June 5, 2025 • 18 mins
This might be the most uncomfortable video I’ve ever made — but it’s also one of the most important.
I’m sharing a deeply personal perspective that challenges common narratives about suffering, identity, and spiritual growth.
I know that not everyone will agree.
And that’s okay, this isn’t about convincing anyone.
It’s about starting an open and honest conversation around how we perceive challenge, pain, and meaning.
If you're on a journey of spiritual awakening or seeking a new lens through which to view the world, I invite you to sit with this message, reflect on your own experiences, and share your thoughts in the comments.
#consciousness #spiritualawakening #innergrowth #growthmindset #podcast
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Hey, I’m Ian Vogel—host of Alternate Timelines. My journey started on a small farm in the midwest, where I always felt a little out of place. After years of skepticism and even a stint as an atheist, a near-death experience changed my perspective on everything. Since then, I’ve explored plant medicine, past life memories, and the mysteries of consciousness. Now, I’m sharing those experiences to help others navigate their own awakening. Through real stories, deep conversations, and wild explorations of the unknown, we’re building a community where it’s okay to question reality. You’re not alone in the unknown. 👽✨
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you're here, I'm going toassume that you saw the
thumbnail and read the title ofthis video.
So before warned today, I'mgonna talk about some things and
share a perspective that I knowa lot of people simply won't
agree with.
My intention for making thisvideo is not to agitate, it's to
share my point of view and openup a conversation and have a
(00:20):
dialogue around some subjectsand topics that are very touchy
for a lot of people.
Honestly, I've been thinkingabout making this video for
weeks, but I've been hesitant todo so because I know it's going
to ruffle some feathers and alot of people just won't
resonate and connect with whatI'm about to say.
And that is completely fine.
I'm not here to preach.
(00:41):
I'm not trying to convinceanybody of anything.
Everybody's had different lifeexperiences, everybody's got a
different point of view, and Ifully and completely respect
everyone's model of reality andviewpoint of the world.
the most recent video that I putout got way more views than I
was expecting and had by far themost amount of comments that
(01:02):
I've ever had on any piece ofcontent that I've ever put out.
Now.
I was pleasantly surprised andreally encouraged by the fact
that even though a lot of peopledid not agree with my point of
view, we were able to maintainan open dialogue and be
respectful without name callingor judgment.
My hope is that we're able toride that wave and continue to
(01:24):
have an open, respectfuldialogue even in disagreement,
because I am certain there aregonna be people who disagree
with my views on many things.
And that's okay.
One belief is not better thananother.
One belief is not necessarilymore evolved or more advanced
than another.
What I'm about to share with youabout my core belief and outlook
(01:46):
on the world is not somethingthat I've always believed and
I've changed over time and mybeliefs have adapted to new
circumstances and newexperiences.
And who's to say that my beliefwon't change in the future?
I simply don't know.
And I'm open to changing mybelief and shifting that in
light of new evidence and newlife experiences that I may
(02:08):
have.
Alright, disclaimers out of theway.
Let's get into it.
I have a deeply held core beliefthat everything happens for a
reason, Now that sayingeverything happens for a reason,
it's not just a platitude or acliche, it's a shorthand version
of saying something much deeperand much more profound.
(02:31):
When I say that, I believeeverything happens for a reason.
What I'm really saying is that Ibelieve that there is a divine
loving intelligence that'sresponsible for everything in
existence.
That includes every being, everyexperience, past, present,
future.
Absolutely everything isencompassed in that.
And for the sake of simplicity,I'm going to call that God.
(02:56):
I believe that that divineintelligence that I'm calling
God is responsible foreverything, and that there is a
loving, benevolent intentionbehind every action and every
motion of reality.
Another way to put that is Godis everything.
God is love, and everything islove.
And when I say everything, Imean everything.
(03:18):
I believe that there is nothingseparate from the loving God
Divine source.
Now, I know a lot of peoplearen't going to necessarily
agree with that.
