June 27, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode, the Bald Brothers continue their discussion on the differences between Eastern philosophies and Western religion. Specifically, we focus on the origins of Christianity and Buddhism and the similarities between the two practices and beliefs. We discuss the timeline between Buddhism and Christianity and whether the foundations of Christianity are founded in Buddhism. Our discussion follows through with the question, "What is the difference between prayer and meditation?"
This episode finishes with a story from one of our listeners describing a difficult time in their lives. As always, we believe that one person's lived experiences can serve as a playbook for some else going through similar difficulties.
Help us to help others. Support our podcast and invest in someone's life. Send your support via CashApp to $cirquedusoul444.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Begin.
(00:03):
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition and
some self-control.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Whoa.
Yeah.
That's my body.
Soul.
Hey.
Yeah.
That's Mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition and
some self-control.
(00:27):
Hey everybody.
Welcome to Cirque to Soul, theonly uncut, unedited podcast
that is dedicated to helping youto find spiritual peace in your
life.
Hey, last week we focused on theorigins of religion,
specifically the differencesbetween western religion and
eastern religion.
(00:48):
Yeah, that was a good discussionlast week.
Yes.
And we wanted to understand thedifferences between Western
religion and eastern religion.
So as a review, we had two verygeneral definitions.
Western religions, which includeJudaism, Christianity, and
Islam, are defined asmonotheistic.
(01:09):
Now, monotheistic means thatthey all believe in one God.
In addition, they emphasize alinear view of time in history.
This means that there's abeginning, a middle, and an end
of history with the focus on thepromise of a future afterlife.
Now, Western religions emphasizethe importance of faith and
obedience.
(01:30):
Now, the eastern religions orpractices include Hinduism,
buddism, and Taoism, and theyare polytheistic, meaning there
is more than one guide.
In addition, these practicestend to focus on enlightenment.
Enlightenment means theawakening to ultimate truth,
leading to freedom from thecycle of suffering and
(01:51):
reincarnation.
Reincarnation.
Wow.
The state of Enlightenment isalso described as a state of
supreme happiness and peace.
This state is achieved throughmeditation and spiritual
practice.
Yeah.
One thing though, we also needto remember that we learned that
Christianity was an offshoot ofJudaism.
(02:12):
Jesus and his disciples, theypracticed Judaism.
Yeah.
The idea of Christianity reallydidn't take root until after the
death of Jesus Christ, and ithas grown to be one of the
largest religions today.
Now, we also learned thatthere's over 1200 different
sects of Christianity.
Yeah.
So Kim, where do we wanna startat today?
(02:34):
Okay.
You know what, let's start withthe Eastern practices and let's
delve into what they believe.
Let's start with Buddhism, ifyou don't mind.
Great.
Okay.
Buddhism.
Okay.
Okay.
Like many of the Easternreligions, it's a practice.
It's really not a religion.
In other words, they do believein God, a god's but these gods,
they're not central to theirbelief system.
(02:55):
But they do think it is ourresponsibility to, to connect
with God.
Buddhism was I'm sorry.
Buddha was in meditation foryears until he reached Nirvana,
and Nirvana is another term forenlightenment.
Now something.
Let me pass on this.
Also, there were four basicnoble truths about Buddhism and
(03:18):
these truths.
They're the foundation ofBuddhist's teachings.
They state that sufferingexists.
Suffering arises from attachmentand desire that suffering can be
overcome and that there's a pathto the cessation of suffering.
Does that sound familiar?
Yeah.
I read all about that and,reading about it, it makes
(03:39):
sense.
It's, it sounds simple, but therules in Christianity of 10
Commandments to sound simple,but not quite that simple.
You're right, it's not quitethat simple.
Right now there's something elsetold around, they call it
ethical conduct and ethicalconduct.
It centers around avoiding harmand creating positive actions
(03:59):
through five precepts.
So this idea of avoiding harmand creating positive actions,
this is how they get toenlightenment.
Okay?
The first one was abstainingfrom taking life.
This means not killing anyliving, being including animals.
The second.
Precept was abstaining fromtaking what's not freely given.
(04:21):
That means not stealing ortaking anything that doesn't
belong to you.
The third one was abstainingfrom sexual misconduct.
This includes, refraining fromharmful or exploitative sexual
behavior.
The fourth one, abstaining fromfalse speech, avoiding lying,
gossip, harsh language.
(04:43):
And then the last one wasabstaining from.
Toxicants that cloud the mind.
This principle emphasizesavoiding substances that hinders
clear thinking and mindfulness,drinking drugs and those type of
things.
Wow.
Yeah.
That, you know what, that soundsvery similar to the 10
Commandments.
The only thing that's missingis, how should I have no other
(05:04):
guys before me?
Yes.
But it sounds like the 10Commandments.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know what, again.
We know that Buddhism was 500years.
