Transcription
We've got to be anymore, at least to make things any more. It's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Okay, okay. If I buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then I ask you? What? Mentally ill. Back, Jim, back. If you don't buy things, toilet paper, new cars, computerized blenders, electrically operated sexual devices, stereo systems with brain implanted headphones, screwdrivers with military built-in radar devices, voice activated computers. Take it easy, Jeffrey. Be calm. Oh, yeah. We got stuff, lots of stuff. We are good consumers. We even got spiritual stuff, right? But it's still [music] stuff. So, does it make you happy? Well, for a moment, maybe. But funnily enough, half the time the anticipation is giving you more pleasure than the thing itself.
But here's the real question. What if you already get this? You're smart, you're spiritual. What if you've seen through it? And you want to get off that endless hamster wheel of becoming? Because here's the weird twist. The consumer mindset doesn't end just because you become spiritual. It simply shifts to something quite unexpected. Let me explain. Because on one hand it's simple, but also quite tricky at the same time.
So, maybe you read something like The Power of Now, where Eckhart Tolle is pointing to the the space beyond the mind. Or you listen to Alan Watts laughing while he tells you that it's all a game. And deep down, something in you resonates. You feel the truth of what they're pointing to. So, you think, "Oh, man, I want to I want to burn it all down. I'm going to throw my TV in the dumpster, set fire to my appointment calendar, I'm going to nuke my inbox. That is where freedom is." Okay. But then what? What if you quit your job and you drive off into the sunset? Can you really start again? Is that possible? Is it even allowed? And are these popular new age gurus selling something real? Something lasting? Or is it a scam?
So, let me share something personal with you. Because I went really as deep as you can go with this kind of search. I was with [music] an enlightenment teacher for many, many years. I did ceremonies. I took plenty of disgusting-tasting ayahuasca. I visited outer space with the mushrooms. I had a deeply frightening, but also very enlightening journey on LSD that I never want to repeat. Cuz it took me if it took me a while to get back, [music] honestly. I even went on a 16-hour death journey with the San Pedro cactus with some shamans in Peru. It showed me that death, in all its forms, is as necessary and essential as life is. And I want to be clear, I'm not recommending any of this. I'm just telling you what my mind learned the hard way.
Because what I got out of a lot of this, it might surprise you because it's not the standard vision, right? Not the one with the universe in infinite bliss forever story. And yes, that's all true. And that kind of stuff is even better than a day at the spa. But there is a truth beyond all of that stuff. It's something better and it's something way worse and more difficult to talk about [music] at the same time. And most of the time, honestly, I choose not to speak of it because either people don't really get it, or they get kind of mad. But I'm going to take a chance today because maybe you were meant to hear this. You decide.
Most of us, whether we realize it or not, are looking for an end. We want an escape. Life's tough. We're in a lot of suffering. So, we want to get to God's golden shore. I get it. You know, that place where the rivers run with endless kombucha and there is more than enough for anyone. We're looking for heaven. We're looking for utopia. We're looking to get to the end of [music] suffering. So, when we read something like The Power of Now or listen to teachers [music] that are pointing to the space beyond thought, it might sound like they're pointing towards some kind of exit or end, as if there was a way out.
And I don't want to ruin your day, but let me share this with you. Cuz twice in my life I lost absolutely everything. House, family, business, all of my money, all of it. And I had to start again from zero. And it really broke me down, but it also broke me open. And it allowed me to access um a different level of my humanity. So, I guess it was what I needed. And here's what my journey showed me very clearly. There is no end to all of this. Cuz I stood and I looked right into the abyss as it looked back at me. And there's nothing more terrifying. And if you've been there, then you know what I'm talking about. Nothing more terrifying, nothing more beautiful, nothing more compelling.
But here's the part that most people don't want to hear. When you get to this point and you access real truth, you see that there is no knowing, no real knowing, no deep knowing, without subsequent responsibility. The more you understand, the more truth you can carry about the nature of reality. Or let me put it even [music] more clearly, I think, and bluntly. It's the It's the more truth you then are obliged to carry. And all the new age people [music] out there don't want to hear about obliged or hear about responsibility because, you know, namaste, they're looking to [music] escape. So, I get it. Really, you are going to find a lot of responsibility the deeper you go. And this is where a lot of people exit the spiritual path. They say, "Oh, I didn't realize that. Well, in that case, ooh, I think there's somewhere I got to be right now." And they're off. Because there really is a deeper [music] reality than beautiful, blissful, non-dual awareness. So, it's not all [music] about just leave the world behind. It's not about just arriving. It's not about just leaving the world behind or rising above it. It's something else.
You see, at [music] the dead center of creation, there is an incredible paradox [music] because something came out of nothing. And that paradox cannot be resolved. Sure, we can [music] temporarily escape into bliss consciousness, but we're always going to come back. Because that paradox has to be held. It has to be carried. Because something is being born out of that moment, every moment, every day. And let's think about it like this. As a human being, as a conscious human being, on one hand, you are holding infinite and perfect being. You're rooted in that, in the unmanifest. And on the other hand, a big part of you is rooted, existing in time and space. And you are the place where these two truths, these paradoxical truths, meet. You are the vehicle, right? You're the You're the tension point at the center of that which allows life to actually exist. So, because you are holding this incredible, unbearable tension in this place where you say I am, you're allowing life to exist.
So, I want to look beyond the new age. And I'm not here to criticize healing work, right? All that kind of stuff is appropriate, necessary. Ceremony has its place, healing has its place. But at some point we must be finished with our personal healing journey. Otherwise, what happens, and I've seen this with people, maybe you've noticed this as well, it can become a very powerful self-identity that will lock you into place. While these experiences can be profoundly important, but they are not the goal. They are simply signposts along the way. Does that make sense?
If there's no exit, my gosh, that's scary. If there's no exit, what is freedom? Well, it's not just driving off into the sunset. It's not just burning your calendar and your to-do list. It's not becoming completely untouchable. In fact, it's about getting more more into life. It's about taking on more with an ever open heart until there's nothing left but heart. And then in that process, who you thought you were dissolves in that selfless giving to another. What is found by accident is actually that which fulfills you the most. You're not going to expect this, but this is actually what you find beyond becoming beyond bliss state, and it exists where you are right this moment right now.
Thank you for listening. You made it all the way to the end. If you want to listen to some of my longer form podcast where I go a bit deeper into many of these subjects, then check out my free community. Link is in the description below. And if you like the video, give me a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.