was more of a question and concern. Luckily, it wasn't. I've heard other horror stories of people that, you know, are Asian, like myself, that decide to do a sharp veer. And the parents are a lot more harsh. In my case, I'm blessed to have parents that were certainly much sweeter and much more open. There was definitely concern, though. There was a question. And I think it comes from love. It's like, hey, security, how are you going to be able to sustain yourself? How are you going to be able to take care of yourselves when we're gone? You know, those are typical, I think, healthy thoughts for a parent to have. And then that only just pushed me inside to go, hey, that makes my drive that much stronger for myself to also succeed, but also to make sure that, you know, my parents feel secure that they, you know, raised a good son who didn't just, you know, drop the path and just become some crazy, you know, starving artist vagabond or something. So, you know, I came out to Los Angeles and within the first year or two, I did have some very, you know, serendipitous successes that came very quickly. You know, a lot of LA stories can be different for each person. And some of my hero's journey was just coming out here with the East Coast energy. I had a little bit of New York energy in me, East Coast energy. We call it the hustle and, you know, moving at a fast pace. And so, when I came to LA, I was out here like in problem-solving mode. Like, okay, what do we do? Like, you know, I'm on the movie set and everyone's doing extra work. You know, extra work is a very common thing people do in Los Angeles where they go and they just do background work. You're like, you know, all those movies you watch and TV shows where there's a crowd sitting in the background, you don't see them, they're kind of blurry. Well, those are all people that are getting paid like minimum wage to sit there all day. And I was like, okay, that's quick, instant job, but I wasn't going to be satisfied with that. I'm just like with minimum wage sitting in the background, you know, but that got me into problem-solving mode and figuring out, oh, how do I get on the actual camera? How do I get that higher pay rate? How do I get, you know, initial type thoughts before I really had a mission. Like now I'm on a mission to like for the world, but at the time I was just figuring out who I was. I didn't know yet what was going on. So, I think just getting a few initial big successes made my parents feel a little more alleviated. You know what I'm saying? Because that was really the thing. It's like, hey, are you going to be okay? I got a pretty major commercial for Cadillac Escalade with Super Bowl riding an elephant. And that's like a national commercial. And those, you know, that's pretty, pretty, you know, major role against a lot of income. They pay really well, you know, $56,000. Yeah. Like it's like $50,000, $60,000 or something like that. And that's now we're competing with, you know, my parents are thinking about, oh, I hope you can make a salary. Like, hey, now we're getting those kinds of numbers, you know? And that just made them feel like, okay, this is a possibility. Okay. You know, let's see how much more he can do. You know, and I did Modern Family as a co-starring role too. Season five, Modern Family, I got an acting role. And these are all acting roles. No way, bro. I love Modern Family. Yeah, yeah. Season five, season finale, you know, I got a co-starring role on that, which is pretty cool. And it's a small thing. You know, it's not like I'm like the main guy, but it's considered a co-star because I have lines and whatever. It was cute. It wasn't my pursuit. You know, as a musician, that was just acting was always a side thing, but it was fun to get paying gigs and feel like, hey, this is a feeling of like, like little small successes that give you that little confidence in yourself. It's a really self-esteem boosting, you know? And it's not like, oh, I have to prove myself to myself or my parents or anything like that. I'm not living, you know, for someone else's dreams, but it's just, you know, we can all relate as entrepreneurs and business people that little successes help add up and build your confidence in yourself and allow you to go for those bigger, bigger goals. So just getting those things like Modern Family Cadillac, I did iPhone 5, I did Vitamin Water. These are all national commercials and co-starring roles, like really built my confidence to say, hey, I can do this. I can do that, go all the way. [Speaker 3] (13:19 - 13:28) They're like little moments on the path that just affirm to you, like keep going, keep going, keep going. Like it's a sign, you know, I think it's divine timing in a lot of ways. [Speaker 2] (13:29 - 13:40) So, was your goal coming out to establish yourself as a music artist or was it, you know, just to kind of do what I can to feed myself in this, I guess, media creative world? [Speaker 1] (13:41 - 16:37) I think it was more general. I think music I knew was my highest gift, the thing I'm the more most confident in, the most connected to, but I've always had a challenge in general with choosing in life, you know, because I've, you know, just because I was raised a certain way with high level Asian discipline at a young age, I was often just really good at a bunch of stuff. I mean, that's just to be blunt, you know, like, and that is a blessing and a curse. It's, you know, it's made it the paradox of choice, they call it. It's like, oh, you know, I could be an amazing doctor or an amazing lawyer and I'm good at those things and it's fun to be, you know, good at stuff. I was a, you know, tournament tennis player. So, when I came out to Los Angeles, to answer your question, it was from a place of not fully knowing what I was doing, but knowing that music was my strongest thing. But I think I was thinking of it more as entertainment in general, coming into the entertainment world and whatever that looked like, entertainment industry, whether it's acting or music or dance or anything like that, because I grew up doing all those things. And so, I did a little bit of each. I did some modeling and some dance and commercials and, you know, and acting and things like that. But what started coming from within, now, this is the soul's mission speaking through was music and song and going, hey, it's the songs that can change the world. It's songs like, you know, like John Lennon and the Beatles or Michael Jackson, Heal the World or Earth Song. Those are, that are bigger than just being like a cool sounding song. You know, these are songs that people can listen to that can create an impact, that can create a movement, that can get people, you know, actually moving and acting and creating positive change for the world or focusing on the children or focusing on the environment. You know, like, there's lots of things you can do with music that felt like I had, you know, not only a gift, but also a purpose and also, you know, something that I was called to do. You know, like, I felt like a calling. That's the word. Yeah. So, that's where things started getting more clear. And I started phasing out of the acting more and into going, hey, you know what? I'm going to start making music that can move people. You know, like when I go to a Coldplay concert and everyone's just like, you know, getting down and Chris Martin's up there, positive messages. And he says some positive words in between the songs. And I'm like, damn, it's like some Tony Robbins. Like I'm pumped up when I go home from a concert. If I could do that and inject some of that, you know, motivational energy meets inspiring songs, meets catchy tunes, and also impact the planet. And then like with the resources and influence as I grow, be able to like start nonprofits and help people and educate people. That becomes like a bigger vision and purpose, which is now kind of where things stand. Yeah. So, that's kind of what happened. It evolved into that as I got out here. And I started playing local shows, concerts, tapping into the rock and roll LA scene, playing like all the famous places like the Viper Room and the House of Blues and, you know, the Roxy, the Whiskey A Go-Go, just kind of getting into that scene and developing myself as an artist locally and just hustling again, going to open mics. And then little by little, started building my band, my first band and got my first record deal and all that kind of stuff. And then it's just sort of led to now. There's a lot of, obviously, a lot of stuff in between we can keep getting into, but that's sort of the summary of that question. [Speaker 2] (16:37 - 16:59) I love it, bro. I love hearing this because it's just like talent alone is not enough. You know, like grit is required. Self-esteem is required. Problem solving, like you mentioned, understanding where you want to be and where you're currently at and what needs to be done in between to move from A to B. Like there's so much that goes into the making of a quote unquote success, you know. [Speaker 1] (16:59 - 20:20) Yeah, totally. And it's also in being unique and being unreasonable and being out of, you know, if there's a thousand people in line over there for something, I'm going to, you know, problem solving, like we talked about, I'm going to try to see where the shorter line is. You know, if I'm driving, I'm looking for the shorter line. If, you know, like if there's a bunch of people doing this one thing, then there's got to be, you know, a lot of people are submitting music, you know, online. They're like, all right, I'm going to submit a bunch of music. And there's millions of people submitting into a pool. It's like a big, it's like a small fish in a huge pond, whatever type of energy. I'm thinking, okay, what's the way to get around all that? What's the problem solving method? I'm like, oh, they're basically trying to reach, let's say, some kind of music supervisor for a film. And I'm like, they're all submitting to this big generic website. I'm like, well, let me find out. Let me look online, do some research, do some problem solving, like a detective, figure out who this music supervisor is, where does he hang out? You know, let me see how I can get in touch with him directly, go around all of the people, like, you know, and all the lemmings and the sheep and the big line and see how I can, you know, reach the leader and talk from a leader to leader, you know, stepping into leadership energy. Like when I first got here too, I would go take my violin on the street and go in front of Capitol Records and just like beatbox and sing and play violin and just like, you know, just to be in front of people and just like no one else was doing that. So I figured, let me do that. And then, you know, people were walking by all the time, like what's going on? And the security was like kicking me off the steps. And I was like, I'm gonna do it again. I'm just gonna keep doing it. It's like the hustle mentality. That was like the first two weeks I was here. And lo and behold, within two weeks, some dude like walked by. He was like, hey man, what's your deal? I see you all the time here. Like, what's your story? Some guy was, I guess he worked in the building. Maybe he was a record label guy. I think he was. Yeah. And I met him and I was just like, yeah, man, I'm out here from Maryland. I just got here, you know, and I got my CD, you know, check out my acapella album. It's all my voice called Deep Acapella. My name's Deep Box. I made an album called Deep Acapella. And it's like, it's all my voice. I'm beatboxing. And he's like, okay, man, I like your energy. I like your hustle. Why don't you come on inside? So I got invited into the record label because I was just being crazy. And you know, thinking of like something different and unique and just like standing out and playing my violin, which is already a unique instrument, right? You got to use, you got to find out what sticks out. Right. You know, like I was like, all right, violins, something I can use as a tool to get in the door. And then I can be like, oh, by the way, I'm a singer, songwriter, guitar player, piano too. But there's a million of those, right? So what's going to be unique. And everyone's got their own unique gift. I figured for me, violin would be the tool and it's been working. And then that's what got me in there. And I ended up getting on some record label, like kind of like albums. And they started hiring me to do studio work. And I started making gigs as a musician, like within two weeks in LA, like just by hustling or going on Craigslist, there was a section called gigs. And I would just click refresh, refresh, refresh every two seconds, because like when something popped up that was mine, I click it. And then I wanted to be the first to hit them up. And I did that. I ended up getting like this violin role in a movie called First Daughter with Michael Keaton and Katie Holmes, because I was clicking refresh over and over again. And it popped up and I clicked it and called. And he's like, he's like, I just posted that three seconds ago. And I told him the story. I was like, yeah, man, I've been sitting here for two hours, just clicking refresh. And he's like, he's like, you're crazy. And I'm like, yeah, man, I'm here. I'm hungry. He's like, I like your energy. And everyone just felt the energy of like the hunger, you know, and just like it, I guess it's infectious or whatever, but that's what got me in the doors. It's just being crazy and just sitting there clicking refresh, like for two hours straight, waiting for the right thing that would be just for me, you know, like stuff like there's a million of those stories, you know? [Speaker 2] (20:20 - 20:41) Yeah, man. It's like, it's the belief within you that this is possible for me, right? Which ultimately leads you to put yourself in positions where opportunities like this are possible, where someone can invite you into a record label, etc. You know, like some people might call it crazy or unhinged, but it's like, it's that belief which gets you ultimately through the door. [Speaker 3] (20:42 - 21:01) When talent and like the self-belief and the hustle combine, that's when the magic happens. Because there are people that hustle and grind because, you know, and their talent, you're like, now they may get some work, but like the talent just isn't there. But when the two meet, it's pretty incredible. [Speaker 2] (21:01 - 21:16) Yeah. Has there been points like in relationship with your art where like there's uncertainty or like, I'm not sure how this is going to be received or I'm worried about how it's going to be judged or critiqued or like, have any of those self-doubts been part of the process for you? [Speaker 1] (21:17 - 23:31) All the time. Yeah. It's actually, to me, it's sort of a given. It's like, it's always there. It's like everything that's happening, there's a thought that might be rushing in that's going to question it or doubt it. And it's like, it's almost like it's chasing me, you know? And it's chasing me and trying to grab me like and pull me back. And if I just like stay almost like a comet with a tail, if I stay in front of it and go, you know what? Those are just thoughts you can call, you know, people have their different spirituality. Oh, that's just a devil or that's just this or that's just like the uncertainty. Those are all limiting beliefs. You know, we can frame them however we want. But just like gaining, you know, power over that, I think, is the challenge and the key. And I think, you know, there's times where they've taken me down and there's times because of that, that I've learned how to get stronger and be like, hey, those are