SSP127: UNLEASHING POTENCY: Discovering Life's Purpose and Connecting with a Higher Power

Direct online programs. There's nothing there. So I think that's what we really took on.

It's been so gratifying to see an idea come to Life and see 25 powerful men go through this curriculum that we've created.

You actually have to have a real fucking bond. Wow. This is really moving your life. We're back with Christo.

We're back on the podcast, bro. Have you been on the podcast before?

I think we did, like, an audio one, and I don't think we ever did.

Yeah, we did an audio one. Yeah, just an audio one back in, like, 2020. Good to have you back on here, bro.

Good to be here.

We're in Tulum together right now, living like kings, working on our purpose, our mission. And we wanted to sit down and just record some of the. The things that are most present for us right now in our life. And as we're diving deep into our learning and exploration, into the field that we're in, which is right now, men's work, men's personal development, we want to capture a conversation and just share some insights with all the beautiful people watching or listening, and hopefully expand some minds, expand some souls as well. How you feeling today, mate?

Feeling great. This has been long in the making, and I feel like we've been purposely trying to push the envelope, but to the quality of the conversations, what's pressing, what's worthless, what's worthwhile. And since it's been happening in the background, I'm really excited to actually record it and see if we can share and others resonate with this 100.

Because now it's more of, like, an open slather conversation. Whereas in the past, you know, three months ago, we sat down and recorded 12 modules, 12 videos for the men's program that we're facilitating together. So now we get to bring a lot of that together and just, like, mesh it all and allow this conversation to flow to where it needs to go. So for those that don't know, Augusto and I run a transformational men's program called the Path, where we're about to finish the first round of it. And it's been so gratifying to see an idea come to Life and see 25 powerful men go through this curriculum that we've created. And have you felt, I guess, stepping into the role of being a head coach and seeing men go through just this, this. These ideas that we had.

It's been surreal. It really has been surreal. I actually have to dive in and hear their stories and hear their perspective to be Impacted by like, wow, this is really moving your life. Because we put out so much effort and we, we're like just observing and leading from the, from the outer edges. But if you, we go into the community, we go into the chats, we go into the one on one calls and hear about how their lives changing, it's so the not only how their life is changing, but also what's going on at a level of brotherhood and the kind of support and accountability. I think for me, that is gratifying. You said the word gratifying. I said the word gratifying. That's very fulfilling to be able to, especially because it's global. Like there's guys from every single time zone, every single time zone, every single race, every single religion. So it's fucking wonderful to see everybody come together and like we're on this path. What does accountability look like? What does support look like? What does growth while calling out the bullshit, while being hyper focused and unlocking potency. Right. Like everybody with the same aim, which is like unlocking potency big time.

Yeah. And we saw a gap in the market, particularly in the men's space, of men having spaces where they can come in and go through a transformational support system that allows them to open up about certain things, but also be guided on a path to help them uncover more of what it means to be masculine, in a sense. And after running my coaching business now for three years and running a couple of men's programs before reuniting with you in Toronto, I've noticed how expansive and how much I was missing by trying to do it on my own. And after having you come on board and we work so well together because we kind of feed off each other's insights. And you had gone down a very particular path in your, your learning and growth. And I went down my particular path. And bringing it together has allowed such a greater level of clarity of what's needed out there, you know, what's missing and what's needed and how we can start to fill that gap. For men who are coming into my sphere, are coming into my ecosystem through the content that I'm making. So I'd love for you to, I guess, share what you perceived was the gap that was missing in like the manosphere or the men's personal development space right now that we've, we're seeking to fulfill through our work.

The starting point is, is the star power that the coaching world has come to. Right. And what has turned is it's turned into coaches basically developing their own self Base program, their own self based services and offerings. And I think that's great and it's a good starting point. And then you grow your following and you start building on. So you have like a multitude, I guess a surplus almost in excess of programs that are by design, you know, matched to the coach. And what I realized is first of all a lot of it is refurbishing of the same thing, just like changing the language. And secondly, you'd have the fact that there's only so much to be done if you follow the guru, right? Like the concept like following the guru. And I think what was, what's been missing all along is the horizontal approach. And the horizontal approach means that brotherhood, the support network, again programs, there's an abundance of them, there's online programs, 30 days, 90 days, year long, weekend long. But the fact that you like enter and go into something and just absorb mentally and you're like getting this intellectual insights. But there's no support system to ensure that you take an action as you do, delivering with accountability, with results that if you follow the wagon you picked up back on that you're not allowed to self isolate and all these things. When you're talking about one, you know, direct online programs, there's nothing there. And so I think that's what we really took on. It's like what's this, this experiment of like it may seem that it's a coaching program or some sort of like you're learning but really what you're, you're joining is like the brotherhood. You're joining an ecosystem of support, of excellence, of potency. And that is, it's especially as we filter it more than like actually have to have a real bond, like real bond already seen in some guys that are meeting up and then lifelong friendships, lifelong friends, lifelong brotherhoods. Which is higher than friendships 100%.