Our Buddhists predated Christ by500 years.
So when you say that, it soundslike the 10 Commandments, I just
wonder if the 10 Commandmentscame about as a result of, this
(05:26):
or the message God gave to Mosesas the same message that he gave
to Buddha.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Now, look, there's a few otherpoints we need to make.
Buddhist, they do believe inreincarnation and karma.
So in other words theconsciousness comes back for
another life.
They don't like the idea, theydon't talk about the idea of a
(05:49):
soul.
They call it a consciousness.
Now, when you are reincarnated,that knife can be the next life,
can be a dog, a human.
It could be a lesser energy anda heavenly rim.
They believe in a couple ofdifferent levels of heaven, so
you could be in a lower level ofheaven or in a higher level of
heaven.
(06:11):
That next level of reincarnationis dependent upon the number of
good actions that you did inyour life.
This is the karma.
Lots of good actions createsgood karma, and that allows the
rebirth or reincarnation into ahigher level of life.
Vice versa.
So if you have some negativekarma following you, then you
(06:32):
could fall back into a lesser,you could be reborn into a
lesser level.
Now, the idea of nirvana orenlightenment, which is one of
the same, that's the act ofbreaking free from the
reincarnations and freedom fromsuffering.
In other words, when you get toenlightenment.
You don't have to be rebornagain.
You don't.
You're not reincarnated.
(06:54):
You've reached that place ofperfect peace and happiness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And yeah, you become one withthe whole consciousness, right?
As they said, like when Jesussaid in the Bible, Lord, may
they be one in us, like I am onewith you.
Or, just become one with eachother.
(07:14):
And that whole reincarnationthing, man, I, when I first
heard that, I'm like, wow.
Because I always thought, man,we are going off kind of stuff
here.
That's okay.
No, I always thought, how canall these people fit into heaven
over this many years?
I'm, it just, it was my oldthinking, right?
And I'm thinking thisreincarnation thing, it makes a
little sense to me.
And I've got some clients thatthey're from India, they're
(07:37):
Hinduism and they talk aboutreincarnation all the time.
Do they?
And the good deeds.
Yeah.
Deeds.
How you living this life.
So it's a real thing.
Okay.
You know what, let's stay offtrack for a minute.
I'm gonna ask you a question.
Alright?
Do you think that there's afinite number of souls?
There's only so many souls.
Ooh, wow.
(07:58):
Oh man, I hate putting you onthe spot like this, I'm asking
the question.
Man, that is, you know whatthat's beyond my comprehension,
honestly.
I can't answer that question.
I don't know.
Let, lemme tell you why I askedUhhuh because ago you said, how
does all those people fit inheaven?
Yeah.
I'm like is it a finite numberof soul sart?
Is it something altogetherdifferent than what we think
(08:18):
about, i, it's, I think it'shard to say because.
Based on our limited thinkinghere.
There could be souls indifferent planets.
Yes.
All across the universe.
And not just our galaxy, but theuniverse and this, the universe
is just expanding forever andever, maybe there's not a finite
(08:39):
number of souls.
We don't know.
It's just a question to thinkabout.
We'll never get the answer tothat, maybe when you know our
soul.
Goes back now, I'm talkingWestern religion now, because
this is what we believe our soulwill eventually find its way
back to God.
Maybe we'll know, but who knowsif we're even writing our
thinking.
We don't know.
Yeah, we don't know.
There, there's a a, it's aseries and I looked at it on
(09:02):
YouTube and it's called theBuddha Series.
Now they don't use Englishlanguage.
You have to read the sub, thesubtitles to it, but it's the
story of Buddha from his birthall the way up until he died.
And I got into it and it's.
It's really good.
And the way Buddha explains it,once you get to that certain
level that you know, one level,then that's when you know the
(09:22):
mysteries of the universe.
Or the mysteries of everything.
Okay.
This is that level of Nirvana orenlightenment you talked about?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Alright, we gonna get into that.
Let me jump back on the topicnow.
Okay.
And, we started this series,these two, these last two
because we were straddling thefence, we were Christians.
Yeah.
But we also believed inmeditation and trying to find a
(09:44):
higher a higher level ofconsciousness.
So let's do a quick comparisonin contrast with Christianity.
Prayer or meditation, or why dowe do both?
What do you think?
Yeah.
Growing up as a Christian, wewere only taught to pray.
Nobody mentioned anything aboutmeditation.
We just taught, we were taughtto pray.
(10:06):
But we do both now we do bothbecause praying is just I.
Telling God how grateful you areand telling God, just talking to
God your problems, what you'regrateful for.
But then the meditation is beingquiet and being still, and kinda
listening to that still innervoice, which the Christianity do
says something about still innervoice.
They do.
(10:26):
And but that's listening to God.
So that's the reason why we doboth.
Okay.
Me personally.
Yeah.
