67 - EP 67 with Michael: The Esoteric Laws of Life, Training the Mind and Navigating Turbulent Times

Welcome, Michael, to the Soulcast. Uh, Holder of the Fire, is that a self-given nickname because you're passing on the torch of knowledge?

Um, you know, it's, uh, it's, uh, first of all, I want to thank you for having me. My first podcast. So if I'm a little not used to this, that's why. But it's an interesting name and I came to it for a couple of reasons. And I would say the top two would be, I believe as a man that we have a flame burning inside of us. And if that flame ever goes out, You know, there are times in your life— some people, um, there are times in their life where they feel it dim and they feel it die out a little bit, and that's your life force in a nutshell. So I, I look at it as like the, the life force inside of us. And then the second, uh, way I do look at it, yes, is, uh, in the— in line towards things like esoteric wisdom and things of that nature. Beautiful.

What makes the fire go out in a man's life?

It's a very deep question. And I would say that purpose. Yes. And I think that is the most important thing. Having something to strive for that is, you know, it doesn't always have to be bigger than yourself, but something that gets you up every morning. Like, you should be excited to wake up in the morning. And in my opinion, if you're not— I'm not saying that it has to be like this every day. But I mean, you should be waking up and there should be something that you want to strive for, whether that's making money, whether that's learning a new skill, whether that's getting yourself in shape, whether that's serving, serving someone, a community, whatever the case is. I think that the most important thing is having something to wake up for, because I know when I was a broker some years ago, I you know, there were points in my career where I couldn't sleep, and it would be like 2, 3, 4 in the morning, and I just couldn't wait to get to work, if you know what I'm saying. So, right, and I'm, I'm sure you have, uh, things in your life you feel the same way about. And I think that's, uh, it's just something, you know, not everyone has it. It's not necessarily a necessity, but it sure doesn't hurt, if you know what I'm saying.

Yeah, the purpose once you have your true purpose, and everyone kind of intuitively feels what that is, I think a lot of people struggle because they don't know how to find it. They don't know how to like test things. But I would say whatever energizes you will put you on the path to, okay, your, your purpose. And that could be many different things. It doesn't have to be one isolated focus. And your purpose may change in different periods of your life. Your purpose may be a career now, but your purpose may be your family later kind of thing. But that is perfectly fine for that to shift. And I think that it will shift throughout courses in our life. Maybe if you're, you know, Michael Jordan, his purpose was to play basketball. He was pretty one-track minded on that and nothing else. So there's different varying levels of it, I guess. But to each person to find their individual purpose is what energizes them. What could you think about for hours and not get bored while you're doing it? What does your subconscious want to think about when you're in your relaxation states? You know, that I think provides at least some breadcrumbs for people to pursue if they don't have or they don't feel that they know what their true purpose is.

You know, it's really interesting you brought that up because purpose is a tricky thing. And, you know, I was in the sauna today and I was having a conversation with this younger kid. He was like in his mid-20s or whatever the case is. Really nice kid. We had a great conversation, lasted like an hour or so. And he said, you know, he makes a good living, makes like $120,000 a year, relatively young guy. So he's doing okay for himself. And, you know, we came up to the topic of happiness over money. And I think, you know, the younger generation especially, I think they, they want to be more in line with having both of those features in place. They're not necessarily like their parents where they want to work a 9 to 5 for some heartless corporation that could lay them off out of nowhere. And also, you know, things along those lines have changed. They're not the same relationships that we used to have between employer and employee. But back on to the main topic, purpose. And, you know, purpose is not an easy thing to find. It could take some people, you know, it's what excites you. Like you said, it's what, it's what, it's what doesn't get you bored. It's what you're extremely excited about and what it's, it's what you would do for free if you had to, if you know what I'm saying. And, you know, for you, that's fitness and health. For me, that's things along those lines as well. Fitness, health, esoterics, psychology is a very interesting subject to me. But I think one of the ways— and I don't like to get too, like, off, you know, into, like, alternative topics when we talk about these things— but I think one of the best ways to find out what your purpose is, is understanding your astrology, your numerology, And there's also several other things you could look at. And, you know, before I even found out what my numerology was, I knew I was that person. So when I actually found the numerology, it just kind of confirmed that.

Yeah.

And, you know, I would highly recommend that, you know, if you're trying to figure out who you are, what your energetic imprint is, I think the people who are most successful in life and who live the best lives are attuned to their energetic imprint, if you know what I mean. Yes, you know, we were—

yeah, well, so let's, you know, for people that aren't familiar with astrology, numerology beyond, oh, this is my horoscope or whatever, uh, let's, let's maybe frame it for people. So the energetic imprint that you get, uh, according to astrology and numerology is that depending on where the planets were, where the stars were in the sky uh, what day of the year, what time of the year, what month, uh, all of these things kind of collaborate into one picture, which is what was the energy of the world like when you came into this realm of existence, this physical.

Exactly. And I think, um, you know, there's a lot of systems out there, so people get confused, but I think numerology is very accurate. And there's so many other things you could do on top of that, and I don't want to get too much into that because, you know, then we could be going into 10 hours. So, but the main point is, most likely, if you believe in things the way I do, when we fell down from the heavens and went into our mother's tummy, like you said, we were imprinted with a certain flavor of energy. And I believe once you figure that out and you understand it and you understand who you are to your core, and you're not trying to be somebody else, you're trying to be the best version of yourself I think that's when everything comes together. And I think when you really understand who you are, again, energetically, we all have certain traits, things we excel at, things that we can— we do better than anyone else and that people, you know, that makes us who we are. And in my view of the world, in the universe, that happens when we're born, we're flavored with some type of energy. And I believe that one of the main purposes in life and the way you have the most seamless path in life is understanding that, jumping on that current, being that person that you were designed to be and going forward. I think that is the most frictionless way to move through life. But I could also tell you this. It may take you a while to figure that out, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Yes, uh, from my experience, I, you know, I still am but was also more science-focused, you know, showing me the studies, uh, logically, logically analyzing everything, uh. So when astrology— and I didn't even know of numerology really until a couple years ago— but astrology, everyone, you know, you have your horoscope in the in the newspaper, which you talk about, and it's kind of like, oh, everyone kind of considers it, considers it an airy-fairy thing. So my household was kind of dismissed. But when I recently have gotten further into people with actual experts on this stuff, people who have, you know, studied it and, and really get the gist of what it's all about, uh, my readings, experience of life, and Everything just lines up to the point where I had a, a talk with someone and they, they said, you know, based on these movements in your second house and third house here, uh, maybe over the last few months you would have experienced this situation. And I had. And it was, it was so freakily accurate— not freakily because I believe in it, but so accurate that even the scientific logical mind that he was bringing up something that he couldn't possibly have known about my life, then there has to be something to it. The evidence is right there. And so I think for people that haven't experienced someone that's educated in it, they just think, oh yeah, well, my horoscope doesn't line up. But that's one very, very small part of this whole picture.

You know what I noticed? That the people who are skeptical, it's usually in their astrology.

True, true.

Yeah, it's really funny, but I'll let you finish your thought and then I'll give you my thought.

Yeah. So, I mean, at some point you have to just be completely in denial if you've seen the things that I've seen. And then also at a macro trend, there's what you are imprinted with, but then there are larger things which affect everyone at a certain— you know, everyone's affected by the full moon and things like that. But there are these larger planetary cycles Pluto return, uh, Saturn return in terms of your own personal, uh, birthday. But there are so many things that explain, or at least correlate to, larger macroeconomic issues, social things, wars. You know, this stuff is legitimate. And I think that basis is how people like Nostradamus, the greatest, um, what do they say, one of the greatest predictors of our time, or something like that, thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, he was pointing out, okay, so this government is going to be impacting with this government. And that was for sure because he had such an intimate knowledge of the planetary cycles and could kind of see, uh, he wrote cryptically, of course, in poems and things, but that is I haven't really read about him, but I would say that that kind of— you can see the map of the world and the timeline, and I think you would be very foolish to completely ignore that.