Yeah. I think back to the first program that I've ever invested in and I paid two and a half K and it was all online course on like how to start your own consulting business and things like that. And it was all video content, videos and exercises and stuff like that. And what was missing was the community element of where I could really lean on people and get support and get like feedback really. And that's what we've noticed is the key differentiator for most programs is the level of community involvement. And what we've tried to create is something that men can come in and not just learn content, but also apply it and have the spaces where they can come in and open up about what's, what's really going on in their lives. And I believe that's absolutely essential for all men to have that. And it's a commonality that we've noticed. And I've noticed because I've been through it is trying to do everything on your own as a man trying to really just like, I've got it, I can handle it. I don't need support. I can do it. What do you feel like or what have you noticed starting to unlock, Particularly in the men who have come through the program when there's a support system, when there's. Yeah. Someone they can open up to about what's actually going on in life. What do you think that unlocks?

I think it's something new. And I think that's really what. Why this is so hard to detect. Because we're doing solo work and we're self policing. We're trying to keep our own promises to ourselves and that we're our own authority. And because we don't have good integrity, we're constantly failing. And so we're stuck on this loop. And we do not know ourselves as someone that gives our word to others. And it's coachable and requests feedback and it's like, hold me accountable to this. And so when you say it's like what unlocks, it's actually something new for every single person because we just don't live like that. And so part of like entering this is like access into. I'm going to be coachable, I want feedback, I'm going to give my word and I want to be called out. That's what it is. And why is it unique? Why is it different per person is because you've never been called out. So your triggers are individually yours. Your defenses are going to, for me, they're going to be different. If the brother that's telling you is saying it in a like too rude or not lovingly enough is going to get triggered differently. Both of us, right. To answer potency, like it's like potential actually opens up because now you have mirrors around you that are like feeding you as to like you're going off a little and so you don't have to ride on yourself on the meditation because you have others that got you back to where you think you're going. Let me pick you right up. Back up.

Yeah, that's it. And we spoke. I just mentioned masculinity, men discovering their masculinity. And you can ask like, what does that really mean? What does it mean for a Man to step into his masculinity. And it really comes back down to what you just shared, which is being held accountable, being held accountable to your promises, starting to make bigger promises, and starting to not fall back into the flakiness. And this ties into what we've noticed being the gap in for a lot of programs or coaching out there in the new age realm, which is you come into these programs, you understand how to work through the emotional energetic realm. But then when it comes into the. The actual, like your impact in the world, like, how are you impacting people and the world? And that really comes down to your integrity, which, like, first and foremost, like, how aligned are you with your word promises, the things that you say? I became so aware of this. You know, when you try to do things on your own, you become aware of how much you're not honoring your word in certain moments in times. And when you're in a space where men are holding the mirror up around you and you realize, oh, I'm actually not. I'm not holding myself accountable. I'm not actually following through, executing on what I say. And I know that's where a lot of men start to feel weakened. They lose their confidence in like saying they're going to do things and they're not doing it. So where do you see this new age spirituality which we're fully aware of, which is like all the medicine ceremonies, the rituals, all the sacred spaces, all the embodiment stuff that people embark on, all the ceremony breathworks and doing the deep processing and stuff like that. But sometimes I've noticed a lack of actual change in life. People that go out and always in ceremony, they'll come back and like, what's actually different in your life? What are you not impacting because of this big internal breakthrough that you had? And that missing piece being the integrity, which is like, what is a big bold promise that you're going to make to yourself and also the people around you. And then how are you then going to follow through and deliver on that? What do you think the breakdown is there for people who may be watching this and going, I've done a lot of programs before, nothing's really changed. I've read all the books and nothing's really shifted. Do you feel like that is the integrity piece? Or do you think that is a still a part of a. An avoidant pattern of just looking for the answers outside of you instead of actually executing on what you know?

