Speak Up Talk Radio Podcast with Pat Rullo and Ray Catania (Audio)

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Welcome to the Speak up talk radio network, the Authors on Fire podcast. I am Pat Rullo here today with a Firebird Book award winning author to share with you. He is Ray Catania and his winning book is titled you're still alive now act like it, Empower, elevate and enlighten your consciousness. He's an author, coach, creator of Limitless. He's a metaphysical teacher, a master certified life coach and an award winning author. And he believes that modern day spirituality is best taught at the intersection of science and spirituality. He is passionate about helping others get unstuck, harness the power of their mind and create their own reality. Obviously we have lots to unpack here today, so welcome to the network. Ray.

Thank you so much, Pat. It's an honor to be here. I've been looking forward to speaking with you. So I think this is going to be great.

It will.

Thank you.

It'll be fun. Thank you for joining me and congratulations on winning the Firebird Book Award. I was so happy to share that with you.

That was unexpected and again I'm very honored and grateful for that award. Thank you.

You are so welcome. All right, lots to talk about today, but I do want to go backwards a bit because I want to make sense of all of this. This is the second book in the series. The first is titled the Atheist and the Afterlife. An Autobiography. Let's look back. So what series of events prompted you to even write that first book?

The first book came out of life experiences that were transpiring. It was never meant to be a book. It was journal and part of my healing process. Those that are familiar with the first book, I reference a lot of trauma in my youth and accredit that trauma to opening certain doorways and pathways, if you will, into other realms. And as that evolved, I wanted to believe in atheism. I wasn't, I was raised Christian, very, very Christian and strict, but I never really subscribed to it. And so it was easier for me to stay as an agnostic non believer, eventually atheist. And the things that were transpiring in my life were horrible. So I was just, there can't be this loving God up there that's, you know, loving and allows these things to transpire. So the more I, when you, when you're, when you go through chaos in your childhood, you, when you get to your young adult years, chaos was my comfort zone. So I put myself into more precarious situations, more on the edge, if you will. And it was my own self destructive behavior because that's what I knew that's, that's, that was my comfort zone. If things weren't crazy around me, then I felt out of place. And that's not a good place to be, obviously. So I had my NDE around the age of 20. But again, I rationalized it away because it's easier to be an atheist than it is to search for answers or find, figure out what this is. In the, in the beginning I did research and I looked into it and I tried to find others that I could speak to about it. We didn't really. The Internet was just being born, so we didn't really have a lot of people we could reach out to. So it was. I just, I boxed it up, I put it in a place of. I guess I normalized it. I accredited the white light to being the sun that was coming through the window on that day, probably. And the fact that I was seeing things from above, my body looking down, well, I just chalked that up to hallucinations because I actually died from inhaling the gas fumes. It wasn't the actual fire in the house, it was the fumes that I was breathing in that killed me. So. And I justified it away because again, life was easier that way. You know, I tried to tell my parents, or I think I tried to tell my mom and that was just like one of my worst mistakes that I ever could have made. So, you know, being further chastised, that didn't happen. That's impossible. No, there's no. And I know she was probably going through a little bit of a denial herself. She was in that house that day, on the day that I died and maybe felt some responsibility. So I get it. But at the same time it was easier to shut down and not talk about. So then it was another 20 years before I readdressed it and went back and said, you know what, this stuff, there's more here to it. And that eventually came when I met my now wife and she brought about having me pursue this. She was a spiritual believer herself, non religious, but spiritual. And embraced the things that I eventually told her. And the. Since she was open to it, I explored it and she helped me explore it. She pointed me in the right direction.

And Ray, this wasn't your first near death experience? Well, there was a near death when you were a young child swimming. That was quite a tale. No one was there to help you and you, you needed to help yourself.

Yeah, that was. There's so many different near deaths where I didn't actually die, but it came close to it. The drown, the almost drowning was one of them where, you know, my father was on shore and I just couldn't believe that he wasn't going to come in and get me as I'm waving and I'm going under. And what happened was, is what's always happened throughout my life in those moments where I'm near death and I was about to give up and this feeling of warmth, calm presence entered my body and said something. And no one's talking, so I can't I say, say or hear. But that's because I don't have a word to describe what happens. I'm taking in the information from this energetic entity which says, relax, swim sideways, take as long as you need and you will get to shore. And so that is what I did. I swam on an angle because it was the undertow that kept pulling me out. And I later learned that that is what you're supposed to do. But I didn't know that at my age. I think I was, I don't know, 10 years old or something. I was very young. So I just listened to that quote, unquote voice. And that voice has always been there in those moments. In the first book, I discuss a shootout that I'm in the middle of. And it told me how to get out of there. It literally guided me out. So it's been there over and over and over. And I've always just gone with the advice because it worked. My actual death, when I really died and crossed over was from the fire in my home.

