The Art Of You with James McCrae

(soft music)

Welcome to Synchronicity. My guest this week is James McCrae. James has been on this show. We mentioned it at the beginning, but before the pandemic, I was out in LA for a month or so, and he stopped by when I was up in Laurel Canyon, and it was a great time, and then everything changed. And so, you know, I'm kind of on like what you would call the reconnection tour. I'm linking up with people who I was hanging out with before the pandemic hit, just kind of before everything went crazy in so many ways. And it's been interesting to see kind of what's happened with people during that time span. And James has been a busy bee.

Let's just put it like that. He's been a busy bee. He's been up to stuff. He's got a new book called The Art of You, The Essential Guidebook for Reclaiming Your Creativity. This is a real deal book. The details of when that is out, he will mention in the episode, I believe it's out in the new year. So you can pre-order it now. It's all the places you would want to links to his website and all the places to get the book and see what else he's been up to in the interim is also available on his site and other places. He's also known as words or vibrations on Instagram, one of the more popular kind of, I don't know what you would call this like niche of spiritual meme accounts that have found their way on TikTok.

You know, some of them bother me, let's be honest. Like they're just kind of like trite platitudes that aren't really that interesting. James actually like, I will give him credit. They are interesting, like they're not lame. That's the best way. That's the best compliment I can give to someone who's doing stuff on Instagram is it's not lame at all. And, you know, in a world where there is just kind of a lot of derivative stuff that you find, I mean, James was probably one of the first people I saw posting this type of content in a way before it kind of blew up and became like a formula for people to, you know, I don't know, an engagement farm.

That's what it seems like people do with a lot of this stuff now. But his stuff is qualitatively different. There is kind of a resonant frequency that you can feel kind of the authenticity behind it. And he's just, you know, it's a very cool dude. So go and check his stuff out. I think you'll enjoy it. We speak today about a bunch of stuff, not just his book, but just kind of like, you know, the weirdness of the world and how to find a quiet place inside. A lot of the shit that I've been mentioning. Patreon is rocking guys. You guys, listen, I don't have to sell it anymore. There's nothing to sell.

We're getting a critical mass of people there. It's turning into a real fun community. We are doing a crypto livestream on the Patreon December 14th. So if you're interested in that, you can join before then and get access to that. It's kind of a preview of what's going on in 2024. I don't know how many of you have been paying attention to crypto, but stuff is kind of happening. There are regular cycles in crypto. It's not kind of, it's not a surprise that people have been doing this for a long time. But for other people who maybe thought that, oh my God, it's crypto dead, which happens about every three, four years.

People start asking the question, is crypto dead? That's usually the time to start being like, maybe I should put some money in here and see what happens in the next couple of years. 'Cause people think when people start, you know, writing the obituary for a crypto, it's probably closer to things going up than not. So the Patreon is rocking. You can go find all the details there at patreon.com/synchronicity. The links are in the bio. All the fun stuff is there. Christ Consciousness readings are open. I think I have a few more spots open for December. You can go check that out at syncpodcast.com/energy.

That's pretty much it. I will be opening up the second imaginal actualization group stuff for the new year, January, sometime in December. I just, I get a lot of stuff going on this month. So I will release the details for that. That will be a three group session thing where we get together, talk about stuff. It's fun. So stay tuned for that. Otherwise that's it. That's all I got. All right. Without further ado, here is James McCrae. (gentle music)

Well, thanks for coming on again, man. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, of course.

It's been a while, right? I mean, when's last time?

Couple of years.

Yeah. - Couple of years for sure.

Yeah. Would you be miss all of COVID? Something like that. I mean, it was like, I think we, 'cause we hung out pretty much right before COVID. I know that because everyone I met in L.A. at the time, which you were at the time, and I was at the time briefly, that was right before. Like a couple months after that, everything went wonky. I know I just moved to L.A. too, and I never really got a chance to experience the city very much because it went into lockdown a few months after I got there.

Yeah, and it was pretty nuts. Like it was a rapid shift, especially like a place like L.A. I'm sure you have this experience like, it's very magical, it's very like airy, it's very dreamlike, and then all of a sudden, you have these like very real world physical limitations of what you can do actually in that city. And I know a lot of people who are even longtime residents there, they found it to be like, pretty much unacceptable. Like you can't really live there during that time. I'm curious to hear what your experience was like.

Yeah, well, it's not every day that you get a chance to sit on the sidewalk and drink beer to go while the whole street is lined with national guard and machine guns and tanks. So it's not exactly Hollywood, but it was certainly an experience.

That's so crazy. That's what I heard. - To see what the pay of the city, the late ages of Los Angeles.

I don't think people really understand that and I didn't begin to understand it until I spoke to people who were there during that time period. Like, you know, depending on where you were in the country, but especially in California and L.A. to major cities, like they were bringing in the national guard. Like this, it was crazy, it was like pandemonium. It's like what people think of like, actual end of the world type stuff was actually taking place in Los Angeles.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, yeah, it was crazy and still, still probably it's kind of crazy there, but no, it was, it was no joke. It was, we left, you know, we left after a year in L.A. We just, you know, we just didn't feel safe, didn't feel like a good place to be. And we, me and my now wife, we had never even visited Austin before and never even didn't know anyone here. And literally I just had like this intuition. Like I kind of just said it, I wasn't even serious. I was like, we should move to Austin. And she was like, maybe we should. And I was like, really? I was just kidding. But then she like, it just felt right and we did it.

And yeah, we're happy to be here in Texas.

What made you think of Austin? I know a lot of people, I know actually moved there as well. There was obviously like the big moves by like people like Joe Rogan and the comedy scene that's like taking place there. But like what, I visited a couple of friends back in the mid 2000s in Austin for South by Southwest. And it was awesome. It was like truly one of the nicest places I've been. So I understand the appeal for people who think like Texas and like, you know, why would people wanna, it's like a very unique place within Texas. And the vibes, it was, people were so friendly. That's what I remember.

It was just like a very friendly place.

Yeah, it literally popped into my head. I'd never even been here before and I just said it. You know, like literally it was like, but I wasn't serious. I was like, let's move to Austin. Like I was just talking shit. But then when she was like, maybe we should, I was like, oh, maybe we should. And yeah, it was just, you know, it's like the music scene here, the cultural scene here. I don't know, it just worked out, you know, just it turned out to be a very dope place to live. Like I'm from Minneapolis area. And it's like similar size, similar vibe, kind of, you know, and yeah, it just feels better to be here.

That's cool. I think most people I know who moved there actually really enjoy it too. Like it's most, the only one I know who didn't like was Tim Dillon. The only person I know who actively just shit on Austin always and always in good humor. He's just like, it's just too much barbecue. I can't eat the barbecue all the time. It's like, I don't know man. It's barbecue's pretty good there actually. But yeah, dude. So I mean, since we last spoke though, you have now released, at least creatively as projects or about to release your second kind of big one, a book of memes and poetry. And then just to be clear, you're like, yo, I wrote a new book, check it out.