Fuck, okay, you said a lot there. But in a, you, I think you're Conceptualizing really well. So I think the starting point is recognizing that the practices of opening up in a new age way on exploring your emotions, those have qualities of allowing, right? Is very much like allowing overflowing. Especially as, as men, if you haven't actually done the work and you have unprocessed emotions, suppressed emotions, anger, all these things. The first step for us is actually to allow it, to give yourself permission to, to rinse it off and let it be seen, let it be felt, all those things. And I think that is absolutely needed. The problem is, I think that feeds into it, it can feed into a realm of hedonism when you just become addicted to feeling and like the sense of self discovery. And so you're just. It's literally like almost like emotional masturbation because you're like constantly in this place of feeling and allowing. Big part of this is because of the trauma. We've just been so traumatized and so like this is what we are getting off because we just didn't have access to it before. So now we're like over giving ourselves permission to feel and to allow and to flow. Because we either been so constrained or so directed. Like you can't do this, you can't do that. So as a part of a rebellious attitude, right? You're like, so fuck it as a resistant of the rules. Now go back, go out and be free, right? I gotta go be liberated. My emotions liberate my body, my attitudes, my belief systems liberated. And I think that the new age kind of goes into that tangent. Now the negative side of that I think is. And the missing link is you're missing order and you're missing shape and you're missing patterns and you're missing. And when you. And what I mean by those things is you can only have order if you have pillars, if you have foundations. And what are foundations? Foundations are virtues, foundations are values. Foundations are unbreakable rocks that allow you to build something. Because if you're just wavy and flowy through and through, there's no spine, there's no hardness to it. And in order to build civilization, in order to have a family, in order to keep your word, there needs to be some unshakability to it. And so it's good that we take on, on this New age stuff because then you go and open up and embrace. However, then you get to go back and return to the world of pattern, of order, of virtue, of value. Like, okay, now I dissolved it, it turned into chaos. I did my psychedelics, I did my breath work I lost a sense of self, but now I got to come back and construct a sense of self. Right. Like how do I construct it? And integrity. It's one of the pillars. Absolutely. Because as a one to one, it's the relationship within your word. Right. That is in the program. We talk about this in the character domain, which is if you don't have a relationship with your word and integrity as a matter of one to one meaning, I am my word, you could be out here looking for life purpose, you can be out here looking for a sense of identity. But if you remove all this and you're exploring your first arrival, like your first direction towards where do I go in my self development journey is I want to be one to one with my word, with my promises and my integrity. That's it. If you don't have any other work you want to be doing, you can literally close all the tabs on self development, all the books and stuff, and be like, the work that I want to do is keep and honor all my promises one to one every single day of my life. That will just create such potency and such momentum and results. I love that. Yeah.

Damn. And then, and then the deeper element is, what are the right promises? What are the right promises to make?

You got it. Yeah, you got it.

And that's where the spirituality that we've gone deep into, me personally recently have really gone deep into trying to understand my relationship with God and higher power. And what are those promises that God wants me to make for myself to maintain that strength of connection with, with him as surrendering to that plan, not my personal plan. Like, this is what I want. Like what is the plan that God wants in me? And that's, there's like a deeper level of integrity there. It's almost like a spiritual integrity. Like how can I stay disciplined with God's plan? You know? And that's the, that's the bridge that we're talking about here. Because you've got the transformational ceremonial realm of dissolving our plan to connect with a larger plan. But then how do you maintain that day to day, true moment to moment, and hold that integrity with, okay, I promised myself that I was going to fast today to start to build a stronger connection with God. Like what are the things I need to abstain from and maintain that commitment to myself? Because it's also supporting my commitment to God. I've, I've noticed that for me is where like so much clarity, clarity comes from. I believe that is the byproduct of living in integrity, living in purpose, living with intention and commitment to oneself and God is clarity. And how would you define clarity? I know you feel it like yesterday we were even talking in the car while we were driving after 18 hours into our fast and going. I just like man, I feel, I.

Just feel clear too.

The channels are clear, you know. How would you describe, describe that state?

Hmm. It's. It's very subtle. Definitely has qualities of focus, has qualities of like very quick adaptability. Like circumstances just don't. You just, you're just flowing with them almost like almost let the chips fell, fall more than may just falling, moving through them focus. There's a moment but there's a pace to momentum. So it doesn't feel like a massive, like a massive wave of momentum. It's a consistent momentum that's going throughout the day. Clarity. I mean you also talk brought about like almost like spiritual purpose clarity. And that's something in itself. And I want to bring back to the integrity point because there is something to be said about the clarity on like the day to day or the clarity that's self manufactured of like I have this goals, I have this vision that I want for myself that I want to manifest and like I'm very clear on that. There's an aspect of self manufacturing that clarity and there's also the, the clarity of like being in the unknown from a place of faith, for example. Right. Which is like if you have consistency on your spiritual practices, for example, your trust, your faith, your grace is like I may feel lost or I may have just lost this client or works not going really well, but there's a clarity that I must stay on track. It's like a bigger sense of clarity and that one fuck. That resonates from within. Like that really resonates from within. And I feel if anything, you know what you're bringing up. It's like I feel like that is one of the most worthwhile conversations to be had as a, as men and women. Just like all of it. It's like what, what is the distinction between a sense of clarity that's self manufactured versus a sense of clarity that's on trust of a greater, of a greater will, of a greater path that you're on. Damn. How does that feel like, how does that feel like for you? Because there's a key distinction, right? I'm sure you feel it.

Okay. Yeah. Because it goes into the larger conversation on. We may think we have clarity, but in reality we've, we've been programmed to think we have clarity when in reality, not actually connected to God. And example in my life where I was studying to be an accountant and study to study work in the corporate world, I thought I was clear on that's what I wanted until I got it and realized actually that's not, that's not it. That's not what God wanted for me. Tying this back into the new age spirituality thing. You may think that you need to go on the Ayahuasca ceremony, but is that clarity that's come from God or is that clarity that's come from your.