You know what?
I'm glad you answered that waybecause that's how I think about
it.
Yeah.
So then.
What we're really saying is,yeah, we're Christians and we
believe we have to pray.
Yeah, there's some parts aboutBuddhism that we believe are
true also, right?
(10:47):
So what do we call ourselves?
Everybody always wants to callsomebody something.
What do we call ourselves?
It.
Yeah, I think I call myselfspiritual.
Okay.
Alright.
Because e even, even Buddha saysthat you don't have to believe
everything I tell you.
(11:07):
You go on your own journey.
Yeah.
And you figure it out foryourself.
And so that's the reason why Isay I'm spiritual.
Spiritual.
Okay.
That, yeah.
That encompasses a lot.
Okay.
Yes.
Alright, let me get to thesecond question as we talk about
comparing and contrasting withChristianity, is nirvana the
same as heaven?
If not, what's the difference?
Yeah, see, that's that there isthe d I don't believe there is a
(11:30):
difference, but growing up as aChristian, we just always
imagined heaven as this place inthe sky.
Where, the roads are golden andthe houses are nice and,
everything is golden and Jesusand God is on the throne, and
all the angels are there andeverybody's just mingling.
That was our, that was mythought of heaven growing up.
(11:51):
I'm not saying it's not likethat.
'cause in reality we reallydon't know.
But the whole nirvana thing isthat you reach that level where
you become one with God.
So you have that perfect peaceand kinda I guess it's like
heaven, except I just don't, Idon't see the, the place I
guess, okay.
Golden Gates.
Okay.
(12:11):
You know what I took that asNirvana is a state of being.
Yeah.
It's just, you get to thatbecause you get to that.
Whereas heaven is somethingyou're is a place that you go,
it.
In my mind that's, if there's adifference, that's how it's
defined here on earth.
Where we're going to heaven.
(12:33):
Yeah.
But we're trying tote achievethis state of being here.
Yeah.
On earth.
And yeah.
And, but you know what, it, as aChristian, that's how we grew
up.
If you really listen to whatJesus says, he says, the kingdom
of heaven is within Right.
Within.
Which means you can experienceNirvana here now.
(12:54):
Yes.
You can experience heaven now,you can't, but you have to get
it to that level.
And there was something you saideither last time or before
reaching Nirvana, even theBible, Jesus spent 40 days and
40 nights in the wilderness.
Yeah.
And we are assuming that he wasmeditating.
Yeah.
And then Moses was on themountain.
Yep.
(13:15):
I forget which mountain it was,but he was supposedly meditating
and finding God also.
His image changed because of hisinteraction Yes.
With God.
Exactly.
Yes.
They, yeah, they said his facewas glowing and, he's, he had
that, that glow in his face andthey said he seen God, yeah.
Yeah.
His hair was gray and everythingelse.
Okay.
(13:35):
Alright.
Alright.
I've asked you two questionsback to back.
Now I got another one.
Okay.
Okay.
And now I'm asking this onebecause I know you studied the
Bible extensively.
Yeah.
Does this say anywhere in theBible that we should meditate to
become one with God?
Now, I know that it talks aboutJesus being in the wilderness,
what we just talked about for 40days and nights, and about Modus
(13:56):
Moses going into the mountain toreceive the 10 amendments.
Is there a connection betweenBuddhism or the idea of
meditating to reach Nirvana?
And the idea of going to heaven.
There was a story in the Bible,where John the Baptist was
called the prophet Elijahreborn.
Yeah.
Now we have to understand therewas 400 years between Elijah and
(14:18):
John the Baptist.
Yeah.
That sort of suggested there'ssome basis to believe that the
Christian religion believes inreincarnation.
What do you think?
Yeah.
I've had that discussion withsome people before and they're
like no, there's no such and nosuch thing as reincarnation and
Christian.
And I bring up the whole John,the Baptist and Elijah thing and
(14:40):
they really don't have much tosay about it, but they still
don't believe it.
But I do know this when therewas a verse in it might have
been Psalms maybe, or I think itwas Psalms, where God said, be
still and know that I am God.
To me that just explains it.
You be still get quiet and youtry to realize that kingdom of
(15:03):
heaven within you, right?
As Jesus said, the kingdom ofheaven is within you.
It says, be still and know thatI am God.
To me, that means, themeditation part to me right now
somebody else may see itdifferently, but that's just
what I, the way I see it.
So how did you tie that backinto the idea of reincarnation?
Oh, wow.
To, that's just, I think that'sjust a belief that each, that
(15:26):
each individual has to, eitherthey believe it or they don't.
Gotcha.
I can't prove it and this wholebe still and meditating.
I can't prove that it meansreincarnation.
Only thing I can say is that itmakes sense to me.
Okay.
Yeah.
Alright, then you know what, thenext thing I was gonna say was,
I'm really trying to understandif there's a greater connection
(15:48):
between Buddhism andChristianity connection greater
than we know.
