…in a physical world.
lot of Curiosities… and, um…
kind of like pretty animated and very like um you know i’ like to inject humor
into it and Gregory shows up and I I feel I forget exactly how the first like
my normal moments went but basically my normal thing at the beach is I just go and find the prettiest girl and and ask
her if she wants to fly and do some acrobat yeah I had longer hair than what but that day specifically I was
getting tired of that routine and I was like you know what I just want to have a conversation with a human and and and at
the moment I Ste on the drein there was AG yeah that that sounds bad though cuz
you’re like like women aren’t humans you know no I mean I could have been a girl or a guy it matter I just want in other
words I wasn’t going to be physical right I just want to have a conversation yeah and it turns out at least in my
recollection of it that you and I talked for like the next two hours about God and yeah it wasn’t quite two hours I
just finished my class at fake and um I think one of the things that like initially like connected us was
like I think you remember like I and said something a quote from the Bible yeah and it was you remember which which
one it was no because I think I was just thinking about this I think it could have been um like
the uh um oh crap would what is it now it’s
the uh kingdom of God is the bit right that could have been it because I’m 1721
right so I was teaching the class like teaching the sorry Luke 17 the yeah the whole reason I was quoting that
essentially was because the idea that we should be taking care of our temples and um yes you know I think this is like a a
sensual idea that is rarely really like integrated into any kind of religious
practice and if I could expand on that a little bit like when you say Temple there what I’m hearing you say is our
our corporeal bodies yes exactly yeah as as a symbolic Temple right yeah and uh
yeah so the other thing that I I sending a lot of time on and I respect you as a fellow expert Ain is is
AI yeah yeah because you use it every day or many days um yeah sometimes I
shoot out tests true and sometimes work that would have
Tak me 10 hours in half an ounce yes yeah um but uh with AI coming down the
pipe and so fast and furious basically like I think we’ both seen things the last years that at at least in I’ll just
speak for myself like they they they transcended my expectations and my timelines yeah largely like things are
coming fast and what does that what challenges does that give us as
individuals and communities and what opportunities does that provide um to
your point out of the temple one of the conclusions that I’ve come to I think that we we’ll talk about more is that
being as physical as possible like in our bodies in our temples is a very good
solution to the next 20 years yeah I couldn’t read more actually um
because I think right now the I mean money money from my understanding essentially represents work it can it
can it’s energy it’s an energy yes right I think the per form is an energy exchange and you get the money by doing
by expending your own energy right so it’s it’s a transfer there and then you use that money to pay
for some somebody else’s energy so like the the the time that it took to grow
the food or the rather the all the human hours that went into uh in a basic dire
Services exactly just like a very simplis way of looking at at money potentially with AI That’s now
being decoupled right you’re going to have like maybe like getting that food
means that yes you’re there like you pay the money but there’s actually no human
man hours spent to create the food sounds super science fiction but
that’s the that’s the vision of a lot of the the uh movers and shakers of our world right so this is the the concept
is that we’re entering into an age of abundance um where the means of
production are moved to machines at very low energy costs so
very low monetary costs and that every single he on Earth has enough food shelter
and you know basic basic sustenance yeah that everybody has the basic things
so that’s interesting I I do believe that that will happen um I also think
that that’s not the Utopia that is being sold to us as uh I think that puts a
huge Challenge on people my perception of the world these
days when you say work like a lot of people are attached to their work and a lot of people are doing work that they
don’t necessarily like love like like I’m working to pay my rent to put food on the table and to save up for my kids
education you or order to go on vacation right but if you’re in ag of abundance
you’re effectively on Permanent Vacation and that forces the question upon upon you of what why are you want planet
Earth what are you here to do um right and and and I want people I would like
people to be prepared to answer that question which a lot of people have not had that lury right right they allow
people have a very like sophomoric view of what their ideal lifestyle would be of like the corona you know on the beach
lifestyle which is great for like I hope ask weekend it’s great right but if you
have like a high stress life or maybe a week but then after that you’re like there’s no there’s no intrinsic meaning
to that I think you’re going to uh drag way too much if you do that so I think a lot of people in I cre too much you know
I recently had a um been trying to have a conversation with my father about his
retirement and um to what degree that corresponds with other people I don’t
know but you know he had no vision for his retirement no no no road map at all
and you know that’s pretty terrifying um and
maybe you know even in my life it’s hard to it’s been hard for me to plan out more than a couple even a couple months
at the time sometimes right and I think one of the lessons that I I had to learn
is like man like you’re going to get to that time anyway but you need to set up so like you’re at where you want to be
when you reach that time so and we all may reach that time pretty soon now yeah
yeah um I feel like there’s I mean Ian I’m very much into to dualities and
binaries so I feel like there’s two privary paths that that people can choose to take yeah what is that cronal
lifestyle plus meth and cocain and porn and video games oh it’s
good do that’s that’s just drown on the couch there’s no way that’s not going to be a lot of people right and and this is
the downside of the I feel is that these algorithms these content production algorithms are going to make the best
Doom strolls the best Tik toks and the best video games that you’ve ever
experience in your life like staring into these screens we’re just be like
that it’s amazing and and well we can drown in like the best video game ever for tailored for us build on the fly so
that’s that’s one option because if I get food on the table on a roof over my head and I’m providing for maybe I just
want to do that but maybe also that’s all that the system is allows us to
participate in allows yeah because there hasle get so back on the nature of money
and work um part of the idea of like taking this vacation is like generally
people are going well if you’re if you’re if you’re traveling outside of the the Western World gener generally
you’re going to a country maybe of uh of last year means right well yes different
um different currency exchange and all this so so your your dollar is stretch
further but in the in the in the potential world of um AI or egalitarian
Universal basic income well we’ll get back to that in a second what what is exactly does that
look like in the sense of like well is is there some like degree of like
like uh I what to some the book this is that um maybe it’s not truly egalitarian
where like we don’t we only have enough uh extra resources for the individual to
just basically have the roof over their head have their highspeed connection to the to the Apple Vision Pro and so