Right, right, right. So now in the second book, you're still alive. Now act like it. Let's. Let's talk a little bit about what folks can expect to find in that book.

So that book was born out of the things that I had learned over the two years after the first book. The first book, like I said, it was a journal that evolved as part of. It was a journal as part of my therapy. And then later I started to show it to my wife and she's like, you have to publish this. This could help so many people. She is a doctor of psychology and neuropsychology, but trade. And she said, this is something that has to be published. And I said, I don't think that's a really good idea. You know, I. She's like, no, you don't understand. This can help others. So obviously I took her advice and there was a two year period between the first book that came out and the second book. And the things that I learned were so amazing pieces of the Puzzle started to come together. Like, why did I hear that voice? Where did it come from? Who's talking to me? Why do I know when this is going to happen or that's going to happen? See, being an atheist and having no beliefs in anything spiritual, I needed some sort of scientific theory, even if it wasn't perfect, something that I could acknowledge as okay, that makes sense to me. If this can happen in real science, that can be applied to what's happening in my life and that makes sense. And then it can go in the book. Nothing goes in the book until it passes my, what I call my three step process. And step one is I have to know of it, right? I have to experience it somehow. Somebody either tells me or it happens to me. Secondly, I learn how it happens from a scientific standpoint. And then third, I have to be able to replicate it more than once. Then I know it's real and then it'll go in a book. And until I can do that, I don't talk about it, I don't print it, because I have nothing to back it up with. I am my big, my biggest skeptic. I am literally my own big business. Oh my God. Biggest skeptic.

And so that's why you talk about spirituality is best taught at the intersection of science and spirituality. You've got, you've got to be at that intersection so they can cross over so it makes sense to you before you'll put it out to other people.

Correct. Because if you're not, if, if you are a believer in this type of, of spirituality, you'll get it instantly. But if you're like, I was completely unconscious to this other world that we actually live in. And in order for me to cross over, I look at all the experiences I had to have just, just to be willing to start researching this. Right. And how many years had to go by. So I think there's a lot of people out there that are similar to the way I was in how they view spirituality and these types of concepts. Right, right.

I'm kind of imagining that they're looking at you thinking, okay, this Ray guy, he's a slow learner. We got to keep, we got to keep going after him until he finally. He finally.

Yeah, exactly. You know, I one time I did an interview with this guy and he was like, I was reading your book and I just wanted to strangle you because you knew this stuff and you were still skeptical.

And it was great.

I was going to tell you. I got to put everything to the test.

Well, your Wife appears to be a teacher for you. Somebody that came into your life for a reason.

Oh, yeah, in a big way. Because when, let's see, I was divorced and my children were just about to go into college, and I said, well, let me try, you know, dating again. And I went on one of those silly websites thinking, this is going to be terrible. And I was looking for one of them to join. And they give you a couple of examples, people that women that you might be attracted to. And she was one of them. And so I decided to join the website. I sent one email only, and I told her that was the only one I was sending. This is to you, more or less. You're going to be my wife. She, of course, thought I was nuts. And I said, but I know you are. This is. This is it, Trust me. And she found it hysterical. And she, you know, luckily we dated and what happened was, is, remember, now she's a doctor of psychology. This is important. So as I began dating her the first two months, this man kept appearing to me and kept saying the same thing over and over again and. Right. It was almost like Pandora's box was opened when I met her. This man is deceased, he's not here, and he keeps saying the same thing to me. And there's a four letter word. Is that okay or no?

No, that's cool.