just thoughts that are visiting. And thank you for visiting thought. They're not my thoughts. They're just thoughts. I don't think of myself as like, these are mine or even the good thoughts aren't mine. They're just thoughts. And I have the choice and we all do, I think, to take personal responsibility and sovereignty over our thoughts and choose the ones that are going to serve us. Choose the thoughts that are going to energize us. Choose the thoughts that are going to empower us and not sit in the thoughts that are going to drain us or slow us down or make us feel smaller, you know? And then, you know, I like to gauge thoughts with my body. Like, is this thought like opening me up in my posture? Is it opening up my chest? Is it opening up my breath? Or is this thought making me like feel tighter, you know? And that's kind of like almost like a thermometer. It's like your own observation of your thoughts like a thermometer. Is this energizing me? Then I like this. These are cool thoughts. And if it's just like, oh, this is making me feel like not cool, then I'm like, maybe those aren't my favorite thoughts. And you know, you start, once you start like slowing down, this is where meditation, I get into like, we talked about the beginning in your intro of me, but spirituality has really helped a lot with that question that you're asking me, Joel, about these thoughts is because the spirituality has been given me the ability to slow down and breathe and then be able to not be swallowed by the thoughts. Because now, you know, you can take a step back and go, okay, I'm not inside the cloudiness of the thoughts. I'm observing it now from the outside and now I can pick, you know, I can pick and choose the thoughts that I want versus, you know, being swept away by them. You know what I'm saying? [Speaker 2] (23:32 - 24:27) Yeah, man. For sure, dude. You know, a big cornerstone of, you know, this whole topic of self-esteem is motivation by joy instead of fear, you know? And the whole quote by Nathaniel Brandon who very much so is the father of the psychology of self-esteem, he says, When we have unconflicted self-esteem, joy is our motor, not fear. It is happiness that we wish to experience, not suffering that we wish to avoid. Our purpose is self-expression, not self-avoidance or self-justification. Our motive is not to prove our worth, but to live our possibilities. And I just think it's such a potent reminder because so many of us, you know, are just living to avoid suffering and we're being driven. Our choices are being driven by our fears about what we don't want to experience as opposed to what's possible for us. And this is why this work is just so profound and so important, man. So, yeah, I just feel like you embody that in a really powerful way. Thanks. [Speaker 1] (24:27 - 27:10) Yeah, I mean, when you're saying that, it takes me into the philosophy I like to sit within which is inside versus outside and inputs versus output. So, a lot of things are, are we depending on things outside of us to give us completion? But if that's the case, that's going to be unstable because the outside world is always changing. And so, if we're, you know, if we need someone else for our happiness or if we need to have successes for our happiness, then, then, then we're just going to be, we're going to be fleeting. It's going to be unstable. We're going to be just as unhappy when those things aren't there because it's coming from the outside and not from the inside. And if we start realizing like, hey, there are different aspects of ourselves that we get to complete within ourselves, then we get to operate from a more empowered place. And instead of avoiding uncomfortability, we start being able to master being with uncomfortability because that's where the growth happens. That's where the spark happens. It's like, oh, I'm comfortable right now. And if we're avoiding it, we're trying to constantly change our environment around us, we're always going to be running away from really ourselves. And it's really actually about shifting our internal environment, not our external environment. If we shift our internal environment, then our external environment becomes a reflection of that. All of a sudden, it's almost like you're like, like, like parting the Red Sea, like no, or something like all that stuff that used to be seem like turbulence, actually, it didn't change, you change, you know, like I change. And now the way I'm handling that, instead of escalating more because of my internal conflict, which creates more conflict outside, I'm actually de-escalating. So, now you get into like relationship work, you know, like married couples work, or politics conversations, and you can you start seeing yourself as like, am I now escalating this thing more? Am I increasing the friction? Or am I understanding and relating to the other person, because I'm not threatened with my own ego by what they're doing to me, which is an illusion, no one can do anything to me, only I can allow it to happen to me, right? So, once I realize that, I'm, and once anyone, we all, once we all can do that, in any moment, we're able to then have compassion for the other person, instead of seeing them as the enemy, we go, oh, they're just expressing their pain bodies, I was just expressing my pain bodies, we're just all humans expressing our pain bodies, and then we realize we're none of us are actually attacking each other, we're all just playing out childhood stuff all the time, we're playing out childhood traumas and stuff that happened from our parents, and just from growing up in life, just a part of human psychology, and if we see that, we can now be in a fully empowered state to engage with everybody, with full empowerment, and then have compassion for someone, and then speak in a way that, even if they quote-unquote did attack us, we're now saying, instead of going, oh man, and getting back, we're like, oh, you know, like, oh, I feel for them, like they're, they feel the need to express that towards me, let me now respond in a way, and at nine out of ten times, it actually de-escalates the thing in the first place, and then they feel heard, and now we're connected. [Speaker 3] (27:11 - 29:25) The key though, in my opinion, is, and I agree with everything you said, is that like, is to be careful that we don't go into spiritual bypass, because we might want to still feel the part of us that's like, this, this dude said this to me, but not respond from that place, and then respond from a much, a higher place that's more aligned with our higher values, you know, and everything we've been talking about here just brings me back to like, a quote that we've talked about so often on this podcast that is just super powerful, and it's the Viktor Frankl quote, which is, between stimulus and response, there is a space, and in that space is our power to choose our response, and in our response lies our growth and our freedom. So all the spiritual work, all the nervous system work, all this meditative work, it allows us to do this internal stuff that, so we know ourselves, and like, life happens, the changes that you're talking about happen, they come at us, all these different stimuli, but how do we respond? And we get to choose that, and I think that's like, the quote says, that's where the power lies, and so people are so externally focused, and it's like, man, let's bring the gaze back inwards, what do I need to do? Oh, I just had, I just got triggered, I just responded this way, or is an individual curious enough to go, why? Why did this happen? You know, like, you talk about the childhood wounds, do people go back, oh wow, my dad did this to my mom, like, that's interesting, I'm just modeling this behavior, like, how can I shift that, what is that pain, can I feel the pain, can I feel the emotions associated to that part of me, and like, alchemize it, so then when I'm moving through the world, those triggers don't hit me, they don't hook into me as much, you know, and then we can behave in this way, where it's like, man, I know the part of me that wants to punch you in the face, but I'm not gonna punch you in the face, I'm gonna understand that, like, man, I don't know what you're going through, I know what's happening, and communicate in that way, and I think when you talk about, I know you talk about team humanity, you talk about unity, I think that's what it's about, it's about individuals truly knowing themselves, loving themselves, accepting themselves, understanding there's the light and the dark, there is that duality within us, and then how do we dance in interpersonal dynamics, knowing that, you know what I mean, as opposed to, let's just shy away from all the ugly stuff, well, no, no, that doesn't exist, that's not me, and it's like, no, man, we have a universe. But it does. Can we have, you know, like the orchestra, we have all these different instruments in us that play different sounds and tunes, but then as the conductor of our life, how do we choose what instruments play, you know what I mean? [Speaker 1] (29:25 - 31:05) Yeah, yeah, because it is all there, I mean, at the end of the day, being in the present moment doesn't mean being happy, it just means being in the present moment, being in the present moment is acknowledging all the colors of the rainbow, and so when we are, like you just said, you know, when we're in that moment where someone is, you know, acting a certain way towards us, we get to feel that, but just all we also get to realize what we're feeling is ourselves that are also coming up, and as we get to internally reflect and process and feel those things, we're just playing out our own thing, and if we avoid that, then we're never gonna learn anything, so we actually need to feel the anger or the sadness or whatever comes up, but as those things come up over time, the deeper we go, like, you know, I've gone into Vipassana, 10 days of silent meditation, where a lot of stuff just came out, and some of it was just gone, and I'm like, okay, I am not getting triggered as much sometimes, and so I do have this question, too, that's why you brought that up, but I'm like, I gotta ask myself sometimes, am I actually spiritually bypassing, or did I actually process this by now, and that's the dance, you know, because some of them have been, but some of them definitely haven't. I'm certainly, like, very much triggered all the time, you know, going through life, so clearly I got stuff going on that's gonna be going on maybe forever, but maybe not, you know? There's a theoretical possibility that there is more, that the deeper work that you can do, the more, like, it's almost like you think of it as the ocean and the sediments at the bottom of the ocean, and if we do this cathartic work, and some of this movement work, and somatic work, we start shaking up our past, and the sediment starts to come out, and bubble out, and rise to the surface like bubbles, but if it leaves, and all of a sudden, if there's a theoretical possibility of the ocean being fully clear, then what happens? Are we, like, you know, like a, you know, is that? [Speaker 3] (31:06 - 31:10) Yeah, I'm curious, man. I have those thoughts, too. I'm curious where we go as humans, you know? [Speaker 1] (31:11 - 31:47) It's from a question. It's from a question, and that's where we start hearing about these people like Yogananda, or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, or people that are existing, like, total windows, and they're not with anyone, they're not married, they're just existing almost like a balance between male and female, walking around like enlightened masters, or whatever, and they're saying stuff, and I'm like, that's interesting, like, what is that, you know? And I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just here to rock and roll, baby, and play some songs, and, you know, and relate to humans more, and I feel like some of those characters are, they have a purpose, but it may not be as easy to relate to some of those beings, sometimes, just because it might just be like... [Speaker 3] (31:47 - 32:14) Yeah, yeah, and also, the thing of, like, I don't know the specifics of each one of these, these quote-unquote masters' lives, but, like, it's one thing to be walking around in the fields, or living in a cave, and it's another thing to be like, yo, I'm in LA, and I'm trying to hustle, I'm trying to build my career, I'm navigating these different relationships, and friendships, and business partnerships. It's a different aspect of the human experience, you know? I feel like it's easy to kind of just be like, chill, and everything's great, and everything's dope, when you're on the mountaintop, and you're, you know, you got your hands in the mudra, and you're chilling. [Speaker 1] (32:15 - 32:40) Chilling on a mountain, just meditating for years, not eating, you know, and downloading the future, and the past, and then, you know, and then people just climb up the mountain to go meet that dude, and they're like, yo, let me sit in front of this dude in the mountain, and, you know, get some guidance on how to go operate in the real world. Meanwhile, that dude's never been in the real world, but he's dropping good knowledge somehow, so he must be like experiencing it all, but somehow, it's a multi-dimensional experience sitting in there, you know, whatever. [Speaker 3] (32:41 - 32:58) And that may be that person's bliss to do that. And some people are like, I don't want to live on a mountaintop for 10 years, and not eat food, and just look at the sun, you know? But other people are be down for that. So, it's cool, man. It's like what makes us individuals, like how do we tap into that uniqueness that's our own, and go live that, and go give that. [Speaker 1] (32:59 - 34:25) And that's where we get into like that initial thing we talked about, of like celebrating the choice that each of us get to make to do the thing that we get to do. And, you know, that's where a lot of it for me has been sitting in the silence, is where I've been seeing like more of my own individual, like my Deepak purpose, like you got your Erasmus purpose, or your Joel purpose, and it might shift, you know? Like in the hero's journey, that's how we started this conversation. There's going to be shifts that might happen, you know? It might be like a chapter, you know? There's different chapters in the hero's journey. So, like maybe my hero's journey for six years is this, and then all of a sudden, it happens in life, or I get this awakening, or I have this conversation with someone that might like just go, now this is the new direction to pivot in, and everything that led up to this moment is perfect, and now I see a new thing to add to the toolkit, or a new direction altogether, or start a new company, or hey, you know what? Maybe I'm done with music, you know? Like I don't know. I'm just saying just going extreme here, but that's possible. Maybe it's like, hey, I've done six years of touring, and I feel really good, and now the calling is for me to go sit on an island for like six months and write like a book that just came through, or whatever, and then go back, you know what I'm saying? And then go, you know, do some public speaking for a little while, and then open a school, you know? And that might just be like different, you know, different chapters of our purpose. But really, it's about like listening, and allowing, and trusting those big changes. Not being like, oh my God, am I doing something wrong? No, I mean, I think big changes are okay, as long as like they're in tune with the deeper listening. [Speaker 2] (34:26 - 35:48) Mason Yeah, man. I think the thing that we're all speaking to