you’re you’re you’re living in some kind of like fantas contained reality contain
reality completely separated from the body essentially you’re on the feet yeah you’re in the matx you’re in The Matrix
exactly right you’re in The Matrix maybe that’s the the the story here it’s I mean we should be it’s a little
dystopian it is a little dystopian can we have dystopia and Utopia at the same time yes okay I think I to think I think
in some ways we already do yeah heaven and hell are already represented here on Earth and look can we touch in the Ubi for a
second yeah to bring people yeah so Ubi Universal basic income is essentially
this idea that once the means of production are mechanized and roboticized uh and
globalized and EMB get C that that every single citizen on planet Earth is getting essentially like let’s just say
$5,000 a month right right so of of goods and services so
that that just happens it’s like it’s basically Universal welfare and the reason that this happens is because with
this mechanization of Labor unemployment is somewhat
unavoidable like at least in my in my world view we’re getting to 30% unemployment within 10 years
easy um and and so we have a responsibility as a society to provide for those people because as a society we
build this technology um and uh so that’s yeah the
question is once Ubi is in place what are the people on vacation actually
do right yeah and uh I want to tap the utopian side of the picture okay which
is that if people are prepared to look in the mirror and decide what they want
their life to be worth and decide proactively and heroically what they want to accomplish their mission what
you want to call that um then it’s a great opportunity you know if you don’t if the
thing I always used to ask people that I mentored is like if you didn’t have to make money if you had $10 million in
your bike time then what would you do right and that’s a
h hopefully the answer that someone comes to is that’s what you should be doing anyways right whether you have
zero or 10 million because that’s your highest purpose on Earth yeah and and I think getting people into that mindset
which some people have not dared to imagine previously you know they may be like that’s my dream but it’ll never
happen but now it’s like that’s your dream and it can happen
today I think a lot of people don’t know what that dream is too for themselves for themselves I I this is a question
I’ve always had a hard time answering myself um I remember growing up I never had an answer of like what I want to be
when I grow up and as a result not having a specific Vision or Endo I was
wanding around fairly aimlessly fortunately I had I’m fortunate I had a
lot of different experiences and a lot of different Adventures as a result of that without maybe the typical planning
route that a lot of people have to go through how did you make your your like your day and day decisions of like I’m
going to travel to Shanghai now um that’s a good question because uh there
was a couple events I think that um kind of gave me like created a certain
philosophy in my in my experience um one of them was I moved around a lot growing
up so the idea of home or some kind of stability wasn’t really like ingrained
in me so wasn’t like leaving wherever I was wasn’t really leaving home and um I
was just going to be in another Strange Land doesn’t matter where it was going to be and um and your home was here
uh that I mean that was part of the journey I don’t know I don’t at that point I didn’t know you know there was
no like solid concept of home um another event was when I was uh 19 a friend of
mine died in a car accident and she was of course very young and she represented
a very like passionate kind of um curious um energy and I felt
like it it was it was almost a waste of like a perfect beautiful life and I’m
like I I can’t let my life be a waste and and I need to I want to take on some of that energy and that that kind of
that that concept of uh live with passion so that was Li something that I wanted to to have in my life and not
something that um that you do I from m i yeah I try I
mean yeah I think I still tried to and that was something early on that I wanted wanted and then also
um there’s just a concept of an interesting like uh
all and I saw you know I think this is a very common experience for a lot of Medal too
is like you see your parents working so hard and really not receiving very much
and it made me just question like what’s the meaning of life what’s the purpose of this what you know I don’t care about
having expensive things I remember when I was uh I got my first
job as an adamor and I was paid more than I needed at the
time I was very used to living with with very like almost almost nothing and I remember I had a a
cooworker who’s a little bit younger than me even and he was buying a new car buying huge TVs and I’m like I don’t
want any of that and so really like I was I was living and working in South Dakota at the time and I was just like
I’m just looking out amongst the corn fields and feeling like there’s nothing for me here I don’t understand why I
can’t build I don’t I don’t I don’t have a vision to build akare um and so that’s how to put in
South Dakota and so that that made me look outward um and it look outward and
look outward you did yeah so what was the what was your result it was the
question we’re just like conversing it it well I guess the question for everyone is and I think it would
be healthy for people to start asking this is to look in the mirror and say
why am I here that that’s to to to really and and to answer the question if
I had a limited resources what would I build in this world what what Legacy would I start to construct yeah you know
what in in a 100 years or asking you know my 100 closest Associates what
would they say my life represented and what would I want them to say yeah right
so again I don’t think a lot of people have have had the freedom to ask or
answer that question and I think that freedom is coming um the dangerous side of it is just to
not answer the question and and become a bum basically a welfare bum right the
the upside is that a billion people on planet Earth all living on purpose consciously
and executing their highest vision of themselves is a that’s Utopia to me like
just people just firing on all cylinders and and building wonderful things and
that’s kind of like burning man on planet Earth yeah one of
my um one of my questions in this
experience is like how should we live and that was one the reasons why I
wanted to travel is to see how the world lives and and how we used to live even
and you know and that you know that leads me to the the the the overall
looking at our current society that we have constructed and I feel like we’re far
too disconnected we’re far too from our families from
our communities most I feel most I think I
think most people don’t really have much Community outside and this is this is an area I
challenge this is an area where most of church please do this is an area where like church I think and religion and
spirituality really helped um you know a lot a lot a lot of of Civic life and
Community flew like flowed from the chur from the church the the church not being
the power structure but the the Gathering of people with belief EXA to
do good works it doesn’t it doesn’t necessarily matter which church or which which which religious community but that was kind of the purpose and as you
probably know um the irr IR irreligious are the the fastest growing group of of
religions in America I was not open yeah um I think it just in my that’s not atheist that’s just not associated with
any denomination or yeah okay yeah it’s uh yeah um I think I don’t know most people
yeah most people still of course believe in God to some degree in their own way and thinking of course and think that
thank maybe I don’t know I I I I would I I will just speak strongly of that if I