And by default, is there agreater connection between
Judaism and Buddhism?
Because if, rememberChristianity is a offshoot of
Judaism, right?
So Judaism is one of the firstWestern religions.
And yeah.
(16:09):
Is there a greater connectionbetween Judaism and Buddhism?
There, there probably is.
Who's the first guy?
Enoch was the one that walkedinto heaven.
He didn't die or something likethat.
Back then, there was no tv,there's no radios.
There's nothing but a lot oftime to spend along out in Be
Wilderness or.
A lot of, and he was, he had aheart like goat, a heart like
(16:30):
God.
So I would assume that he'sprobably, he got connected to
God some kind of way where youdon't have to die and you just
go up into heaven, and that'sthe old Testament, the Judaism
part.
So I, in a lot of thesereligions.
Especially the newer ones, theytake a lot from the older
religions, right?
They do.
Yes, they do.
(16:52):
And so I can see a a connectionbetween those two.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Look, you know what, I'm justasking the question.
Yeah.
In my mind, there seems to be areally big connection between
Christianity and Buddhism.
Now, in my mind, I also thinkthat the differences.
Can be attributed to,translations between two
(17:14):
different cultures and maybe thetime difference between the
establishment of Buddhism andthe establishment of
Christianity.
So what I'm saying is that Ibelieve a lot of the foundation
of Christianity, the teachingsof Jesus came from Buddhism.
I'm just gonna put it out there.
Hard, a lot of people probablywon't like that, but I do
(17:35):
believe a lot of the teachingsof Jesus came from Buddhism.
When we look at the fiveprecepts, and you said it just
now a few minutes ago, it soundsawful.
Lot like the 10 Commandments.
Yep.
And the fact that Jesus and MoMoses both were in deep
meditation in order to listen toGod and receive his message, in
my mind, what they went through.
(17:57):
That's the definition ofenlightenment, which is what
Buddhists say.
Yeah.
And then Jesus has said that, weshould follow his lead in order
to get to heaven.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what he, Jesus said, Iam the way, the truth and light,
no man goes to the follow but byme, which he was telling us.
He was showing us how to do it.
(18:19):
And Jesus never said that he wasGod nor he never says he was
God.
He says he was one with God.
And even in the book of John, hesays, I go to my father.
The father is greater than me.
He says that in the Bible.
So I.
Jesus and Moses, Jesus had toget to that point where he was
one with God.
(18:39):
He's not greater than God.
He just became, it's an exampleis a big ocean, okay?
Uhhuh.
And you take a cup, dip it intothe ocean, and that cup still
has God in it.
Park into the water that saidthe ocean is God and the water
that you dip in that cup.
God, it's on a lower levellittle G, not a big G.
(19:01):
And but if you pour it back inthe ocean, you become one with
the ocean.
And so that is the same way withour spirits.
We, in this human body, we stillhave that God within us.
A lot of us don't realize that,but we do.
But so when we get to, we, whenwe die, or pass on, our spirit
becomes one with.
(19:22):
The big spirit, which is Godagain, right?
And yeah, but the wholereincarnation thing is you come
back and do it again until youcan able to just get to that
level where it's just purepeace, pure love and I think
that's what Jesus and Moses, andnot just those two, there were
others.
There were others who performedmiracles in the Bible too,
(19:42):
Elijah and another thing.
Elijah had his disciple, Alicia?
Yes.
And one of them raised somebodyfrom the dead.
I forgot which one it was, butthe whole reincarnation thing.
I once read that John theBaptist and Jesus was Elijah and
Elisha.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
(20:03):
And Jesus probably was, I'm notgonna say which one was which,
'cause I forgot I, I read thatthough.
I'm like okay.
And Jesus finally got to thatlevel.
He didn't have to come backagain.
He's just coming back now justto show us the way to God.
Okay.
Yeah, he may, he took the finalstep and reached that level.
Okay.
I got two questions and we cando this pretty quickly, but in
(20:23):
our religion, our Christianreligion, people always say you
have to pray to Jesus Christ toget into heaven.
I think that, what we read is.
At least what I believe is thatJesus, like you said, didn't
say, pray to me.
But he was the example of how toget to heaven.
What's your thoughts on that?
(20:44):
Yeah, I've always thought aboutthat too, and I just think that
Jesus may have said, I thinkJesus thought, maybe you can
pray to me if you if you feellike you need me to be a, a
connection between you and God,that's fine.
But it's not necessary becauseeven Jesus said, we call people
down here, father, this Father,even Jesus said, call no man on
(21:06):
earth, your Father, there's onlyone father.
So I, I think Jesus, when hereached that upper level, that
love level, that he don't careif you have to use him, he says,
you'd pray and he said, pray andI'll go to my father on your
behalf.