is that the primary journey is an inward journey. And that's a journey that we're constantly going on, you know? And in that inward journey, you're right, like we're not as attached to what happens externally. Like we understand on some level the direction we want to head in, and how things play out. But ultimately, if we're committed to that inward journey, like we know it can shift at any time. And it's like the whole, you know, the whole concept of like God knows better for me than I know for me, so to speak. And I think like with your Viktor Frankl quote, and what you were speaking about before, the whole concept is just we're just opening this channel of flow within. And that's ultimately what we're doing. And this is the key essence of quote, unquote, reality creation, etc. It's like lessening that friction by engaging in the world and using that as a master key to keep opening up more and more and more doors within. And ultimately, through this process, we gain more self-esteem, we gain more competence, we become more purified vessels for reality to move through us. And that's life, man. That's what we're all here for. We all signed up for this earth school journey. And ultimately, it's not a totally externalized one. It's like, what is all my experiences, all my interactions, all my relationships, all my wins, losses, successes teaching me about myself? And how do I integrate that then to like move forward onto the next level? [Speaker 1] (35:48 - 36:58) Yeah. And like in a metaphor in music, it's like you're tuning an instrument. You know, so we're going through our life, like constantly tuning this instrument, and then we get to play it. And, you know, keep sharpening the tool, you know, and like, and it's just, it's just like that. It's like, Hey, my violins, like, you know, just went through a little bit of humidity, which would be like another like stimulus of life. Oh, now I have to, I have to adapt to that humidity and shift and retune the violin to fit this new environment. And I think as humans, we're going through the same thing. We got different stimuli coming in different environments that are happening, life's happening, that's testing and causing us to maybe shift out of tune for a moment. And then we noticed that we're out of tune by observing. And we feel like we're like Erasmus was saying some of those emotions and those pains. And we get to be with that and just be like, Oh, I get to feel the dissonance. And then from the distance and from the uncomfort, you automatically being moved into retuning and to reharmonization on a new level. And you get more and more in tune each time and you play better and better because it's those 10,000 hours of practice of an instrument or 10,000 hours of practice of tennis or 10,000 hours of practice of public speaking or life itself that, that create more and more mastery on how we're operating in this world and how we're, you know, getting closer to the divine purpose. [Speaker 3] (36:58 - 37:56) Yeah. And this is why it's so important to be with the dissonance, you know, to the, the, the uncomfortability. Cause that's how you, you gain, you gain the data, you, you gain the insights and you go, okay, what needs to shift? What, how do I need to change again? Like the great saying pain is a great motivator for change. If you're not allowing yourself to feel this stuff, where are you? Do you even know what the personal inventory what's going on? You know, are you continuing, continuing to distract yourself in all the myriad of ways that we distract ourselves from the truth within, you know? And so like, we talk about it all the time, like, where's your energy going? Where are you putting it? How much time are you spending on your phone? You know, what are you smoking? What are you drinking? What are all these, these things that keep the truth staying down, not bubbling up to the surface so we can alchemize it, transmute it, face it and go, oh, hey, oh, hello, old friend. We haven't, I haven't met you for the last 15 years because I've been busy, you know, smoking weed 24 seven. [Speaker 1] (37:57 - 38:47) You know what I mean? Big time, big time. Yep. That's, that was actually, that's bad. And that was part of what motivated me to go sober in the first place was seeing that, okay, there's things that are coming up. And if I'm in a numbing phase or an avoidant phase and in denial of that, because obviously there's the fun aspect. I mean, we're having fun, we're socializing, we're connecting with people, but without that introspection to go, oh, in addition to this, there's a benefit, but also the cost that comes with it is a numbing or avoiding or not allowing things to bubble to the surface. Like we just said, that need to come out, the uncomfort that's underneath that we're not now feeling because it's easy to just sort of have another seven hours of, of this experience or, you know, smoke something or drink something or whatever it might be. And so, that's what motivated me to go sober is going, you know what? During those phases of deep meditation, when I did Vipassana, you guys are familiar with Vipassana, right? [Speaker 3] (38:47 - 38:52) Yeah. I did, I did one in Joshua Tree. Yeah. Five or six years ago for my birthday. [Speaker 1] (38:52 - 40:19) Totally. I did that one. Yeah. I did, I did two, I did one up north in, in the Bay Area and then I did the Joshua Tree also. And, you know, it's the same kind of thing. I mean, you're, you're going to be uncomfortable. I mean, you can relate now that your body is feeling uncomfortable. You're sitting there, you're sitting in discomfort and you can't get away from it. You can't run away to your phone. Like you just mentioned your phone, how much time we spend on our phone. Those are the same thing. Phone and weed are almost the same thing, you know, except one of them is in addition to being a distracting physical device, then, you know, there's also, you know, putting stuff in your body and shifting your hormones and all those kinds of things. But either way, it's the same concept. But when you're sitting in Vipassana or sitting in a place of choosing to be in the discomfort, choosing to be in the silence and in the space, that's when the uncomfortable thoughts come up and the uncomfortable emotions come up. And you have nothing to do in those moments but face them because you got 10 days of silence and you're sitting there and you're not, you're not allowed to go anywhere. So, you know, your legs are hurting and you're like, oh, and I want to move. And then they encourage you over a few days, like, okay, let's try today, you know, moving a little bit less. It's not like you're not allowed to move. I think they did a really good job of like, you know, softening you into the experience. But then once you're in, you're like, wait a second, this is like, this is pretty uncomfortable. And then you go through that and then you go through that and you keep going through different layers of the hero's journey and Dante's Inferno of uncomfort in the silence and realize that all that stuff that's inside is stuff that we can now have sovereignty over in the real world when we're dealing with the real stimuli of life. You know, it's good practice. It's another spiritual gym. [Speaker 3] (40:20 - 40:29) Stan & Charlie Yeah. And a lot of people don't, like, I remember noticing in the cafeteria, like, oh, that person's not there anymore and that person's not there. People bounce. People drop out. Like, yeah, I can't do this shit. [Speaker 1] (40:30 - 40:44) Stan Yeah. And I mean, when I did it, I didn't, you know, because a lot of it's about being in your own world while you're there. And men and women are separated, number one. And then on top of that, we're in silence. We're not really, you know, like, you know, like acknowledging each other. [Speaker 3] (40:45 - 40:46) Charlie You're not supposed to really make eye contact. Stan Right. [Speaker 1] (40:46 - 41:01) So, I took my contact lenses out when I got there and I'm blind as a bat without them. So, that was my funny story of how I just, like, it was easy for me to, I didn't, I don't remember anyone who was there. I don't know what anyone looked like. It was all just a bunch of blurs everywhere. Charlie That's wild. That's wild. [Speaker 3] (41:01 - 41:29) Stan I took, I was like, well. Charlie At the Joshua Tree, when I loved the little walking path, like, I remember an astrologer a long time ago told me that I was a monk in a past life and that would be important for me to, like, take some time away. Day two, that part just came in and I was so routine. I was so, I did every single meditation in the room. Like, I did the walk the same exact way. The two times I went and sat in the same place to eat my food, like, it was, it was a trip. It was, it was difficult. [Speaker 1] (41:29 - 41:29) Stan That's the way, man. [Speaker 3] (41:29 - 41:30) Charlie Yeah. [Speaker 1] (41:30 - 41:51) Stan And it sounds like it organically happened, you know, like, you got called into, like, a place of, again, ancient practice. And there's a reason that the ancients practiced. The word practice is such an important, that's what yoga means. Like, the word yoga is, just means practice. And so, you have all these different, and everyone thinks in the West yoga just means you're stretching. And like, no, no, yoga has nothing to do with that. Yeah, that's only like one branch of yoga called hatha yoga. You know, they call it hatha. [Speaker 3] (41:52 - 42:11) Charlie Yeah. And a lot of, I mean, a lot of the, some of the research I've done around some of the modern yoga moves, like, relate to, like, like European, like, a certain time of, like, like, gymnastics. And it's, it doesn't even go back super far. So, like, people overemphasize the physical nature of yoga. And it's more than that. [Speaker 1] (42:12 - 42:55) Stan Yeah, because, you know, in the, in the, in the, in the ancient traditions and the way I grew up with it, yoga was just really getting warmed up for meditation. So, it's yoga, which is really loosening the instrument. We talk about the instrument. I mean, I like them. I like that metaphor, the musical instrument. You're, you're tuning the instrument, you're getting it loosened up, you're doing some breathing, you're getting the body kind of open in order to receive. The goal is to get to a place of higher ability to receive. And that's what meditation is, is sitting there and receiving. But obviously, we're living our lives, our minds are going crazy, we're in the city or wherever we are, and life's happening. So, meditation, a lot of people are like, oh, I can't meditate. And everyone just kind of says, I can't meditate, because they don't necessarily know meditation actually is having those thoughts. It's like, you know, people think, oh, I got to get rid of thoughts. [Speaker 3] (42:55 - 42:59) Marshall Yeah, exactly. Like, I need to stop, well, I can't stop thinking, so I must be doing it wrong. [Speaker 1] (43:00 - 45:21) Stan No, no, you're doing it, that's actually what it is. But back to the yoga thing, the reason that yoga was important was because it helps you with when you do get to, if you just skip right to meditation, obviously, it's going to be a little bit, take a longer to drop in. You use the word drop in, meaning like to sink into a little bit of more of the flow of the nothingness coming more often. And so, yoga is like kind of the warm up. You warm up the body with yoga, meaning the stretching yoga, I mean, specifically the body movement part of yoga, the Hatha yoga. And then you get into Kriya yoga, which is the breathing, which then gets, you know, now you're starting to sit down for the first time, but you're still doing something, right? Yeah, meditation, eventually you're not doing anything. I mean, you're doing something, but we'll get to that in a second. But you're not actually moving anymore, right? So, you're doing physical movement yoga, then you're doing the breathing movement, which then lubricates the channels, it gets everything going. And then it's going to be a lot much easier to almost like a plane landing, you can land into meditation now that you've primed your instrument for it. That's what originally yoga was meant to, was really getting to, and now in the West, it's like used for exercise. I'm like, you know, we're not getting to the meditation part, you know, and some places do, you know, they get into Shavasana and they do some places do some traditional, you know, ancient Indian styles of meditation. But then, you know, then there's, you know, how many types of meditation are there, by the way, you know, Vipassana is one type, which is just focusing on sensation. Then there's visualization type meditations where you're imagining something. Then there's mantra meditations where you're transcendental meditation where you're dropping a pebble into the pond of consciousness. And, you know, so each one of them are great and perfect meditations. I get value out of each type of meditation and they're each different. But all of them have one thing in common, which is like you're being an observer of something, whether it's observer of sensation, observer of thought, observer of a mantra, or just an observer of your breath. All of those things, really, you're just stepping out of the self into more of the spirit outside of the thing, the spirit that has a body. You know, you don't say that you are the body. You say, I have a body, I have a mind, I have a consciousness. And so, you get to now be the spirit that has those things and then observe those things with non-judgment. And that's where anyone can meditate now. Now, we like all of a sudden, all those people that we're just talking about a minute ago, like, I can't meditate, I'm thinking too much. Oh, no, but just observe yourself thinking then. And then as you observe yourself thinking, they'll naturally slow down. You're not going to force yourself not to think, but you can observe yourself doing it. [Speaker 4] (45:22 - 45:22) Yeah. [Speaker 3] (45:22 - 45:59) And like for me, with someone with a somatic nervous system background, like I love the sensation element of it, because I think sometimes some meditations can bypass the physical piece of like what's happening on a sensation level, you know, and it's like kind of a somatic bypass, which it probably has its own purpose, but I like kind of the holistic whole body. What's happening? What emotions are coming up? Oh, wow, I feel a little tingle in my left toe. Like, that's interesting, you know, like, and just being curious about what's happening internally on and like, what am I hearing? What am I smelling? What am I sensing? Like really tapping into the sense level. Those are the ones that I, for me personally, I get a lot of value from. [Speaker 2] (46:00 - 48:17) Yeah. And I think there's also like a way to like consciously choose to like, not to tap it directly into sensation, not unconsciously bypassing the body, but sometimes you might decide to just, you know, do a different style meditation and not have to utilize the body to that extent as well. Yeah, like, I've got a very interesting path with like meditation and, you know, non-dualism and Eastern life. My initial awakening was in 2015, read The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, read New Earth, then that led me to reading the Bhagavad Gita like three times. I read the Tao Te Ching. There you go, it's got everything back there. Yeah, man. And this knowledge for me, like it was life-changing. It was very profound. It was very consciousness shifting, you know. It was a big part of my journey. But like your ASMR said, I didn't have the somatic knowledge. I didn't