And I was like, okay, I'll scan this. We'll see what's going on. And then when I started scanning it a few days ago, I'm like, no, this is a book. Like this is like, he wrote a book. Like this is an actual thing that's like a really kind of like neat how to creative guide with a lot of really cool stuff in it too, especially I found what was really interesting is kind of like identifying your intentions across like the modalities for your creative acts. There really was like, there's probably something in there for someone who considers themselves a creative or even if you don't like it's, it was really cool man.

So like I'm curious, you have a knack for executing ideas. It feels like from the outsider looking in, I've known you now a few years longer and you seem to like envision something and then be able to transmute that and present that in a way that is not only authentic, but easily accessible. I think for people who kind of pick up on that frequency, like what keeps you, like how do you, I mean, it's in the book, obviously some of your strategies, but like how do you create that, how do you hold on to that vibe throughout this? 'Cause you did this throughout the pandemic and now coming out, like you've just been kind of like on it vibrationally, words of vibrations, if I will.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for saying all that. I just, you know, I've been a creator and a writer and an artist all my life and it's just like for me, there's nothing I'd rather do. Like when I get up in the morning, I sit down with my notebook to like see what comes out, even if I have a plan or not, just kind of see what comes out. 'Cause that's what's just fun for me. It's like bringing something new into the world. And especially in the age of social media when you can share it and get feedback like right away.

Well, you guys should get those amazing, you know, dopamine rushes that were not accessible back in the day when you're creating stuff. 'Cause you had to wait, you had to go through publishers, you had to maybe find like a local outlet or like it was, it's different now. Obviously qualitatively, that's got to be nice.

Totally. But yeah, so and a big part of it was, you know, 'cause I used to work in advertising and I was like a brand strategist for like a New York agency. And even like when I lived in LA and I was still working for this New York agency and it was such a fast paced like career and job and there was always new projects and I was always juggling multiple clients at once. And, you know, there's a lot I liked about working in advertising, a lot I didn't like about it. But I will say that it gave me a lot of creative conditioning. Or like you need to like get like finished stuff on the line and like manage multiple projects at once and you don't really have time to wait around for inspiration.

Because you literally have clients that paid money for work products. So I was always like making presentations, creating brand strategy, working on messaging and taglines and sometimes I'd be like naming clients and presenting different naming options and working with the design team and working with the UX team and just always kind of in this creative churn and burn process, which is not ultimately sustainable and it's just not always fun to be in that zone but it did give me that conditioning where it's like, okay, I can be creative. Like it's like working on the muscles of your creativity.

Totally, totally. It's like a discipline.

Yeah, it's a discipline.

Yeah, totally. And that's a big part of the book is like the creative process has two, there's a lot of stages but every creative process has two main stages which is the yin and the yang which is the feminine and the masculine. It's the being and the doing. So you need to be like inspired and in touch with your intuition and in touch with your imagination but you also need to get shit done.

Totally.

And like finish and execute. So I think that's really the magic of creativity is the yin and the yang that feminine and the masculine and that's how work creation comes from. Like literally like the feminine and the masculine energies together that is procreation. So yeah, and then what happened was actually in this particular book, I was let go from my advertising job. Like I was like running the branding team and the agency was acquired by this big like technology company and they dissolved the whole branding department. And I was let go and I've always had jobs. Like I've always, you know, I've had good jobs and I've had, you know, a good career in like advertising and design and branding and whatnot but I've always had worked for a company.

And then when I was let go, I just did not want to do that again. So what I did was I really just tuned in to what wanted to come through me. And I was like, what, what, this is an opportunity here. This is not, I lost my job. I didn't like that job. So I was scared but I was also like good. This is an opportunity for a new direction. And I just sat down and was meditating on what's trying to come through me. And that's when I started to sketch out the chapters, you know, the process of the yin and the yang and really unlocking the steps of my own creative process, whether I'm making memes or writing a book or writing poetry, like really trying to examine what goes into that creative process and kind of share the keys.

And that started to come through and I really never looked back. Like that came through in the days following me losing my job. And yeah, I knew I needed like, I'm like, okay, well, I don't, I had nothing to fall back on. You know, I was like teaching creativity classes online and I was working with clients one on one and things like that. But I knew that I needed to, to finish the book and to put it out there and to like really like step into my own like zone as a, as a create like an independent creator. And that's, yeah, that's how the book happened. So man, I like what you said there too about kind of, you had stuff like your resource will guy, right?

Like you, you've, you've had a career, you understand kind of how things work. You also trust your ability to kind of execute but rather than just kind of making it like, holy shit, I lost my job. Like now I gotta make money or supplant that income that comes in. Yeah, it's important. You were still doing stuff in relation to that but you also tapped into something deeper than that which is like, what do I feel like I should be doing now? Like what does need to come out? When I sit and think about expressing what I am about or what I can offer, what I think would be of value to people, I gotta do that.

Because everything else outside of that is like, yeah, you can maintain that for an entire lifetime. Actually getting in touch with like what's deep down and you need to express is usually a much harder task for people because like, I mean, I'll be the first one to raise my hand. There are countless struggles in my way that prevent me from looking at that kind of fundamental question which is like, you know, like what? What is supposed to be coming out? And I think when you're lucky enough to find those things and it's clear, like nothing kind of feels better. It's the difference between waking up and knowing like you have to go to work or do something and like feeling like purpose driven.

Like I'm excited to get this out. Like the time flies, you're like, holy shit, all of a sudden I got like a 200 page book here. Like, you know, I'm sure I know the feeling like whatever the creative project you're working on kind of like what that feels like. But that's an important distinction too. Like it is, there is a qualitative difference between kind of like feeling the urgency to use your creativity to fulfill like kind of a resource in your life as opposed to just letting it express itself. And that's something I was also kind of like, you know, noticing in your book. It has a lot of that type of energy in it too.

It's pretty cool, man.

Thanks, man, I appreciate that. Yeah, I was just, you know, learning to trust and listen and to be honestly just to be a vessel for a voice beyond myself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? Like trusting the whisper of the muse over the barking of my own ego. You know what I mean?

I do.

And I don't think I could have done that without like years of meditation and just learning to let go and trust and listen. You know, listen to what's, 'cause your intuition I think is so important. You know, people talk about like the creative muse and this and that. And I think it's just your intuition. So, and the intuition is the thing is it speaks, I think it speaks to all of us, but it speaks very softly. It kind of whispers. And like one thing I say in the book is that a mind that's too full of information has no room for inspiration.

Totally.

So, I think it's just so important for everyone just to slow down their busy thoughts. I call it listening to the space between your thoughts.

Totally.

In meditation, it's like, you can't really stop thinking.

No.