Oh, okay. Just want to make sure he says, I fucked up, I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. I have no idea who this man is. I don't know why I'm seeing these things and I don't know what to do with it. Oh, so I think I'm losing my mind. I think I'm insane. And I remember it started on a Friday and it got worse throughout the night, worse the next day. And by the time I got to Sunday, I couldn't function because all I could see was him. Now I don't. He's not in front of me. It's in my mind. It's a movie. It looks like a movie screen and he's on the screen and he's communicating with me and I can understand him. So that's. That's how it looks. Or feels, I should say. I don't. And I remember being at CVS and I was just about to pay for my stuff and I must have just paused and. Because I'm seeing this guy again in front of me and the cashier is like, I'm sorry, but are you okay, sir? And I said, no, no, I'm not okay. And I And I went to my car and I sat there and I said, okay, I really, I love this woman, but I have to tell her because she can. She's a doctor. She'll point me in the right direction, she'll lock me up, she'll run for the hills, but at least I'll get the help I need, right? So I explained this to her and I'm seeing this guy and he looks like this. And he says this over and over. And very calmly she says, oh, that sounds like my dad. And I said, what? She goes, oh, yeah, you know, I've been to mediums before. And my dad comes through and he's just, you know, I went to some of the best in the world. And I said, well, first I said, what's a medium? Because I don't know. And she explains that to me. And I said, well, I saw a picture of your dad and it was on that, on the counter and on the mantel, and that doesn't look like him at all. And she said, oh, oh, well, in that particular picture, the doctor just yelled at him. He had to lose 20 pounds and he was cleanly shaved and blah, blah, blah. And I said, yeah, because the guy, well, the guy I saw was very heavy, husky, full beard, mustache, you know, thick black hair. And as I'm saying this, she's taking out the photo on her phone, shows me the guy, and I said, do you know that guy? That's my fucking dad, silly. And I was speechless. I was absolutely speechless at that point. And she goes, black. She's probably just a psychic medium and you don't know it. And I said, God forbid, don't say I don't want to bear that burden. Are you nuts? But if it's not that, then I'm crazy and I'm going to the nut house. So it's kind of not really a win win, or at least I didn't look at it that way at the time. She wound up bringing me to my first medium ever so that we could. So I could explain to her how I see things. I've never been to a medium. I didn't research what they do. I just went in and I. And met with this woman and I explained to her, I see this, but before I see it, I feel this, the vibrations start, I see this, that and the other thing, and then the movie screen opens up and she's like, relax, relax, stop. That's exactly the way I see it. That's how we see things. You're a medium. And I was like, okay. And kind of like there was a relief there at that moment, but now what? Right? And I remember we were. I told her. She's. She Sundays, you have three different types of. You're not just a medium. You're also. You have premonitions, and you have the ability to. To interpret energy, telepathy, that sort of thing. And she goes, you really need to learn which one's which, because right now, you're kind of mixing them all up, and that's what you need to learn. And I said, you know, okay, great. And I remember that we were laughing because we were comparing notes, and I was like, so what's the question you hate the most? And at the same time, we said, how do you know that? Because that is the question I've gotten my whole life. I have no idea how I know anything. I don't know. But I do know it. And that's. That was the very beginning. So she not only accepted me, she pointed me in the right direction. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Wow. Yeah. So people appear in your life for a reason, do they? They teach us, or we teach them, and. And we've got to know to look out for that. You are tapping into the universal collective consciousness.

We get involved in the world in which we live, which is materialism, and we see the surface, as I call it, the surface level, where we only see those things, and we start to apply the things that we learned in the first years of life, when, between the age of two to seven, your brain is in what we call a theta state almost full time. And a theta state is where a hypnotist will place you so he can get you to do something, quit smoking or whatever. So they want to put you in a theta state. As we get older, we don't have that theta state anymore unless we meditate and we put ourselves in there. We may have it a little bit right before we fall asleep, a little bit when we're groggy in the morning, but we don't have that state where we can just absorb everything around us. So, you know, when you think about it, the decisions we're making today as grown adults are based upon what other people have told us. Happiness is supposed to be. Life is supposed to be. Even if they didn't tell us directly it's what we heard in the background or what we heard on television, right? So we absorb that, and we don't know. Three years old, four years old, it's all going in there, and we jumble it up, and then we get this idea of what life is supposed to be, and it's so far from the reality of what it really is. And when you break through and you have that awakening moment, it's so revealing and overpowering and amazing all at the same time.

Wow, that's. That's a huge statement there. To think that all of our decisions are based on false premises, you know.