have the nervous system knowledge. And a lot of it for me over a number of years became a tool to bypass my shadow and to bypass the dissonance and the darker aspects of my nature and to also not be fully engaged in reality, especially then as at that time, I started to have my first child, get married, you know, it became a tool for me to disassociate quite easily. And then so I had that kind of I got smacked across the head in a big way and I had to have another dark night of the soul and really venture into my shadows and develop greater self-responsibility and personal responsibility and be really grounded and be really connected. And now I'm getting to a point in my journey again, where I'm kind of seeing the benefit of cultivating that observer witness state, which in my view is kind of just, I think that's the true self, man. You know, it's like a lot of questions, what is essence? What is true self? But I mean, that observer, that witness, when you're watching your thoughts, when you're observing sensation, like it has a quality to it. Like it's not just the nothingness. And to me, it's like, what is the nature of the observer? Like that's the nature of my spirit. That's the nature of this unique soul that I am, kind of thing. And I'm kind of reintegrating that and really enjoying that process again a little bit. I love that. [Speaker 1] (48:17 - 49:47) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would say I love that because it's really just jumping around in different aspects because there's different chapter, again, different chapter might bring us to a different place. Like it's, oh, now we're back into, you know, stepping into the body. Like there's, because balance is key. And sometimes we're a little bit more in a cerebral time. And if we're in a cerebral time, we might have a blockage somewhere from connection to the body and that we might need to actually rebalance back to movement and body. And sometimes if we're not, you know, in a place of strategizing as much, and we're just like willy nilly floating around, which is beautiful. It's so fun you're in the moment, but we're super, you know, it's the balance between micro and macro level awareness of, you know, if we're fully macro all the time, almost too macro, then we're not really enjoying the present moment because we're always strategizing and planning the future, which we got to do. But if we're the other extreme, we're not necessarily navigating our vessel. We're just steering. Like we're out in the middle of the ocean and we're steering, we got the steering wheel, we're steering, but we don't necessarily know where we're going. So, you know, a boat, a boat can be steering beautifully in the present moment and we're just turning the wheel and everything's good. But without that zoom out, we don't necessarily know where the boat's going. But if we're staying zoomed out all the time, then we're not necessarily experiencing. So, I think that's where the balance is key and just observing and seeing where are we at this moment. If we're a little bit more macro, maybe we need to pull in a little bit of micro, maybe walk down the street and smell some flowers, but if we're too much in the opposite, maybe we need to like reflect and go, hey, what's my mission? What's my why? What's my purpose? Maybe we need a little bit more macro once in a while. It depends on where we are. Yeah. [Speaker 3] (49:47 - 50:19) This is like, I think where it's important to, like you said, having the balance is that for a lot of, for some people that don't understand the physiology of the nervous system or the trauma they've been through, some of these tools or certain cups of meditation can fuel further dissociation, you know, from the body. You know, so again, like the self-awareness, the knowledge is important that like, they're all pieces of the puzzle, you know? So, like, you can't just be like, oh yeah, anyone who talks about the body is bullshit. Like, all you are is just this, this, the source. [Speaker 1] (50:19 - 50:20) You're just this, okay? [Speaker 3] (50:21 - 50:24) Just floating in ethereal spirit. Like, forget about mind. It's like, it's like, we're having a conversation right now. [Speaker 2] (50:25 - 50:31) We're living in- All trauma can be healed simply by remembering that you're eternal and infinite. Yeah. [Speaker 3] (50:31 - 51:08) Like people think like, just like all, you just have to have a belief and then it's okay, everything's fine, you know? Like, and it's like, like we're talking right now. Like people respond to text messages. We're living in the world of mind and thought, you know? So, I get it on one level, but I just feel like there's this bypass of reality when we start doing two on one side of the spectrum to like, let's say more quote-unquote spiritual philosophies or ideologies. And it's like, it's like, okay, I get what you're saying on one level, but you're missing an entire piece. So, how can you, how can you integrate? I'm curious your thoughts on that. Yeah. [Speaker 2] (51:08 - 51:28) My daughter last night, Naya, she's three years old. Between like, 1 and 3.30, just had the biggest random meltdown. She just woke up, just screaming like the house down nonstop, just integrating all these things going on for her. Didn't know how to, you know, imagine just being like, oh, you're not your body, baby, you know? Don't worry about it. It's like, so ridiculous. Yeah. [Speaker 1] (51:29 - 52:59) But yeah, but to answer your question, your asthma is, I mean, like, I think that's what we're getting is that balance thing we talked about. Again, you know, like, I think that there's a lot of people out there that are caught up in the muck of the world right now, whether it's politics or whatever, and they're just fighting and they're arguing. And I think the imbalance there might be the need for more of a spiritual awakening, for example. Whereas there's a bunch of people that are super spiritual, that are spiritually bypassing, that are disconnected from the world. I mean, like, it's all good. Everyone's killing each other, but it's not real because it's all going to God anyway. And they might need the opposite. They might need to be swooping into like a reality check and go, hey, no, we are here right now. This is the moment. It's not, we're not living for heaven later. We're living for now. And right now there's pain and we get to now embrace that pain, feel that pain, be with it. And if someone's attacking me, I'm going to protect myself and I'm going to protect my family and I'm going to do what it takes to make sure that that happens. Now, of course, it's not my first resort is to go attack somebody. But if I have to, my body will tell me what to do. I know that if someone's coming at me, that I'm going to stand up for myself and protect myself. But if I'm in an argument with somebody, I might lead with a little bit of, hey, hey, let's see if we can relate first. Let me lead with trying to relate. But if it starts turning into something else and I know I'm doing my best and I know that I've been given this guy love and stuff and he's still coming at me, I might be like, yeah, nevermind. Boundary cut off. I'm not, I don't need to talk to that guy anymore. You know, I'm not going to be like, I love you anyway, even though you're acting like a douche towards me. I might be like, hey, I love that you exist, but you need to get away from me and I'm going to do something else now. [Speaker 3] (52:59 - 53:28) Self-esteem, discernment, like when you have self-esteem and you're discerning, you understand there's an appropriate, I think, response to a certain situation. Yeah. So, someone trying to kill you and your family and you being like, yeah, it's all good. We're all going to go just dissolve back to the oneness. You know, you're not your body. Oh, wifey, you're about to get killed, but you're not your body. It's okay. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like, come on. Like, I get it. We can speak about theory and stuff, but there is something else tangible based on reality that we need to acknowledge as well. It's that balance. [Speaker 2] (53:28 - 53:32) And you require nervous system regulations to respond to reality appropriately as well. [Speaker 3] (53:32 - 53:32) Yeah. [Speaker 1] (53:34 - 53:59) Right. That's what I was getting at. Like, what we were talking about, we're kind of saying the same thing. It's just balance, you know, like just gauging right now, like where things are. For me, I'm noticing, oh, I might be in my head a lot. You know, that might be just where I am. You know, I might, maybe I'm a little bit more cerebral sometimes. So, for me, maybe it'd be good to drop into the body a little bit more and get, you know, loosen my, make sure I'm breathing enough, make sure I'm not stuck in my mind. Gemini life. Gemini life, bro. Gemini life. [Speaker 3] (54:00 - 54:00) Right. [Speaker 1] (54:00 - 54:19) So, that's, you know, exactly. And there's other friends of mine in the same boat. And then I have other friends, again, that are just fully in their body. They're fully in their emotion, but they're like super broke and they're not making any money. And I'm like, hey, maybe I need to help them with a little bit of left brain action. Maybe they could help me with a little bit of right brain action. You know what I mean? We all have ways of helping each other. [Speaker 3] (54:19 - 54:29) I talk about this all the time. It's like the idea of iron sharpening iron, but more so like sometimes we need a little homeopathic dose of something someone else has. And then we get that back. It's like this exchange. [Speaker 1] (54:30 - 56:48) Yeah. Like I come from like, you know, my culture being, you know, East, East, you know, Indian, Asian, like we learn about budgets when we were kids. Not everyone did. I'm in LA with a bunch of artists and they're like, amazingly talented. And they're like, feeling this thing in the moment. They're like, hey, I don't have rent. And I'm like, okay, let me, let's work on a budget together. Let's figure out what's your base minimum, like you need, what's your cell phone bill. Let's get a total, envision that number. And then it's not like, oh, now I envision that $3,000 is going to magically pay. No, no, no. Now we need to make some plans to get that income and not just put a piece of paper under your pillow and like fuck the secret movie and like manifest. Like, you know, like, let's, let's, let's make some plans here. Let's figure out how we can take care of our ourselves. Because if you can't take care of yourself, you're not going to be able to have a family. You know, if your goal is to have a family, you probably should figure out the mainstream, sorry, the matrix a little bit, like a little bit about how to make, you know, income and stuff like that. Like, you know, things like that, that, you know, and if you don't want to, then that's fine. You can go find a commune somewhere, an ashram and live there. But like, I'm, I'm looking at like being a cool house with my wife, you know, and my kids coming up, you know, in the next couple of years. And that involves the real world stuff, which is very much like not, not spiritual bypassing into like, it'll all just kind of fall into place. It's like, no, let's figure out how we can generate and monetize things using our gifts. Cause I still want to be on my purpose. It's not just like, I don't necessarily want to have a day job, even though if I had to for taking my kids, I would, but my goal is to be a problem solver. Like we talked about Joel in the beginning and figure out ways to not have to get the day job and actually create powerful monetization with these gifts of education and music and things that we're talking about in this conversation around self-empowerment, breath work, all the different things that I'm into that can be enhanced or that can be ancillary to the music, which is my main, highest gift that I'm leading with. And I'm going to use that and monetize by, you know, performing shows, which pay by, by growing my brand as a musician. And then, and the bigger the audience gets, the more ability I have to then give my gift to more people. And if I can help more people, the universe will provide, um, in, in the right ways with, with abundance. And then I can, you know, take care of my family and also help other people in the world. So that's like, that's like balancing left brain and right brain, you know what I mean? [Speaker 2] (56:49 - 57:48) Beautifully said, man. It boils down to the reality that you're an individual, right? And each stage and phase of your life is going to require different things from you. It's going to call you into different schools, different systems, different modalities. The thing that's never going to leave you and what's your job is to cultivate consistently is your connection with your inner self, your inner Oracle, your intuition and learning to trust and understand what it is that's required for this stage of your life. And the more that we do that build self-esteem, we build internal trust, the less, the less likely we are to outsource what we need and what's required externally from us, you know, and it's just you being guided from within. Um, and it's all beautiful. It's all necessary. All the tools, systems, modalities are useful in their own way, in their own time, depending on where you're at. But when it comes down to it, man, it's you and you, you know, well, what's in the mirror, what's happening, what's the relationship that you have with self. Uh, and ultimately you want to, you want to, you want a friendly one. [Speaker 1] (57:49 - 59:11) Totally. And you just, you just sparked like the main thought that I had in my head a lot. When you said the word outsource, I use that word all the time. A lot of us are outsourcing our power outside of ourselves. And again, like we talked about the beginning, there's codependency, right? In relationships, but this is also codependency in the world, not just in a personal relationship, but codependency on government, you know, like codependency on, you know, other doctors and, and not realizing that we're like, by doing that, we're not necessarily also, it's not that like, there's no need for, for experts, right? Like, you know, like it's, it's not about that. It's not the extreme of like no experts, I'm the only expert, but it's also what's happening is people are fully depending on everything outside of themselves and not having that balance. Like we've been talking about, that's the theme of the conversation is trusting yourself while with your expert, because maybe this quote unquote expert might say something and you just, if you blindly believe them, they might lead you astray. So, you got to listen, you know, there's, there's, there may, they might be offering some value, but there might be a piece of that that may not be for you. And if you're not following your inner guidance and you take 100% of it, it might actually harm you. And so, that's why I'm like, I'm leaning a lot more towards like self-empowerment, self-healing, self-governance, all those kinds of essential, a lot of the things that brought us together with music and Sky is a similar theme of like moving into more, you know, you know, coming from within, freedom from the inside out, you know, not depending on what we're going to say, Rasmus? [Speaker 3] (59:11 - 59:24) No, no, no. I was just going to segue into like, you're into all this stuff. Like what got you into like the freedom space, the truth space as a musician in Hollywood, like being interested in all this stuff and voluntarism? Like I'm so curious. [Speaker 1] (59:25 - 1:00:48) That's a good segue. Yeah. I