Yes. So let's start off with the top because that was a pretty expansive thing that I want to touch on a few subjects there. So, uh, the first thing we were talking about was, uh, from a personal perspective, and just like the whole idea that— so I believe we live in an energetic matrix, and I think if you look at that, it's pretty hard to deny. Um, and you know, when you look at science and things, you know, when you look at how atoms come together and how they connect with other atoms to form elements, they do that through affinity. And you know, it's really funny that when you meet someone in life, like say for example your girlfriend or a good friend, you know, chances are if you check out their imprints, they're completely aligned with you most of the time, not always. And you know, that says something to me because not only from— you look at it from a, from a physics perspective, when you see elements and atoms come together and the ones that don't come together. So we have like this little matrix of energy and likes attract likes and things that have affinity to each other attract each other and they build on each other and they create something else. And then you look at it on a personal level and, and then you start seeing the relationships in your life. For example, I was a stockbroker and my clients, my best clients, had— and I'm not even, not even like BSing you— my best clients had the same type of like, uh, for example, like all of my best clients were master numbers in numerology, which I found fascinating. And a lot of them were, a lot of them were the same number as me. And, you know, out of, out of 10, 15 people that I was, uh, most, you know, we had the best relationship, I was making the most money with they all had, like, how, how, like, let's just say, for example, there were 15 of them, like, 12 of them had those particular imprints. And so, so that, that brings up affinity, and, you know, likes attract likes, and sometimes opposite attracts because they, they complement each other. So I think when you look at this all in the big picture, you know, I've actually— I started questioning free will, uh, not, you know, I still question. Yeah. I'm starting to believe in that. So, you know, someone, a younger person actually said that, said this to me, and I thought it made so much sense, so I like to repeat it: free will up the mountain, but the destination remains the same. And I think that is 100% on point. And I think that, um, you know, we have a path to do our own thing, but ultimately we're here, we have a, a purpose for being here. And I think I believe ultimately we're going to serve it. And I believe the failure in life is not reaching that point. So it's a very nuanced and complex question, very convoluted. So I know it sounds like I'm describing two different things right now, which I kind of am. But in essence, I'm not sure if we have free will. I'm leaning more towards— there's this theory called teleology that I just learned about not too long ago. And what it is, it's the concept that everything in the universe is in the state of becoming. You know what I mean by that? Hmm. So like everything has a purpose. It's in this, like, we're all destined to be— we're all just moving in the direction of becoming. And then I learned about something called an L-field, and the L-field is how your body pretty much does all its processes without your natural input. There's an organizing force that is spread across the universe that guides all this stuff. Some would call it God, but that's what it is. It's called an L-field. And then there's the concept of teleology, which I think some people should look into. You'll find it pretty interesting. And then so what we were saying about macrocycles, I think, you know, that's what really got me sold back in 2008 when we had the, the financial crisis, which was a really wild time. I mean, I'm not— I know a lot of people that I interact on Twitter are a little younger than me, so they weren't really necessarily paying attention to markets at the time. But that was a really, really crazy, crazy time. Like, there was the idea that we would never recover from that, like when we were going down 5, 10% a day. And I'm not talking about stocks, I'm talking like the indexes. So, and that was the start of Pluto in Capricorn, and Pluto is the great disruptor. And Capricorn is systems, politics, banking, things like that. So what are the odds? You understand what I'm saying? Like, what are the odds? So I backtested this stuff. I went out to look at the period before that, the period before that. Like, for example, the late, like the vibe in the late '90s was amazing. And it was because I believe the signatures at that time had that particular imprint in place. So all of this stuff, is really, really hard to ignore. And, you know, a lot of people, like, especially like, uh, more religious people, they like to say, oh well, this is against, uh, religion to pay attention to any of this stuff. But if you look at the Bible and you look at the holy books, they are, they are, uh, highly based on astrology. A lot of people don't realize that, but they are. And so to ignore this stuff, in my opinion, is extremely ignorant. Now, I will say I don't pay attention to short-term stuff. I only pay attention to the longer-term cycles, and we're heading into some really, really interesting ones right now that I think, um, well, as you know, we're heading into Pluto in Aquarius, which I think is going to be a major, major, uh, shift in society. And I believe we're going to see tremendous, uh, tremendous leaps in technology, uh, the rise of communities, righteousness, uh, groups are going to band together to fight for what they believe in. And I believe ultimately we're going to see a lot of disruption, a lot of disruption and new ways of living. And then when you look at what's going on in the world today as we enter this cycle in a couple of weeks, you know, you just have to say to yourself, it's just like, for example, we just had the transit, whatever, Saturn in Pisces. Now all of a sudden we have this banking crisis kicking off and then we're kicking into Pluto in Aquarius at the end of the month. And then in the US's case, you know, you look at our You look at the US right now, there's a lot of problems. There's a lot of things that are coming out from under the surface, and we're having our Pluto return. So again, I don't want to get— you know, we didn't make this an astrology podcast, but I just find the relationship between energy and the system that we live in— we live in a system. And to think that these things, these heavenly bodies around us, don't exert any influence, I think is— I think it's just a little ignorant, that's all.

Yeah, no, I 100% agree. I think— and don't worry about not going into the weeds or anything. I think people find this interesting and I know I do. So yeah, no, you want to share?

Yeah, of course. And I just think, I just think we're on the cusp of— and I said this on my Twitter a lot and I have a knack for, you know, one thing I was always gifted with is not saying that other people aren't, but just like I was always good at seeing trends develop a little earlier than the average person. It's just something I'm gifted with. I don't even have a science behind it. I'm not saying it comes to me like through telepathy or something like that. I'm just saying I'm a very aware person. I pay attention to stuff and I'm able to form outlooks based upon that. And I just think that we're on the cusp of a major, major, major transition over the next 20 years. I think it's going to be a tremendously exciting time to be alive. And I think that we have to be proactive in you know, for the things we may not necessarily agree on, in which our leaders are trying to take us, I believe we have to be proactive in pushing back. I believe the system, like, if we push back and they push and we push, we meet in the middle somewhere. If we don't push and we just stay passive, then we're going to be living in a world that we don't want to live in. But I think, you know, all of society throughout the years has been the clash of the ideologies. And eventually we meet in the middle somewhere. But the thing we can't do is, uh, be passive, because if we're passive, we're not gonna like it, if you know what I'm saying.

Yeah, exactly. If we're passive and you just accept what's happening to you, then you're— so it's, it's almost like working with someone else. You're going to be building their dream instead of forging your own dream. Exactly. Building the version of reality that they want instead of the version of reality that you would be ideal for you. And I think it's important to note that there's, there's a sentiment that I always— I like that you push back on the sentiment on Twitter about people dooming about the situation with the various groups that are trying to exert their version of reality on us, and more technology and more control in these systems where, you know, you're not going to have cash and things like that. But this is a state of transition. It's, it's never one end set point, and everything can change even the next week. Like, we don't know what other banks may collapse next week, or whatever else, uh, positive things may happen. You know, a new leader comes up, or some country does a shift which really changes the game in a lot of ways. A technology comes out, is highly disruptive. All of those can be positive as well. So yeah, I think Yeah, just to reiterate that this stuff is going to be a, a massive period of transition, but that can also always mean a positive transition, a positive change.