But it's like, how can you just bring your awareness to the empty space between your thoughts? And whatever that means to you, but like finding that spaciousness that is kind of always there when we cut out the distractions and just listen. So, just training my mind to listen and trust what's coming through. Like I've gotten to the point now, like where if I'm writing like a poem or something, I really try to write down each line as it comes through without resisting it or questioning it. Like even like sometimes I'll get like a line will come through and like my ego is kind of like, eh, don't love it.

It's judging it immediately. The critic is out. Yeah, yeah, totally.

Right away. So then that what will happen often is like someone won't write it down because you kind of negate the thought and you kind of cancel out the intuition. So what I've really practiced is writing it down anyway because no, that's what came through. I need to trust this. I can always edit it later if I want to. That's the role of the ego and the creative process. You can always edit it later. But I try to tell my ego, you'll get your chance to edit later. This is the time to listen and just write down what comes through. So you can kind of appease the ego and be like, yeah, you'll get your time to shine.

You'll get a chance to look everything over and polish it and edit it, et cetera. But when it comes to like generating ideas and that's not the role of the ego. So just trusting what comes through and writing it down. And then more often than not, it ends up like fitting better than something I could have like logically like.

It's funny how it works like that, right? It's weird how when you kind of trust that, I mean, a lot of it, kind of the stuff I've been tapping into or getting downloads about recently is really about trusting yourself like as an individual and as a person, as like a basic level, like your baseline because that's kind of like the pre-rec for doing any of the really fun stuff or like really like snapping into those kind of fluidity zones that happen, but like if there's that doubt or if there's that judgment that comes in immediately and like you said negates that, you're just not giving yourself a chance at the end of the day.

And we all go, this isn't to cast a negative light on states that maybe don't feel amazing or don't feel good. I'm very careful to kind of like make that distinction now because I think people can get caught. Like, well, if I'm not feeling like that, then I must be doing something wrong and then they start judging that whole thing, not even catching on that it's like, it's just a judgment spiral. But the difference of like letting the inner critic out later in the process when you're tapping into something like intuition, like when we think of creativity, right? We think of usually like creating a piece of art, right?

Whether it's a poem or writing something or music or like a visual thing, but really like listening to your intuition is a creative process. Like you are pulling things out seemingly from an area outside of your consciousness that you are usually inundated with the thoughts and the feelings that you know yourself to be. That does require kind of that space and pause and trust to allow those things to come through. Whereas if your ego is, it's not even just your ego. It's just if you are critiquing every single thing that comes through your mind with a judgmental tone. Hey, you're telling yourself something about yourself right then, which is worth looking at.

Be like, you're not letting stuff be born, right? It's almost like a boarding. Like what you're describing is kind of that union of masculine and feminine. The same way I've described it, like your conscious mind serves the masculine, directive, logical purpose most of the time. Your subconscious is receptive, generative and you fuse your masculine mind to feed an impression to your subconscious. That's how we kind of direct and create reality. The same way you're describing the masculine and feminine process for creation of anything, art, creativity, that has to be there for just like dealing with your intuition.

If it's not, you're not letting these things grow and potentially birth into like a cool thing or like a special idea.

Yeah, I think it's like important to remember that like the conscious ego mind is also, it's not the highest form of intelligence that we have access to.

It's actually probably closer to the (laughs)

You know what I mean? Like we think like, oh, I'm so smart. Like the brain is so, the brain and the logical and the mathematical equations that the mind is capable of. Yes, that's smart. Like the mind is a great calculator or a great, you know, whatever hard drive processor, like it's great. Don't get me wrong, but it's not, it's kind of like, it's kind of like the, it's a hard drive. It's the storage that we have immediate access to, but I feel like there are a subtler forms of intelligence that's more like tapping into the cloud, right? Where you can download more things that you don't, the conscious mind, the hard drive of your ego awareness doesn't have access to.

And I think that's what creativity is, is literally, and I know you know a lot about this, you know, when I've heard you talk about this in terms of like the imagination and like making imagination real, I'm like, when you focus on something long enough, you can really, it slowly begins to actualize in your life. And I think that, I think that what I think intuition is, it's also related to energy and emotion and feelings. I think that feeling and energy and emotion, that's where we can access subtler forms of intelligence beyond the reach of the conscious mind. So like, if I'm gonna write something, what I really do is I don't focus on my brain and my thoughts and what I want to say.

I try to focus on my body and like just sink into my body and feel my energy and feel my emotions. And it's almost like a purge. It's like seeing what's trying to come out and like trusting that to come through. And I feel like intuition and imagination, these are literal portals to other dimensions.

Totally. Now we're talking my language, buddy. I mean, like I, this has been my experience as well. Like when I look at what it's like to be a human being and to have our localized consciousness, which no one can deny that, that is your experience, it's been your experience, even if you do a shitload of psychedelics, low and behold, here you are back again in this experience. So where, like how is that process coming about? And the best I've deduced and experienced through my investigations is it really is like there are frames of a movie of what we call reality and we stitch and kind of move ourselves through those frames, which in the same way if you're watching on a movie screen, like these individual frames on a roll of film going quick enough where it looks like things are moving.

That's basically what we're doing. And the mechanism that helps us move through those movies are what we would probably call like our beliefs, our subconscious, our feelings, right? Intuition there then serves as kind of a connective tissue between what is being generated and what your awareness of that generation process is like. And it's trying to relay some information to you that like, hey, maybe if you tried this or you're feeling like this, there could be an interaction or a relationship. Like that's why I very much enjoy this even from like an empirical standpoint, like you can test this stuff.

Like and I would be, I think it's hard to find people who won't at the least mention or be aware of the connection between how they're feeling and what they're experiencing out in the world. It's very rare that you're feeling amazing in flow that things are in harmony and it is nonstop chaos. Your life is just a shitstorm of circumstance. It doesn't mean that doesn't happen. In fact, it probably will happen, especially when becoming aware of this as an active mechanism. It's just that how you feel and what you experienced, there's clearly a link, right? It's like we know when we're not feeling well, what our reality reflects back to us, how we kind of get a more localized and limited perspective of what life is.

We know when we're feeling like pretty good and enjoy and ecstasy and calm and in harmony, we have a pretty expansive view and a broader kind of macro understanding of how things fit together. So it's just like, I think we are literally, I do believe everything already is, right? That what we experience as linear time is just one way of working through physical consciousness. But it almost like everything has been and is created and we move ourselves through these frames of existence with our awareness by using things like intuition and our mind, right, our thinking, mind or conscious mind is aware of moving through it, but it might not have kind of the, I don't know, summoning power that we would like it to or think that it does.

And that's like an important distinction to understand because I think a lot of times when even with dealing with like creativity, like you wanna force yourself to do so. I need to, I should be doing it like this. This is how it's done. I gotta put in the effort, I gotta put in the work and some of the best art that I think for people who commit to an artistic practice that they've ever created, all are familiar with the feeling of like the effortless thing that just came out. You're like, what the fuck? Like how did I just do that? That's crazy. And it was the opposite of thinking you need to put in hard work and all of that.