mean, that's, and that's what, again, that's what brought us all together is stepping into a little bit more of anarchism, voluntarism, self-governance mentality. There's lots of different stages of my life, again, on this particular hero's journey that have led to this awareness. I think when I was really young, I was already kind of rebellious just growing up, you know, like I was told when I was six, seven years old that I have all these allergies and they give us all the allergy sequence or what the schedule it's called. Yeah, me too. And they're like, right, we all got those things and our arm puffs up and it's like, you're allergic to everything. And I'm like, and I was a rebellious kid. I was like, no, I'm not, you know, like I was kind of like that and like for better or for worse. But like the better part would be, I challenged authority as a young kid, as a rebel growing up, only child, first generation Indian kid in America, like kind of mischievous, kind of like a little bit wired to be, you know, like, you know, just a little bit off, like, you know, God bless my parents. I was a difficult child, but you know, I think it all worked out in the end and we love each other deeply, but I was definitely difficult. But you know, like when the allergies came up, I was like, they're like, you're allergic to evergreen trees and grass and plants. And I was like, I don't know. I'm not. So I'm going to roll around in it. And I got rashes, right. And I got rashes all over my arm. And I just kept on rolling around in it. And lo and behold, the rashes started going away and I was able to roll around in the grass and rub evergreen trees and hold cats. And if I did it long enough, the body adapted. [Speaker 3] (1:00:48 - 1:00:56) And we, and you and I talked about this. I was allergic. Now I've just been spending time with them. And I'm like, I'm like, whoa, it's less and less and less and less. Right. [Speaker 1] (1:00:56 - 1:02:09) And that's the, we're trained to think, oh, we had an initial reaction. Therefore, we must avoid that thing instead of, oh, we had an initial reaction. Let's see if the body can adapt to it. And I think as a culture, that's part of the same mentality we're talking about around dependence. And this is sort of like what started early was that around the physical, seeing this physical. And then I knew I grew up in Maryland, there's a lot of snow. And I was just like always a little bit of a contrarian and oppositionist again for better for worse. But like when everyone was all bundled up, you know, in the snow and I would go out there in my shorts and a t-shirt barefoot in the snow as like an eight-year-old sledding. And everyone was like yelling at me, you're going to get this, you're going to get frostbite, you're going to get sick. And I was like, the oppositionist in me is like, no, I'm not. And lo and behold, I never got sick. I was eight years old and I was fine. Right. So, this is like eight years old. I'm out in the snow rolling around in my shorts and t-shirt and I'm like shoveling the snow barefoot in the ice, like completely fine. Not realizing that like fast forward to where we are now in 2024, everyone's doing ice baths. I didn't think about it at the time. I was just like a rebellious kid. I had no idea this was going to be a thing later. And then I find out there's like apparently in Russia, all the kids are jumping around the ice too. Like I just grew up in just being an oppositionist and I was the only one doing it. [Speaker 2] (1:02:09 - 1:02:11) Wim Hof, he was a very old boy. [Speaker 1] (1:02:13 - 1:02:46) I'm just like, cool. I guess, you know, like, so that's initially like your initial question was opposing reality, being told that this is the fact, you're not supposed to stare at the sun. So, I'm like, let me stare at the sun. I'm completely fine. All these years, you're not supposed to walk in the snow, you're going to get frostbite. So, you're not supposed to do blank. And then I did all of those things and was fine in my mind proved that that's not real right off the bat. And people are lying. And people are, you know, whether it's with malice or not, it's still not true. And I proved it. [Speaker 3] (1:02:46 - 1:02:51) There's misinformation out there and people are following it. And I'm curious about that. [Speaker 2] (1:02:51 - 1:03:05) You're opting to let yourself be the final arbiter of truth around what is actually real in reality, as opposed to just taking on someone else's word for it, someone else's lens, someone else's filter. Like, let me have direct experience of reality and build my own paradigm. [Speaker 1] (1:03:05 - 1:08:56) Yeah, because if someone says, if you stare at the sun, you're going to go blind, then I do it a bunch of times and I don't, then that to me, I don't know. Now, I suddenly have a healthy skepticism of the information that's being given to me, which led to more of your question of now media as an authorities high school. I'm like, this is weird. The news just seems weird to me. It always felt weird to me the entire time. I was like, this doesn't make any sense. It sounds like a bunch of people that are trying to program everyone to believe something. And that was my initial thought. I didn't understand what NLP, never heard of NLP until 15 years later. But I was just like, it seems like they're just trying to brainwash everybody. It was my layman's term in high school. And that got me into questioning everything, questioning history. I was just always questioning and doubting everything at that point. Because once I doubted allergies, staring at the sun and frostbite and prove that those aren't true, then I started questioning everything I was hearing. And my parents, God bless them, were just coming from a place of love and care. And we're just trying to make sure I'm safe. And they're all worried I'm going to hurt myself. But meanwhile, I'm not hurting myself. Everything's fine. And so, that leads to now getting into rabbit holes and then learning about history and questioning a lot of that stuff, economics, Freemasonry, getting into conspiracy theories, getting obsessed with Terrence McKenna, Graham Hancock, people like that. When I was, I think, 16 years old, I got into some of the works of Graham Hancock and some of his books. And even that, that got me questioning things. But even later on, I questioned his stuff later. It's just different stages. Either way, it opened up the floodgates to new ways of thinking. And then also being told about politics. That was a big one. This is the way politics is. This is left and this is right. And this is this and this is that. And this is economics. And when I was, I grew up a mathematician. I have a pretty crazy background in math. I'm really good at math. We're Indians. We're Indian. And so, when I went to college, we're learning economics. That was part of my electives. We learn economics for school. And we're being taught this thing called Keynesian economics. And we're all being taught it. And I'm doing the math on it. And the math ain't mathin'. I'm like, this is weird. I'm seeing a curve that goes like this and then it comes down. So, if I follow that curve out, it goes like this. That's why everyone's being taught as a good thing. I'm like, that's not a good thing. What is if you do the science on that is that's immediate gratification with failure later. And that's how the economics is designed. Social security, all those benefits, all that stuff is like, we're going to give you something. Again, getting our theme of avoiding uncomfortability. We're going to make you feel comfortable now and procrastinate the pain that's inevitable later. And the math doesn't add up. Central banking and all that stuff is literally designed mathematically to give something right away, knowing that later on it's going to fail, which is what a definition of a Ponzi scheme is. It's literally like, give the initial people money and then later on, we'll have to figure it out. But they're not going to figure it out. That's literally, I realized the entire economic system is built on taxing a bunch of people and claiming you're going to do a bunch of good things that's going to gain more later. But actually, it creates more loss. And I'm like, oh, so that made me question taxes, free markets. That got me into Ron Paul. Ron Paul led me down the path of questioning all of government, libertarianism, getting into Rothbard and Mises. Murray Rothbard wrote one of the best books ever. It's literally like the Bible of freedom and anarchism and volunteerism and understanding the libertarian philosophy at its full core, which is literally that governance itself. And then you got this book here, The Most Dangerous Superstition, Lark and Rose. Another one that just gets you into realizing that it was the government that convinced you that you need the government. So, that's the paradox, right? So, it's like everyone thinks they need the government, but who told you you need the government? The government. Of course, they told you that. So, I mean, that's the loop everyone's in and not realizing that there's a Stockholm syndrome codependency back to our themes of depending on outside, outsourcing our power. All of that started from like childhood, questioning everything, not outsourcing power that led to understanding and questioning governance itself and going, wait a second, the most powerful way we can have a human society is if we literally, each of us one by one, step into our own personal responsibility, our own individual power, our own empowerment, our own self-governance, and then voluntarily work together and to build systems of government. Doesn't mean throw the baby out with the bathwater. There's a lot of beauty in the system of government, but it's not the government that's beautiful. It's the governance matrix and the way it's built that's efficient. But once you take out the voluntary part, the whole thing's flawed. And right now it's not voluntary. It's not an opt-in society. It's being held by the gun, extortion. If you don't pay your taxes for this thing that you don't even believe in ethically, then we're going to come and arrest you. And I don't want to pay money for things I don't believe in. I don't want to pay for wars. I don't want to pay for other people that aren't being healthy. I want to voluntarily help people that aren't being healthy, but I want my taxes to go towards that. So I'm not into taxes. I'm into totally unplugging from all that and then building new systems, decentralized systems that involve, there's a lot of stuff coming up in the crypto world that are great for decentralized finance. There's decentralized information. There's decentralized stuff around health and stepping into our own self-healing and stuff that we were learning together, music and sky, that we can actually hear ourselves from within. We can shift our diets. We can shift our mindset. Those kinds of things, I think, aren't being taught for a reason by the government that makes you want to need the government. So once we unplug from that awareness, then we're able to now start getting somewhere here and then going, oh, wait a second. Look at this community, music and sky. Look at the millions of people like my friend, Mickey Willis and all these other people that have built communities that are growing around the idea of truth and everyone's still on their path of it. And not everyone even in that is agreeing with each other as we've talked about. But even then, the idea of seeking it out is still the path. I think that is important. And once you start that journey, then new truths lead to new truths. And you might not agree with yourself three years from now, but at least you're on the path to get to the next thing. [Speaker 3] (1:08:56 - 1:09:27) And that's at least if you're here for the truth, you're on the path. You're here for the truth. Yo, I'm willing to challenge my beliefs. I'm willing to be open. I'm willing to listen to someone. I'm willing to have an active mind and grapple with opposites and feel the discomfort of a belief, an established belief within myself being challenged. It's not about having it. It's not about I know it and now I'm going to know it. And this is it for the next 40 years of my life. I'm going to state it because I learned it or I read a book once like, oh, do we have the fluidity and the flexibility to go, hey, I could be wrong. I do not know. Right. [Speaker 1] (1:09:27 - 1:10:42) We got new information that's coming down in the last couple of years around viruses. And so, you know, and then you get to see where people are. Right. This is a conversation that we were having together about the viral virology debate and about, hey, if new information is being presented and it's very compelling, are you willing to now shift and adapt to the new information and say, hey, you know, I was wrong about this a couple of years ago, but at the time I felt it was authentic. And now I'm going to shift to this new thing. Like I'm, you know, that much more confident about viruses not being real now. And a couple of years ago, I wasn't fully aware of that. I wasn't necessarily dogmatically speaking about either way, but now I'm seeing, oh, okay, this is this is interesting, you know, and that's one example of out of a million where if as we can keep evolving as new information gets presented and just keep staying like truly as a true scientist. And again, that phrase, trust the science is a brainwash tool to get you to say it's settled. The science is settled. No, it's not. You know, like reality is always expanding and new information is coming in. And if we're not open to that, then that's not truly what science is about. Science is about staying curious and being open to like new ways of looking at something and confirming something that might be that we believe is true or potentially proving it wrong, which is even more important. Well said, man. [Speaker 2] (1:10:44 - 1:11:44) Love it, bro. Just, you know, I love all the different branches that you've been down in the way that you weave it all together. Even the economic piece, bro, like what you said about keys in economics is so on point, bro. It's like it's the bandaid on a gash. That's all it is, man. But this is like, it's just, it's a metaphor for this overall philosophy that so many people have just been indoctrinated and programmed with around, you know, short-term gratification over delayed gratification and over actually producing something of worth and receiving the benefits over a long period of time, as opposed to, you know, this kind of these seeds of communism and collectivism, which are just instilled on so many levels where we feel as though like we just should get things for nothing, you know, so to speak. And that's kind of the, I call it this insidious convenience that's been sold to us by the government where it's like, oh, here's a blanket, here's a pillow, here's a cushion. And then, you know, two, three years down the track, I'm going to like, you know, stab you, so to speak. [Speaker 1] (1:11:45 - 1:11:51) Yeah. Now you owe us. We gave you something. It all felt good, but nothing comes for free. Everyone thinks free this, free school, free healthcare. No, no, no. [Speaker 2] (1:11:52 - 1:11:53) Nothing is free. [Speaker 1] (1:11:53 - 1:12:20) Yeah. You just entered into an agreement, not realizing it where they're going to come and grip on you later. And so, you know, and that's, again, what we get into is this is a bigger, it's a bigger thing than just the relationship with government. It's an actual psychological way of being, it's dependence, it's entitlement culture, right? Because if we're feeling like, oh, we're