Yeah. Or. Or ones that when we're too young to really understand the concepts. Right. And, and, and, yeah, we take them in as though they are fact. Daddy called Mommy a. Well, he always calls Mommy. Maybe all women are bitches. Now. This is go.

Right.

This is the. This is what's being learned, and it's not right. And, you know, I. I came from a tumultuous household, so I did not learn good things. Now, I'm not saying other parents do that. I'm just saying that there can be other things that. That go on in a child's life that they see or they witness or they hear. You know, I bought a fancy car. I love this car. This is the greatest thing I ever got. Blah, blah, blah. That kid's going to grow up and think, I got to get a nice car when I'm older. Because that's, you know, what my father said we have to do. That's the. The vision of success is this great car or this great house. And nothing could be further from the truth.

Wow. Doesn't that take us to the whole question about parenting and what parents don't know and what should they know? Or how could they. How can people raise their children without all of these biases or these weird comfort zones? Yeah. How do you do that?

Well, the first time around, I didn't have that opportunity. I certainly didn't. I rebelled against everything that my parents did, and I tried to do the best that I could with the knowledge I had the second time around. Now with. We have young ones and we are giving them.

They.

They don't get false information. They see what we do, and they see how we do it, and we explain it and we explain that things that I guess most parents probably wouldn't, you know, like spirits and, you know, we use the word heaven and we use words that they can reference and understand, but we try to explain it in a way that you're not supposed to fear God. God is not going to punish you. You are part of God and God is a part of you. And you are a team. You work together to create your life. And that is the truth. That is the way it actually works. And in the second book, I think at the end when I get into ascension, you know, I start to address that.

And we all receive daily signs, but we're so clouded with our preconceived or what's supposed to be or what we were raised thinking, how do we declutter so that when those daily signs show up, we recognize them and then what do we do with them?

So the first thing that you have to do is start to take notice of them. And when I coach people on a one on one, I help as they tell me their stories, I share with them mine. And we look for instances of those synchronicities in their life so they can realize them. And after you do that, you start to highlight, if you will, those moments in your life and you start to recognize them more and more. As you recognize them, the other things become less important and the synchronicities that are factual that you get become more important. So if we could stay in tune with our awareness, which is our highest level of consciousness, right? That's our higher selves. It's connected to the God mind. We call it the awareness because we are aware that we're having a thought. We are aware that we're having an emotion. Animals cannot do that. Maybe some can, but we are pretty much the only creature that can do that. So we have this higher level and. But we tend to use our subconscious, which feeds our egoic mind, which dictates what we're supposed to do. You can't do that. You'll never be able to do that. Don't do that. You look terrible wearing that. You're. You really going to say that tonight? You can't do. Don't do a podcast. You're going to be terrible on a podcast. These are the things that the ego will do. But if I stay in line with my awareness, what happens is eventually if I'm writing, I'm not even writing anymore. It's coming directly from above and it's going on to digital paper. And I have, I go back sometimes and I read what I wrote and I was like, wow, where did I get that from?

Yes, yes.

And when you're in that zone, it's, it's amazing.

You're not the first person that has said that to me as far as a writer. Maybe when people are writing, they are more easily able to go into that beta state of awareness. And do you agree with that?

Oh, yes, yes. Anything creative?

Actually.

My wife paints and when she's painting, she'll get some of her Greatest ideas, you know, because she's in. Putting herself in a state where she's no longer thinking about the day to day that's done and she's focusing on the painting and it's an enjoyable creative thing. So she's in her creative side, which is where we want to be. We want to stay out of the analytical mind and we want to stay in the creative mind and allow things to flow through the awareness and become inspired or in spirit. Right. That's where inspired comes from, in spirit. And once you're in, you're. We call it in flow. And you're in a flow state where the things that you're expressing are not just yours, they're yours, God, or the source, or whatever word you wish to use.

I love all of this. You know, as you're speaking, I'm thinking how wonderful it is that you have a partner that recognizes and feels the same way. I know a lot of folks who may be exploring this or can get in that flow, but then they're living with somebody who denies it, which is probably the way when you first mentioned, when you brought this up to your mom and then squashes it and squelches it. And that's. That's a rough situation to be in.