So, and I think, you know, this is reality. This is what we live in, but the fun of it and the curiousness of it, I think is, you know, it's enough to keep us going.

Yeah, that reminds me of something that the poet Charles Bukowski has engraved on his tombstone. In big letters on his tombstone, it just says, don't try.

I love that.

And it's like, oh, don't try. Like what does that mean? And like it sounds like that could sound apathetic. Like just don't bother. But no, he's saying don't try, don't force. It's about like sinking into your nature and your own Dharma. And letting it flow. Being in a flow rather than force, 'cause it's like if you look at nature, it's like the tree doesn't try to grow branches. You know, the cloud doesn't try to rain, right? These things happen naturally and spontaneously. That's why I think of it like a purge. Like to create a purge.

Yeah.

Like, like you don't try to vomit. I mean, you might like a little bit, you know, but it kind of, it's coming, it's coming through you. So it's kind of like letting it come through you. And it reminds me too of like in the Vedic traditions, they talk about Maya and Brahman or like the two worlds. And like Maya is the physical world, which is ultimately an illusion.

Right.

But Brahman is like the more real world, which is the world of like spirit or energy. Or it's like, it's similar to what the philosopher Plato talked about platonic ideals.

Totally. It's like an archetypal idealized realm of symbols and energy rather than the physical, concretized world of fear. Yeah.

Totally. So when you tap into your imagination or your intuition, you're traversing that world of Brahman or that world of platonic ideals. And that's where these ideas exist. And these ideas are real. They are actually real things. But from our vantage point in the third dimension in Maya, they're just ideas, right? But it's like, it's just a seed. It's just, it's a whisper. It's not real in a sense in this other dimension, but it's not quite real here yet.

Exactly.

But when you have that idea and it's like, it's so faint and it's so fleeting. And it's easy to dismiss it. These ideas that come through. But when you nurture it little by little, you know, it's like you can slowly develop that idea and make it more and more real. And you're kind of guiding it into reality.

I like that. Yeah. I mean, it's, it also, it speaks to the importance of kind of being gentle at the, especially in the beginning stages of the process of kind of nurturing or trying to hear that voice, that whisper that's coming through because it can be hard. Like it's a noisy out there and up here, right? It's just, it can be objectively a noisy environment with thoughts, narratives, media, data, information. It's just, there's a lot of stuff. So like trying to develop the skill of discernment really does start with like kind of just allowing also things to be. Like that's, it is a gentle process.

So much of what you're saying really does remind me of like what it's like having kids, right? Especially in the early days. Like you can't like, you can try to fight against the naturalness of what is occurring. But at the end of the day, like you're gonna have to clean some diapers. You're gonna have to get familiar with some of these things. And it's like a wild experience, but like everyone naturally knows what to do there, right? It's not like people are fighting against the naturalness of that process. But you do, you have to be gentle. You have to be loving. You have to be caring if you eventually want that maybe to turn into a kid, to turn into a person who is hopefully feels like their life has meaning.

And I've been saying this real recently and I say it with the caveat. I don't think life has any real inherent meaning baked into it. Like you come in and like here's the meaning of your life. And you could argue purpose and things like that. I think we imbue it with that meaning. That's the creative act that's actually taking place. And that's the beauty of it. That's the fun of it. You could say, well, that's scary because it means like this could mean nothing. It's like, yeah, but how do you feel when you feel like your life means nothing? Does that feel authentic? Does that feel like an accurate representation of what you're doing here?

You probably wouldn't be here unless you think it's all just some giant mistake. You know, that's like, well then what is existence? What is creativity? If you think that it is inherently never going to have meaning is different than saying you create your own meaning and life and that in itself is a creative act.

Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree that we create our own meaning. I would say like, if I had to say like, what is the bigger meaning? I think it is, it is to create. I think we are literally designed to create. Even when you look at how the human body is designed, like what tools do we have at our disposal? Like I said, we have these like imagination and intuition are these portals to other dimensions. And then we have the conscious mind which can take an idea and create a strategy or a plan. And then we have these bodies and these hands and these fingers and these thumbs that allow and these vocal cords that allow us to type things and write things and express things.

And we're manifesting these thought forms into the physical world. And that's like what we are designed to do. And if you look at, like, you know, I think in somewhere in scripture, it says that humans are created in the image of God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's like, well, what does that mean really? It's like, what does that even mean? But like, what is God? But it's God is at its essence. You could just say, God is the creator. You know, it's not like a person. God is just the creator or the creation. It's just the thing itself. It's the creation of consciousness. And if we are made in that image, it means we are like little baby gods practicing the game of creation with our own little, you know, turning our own little thought forms into reality, whatever that means, you know, not you don't have to be a painter or a poet or a novelist or whatever, like podcasting or even like your career as a form of art that you create.

Like no one, you create it, your relationships, your friendships. - Totally.

Our creation, you know, if you're a parent, you're creating, literally creating people but also guiding them and molding them as they go. So we're always creating. And I think the opposite of being, of creation is reacting. So we're either, we're either creating our own experience of reality or we're just blindly, we're connecting to everything around us. So when I think of creativity and in my book, yes, it's about making art and writing and this and that, but it's just about reclaiming sovereignty over our own consciousness.

Totally. I think that's like, that's, that's I think like the most important thing you can take away from the creative process. And I agree with what you were saying there. My conception of God, you know, this, it's the Neville Goddard thing. It's the thing that really just, I believe before I heard it expressed verbally. And then when I heard it expressed verbally, I'm like, oh yeah, that is, that's exactly what I think. I do believe that our consciousness is quite literally God. Do I mean that we are omnipotent and we can snap our fingers and it's gonna rain and we're gonna wipe out half a population?

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is I am, when we read about that in scripture, or we read about Brahma, that is where ultimately that larger dimensional world, whether you call it your imagination, whether you call it the dream world or astral world, it's a larger dimensional world. And what happens is just as if you bisect various aspects of dimensionality, you get another aspect of a dimensionality, that's what is happening when we use that realm to think about and summon forth ideas. And it's also, the beautiful thing is is, it's also independent of time. You can go back and reconstruct and rework memories in the same way that you can do for future events.

Ultimately, our only conscious experience is in the now. Even when we're dreaming, we're experiencing it in the now. Like this is what is happening. Even if there's crazy jump cuts, parallel worlds, weird things mixed in with our day-to-day lives. Like, you know, it's still experienced that way. Even if it doesn't apply to the same, that there's not the same rules of physics. But I think that's like a very important thing to keep in mind that like, we are actively creating this. I do believe that when you sufficiently don't wanna create this anymore, you won't be here anymore. And I mean that as clearly as can be, and it doesn't mean it's something to be like nervous by, like most people wanna be here, that's why we come here.