Social programming, the fucking TikTok videos that YouTube, the Mushroom podcast, the Mushroom podcast, the Netflix documentary on psychedelics. Told you the whole algorithm just told you to succeed. Exactly, exactly. And that fucking sense of righteousness that we have about it, you're like, no, this is my path, this is my calling. This is my new belief system. And who's to say like that you just like you just said, you get invalidated because the eco chamber that you're around, right? There's something we question on the program all the time. It's like you must always question the eco chamber you're in because you, you may not even know how much it's leading. Your actions, your belief systems, your day to day, the way you eat, the way you fuck, even the way you breathe, considering breath work or something like that.

Right? Man, that's what I loved about reuniting with you. Like last year in 2022, once Covid we were allowed to travel again. Me and Augusto were split, split up for two, two, two and a half years after hanging out in Toronto. Living in Toronto together for two years and then being away for two years, it's almost like we separated echo chambers. And when I came back and reunited with you, it was like worlds colliding. And he blasted open my my paradigm because I was being fed and receiving the same information. Living in Perth, my algorithm was feeding me the same thing. I was hanging out the same kinds of people, all just having the same conversations. Then spoke with you. And I was like, it blew me open. I was like, wow, I'm actually in a program, a new age program. And I know this may trigger people because if you're in that program and you hear something that goes against your rooted belief systems and thought, no, no, this is what's true. It's very scary for the mind to, to let go of that, you know, it is really scary, right? And these conversations that we're having now are now coming from like a larger perspective where I'm questioning Everything, questioning everything, like, questioning every. Like questioning it to myself. Like, does, is this God's plan for me? Is this true? Is this true? Is this true that, you know, we need to go out and go on these, these like ceremonial adventures all the time? Is this, is that what it means to be spiritual? You know, and really discovering what, what is the. What is the answer to that for oneself and one's own relationship with God? Because even the, the religion paths have their own rules that may not feel true for an individual. I'd love to know more about how you've been able to discover that for yourself. Like, what is true clarity, what is true guidance compared to, you know, seeing a program? Because you, you question things a lot with, with especially being in Tulum right now. It's so easy to get pulled into this event happening. And this is how we all. This is how everyone dances and the clothes that everyone wears out here. And even this is how everyone speaks. If you're spiritual, you know, you can.

See it in the. And the way that they will go about expressing something. They'll say something that's coming up for you. You see the, the culture, the culture cult coming through it, even through language. Like, it starts to spread into clothing, belief systems. It's wild because we come in from a place of void, meaning. So we start young, you start young. There's very little virtue and religion pursuits that we got. There's very little, at least in the west, very little spiritual guidance from a virtuous level that allows you to be like, I'm not too attached to the rules, but I can see the principle. And so what happens is, as a man especially, I'm just going to talk for a man. So for a man, then you start growing old and there's no rite of passage, there's no passing on like a really like, solid in place. Like, this is the values that you should stand for. Either men, either our fathers, our uncles or grandparents are not doing that, or culture as a whole is not doing it. As a new age comes around, plus the fucking social media eco chamber deploys the algorithms and now feeding you at least a sense of purpose, a sense of like, well, there is something on the other side which I think speaks to like a void that the soul wants to have fulfilled, right? It's like, I want to believe in something greater. I want to feel something greater, right, the part of the psychedelics, but, like, it's like I want to feel something greater. So then you go into that, you stay into that because again, if you're just approaching the realm of the senses, right? This is new age is very sensory, very feeling oriented. Like then it's easy to succumb to it and just be taken by it that you're just like riding that way because it feels good. So you're going for feeling good. And in questioning that, the reason why I believe it's scary is like you said, now you're removing the identity. So like if I'd say if you challenge this, but there's actually nothing else because the new age is so based on who you are and what you're out the. The big I am right, which it's just solidly founded on you. There's no like, because you are supposedly God, supposedly consciousness. So then you should have the answer. But what's actually real is that you don't have the answer and there is a glimpse of God. And this is, I'm speaking from my own learning. There is a glimpse of God in you, but that doesn't mean you are God. You're not a God, you're not a goddess. That is not accurate. That is not the case. And if you remove that all of a sudden you're just like left groundless. You start falling because there's no. You actually don't have a safety net, a spiritual safety net. And so in order to embrace that, first you got to realize that there is a clear hierarchy and God is well, way, well above me and acknowledge it so that I can then if I can surrender into the identity and the labels, then it's like, okay, well as God still got me or the Creator or a higher consciousness, but is not at the same level as I am. When it gets scary, is that the all the knowledge of connecting with the Creator, I think of God, but like that higher source is so either diluted and negatively I guess portrayed by religion. And then the spiritual or the spiritual aspect of connecting with God is almost occult in a way that it's so hard to reach that then you end up on this. Like it's either new age or religion. But then God, you gotta realize like religion is just a form of rules and, and agreements that are that this collective and culture has come together. Now does a religion to basically say this is how you get close to God in the way that we see it, but there is a God that is also eager to call upon you. And it's like trying to connect with you. But then you're like either this or either that, but there's a huge space in between in which you can be like God, I want to get to know you and, like, get. So that I don't fall into full schizophrenia. And I don't go into, like, this deeply analytical, like, oh, my God, God needs to be this or is a father. Is it this picture or this cross or this Kabbalah or this. Or the Hindu goddesses is like, no, no, no, let me take a step back and I'll surrender from a place of trust. And I think it's good if you've had New Age experiences because you've connected with the spiritual realm in some way. So you're like, okay, I'm familiar with something there. Now I just declare that it's completely unknown. It's not archangels, it's not a star, seeds. It's just all unknown. And then you become humble. Right. This is like the fear of God comes through. It's like, God, now that I've gone all this, like, illuminate me, like, help me. Because you go into a void unless you actually do that, then it opens up a whole new realm where God is. Now, if you invite him in, at least the beginning stages, is to now commence a dialogue with him.