It really is. And I. And a lot of the people I coach, their partners are very much skeptics and, you know, and I try to explain how to go about becoming the person that you wish to become. Because here's what happens when I meet a lot of people in this situation and because that divide is so great, they start thinking of splitting up. And so often I'll be speaking with a woman who's on her path and he's on another path and they just can't see eye to eye. And as I work with her more and more and she develops, she. It becomes more irrelevant how he feels. Not that she. There's no love lost there. What I mean by irrelevant is his things don't bother her. If he wishes to believe that, allow it to be. Surrender to what is. When you learn to surrender to what is. You can accept anyone for who they are or anything for what it is. Surrender to it as though you wanted it that way. Surrender to it as though we can't change other people that don't want to be changed. Right. It's like trying to take the alcoholic to the AA meeting. It's not happening. They're not going to stay there. They have to decide that they want to go because they want to get better. And until that Time comes, you know, just surrender to what is. Demonstrate in your own life how this works and elevate you. Don't preach it, just do it, just live it. And what happens is your energy then changes. And I'm referring to the client now, the female client. His energy changes because you're so commingled. This is where quantum physics comes in. This is where quantum entanglement comes in. Your energy mixes with his energy and he feels better being around you and has no idea why. But now he wants to be with you more. And then he's going to say, I wonder why? Why do I feel this way? And eventually it will build to a point where he will simply say, I don't know what you've done. Did you change your hair? You look fantastic. And all of a sudden there's this immense love and it's just, it's the other person's energy. Because we are in control of everything around us, right? If we walk out and we're in a nasty mood, no one wants to speak to us, no one wants to shake our hands. But when we go out and we're in a great mood and you're just smiling, how many people come up to you and be like, you know, hey, you know, do I know you from so and so? Oh, I think I know you. H are you today? That's what happens. That's the difference. And all you're doing is emitting a different energy.

Oh, I love this. You know this, this makes me go back to our pre interview conversation where we both felt like we knew each other just the first time we saw each other's pictures. And maybe that's something too. Maybe there's just that energy that one another consents and pick up on.

Oh, yes, absolutely. You, you can pick up on energy from somebody around the world. Remember how many. Think about how many times you've thought of a person. And then the phone rang and it was that person, right? And somebody you haven't talked to in 10 years. That's not a coincidence. That is quantum entanglement. That's them putting out the signal from their mind, which is like a satellite dish and you receiving it like another satellite dish. It's the way our cell phones work. If I dial your number, I change my frequency to match your frequency and then we can communicate. And you can't tell me that my mind can't do something that a cell phone can do. I mean, that's ridiculous. Of course it can. So I could be thinking of you and you're going to Think of me because I'm thinking of you and I'm putting it out there.

Oh, I love this conversation. It needs to be so much longer and I know that folks listening are going to think, wow, well, so you are a master certified life coach. If folks want more of you, they can contact you and work with you. Not only read your books but work. Do you work one on one with folks? Okay, just maybe explain where they can find out more or how they can find out more about not only your books but how they could work with you.

You can go to Ray Catania.com and you'll find everything. There's coaching links and book links and biographies. Everything is right there@raycatania.com I welcome and I try to answer every single email no matter how long it takes. So you can email me through that site and I will answer. So please have a look. If you're interested in anything that I have to offer, please. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So anything we missed that you wanted to highlight today? I mean, I know there's so much more but just in regards to this.

Conversation, you know, I think that the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway from the second book is the fact that you really are a co creator of the universe. You can change your life simply by changing your mind. And it really is that easy. It sounds simple and it is simple. There are ways to do it and there is a correct way and it's easy to learn and it's easy to do. And I'm actually speaking at the IONS convention in Washington D.C. on September 3rd, which I believe is a Sunday right before Labor Day. At 2:45 I'll be in the Doubletree Hilton in the Washington ballroom doing an hour presentation on exactly that. How to evoke, begin to evoke your own spiritual awakening. So if anybody likes to stop by. And the information will be at the website too.

Excellent. All right, thank you. Oh my gosh. I think we've just teased everybody here. Ray Catania, the title of the book is you're still alive now act like it and his website is raycatania.com this has been fascinating and I know I want more, so stay in touch. Are you writing more books?

Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. It seems like every two years I've got a whole bunch of stuff to put in there, so well keep. There's more to come.

Keep sharing with us and I know you and I are going to stay in touch. As I said, as soon as I saw your picture I just felt like I knew you. Thank you so much for today, though.

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Pat. It's been an honor. Thank you so much, Sam.