Also, who would choose, I really do believe that it ultimately is like a major act of love to come into a physically contained world. Like there's death here, there's sickness here, there's mortality, there's duality, there, you know, it's a crazy place to be. Unless you think you're just like a masochist, who just like, you know, or got tricked into doing something, it seems like the act of mechanism would be to realize your own kind of inner divinity and connection to those larger dimensional worlds or the worlds of ideals. That would seem like a fun or worthwhile thing to do rather than just getting like hoodwinked into physical existence and having to deal with all the bullshit we have to deal with here.

So. (laughs)

Yeah, I agree. I feel like, yeah, the world, the world, the 3D existence that we're currently experiencing, it's far from perfect and it's fucked up in so many ways and every day brings some kind of struggle for all of us.

Yeah.

But that's kind of the point. I feel like, you know, because friction and polarity and duality is exciting to experience. So yes, we could be in the bliss of eternity and it's just kind of like one long home.

Exactly, it's very static. You get bored after a while, right?

You get bored or like you just, you know, it's, there's the magic of hiding. Like I've heard it, I think it's probably been said by a few people, I think I heard it from Alan Watts, but it's like, we are God playing hide and seek

Totally.

ourselves, so it's like, it's fun to forget that you're God, so to speak. It's fun to forget that you're living in eternity because it's like playing a game or watching a movie and you get so long watching the movie and you're like, the characters feel real and you feel like you're there and you're caught up in the drama and you want to get lost in it. If you're the movie and you're the whole time, you're just like, this isn't real.

Exactly.

You're not going to enjoy it. So it's like, yeah, you're supposed to get lost. It's supposed to be fucked up. It's supposed to be painful. And we're here to like experience that full, full spectrum of being alive. And it's like, I don't know. It's trying to have fun and enjoy it. Even when there's so much pain and suffering, it's such a balancing act, you know. Be grateful for the, for life itself, even when it's. And I think that mindset, ultimately, right, I always think of kind of like the Bodhisattva's vow whenever we're talking about this type of stuff, which is a really like beautiful and eloquent way of kind of symbolizing or expressing the notion of like really staving off your own perfect, self-estate until every other sentient being has had the opportunity to do the same thing.

It's like being the last one on the boat. And there's something really profoundly beautiful about that. And I think when you kind of recognize what that's trying to communicate, you can see that if everyone was working towards that, at least consciously in their lives, the uptick in how wonderful this place seemed would go up in awareness. We would see, and I think we do see that. I think it's hard to remember that, especially today because it's so easy to get inundated. Like we're just, people do not understand how much information is coming at us these days. It's incomprehensible. Many of us were alive before the internet, before social media, like it wasn't like this.

Yes, life was filled with its own unique set of struggles and difficulties, but you weren't being blasted with information like this. It is almost inescapable. And even if you know, it's kind of like, you might even sense it's not good for you as like a soul to be like kind of experiencing all that. We are. Like that is what reality is right now. But in the midst of that, being able to find the space in between your thoughts or pull back and detach and kind of touch, you know, an inner part, you know, that allows you to express that idealized kind of energy, love, unconditional love, whatever you want to call it.

Not to get too new aging and spiritual here, but like that is kind of like what it feels like, the point is, like there is that juxtaposition for a reason. It doesn't feel like, oh well, you know, things are getting worse. Like things are getting better on the whole globally. It doesn't mean everywhere things are great. It doesn't mean there isn't tragedy and horror, but like we forget how shitty things were for people like 500 years ago. It's not good for the average person. Yeah, I was just talking about this with some friends yesterday. We're talking about the information that we have to intake every day.

Yeah, Terrence McKenna said that more stuff happens in one day today, stuff, data, novelty, then happened over the course of a million years, a billion years ago. Right. You know what I mean? Totally. So it's like, it's been a slow and gradual acceleration of information and novelty. And it's getting faster and faster and faster and faster. So now it's like, can you imagine the amount of data that's being created in these, like just like, it's staggering when you look at like every day on YouTube, X, thousands of hours of new video is being uploaded. You know, like every second, there's another like thousand hours.

Like it's great, like accumulation of data is in information is so staggering. And we are not designed historically. Like we're designed to like eat nuts and berries and like sit in a cave, you know, and like that's where our ancestral like conditioning is from. And now we're like processing events happening all around the world in real time while all of us is happening around us. And it's so not natural. But yesterday I was talking to some friends and I made the argument that like, maybe this is like part of our evolution.

Totally.

Because they were like saying, oh, I hope it slows down. I hope it, I hope it, I hope it. There's gonna be a regression back to a more quiet and peaceful, natural, non-technological world. And it's like, I don't see that happening to be perfectly honest. But I think that what I think that what happens is we develop superhuman capacity to deal with all of the novelty and all of the craziness.

I do agree with this.

So it's not pleasant and it's not natural. It's not natural according to our past.

Exactly.

It's natural in the sense that this is the environment that we currently live in. Like when humans were in the jungle and they would migrate and they would adapt.

Exactly. - And then I think about a city, like a city was at one point, a crazy idea. But now we have cities everywhere and we have adapted. So yeah, it's like, it's always changing. I think we're just developing. It's like we're navigating a new terrain.

Exactly.

The same way our ancestors migrated around, we're navigating a new information terrain, a digital terrain, the artificial intelligence terrain.

Yeah, man.

Like this is uncharted territory. And it's like we are in a position of having to figure out how to be mindful, how to be loving, how to be conscious, how to be artists in this ever changing landscape. And that's scary, but it's also exciting.

I mean, that's what I think the best things are, right? That's usually what they come with, both the sense of liberation and terrification, terrifyingness, you know? It's just like, it's true. And I like the way you look at that kind of like as an evolving asset or like skill set or way we're gonna have to be. I also share your sentiments. You know, I hear people being like, well, you know, if the electric grid goes down because of like a solar flare and blah, blah, blah. It's like, well, guys, first of all, I believe in cryptocurrency. I wouldn't believe in cryptocurrency if I thought that was a likely possibility.

That would be like a very foolish place to start putting your money. If you think it's all gonna be wiped out 'cause the digital ledger isn't gonna exist anymore. I don't think that, listen, that could happen. We never know exactly for sure if enough people really focus their consciousness on that, perhaps.

It could happen temporarily too. It wouldn't happen to be a permanent thing.

I don't think so in the same way, I think for the reasons that we've avoided nuclear wars between nations because whether you wanna call it deterrence, whatever, like it's not the natural human drive to overthrow paradigms with a quick dramatic shift. It is something that is gradual relative to the time it exists in. If you look at how quickly things are progressing, just comparatively in a vacuum, obviously how much more technological growth there is within a 20 year period now compared to like, you know, pre-industrial evolution is, you can't even quantify it. Like it's insane every day. There's some new tool that it's like, blows my mind, especially with the AI stuff.