wa I’ll say this real quick I’m not sure to what degree the the point of
believing just believing in God is um without the maybe necessary Community or
or practice um behind that wa or CH almost or or or believe
like I could speak from my own personal experience too is like believing in God in the sense of like do you believe in
god um I think so yeah and I think what’s important like what that means is
like it’s like if you believe in something like it’s like asking to believe in gravity CU if yes then you’re
then your be Behavior most change then your behavior will change right black holes are the kind of yeah but I felt
something that like you interact with your daily light NOS that right and like the con like again the question is like
well what is God maybe God is simply the highest uh good that we can conceptual as that’s a great definition yeah yeah
and just the SP of the sake of Just Surrender into something like maybe it’s it’s uh it’s worthwhile to head try to
head towards something higher than you which is the highest could be conceptualist yes I I can say personally
that I considered myself until a few years ago just a spiritual person what
does that mean admit that I felt there was
something out there something higher than humans and at the same time my ego was
so large that I basically felt a one toone relationship with that
like I the first couple times I at mushrooms my my what I thought my
realization was is I’m God and that’s kind of how I moved to the world like
I’m God’s manifestation on Earth and and this universe is my projection do you
still feel that way absolutely not it was it was a completely ego-driven uh worldview and it did not serve me um it
served me in some worldly ways yeah that they gave me enough arrogance and confidence to command things and that
worked but it was empty and when I did
actually fully acknowledge and invite them to my heart and essention the word of it use to surrender because that’s
what it was when I surrendered to to to a higher power in my case Jesus or
Yeshua and with my whole world just want like because up until that point I pray
I and it sounds weird but I pray to to God even though you myself even you that
how how you do it you once yeah external and internal gut and if that that was
like a cognitive specific like your pray you’re like no like kind it wasn’t that
it wasn’t that okay but it was it was to some external power but I was like to all external power in the universe my only prayer was show me the path to
happiness okay it was which which I didn’t realize so I was like horrible idea well there was years I did that and
I never got great answers I got some answers but once I surrendered to God I
realized that was the most selfish prayer in the world can I I ask you on that idea let me let me finish real okay
so what the thing that changed on that day it wasn’t intentional is my prayer changed from show me the path to
personal happiness to show me how I can best serve God and and my fellow humans
yeah it was like from Master to Servant and it and and then I was happy I was
immediately happy yeah and I was like why that was can I ask you why why is it
wrong to like how Denon says your highest order
I’m not going to call it wrong it’s I would to call it I mean that sounds wrong to me what pursuing something
that’s empty that seems like the wrong thing oh why would you not call it
wrong because I think it’s part of people’s Journey like if you look at the Hindu model of like you know all the way
from the four classes basically from a
worldly I don’t know what you call it someone totally locks the Earth and then someone totally in the spirit world yeah
the path is basically like have all the sex you want do all the drugs you want get all the money you want like do all
the worldly things until they no longer mean anything for you you have to go through that as part of your journey as
spirit and then you can say oh they you just toys you know I yeah okay and and
if and if someone’s in that zone good like that’s part of it some people don’t need to experience that they already
think they can skip that part yeah and I think that’s also the story of the Buddha right is that he had all the
worldly possessions all the wives all the things that he wanted living in a palace and he had to BR PR back to have
the realization yeah and then he indulged in it again he became a businessman and had has had a a
prostitute for a wife the most beautiful woman in town and this at the other and and again he he left the boat wow yeah
that’s a I didn’t know that second part yeah that’s that’s important because like like a lot of times I’m like oh man
I thought I’d learned that lesson well the the first one you I mean since he was a PR he was gred right like he was
born into that luxury and didn’t know anything else and then he went aesthetic and then he actually the second one he
kind of built himself like you know he he he was an entrepreneur and things so
like that was more self-actualized yeah but he came to the same conclusion again Mone he just just beat right so I on the
on the question of like why why not why not pursue happiness and I think if you ask for hundreds in
Declaration of Independence yeah that actually could Point um life and the pursuit of
happiness Happ Jefferson okay interesting interesting I didn’t
actually make that connection from like a national uh um like every single human
on earth should read the Declaration of Independence it is a is a miraculous amazing document I don’t agree with the
whole thing but it’s that the fact that humans wrote that yeah it’s like what I need to brush up on that then totally
page the half totally page him the half I think you know the problem that is it’s like you know the first sline is in
Big Font yeah then everything is like I think you might be talking about the Constitution it says we the people okay
you’re right I’m talking that’s that’s SL not how does the direct you don’t have the Declaration of independent
starts Oh I thought we all these truths to be
self-evident is it I believe it is okay I believe you just got yeah yeah yes I love that part we all these truths to be
self-evident it’s obious [ __ ] Jefferson was a poet and and a rabid
Anarchist yeah was one of my favorite founding fathers of all time I think he’s he’s he’s always the favorite right
some I had a a colleague who was really really really into um harison I think
okay initial Secretary of the Treasury and yeah him and Jefferson were like this oh
interesting he was a structure guy and Jefferson was just like tearing off but you need both that’s a duty but you a
duty and made both you can’t only have one of that both and that maybe that was like the tra if it wasn’t for Harrison
maybe that would have just been like the undo I hope it’s Harrison I I I’m feeling that’s not the right name but
it’s something like that it’s the guy with a $20 bill and just no because he was he was the first one
to start the the first um Central Bank har on no Andrew J I
believe M yeah so B like while you’re doing that I
want to talk a little bit more back on on the concept of of why it’s generally
inadvisable to I I think Hilton I was in Haron yeah J that Hamilton we were
talking I doesn’t matter Hamilton’s the right guy okay yeah so Hamilton is the structuralist and the and the the muddy
guy Jefferson is the anarchist and the the heart guy and yeah that was a perfect chemistry cool cool so so on the
subject of of Pursuit of Happiness um which sounds so like
radically indulgent and um it it is but
it’s also sharply against the the judeo-christian
values SC sh away to St founded on which is not entirely true keep put it um
that’s really interesting yeah so anyway so the pursuit of happiness right and so the question is like that I’m having is
like well I think like why I don’t think that
that happiness should be the highest order of of pursuit and the reason for