Feel free to leave a commentbelow.
I'd love to hear other people'sperspectives on this.
Now, if I'm being totallytruthful, I myself am challenged
by this belief at times.
But the reason that I hold ontothis belief, and the reason that
(03:40):
I find this point of view to betrue is because it aligns with
my lived experience.
There's not a single experiencethat I've had in my entire life
that I can't go back and look atand analyze and find something
positive in.
I've learned from every singleexperience in my life, even the
most challenging ones, andespecially the challenging ones.
(04:00):
Because I believe that everyexperience I've ever had was
initiated by a divine and lovingGod.
What many people would calltrauma, abuse or suffering, I
label as challenges.
Trauma, abuse, and suffering alltypically have some sort of harm
associated with them, but Idon't see those sorts of events
(04:23):
as harmful.
I see them as opportunities forgrowth and challenges that a
loving God has put in my life tohelp me grow and be the best
version of myself.
Now, when I say that, the firstthing that comes up for most
people who don't share my pointof view is that I'm using a
spiritual narrative or flowerylanguage to spiritually bypass a
(04:45):
very real situation.
And I can totally see why peoplemight think that if you're
looking at it from a surfacelevel perspective.
But if we dig deeper into this,assigning a new meaning to an
experience is not the same asnegating, bypassing, or trying
to pretend it away.
Okay.
Choosing a different perspectiveor mental framework to look at
(05:07):
our experiences or differentsituations in our life is not
the same thing as bypassing.
Reframing our perspective on ourown lived experiences such that
we can give them new meaning issomething that we all do.
We've all been through breakups.
When you're in it, yeah, it'spainful.
It could feel terrible.
You might even label it as beingtraumatic.
(05:28):
And once you get through thatexperience, it is super common
for people to be able to look ata past experience or a past
relationship that at the timewas really challenging and say,
you know what?
I learned so much from that.
Maybe I learned aboutmanipulation, or I learned about
this, or I learned about thatand I needed that experience to
(05:50):
help teach me what I le neededto learn, to be able to find the
perfect partner.
And now I am in a happy, lovingrelationship with somebody that
I truly connect with and fitwith on a deep level because I
had that experience to show mewhat I didn't want or that gave
me a lesson that I needed tolearn to be able to achieve what
I have right now.
(06:11):
The experience is what it is.
It happened.
It's not going to change.
And when we're in it, sure,we're gonna have a certain point
of view.
But later on, once we've learnedthe lessons, that allows us to
assign a new meaning to thatsame exact experience.
For me, when I look back ateverything that's happened in my
life, even the most painful andchallenging experiences, I
(06:35):
realized that I learnedsomething from all of those
experiences.
And therefore there is apositive takeaway and each of
those experience had a netpositive benefit on my life.
I got through the experience, Ilearned something, and I'm able
to grow and become a betterversion of myself as a result of
the lessons that I learned fromthat challenging situation.
(06:57):
The lens through which I chooseto look at the world now, that
assumes there is positive intentbehind every action and every
experience that I have allows meto do that reframing ahead of
time.
I don't need to necessarilylearn the lesson to believe that
there is gonna be a positiveoutcome, and I'm going to be
able to grow and become a betterversion of myself as a result of
(07:20):
the experience.
The reframing happensimmediately, rather than waiting
for the future lesson to belearned'cause I know it's gonna
be there.
And that's not always easy, alittle over a week ago I went on
a hike and went off trail.
As I sit here right nowrecording this video, I've got a
poison ivy rash on the inside ofmy leg, on my shoulder, on my
(07:42):
chest, on my hand.
And if you've never had poisonivy, it's itchy and it burns all
at the same time.
It doesn't make any sense andit's quite miserable.
It's affecting my sleep, myability to concentrate on my
work.
Really, it is affecting allareas of my life And, while I'm
(08:03):
not consciously aware of whatthe lesson is right now, I trust
and I believe that this ishappening for a reason.