And, and it depends on our input. And, you know, just the idea— and again, another thing about cycles and astrology— AI like literally came out right as we're about to move into, um, Pluto in Aquarius, which makes all the sense in the world. So it's like, ignore this stuff. I just think is, uh, it's not wise. And, you know, someone who invests in trade like myself, if trader and you invest, you should be immersing yourself in these types of macro cycles and understanding them, because certain trends, uh, will arise. You know, when you have something like a— I think it's like an 18-year cycle— when you have something like that, that is going— that is going to be a massive effect on society. And, and, you know, we just saw AI, which is gonna completely turn society on its head. I'm actually, um, working with an AI company that I'm going to be— I'm going to be selling their product. You know, I've been approached to sell a lot of things over the years, whether, you know, I'm not going to name them all, but let's just say I've been approached to sell a lot of things because sales is my background besides trading. And, you know, I finally found something. I'm like, wow, this is groundbreaking. I want to be a part of this. It pays very well. And I just think it's going to totally transform the industry that it's involved with. So what I'm trying to get at is This is going to disrupt society in such a major way. You know, lawyers, doctors. I mean, when you can go on ChatGPT, even though I think it's, it's a little early there, like, I'd much rather read a good book or go to a good website and get my information off that. The amount that that is going to evolve in the next 5, 10, 15 years is going to be ridiculous. And, and, you know, at some point we're going to have robots being built. They're going to be attached to this AI. They're going to have some type of network where they could— where this is flowing through them. And let's just say you have a robot personal assistant and you want to teach it to defend your home. So it downloads karate, it downloads shooting. You understand what I'm getting at here, right? Yeah. So, I mean, to say that we're going to see disruption in the next year is— I mean, the next decade or whatever is the understatement of the century.. And what I will say is this is going to open up the door for more creative types. That's why, you know, I've never had social media in my life until I got on Twitter. And I never really started tweeting like the real me until December of 2020. And it was just, you know, something came over me at that point. Perhaps we'll get on that story a little later. But something came over me at that point. And I was like, you know what? It's time to just put what I know out there. And I think that I think social media presence is going to be extremely important in the future. Content creators, people who have specific, as you know, people who have specific niches that they're very passionate about and they could share with the world, you know, not only serve where you're doing good for the world, but you're also making a living for yourself in an unorthodox way, which won't be unorthodox anymore. But I believe the creative types in the coming ages that we're heading into are going to benefit from this tremendously, uh, because a lot of the tasks that used to be done with physical labor, or, you know, a lot of things are going to be at our disposal to make things a lot easier. And I think the creative, innovative type that has initiative is going to do extremely well, um, over the coming— over the coming months, years, and decades. And I do believe that even if the, um, say we go into a deep recession I still believe the people who are involved in the internet, internet economy will feel that much less. So, uh, yeah, I mean, if I could say, if there's one thing I like to harp on is that we are headed into a major, major transition period. Uh, we are likely going to see the, the idea of, uh, the concept of cash is going to go away. Not the concept, whatever you want to call it. Cash is likely going away sometime in the next, uh, I would say 1 to 6 years, somewhere along that time frame. Whether they need a crisis to put that through or not, which we could be seeing right now, remains to be seen. I believe the first way they're going to do it, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw it in the 2024 election in the US, I believe they're going to announce some form of UBI and Universal Basic Income, and it is going to be given through the CBDC, and that money is going to expire in X amount of time, and that's how they're going to introduce it to the public. But I believe ultimately, unless we have some type of, um, EMP attack or something where, where our electricity gets put out for months and years at a time, everything is going digital, and that includes money. So I think that's something we have to prepare for, and I don't think it'll be the end of the world if cryptocurrencies are allowed to exist alongside of it.

Yes, the issue would be if the only currency that they allow is one that they control completely.

Yeah, and I, I don't see how it's possible because there's a lot of powerful, um, industries that— like, think about it, if they do go that route where they completely outlaw cash, they have to legalize drugs, right?

Why?

Because because people, people are still going to buy this stuff, and you're not just going to get rid of people doing drugs. So what are people going to buy drugs on? You know, so they would have to legalize it so people could use their digital money to buy it, because you got to remember, all this stuff is traced. So I, I think that that will come hand in hand. And, you know, you see guys like George Soros out there, he's a big, uh, proponent of legalizing drugs. And, you know, you know, there's two arguments against this. I believe that it makes sense, and I also believe it be harmful. But if it— in certain countries they have tried this and it was very successful. So I really don't have an opinion on the subject either way. But my point is, if you're going to get rid of cash completely, then certain things are most likely going to have to be legalized. Unless, like I said, they let the crypto— the cryptocurrency market exist alongside of that.

Yeah, I think there'll always be a pushback from a rebellious human faction, regardless. So I think humans are so adaptable that we will create a separate economy outside of that. And then you have the whole thing of breakaway societies. If you manage to design something that everyone uses digitally but it's not in control or regulation or whatever, then that has to be something that exists outside of that. And then you can kind of withdraw from the larger society as a whole. And I think this would be across decades, like it's not going to be next year everyone's living in barbarian wastelands, you know, Mad Max style, although we might get there. Yeah, it's— do you think that there's anything, let's say, like a short-term strategy for people listening? My limited financial expertise would say that it's always— it's never a bad idea to have some gold have some food supplies, some water supplies, because, you know, that will never— like, at the moment, everything pretty much is digital. Okay, you have stuff in your bank. Let's say you have $100 grand in your bank. They only allow you to withdraw X amount. Who really owns that money? Of course, you know, the SVB that just collapsed, they had— they completely collapsed, and they only had 24% of their alleged holdings ask to withdraw their money at the one time.

Yeah, Roku. First of all, a lot of companies, a lot of big tech companies had bank accounts with that particular bank that just went out of business. And Roku, ROKU, they announced after hours that they lost 20%, I think it was 20% of their cash reserves they had with Silicon Valley Bank. So as you were getting— I'll let you continue your thought and then we'll get into that in a second.

Yeah, so I guess just first steps, uh, for people that want to be as well prepared as they can. And there's some things you're just not going to be able to prepare for, but it's never a bad idea to have— convert some of the cash that you have now either to real cash, like withdraw it, or convert it to real life resources.

Absolutely.

Whether that means property, ammunition, food, water.