Yes.

Right. Not necessarily in the form of prayer, not necessarily meaning a regulated sentence mantra that you're speaking to. Although that can work. I mean, an internal dialogue so that you get to detect what is the difference between me smoking weed and thinking I'm talking to angels and archangels, and I'm a starseed and aliens that communicate and tell me what to do, versus I'm talking to my ancestors, versus I'm talking to God, versus I'm talking to the devil, versus it's just my own schizophrenia. Like, you need that internal discernment compass. And that's what's missing in the New Age. It's just like allowing all this channeling to be done, but there's no righteous inside inner compass that is like, all right, I can detect it. This is from here. This is from. This is worthwhile pursuing.

This is not man. Wow. I loved how you explained that as juice right there.

Right?

Yeah. And even the book that we're. You're reading and I've been picking up, Discernment of Spirits, really goes into some of that. It's like building that internal compass. And I feel like it's so important now because I've been aware, even just in recent videos that I posted online, even just the word God elicits a reaction from people because they're so triggered by the idea of a higher power, the idea of faith and spirituality. Or even religion that people have now become so disenfranchised from any of it, so disconnected from all of it, that there is the nihilism, that there is the belief that there's nothing, there's nothing like nothing. And then there's that. There's that missing connection that we've discussed before that is almost imperative, it's almost the most important thing, because every other worldly pursuit is trying to fill a void unless you have that connection with your higher power. And we've decided to make the program like as from a, from a rite of passage perspective to help men rediscover their masculinity. The ultimate, ultimate form of masculine connection is, is with God, right? It's is with the, the Almighty Father. You know, and we were speaking before about how when a man has that connection, you know, he's a man of value. You know, he's a man you can rely upon. You know, he's a man you can trust because he's. He's built those foundational pillars of like, hey, I don't need anyone in this world. All I need is my connection with God. And if God's with me in my connection with faith and I know I'm held and always forgiven or always taken care of, or if, you know, I fought, if I fail, I know I'm going to be picked back up. That, like, unlocks a new level of virtue inside another man that you can feel. And now the question we're asking is, how do you. How do we help a man discover that not just a man, but anyone. How do we help someone discover that? And what we're realizing is it can't be just one path. It can't be like, it's this. You go this way and you'll discover it. It's presenting an experience to someone which is not like an immediate, take this drug, take this medicine, and you're going to discover God and everything will be different. And I was like, come with us on a path of getting really uncomfortable and letting go of all of the things that may be blocking your connection to having clarity. Learn about what's actually happening during these times and learn about the differences and what this means, what this feeling may represent based on all some of these ancient texts, all some of these enlightened masters, all. Some of these, all the vast spiritual literature that's out there. Bring, bring it together. Go on and experience and learn while you're having the experience. And then you get to formulate maybe your own understanding what that represents for you in Life. And how do you feel like, you know, because this is fresh, fresh in our minds. And I'm glad we're getting to share this. But how do you feel about people choosing to walk that path? And then what do you feel like must happen for them to start to develop a relationship with the higher power? Like this discernment aspect that you're talking of, like, all we know is like, I'm connected to my spirit because I'm feeling all these things and I've taken mushrooms a few times and I do breath work in the mornings. I'm connected to spirit and it's moving through me. And if it's a sign, I need to go this way. And how do we start to deepen the discernment compass? Is there a pathway?

What.

What is the pathway from, from your perspective so far?