Maybe it's teaching me patience.
Maybe it's teaching me to payattention uh, maybe it's
teaching me to stay on thetrail.
I don't really know, and I trustthat at some point in the
future, I will know andunderstand what the lesson is.
(08:24):
That may be tomorrow, that maybe next week, that may be in
three years.
If I get Poison Vy again andhave to revisit this experience,
I simply don't know and I'm okaywith that'cause I trust it's all
for a divine purpose and it'sall for my greatest good.
When I chose to believe thateverything happens for a reason
(08:46):
and everything that entails, itcaused some internal conflict.
I had to let go of some otherbeliefs.
If everything comes from aloving creator and is love at
its core, then what does thatsay about the things we label as
evil or bad?
From my perspective, evil andlove are not two separate
things.
(09:06):
They both exist on the samespectrum.
An act that we might label asevil is simply an act where love
is not expressed.
The individual that acted inthat evil way, still has love at
their core.
They're just not expressing it.
Darkness does not existindependently of light.
What we call darkness is whenthere's very little light being
(09:28):
expressed in the same way evildoes not exist independently of
love.
What we call evil is when verylittle love is being expressed.
You can take that or you canleave it, but that's how I
perceive reality.
I believe that there is a lovingsource behind everything.
Letting go of the good and evilparadigm has a lot of
(09:48):
ramifications, particularly whenwe look at experiences that are
often labeled as trauma, abuseor suffering.
From my point of view, when anexperienced is labeled with the
words trauma, abuse, orsuffering, it's an indication
that the person who is usingthose labels is not perceiving a
(10:09):
challenge and opportunity forgrowth in a positive light.
They're perceiving the situationincorrectly.
From my point of view, whensomebody's going through a
particularly challengingsituation.
It doesn't mean that I don'tshow empathy, and it doesn't
mean that I don't acknowledgethe fact that they're in a
challenging situation.
I'm not bypassing or negatingit.
(10:31):
I'm just choosing to look at itthrough the frame of.
There is something beneficialthat this person's gonna learn
When this is all over, because Ichoose not to perceive
challenging interpersonalconflicts through the lens of
abuser and victim.
It means I don't see victims andI really don't believe in
privilege.
(10:51):
I fully understand that in thisday and age, there are a lot of
conversations happening aroundprivilege, but the way I see it,
thinking of somebody asprivileged and somebody else as
being at a disadvantage issimply misperceiving the grander
situation, Because I believethat there is a positive intent
behind everything that happensin life.
(11:13):
The way I see it is that thepeople who are labeled as
privileged and the people whoare labeled as disadvantaged are
just going through differentlife circumstances so they can
learn different lessons.
One isn't better than the other,and one didn't necessarily cause
the other.
Humans are incredibly dynamicand multifaceted beings.
(11:34):
When we choose to label someonebased on one very narrow and
focused aspect of their life,like their socioeconomic status,
for example, or their race, whatwe're doing is we're negating
everything else.
We're not taking a look at thebigger, more holistic picture of
that person.
By putting a label on something,we're giving it a special
(11:54):
designation.
We're saying this is differentfrom that.
It's an inherently divisivething to do.
Love can be defined in manydifferent ways.
And personally, one of myfavorite definitions for love is
anything that unites.
And from my point of view, usinglabels like oppressed, abused,
or traumatized is an inherentlynon loving act.
(12:17):
By choosing to label someone asprivileged or an abuser, by
default, there has to be someonewho's repressed and abused.
I personally don't see thingsthrough that dynamic, and I'm
really not comfortable labelingsomeone as repressed.
From my point of view, that's aninherently disempowering
position that I'm choosing toimpose on somebody with that
(12:38):
label.
And I am simply not about that,I'm choosing not to participate
in that limited, and in myopinion, disempowering viewpoint
of the world.
And the truth about the victimabuser dynamic is that there's
not just two positions.
There's a third position, therescuer, this is called the
(12:58):
Dharma Triangle.