It's truly, it's fascinating. But it's like these layers of consciousness are also being kind of created. I noticed this when Twitter first became popular. You know, I've been a user, I think since like 2007, 2009, like for a while, I've been on Twitter. Yeah, and so like you've seen it evolve, you know, from like the early days of people like being like, "This is what I'm doing." Like I just had a turkey sandwich to like now, like even people think about Twitter. It's like, you know, like race wars in genocide. It's like what the fuck is going on? I will say, I do miss the early days of Twitter when like only like me and like, I was only talking to my four friends.

Right, right. And you remember you would text, you could text your tweet. Yes, yes, post it. I do remember, I remember from the very, very early days, it was like-- The solid days of social media. It's crazy to see. I mean, but you know, and now like it is like, it's the Twitter sphere or the X sphere, whatever he wants to call it. It is a layer of consciousness that exists. People think about something when they think about that digitized consciousness, which is what it is. Like that's what you're doing when you write down. I noticed this years ago, like the reason these social and like digital channels are so functioned so differently than like our civil discourse, like when you're talking face to face with someone is because there's not that filter.

It doesn't have to come through this part of your body through your mouth where you have to be like, is this something I should say out loud? Like, is this something that's appropriate to say to another human being? It's a race. So you're just writing it down. Now, some people have the awareness, self-awareness to be like, okay, you know, so I want to put this out publicly on the internet. But a lot of people, because that filter is removed, just go out there. And you know, it becomes just the war of egos and perspectives and Reddit bros and like all these things. And it's wild to watch, but like it is just another layer of our reality now that exists.

Like when you're going on social media, it feels like you're kind of going to a different place. If you pay attention, it feels like, all right, I'm going here now. Like this is the vibe. So it's a different thing.

Yeah, I'm really curious about, yeah, obviously yeah, Elon Musk on X, he also happens to have created this thing called Neuralink.

Yeah, I know, right, Jesus.

It's like a brain implant that, it's a brain interface technology of some sort. So really, I think that the integration of Neuralink and X is going to be really wild. It's like it's almost like it really, it really is a layer of consciousness.

Yeah.

Like a tangible layer of human consciousness, which is like so scary, but it's like you want to, I think you want to know what's going on out there. 'Cause like people in the back in the day, like people could have had batshit crazy or dangerous ideologies or just like whatever, you kind of want to, but they could hide it. You know, they could, a lot of it was covered up. So I think it's good to know what's really going on in the human consciousness. Like it's ugly, like I mean, God, Twitter is an ugly place. It's like, I check it all the time. It's like a, it's like a, it's like a, watching a car wreck.

It's just like the toxicity and the people just flinging trauma and political opinions. It's insane. But it's like you, I want, I want to have that X-ray vision into human consciousness to know what's really going on out there. 'Cause I feel like you need to, it's like exposing it and bringing it to light.

Yeah, it's like shadow work, right? Yeah.

And then you can, 'cause I think you can only heal things once you bring it to light. So it's like, I think we're, I hope that we're, it's like a, it's not going away, but we're in a transitionary phase where it's like, we can, when you see the shadow and you can see, like then you can clear it, you can purge it, you can kind of exercise it from the system. Yeah.

No, I mean, it's like, have access. I always think of like social media, like I'm more on Instagram, but I often think like when someone falls you on Instagram or someone falls you on X, they are giving you access to their consciousness.

Totally.

Which is like a privilege to, it's like, and why would you use that access to people's consciousness to fling your trauma around?

I mean, I think it's, it is unconsciously driven. I have to believe more often than not. Obviously the cynic among us could say that, listen, it's just an effective way to garner attention. It's an effective way to harvest attention and engagement farm. And I think there is a natural kind of, you know, desire to get that attention for some people at all costs and there's no kind of like line for them. And I agree, like if all things are equal and you can just as equally spread a message that is going to be uplifting or help someone or at least provide a perspective if they're going through a difficult time, to me seems more valuable to focus on than like mud slinging and like ad hominem attacks, but listen, the truth is, is when I get really angry, even if it's like for people who I'm in close relationship with, I don't act like the best version of myself.

I just think, yeah, I agree. Like it does surprise me how willing people are to kind of let that stuff come out on the internet. It does just blow my mind. I mean, I've been in internet fights with people. If you've been on the internet for any period of time, you've probably gotten in internet. I mean, I just remember like arguing with people on Facebook like eight years ago and I'm like, what, what am I doing? Like what, what is this? Like why, and I remember one day it was very clear. It was on Twitter. There was this guy who was a friend of a friend. He followed me. I followed him. I don't know why it was just something you did back then.

And I hated every single one of his political opinion. I hated them. I couldn't disagree with more and I would always argue. And then one day I'm like, oh shit, I'm this guy. I'm this guy is this guy. Like I, I didn't see this shit. And I was like, I got it, like I got in this relationship but I unfollowed him and I don't know what's happened to him. I think he actually kind of like blew up as a bit of a political pundit. So a lot of people did agree with his ideas. But like it was just like, I was like, it became so clear to me that like this was not an effective use of my time online. Like online could be a very cool place that digital layer of information and art and creativity can be amazing.

Like I find some incredible stuff on there. It's why I keep going back. But it can also just be exactly what we described. Just like a weird replay of traumatic experiences between people who haven't quite caught on that that's what they're doing. And you know, the emotions get really caught up in that space too and it's crazy.

Controversy cells, you know, it's like if you look at, even if some of my more popular posts are usually ones that are at least somewhat divisive and at least a little bit is devices, I can get, I try not.

Yeah, you're not on the divisive scales. Like what were we like, I support Hamas. When was that post? Like I didn't read that one.

Definitely not. But like there's a lot of subtleties out there, you know, but when I share something with that is at least, you know, it's not controversial, but people might disagree and they might have an opinion about it that always, 'cause what, you know, when you look at the algorithm, it's triggered more by engagement than just like.

Exactly.

Than just likes, right? So if people are arguing in the comment section.

Exactly.

Guess what? The algorithm loves that.

It's attention. It doesn't discriminate between positive and negative. It's just what does more? What are more people interacting with and viewing? And that's a big discussion for censorship and like all of it gets into like weird territory when you get into that stuff because like people probably should have the right to argue with each other on the internet. Even if it's not productive.

No, for sure. I think there should be like just better social media manners and etiquette.

Totally.

Complete loss track of that. But I do love the idea of speaking of the algorithm. I love the idea of the universe being an algorithm. 'Cause like how does the algorithm work? It gives you more of what you have told it you want. What you pay attention to, it will literally give you more of that. To a annoying level, let's be clear. Like you can be really imprecise on what you're asking it to, what you're paying attention to. And rest assured, it will faithfully deliver that unto you.