Absolutely. And you know what, that's I'm a big proponent of that. I'm not too— I haven't really been. Last year I had a really good pulse of where the market was headed, and I pretty much got out. I got one month before the top. I got out. So I saved myself and my family and anyone who listened to me a ton of money. And what I'm getting at this year, I don't really have a good feel, although I think right now we could be headed into a very volatile period. We got to see how the Fed is going to react to the situation. Situation. I will tell you one thing, it's usually never just one bank, uh, when these things happen. They tend to be— they tend to spread like wildfire. And I don't think people understand that if— and it's going to be really interesting to see what the Fed does. And if you follow my Twitter account, you know that how I feel about all this. I believe we are headed into a brand new system. I believe this system has completely served its purpose and is unsalvageable. Because let's say, for example, we do have another banking crisis and the Fed has to do bailouts and they have to do QE again, a bond buying program, whatever the case is, where they have to shore up all these balance sheets. And usually when we have QE, the market starts ripping. And here we are with whatever you want to call it, 6%, 7%, 8% inflation. That is a recipe for hyperinflation. Okay? And now they could even let everything crash. And let us see tremendous pain first. Now typically the Fed doesn't panic, and what I mean by panic is lowering interest rates and doing bond buying programs, thing of that nature, adding liquidity into the system. They usually do not do this unless the market is down 40, 50, 60% off the top, and we're nowhere near that right now. So I would be shocked if they come out next week and say, hey, we're going to halt or we're going to lower interest rates or we're going to bail out. Usually they let the pain happen. The Fed is notorious for breaking things. And every bear market we've had the last, what, 2008? And then there was a little period in 2011 where we might have went into a little bear market, I think. And then there was 2000, and then we went into literally like a 7 year bull market, and then we had the 2020 situation. So, and then we had 2022, which was more along the lines of the 2000 to 2003 bear market. It was like a slow decline with a, with a low VIX. But if we get into a banking crisis again, you know, we're talking complete pandemonium potential, especially if a bank like Wells Fargo, for example, who some people are speculating are in trouble, if they go out of business. So let's not get too off the topic. What you were saying, how does someone navigate this type of stuff? Absolutely. And you know, I always say about gold and silver, you don't buy them to make money. Yeah, you buy them to have them. In the worst case scenario, you know, God forbid, you know, we came into some type of Mad Max scenario where cash came worthless, which again is a very, very— most likely will never happen. But you absolutely should have some gold, silver, platinum, whatever you want, cash, ammo. And the way I look at, um, The way I look at food, ammo, and water is very simple. First of all, water is the most important thing out of all of them because we can go months without food. We can't go more than a few days without water. So the way I look at that is have anywhere between 2 to 3 months, right? Because if we're going into 3 months where we're having problems getting food or water, then things are going to be, um, let's just say that things aren't going to— yeah, things aren't going to be that stable. And at that point, you will probably be with a crew of other men and you will be ransacking other men to, uh, you know, it's just a reality, man. I mean, think about it, 2-3 months, you know, that's, uh, you want to give yourself a chance to survive getting into that situation. And in my opinion, that's 2-3 months. Anything beyond that and we're still not stable, you're talking about Mad Max stuff. So Yeah, uh, but yes, absolutely. Cash, ammo, um, gold, silver, all that stuff. Diversification. If you have the money, have a property or two that you could have, uh, in some type of a place where you can go for safety. And most importantly, have your people network. I think that's more— most important, both online and offline. Offline's a little harder these days because not many people like to, um you know, depending on where you live. But, uh, people are less social these days and they keep to themselves more offline. But I think it's great to have a network both on and offline if you have any relationships. You know, I try to build relationships with people that live around me, and I think that's very, very important. I think a network these days, especially as we potentially may see some instability, it's a beautiful thing to have. And, you know, I always say a lot of people when it comes to the Mad Max scenario. The Mad Max scenario does not benefit the people in power. It doesn't. It just, uh, that is in my opinion their worst nightmare. And because that's when it gets uncontrollable. Like, they, if they ever wanted to manage a decline, you would think that they would want to manage it and not for it to go complete Mad Max. Because once you go complete Mad Max, then you don't know what's going to happen. And I'm pretty sure the government has ran a scenario where, like, let's just say, hypothetically speaking, there was a civil war in the US and things were going crazy like that. I think they lost every single time.

What do you mean lost?

Like, they do not— like, if there was ever an uprising in America, I'm pretty sure that in the war games that they run, if I'm not mistaken, the government loses all the time.

For sure.

Yeah. America is way too big to control. And you only need what? There's 300 million people in this country, a little bit more. There's probably officially there's like 600 million guns, I think. And I think unofficially that number is probably closer to 1 billion. So, yeah. And then all you need is 1% to rise up and they have no chance. So that is the last thing they want to happen. So I think ultimately if they want to follow that plan, it needs to be slow, steady boiling type of thing.

Yes. Yeah, because their ideal scenario is everyone continuing going into their 9-to-5 jobs or whatever else they're doing, collecting their digitalized currency each week and then spending it on Netflix and video games and whatever else and just scrolling social media and TikTok all the time. That is a cash cow for them that they can control through the manipulation of social media. And that is really the scariest thing that, for people listening, to fight against is that slow decline, because that is going to be, uh, the most likely way that people become slaves and is how people are becoming slaves today, is the attention and energy and life force that they have being sucked away by social media and phones and the kind of reduction of their purpose.

I am so glad you brought this up. And the way I look at the internet is that it's both the gift and it's the curse, and it depends on how you use it. Some people use the internet— I, you know, again, I'm not perfect, obviously, but I have used the internet to find knowledge that kings would have killed for in the past. I'm not saying it's all online, you know, there's some stuff you simply can't get your hands on. You have to find people that possess that information. But my point is, I have used the internet— not always, but I have used the internet for the majority of my life. Let's just call it 70-30 where I used it positive to negative. I have used it to find information that I would have never found had we not had the internet. And it's completely changed the trajectory. I believe I would have went the way I went anyway, because like I said, imprints, I've always been this type of person. But the internet has allowed that to become more possible. And I envy the kids, the younger people that— so it's okay. It's weird, right? Because I— because of the age that I am, I am the last year of Generation X, and I both experienced life before the internet and life after the internet. And I have the best of both worlds. And I am forever grateful like you wouldn't believe that I got to experience life before the internet. Because let me tell you, it was a completely different time. And in my opinion, this is not me, uh, being— what, what's that word— nostalgic. How do I say it?

Nostalgic.

Yes, it's not me being that way. Um, you know, some people are, well, you're just reminiscing about the past and you think it was better because, you know, you just want to say your time was better like a grumpy old man. No. It was better. It really was. And I hate to say that because everyone has— I don't want to say my time was better than this time because everyone should make the best of the time they live in. But life before the internet was different, especially social life. And in my opinion, at least social life, the club scene, things of that nature was so much better. Everyone was much more social and the energy and the vibe when you went out were completely different. But I want to get back on topic. The topic we were getting at was social media as a tool of manipulation. And it really, really is. And if you look at, right, you look at the whole— was the biggest psyop in the history of recent anyway, biggest psyop in recent history. And if you understand tactics, if you understand persuasion tactics, manipulation tactics, if you understand NLP and things like that, and psyops and mind war, if you understand these things and you're able to actually see what they're doing, it's crazy. They really were doing this stuff. And, you know, I watched this documentary once about the whole, the whole BLM and the whole riots that happened after George Floyd and during situation, which, which, which in my opinion was one of the craziest, craziest times in American history. And I don't think people I think people forget how bad that little time period was because that was some serious memories. What's that?

Short memories.

Really? Really. Because that was serious, serious stuff. People's businesses were getting burned down. Business owners were getting beat up in front of their shops, in some cases murdered. And the White House was coming under attack. I don't think people understand how really crazy that was. And it's amazing how fast that slipped out their memory. And it perplexes me to this day that there are not massive investigations going on about that whole situation, because that was a— what's the word— that was a purposely planned uprising. And I'm not going to get too much into why it is. I'm sure people who— your audience will be able to deduct who it was targeted for. And what they were trying to accomplish, and they were successful. And the fact that there are not investigations about that blow my mind.

Why would they investigate themselves, though?

Yeah, exactly. But like, even the Republicans that are in power now, I— the first thing I would have done is I would have investigated the riots of 2021. What was it, 2020, May of 2020 or 2021? Whatever the case is. Oh, yeah, it was before the election. It was 2020. That was the craziest time in American history that I have seen in my life. And I have never— I don't want to get into too many details. Let's just say I, I got a lot of stuff to protect myself once I saw that going on.

Yeah, it's— I mean, it's, it's, it was perplexing if you look at it from the view of, oh, we should try to get to the bottom of these massive crimes against humanity. But it's not perplexing when you look at the view of, oh, the people that are in power wanted to consolidate power and they ran this up and then tried to sweep it under the rug. Some more psyoping and mind control through social media to get people to forget about it because most people— that's terrible. And then the next headline comes in tomorrow, but that's even worse. And then they'll just forget about the other thing and they'll do that literally every single day in a news cycle, 24-hour news cycle. How many things happen? You can't remember the things that happened last week. Then like it's just, it just makes sense.