entitled to free things, we're entitled to this, then we're actually not incentivizing ourselves to get uncomfortable and create something. [Speaker 2] (1:12:20 - 1:12:28) Where does that come from? Do you think that's like programming through education throughout the decades, this whole entitlement culture that we see or? [Speaker 1] (1:12:28 - 1:14:22) Yes. I think it's intentional. I think that if you were, let's just put ourselves in this, let's create our, let's play like a role of being in a movie and make ourselves characters. Let's say I want to control the world. Okay. If I wanted to control the world, the best way to do it is to weaken the world itself and make it easier to control. Well, how do I do that? I can do that by shifting different ways of thinking and mindsets. I can do it by disempowering because if you have empowered people that are free thinkers, it's like herding cats. I'm trying to control the world and now there's individuals everywhere and I can't do that. Let me make it really easy for myself and convince everyone of things. Now, since there is duality that exists, duality is a part of nature. That's just, it's a natural part of nature. It's easier to control people by creating two halves. You create duality and feed each one evenly and then create them against each other. Now you've weakened them because they're too busy, distracted, fighting against each other. And while they're doing that, we're over here swooping the next thing and passing the next law and globalizing the next thing and then turning Europe, the European Union started forming and you get that and you can centralize that little piece and then let's get the US. Let's start centralizing this piece. Let's do a NAFTA deal. Let's do like now, let's do a UN. Let's do a NATO. Oh, let's do a Paris climate. Let's do all these big things. And the only way you can pass it is by weakening the population, creating fear, scaring everyone to think that there's an existential crisis ahead and that you need us to help. So now you're creating the problem and you're creating the solution. Hey, everyone, everything's really scary. We're all going to die from the climate in the next hundred years, but we got a solution for you. All we got to do is pass this law where we centralize everything and we tax you more and we give you carbon taxes and we make sure that there's a one world government that makes sure it manages it because it'll be good. We're going to protect you. It's going to be all good. That's the easiest way to do it. If I was going to control the world, I would do it exactly like that. Yeah, man. Exactly. [Speaker 2] (1:14:23 - 1:14:30) Hypothetically. Literally turn everyone into a farm of sheep, clothe them, feed them, make them feel really comfortable. [Speaker 1] (1:14:31 - 1:14:31) Easy. [Speaker 2] (1:14:31 - 1:14:39) We got you. Then tell them all the wolf is coming. Lo and behold, you are the wolf and you need them to pay you for the wolf not to come. [Speaker 1] (1:14:39 - 1:15:48) Totally. If I was going to control the world, that'd be how I'd do it. We call it controlled opposition or Hegelian dialectic or any ruler in history. This is not new. This is like any king from any empire. If you were Alexander the Great, if you were Genghis Khan, if you were ruling any kind of empire or if you wanted, if you needed to make sure that everyone believes something, I would come up with a cool little way of telling the story of God and religion and shifting the actual truth of divinity because divinity to me is real. I believe in it. But I would commandeer that story too. I would commandeer each of those stories and I would commandeer the scientists like Galileo and I would say, hey, you know what? Here's the science that we need, that everyone needs to believe in and this is the science we need. If they give us the good science, then we're going to prop them up and make them out like they're heroes like Galileo and Newton and all these people. Yeah, they're the ones. Why? Because they're serving the king. And if they question, if they come up with some science that's opposite, we're going to behead them. Well, what do we do now? Instead of beheading, we are either funding and subsidizing or we're debunking and slandering and defunding and slandering. So, that's basically the same thing as beheading. It's the same thing. [Speaker 2] (1:15:48 - 1:15:49) In some cases, they're still assassinating. [Speaker 1] (1:15:50 - 1:16:31) And assassinating. Yes, yes, yes. But it's the same thing. And this is the same kings, it's the same rulers, it's the same scientists and it's the same club and the same priests that it's been for thousands of years. And people don't realize that if you're the one ruling, it's easy to control the history, control the narrative, control the science and all that. And everyone is just blindly believing and following the science and not realizing that all of it is designed to create a narrative to keep you under a bubble that's designed for control. And the second you start questioning that, you can break free of the matrix and self-govern and live a very free life and go walk around and go sliding barefoot and be fine. Yeah, yeah. Totally, man. I'd like to say this is the thing we talk about. Have cats here, Asmos. Have cats. [Speaker 3] (1:16:31 - 1:16:57) Bro, I'm in love with cats now, dude. Talk about changing your opinion. I went from being like, I don't like cats. I'm not into cats. I literally, last night, went in and was hanging out with them in the garage. I had them both laying on me and I just started crying. I was just like, this is so beautiful. This love. Oh my God, I love these kittens. I want them to be safe here where we live in Topanga. They're such beautiful beings. And I'm like, a year ago, I'd be like, nah, I like dogs only. [Speaker 1] (1:16:57 - 1:17:02) Yeah. And this just happened live. This happened live in front of me in the last month or two. [Speaker 2] (1:17:02 - 1:17:05) Yeah, dude. You know, and it's- Still been a pussy, bro. [Speaker 1] (1:17:07 - 1:17:12) He has some now. And I have a bunch. I have five cats here in my house. [Speaker 4] (1:17:13 - 1:17:13) Yeah. [Speaker 1] (1:17:13 - 1:17:20) You know, and I love dogs, cats, all of them. But I'm just saying like, I grew up supposedly allergic to cats and then I just decided to have them. [Speaker 3] (1:17:20 - 1:17:22) I've been allergic my whole life. [Speaker 1] (1:17:22 - 1:17:22) Yeah, me too. [Speaker 3] (1:17:22 - 1:17:28) Still, there's a little like, if they scratch or, you know, like this, but it's, you know, from a month ago, it's much different. [Speaker 1] (1:17:29 - 1:17:32) Anyway, Joel, you were about to say something before- No, it'll keep going away. Yeah. What were you going to say, Joel? [Speaker 2] (1:17:33 - 1:18:25) I was just going to speak to that point you're saying about divinity and God. Like divinity, like, isn't just like passive and love and light. Like divinity at times like this requires strength, requires grit, requires resilience, requires pushback. And I think it's tying this conversation we're having earlier about Eastern spirituality and meditation and non-dualism and stuff like that. The dark side of that and the way that that's been infiltrated is that that's been used as a tool as well to pacify people into believing that those qualities aren't something that makes one spiritual. When spirituality today definitely can and should show up as resilience, as courage, as forthrightness, as assertiveness, as all these qualities. But many people have been neutralized and neutered through some of these ideologies that have been absorbing as well. [Speaker 1] (1:18:25 - 1:20:31) Big time. Yeah. Like the word fight, like people will use, they'll look at it and try to come up with the negative version of it in order to like pacify people, you know? And the word fight doesn't have to be, we can look at any word, however we charge the word with our meaning is how we charge. And I look at fight as like, oh, I'm fighting every day to be my best self, right? Or I'm fighting every day to be successful. Or I'm fighting every day to be resilient, like you said, and not be neutered by not having that fight, by having that drive, that fire, which I think is a healthy thing for humans to have. And if that gets, if you pour water on that and just put out the fire or use the word neutered, like you said, then we've, again, it's another way of weakening the populace, which I think, again, is part of the greater master plan that I see is like, if I was going to control the world, I would try to weaken the populace by making them, making basic things like standing up for yourself and fighting the good fights make you feel guilty for doing those things. And then if you feel guilty, blah, blah, blah. And that's where we have the shame culture and even the mass culture of like, and now you can get people, now you rile people up to shame other people for not doing the thing that, because now you're trapping yourself independence and now if, and now you can encourage those people to shame other people that aren't doing it with you. Like, oh, you're not wearing your mask. Well, you're going to kill grandma, right? Those are ways to now get your army to shame the other people. And it's a ripple effect of NLP, neuro-linguistic programming through control mechanisms and media and information and education and schools and the indoctrination that, again, I went through because I studied keen economics in school. I'm like, whoa, everyone's learning this, but no one's questioning it. And I'm sitting here, the math ain't mathing. And it's like, I don't remember anyone else in that room with 30 people in my class questioning the economics. Everyone's like, just lapping it up. And so like, that's my question is like, how can we now help other help as early as possible to younger age is where we get into the mission is like, if other people, we can help empower other people to have the same kind of questions that we're, the three of us are clearly having in a healthy way where we're not also like preaching and didactically judge, because I don't want to judge anyone either. I think everyone's on their path, but at the same time, it's good to try to help as much as we can and find that balance, right? [Speaker 2] (1:20:32 - 1:21:31) Yeah, dude, man, I've dropped out of university three times. And the last time I was doing the commerce economics degree, I just thought, everyone's doing this. We'll try this. Maybe this will work. Literally, the end of the first semester, there was the test. And I literally, I walked into the hall to sit down and do this test. I just opened the paper. For me, it wasn't about rationally thinking through economics and the math not mapping. Just something within me was like, fuck this, man. Fuck this. Literally, I walked out of the hall. We did two minutes in there. I went to like the administration. I just signed myself out of university and withdrew for the last time for good. Then some of my parents didn't sign up. It's just this feeling of like, this ain't right. This doesn't make sense. This isn't flow. This isn't coherent to me. And it's like, I'm done. And it's just when you're, whether it's happening consciously, unconsciously, when you're tuning something out, I think I pay attention to that as well. [Speaker 1] (1:21:32 - 1:22:35) Totally. The indoctrination station is real. But your body told you something and you listen to it. And you ask questions and however we get there is how we get there. But there's something that you listen to. And I think that's the commendable thing is like, I think we all have voices inside of us. And that's where I think some of the helping of clearing the mind, clearing the clouds allows us to hear the inner voice more clearly. Because the mind can be confusing. It's like, the mind will just be like this and this and it'll contradict itself and it'll doubt itself. And so, sometimes the mind's going so wild that we don't necessarily know which of those voices is the actual intuition voice. So, that's where I think, that's where some of the meditation does help is it helps clear out the cobwebs of the mind so that inside I can hear the, I can get back into like connection to the intuition voice a little more clearly. And that's where the balance is we're talking about. It's like, you know, finding that balance, I think, you know, and getting not too stuck in doubt, you know, and listening to the body. Like, the body does have an intelligence which is really like, you know, that's deep. [Speaker 2] (1:22:35 - 1:22:36) Of course, man. [Speaker 1] (1:22:36 - 1:22:38) And you know, it's like a radio station. [Speaker 2] (1:22:38 - 1:23:20) Yeah. For us most and I in what we do in our coaching and whatnot, we've kind of like taken RAND but reframed reason in even a more holistic way where it's like reason is like literally taking the data and the information from all your faculties, all your senses, including the body, including the intuitive, including the intellectual, including the emotional, right? And then it's like, how do you integrate all that data collated and formulate the ultimate most reasonable decision on that time, at that time. And what's reasonable, it's not negating the intuitive, not negating the emotional, not negating the somatic, it's I'm utilizing all this data to make the best decision for myself. Yeah. [Speaker 1] (1:23:21 - 1:23:21) Yeah. [Speaker 3] (1:23:21 - 1:23:30) Erasmus, have you guys, are you guys familiar with the Hoffman process? I have, but I've never gone through it. I know you did, you have. Yeah, I did it recently. I heard about it for a long time. [Speaker 1] (1:23:31 - 1:24:45) It's just another framing of everything we're saying, you know, and it really does it in a really, really powerful way. But it breaks it down into these aspects of the emotional self, the intellect, the body, and then the spirit. And obviously, you can break those down even more. There's like the seven layers of consciousness and this and that. But I like the way this one's broken down in a really nice way where all of them, like you just said, Joel, they all get to now work together and communicate with each other and listen to each other and honor each other from within. It's like, oh, the emotional self has important data to provide. It's really tuned in. It wants to express. It has needs. It's like a child that's like, I want or I need, you know, it wants to be validated by this other thing. And if it doesn't get completed within the self, then it's going to be looking outside and seeking validation, right? And that's where we seek validation in one aspect. Then you got the intellect, which is like, I've got, it's got discernment, it's got ideas, it's got logic, it's doing all this beautiful stuff. And if it's overbearing and squashing the emotion, if they're not balanced, then there's going to be an inner clash where the emotion's like, I want to dance and I want to be free. And the intellect's like, you're not supposed to do that, right? And if they're not in alignment, that's where we have disharmony within ourself. And then we play that out outside of ourselves in the real world. And that's a lot of the deep work. And then the body is like communicating and then the spirit's like overseeing all that. So, it's like... [Speaker 3] (1:24:46 - 1:25:22) This is why I also do, I do love human design, you know, as a tool because it's like, we are unique, we are individuals. And so, like maybe one person, like their way of making decisions is more about getting emotional clarity over time or maybe trusting God or being connected to that part of you that knows