that is life sometimes does not have happiness there’s it’s I don’t know if
it’s necessarily impossible possible but when you’re you know we’re all going to
face suffering hor horrible suffering your life and as as St with the dread pirate
Robert exactly life is suffering like anyone who tells you’re different is trying to sell you something I remember
I remember if I if I may I remember one time my my father came home from work and sat down at the dinner table it was
time to pray and he just sits there like I think like one of these ones you know just like he’s just
like life is hell and that really really stuck with
me really stuck with me he said that oh yeah and he invent it and he still means it you he’s he’s still he’s he’s he’s he
per he he really takes it in and personifies it this is the conversation I recently had with a friend maybe it
was my father I can’t identify the right person no it’s my brother and
Yeah Carl forgive me for disclosing this but I’m just going to do it you know we were talking talk about what is hell he
was asking me as a Bible reading person do I believe in the literal heaven and
hell yeah do you uh I’m open to the idea not attached to it yeah um because I’m
very attached to this life on Earth and my answer what I ended up developing and
saying on short order was what I think hell is is living on planet Earth this
human life without belief in God and and he broke down and was like
like that’s my hell he goes I am in that hell no it is hell and I was like and and and looking back on my life before
God I like like you I felt totally aimless
like I I had knocked a lot of accomplishments under my belt but they didn’t mean anything to me and and I was
actually confused when I looked like I tried to write an autobiography and I was like there’s no
narrative thread here this is a bunch of random experiences that don’t even relate to each other at as my life like
I should be the one who could see where is is headed and I couldn’t and I was like like that very much frustrated me
because I just felt like I was bumping around like a like a pinball yeah yeah I
mean I think that one of my prevailing questions to the great ether is like
what the hell is this [ __ ] what is this this is so bizarre like we deep
out right read like these Meat Puppets that were like launched out of like this exploding universe and now it’s like I
thought you just say launched out of exploding vinus which also is part of the that equation
right um ideally not explo and perfect wait I’m going to edit that for
now um yeah and so uh that’s that’s
definitely been my question at least for the last decade of like what is this
where do I fit into this and
um what should be the highest order um to pursue I found the answer what’s the
answer my answer was again in that same moment where I switched my prayer from happiness to to service it was oh my God
all these life experiences these random things like learning about Ai and doing
art and traveling to to Asia and and meeting these people and having these
people as friends who will answer my my calls right all around the world like why all this and I was like
oh because this is like the team and the mission to go forward for the next 50
years to really serve humanity and serve God and like make the world a better
place like honestly before what I was on the happiness thing my highest goal was
make $10 million you know give some to my kids have a Lamborghini have fun in the world that
was it yeah like that that was my that’s what I wanted to do and I was on that
pth nothing wrong with that nothing wrong with that inally right but and it didn’t it didn’t satisfy me I felt like
once I had I never got the Lamborghini don’t want it anymore um but once I had that why wouldn’t I want a Ferrari 2 and
then why would I want a yacht and why wouldn’t I one you know all these toys yeah but
and now like and and so in in that framework all
those people and thing were tools right tools to achieve my selfish goal now all those people are like a
super team and you’re part of this to like just like just kick ass and and serve
the world and make the world a better place for everyone like that’s I’m excited about
that I’m amped about that yeah and it all makes sense to me like all these little skills all these relationships
and all these experiences they all built up to this if if I didn’t have those experiences and those connections I
wouldn’t be able to do this this and this yeah yeah I think that um I know
speaking of that in my whole life is um you kind of have to go through the fire and flames to to or and this more
specifically just have some have some suffering have some uh builds character
it builds character but also in kind of is like I buils compassion and empathy
um yeah there’s there’s there’s experiences that I’ve had in my life like
um um actually I don’t probably shouldn’t talk about that right now but there’s
yeah but I’ve had some some tough experiences that have made me realize like maybe how how I’m also like like
presenting myself in the world and how other people are um how I can show up in other people’s
lives to uplift and and that’s a really like if you if you if you put that on yourself
to be like I want to be a force for good at the world that’s that’s a heavy heavy burden to bear almost because are you
wearing that burden trying to I think you did a great job I’m trying to I really do that’s I think that that’s and
to me to me that’s what what it means to have faith in God and that is to to pick up that bird and it willingly be like
you know what I got to I got to suffer through something in life right I got to Bear something in life you know and and
you what you don’t want you don’t want to be suffering for no reason right which that’s I think we all know people
who are attached to that to that and I’m worried that that’s going to be me or that is me you know but like really part
of for sure part of that like worry is like well let’s constantly try and adjust our our he and our path and our
our trajectory on that um because you know suffering aimlessly
I feel like that’s kind of what my dad is doing hm and you know I know a few people who I
feel are suffering aimlessly and I’ve tried to help them
they agree with my ability yeah and found them pretty much I might just try again some more direct communication but
just trapped your victim with you know capes yeah and and some people are very
attached to that narrative right and and perhaps it’s
there’s some magic words or gestures that can be done to pull them out I haven’t founded it yet on those things I
mostly like I couldn’t work it out maybe to be 10 years one of my firm beliefs I
think is is the that we all have the burden of
transcending the sins of our our our parents or our family is this generational trauma yeah that’s that’s
another way to put it it’s generational trauma sins is very you know very maybe a vague term it’s a loaded term I tend
to use a lot of like maybe religious or or loaded terms like this I think you’re your usage of the word sin is accurate
yeah it’s also for some people might not be the right word because it’s St loaded
right so my my concept of sin is not the idea of like there’s a there’s a God judging you based on these as in form
but it’s really dependent to the individual and it’s the idea of um essentially just falling short of your
own ideals amen right I agree so it’s like not doing your best not just not
doing your best and you and you know that’s s then I agree is that that
that’s true yeah yeah um so I think really like part of the whole point of
life is for each of us to transcend that our our traumas upbringing or our
parents like the the burdens that our parents gave us and for everybody that’s different mhm and for some people it’s
very minimal and for some people it’s very heavy and I feel even for the
people who it’s minimal from our perspective it’s the right amount for better like I used to things like you