It is, uh, the toolbook. It is complete psyop. We deal with psyop after psyop after psyop. And if you actually study this stuff, I have spent the last 6 months, uh, reading about psyops. Understood. Well, there's psyops and there's mind war, and they're two different things. One is actually much better than psyops, which is mind war. But these people, they have perfected the art of this to the point where they know exactly what radio frequency to be pointing towards a certain— like, say they have an area, whether it's a negotiation area or if it's a town, they have this stuff down to a science where they could play with the radio, whatever you want to call it, the radio waves, where they could incite a certain mood in people. And that's just one thing. They have many, many methods. And when you have something like the internet in which since information is traveling at light speed to everybody's phone, everyone has a phone in their hand. Just think of the level of control that they have over the populace. When you are not an aware person, you are not aware of these tactics, these tactics that they use to persuade you. They know when they do this, X% of the population is going through this. And I can't emphasize how powerful that is. And that is exactly what they did in May to November of 2020. And I think that was one of the biggest crimes in American history. And I also— there was one more thing I want to say about that. I actually watched a documentary that was banned, and I don't want to make this podcast too controversial, but it was about a particular event that happened and how they manipulated manipulated that particular event to kick off that whole thing. And they spoke like, this is what we did. We put out these posts on Facebook. This is a lady specifically from an agency that is designed to do these things. There's these little, um, agencies that are run— they're not, um, they're not official agencies like attached to the government, but they work, they're contracted, and they run these psyops. And I was watching this special about how they literally incited the population to do this stuff. And let me tell you, a lot of people don't realize this, they were one order away from burning down people's, people's homes, I believe. So it was pretty crazy.

So what, what is the playbook that people could defend themselves against? What are the standard NLP programming and reprogramming to be aware of?

Uh, being— I mean, so that's a, that's a very comprehensive topic. So it's not like I could sit here and say, hey, just, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a very, very deep topic that involves not only like the subjects that we just discussed— NLP, persuasion, mind control, all that stuff— it also goes a bit into esoteric topics. So I mean, to expound all that information and just, uh, it would probably take me a couple of hours because it's all related, it's all interconnected. What you should realize though is that you're constantly being manipulated, constantly. And I think the way that you avoid this stuff is by having inner strength and, and knowing what you stand for and having a certain, you know, whether whatever religion you are or whatever, it doesn't matter. Just having that strength, that inner spiritual strength, and having your own values where you're not easily manipulated, having your feet firmly planted on the ground, I think is the most important thing. I mean, you don't necessarily have to be aware of the tactics. It helps. Like, it's cool to be able to look at something and say, oh, I see exactly what they're doing. That's great, but it's not necessary. And it also would take a ton of your time, you know, just to actually sit down and learn all these different tactics that are being thrown at you daily. So that's not really practical for most people because most people have businesses they're running, they're working, they have families, and they have other things in life than to spend 2, 3 hours a day trying to understand how people are running psyops on them. So what I think the most important thing is just having your own values, knowing what you stand for, and having and make sure your values are right. And not falling for this BS that you see on TV every day or you see on social media every day. And complete BS that to anyone who has any type of head on their shoulders, it's absolutely insulting. And I almost feel like sometimes this stuff is meant to mock us. It's a mockery. It's a humiliation ritual. And you won't fall for this stuff if you have your feet firmly planted on the ground and you have values. And it also helps if you have some type of belief in something bigger than yourself. You know, like spirituality and whatever, whatever method that may be. Uh, it doesn't necessarily have to be some advanced form of spirituality, but definitely realizing that, um, that we're not just these, uh, physical bodies, I think is very important.

Yeah, so this 3D world that they're manipulating is only one level of existence, only one dimension, and we exist outside of this dimension. And spiritually, as, uh, you know, light beings. We— this is only one part of it. So to get so, uh, bogged down in the weeds is not really the purpose of this training ground. And that's how the perspective you have to have it is we are here in some level to navigate this world, but to elevate our spiritual selves in order to access the higher powers.

In my opinion That is the only reason we are here. And, you know, I think it's sad. And this is going to sound like I'm being holier than thou right now, and I promise you I'm not. But, you know, I think, I think a lot of people, especially in the type of society that we are in the US today, everyone's about money and keeping up with the Joneses. And listen, I like, I like nice things just as much as anybody. You know, I'm, I'm all about— I love aesthetics just like you. I want to take care of my health. That requires money. I want to live a good life. Like, we all want to live a good life. We all want to provide for our families and help out. So that requires money, and that requires a lot of money these days. But I think that because people get so caught up in that, they really miss the whole point of why we are here. And not everybody believes in this stuff. Certain people have different beliefs. Like me, for example, I don't believe in heaven and hell. I have a totally different belief system. Then I'm not going to get into that because it's my belief. Yeah. What's that?

Why not?

Uh, maybe we'll get into it, but I believe that, um, we're in a constant state of evolution or devolution or de-evolution. And I believe that, um, there is no final level. There's only progression. And there is no— there is no— only there is no complete moment. You know, there's this law called the Law of Eternal Unfulfillment, and the gist of it is there is no complete moment. Because if there was a complete perfect moment, everything would stop because it would have everything it needs. Because there's always something missing in that moment, even though me may be complete, it allows us to take that next movement. And that's what I believe that, um, ultimately our spiritual journeys are. Our spiritual journeys are a, a journey of constant evolution, constantly evolving. There's always a next level, in my opinion. And could it stop somewhere? Sure. And, uh, that may stop depending on what path you believe in. Uh, for example, the right-hand path believes it stops when you merge with God again, and the left-hand path believes that, um, if you do certain things and perform certain things and live a certain way, that you yourself can become a god. So that is a totally, you know, that's a completely different discussion. But my point is The gist of it all is there's always another level and there's always some type of evolution. You know, that's one thing I found in my spiritual journey, that there is always another level. It's never ending. And I think that is applicable to the universe itself. Now, I'm not saying that in your afterlife you can't suffer or you maybe can't experience bliss, but it's just not the way I look at things. I don't, I don't really believe in hell. I do believe you can be punished, but I don't believe in hell, if you understand what I'm saying. And I don't necessarily believe in heaven, but I believe that if you're a good person, you will have a good afterlife or maybe a good— I believe in reincarnation, but I also believe in spiritual evolution where if you got to a certain level, you wouldn't be reincarnated. So again, this is a very convoluted conversation and some people get offended by the conversation or whatever the case is because they have certain religious beliefs. But I, me, myself personally, I don't necessarily believe in a place called heaven and hell, if you know what I'm saying. I do believe that there are frequencies, some of them very negative and some of them very positive. But I don't necessarily believe that there's this cold, dark place called hell. And I also don't believe that there's this paradise that we all just chill in. And once we get there, we stay there forever. I don't believe in that.

Yeah, I've written about it before, is that the heaven and hell are real, but they are states of mind. Yes, on one side. Yeah, one side of it, you can be in hell if you are living in a way that invites hellish circumstances and you're taking advantage of other people. You're not taking care of yourself, so your body's falling apart. Maybe you're addicted to drugs.

Exactly.

I have no discipline. Like, that is hell.

How do you know we're not in hell right now? Some people could be in their own personal hell right here on Earth right now. And then some people could be in heaven. You know, for some people, you know, two people in the same exact place, yeah, could be living two completely different lives, and it's completely based on the program that they have running in their brain. And when you think about that, it is absolutely amazing. And it really is, because when you think that two people could have the same— like, for example, two people can have the same problem, and because of the way they frame them, they will have different outcomes to the same problem. Yeah. You get what I'm saying? So, and just like, you know, I was speaking to somebody the other day, I forgot who it was, but I made a point of how important language is. And that's why I study— I've been studying NLP recently, and that's the study of language and its effect on us. And when you think about it, we can only define things if we have a word for it, right? Yes, yeah. So we can't define colors that we don't— you know, some people can because they're very imaginative, but if we— we can't define colors that we've never seen before. Now just think about, for example, language and its effect on people and societies and culture. If you had a primitive culture that only had 20 words, how expansive do you think their, like, their way of living would be?