something's healthy or unhealthy for you, you know? And so, it's something to add to the toolbox to experiment with because you should just experiment with it. But oh, wow, this lands, this resonates, you know what I mean? Or you notice like, oh man, I've been totally... My mind has been distorted through so much conditioning. And so, I'm not connected to that somatic intelligence. I'm not connected to that wisdom that could guide me to make better decisions in my life. [Speaker 2] (1:25:23 - 1:26:05) Love that. Yeah, man. And that becomes encompassed in one's reason, you know, in the way one ultimately culminates a decision. Yeah. When you said about the Hoffman process, man, that sounds very resonant and similar to what Gurdjieff spoke of, Gurdjieff called it the fourth way. So, he spoke of the three paths and the way of the Fakir, which was just the physical path being the physical body, the way of the monk, which was being with the emotional path, you know, or the way of the yogi, which was the intellectual path. And he proposed the fourth way, which was an integration of the physical, the intellectual, and the emotional. And yeah, man, I love seeing this being propped up more and more in different modalities and being taught to people. I think it's so important, man, to have a holistic way of self-growth. [Speaker 1] (1:26:06 - 1:27:02) Totally. And a lot of this is laid out. I mean, even the Bhagavad Gita gets into the different aspects of self and again, different aspects of yoga, you know, where we have the ego and, you know, we have the jnana yoga is the knowledge of the intellect and the bhakti yoga is just that faith and devotion. So, that's like the God and how balancing all those is the real path of yoga. The real practice is balancing all those, balancing the body and the hatha yoga, the spirit, balancing the intellect, the mind, balancing the emotion, all those centers being balanced is really the holistic way to live. And if we're imbalanced, which is again, it seems like a proper theme for today's conversation is seeing and observing where we are and where we might need a little piece of something else, you know, and everybody's in a different place. I love the human design aspect of it because we might all have different things and different ways and also different needs. And also, even as an individual, we might be in a different place five years from now than we are right now. Like I might be more in my body, I might need to like a little bit more left brain again or maybe a little more right brain again. [Speaker 2] (1:27:03 - 1:27:36) Yeah. But what's key in all of that is developing that self-awareness, that self-consciousness, that self-remembering part that can observe ourselves, watch ourselves, see how we're engaging with the reality and see where we're out of balance because that's how we know where the work is. But yeah, I mean, and that's really to me the key cornerstone of what you can describe as the authentic seeker or the authentic truth seeker because for the majority of the planet, that self-awareness isn't developed and that's just the reality that I've observed. [Speaker 3] (1:27:36 - 1:27:53) Yeah. We usually go around 90 minutes and if you're cool, going just a little longer because I want to bring up something just because I want to bring some balance to the equation and something that I know is really important to you and you're a walking embodiment of it. You eat pretty much only raw food? [Speaker 1] (1:27:53 - 1:28:05) No, not only raw. I mean, I eat all plant-based. But I eat cooked food and things like that and I also have fun. I go out and eat a vegan pizza here and there or whatever. [Speaker 3] (1:28:06 - 1:28:42) But I would say you would identify as you're plant-based, you're vegan and obviously, we talk about balance. We talk about two sides pitted against each one another. In our world, in the nutrition world, it's like this battle of how can you do that? How can you eat that way? No, how can you eat that way? And like, you know, you're someone that like chooses not to eat animal products and like you're vital and you have energy and you're connected to yourself and your creativity and it's like that's incredible. And so, like I just want to have a little conversation about that because it's so easy for people to be so polarized around this simple subject and I'd love just a little bit of your take on that. [Speaker 1] (1:28:42 - 1:29:29) Absolutely. So, you know, I think you can be pretty much healthy eating any diet out there if you're focusing on the health itself, right? So, you can be healthy eating whole foods, whether it's plant-based or including animal products. I think it's just, you know, so health is one aspect of it and then for me, I have this genuine love for animals, you know? So, that's what pushes me. Otherwise, I know I could be healthy eating meat. I know I could. I'd be fine. People are perfectly vital and healthy eating meat and people are perfect. The other thing is a lot of the people I know that again, pitted against each other are going, you can't be vegan and healthy and vital. That's not true. You can literally be healthy and vital no matter what diet if you're focusing on eating the best version of that diet. So, for me, I'm eating sprouts. I eat a lot of uh, oh, what was I about to say? I saw you. [Speaker 3] (1:29:30 - 1:29:46) No, no. I was going to say and also the reality that like the nutrition piece is one piece of health, you know what I mean? Like there's so many elements like do you have peace in your life? Are you connected to the sun? Are you connected to the ground? How do you, what's your emotional health like? [Speaker 2] (1:29:46 - 1:29:48) You know, what's your nervous? How are you connected to purpose? [Speaker 3] (1:29:48 - 1:29:53) You know, do you have a purpose? Do you have a mission, you know? So, anyways, I just wanted to talk about that. [Speaker 1] (1:29:53 - 1:33:08) Yeah. So, I'm just saying like there's a lot more variables. This is basically what we're getting at. There's a lot more variables than just the diet itself and I think that a lot of people out there will go, hey, this person ate like this and this person ate like this and they look like this. Therefore, this is the conclusion and that's not very scientific. That's not causation and correlation like you just said. What if there's a bunch of other variables involved? What if the one person that's eating meat is also like doing exercise and doing all this kind of stuff and has a great mindset? And what if the person that's super vegan eating healthy plant-based is also super stressed and eats a bunch of processed food and you know, stuff like that? Well, then that's not, those aren't really comparable examples. So, I think to really, if you want to isolate something just like scientifically isolating a variable, find two people that have almost every aspect of their lives that are similar. Same blood type, similar body type, same kind of mindset and all that. And then compare one eating a healthy plant-based diet versus a healthy meat diet and see if there's differences because at least you've gotten less variables involved and see what happens, you know? I'm looking at that as more of a scientific argument. What I'm seeing out there is not very much science. Everyone's just like dogmatic like vegan is the way, carnivore is the way, this is the way and it's not accounting for like you just said. What about mentality? What about your exercise? What about your sleep habits? What about sun gazing? What about, you know, where you are in the world? What about your environment? But the reason I choose to be plant-based and more vegan as a philosophy and again, the word, you know, vegan now gets a stigma because of people, you know, but to me, vegan is a philosophy of Ahimsa from India, from Gandhi, which is like nonviolence towards everything including animals. So, that's like more not about the diet itself but including like, like not using animal products like belts and things like that. And the reason for that is I have a direct connection to animals. When I hang out at my friend's house, he's got cows, you know, and he saved the cows from being slaughtered and I'm like, they're to me just like dogs, you know? And they're super cute and they run around and I hang out with them. So, that's just me. That's my personal connection with them. I think they're super cute. Cats are cute. All these other animals are cute. So, if I don't have to eat them, then I won't, right? And so, let me see if I have to or not. So, let me just try mastering my diet first and see. Now, if I felt weak and malnourished, I'd be like, oh, and again, I wouldn't be like, well, it just didn't work. I would still try like different things. Like what am I missing? I want to know what I'm missing. Is it vitamins? Is it amino acids and things like that? Well, I'm eating sprouts which is like extremely high concentrated micronutrients and amino acid. I grow my own sprouts, grow my own food. I've been growing food for 15 years. I've had my own little mini farms. I've had biodynamic compost using the Steiner, Rudolf Steiner method of composting and made beautiful nutrient-rich vegetables. A lot of people are out there eating vegetables from the stores. They might be organic, but they may not be nutrient-rich. They may not be biodynamic. They might have just paid off the certification and got their little $10,000 organic certification, but they may not be like amazing vegetables, you know? You know what I'm saying? It's not necessarily. And there's a bunch of people at local farmers markets that have food that's not certified organic that looks better and tastes better to me. And I trust the guy that he made the food and he just couldn't afford. He's like a more than not as well-off a guy and he couldn't afford to pay off the government to get their government like approval. Dr. Justin Marchegiani Yeah, the little circle, to get to that circle. [Speaker 3] (1:33:08 - 1:33:08) Evan Brand Yeah. [Speaker 1] (1:33:08 - 1:35:45) All it is literally is just like, hey, daddy, hey, daddy, am I good enough? And can we convince everyone we're good enough? I just wanna know, are these vegetables, they're good or not? And if they're good, I'm gonna eat them. And I grow my own and I'm not certified organic and my vegetables are better than everybody else's because I know I made them. Because I've used really good soil and they're thicker and they're richer and they taste better. And they're like, they're not like bitter, like the cucumbers don't get bitter later, you know, like there's a lot of like amazing stuff. And so I know if I eat healthy like that, that's the thing to compare. So I would like to challenge all those people that did that were vegan that quit because it wasn't working for them that if they were to try my way of doing it, would they possibly feel nourished? I'm just curious. I have a question. And the reason I have that question is because if that were the case, would that shift someone's opinions on like the animals because like I'm coming from a place of like, if we don't have to, then let's try not to like which is a Native American philosophy too, which is that they would do their best not to but if they did, they did it because they had to and they use every part of it. They use every part of the animal. They used a horn and they made clothes and they made skins and they made all those kinds of things. And they did it because they had to until they didn't. And then there was points where a lot of, there was a lot of history of natives becoming vegetarian over time. Once they mastered the art of farming, a lot of them would go, okay, we don't have to kill them anymore. We're going to evolve and because now we don't need to, we're surviving really well eating like complete proteins and growing vegetables in lines like corn and tomatoes are a complete protein. There's lots of ways to get all the protein you need from having the right pairings of vegetables. And when people don't realize that science and that's what people think they're missing is all the amino acids, but I'm getting them from the broccoli sprouts and I'm doing gut health with sauerkraut and I'm fermenting my own cabbage and stuff like that. And so now I know I'm clearing out my gut and I do water fast. I know I'm doing stem cell regeneration when I do the 25-day water fast, just water, nothing else. I've done like, I've done multiple 20-day water fast and I know that, yeah, so I know that I'm getting energy from that. I know that I'm, and I'm not like skinny, like I'm not like some emaciated person. I'm like a pretty solid shade. I can do like two, 300 pushups in a day and lift full weights and I'm plant-based and water fast and do all this kind of thing. So like, again, just like, just like staring at the sun and just as a kid being an oppositionist and all those kinds of things, I'm proving through my own personal data that I can be fully energized, fully strong, fully plant-based, fully energized, fully focused, no brain fog and be a high functioning being and not have to kill my homies in the Disney cartoons that I might be friends with that I might give names to because people name their dogs and their cats. Well, we named my friends, we named cows and pigs too. Everyone's just like naming everybody. So, you know, that's my spiel on that. [Speaker 3] (1:35:45 - 1:35:46) No, I appreciate it, man. [Speaker 1] (1:35:46 - 1:35:46) Respect, bro. [Speaker 3] (1:35:47 - 1:36:30) Yeah, much respect and I hear you and it's an interesting personal relationship and our value system and there's so many elements to it, you know. I think the issue I have is on both sides where we get into these ad hominem attacks and we start like insulting people and then like again, freedom, you know, but then I understand on one element if we talk about freedom and non-harm but then if your highest value is you're harming these animals, I can see why people... That's where I'm taking it. I can see why people react the way they do, you know, like even though I don't, I'm not in agreement of the emotional reactivity that's like that stimulus response thing, like isn't there, like someone goes, I eat meat and then they're like, I'm here, the harps should die and it's like, whoa, there's a little imbalance there. [Speaker 1] (1:36:30 - 1:37:25) Now, they're causing harm by doing that too. So, everyone's just, they're like, I don't want to cause harm, so you're causing harm, so I'm going to harm you. I mean, that's not good either. I'm going to attack you and that's why I think a part of Ahimsa is also the philosophy of how you're operating as a person of, you know, that's out there. So, like if I'm operating from this place, then I'm not going to also be attacking someone else because then I'm going against my philosophy in the first place. Now, I'm going to have a conversation and we can have questions. We can do it in a soft way. It's like, hey, are you open to like trying like one month of eating plant-based, but try this, try my version of it just as an experiment and see how you feel. And if that's an experiment worth taking on, it doesn't mean like, and now you have to now never eat meat again. I'm like, it's just more like, hey, let's just like anyone trying to water fast, like try a water fast for three days, try a water fast for seven days or 10 days, see how it feels. That's all. I'm not saying you need to be like an avid water faster, but just experiment. [Speaker 3] (1:37:25 - 1:38:15) Yeah. Like, you know, I think we had this conversation a little bit about sobriety and Joel and I have had this before on the podcast. Like, you know, I haven't