It's not necessary.
Okay.
Yeah.
I've never heard it explainedlike that, but I like that.
(21:27):
Yeah.
I like that.
Yeah.
And the second thing before we,close this out I'm gonna use the
analogy that you used beforewhere you put a cup of water in
the ocean, you take that out.
Yeah.
I'm often thought, you know howpeople sometimes say I had a
feeling I saw something.
It was like something thathappened before.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I look at that andI'm like, yes, you take this cup
(21:48):
of water out.
And this cup of water has all ofthese experiences.
Yeah.
But then when you put it backin, all of those experiences,
everything that cup of waterexperience, now, the whole ocean
has that experience also.
And then you take another cup ofwater out, part of that first
cup is gonna be in that secondcup.
(22:08):
Yes.
So there are things thathappened in that first cup that
are gonna be in that second cup.
But things that happened in thatfirst cup are gonna be in a
thousand other cups also.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So that's, yeah.
That's pretty amazing the wayyou, that's, I never thought
about it like that, but that'spretty amazing.
They always say that we are allone, right?
(22:30):
Yeah.
We are all one.
We have the same thing in us.
That same spirit, if you wannacall it spirit of God within
you, the energy or soul,whatever.
We all have that within us.
Yeah.
We just don't, we just don'trealize that we get too busy in
our lives and not, don't connectto that spirit in us, but we all
have that spirit within us.
And yeah.
(22:51):
Which we, yeah, that analogythat you, you gave and then what
I just said.
I'm like, I believe that.
And so maybe that's thereincarnation, because what the
experiences that we had, they goout and they may be in a
thousand other cups.
So part of what I experienced,part of what you experienced are
gonna be something that's gonnabe in Yeah.
(23:13):
The next cups that are gonna bepulled out of the ocean.
Yeah.
So yeah, it, yeah, it's there.
We just gotta be still andlisten or experience it or
whatever.
And yeah, we all can experiencethe same thing, it.
It takes effort though.
It takes effort, to be still andreally listen and experience.
And be con and live a consciouslife.
(23:34):
And live a con, which is what wetalked about in the very
beginning.
Yes.
That purposeful life.
Yes.
A conscious and purposeful life.
Yes.
Okay.
Exactly.
Alright.
Yeah.
Look, we talked about a lot oftheories and everything else.
But before we close out, just aquick review.
We've said some things that are.
Probably not common Christianconcepts.
(23:54):
But in, in my logical mind it'stelling me that there's probably
a greater connection between,the two religions that we talked
about today, more, connectionthan there are differences now.
Yeah.
That doesn't mean that Mayan, inyour case, I think that our
faith in God has changed ordiminished, but on the contrary,
I think that my faith, and I'mgonna make a assumption, your
(24:18):
faith is probably stronger atrealizing that there are
connections and it's notseparate.
Yeah I totally agree with that.
I think that when I meditate orwhen I pray and meditate.
And read the Bible.
I do read the Bible alike,especially with what Jesus says.
(24:39):
When he says the kingdom ofheaven is within, you try to
really connect to that spiritwithin and also listen, there's
this guy named Yoko Nanda.
I don't know if you've everheard of him, but he's a great
Indian sage.
He has the book one of the mostwell-known books in the world.
I forgot what it's called, butit's really nice.
And he has these YouTube, videosand he talks about getting close
(25:00):
to God and, the meditation andall that.
It's pretty good read.
And so pretty good listen.
Yeah, it makes you connection toGod and belief in God a whole
lot stronger.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
Look, we had a greatconversation today and as,
because of this, I think thatnext week we'll start and talk
about the idea of heaven andhell.
(25:21):
Yeah, you're laughing.
Yeah.
With that we'll begin discussingthe idea of Satan and hell,
Buddhism doesn't say anythingabout a hell, but it's prevalent
in our religion.
Yes.
And I think this is a good timeto talk about it and try to
understand how it affects ourlives and, our path to creating
that purposeful life.
(25:42):
Yeah.
That'd be nice.
Okay.
Do we have a story today?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Our story today comes fromJason, and Jason writes, they
say, when you're told you'redying, something inside, you
either breaks or burns brighter.
For me, it was the latter.
(26:02):
It started with a cough thatwouldn't quit, but I chalked it
up to the change in seasons.
I've never been one to rush to.
The doctor always figured alittle prayer and some soup
would do the trick, but thescans don't, didn't lie.
Stage four Wow.
Words I never thought I'd hearattached to my name.
(26:24):
At first, the world dimmed.
The air felt heavier.
Every step of chore.
People spoke to me like I wasalready halfway gone.
Polite, smiles and tilted.
Heads filled with pity, but Iwasn't ready to surrender.
Not to the cancer, not to thefear.
I remember sitting in theparking lot after my diagnosis,
(26:46):
hands shaking on the steeringwheel when I said out loud, God,
I can't do this.