The person in position oneprojects their own shame and
inner stuff onto position two,and thus becomes the abuser.
The person in position two getsto point and blame position one
for their disempowerment andposition three, the rescuer.
Well, you can't be a rescuer ifthere's no one to rescue.
(13:21):
The rescuer needs an abusedvictim to save.
After interacting with a lot ofpeople and having many
conversations, I've received afair bit of feedback and
pushback in regards to the pointof view and beliefs that I've
shared in this video, Iencourage feedback.
I want to have conversationswhere we can openly discuss our
(13:42):
ideas in different viewpoints.
And from my point of view, a lotof the feedback that I've gotten
around this appears to me to bevirtue signaling.
I believe that most peoplebelieve what they're saying and
that they're motivated bypositive intent.
But from my point of view,maintaining the victim abuser
dynamic does not help anyone.
(14:06):
And again, my perception of thevictim abuser dynamic is that
it's a misperception of thereality of what's happening.
I acknowledge that people gothrough some very challenging
experiences in their lives,experiences that could be
labeled as traumatic, and thosepeople may seem to be
traumatized their entire lifeand never get to the point where
(14:27):
they're able to find the silverlining or to recognize that
there was a lesson in thatexperience.
I totally get that, and itdoesn't mean that those people
aren't capable of finding thesilver lining.
If you've done any plantmedicine work or inner healing,
you're probably aware thatintegration is a very important
(14:48):
part of the healing process.
Many people, including myself,believe that integration is the
most important part of thehealing process.
Integration is finding thesilver lining, finding the
positive in a challengingsituation.
That's all that is.
Integration requires that welook at and take an assessment
of those challengingexperiences.
(15:09):
But when we're continuouslylabeling those experiences as
traumatic, abusive, orsuffering, there's a negative
connotation and harm associatedwith those labels.
Nobody wants to look at traumaor abuse.
If we choose to reframe it andlabel those experiences, those
challenging experiences asopportunities for growth, that
(15:33):
opens things up.
That gives us a new perspectivefrom which we can address those
challenging experiences.
And potentially find the silverlining and learn the lesson that
we're meant to learn from them.
That's something that Iexperienced personally.
When I stopped labeling thingsas good and bad.
I didn't have this unconsciousrepulsion from experiences that
(15:57):
I had once labeled as traumatic.
I was able to finally look atthem and do the integration work
and make the changes I needed tomake in my life so that I
wouldn't have to re-experiencethose lessons again.
Just because somebody doesn'tlearn the lesson and alchemize
that pain or that trauma into alesson doesn't mean they're not
(16:18):
capable of it.
it's certainly not easy to lookat the challenging experiences
in our lives, but it's requiredto find that nugget of wisdom
and to move on.
I believe that whether or not wechoose to do so, that we all
have the ability to look at thechallenging experiences in our
lives.
Find that silver lining and findthe lessons.
(16:39):
I believe that if Victor Franklcan spend three years in
Auschwitz, lose his parents, hisbrother, his pregnant wife, and
come away with that experience,learning something and having a
deeper meaning, being able towrite a book that has changed
countless lives, that we allhave the capacity to go through
that process and to examine thechallenging experiences that we
(17:01):
all go through.
For me, choosing to believe thateverything happens for a reason
has been incredibly empowering.
Yeah, it's still not comfortablewhen I go back and look at those
experiences and those thingsthat have happened in my past
that were painful at the timeand I know that there's
something there for me to learnand that I don't have to hang
(17:22):
onto that and that I couldalchemize that pain and whatever
I went through and turn it intosomething beneficial for myself
and for the world.
I fully respect and honor thefact that everyone is entitled
to their own belief system andown point of view.
One isn't better than the other.
There's no right or wrong.
From my perspective.
I I think of beliefs, almostlike a piece of clothing.
(17:43):
Something that you can put onand take off whenever you want.
We all have a choice, and ourbeliefs are always shifting and
changing.