Sure. 'Cause there could be stuff that you don't even consciously follow or like in your feed. Like the Instagram discovery page is great for this. You click on the search bar and it's like that's the discovery page or the explore page, maybe it's called. And that is where it shows you all this stuff that you don't follow, but it's gonna know you that you want and like. So if you like have, if you're like secretly like checking out this or that or you, it's gonna just show you more and more of that. It's like feeding your unconscious desire.

Right, right.

But then you, but as soon as you can change your behavior, and that will change very quickly. If you just start, if you just start watching a bunch of puppy videos and you're like, you can test this just like search for puppy videos, watch puppy videos for like a day. And the explore feed will already adapt and start giving you puppy videos because it's like this is what you're giving your attention to. This is what your awareness is telling you you're interested in and it will feed you that. So I feel like that is a metaphor for the universe where it's like whatever you fix it on, it's gonna find more ways to give you that.

And if you find, if you're just always looking for things to complain about, it's gonna give you more things to complain about. If you find things to be grateful about, it's gonna give you more things to feel grateful about. And it's a feedback loop more than we even know or recognize.

No, it's a really, really, really good point. I actually love that analogy 'cause it is kind of an algorithm, right? It is. And sometimes we don't notice the videos we're watching. Like TikTok kind of naturally does that. It will naturally pull out like, oh, you spent half a microsecond more on this video. We're gonna start showing you like 10 more videos like that and see if you're interested in them for real. And then all of a sudden, I'm like, why are there so many like confession videos and interrogation videos on my feed? It's like, I must have paid a little bit more of attention to one or two of them.

And now it thinks this is all I want. It's like, Jesus, calm down. Like, I like them. I don't like them that much. But no, it is. It is what you pay attention to and what you focus on. This is like a classic manifestation thing too, because people are like, well, you know, I want more money or I want a better relationship or I want a better career. And they're focusing on that. And they're saying, oh, I want this. I want this and I want this. And they're like, why am I not getting it? It's like, well, because you're focusing on the not having it, right? That's what you're actually communicating.

It's not, you're not communicating that you have this thing already. It's, which is why it sounds incorrect, but when you can actually be grateful for things that maybe haven't quite shown up yet. Or maybe they don't seem like your external experience matches up completely with what you believe is possible or believe is coming. Just play around with those concepts and see what actually is generating your experience because after a while, the mirror world gets so convincing you think that it is telling you how to feel when in fact, it's just the other way around. And when you get so far removed from that process, that's when things can get pretty, pretty wonky.

Let's put it like that.

Yeah, yeah, I did a tweet the other day with something like the cheat code for getting what you want is being grateful for what you already have.

Totally.

So like when you're praying or just meditating or putting it out in tensions, I've been working on, instead of saying please, like please, I want this. I just say thank you.

Thank you, it's my favorite prayer, 100%. It's my favorite prayer.

Switch from please to thank you. So it's like, yeah, you might be fixated on money, but you're fixating on the lack of it. And like, I need this, I want it, 'cause I want is like implying the lack of.

Exactly.

But when you're like, thank you for what I have, you're honoring what you already have and you're focusing on the abundance of that no matter what it is. And it's that emotion of abundance that means more than just the idea of money or the lack of what you don't have.

Of course, what you don't have is easy to be aware of if that's what you're focusing on all of the time. The trick is, is to be able to be flexible enough and free enough to really open your perspective on how all of this works. I mean, I think the best spiritual lessons I've learned, none of them have cost money. None of them cost any amount of like, "Oh, join this program, learn this technique." It's like, those are all freely available. It's just recognizing that you have to try. You have to implement, there is some, if you want a physical change in your physical reality, there does need to be some action taken on some level.

It doesn't mean that that's the only way to create, but if you think it's just like magically, like even to win the lottery, you gotta play the lottery. It's not just like someone's gonna hand you a ticket. It's like, you won the lottery. It's like, that would be real. I would be very impressed with that manifesto. It's like they don't have to buy the ticket to win the lottery, that's don't do that. You're good if you can do that. But like, you know, there is this process of kind of like recognizing that you have to be able to allow yourself to move through states, right? If what I was suggesting before is true that everything exists and it's just a matter of moving through these kind of frames of existence, then it's what is the vehicle that moves you.

And I think you touched on this in the book actually too. It's like your emotions, your feelings are these things that are actually communicating with you what you prefer, what you don't prefer. And it's totally okay to have a preference about things. No one is suggesting that you shouldn't use how your feelings kind of reflect back to you, what the experience or relationship or whatever it is, is presenting to you. And that's a pretty reliable beacon. But if you're just like constantly second-guessing that or stopping it or suppressing it or pushing it away, because sometimes those feelings are not pleasant, right?

Sometimes they feel like not good. And that's equally as valuable as kind of a barometer is, you know, what does feel good, but you gotta pay attention to these things. And I think more people are becoming aware of this. I mean, when I say more people, I say me too, like me. God, I've become more aware of this over the years. And if I am, I assume people who are much smarter than me can. So, you know, it's just, it's, how do you enjoy/appreciate what life is, right? Because it's, appreciate doesn't mean pleasant all the time. It just doesn't. It's like that is literally a recipe for disaster. It's how do you have the centeredness and grace and balance to, you know, enjoy as best to the, you appreciate what is going on, good and bad.

That's kind of where I've found myself recently thinking on because I did a lot of, I've done and will continue to do a lot of magical and incredible and mind-bending things. And that's cool and it's fun. But you know what's more fun is when like, it's a chaotic, crazy, challenging situation, and you feel like you're actually moving through it with some degree of grace. Even if you're completely flailing through the whole thing, there is a layer of awareness that like, this is serving some aspect of my being. It doesn't feel random or like a punishment. Like that's, you know, I think it's a useful perspective.

Well, and just to bring it back to art as well, like, I think all emotions and all ideas and everything, everything that happens to us, every experience, positive, negative, every emotion, it's all, Romdoss called it, "Grist for the Mail."

"Grist for the Mail," yeah.

So it's like, that's for the creative process too. Like how much great art was created from pain?

A lot.

Like some of the best songs are breakup songs. Some of the best songs are sad songs.

Totally.

So it's like, this is all just, it's all just fuel. And it's like, if you have sad emotions, that's just giving you more stuff to work with in your creativity. And it's like, it's like, alchemy, it's transmuting, lead into gold. And I think that's creativity is in a lot of ways. It's transmuting pain and sadness and suffering and all of these full spectrum of emotions from the human experience. And you're using them like clay to craft something beautiful out of it. Which is like, such a gift that we can give ourselves in the world is like taking our pain and our sadness and suffering and our chaos and transmuting it into art, into beauty to be shared and enjoyed.

It's like, what better way to spend your time than doing that?

Well, it's like also, yeah, it's such a good point. It's like to use everything. Like, I'm not a hunter, but if I was a hunter, I think I would be more aligned with the idea of like, use every part of the animal, right? Like, don't just, like, and that's kind of what you're doing with your emotions. Like, you're, it's a really good point. I think it's, we forget it, but like, some of my favorite songs are like super emotionally sad. They're like, I mean, like one that just popped into my head when you're saying it was like Porta's head's roads. Like, it's like a happy song, but it's like one of the best fucking songs ever.