And in the silence thatfollowed, I didn't hear a
booming voice or see a holylight.
I just felt like I wasn't alonein the car.
That's how it started.
My mornings became sacredrituals.
(27:06):
I'd open my eyes and whisper.
Thank you.
Not for the pain or theprognosis, but for the breath
still in my lungs for the chanceto love my family.
One more day, my Bible stayedclosed.
It's pages worn from use marginsfilled with scribbles and
terrace stains.
Psalms 46, 1 became our anchor.
(27:28):
God is our refuge and strengthand an ever present health and
trouble.
I recited it until I memorizedit and it became a part of my
daily routine.
My body weakened over time, butmy soul felt stronger.
I started writing letters to mychildren.
They're still young, too youngto understand all this, but I
(27:48):
wanted them to know their fatherwasn't just sick.
He was brave.
He believed in a love biggerthan fear.
People would ask if I'm angry atGod, and maybe in some moments
of depression or desperation Iwas.
But more often I found peace andsurrender.
Faith isn't a magic wand.
(28:10):
It didn't erase my illness orpromise a miracle, but it gave
me a lens to see the beauty andthe mess, hope and the
heartache.
One evening my wife and I sit onthe back porch watching
fireflies flicker against thedark sky.
She asked if I was scared.
I told her the truth, yes, butnot of dying.
(28:30):
What scared me was leaving her,the kids, the warm cup of coffee
in the morning.
The sound of rain on our roof.
All the simple little things,and yet my faith tells me this
isn't the end, that beyond thisbody there is something eternal.
I believe in that promise, notbecause I need to, but because I
felt it.
(28:51):
And the quiet moments and thekindness of friends who show up
with food and prayers and thestillness of 3:00 AM when I feel
most alone yet somehowcomforted.
Today I watch my youngestdaughter dance at her school
play.
While watching her in thatmoment, I forgot the tubes, the
pills, the hospital bills.
(29:11):
I just felt pure, unfilteredjoy.
That's the thing about knowingyour days are numbered.
It sharpens your senses.
You savor more, forgive faster,love deeper.
And while cancer has taken muchfrom me, it's also given me this
clarity of understanding thateach day is a gift, not
guaranteed, but full of grace.
(29:33):
No, I don't know what tomorrowholds, but I do know what holds
me.
Wow.
That's powerful.
Okay, thank you, Jason, forsending your story.
We hope that you have found somepeace and purpose in your life,
and we believe that your livedlife experience is someone's
playbook for dealing with thestorms in their lives.
(29:55):
James, your story will helpsomeone to find the strength to
deal with the storms in theirlives.
Okay, so this will close ourpodcast for today.
Thank you for joining us todayon Cirque Soul.
We hope that it sparked some newthoughts about the purpose of
life.
If you would like to send ussome questions for discussions
or if you'd like to send yourstory.
(30:17):
Please email though.
Email these to CDUsoul444@ggmail.com.
At C-I-R-Q-U-E-D-U-S-O-Ul444@gmail.com.
And if you found value intoday's episode please share it
with someone who might benefitfrom it.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe so you don't miss any
(30:37):
future episodes.
And remember, your spiritualjourney is unique to yours.
But you are never ever alone.
There'll always be others tohelp you through the storms in
your life.
So take care of yourself, takebe kind to yourself and be kind
to the world around you.
And until the next time, have agreat day in paradise.
(31:10):
And drop my.
Begin.
(00:03):
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition and
some self-control.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Whoa.
Yeah.
That's my body.
Soul.
Hey.
Yeah.
That's Mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition and
some self-control.
(00:27):
Hey everybody.
Welcome to Cirque to Soul, theonly uncut, unedited podcast
that is dedicated to helping youto find spiritual peace in your
life.
Hey, last week we focused on theorigins of religion,
specifically the differencesbetween western religion and
eastern religion.
(00:48):
Yeah, that was a good discussionlast week.
Yes.
And we wanted to understand thedifferences between Western
religion and eastern religion.
So as a review, we had two verygeneral definitions.
Western religions, which includeJudaism, Christianity, and
Islam, are defined asmonotheistic.
(01:09):
Now, monotheistic means thatthey all believe in one God.
In addition, they emphasize alinear view of time in history.
This means that there's abeginning, a middle, and an end
of history with the focus on thepromise of a future afterlife.
Now, Western religions emphasizethe importance of faith and
obedience.
(01:30):
Now, the eastern religions orpractices include Hinduism,
buddism, and Taoism, and theyare polytheistic, meaning there
is more than one guide.
In addition, these practicestend to focus on enlightenment.
Enlightenment means theawakening to ultimate truth,
leading to freedom from thecycle of suffering and
(01:51):
reincarnation.
Reincarnation.
Wow.
The state of Enlightenment isalso described as a state of
supreme happiness and peace.