know the Royals were like nothing to worry about it they’re like the is pretty inbred dude there’s a lot of like
traa in that well I yeah and you just you watch their lives you’re like you know what they’re going through into [ __ ] yeah like they may have all the
Jets and all the things and yeah but it’s they still get ripped apart on the inside like every every single person
their journey and like you said there’s joy and suffering in this in this beautiful Journey yeah and that’s kind
of like we love we like we each of us wants to be rich each of us wants to be free of suffering and have comfort and
then under part out I mean I I’ll yeah I’ll accept it if it have but but a lot of it is is like we also to like have an
idealistic cartoonish version of what that life will be and while yes there’s definitely more comfort and and stresses
that are are not afforded to them there’s there’s no escaping The Suffering of life so yeah let me touch
on the rich per pimp real quick okay so just biographically I’ve been a
billionaire which probably wasn’t that much anymore but it was something in the 9s and I’ve been completely homeless
like living in Golden Gate Park with a tar like a sleeping bag
um those are no joke those are almost opposites of my happiness potion when I
was homeless I did what I all I wanted to do like I I was having fun my question is
what did you want to do with that I was just doing a lot of acrobatics and just like meeting up with friends and like
wow yeah okay Carell’s in the park okay yeah during the day and okay just like
go back into forest at night I’m wake it up at 6 a.m. yeah I mean I I think that
at at its purest form I think you’ve hit the nail the head of what we need is like connection with nature um
connection with their bodies and then connection with the community yes
yes I’m I’m I’m in support of that program yeah yeah so and to I Dil that
into what like the broader topic here yeah yeah you said you said connection with nature connection with our bodies
and connection with Community yeah these are the three foundations of
the of the Pyramid of the of the thing that are going to support us as
technology comes and AI comes and go like those three things are the
health of our Mod’s nature which is like Eternal essentially on earth right
like being in the for I was like AI is going to hit the cities first it’s going to hit like the himalaya’s last
yeah and some yeah yeah um and then Community is is the jam
right like I mean when like authentic community that you can
actually lean on yeah and and like and be vulnerable with one of our earlier
compan yeah and just uh and trust and yeah you know I’m I’m uh I have the
imagery now of like um a a AI Refugee going into the
Himalayas and you know going down into the valley and finding a a you know a
family of yers or something and he’s like don’t you know that the world is is is like Society is collapsed the world
is ending and they’re they they’re like very confused they’re like we got it all here man we got the sky we have our Yaks
we have our community our family what are you talking about um and we can have
a little part of that o beat original russle Beach for the we don’t know like the the world’s one of
the world’s best playgrounds um you know I think the AI and future of
work has the potential to take away a lot of that you know our communities are moving online by and large for a lot of
people but they don’t have to they’ll have to but I’m just saying that’s been the trend the the healthiest people I
know like I I pretty much stopped using Facebook completely but the healthiest people I know are like I only go on
Insta or Facebook maybe the Tik to to DM to coordinate a face to- face meeting of
course but a large coh of people like the the metaverse is not being built for
Mark zuer Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk will not be on the meterse that’s for
like that’s the op of the masses and neither were their kids and neither were their kids for sure but and so the
there’s a there’s a portion of society that’s like this is this they recognize it as junk food and they have the
resources to stay away from it but that’s the the metaverse will just say as as a casual phrase for like a more
interconnected digital world where where use I don’t know what kind of devices
we’ll have or well the yes but the point is is like that’s kind of robbing us of the physical culture robbing us of the
connection to our bodies uh connection to real community and to um and also to
Nature where you have you put on the headset and you’re like okay I’m in a forest so so I had a a video game
company in the in the 2000s and the whole point was honestly this was the the structure
Reas for the company was to teach people how to play physically and
to and so it was projector based with these you know big like movie projectors
you know and fully interactive we have like Machine Vision cameras you so it was basically a virtual world projected
onto the wall that was a community space so we had like sometimes 16 people playing what sometimes 100 people play
it was on these huge projection walls um and it was like volleyball and soccer
and rock climbing like cool stuff and my idea with the whole company was we’re
going to show people how to rock climb virtually and of course they’re going to go straight to yed and rock plight like
who w we just ging with Sam FL and what do you think happened
what all to a tea everyone we interviewed afterwards vo groups were like when can I get this in my living
room yeah I was like no no no never is the answer like like I I’m well the
question is not never the question is actually right now you can do all these same right but the go yeah yeah like SC
like you describ as like Supernatural you know the you know reer yes yeah the
boxing yeah so it it’s basically like a workout class that you do in virtual reality and it’s it’s a real class but
you don’t have to leave your R Leo yeah I’m going to all my time on that one but I guess the biggest thing
is that so what you’re saying
is real physical like you in gym you can do body weight exercises right like we H our
temples they’re capable and we have planet Earth and it’s huge and there’s
surfaces to play on everywhere there’s a park everywhere for people do cars everywhere yeah and yeah and so that’s
like it doesn’t mean to be like half an hour every other day at the gym it can
be wherever you are just bust it out and use your body yeah yeah and which is
yeah exactly right how can I Traverse a little bit so
you might not be able to tell by his tight t-shirt but a is a specimen and uh you are you’re a
physical specimen and and I’m curious the term is freak measure well I would
actually wouldn’t go that very know very fit so the question is at what point in your life did you prioritize Fitness so
I that’s I grew up as a gamer for for first and for a video game video gamer I
was Counter Strike um Starcraft you know that that was also
how I connected with friends um I was homeschooled for a short time and of course you getting into to computer
world when you’re doing that and then when I went to school the first friends I made were based on on on gaming and
and that was kind of what our friendships were um and that’s I don’t
know I think that’s relatively rare then compared to now um
but looking back on that experience in my in my teens and early 20s there was
no no actually to my body and all right um body was completely useless I could
have lived my life the same way without a body it would have actually made my life easier if I didn’t have a body I
was also attached to my computer as a youth and my fantasy was to get the IV drip I didn’t have to and a cast nurse
so I didn’t have to go to the bathroom and I didn’t have to get to have meals yeah yeah yeah so I get it and so
um I’m glad you asked this question because I actually did have like an epia a coming to God kind of moment when I