So the question you're asking is what is the. What is the pathway and what must happen? Right. What is the pathway to discernment and what must happen? What's the kind of thing must happen? Before I get into that, dude, I want to answer what you said about there's like a righteousness behind following God. Like, I think you said it, you said it abstractly and it's a big statement and I want to get even more specific. As you were speaking, I'm like, turn to reflect us. Like, why is that truth? But like, truth is in like capital T. And I was trying to like absorb what you were saying. And I think it's because you put in so much work and emphasis on the principle, like the higher principle that you're not speaking to like a religious. Even though you're saying like God the father, like you're still speaking to like the bigger principle. Yeah, and I want to emphasize on that because. So you said that a man that's worth following the world, that's, that's a leader. It's a, it's a follower of God. Right? It's a, it's a follower of God. And I'm thinking to myself, like, what constitutes that relationship? What is that he's getting out of it that makes him a man? And what is it specifically? That it's that it makes him a man out of that relationship. And I think as you were speaking, I feel like the two biggest thing is there's a life generating element to this. There's a life generating element. There's a potency element to this that is as a result of that relationship. What I mean by that is I'm taking, I'm thinking about the sun Like I'm thinking literally about the sun. I'm thinking about someone that like carries, you know, like you can tell they're carrying. Their spirit is enlivened, right? They're radiant. And what I'm. The quality that perceive in them. It's, it's life giving. They're life giving. Their contribution, they're helpful, they're service oriented, they're leaders, they speak up, they're fearless, they're. They're generating. There's a, there's, there's an extra potency that's available to them out of the relationship with that. There's a faith, there is even a positivity, right? So these are all things that are life generating. You enter a situation, a circumstance, a workplace, and you add to that rather than subtract to that. And the key distinction here from removing it from new age into becoming a follower of God or almost like in a hierarchy level, like I'm below him, is that now here, yourself generating to yourself, whereas here you're asking for generation like you're asking it for it to be generated through you either your path, your potency, your connection with them, which like then unblocks more things. Right here you're just looking at the self. You're unlocking your own manifestation, you're unlocking your own goals, you're unlocking your own ayurvedic diet, you're unlocking your own mushrooms. You want to unlock your trauma. So it's like very much self oriented, which is this. It speaks a lot about the status of the world. And when you're saying about God, how up it is, I think it's particularly up, but somehow might disagree that you will bring up the word God and instead of having it be something that's aspiring, something that like you just literally have to take a look at the day to day and see like how the. Is everything even possible? Shouldn't say how is ev. Is everything so magnificently possible from like an organic matter, forget about the ether, to like the stars just on the earth and the fact that we all carry this internal worlds. For me it's almost how can you not see a God? How can you not see a God when it's like it's clearly so beautiful. Everything that makes our soul, everything that makes nature is like you just have to be. Either you're not paying enough attention because the remaining feeling is a sense of awe, and then you can't give yourself that awe because this is just given. And then that's kind of where that surrendering Comes from. That's one of the things that gets. Gets a lot rather than like the self looking. So there's like an element of awe. So I would say that that's a good starting point for like God relationship. You're like, look at the beauty that is being human. Look at the beauty that it is that I came out of nowhere, out of the love or the intimacy of two beings coming through. There's like, there's so much overwhelming that no matter how much you believe in science, you just have to be like, how? And beyond the understanding of the science. How is this even possible? Why are we even here? You start entering into the theological realm. If you go too philosophically, you lose the beauty. Like the beauty is the thing that makes it so special. It's like the beauty is like, wow, the love of our parents that brought us here. What is love? And then you enter a whole new realm, right? The love of God, the love of creation, a whole different dimension. And then what I think unlocks it even further is commitment to exploring it with integrity. Which means that just like we feed our bodies and try to. This is the benefits of new age, right? You go into healthy diets, you go into ayurvedic medicine, cleaning your system, your vessel. I think this is all awesome. And equally we must be committed to putting effort into our spiritual practice, right? Like actually putting in the work. Because we're so far away from hearing the word of spirit or the word of God that we may. You have to still accept that we may be. We maybe hear other things. Maybe your own thought, that's like self diluting. That's just literally confusing yourself. And then God may come in a place of righteousness and give you a grace where you start crying, you know, because something hits you with massive realization. Or maybe it's a huge piece of shame, right? Huge piece of shame. You're like, I don't think I can do more mushrooms to get over the shame. Like, I need some sort of intervention to clean my soul, right? And then what's. What I find is fascinating is like how they give this power to applied medicine, but they don't give it to something that for me, it's almost like it's already present. Because it's here.

Yeah.

Because it's like the unexplainable universe. Yeah, right. The unexplained nature of the soul, like this thing, they're already there. So it's almost like you have to make an effort to not look.

Because it's the. What I've Noticed this is my own experience as well. The mind wanting a shortcut, the mind not wanting to do the hard stuff of just like, surrender deeper, Surrender deeper to what's already here. And because the society has set us up so much to not allow us to go that deep, it's almost like we then outsource our connection with spirit to some sort of intense practice or some sort of intense ritual or ceremony to get that glimpse of clarity. But it's always there. It's always there. And it's like you can carve out enough time in your day to really tune in. It's so hard. It's so simple to do, but so hard to do is if you slow down enough and become sensitive. And after every subtle way that you're blocking the flow of God, of coming into your life, you slow down enough to notice it. It could be just one simple, like, clenching of the jaw at a certain moment in a conversation. It's blocking God coming through. And the more you surrender and relax deeper into the moment right now, you then open that relationship some more. And, you know, I. By no means there, but, like, I see that as the more authentic righteous path because it's harder and it's longer. Nice. Yeah.