We probably all believesomething now that we didn't
believe at other points in ourlife.
My hope is that this videoprovides a different viewpoint
and a different perspective forpeople to consider.
I'm fully aware that many peopleare not going to agree with my
(18:06):
point of view, and that'stotally cool.
Uh, please, by all means, let'sengage in a conversation, a
comment below.
I am happy to take thediscussion further or examine
perspectives and points of viewthat maybe I haven't seen or
heard before.
I'm open to all of it and I lookforward to the feedback and
meeting people and conversingwith y'all.
(18:28):
Take care.
Peace.
If you're here, I'm going toassume that you saw the
thumbnail and read the title ofthis video.
So before warned today, I'mgonna talk about some things and
share a perspective that I knowa lot of people simply won't
agree with.
My intention for making thisvideo is not to agitate, it's to
share my point of view and openup a conversation and have a
(00:20):
dialogue around some subjectsand topics that are very touchy
for a lot of people.
Honestly, I've been thinkingabout making this video for
weeks, but I've been hesitant todo so because I know it's going
to ruffle some feathers and alot of people just won't
resonate and connect with whatI'm about to say.
And that is completely fine.
I'm not here to preach.
(00:41):
I'm not trying to convinceanybody of anything.
Everybody's had different lifeexperiences, everybody's got a
different point of view, and Ifully and completely respect
everyone's model of reality andviewpoint of the world.
the most recent video that I putout got way more views than I
was expecting and had by far themost amount of comments that
(01:02):
I've ever had on any piece ofcontent that I've ever put out.
Now.
I was pleasantly surprised andreally encouraged by the fact
that even though a lot of peopledid not agree with my point of
view, we were able to maintainan open dialogue and be
respectful without name callingor judgment.
My hope is that we're able toride that wave and continue to
(01:24):
have an open, respectfuldialogue even in disagreement,
because I am certain there aregonna be people who disagree
with my views on many things.
And that's okay.
One belief is not better thananother.
One belief is not necessarilymore evolved or more advanced
than another.
What I'm about to share with youabout my core belief and outlook
(01:46):
on the world is not somethingthat I've always believed and
I've changed over time and mybeliefs have adapted to new
circumstances and newexperiences.
And who's to say that my beliefwon't change in the future?
I simply don't know.
And I'm open to changing mybelief and shifting that in
light of new evidence and newlife experiences that I may
(02:08):
have.
Alright, disclaimers out of theway.
Let's get into it.
I have a deeply held core beliefthat everything happens for a
reason, Now that sayingeverything happens for a reason,
it's not just a platitude or acliche, it's a shorthand version
of saying something much deeperand much more profound.
(02:31):
When I say that, I believeeverything happens for a reason.
What I'm really saying is that Ibelieve that there is a divine
loving intelligence that'sresponsible for everything in
existence.
That includes every being, everyexperience, past, present,
future.
Absolutely everything isencompassed in that.
And for the sake of simplicity,I'm going to call that God.
(02:56):
I believe that that divineintelligence that I'm calling
God is responsible foreverything, and that there is a
loving, benevolent intentionbehind every action and every
motion of reality.
Another way to put that is Godis everything.
God is love, and everything islove.
And when I say everything, Imean everything.
(03:18):
I believe that there is nothingseparate from the loving God
Divine source.
Now, I know a lot of peoplearen't going to necessarily
agree with that.
Feel free to leave a commentbelow.
I'd love to hear other people'sperspectives on this.
Now, if I'm being totallytruthful, I myself am challenged
by this belief at times.
But the reason that I hold ontothis belief, and the reason that
(03:40):
I find this point of view to betrue is because it aligns with
my lived experience.
There's not a single experiencethat I've had in my entire life
that I can't go back and look atand analyze and find something
positive in.
I've learned from every singleexperience in my life, even the
most challenging ones, andespecially the challenging ones.
(04:00):
Because I believe that everyexperience I've ever had was
initiated by a divine and lovingGod.