was uh I was I was in Northwestern China in a in a province called
shinjang um doing a multi multi-day Horse
Adventure horse back tree intense and Ys and and you know you
travel for a day not see anybody and then you just come across a couple of yurs with some some sheep you know and
that’s their life and they live in that world well when um but I remember just
having just like almost it was it was almost like a St before yet seeing the absolute Beauty around me
and I thought like man I should preface this as well by saying I had a very good
friend who was essentially like completely sucked into the World of Warcraft a lot of you guys will know
this my kid wor yeah a lot of you guys will know this but like he you know he was my roommate for a while childhood
friend and he he really literally locked himself in the room for like a year just
playing if he stopped going to class dropped out of college wow and he was that so he was deep yeah he was deep
into it and I had a couple other friends who really also just didn’t pursue anything else in life other than just uh
gaming in their free time and so their the rest of their life like suffered as a result of that
but um when I was in that moment in in Shin Jong I was just o overwhelmed with
like the idea of like you know what this is my this is my character this is my quest yes this is how I’m leveling up
yes and I’m like this is way more and interesting because like it’s real all the inputs are here I was like I wanted
to like you know how great would it be I was thinking before maybe how great would it be to like experience the computer more experience whatever kind
of like instead of just a visual feedback of what you’re doing on the screen have some kind ofur neurol link
where you plugged in you’re having that you’re like wait a second that’s what this is right in in
32k 3D yeah 360 yeah so that was like fatile that’s what that’s what this is
so let’s try and and and play the game for all it’s worth so that was an epiphany that I had and as a result of
that um as a result of that yeah well really
really quick yeah I share that Epiphany when when I had that video game company
everyone started asking me what video games do you play and I was like I design video games for 10 hours a day I
don’t play any video games anymore I’m done with playing video games and the switch that went off in my head was exactly the switch that went off your
head I was like this is my video game I play every day yeah I I see a stranger that I’m interested I just walk right up
to like an NPC I’m like what’s that you know like no fear you hit the reset button if you die it’s all good haven’t
had to hit that reset button thank God you know I haven’t heard too many people talk about like the the life experience
and the confli of like this is actually your video game this is your game yes high stakes and high steak for real and
super very realistic right but most real very realistic um it’s a I think it’s a
healthy model it’s hethy model I think I think where a lot of us want the Escape though is again like obviously from
negative emotion but also like the monotony of of everyday life a lot of us
myself included it’s like it’s very easy just to get to a rhythm up every day is like gending into each other and you
just you know that’s when putting on the VR Goos are having like the hyper real experience right you experience withi in
your present day life um I’m asking this because I see Abe as a very like he’s always doing
something he’s B BL I need I need a lot of stimulation okay clearly I need a lot of simulation you you get a lot of
stimulation right I need I need a lot of notel see in loving SC your Baseline is higher than most yeah I think that’s
also a driving uh fat for I need a lot of M excellent so uh that’s one of the
fuels uh things that fueled my my tropolis as well okay I just about the
the new experience I recently went to Tiana for the first time just on a day
trip with a friend and we’re just walking down the street and saw some
dude with like he looked homeless but he had like red face paint on and he had
like a like a McDonald’s cup or something like guess with flames shooting out real real fire real fire just casually
walking down the road and like I was like yes what is that that is like I
don’t know if but I never know I like and that’s one of the things I love it’s like you just see something that just completely like blows your mind of like
well what is it what on Earth is that this is why travel is good this is why travel is good it’s it’s uh yeah so so
back to your because I I I Rift off of it but you’re on the steps on the horse
you’re thinking this is my character in the video game yeah and from is that when you started like were you
physically fit at the time no no no I had I I had um I had no actually no I
had just started um kind of on that journey and that wasn’t necessarily um month’s CER is like where
I had started and that I mean this is story time I guess but basically long
story short make go Bon for another time is I got kicked out of China and I was bookmark yeah talk about at
some point later but I was back into South Dakota being like you know I was
just unplugged from I don’t The Matrix or like I just came down from my my high of being you know in on another planet
essentially for and I was like well this place is this is no place for me I was Luke Skywalker a Tatooine you know and
I’m just like uh this just is not for me S not s is not for me and
um I stumbled one night I stumbled Upon A a website or a Blog it was a Blog
called cycling home from Siberia and this guy had is a British
guy who had went to who had started a bike trip in Siberia in the winter time
and over the course of like three or four years cycled all the way down to Asia across Australia back up across
India across Western Asia literally EV Middle East you all the way
back to the UK and I’m like wow that just is was exciting you know looking at
his updates and the something about that really spoke to my this adventurous um feeling and I remember I
knew immediately felt I can do that well here’s I mean I didn’t immediately feel
like I can do that but what I felt is like if she can do that there’s no
reason by that be like starting cycling in the winter time by itself was like I can
start in the summertime in the United States and just bike wherever I
wanted and that that started um I bought a $300 bike out FRS
list and um took for and this is also before
before I had before iPhone see I’m going to say that you’re more cognitively liberated than most um I also feel
kindly deliberated and I used to see stories like that all the time yeah and I’d be like that’s amazing that’s
awesome I could never do that like oh really yeah it was R only recently where
I’ve been like all of us can do anything yeah like cuz I’ve just been meting
people more and more who are you living those event others and that’s that’s
their lives it’s not that’s not a vacation that’s like their their path and they’re living it and I’m like
anybody can do that I mean there is a little like to the suffering Point like you know you survive on less right right
but it’s you can anyone can do it it’s making choices and that’s exciting yeah
this is this is one thing that like like shakes my soul when I hear people say I could never do and to that to that I say
dude there’s nothing so special about you that you can’t start
start the process begin today yeah there’s nothing so special about you like so one of the things that that that
Gregory and I both do is something called The Traveling rings at original M Beach and it’s just it’s just where I
met yeah it’s where we met it’s it’s a it’s a line of it’s a it’s a row of I think eight or 10 well I’ll Ed it in a
picture of rings that you swing to you swing from essentially and it looks very
formidable and right so it is but so many times am I there and I see somebody