This state is achieved throughmeditation and spiritual
practice.
Yeah.
One thing though, we also needto remember that we learned that
Christianity was an offshoot ofJudaism.
(02:12):
Jesus and his disciples, theypracticed Judaism.
Yeah.
The idea of Christianity reallydidn't take root until after the
death of Jesus Christ, and ithas grown to be one of the
largest religions today.
Now, we also learned thatthere's over 1200 different
sects of Christianity.
Yeah.
So Kim, where do we wanna startat today?
(02:34):
Okay.
You know what, let's start withthe Eastern practices and let's
delve into what they believe.
Let's start with Buddhism, ifyou don't mind.
Great.
Okay.
Buddhism.
Okay.
Okay.
Like many of the Easternreligions, it's a practice.
It's really not a religion.
In other words, they do believein God, a god's but these gods,
they're not central to theirbelief system.
(02:55):
But they do think it is ourresponsibility to, to connect
with God.
Buddhism was I'm sorry.
Buddha was in meditation foryears until he reached Nirvana,
and Nirvana is another term forenlightenment.
Now something.
Let me pass on this.
Also, there were four basicnoble truths about Buddhism and
(03:18):
these truths.
They're the foundation ofBuddhist's teachings.
They state that sufferingexists.
Suffering arises from attachmentand desire that suffering can be
overcome and that there's a pathto the cessation of suffering.
Does that sound familiar?
Yeah.
I read all about that and,reading about it, it makes
(03:39):
sense.
It's, it sounds simple, but therules in Christianity of 10
Commandments to sound simple,but not quite that simple.
You're right, it's not quitethat simple.
Right now there's something elsetold around, they call it
ethical conduct and ethicalconduct.
It centers around avoiding harmand creating positive actions
(03:59):
through five precepts.
So this idea of avoiding harmand creating positive actions,
this is how they get toenlightenment.
Okay?
The first one was abstainingfrom taking life.
This means not killing anyliving, being including animals.
The second.
Precept was abstaining fromtaking what's not freely given.
(04:21):
That means not stealing ortaking anything that doesn't
belong to you.
The third one was abstainingfrom sexual misconduct.
This includes, refraining fromharmful or exploitative sexual
behavior.
The fourth one, abstaining fromfalse speech, avoiding lying,
gossip, harsh language.
(04:43):
And then the last one wasabstaining from.
Toxicants that cloud the mind.
This principle emphasizesavoiding substances that hinders
clear thinking and mindfulness,drinking drugs and those type of
things.
Wow.
Yeah.
That, you know what, that soundsvery similar to the 10
Commandments.
The only thing that's missingis, how should I have no other
(05:04):
guys before me?
Yes.
But it sounds like the 10Commandments.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know what, again.
We know that Buddhism was 500years.
Our Buddhists predated Christ by500 years.
So when you say that, it soundslike the 10 Commandments, I just
wonder if the 10 Commandmentscame about as a result of, this
(05:26):
or the message God gave to Mosesas the same message that he gave
to Buddha.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Now, look, there's a few otherpoints we need to make.
Buddhist, they do believe inreincarnation and karma.
So in other words theconsciousness comes back for
another life.
They don't like the idea, theydon't talk about the idea of a
(05:49):
soul.
They call it a consciousness.
Now, when you are reincarnated,that knife can be the next life,
can be a dog, a human.
It could be a lesser energy anda heavenly rim.
They believe in a couple ofdifferent levels of heaven, so
you could be in a lower level ofheaven or in a higher level of
heaven.
(06:11):
That next level of reincarnationis dependent upon the number of
good actions that you did inyour life.
This is the karma.
Lots of good actions createsgood karma, and that allows the
rebirth or reincarnation into ahigher level of life.
Vice versa.
So if you have some negativekarma following you, then you
(06:32):
could fall back into a lesser,you could be reborn into a
lesser level.
Now, the idea of nirvana orenlightenment, which is one of
the same, that's the act ofbreaking free from the
reincarnations and freedom fromsuffering.
In other words, when you get toenlightenment.
You don't have to be rebornagain.
You don't.
You're not reincarnated.
(06:54):
You've reached that place ofperfect peace and happiness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And yeah, you become one withthe whole consciousness, right?
As they said, like when Jesussaid in the Bible, Lord, may
they be one in us, like I am onewith you.
Or, just become one with eachother.
(07:14):
And that whole reincarnationthing, man, I, when I first
heard that, I'm like, wow.
Because I always thought, man,we are going off kind of stuff
here.
That's okay.
No, I always thought, how canall these people fit into heaven
over this many years?
I'm, it just, it was my oldthinking, right?
And I'm thinking thisreincarnation thing, it makes a
little sense to me.
And I've got some clients thatthey're from India, they're
(07:37):
Hinduism and they talk aboutreincarnation all the time.