There's a discipline to that spiritual path that looks less experimental and more disciplined. Like, it looks like more like this is. There's a sacred. There's a sacredness to the way that I eat. There's a sacredness to the food that I put in my belly. There's a sacredness to how I treat myself, what I see with my eyes, what I hear. Like, there's a whole sacredness. You start to recognize the sacredness of your vessel, sacredness of your soul. And so it's like it becomes a little bit bigger, but not from a place of like I want to do for myself, but because I want to open myself to get.

That's beautiful. Do you think New Age spirituality is making men weak?

I think it's making them more effeminate. Absolutely. I think what's happening is. Has us focusing on this material sensitivities, all the earthly things, vices, pleasure, feeling more, sensing more. The realm of which is amazing.

It's beautiful.

The realm of the feminine, the realm of allowing and feeling. However, I think what's missing is for men to have a sense of order, a sense of virtue, a sense of pattern. Big patron, literally, like on top of a big patron in life, a certain guiding light so that I can determine, so that I can surrender and know that this is something that it's far greater, a far greater virtue, a far greater role than anything that I can come up with for myself. My own inner compass. This is what I was thinking. This is why I think it's making men, men weak is because it has us pursuing our own personal values, our own like individual needs. This is what I think I want for myself. But what's missing is that there's a greater need that it's been missing, which is like a greater, like at a global level, a collective soul level. Like what brings us together. And that kind of realization can only be I think channeled from like the greater, the greater power, the God to be like what, what is the guiding principle for all of humanity? What is the government for? All of what, what's righteous for living? What's a righteous pursuit where it's a righteous values to have as a collective rather than me pursuing my micro needs individualistically. It's like how I get out of myself and to service into others.

How does a man then discover what it means to be strong and masculine?

I think the first step is kind of the way that we do it, our program unlocking the areas that are, that are already blocked. Right. So looking at the 12 domains of life and seeing what, what's currently not working, what's not fully tapped out, what's not fully tapped in, what the potency that is just channel. It could be your food, the vision you want for your life, the values, the relationships are lacking. Your work is sucking the life out of you. Your movement practice is not life giving, it's life taking. And so first look into where you're draining because other. Or where you're blocked in because otherwise you cannot, cannot receive it, you cannot subgenerate it big time. How about you? What do you think?

Yeah, it goes back to the. What's the vice? What is the coping mechanism that you know is weighing you down? When you think making men strong, like I used to think that was like go to the gym, like get strong, like work hard, do a lot of physical things. And actually during that period of my life where I was the most physically strong, I was the most emotionally and mentally weak because I was not living a life that was authentic to me. Because I was too afraid to go out there and claim, too afraid to speak up and just go after the things that I wanted. And I feel like that's the strong element. A man who. Some of the strongest men that I admire right now don't resemble a lot of physical strength, but it's more of Like a depth of connection with their own faith, God. And I see that to be deeply strong because you can feel the presence of that. It's like. It's enveloping. It's like, oh, I can feel.

Oh, man.

Whatever you're tapping into, it's powerful, you know, and it's like redirecting that. Redirecting men onto the path of wanting to deepen that and find that, not get distracted by the allure of the physical pleasures, the external, sensory pleasures that are out there. The money, the women, the food and the dopamine. Strength is cutting that out and actually finding a depth of clarity that's already here.

And almost like a greater spirituality, too. A greater spirituality that is less about connected with myself and more connected with a higher power. Because it's very easy to consider yourself spiritual because you meditate, because you believe in consciousness, because you've done mushrooms and you've connected with Pachaman on the earth, which I think they still fit within the realm of spirituality, don't get me wrong. And there's like, a greater spirituality that, for example, from a spiritual perspective, that it allows you to, like, from a connection with God. It's like, it should be hard. It almost like, what I mean, should be. It should be challenging because it's almost like I feel like we have to overcome our, like, animal instincts. Like, it's. In many ways, I feel like the most masculine practices are particularly challenging, right? Like, you do an ice bath, you do, like, a solid breath work, or you do crazy fast. Like, they're demanding things that allow you to, like, I'm going to lose my sense of self. I got to stop relying on myself. And I got to, like, I need help from the outside. And that can come from a negative place of realization of, like, all the shit that I'm dealing with. And it can come positively as to, like, I can also renounce the fact that, like, why am I even here? Like, it's like, there's a great. Like, I'm like, I don't know my purpose, but there's clearly here a purpose. And that's like, it's the starting point. That's the easy one. But in order to just, like, allow it from the spiritual perspective, you look in, it almost has to be more forceful. Also, because we're battling such fucking negative forces that are keeping us animalistic, that are keeping you earthy. All the food is too good, the porn is too good, the Instagram's too good, the YouTube videos to good. The Netflix shows are too good. And so there's like everything is almost built for self indulgence, for self pleasure. And so like literally I'm making a fucking effort to purge my mind. The music, the sounds, like everything to just be like, I'm going to try to be at least as pure as possible, but like reclaiming it from a place of righteousness. Not from a place of.