had alcohol in 11 years, but I didn't do caffeine for 11 years either. And, you know, I would have these conversations with people around coffee and then, and they'd be like, what do you mean? Coffee does this, coffee does that. Why don't you drink coffee? And then I go, cool. Like, have you ever not had it? Like, have you ever just explored like not having it for, you know, a week, six months, just to be able to have both sides in terms of your personal relationship to it? It doesn't mean you have to become a non-coffee drinker, but you know yourself, the experience of being you as a non-coffee drinker, you know? Exactly. Or whatever. And so, then you can get more data. Like, you're being more scientific That's it. By exploring the opposite, you know what I mean? [Speaker 1] (1:38:15 - 1:39:29) That's exactly, and that's what I'm getting at. It's really just about just taking something on as an experiment, which is a scientific experiment with yourself and your body and seeing how it feels. And if you like it, then that at least can disprove this stigma that you had because it was coming from a place of unknown. If you're judging something that you haven't really done yet, then that's not really fair, you know? And so, you know, I'd say give something a try. You know, like I gave meat a try. You know, I ate meat for a chunk of my life and I felt completely fine. My body felt fine. I felt great about it. It wasn't about like that. It wasn't about the health and body for me. It was more about I don't really feel fine with the death that's happening because I have this feeling of like it being a being. And so, because I have that and that's my personal feeling, it's not something I would push onto you at all. It's something that I'm experiencing, then that's my choice to do that. And if someone else doesn't have that, then it's your choice to eat meat. And I'm like, I hang out with people all the time and eat meat and I'm not sitting there like fucking judging them or anything. I don't say anything. I'm like, hey man, like that's your personal relationship with your food right there and I'm having my personal relationship with mine and then we can co-mingle and co-exist together. And I'm going to present just like someone might present to me some questions. I might also present back some questions and be like, hey, you know, are you open to trying an experiment? Just like you said with a coffee or with a water fast or anything else. [Speaker 3] (1:39:31 - 1:39:57) Yeah. Bro, I really love this conversation, man. It's so happy we've connected more in the last, you know, several months and I just appreciate you. Obviously, I love your music, man. I've been a fan before a friend and I just appreciate, you know, how you are on stage and your heart and your creativity and just and everything else, like Joel said, everything you've gotten into and your personal journey, man. I just appreciate you and the work you're doing. Thanks, bro. [Speaker 1] (1:39:57 - 1:42:11) Yeah, I'm excited to, again, just listen to Spirit and see where the hero's journey takes it all. Like, again, you know, I'm seeing now there's a big pivot for me where, you know, music's been, music is like the leading, you know, gift. But I'm starting to see that the stuff that we talked about in this conversation, which is mostly non-musical, has been coming up for me a lot where people are asking, hey, where can we find out more about the meditation and breathing or where can we find out? I don't know. It's nowhere because that's just something I just do. It's a part of my life. It's something I talk about, but it's never been accessible at all. And it's only been music. And so, I'm being encouraged by people to like just create some sort of resource-based website or something with some of these kind of things. And we can put this interview on there and put other somewhere where people can get more than just the music. Because people have been asking me for, like, hey, how do we make sprouts? I'm watching your stories. You're making sprouts all the time. I was like, you know, I'll just tell them all one by one over and over again. I'm realizing I could probably simplify my life by just spending like a half a day and putting together like a little e-book on how to make sprouts and just offer that for free or something or like for subscriber thing or whatever. Just like somehow just making some of these things and packaging a little bit because there's like a million things going on over here and like everyone's asking for them. But I'm just writing the next song. But I feel like I'm also wasting an opportunity to offer some value to people that are asking for it. And so, I think, you know, that's why I'm expanding now DeepakWorld as a platform where you come and you get them, you know, deepakworld.com. You come there, you get the music. That's all it is right now. But I'm going to start working on that the next couple of months and making like a link. Like here, lifestyle. And you go into that and it's like, oh, here's stuff about freedom and anarchism, volatilism, government. Here's stuff about how to homestead and like learn how to grow your own food. Here's resources for other people that know this stuff better than I do, but I'm friends with them. Here's Erosmos and Joel. Here's their podcast. Here's Alec Zeck and here's his stuff. Here's, you know, just like a central home base where, you know, people can come to my page and find your stuff or like the other way around. And we're all just kind of like, well, these guys took care of virology. Like go talk to them about that. But hey, I'll show you how to make sprouts. And here's like nine different ways of meditating or something like that. And here's I'll make a couple of guided meditations or something. I don't know. So, that's kind of like where I'm pivoting to just adding, not pivoting, but more adding that to my brand where it's music plus this kind of conversational energy as an offering. And then, you know. [Speaker 3] (1:42:12 - 1:42:14) Yeah, because you're so much more than just someone who makes music. [Speaker 2] (1:42:14 - 1:42:51) Yeah. Totally. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, bro. You're incredibly educated. You embody the path. We are well articulated. And I think you've got a lot of value to give, you know, beyond just the music as well, which by the way is absolutely incredible. Yeah, man, you're someone who's all in on life. You choose to live life fully consciously and you're definitely here for the truth, man. So, just appreciate the path you've walked and who you are and excited to see how things continue to unfold for you. In terms of guiding our listeners to best support you and what you do, you mentioned Deepak World. I'm going to go deeper into how they can best engage with, yeah, your little universe, man. [Speaker 1] (1:42:51 - 1:43:26) Yeah, and I'm spelling Deepak, D-P-A-K, which is, you know, because there's also like the normal Indian spelling, which is D-E-E-P-A-K, which is my birth name, but my artist name and now the brand is just D-P-A-K, all caps, four letters. So, I have Deepak World on Instagram, Deepakworld.com, Deepakworld on TikTok, everywhere else. And as I start expanding, for now, right now, it's like, you can come get the music. If you follow the stories, you'll see the behind the scenes with the sprouts and all the meditation stuff. But in the next couple of months, I'll be launching, I'll be making more announcements that Deepak World is expanding into more than just the music. [Speaker 3] (1:43:27 - 1:43:34) Bro, you want to leave us with a little song, a little singing, a little acapella, like something, man? Like, let's... Yeah, I do got a guitar up here. Let's go, bro. [Speaker 1] (1:43:35 - 1:43:36) Let's see. Let's see how the... [Speaker 3] (1:43:36 - 1:43:38) I love your voice, man. So, let's... [Speaker 1] (1:43:38 - 1:43:39) Let's see how the sound is. [Speaker 3] (1:43:39 - 1:43:40) Let's give a gift to the Here For The Truth fam. [Speaker 4] (1:43:41 - 1:43:42) Yeah, let's see. [Speaker 1] (1:43:47 - 1:47:21) Who are you gonna believe in now, now? Don't you see where it's leading? Now, haven't you had enough? Pain without reason, why? Love sold as treason cries. Yeah, we can all see you bleeding for freedom. Don't wanna see another battlefield for a chosen son. Another bed of ashes for the missing ones, who came to God's corner with a loaded gun. Was it for nothing? And now it's up to you to take my one heart in a holy band. And now you hear it singing to your bone. It's not the real thing, let it go. We can't always stand for nothing, no. And go sailing into the sun. Yeah, so choose all your colors and you put them on. We'll see who you are when you're standing strong. A king of the moment honors everyone. I honor everyone. And now it's up to you to take my one heart in a holy band. And now you hear it singing to your bone. It's not the real thing, let it go. When you find it, don't deny it. Cause it's always been your story Turn and face it Can you make it? Take a chance Now this is who we are When you find it Don't deny it Cause it's always been your story Turn and face it Can you make it? Take a chance Now this is who we are Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm A king of the moment honors everyone I honor everyone I honor everyone Bro Damn bro Keep the Truth listeners in for a treat for sure man You're incredible bro That was amazing man Early morning voice, testing my morning voice right there. [Speaker 3] (1:47:21 - 1:47:26) Yeah, we did, we did. I know it's early morning, but dude, you rocked it, man. It's so real and so pure. [Speaker 1] (1:47:27 - 1:47:32) A little scratchiness adds some character in the morning. Yeah, yeah, I agree. It was good, man. [Speaker 3] (1:47:32 - 1:47:34) It was so solid. I love how you stayed ready, bro. [Speaker 1] (1:47:35 - 1:47:43) Yeah, all the instruments are like just, I'm surrounded by them. There's like a, you know, you got a whole studio here. Dude, I love it, man. Nice, man. [Speaker 2] (1:47:45 - 1:47:46) Sick. Bro, it's so good. [Speaker 3] (1:47:46 - 1:47:56) I just love how you move between piano, guitar, violin. Like, it's just so, it's so cool, man. And I just, I love people giving their gifts and you do that. [Speaker 2] (1:47:58 - 1:48:13) Guys, go support Deepak, find his music wherever you can find it. Check out Deepak World, engage with him on social media. Say hello, drop him a line, share this episode around if you enjoyed it. Bro, so good to hang for the past, you know, nearly two hours now. And everyone else, thank you for listening. Take care. [Speaker 3] (1:48:15 - 1:48:26) Dude, that was incredible. Dude, the music was incredible. And of course, tears come to my eye because it's so pure, you know, it's so pure and deep in the message. And I love, I love. [Speaker 2] (1:48:26 - 1:48:29) You're pure, bro. Gate 12s, the purity, the truity. [Speaker 3] (1:48:29 - 1:49:02) Oh yeah, sure, sure. Yeah, but it's just like the heart, you know, and like even in my jinkies, it's like, it's almost like I'm connected to art and music or whatever, even when I think about my time as an actor. So like, I think that's why music impacts me so much. Because I feel like I'm just connected to something within my purpose. I don't know how that unfolds or what that looks like. But I just admire, man, I admire talent and excellence. And then the heart behind it and even just the conversations we had, like the different levels that he goes down and gets into, man, it's really, yeah, I really appreciated it. [Speaker 2] (1:49:02 - 1:49:48) 100%, man, just the diamondism of the human being, you know, and what we're capable of and how we all have this eclectic array of interests and different things we want to dive into, whether it's music, freedom, sprouts, veganism, like embodiment, spirituality, meditation. Like we can't pigeonhole ourselves. Like to me, just to test, like Deepak to me is a testament of someone that's like brimming with potential and walking the path of actualizing it and not holding back and going for it and putting it out there and walking that path, walking that Siddhartha road in between both worlds, internal and external, you know. And yeah, man, I really, really just encouraged and inspired by that conversation, for sure. [Speaker 3] (1:49:48 - 1:50:13) And again, too, like, you know, for a lot of first generation people, like there's such a pull, there's such a conditioning to not listen to like the inner calling or the inner voice, you know, to kind of just go, OK, I'm going to I'm kind of going to go along to get along to some degree. And obviously with his story, he didn't really do that. And yet took that amazing education and how he was raised, you know, with the discipline and... [Speaker 2] (1:50:13 - 1:52:28) Utilized it for its gifts, not turning away from it, but recognizing the treasures that are within it and how that can be utilized for the authentic path and for what he actually wants to create and build in life. You know, like this is key, man. This is key. Like like you mentioned, the problem solving, who am I? Where am I? What do I want? How do I get there? And how do I call upon my experiences, my lessons, the things I've learned? And how do I employ self-efficacy to learn the things I still need to learn to get from A to B? And let me go on a journey. Let me walk the path one foot in front of another, in front of another. Let me move in trust and also engage my will, self-responsibility, self-reliance and see what happens. See what's possible for me in this human experience that I'm having right now. And what's about, man? It's about being all in, in that way. And the balance that was present throughout the conversation, you know, between the philosophies of East and West. They both have gifts, right? They're both useful. They're both necessary at different stages of our journey and being integrated in different ways. It's not about cutting off paths, you know, but in utilizing that for where we are and employing that to get to where we want to get to and what's required in each moment. And this is what it means to be a human being. It's a dynamic experience we're having, guys. So, you know, let's get to it. With that being said, I just want to shout out to our new school community. This is a free community which we've launched for all listeners to come, connect, engage, say hello, drop a line. We're doing a global community call on the 19th of August. This might be after then. I'm not sure at this point in time, but we're going to be doing one next month as well. So this will be available to our free members inside our free community at school. So the website is school.com, S-K-O-O-L.com forward slash here for the truth. You get there, join the group, connect with worldwide, global, here for the truth listeners, fans, free members, paid members. There's benefits available for everyone. We'd love to see you in there and drop us a line and say hello. [Speaker 3] (1:52:29 - 1:52:44) Yeah, I want to meet more of our listeners, you know, like thousands of people that listen to our episodes, like drop, come into school, like say what's up, tell us where you're from, you know, what you're passionate about, what your interests are, you know, and again, like connect with other listeners that likely share a lot of values that you have. [Speaker 2] (1:52:45 - 1:52:58) Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This is an awesome platform. We're really excited about it. Super easy to sign up, to join. It's very intuitive as well. So, yeah, we'd love to love to see you say hello. Guys, thanks for the support. Thanks for listening. Much love.