In this conversational interview, host Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson talks with guest Bob about navigating an interfaith marriage between a Southern Baptist literalist and a TaoistāBuddhist partner. Bob uses a technology metaphorācomparing Jesusās teachings to a new operating system that replaces a PCālike religious culture with a Macālike way of beingāto illustrate how moving beyond institutional dogma reveals core teachings such as loving enemies and forgiving repeatedly. He introduces his book I Am the Way, which links the Christian claim āI am the way, the truth, and the lifeā with the Taoist concept of the Way, and provides purchase links (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iamthewaybook.com). The discussion then shifts to Bobās background as an addiction counselor, where he explains how mindfulness, meditation, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) help break addictive cycles, obsessive thoughts, and unhealthy habitsāciting his personal weightāloss success as an example. Finally, Bob delves into a philosophical exploration of thoughts, the self, and the soul, arguing that the āIā behind a thought is the soul, not the thought itself, and that recognizing this distinction can free individuals from conditioned narratives. The interview blends personal anecdotes, spiritual interpretation, and practical psychology.
Chapters
And I, my wife, who I married, my wife, she is a Bible literalist Southern Baptist. Right? So she believes in the Bible literally. And I'm coming from being a Taoist Buddhist. So, you know, how did we ever have a conversation?
Yeah.
Right? But if you look at what Jesus taught, Okay, and, and, and, you know, it's funny, you look at a lot of people that have bad feelings about Christianity. And they, they, you know, they don't like to even say Jesus Christ or talk about that and the like. But Jesus came and basically what he did was, he basically said, you guys have all been living with a PC, you've been working on a PC and your whole culture is a PC. And I'm going to introduce you to a Mac. I'm going to show you a new operating system. Okay. And basically, you know, if you get away from the institution of the religion and the dogma of the religion, you get away from all that exclusivity, my highway or the highway, you get away from all that. You just look at what the man taught. It was, it's really weird stuff. Like love your enemy.
Yeah.
Like forgive, give, forgive 7 times 70.
Yeah. You know, or in the book of James, what, what, what complex me one time when I read, he said, consider it all joy when you go through many trials and tribulations. I'm like, wait a minute, consider it all joy. But then as you say, as you read it, you know, you go on and I mean to cut you off, uh, but as, as we go into that, Tell us about your book, I Am the Way.
Right, right. So what happened was I took this 2,500-year-old book. Well, Connie, my wife, you know, like, it was funny because she would go off to church on Sundays and she'd have these really sad eyes. And one time I said to her, honey, why are you sad? And she said, well, you know, I love you so much. I just hate it you're not going to go to heaven with me. Because in her belief system, I had to be saved. I had to be saved. And I would say to her, well, I hate it that you're not going to be reincarnated with me. And coming from, coming from a Southern Baptist, that was high praise.
Not, not only that, coming from your spouse, somebody who you love, and somebody who, you know, because we all want our spouses to admire us, you know what I'm saying, for things that we do. And, you know, because a lot of times I speak in church and I will ask my wife, you know, how did I do? And when she tell me that, you know, you did good, you know, whatever, whatever, that makes me feel better than if anybody else told me like, oh, you did a great job, Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson, this and that. But her telling me that, it, it just makes a totally difference, you know, because a lot of times, as we know, one of the hardest people to, to, to satisfy or impress are our spouses. And so for that, man, that was cool, that, you know, to get, to get that. But so before we move on, where can we find this book at?
Okay, so yeah, um, there isā well, my way, you can go to Amazon. And look forā by the way, the name of the book, I Am the Way. I mean, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life. And the Tao means the way. So, you know, I put thisā I made it a little cute. Like when Jesus said, I am the way, is he saying, I am the Tao? Is he saying, I am the Tao? No.
Yeah.
So yeah, it was just, it was a little cute. It's a little cute there, you know. So yeah, you can, you can go and get it on Amazon, but you can also go to my website, which is I Am the Way Book. Iamthewaybook.com. And it's got links there to Amazon and Barnes Noble and, and the like.
Oh, okay. So, uh, man, it's been a good conversation, man. So I'm gonna have to skip a couple of them. So let me ask you this last question, Bob.
Okay. Okay.
You did a stint as an addiction counselor. How can mindfulness and meditation benefit individuals navigating addictions, obsessive thinking, and unhelpful habits?
Well, it helped me lose 100 pounds. So that's one answer. Um, I'm sorry. Uh, so this is what I'll say. There's this kind of therapy called CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. And, and the way it works is you work with the therapist and you try to, you try to recognize that something will happen to you. Somebody will come up or you reach your hand out to shake somebody's hand and they don't offer their hand. So something happens, right? So you get a thought in your head and that thought, it lasts maybe 2.5 seconds and it's gone. But it leaves you with a feeling, an emotion. Like, I don't like this guy. You know? Like, why did, you know, well, that's rude. You might, it might have been the thought and it's gone and you're just left with the feeling. I don't like this guy. And based on the fact of your emotion, you know, you're going to go then do something else. Which is going to make him do something else. And then out of the whole thing, you develop a story. And then that story becomes your reality, whether or not it's accurate or not. And so CBT is the process of recognizing the thought, seeing the emotion that it led to, and then kind of pulling apart the story that you have now accepted as your truth, which may or may not be true. Okay, so that, that, that's how CBT works. Now, a lot of people, you know, just from a cultural point of view, a lot of people see somebody walking with their pants halfway down their butts and their underwear showing.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
And a lot of people have an emotional reaction to that.
Yeah.
Right. Okay. So what you, you, you see it and you have a thought, I don't like that, or that's rude, or that's this, or that's that. But you have a judgment and you have that thought, and there's no difference between you and that thought. I am that thought. You are that thought. You say, I feel, I, that person, and that's your truth, right? What if I could help you to step back from your thoughts and be the person who is the I in the sentence, I had a thought. CJ, what I would ask you this question. If you say I had a thought, who is the I that had the thought?
It would be me.
But it's not your thought. Because you had the thought, right?
Okay.
You had the thought. So it's not your thought. So who is the I? And since you're a religious man and I'm a spiritual man, we're both religious folks. I'm not scared to say I believe that the I that had the thought is your soul. And it is a soul that has been written on by the conditioning of society It's like an old blackboard that's been erased on 1,000 times and now it's a gray board. When you can step back and realize I'm not the blackboard, but I'm the person that writes on the blackboard, and I start to get back in touch with my soul. Yeah, I can start letting go of all that gray dust. And I can get back to the soul that I was created with.