What many people would calltrauma, abuse or suffering, I
label as challenges.
Trauma, abuse, and suffering alltypically have some sort of harm
associated with them, but Idon't see those sorts of events
(04:23):
as harmful.
I see them as opportunities forgrowth and challenges that a
loving God has put in my life tohelp me grow and be the best
version of myself.
Now, when I say that, the firstthing that comes up for most
people who don't share my pointof view is that I'm using a
spiritual narrative or flowerylanguage to spiritually bypass a
(04:45):
very real situation.
And I can totally see why peoplemight think that if you're
looking at it from a surfacelevel perspective.
But if we dig deeper into this,assigning a new meaning to an
experience is not the same asnegating, bypassing, or trying
to pretend it away.
Okay.
Choosing a different perspectiveor mental framework to look at
(05:07):
our experiences or differentsituations in our life is not
the same thing as bypassing.
Reframing our perspective on ourown lived experiences such that
we can give them new meaning issomething that we all do.
We've all been through breakups.
When you're in it, yeah, it'spainful.
It could feel terrible.
You might even label it as beingtraumatic.
(05:28):
And once you get through thatexperience, it is super common
for people to be able to look ata past experience or a past
relationship that at the timewas really challenging and say,
you know what?
I learned so much from that.
Maybe I learned aboutmanipulation, or I learned about
this, or I learned about thatand I needed that experience to
(05:50):
help teach me what I le neededto learn, to be able to find the
perfect partner.
And now I am in a happy, lovingrelationship with somebody that
I truly connect with and fitwith on a deep level because I
had that experience to show mewhat I didn't want or that gave
me a lesson that I needed tolearn to be able to achieve what
I have right now.
(06:11):
The experience is what it is.
It happened.
It's not going to change.
And when we're in it, sure,we're gonna have a certain point
of view.
But later on, once we've learnedthe lessons, that allows us to
assign a new meaning to thatsame exact experience.
For me, when I look back ateverything that's happened in my
life, even the most painful andchallenging experiences, I
(06:35):
realized that I learnedsomething from all of those
experiences.
And therefore there is apositive takeaway and each of
those experience had a netpositive benefit on my life.
I got through the experience, Ilearned something, and I'm able
to grow and become a betterversion of myself as a result of
the lessons that I learned fromthat challenging situation.
(06:57):
The lens through which I chooseto look at the world now, that
assumes there is positive intentbehind every action and every
experience that I have allows meto do that reframing ahead of
time.
I don't need to necessarilylearn the lesson to believe that
there is gonna be a positiveoutcome, and I'm going to be
able to grow and become a betterversion of myself as a result of
(07:20):
the experience.
The reframing happensimmediately, rather than waiting
for the future lesson to belearned'cause I know it's gonna
be there.
And that's not always easy, alittle over a week ago I went on
a hike and went off trail.
As I sit here right nowrecording this video, I've got a
poison ivy rash on the inside ofmy leg, on my shoulder, on my
(07:42):
chest, on my hand.
And if you've never had poisonivy, it's itchy and it burns all
at the same time.
It doesn't make any sense andit's quite miserable.
It's affecting my sleep, myability to concentrate on my
work.
Really, it is affecting allareas of my life And, while I'm
(08:03):
not consciously aware of whatthe lesson is right now, I trust
and I believe that this ishappening for a reason.
Maybe it's teaching me patience.
Maybe it's teaching me to payattention uh, maybe it's
teaching me to stay on thetrail.
I don't really know, and I trustthat at some point in the
future, I will know andunderstand what the lesson is.
(08:24):
That may be tomorrow, that maybe next week, that may be in
three years.
If I get Poison Vy again andhave to revisit this experience,
I simply don't know and I'm okaywith that'cause I trust it's all
for a divine purpose and it'sall for my greatest good.
When I chose to believe thateverything happens for a reason
(08:46):
and everything that entails, itcaused some internal conflict.