walk up to it’s like could never and I like all it takes is just to
touch the rape first that’s step one there’s a progression to everything one of my
teachers famously said there are no wrong positions only wrong
progressions and so you know think about this in the in the context of going say like it took me three months to get from
the start to end of the r three months right the first time I did like two ring but that’s the Journey of it that’s like
the beauty of it’s like what’s the point of if you can do everything all the time at to the maximum degree when I got to
the last ring I I like I just celebrated I was like I’m king of the world then somebody told me you can go back and I
was like what some people go all the way 10 and back and some people will do 30 and
that’s that’s the wild thing you see like these wild acrobats just doing amazing things on this and and they were what of and then you and then you
realize and you like I remember like I felt the same way the first time
I went went when there was like oh yeah I’m so like flipping and we just bustled it right like yeah you you mess up from
way just just made it by the skin of the teeth you know at the end of the day then you go back you know a couple years later you look at the video that you saw
you’re like Fu you know that’s you got to check your ego there man that you
know there’s always of course there’s always someone better than you always someone like what but that doesn’t right
absolutely not a competition because it’s all like the thing is you’re competing with your past self not
someone else this is super important to realize it’s like compare yourself to who you were yesterday not who somebody
else is today this is like a I really try to set it up even more yeah the Rings is a very special place for me no
I’m not saying just on the Rings oh there saying oh everything in life I just well okay let’s just say everything
in life like I’m kind of down to the competition like I me competive person
and competive to well there’s two let me just let me
side my spiritual self which is on the Rings it’s just whatever that ring run
is even if one smacks in ahead like that’s the perfect run for that moment like you’re in the Zone on the Rings
it’s very Zen it’s very like there is no future there is no path I just flying across time and space
and engaging my monkey animals s and having a blast and I don’t care what it
was last week or next week I’m just like flying in this moment and that’s one of the reasons I love the Rings it’s zanta
immediately yeah um so the question though is still
is like what do you compare yourself to in life not just in the Rings I mean I they can do what everyone
does which is like I read an article in New York Times and it says the age of someone and I immediately like is that
person or another leag and if they’re if if Mark Zuckerberg is only 42 and I’m 54
[ __ ] Le you know what what what what what was stopping me from you know doing
that so yeah yeah yeah that’s a very reasonable I think everyone has that sense yeah but at this point I try and
not care about that so much because to your point I’m just trying to be the best Gregory I can
be every day and not worry about I mean I’ll support what Able’s doing but I’m
not comparing myself to Able right um I’m just like I’m given this set of
opportunities That’s Unique it’s different than everyone else’s what am I going to do with these curs I’m given I
kind of see it as almost like other people it’s almost like a road map like for example the psychist like inspired
me as like oh that’s something you can you can do I didn’t do it exactly like him and if you compare our Journeys on
paper like mine is a joke compared to what he did right but but okay to be clear a any bicycled halfway across this
entire country the United States of America which may be that’s not a joke to anybody that was a serious bike right
oh it was a serious bike ride but it was about a fouryear process I’m saying the
point is is like if you compare those two experiences on paper like they’re
obiously and like that gu wins but the value that I got from
it was enough perfect for you it was perfect for me and and perfect for the
people who you tell the story too who may not have never bicycle worn five miles in their life right and that that
also I I’ll add to that point I had never done any kind of physical practice I never I never H with the exception of
just biking around the city a little bit to get around and so I wasn’t like a really Avid I was never one of those like spandex wear I like you know racer
biker dudes um in fact before this I had my dad’s old College bike that was the
bike I had it was super heavy it was a Panasonic bike that was actually too big for me and actually likely too big for
him and you know that $300 crazy look bike was was amazing compared to that but the
point is is after that experience that was the first time I ever experienced any kind of like feeling good from
exercise usually if I had some kind of like remember going rock climbing one time with a friend in college and I yeah
I was into a rock climbing I went up like twice and I was obliterated
I was exhausted I was traumatized uh my nervous system felt
over loaded I remember coming home and just like being so hungry feeling like I
just like run a marathon that experience from me was was
100% real you know if someone like you good look at that I was like that was a real exercise dude you did did it was
because that’s where you Ed that’s where I was at that level I was like 21 20 around that age
and and what I did this ride at 40 40 at 24 I I experienced for the first time
kind of getting in shape because if you’re biking for eight hours a day
after about two weeks you’re going to start to to get in shape two weeks is and any of those things two weeks is
that is when you turn to cve yeah it that’s what it seems to be and after after those two weeks I
remember feeling like yeah I kind of feel I’m starting to feel like an athlete I feel like all of a sudden I
remember feeling that runner’s high and I’m like wow this feels like a truck
this is crazy I want to explore this more and so after the bike ride I was
like I ended up moving to Hong Kong and I ended up moving next to a Capa
instructor just by chance and I I met her on the ferry and she invited me to class I was like well I don’t know
anybody I don’t have anything to do here so okay I’ll go and for those of you who don’t know what Capa is it’s a it’s app
Brazilian martial art that incorporates um dance many different
disciplines music dance there’s there’s mythology in it some degree of
spirituality there’s a mix of even like if you want to get deeper into it there’s a mix of the traditional African
religion the Amazonian indigenous religion El also get but very physical
graceful strength based all that agility right yeah but the main and the main of
it is of course the movement and what I got one of the things I also got from it
was a community and like Brazilians are mercilessly person personable and warm
and they know how to connect in a way that I’ve never seen anyone else I was living in Asia for many
years the the the social elements couldn’t be more different it couldn’t
be more dirt and I was essentially AOW in Asia at the time and all of a sudden I I found like a community and a family
and a a connection in Brazil in Hong Kong Brazilian bra brazili is in the
capit and I remember how doing that for his class and I’m just like something resonated with me something connected
with me in a very deep way um and that is really what started my my quest for
or my my journey with a physical culture awesome aome
no what was what was your first
uh unplugging moment from The
Matrix it’s probably when my brother who was who’s definitely an
athlete I was not that thing at the time I was anwe like computer person
entrepreneur you were overweight yeah I mean 20 lb way I wasn’t like huge but yeah yeah I was chubby yeah um I was in