Not very.

Yeah, exactly. And then you have a culture who has tens of thousands of words. They're obviously going to have a richer experience in life because they could define things. They have ways to define things. So, and again, I'm an amateur at the subject, so I'm not going to sit here and pontificate, but just the idea itself, if you know what I'm getting at, is mind-blowing. If you really, really, really think about it, It is absolutely mind-blowing. And then when, you know, when you think about that, um, you know, you know what they say, in the beginning was the word. Uh, some people say that the Hebrew alphabet, like, you truly understand it, it'll show you the map of reality. And I believe that because I've done a little study into it. And it's just amazing that these words and these symbols, uh, you know, a lot of people don't realize, like, none of this stuff around us is a mistake. The way we describe things, the words we use, none of that is a mistake. They all have a root. Uh, somewhere. And then when you start realizing that, it's pretty amazing. It really is.

Yeah, words are magic spells in the literal sense of the word. And this is why I have this thing where, uh, maybe people around me describe things as sick because it's cool. And I get that it's come out of popular culture, and I used to do it a lot myself. But I'm, I'm really like, if people around me think something's cool and they say it's sick, then I say, nah, man, it's actually healthy or vital. I get it. And, uh, you know, you don't want to be negatively affirming these things all the time, especially because saying sick seems to be— at least in this subculture that I frequent, it seems to be very pervasive and the only positive word that people say anymore. And there's hundreds of other positive, beautiful words, and it just seems lazy to me to me, it seems not the point of the word sick to use it in that context. And if you magnify the level of thousands of people sick, sick, sick, sick.

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, bro. I mean, it's a signal. It's a signal. It's like, you know, like, for example. All right. So, so what you were saying. So language, that's an example of language. And, you know, when you do like when you do these things, you say it over and over and over again, that forms an imprint in reality. And like you said, the word itself kind of has negative connotations. So, so we ask ourselves, what is that forming? And anyone— and people who— oh, you guys are crazy, that doesn't form anything. Yes, it does. Like, I'll give you a perfect example. Do you ever see like meme magic, for example? You know the Koomer guy? You know the Koomer guy that they created? That guy really exists.

Yeah, and he was manifested.

That meme came out before they found out who that guy was. Yeah. And then another example I'll give you. I don't know if you were on 4chan. Were you on 4chan? Uh, oh yeah, during the Trump election.

Yes, good times.

Did you see the whole tech thing? Yep, yep, bro.

It's crazy.

Yeah, if you followed that closely and you really watched it unfold, there is no way that you will say that these things do not take on a life of their own. Yep. That was the most surreal thing I've ever seen happen in real life. Like, just the way that unfolded was— and if anyone's not familiar, there's actually a book on it. Um, I don't want to search for it right now because I don't want to potentially knock the screen that we're on off, but There is a book about that whole thing, and I think it is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen in my entire life. And, you know, a lot of people don't realize, like, all of these things, like, reality is starting to show that it's just, uh, what's the word? I mean, we create our reality. We literally do. And even though I believe in, like, like I said, contradicting myself right now, I kind of believe in predestiny as well. But at the same time, when we've seen these examples of meme magic coming through and all things like that. Like, it's just wild because these things take on a life of their own and they come out into reality. So it's really, it's really strange. Like you said, it's a magic spell. It absolutely is.

Yeah. So the— I think the book is The Cult of Kek.

Uh, it's not. There's another book. That's one of them. But there's a book that actually— with a really good author, and I forgot what it's called. Uh, if anything, um, I'll let you know after we get off of here. But it's a really good book, supposedly. I read the— like, I read a few pages of it. I never, I never actually bought the book, but I'm gonna buy it soon actually, because I watched it happen live, so I didn't really need to buy the book. But, and it's not— it's like a real serious book, and they're explaining how these people literally were performing magic, and they were. And the things that were happening were so one in, one in a billion that the only, the only logical conclusion you can come to is that this stuff is real. Yeah, you know, so, and where were you going with all that? We were talking about language. So yeah, and you know, you look at like these, like these so-called, um, you know, when people talk about the Grammys and stuff and all these performances they do, blah blah blah, those are all spells. They're all trying to, um, you know, those are meant to capture your attention for you to focus on them and to give it life. That's what that is meant. Um, are they all evil? I don't know. I mean, you know, I, you know, one thing I learned in my journey is I'm not quick to label everything evil anymore because when I was— so 9/11 was my big red pill moment, right? And, and that was when red, you know, whatever you want to call it, taking the red pill or getting whatever the word is, that is when nobody was doing it. And I was coming across— I was in a period in my life where I was just leaving. I was partying hard for like I don't know, 5, 6 years consecutively. I'm talking really, really hard. I was hardcore in the club scene. I was doing, you know, I wasn't— I was doing some crazy stuff week in, week out. So my serotonin was completely gone. And so then 9/11 happens and I'm reading about this stuff and I'm looking at— I'm going down the rabbit hole, rabbit hole, going deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down the rabbit hole. And I, you know, in retrospect, I'm happy I did it, but at that time I wish I hadn't done it. And why? Why? Because I was alone.

Rather live in fantasy world.

I was alone in that at that point. No one was looking at that stuff back then. If you tried to tell your friends back then about like this stuff, they would, they would think you're crazy. Yeah, they'd be like, bro, you're crazy. Like, are you all right? And you know what's funny? Yeah. And you know, I have my friends make fun of me. Like, they weren't like mean about it. Like, all right, you know, they used to crack jokes and and then, you know, it's funny, like, uh, 10, whatever, 10, more like 15, 16 years later, 17 years later, they're like, bro, you were right about everything, you know?

Yeah.

But like, you know, it's different because now everyone's going down that, you know, that rabbit hole together, and so it's not as scary as going down it by yourself and seeing all these horrific horrific things that you're like, no, this can't be true. And it is. And you have no one to talk to about because people will put you on a mental ward if—

Now you can tweet about it.

What's that?

Now you can just tweet.

Now everybody— now it's a business. I mean, people make a business off of it now. Yeah, it's really wild. And yeah, so it's just like I said, reality is— it's a big contradiction. It's a big paradox. But what we say, the way we describe things, that the energy we put into things are absolutely real and it really does have an effect on society. And that's why, you know, one of the major reasons why I got on Twitter and so I got on Twitter in 2017 to just for crypto. The crypto market was going nuts at the time. I made like, you know, not a lot, but I took like $10,000. I turned it into multiple six figures. And that was the only reason why I was on why I was on Twitter at the time. And eventually I started, you know, I started getting into— I started seeing money Twitter and health Twitter and esoteric Twitter, and I was just lurking, you know, I would be the reply guy. And then, and then like when the election was going on, like with the COVID stuff, I hit my Twitter phase where I was angry and I was not— not that I was yelling at people, but I was like, you know, this is what's going to happen if we don't start taking this seriously. We need to do this. Wake up, wake up. You know what I'm saying? And so I realized after that election that the only way that we're going to make a change isn't going to be through politics. It's going to be winning over the minds of the intellectual impressionable. Yes. You understand what I'm saying? Like the people who are stuck in the middle, they're being dragged this way, they're being dragged that way. The only way we're winning the culture war is getting those people into our frame of thinking. And that's not to say our frame of thinking may 100% be the right way, but I believe it is. But anyway, the point is that in order to go against what's going on in society these days, we have to win over the minds of the impressionable. So I stopped caring about politics and I said, you know what? I've had an interesting life. I've been in the darkest of the dark places and I've been in some wonderful places. And I said, you know what? I have a lot to share. I'm just going to go out there, I'm going to do my thing, and I'm going to share what I know. And that's pretty much how I got to where I am today, where I talk about a lot of different things. And a lot of this stuff comes from my experience of things I've done in life and stuff. And I'd like to say one thing, like, I kind of sit here today, I sit here and I might sound like I'm trying to sound like, oh, well, I do this right and I do that, blah, blah, blah. No, I don't come from that place at all. I've been in the darkest of dark self-inflicted places. And I've been in some awesome places. So the perspective I come from when I speak on social media is from both of those places. You understand what I'm saying?