I had to let go of some otherbeliefs.
If everything comes from aloving creator and is love at
its core, then what does thatsay about the things we label as
evil or bad?
From my perspective, evil andlove are not two separate
things.
(09:06):
They both exist on the samespectrum.
An act that we might label asevil is simply an act where love
is not expressed.
The individual that acted inthat evil way, still has love at
their core.
They're just not expressing it.
Darkness does not existindependently of light.
What we call darkness is whenthere's very little light being
(09:28):
expressed in the same way evildoes not exist independently of
love.
What we call evil is when verylittle love is being expressed.
You can take that or you canleave it, but that's how I
perceive reality.
I believe that there is a lovingsource behind everything.
Letting go of the good and evilparadigm has a lot of
(09:48):
ramifications, particularly whenwe look at experiences that are
often labeled as trauma, abuseor suffering.
From my point of view, when anexperienced is labeled with the
words trauma, abuse, orsuffering, it's an indication
that the person who is usingthose labels is not perceiving a
(10:09):
challenge and opportunity forgrowth in a positive light.
They're perceiving the situationincorrectly.
From my point of view, whensomebody's going through a
particularly challengingsituation.
It doesn't mean that I don'tshow empathy, and it doesn't
mean that I don't acknowledgethe fact that they're in a
challenging situation.
I'm not bypassing or negatingit.
(10:31):
I'm just choosing to look at itthrough the frame of.
There is something beneficialthat this person's gonna learn
When this is all over, because Ichoose not to perceive
challenging interpersonalconflicts through the lens of
abuser and victim.
It means I don't see victims andI really don't believe in
privilege.
(10:51):
I fully understand that in thisday and age, there are a lot of
conversations happening aroundprivilege, but the way I see it,
thinking of somebody asprivileged and somebody else as
being at a disadvantage issimply misperceiving the grander
situation, Because I believethat there is a positive intent
behind everything that happensin life.
(11:13):
The way I see it is that thepeople who are labeled as
privileged and the people whoare labeled as disadvantaged are
just going through differentlife circumstances so they can
learn different lessons.
One isn't better than the other,and one didn't necessarily cause
the other.
Humans are incredibly dynamicand multifaceted beings.
(11:34):
When we choose to label someonebased on one very narrow and
focused aspect of their life,like their socioeconomic status,
for example, or their race, whatwe're doing is we're negating
everything else.
We're not taking a look at thebigger, more holistic picture of
that person.
By putting a label on something,we're giving it a special
(11:54):
designation.
We're saying this is differentfrom that.
It's an inherently divisivething to do.
Love can be defined in manydifferent ways.
And personally, one of myfavorite definitions for love is
anything that unites.
And from my point of view, usinglabels like oppressed, abused,
or traumatized is an inherentlynon loving act.
(12:17):
By choosing to label someone asprivileged or an abuser, by
default, there has to be someonewho's repressed and abused.
I personally don't see thingsthrough that dynamic, and I'm
really not comfortable labelingsomeone as repressed.
From my point of view, that's aninherently disempowering
position that I'm choosing toimpose on somebody with that
(12:38):
label.
And I am simply not about that,I'm choosing not to participate
in that limited, and in myopinion, disempowering viewpoint
of the world.
And the truth about the victimabuser dynamic is that there's
not just two positions.
There's a third position, therescuer, this is called the
(12:58):
Dharma Triangle.
The person in position oneprojects their own shame and
inner stuff onto position two,and thus becomes the abuser.
The person in position two getsto point and blame position one
for their disempowerment andposition three, the rescuer.
Well, you can't be a rescuer ifthere's no one to rescue.
(13:21):
The rescuer needs an abusedvictim to save.
After interacting with a lot ofpeople and having many
conversations, I've received afair bit of feedback and
pushback in regards to the pointof view and beliefs that I've
shared in this video, Iencourage feedback.
I want to have conversationswhere we can openly discuss our
(13:42):
ideas in different viewpoints.