It's incredible. It's like incredibly like sad and like desperate and longing. So it's like, if we, the same way we could appreciate a song, if we could appreciate our emotions as just being kind of like notes or melodies or chords or songs and bring that level of judgment to them, it doesn't have to be your favorite song. But you're not like, well, this person is a piece of shit 'cause they wrote that song. He's like, no one thinks that. They're just like, I don't like that song. Maybe I don't want to listen to songs like that right now. It's not my thing. There's a way to kind of like put this into language that I think makes it more accessible than like maybe ways we've kind of culturally developed strategies to deal with trauma or emotions or even just like the labels we use to describe some of these things may actually bind them.

I mean, you know this, your name, words are vibrations or you're one of your social media handles. Like, that's a very powerful statement that is absolutely true. Like I have this other concept that I think of like songs or spells, like these are things that are literally like creating aspects of reality that can get lost on us because it's just a language we use to communicate. And like these things really do settle into our subconscious. It's why like a meme on Instagram can actually penetrate like deep layers of consciousness for people. It's not just about the medium of expression, right? It can be used to express like deep profound thoughts or it can be someone getting kicked in the nuts.

It's not like the medium dictates what it's for but the actual resonant frequency of what's being communicated is really what we're resonating with. So yeah, man, it's cool shit.

Yeah, bro, I love it. Yeah, words are vibrations, that name just came into my head one day. - It's such a game.

It just came into my head one day and I just changed it without thinking about it. And I feel like you've been like trying to live up to that.

No, I think you do a good job though. It's so dope. I know like when the concept of the thing you create is so like amazing that you're like I just have to live up to this like amazing concept at all times. But like you know, you don't like the beauty of it is is like listen, you didn't say words are good vibrations. You didn't say words are this type of vibration. It is just a fact that is what they are and that is how they shall be used. And you choose to use them in a pretty cool way.

But in a good way, like I used to get more, I used to get, I used to be a little more snarky or a little more sarcastic, a little more sardonic, a little more, you know, in that kind of just shit posting meme place a little bit more. And people would be like what kind of vibrations are these words, like I got a lot of that for a while. But I mean it in a good way where it's like, it's given me, it's like a North Star for my content where it's like, oh yeah, it's a reminder. Like, oh my words actually are vibrations.

Totally.

Like I need to like honor that. And yeah, just like, just, you know, words are spells. That's why we spell them.

Totally.

So it's just like, and this is what, for me that's what creativity is in general is just casting better spells. 'Cause we're casting spells whether we know it or not. Everything that we do is like, we're perpetuating one meme or another.

Totally.

In our lives. And if we're not perpetuating memes and thoughts and words consciously, again, we're just doing it by default and reacting and we're spreading bad memes, right? So it's like, what memes are we spreading? What memes are we cultivating and passing on? Like, everything is a meme and it's like, we are some, in a way a meme is like an idea. It's like a spirit and like, it's like a virus that we are carriers of and for. And different memes and ideas pass through us. So it's like, what memes are we allowing ourselves to pass through us? And yeah, it's just like, that's like the art of being human.

Yeah, man. And that's why I think a lot of us like the funny memes, whatever we're into. Like, there's a reason that that frequency in particular is like, that's how very quick memes spread. They're hilarious use. Like the most popular memes that I can think about, just in like a social media context, are usually like, there's some element of lightness to them. Like, it's not this heavy, you know, huge fucking way you down thing. It's like, that's cool. Like, that makes me feel good. It's funny. Like, it makes me give a perspective on life that makes sense. And it's encouraging to see that too, because it doesn't just have to be that.

But maybe it's just the people I follow. Who knows? Dude, it's been amazing speaking to you. Tell people about the book where they can find it. Like, what's it called? I mentioned it, like in detail, but I didn't say the name. Tell people what's up.

It's called The Art of You. It's the essential guide book for reclaiming your creativity. And it's really whether you're an artist or a creative, or you just wanna access more creativity within yourself, whatever that means, whatever form your art takes. It really unlocks the keys to the creative process, all the way from the beginning stages of intuition and setting an intention, all the way to cultivating your own unique style, to showing up with consistency, to launching projects, to make money in creative ways, and all the way to creativity and social impact. So it really is like the full spectrum of the creative process, from the initial inception of the idea, all the way to execution and launch.

And it's out in February. It's available for pre-order now. And it's full of illustrations as well. It's like there's chapters, but also a lot of memes and illustrations and full color.

Yeah, it flows nicely. They're interspersed very timely. It's kind of a nice creative way to use those together in the book. Best piece place, I mean, I'll put links to everything, but like Amazon, like where's your people? Where's the best place?

The link in my Instagram bio has all the stuff.

Cool, we'll have a link to it.

Where we wanna buy it, yeah.

Amazing, my friend, this has been nice reconnecting. It's been a while since he spoke, but it's always a good time, man.

Yeah, thanks, bro. Thanks for having me back on. It's always a pleasure to chat.

Yeah, dude. Take it easy. ♪ The pain goes hard tonight ♪ ♪ The city by the bay ♪ ♪ Has moved the stars ♪ ♪ And the good stars and soft decay ♪ ♪ The rumbling from distant shore sends me to sleep ♪ ♪ But the facts of life can sometimes make it hard to dream ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

Hope you enjoyed that episode. Go check out James on Instagram. Words are vibrations. There's his website, his new book. You can pre-order that now. The art of you. He's cool, dude. As you can tell, very chill, very nice guy. Excited to see kind of how he evolves his career online. I'm telling you, like really was one of the pioneers for this stuff that is all over the place now on Instagram and social media. Just kind of like these words and memes related to spiritual concepts. And I gotta be honest, like I said, 99% of them, I don't like. James is in the 1% that I actually find to be authentic.

I think it also has to do with like, I was saying he was one of the first. Like it wasn't a thing. That's kind of what happens after a while when you establish kind of a new thing. It's exciting, it's fresh, it's cool. And then after a while people figure out they can kind of emulate and copy that and it becomes kind of derivative. So I recognize the people who are kind of the pioneers in that field and kind of like created something new. It tends to have a more prominent frequency. But you know, whatever floats your boat, I'm not judging anyone for however they get their little hits of dopamine online on social media.

Patreon, you know what it is, go check it out. We're rocking there. It's fun times. Christ consciousness readings, you know what it is. We are doing those for the month of December. And then yeah, the imagination, actualization groups, the group work, we will be doing those in January. I will probably release details for those in the next week or so. So stay tuned for that. As always, links are in my bio and you can check out the website, syncpodcast.com. That's one, S-Y-N-C, podcast.com. Yeah, that's pretty much it. having a good time. I will see you next week. Until then, happy imagining.