Yeah, 100%. And you're just sharing stuff that you've found helpful in your life and the lessons from your life. And I think the projection that people get sometimes is just that— it's projection. And I know that you're at least conscious and aware enough, and for the most part, to not be rubbing in people's faces of what's happening. It's just like, this is the reality, this has been my experience, and no one can really get upset at you for that, or at least shouldn't.

Yeah, I never tried to, um, like when I tweet, I'm never trying to lecture people. I'm sharing my view. And you know, like some people ask me to come on, and I might do one soon with someone who's way above my level, but some people ask me to come on like spiritual podcasts, and I don't like to do that because even though I feel like made tremendous leaps and bounds in that area. I don't feel qualified to speak on that subject. Like, I will tell you my beliefs, but I don't feel like I'm qualified to sit in front of an audience and say, well, you know, you should do this and you should do that. Do I— I know some people who I feel are qualified. One of my mentors and one of my friends, I feel he, he definitely qualified to speak about the situation. But, you know, it's a touchy topic. Like, when people ask me, a lot of people DM me and they ask me for, oh, what should I do? How do I find out you know, the stuff you talk about. And I only give them 1 or 2 books, and I tell them after that to let your curiosity guide you, because it's not my job to, uh, because what if I'm wrong, you know? You know, what if I'm wrong and I'm leading you in the wrong direction? And, or, and also with this stuff, you know, with a lot of these esoteric topics, as you know, you are responsible if you push someone in the direction and they use it for bad. So, uh, you take some karma for that. So I only give people people two books. I give them the Kybalion and the Master Key. And I believe if you had those two books and you understand them and you apply them and let your intuition guide you, from that point you'll be well off, you know.

Yeah, I agree. Kybalion is a great one. I've recommended it as well. Haven't seen the Master Key personally, but—

oh, I mean, listen, you already lived the tenets of the Master Key, but I would strongly suggest you read that Yeah, always reinforce it. Yeah, no, it's a great book, bro. It was actually, um, it's rumored to be the book that everybody in Silicon Valley read, and, um, that's like required reading. Supposedly it got banned by the church. Uh, it's not a bad book. I guess they didn't like the, um, the self-empowerment aspect of it. Supposedly would ban by the church. And it's also structured very well, like it's structured point by point, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So I think it's a really easy read. And at the end of each chapter, it has a, it has a, like a meditation you have to do. And let me tell you something, I, I use this book to heal health issues and completely get out of ruts in life. So I think it's a, it's a wonderful book and it's extremely powerful. And I strongly suggest that people read it. It's free online. So Master Key, PSY Tech. If you Google that, it'll come right up.

Sweet. And how good is that, that we can access that at a click of two buttons?

What's that? Oh yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. You know, someone made a point the other day. I forgot who it was on Twitter, and they made a really good point. And they said, you know, back in the day when you were trying to find this type of knowledge, you had to like travel to a distant land and meet some dude.

You know, I think it was me.

It might have been you, might have been. But the whole idea was that you had to, you had to do this travel. You went on this journey and then you met the guy, and then you had to travel all the way back to let that sink in. And I thought it was a great point because now we learn these things and like you said, we click the next button, go on to the next thing. So like, you know, some people aren't even letting this stuff sink in. And you know, usually when, when you learn these topics, especially spiritual topics and psychological topics, they usually don't sink in until you give them a chance to sink Yeah, so I think, uh, meditation and things of that nature, even though I need to strengthen in that area, I think those things are very, very important.

Very important. I'm gonna be strengthening it myself this year. You know, going by the numerology, this year is good for more learning, more knowledge.

What are you in, a 7 year?

Uh, that's, I think, universal 7 year.

I mean, yep. Yeah, I'm in a 1, so I'm all about this year. I'm pushing boundaries. Like, I just, uh I just quit cigarettes cold turkey just because I wanted to prove I could do it. And it actually— and I've been smoking for 3 years and I've been smoking about a half a pack to a pack a day. And I realized that I wasn't— I knew for a fact that I wasn't addicted to the nicotine. I knew I was addicted to the anchors that I created and the rituals I created smoking a cigarette. And it was actually too easy. So I'm actually upset about it, that it was so easy to quit. Yeah. And I'm not saying that—

not a challenge.

Yeah. Like, I'm not saying that to brag or anything. Like, it's just— I was just shocked how easy it was. So the next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to go on a massive cut cleanse at the same time, and I'm probably going to start that in April. I'm going to do a cleanse and a cut at the same time. And then after that, I'm going to do something even more challenging. So like, I'm all about like— and that's, you know, it's good. I think it's good to live within like the energy imprint. So, you know, a lot of people think that's woo-woo and crazy, but whatever. For me, I like it. Even if it's not real, I'm making it real by believing in it. So—

and yeah.

So what I want to do is I want to like keep this. I want to make, you know, one thing after another. I just want to keep pushing, pushing, pushing. And I want to see where I'm at at the end of the year. And I think that's the most important thing in life is when you're stagnating, that's it, you're dead. And a lot of people, you know, you see a lot of people, they get to like 24, 25, 26 years old, the light goes out. Yeah, it's like, and that's what, you know, you ask me what Hold Your Fire stands for, that is exactly what it stands for. And yeah, and I say this from being in that place where there was no fire. So I think that's extremely important. I think when the minute you stop growing and evolving is, is the beginning of, uh, the nail in your coffin.

Exactly. It's, uh, it, you know, if, if you're not increasing, then it's decreasing.

Absolutely.

You don't have a stat, uh, static point. Point for your health, your fitness, your financials, your business, your relationships. You have to put energy towards things in order to push that wheel along. And if you stop pushing this wheel, then stop spinning that plate, then that plate will fall, the wheel will stop. And again, it's that law of perpetual, you know, you think if you just work hard enough and then you get to a point and then, oh, I'll be able to chill, but it's like, nope, it's a new day. You got to keep going. And that's beautiful as well.

Beautiful. Yeah.

I think if we got to a set point, people would get to it and then be like, well, what now? That's what— that's one of the biggest reasons with people that they attach their whole lives to one particular goal, one particular financial set point, and they work their whole lives to get to that. And then they get it and they thought everything would be solved. I'd finally be happy. But no, the the struggle and the pursuit of that thing is what engaged you enough to be happy in the process.

Really?