And from my point of view, a lotof the feedback that I've gotten
around this appears to me to bevirtue signaling.
I believe that most peoplebelieve what they're saying and
that they're motivated bypositive intent.
But from my point of view,maintaining the victim abuser
dynamic does not help anyone.
(14:06):
And again, my perception of thevictim abuser dynamic is that
it's a misperception of thereality of what's happening.
I acknowledge that people gothrough some very challenging
experiences in their lives,experiences that could be
labeled as traumatic, and thosepeople may seem to be
traumatized their entire lifeand never get to the point where
(14:27):
they're able to find the silverlining or to recognize that
there was a lesson in thatexperience.
I totally get that, and itdoesn't mean that those people
aren't capable of finding thesilver lining.
If you've done any plantmedicine work or inner healing,
you're probably aware thatintegration is a very important
(14:48):
part of the healing process.
Many people, including myself,believe that integration is the
most important part of thehealing process.
Integration is finding thesilver lining, finding the
positive in a challengingsituation.
That's all that is.
Integration requires that welook at and take an assessment
of those challengingexperiences.
(15:09):
But when we're continuouslylabeling those experiences as
traumatic, abusive, orsuffering, there's a negative
connotation and harm associatedwith those labels.
Nobody wants to look at traumaor abuse.
If we choose to reframe it andlabel those experiences, those
challenging experiences asopportunities for growth, that
(15:33):
opens things up.
That gives us a new perspectivefrom which we can address those
challenging experiences.
And potentially find the silverlining and learn the lesson that
we're meant to learn from them.
That's something that Iexperienced personally.
When I stopped labeling thingsas good and bad.
I didn't have this unconsciousrepulsion from experiences that
(15:57):
I had once labeled as traumatic.
I was able to finally look atthem and do the integration work
and make the changes I needed tomake in my life so that I
wouldn't have to re-experiencethose lessons again.
Just because somebody doesn'tlearn the lesson and alchemize
that pain or that trauma into alesson doesn't mean they're not
(16:18):
capable of it.
it's certainly not easy to lookat the challenging experiences
in our lives, but it's requiredto find that nugget of wisdom
and to move on.
I believe that whether or not wechoose to do so, that we all
have the ability to look at thechallenging experiences in our
lives.
Find that silver lining and findthe lessons.
(16:39):
I believe that if Victor Franklcan spend three years in
Auschwitz, lose his parents, hisbrother, his pregnant wife, and
come away with that experience,learning something and having a
deeper meaning, being able towrite a book that has changed
countless lives, that we allhave the capacity to go through
that process and to examine thechallenging experiences that we
(17:01):
all go through.
For me, choosing to believe thateverything happens for a reason
has been incredibly empowering.
Yeah, it's still not comfortablewhen I go back and look at those
experiences and those thingsthat have happened in my past
that were painful at the timeand I know that there's
something there for me to learnand that I don't have to hang
(17:22):
onto that and that I couldalchemize that pain and whatever
I went through and turn it intosomething beneficial for myself
and for the world.
I fully respect and honor thefact that everyone is entitled
to their own belief system andown point of view.
One isn't better than the other.
There's no right or wrong.
From my perspective.
I I think of beliefs, almostlike a piece of clothing.
(17:43):
Something that you can put onand take off whenever you want.
We all have a choice, and ourbeliefs are always shifting and
changing.
We probably all believesomething now that we didn't
believe at other points in ourlife.
My hope is that this videoprovides a different viewpoint
and a different perspective forpeople to consider.
I'm fully aware that many peopleare not going to agree with my
(18:06):
point of view, and that'stotally cool.
Uh, please, by all means, let'sengage in a conversation, a
comment below.
I am happy to take thediscussion further or examine
perspectives and points of viewthat maybe I haven't seen or
heard before.
I'm open to all of it and I lookforward to the feedback and
meeting people and conversingwith y'all.
(18:28):
Take care.
Peace.
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