Cross Country in high school and had wrestling and I was very F that but in
my mind I was still that person but physically I was not and so my brother continued to do running and ran
marathons and he was just like one year he’s like I we’re doing the um rine cor
marath and I was like I’ll do it and he’s like man you can’t I bet you honor you can’t going to do a marathon I was
like I run it today he was like go he goes you you you run today like I 500
bucks on the line I was said bet so just cold turkey I hadn’t exercised in like 12 years maybe 15 years yeah I just
put all the PA running shoes went out the door started running and and at
about mile 12 I think yeah my legs cramped
both of them like worst tra I’ve ever had in my life like basic paralyzed I face planted and I crawled the rest of
know had because I said were you you crawl 12 miles home no I would had like done this circuit where I was like
looping like mile Loop or something I crawled like I think like two miles home with your legs completely cramped yeah
they didn’t like uncramp or anything they might have at some point but I just remember like it took me it took me a long time to get home like that down two
miles yeah I call my brother I was like hey dude like you you win you know he’s
like what happened I like I like I R 12 botles H 12 bies like cold I was like yeah yeah he’s like that’s amazing he
goes I’ll tell you what like the marathons are 3 months I’ll pay for your registration you got trained yeah and I
was like yeah sure okay I know what that means yeah I kind of half ass train yeah it was like Gregory route doesn’t need a
train right cuz I already thought I could do it yeah um I did do the rathod
um it was hilarious I about died I threw
up Fus or whatever you call it like I mean iously is the correct word okay I viciously threw up at the end like I I
don’t know where all that even came from but like I mean it was it was horrendous
um but I completed it and and I was like well I did give it my all that’s for sure but perhaps if I had
trained I could have actually you know like finished and not thrown up or like you know finished stronger definitely
faster and then very soon after I had a good friend from like of 10 years who
was just like a computer guy with me and Facebook had just started and I saw
Facebook he’s like I I’m I’m about and next weekend I’m doing my Iron Man Tron
and I was like what the [ __ ] like iron like isn’t that like in my brain only last Armstrong would do an Iron Man
Trion like this Olympic level athlete thing and this guy to me is just a GU
and so I like emailed him and I was like what what are you talking about like dude like he’s like man I’ve been training for 6 months he go I train
between three and 6 hours a day I eat five ,000 calories a day and I’m ready and I was just like that is what clicked
for me like your bicycle ride thing I was like if he can do it I can do it
he’s just a guy he’s not guy armr he’s not Olympic Athlete he’s a guy who I worked with for two years who like wears
a suit and he’s going to he’s going to go 140 miles you know in 10 hours on a
bicycle and an in the ocean and and on his two feet like and then I was like I
have to do that like and I I started training for trogs yeah and that was
that was really my St and like like your bicy school thinging like when you’re training you’re getting rips like it’s
comp getting in the zone yeah because you have a goal yeah yeah at the at the end of my bike trip I I was I was still
very skinny up here but like I had like these beautiful Immaculate quads that’s crazy I was like wow that where did that
come from that was really kind of cool got how did we transition from when you
were a gamer I was a coder uh how did we transition into physical health physical
culture yeah physical culture yeah they uh that would be good yeah that’s even better because physical health is an
individual thing to bet to what you started saying is like we’re honoring our own Temple um and physical culture
involves Community right yeah it’s like I want to add one thing to this this is
a much later in life but like sometimes it’s not fun to work out right right
yeah true yeah that’s why we have rings and stuff which is like playing with toys that actually gives us exercise you
know Ro plenty um but jury workouts after I found God I got this strong
impression I was like God gave me this body it would be
disrespectful to not have it in tip to condition like if I have my car my car
gets oil changes I wash it yeah I vacuum it like it’s it’s in tip toop Condition
it’s ready to perform why wouldn’t I why would I have my body be a messy house
why would my body have like a broken Fender that I never bother to fix like I want this to be the best Poss if God
gave me this thing and is capable of this I want to Max it out like I want to be the best possible template can be
yeah I had a kind of a similar experience I think um without coming to that quiet conclusion at that time um I
think it was 24 at the time or 23 and U my girlfriend had said to me K of was
off the cuff that really said to me but just kind of talking about how like she was like if I was a guy I would for sure
go to the gym and have a like a great body and I’m like sitting there like what does she know that I don’t and he
know like what is she trying to say to me I know I’m like I’m good enough as it is I
don’t I don’t need that to be to be uh to be loved which is also that’s also
here is also true yeah but also there is a um you know I don’t know how
subconscious it was at first just saying as like you should probably like you could be a bit more you know which is
which is which is true for all of us you know which is like kind of part of the the burden of life and the burden of or
well maybe a better way to say is like the curse is that you could everyone can be better that who they are which
is which is always a tough check to cash um but I think that that is one it’s a
good thing it’s a good thing it’s it’s a guided philosophy of like uh let’s aim
up MH yeah 97 like said we can do 98.5 I would say 97 was good enough oh
good enough yeah but last you know right um yeah so we’ve been we’ve
been chatting for probably two plus hours I think no okay what do you think
I think 90 minutes but 9 minutes okay um is there anything else I wanted to to
close with I just I hope that this at least my
intend of this is to inspire you to be your highest self and to really ask the question of
why you’re here on Earth um and to start today uh to manifest and embody that uh
and second of all be with real humans in real spaces like totally a not on the
zoom Conference during this podcast where here in the r and I and I enjoy being in his physical presence um and
I’d Advocate that for everyone to just like be around humans yeah likewise my
friend um the yeah the thing that comes to mind for me to say too is right now is like
back to the the the topic of happiness and I think the reason why we should
shouldn’t put that as the highest order of pursuit is simply because life is always going to be happy but that
doesn’t mean it’s not going to be meaningful and um finding pursuing what is Meaningful I
think is the and and that’s for every everybody that that that answer is what what meaning is is I think a little
different very much so um yeah but you know just realizing that it’s not you’re
not always going to feel happy um we’re going to have suffering we’re going to have floss and that’s part of life
and um I think the acceptance of embracing that it’s a it’s a hard pill
to swallow but um I I think happiness uh is
is the byproducts of a meaningful
Pursuit and as Conan the Barbarian once said what does not kill us makes us
stronger a minut with that with that let’s close up all
right guys thanks for for listening to physical culture with Abram hjin and Gregory Roberts we’ll see you next time