Yeah, just from a place of like following your instant pleasures. Follow the following, the instant gratification. I feel for me the fastest way of getting closer with God is earning my pleasure and not giving in to the instant pleasures that are always around. Checking the phone or go and have that piece of food or go on just like binge watch a TV show. Giving into the instant pleasure of the thing that your mind wants right away compared to choosing to abstain, choosing to listen and maintain a sense of with what, what you really need in this moment and then allows for when you do have the pleasure. It can come from a place of righteousness that this is actually bringing me closer to God because now I'm enjoying the worldly pleasures that God has given us rather than unconsciously going into it, which then turns it into a form of like numbing and escapism. Even on a sub level. If you can learn to manage the temptations, that's what they are, right? It's like the temptations that are all there. It doesn't mean that if you are abstaining from watching porn for a week, that means okay, now I can jump on off on the weekend because I'll watch Bond. What ends up happening if you're doing it properly or you're doing it with the intention of getting closer to God. Once you abstain from certain instant pleasures, you actually, I don't need that at all.

True.

That's not actually necessary in my life at all. And then a lot of those vices tend to just fall away once you push past the discomfort of like wanting to get to what's it like on the other side of that. What's actually becomes available on the other side of me letting go of these addictions.

And you get it though, priming. Once you reclaim that sacredness, you're also reclaiming your sacredness in yourself. And so it takes a like no fap or not watching porn all of a sudden stops being about because I want more testosterone and more so because I want to have a clean vessel. I don't want to be toxic in my mind, I don't want to be toxic in my eyes. And like it's the same action like, you're stopping to watch porn, you're stopping to do toxic things, but the purpose behind it is completely different. But it's like, you want to eat clean, but you want to eat clean because you want to look good. You want to eat clean because you want. You want to allow space for more love, life force through you, for more spirit, for more of God to come through you. Same action, right? Exactly. Same action.

It trades his path to follow, you know, for men who are choosing to. To walk this. Which is why trying to do it on your own is. Is challenging.

True.

And the invitation is there. This is why we're doing this work. We're setting the spaces for men to come in, be guided, also be held accountable with other guys and with the focus of, like, let's see what it's like on the other side of breaking all of these.

These.

These impediments to knowing what it's like to be connected with a higher power, higher truth, and letting that move you in life too, because it's. It's way better be on both sides.

I think so.

Wow. I love being pulled, man. I love being pulled. You just like, strap in, let's go.

I think so.

Yeah.

It's a whole different layer of armor that cannot be manufactured by yourself.

Yeah.

When you, when you, when you feel backed up by either brothers or God or unlock potency, all of a sudden it's not all of a sudden. You've worked so hard so that you cannot be beaten down. So when something does come, it's like, I'm going to get back up. There's nothing, there's nothing that can stop me. There's. I can see it in my brothers. I can. I can feel it in my heart because I can, like, I can get over this. It doesn't matter. The. The grace of living, the grace of being alive, plus the life force that's running through me because I've unlocked it, that we want to keep it consistent. And that's, I think, another reason why we did the design of the program the way that we did. It's like, how do we ensure that not only are you not solo doing it and lone wolfing this, but you're actually joining others that are in it so that we can consistently be consistent, not allow anybody to be left behind and then explore together. It's like, okay, what does excellent look like? What does master look like? What the connection we've got a little bit for the potency look like. What is the greater truth that. The truth that we're pursuing, but like humbly and respectfully while having each other's back, man, I feel like that kind of momentum, that kind of engine that comes with. That's the work that's being done together.

Yeah, big time. If you guys want to, if you've been watching this and you want to inquire more about what, what that looks like or be supported in that journey, click the link on my Instagram bio. Jordan Kalashow one Follow Augusto on Instagram at the practice journey. More content like this depending on come. Thanks for. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Appreciate you. Thanks so much, my friend, for tuning into this video. I hope you enjoyed the conversation today and leave a comment below if there's anything that sparked your curiosity or anything you would like us to explore next in a future video. And if you enjoyed this dialogue between my brother Augusto and I, then we actually run a men's program together called the Path. Now, the idea of the Path, the intention is to support our fellow men stepping onto a pathway to discovering more potency, more clarity, more connection, more confidence in all of the areas of life. Right? We go into 12 different domains, which encompass relationships, finances, career, movement, health, spirituality. We really go into all the areas to unlock, discover and measure and track our performance. Most importantly, the core of all of this is as a community, as a tribe, as a brotherhood that we're looking to bring together. And after completing a few rounds, now it's really confirming to me that this is where it's at. You know, bring men together, come together to do this work and really support each other in a container where it's safe, where we have each other's back, and there's, there's accountability. So if it calls to you, if it resonates to you and you're watching this, you want to learn more, go to the path brotherhood.com that's thepathbrotherhood.com and you can learn more about the upcoming program. And enrollments are currently open, so I really look forward to seeing you on the inside. Take care, my friend. Ciao.