And, you know, it's—

I know, you know, it's funny, and I'm sure you've experienced this before because, you know, you've had a tremendous amount of success over the last couple of years, very organic, by the way. And, you know, it's worked out really well for you. Built a really nice brand for yourself. And like, you know, when you wanted these things, like say you wanted a nice watch or a nice car, when you finally get them, that lasts like a day or two and you're over it. So that depresses some people because they're like, well, you know, I thought I was going to be happy when I had all these nice things. That's not the way it works. And you know what I think ultimately and what makes people like— I put out a tweet today, like, you see some people, let's just say, like, I'm not going to name names because you're on a podcast. I don't know who's listening to this. Well, let's just say you're like a 60, 65-year-old guy, right? You're worth $500 million, $1 billion. You got a family. And you're still out there every day hustling, hustling, hustling. Like, part of me respects that, but part of me is also like, like, where are you trying to go? Like, all right, so you're going to be worth $2 billion and you're still going to be the same exact person. Because the way I see it, like, look at Elon Musk, for example. He's worth $200 billion. And yeah, he's more powerful than the average guy, but he's still a cog in the matrix, in my opinion. Like, he is— even though he knows, he knows certain truths and he has all this money and he's working on amazing projects, he is still subject to the laws of the system.. And there is an entrenched power structure in the system that has been, in my opinion, in charge of the system since the very beginning of civilization. And they're likely not going anywhere. I hate to say that. You know, they're there for a reason. So like, at what point does the chase for money, like, at what point does it just become like, you know, what are you doing? And, you know, it's funny because I've been— I was in the brokerage industry for 15 years, so I got to speak to a lot of wealthy people, sports agents, mega CEOs, people who started their own business and became billionaires. And I got to say, the people who were most happy— now, don't get me wrong, they had a ton of money. The people who were most happy were in the range of like $25 million to like $150, $250 million. And yes, they were running their companies and they were still doing business, but they also had a really cool perspective and wonder about life, right? And like, they were self-made guys usually. And then I would talk to the guys who are like legit billionaires. Like, I've spoken to maybe like 5 or 6 billionaires in my life, uh, you know, some of them more than once and some of them only like for a couple minutes. And I, I gotta tell you, they were the most miserable people, miserable sounding people I've ever spoke to in my life. Now, I don't know if it's because maybe they just didn't appreciate the phone call or whatever the case is, but they just sounded so miserable. I think one out of like the 5 or 6 guys I spoke to actually sounded happy. But then I would speak to these guys who were like entrepreneurs and they were filled with wonder and filled with life. And, you know, they were usually in a sweet spot of the net worth and money wasn't their main motivation. And money, their main motivation was like so much bigger than that. And that's why they had the money to begin with. You understand what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Yeah. There's a certain archetype and I can never understand this, the constant chase for money and money alone. I think if, you know, once you get to a certain point, It's about personal evolution, it's about serving others and things of that nature, in my opinion, for sure.

And there's— you have to hit that set moment to not worry about money, and then you can, you know, do the spiritual evolution, whatever.

Of course, there's the, um, there's the Maslow hierarchy of needs for a reason. I mean, you can't be worried about where to get— where you're getting your next meal and then trying to figure out— yeah, although, you know, there are people who don't have much money who are spiritual masters, so you can't necessarily say that, but you know what I'm getting at. They're usually— there's a, you know, you have to worry about your shelter first, you have to worry about where you're getting your next meal, where you're gonna— where you're gonna make your living and all that stuff.

Let's say the, the young guys that are going to be listening to this, it's kind of essential that I would say, okay, get a bag in some regard so that you can, uh, not have that constant stress over you. And that's— it's not a replacement for spiritual progression, but And then also, it's not to say that you shouldn't do spiritual progression because focusing on that enables and increases your capacity to attract.

I think it's a big mistake for people to say, oh, well, I can't worry about that right now because I need to get money. I think that's a huge mistake because if one thing I've learned in life is mindset is everything. All right. And, you know, it's really amazing because I was in the brokerage industry and the brokerage industry is all about mindset. And it was amazing to watch people transform from someone who was was, you know, maybe, uh, just, just an average guy who was scared and afraid and blah blah blah, to see that person transform into an absolute killer over the course of 6 months. And that didn't happen because they were killing it, making a ton of money. Yeah, the money was starting to come in a little bit, and that's why they were able to feel more comfortable maybe, but it happened because of their mindset. And, you know, when you see someone— I used to see this all the time because it was the industry I was in, and that's how we were trained. I was trained by some of the You know, the people I've gotten trained by in my sales career, I came across some of the most unbelievable characters, and I couldn't even describe these people. They're larger than life, and they had these unreal personalities, and I'm so blessed to have learned from them. And, you know, from a mentality standpoint and from a sales standpoint, you know, I've learned from guys that were trained by Jordan Belfort. Now, I know Jordan Belfort is not the— you know, a lot of people don't disagree with what he did, but he was an excellent salesman. And, you know, I directly in the lineage of his training. And so my point is, I would— I learned from these guys who are larger than life, people who came from nothing. I mean, absolutely nothing, from the streets, from the hood, and who are worth like $150, $200 million. So, you know, these are the type of dudes I learned from. And, you know, what was cool about them is it was all like what these guys all had in common was mindset. And spirituality. When I say spirituality, I don't mean that in a religious sense. I mean that in a metaphysical sense. And they were just— they were— I can't think of the word, but let me just put it this way. I am writing, in the process of writing a persuasion and sales course or journal, whatever the case you want to call it. And the first thing I am addressing is mentality and mindset. Because you can't be persuasive and you can't be a good salesman until you have that nailed down. And there's something I like to say. The foundation of charisma is being comfortable in your own skin. Without that, that's it. You're done. You're dead in the water.

Yeah.

You will not be persuasive if you don't believe in yourself. You're trying to be something you're not. You're— the way you're persuasive is by, like we mentioned earlier in this conversation, of living up to your imprints. Becoming the best version of yourself. People laugh at that. That is actually the best advice. And you know, the whole 'be yourself' meme, you know, people laugh at that, but that is actually the best advice one can get. But people don't really understand what it means, in my opinion.

Yeah, everything's in plain sight, and the clichés are that way for a reason, because they are the simplest distillations of the esoteric wisdom that you can break down a million ways, but you have these phrases, mindset, like the all is mind. I'm pretty sure that's in the Kybalion.

Yeah.

And, uh, it, it's, it's all really quite simple at the end of the day with all of these esoteric topics. And you can get lost in the rabbit hole, but ultimately there— this is what I always say is there are principles of this energetic matrix, the world, that you would be foolish not to take advantage of, and not to take advantage of it, but just understand the rules of the game. Otherwise you're never going to win it.

Yeah, belief. And you know, a lot of people don't realize that metaphysics is your belief system, and your belief system is your program. And I believe ultimately you get to the point where you shouldn't have any programs at all, but that's a different conversation altogether. But ultimately, when you're beginning, the way you program your computer, which is your brain, is through your belief system, and your belief system is built through some type of— whether you want to admit that or not, it's some type of psychological spiritual mix. So, and, you know, it's just so funny because like I said, these people who I met that I was trained by who were larger than life, they all had that one thing in common. And, you know, it's funny because two of the most successful dudes I've ever met in my life, they're both worth north of a quarter billion dollars, completely self-made., and they both told me the same thing. These guys never met each other in their life. And they both told me, they said, Michael, perception is reality. And, you know, hearing that from two people really made me understand how true that was. And, you know, two extremely successful people and what they're trying to get at, it's not saying manipulate or anything like that. They're just saying perception is reality. And what you make, you know, what your perception is on life, the language you train yourself with, the beliefs that is going to be your reality, and that's going to shine through. People only perceive what they see, and again, it has to be authentic. But you know where I'm getting at with this.

Uh, perfect distillation of it all. I love it, man. Uh, I think that's a beautiful message for people to take away from the end of the Soulcast. Uh, I will thank you once again. What are you working on? Uh, where can people reach you on Twitter? And do you have any other socials you want to mention?

Uh, right now I'm strictly on one platform, @HolderOfTheFire. I will be starting an email list soon. As far as what I work on, I tweet about— I tweet about a lot of things, but mostly esoteric topics, the stock market, persuasion and sales. And as far as what I'm working on, I put my trading journal on the back end. I'm going to be putting that out again in the near future. But for now, I shelved it because I'm going to transform it a little bit. But I do consulting. For people who are learning how to trade. And I also do consulting for people who are looking to get into the sales business or want to improve their sales or things like that. So I'll be putting out more information about that soon. And as far as another platform, I'm thinking about getting on another platform. I'm not, I'm not ready yet. I'm going to keep going on Twitter, but eventually I will be going over to another platform. I'm actually not a social media guy at all.

Awesome, man. Well, thank you again for joining me, and thank you people at home for listening.

I really appreciate it, Sol. We'll talk again soon, all right?

Okay. All right, bye-bye.