Do they?
And the good deeds.
Yeah.
Deeds.
How you living this life.
So it's a real thing.
Okay.
You know what, let's stay offtrack for a minute.
I'm gonna ask you a question.
Alright?
Do you think that there's afinite number of souls?
There's only so many souls.
Ooh, wow.
(07:58):
Oh man, I hate putting you onthe spot like this, I'm asking
the question.
Man, that is, you know whatthat's beyond my comprehension,
honestly.
I can't answer that question.
I don't know.
Let, lemme tell you why I askedUhhuh because ago you said, how
does all those people fit inheaven?
Yeah.
I'm like is it a finite numberof soul sart?
Is it something altogetherdifferent than what we think
(08:18):
about, i, it's, I think it'shard to say because.
Based on our limited thinkinghere.
There could be souls indifferent planets.
Yes.
All across the universe.
And not just our galaxy, but theuniverse and this, the universe
is just expanding forever andever, maybe there's not a finite
(08:39):
number of souls.
We don't know.
It's just a question to thinkabout.
We'll never get the answer tothat, maybe when you know our
soul.
Goes back now, I'm talkingWestern religion now, because
this is what we believe our soulwill eventually find its way
back to God.
Maybe we'll know, but who knowsif we're even writing our
thinking.
We don't know.
Yeah, we don't know.
There, there's a a, it's aseries and I looked at it on
(09:02):
YouTube and it's called theBuddha Series.
Now they don't use Englishlanguage.
You have to read the sub, thesubtitles to it, but it's the
story of Buddha from his birthall the way up until he died.
And I got into it and it's.
It's really good.
And the way Buddha explains it,once you get to that certain
level that you know, one level,then that's when you know the
(09:22):
mysteries of the universe.
Or the mysteries of everything.
Okay.
This is that level of Nirvana orenlightenment you talked about?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Alright, we gonna get into that.
Let me jump back on the topicnow.
Okay.
And, we started this series,these two, these last two
because we were straddling thefence, we were Christians.
Yeah.
But we also believed inmeditation and trying to find a
(09:44):
higher a higher level ofconsciousness.
So let's do a quick comparisonin contrast with Christianity.
Prayer or meditation, or why dowe do both?
What do you think?
Yeah.
Growing up as a Christian, wewere only taught to pray.
Nobody mentioned anything aboutmeditation.
We just taught, we were taughtto pray.
(10:06):
But we do both now we do bothbecause praying is just I.
Telling God how grateful you areand telling God, just talking to
God your problems, what you'regrateful for.
But then the meditation is beingquiet and being still, and kinda
listening to that still innervoice, which the Christianity do
says something about still innervoice.
They do.
(10:26):
And but that's listening to God.
So that's the reason why we doboth.
Okay.
Me personally.
Yeah.
You know what?
I'm glad you answered that waybecause that's how I think about
it.
Yeah.
So then.
What we're really saying is,yeah, we're Christians and we
believe we have to pray.
Yeah, there's some parts aboutBuddhism that we believe are
true also, right?
(10:47):
So what do we call ourselves?
Everybody always wants to callsomebody something.
What do we call ourselves?
It.
Yeah, I think I call myselfspiritual.
Okay.
Alright.
Because e even, even Buddha saysthat you don't have to believe
everything I tell you.
(11:07):
You go on your own journey.
Yeah.
And you figure it out foryourself.
And so that's the reason why Isay I'm spiritual.
Spiritual.
Okay.
That, yeah.
That encompasses a lot.
Okay.
Yes.
Alright, let me get to thesecond question as we talk about
comparing and contrasting withChristianity, is nirvana the
same as heaven?
If not, what's the difference?
Yeah, see, that's that there isthe d I don't believe there is a
(11:30):
difference, but growing up as aChristian, we just always
imagined heaven as this place inthe sky.
Where, the roads are golden andthe houses are nice and,
everything is golden and Jesusand God is on the throne, and
all the angels are there andeverybody's just mingling.
That was our, that was mythought of heaven growing up.
(11:51):
I'm not saying it's not likethat.
'cause in reality we reallydon't know.
But the whole nirvana thing isthat you reach that level where
you become one with God.
So you have that perfect peaceand kinda I guess it's like
heaven, except I just don't, Idon't see the, the place I
guess, okay.
Golden Gates.
Okay.
(12:11):
You know what I took that asNirvana is a state of being.
Yeah.
It's just, you get to thatbecause you get to that.
Whereas heaven is somethingyou're is a place that you go,
it.
In my mind that's, if there's adifference, that's how it's
defined here on earth.
Where we're going to heaven.
(12:33):
Yeah.
But we're trying tote achievethis state of being here.
Yeah.
On earth.
And yeah.
And, but you know what, it, as aChristian, that's how we grew
up.
If you really listen to whatJesus says, he says, the kingdom
of heaven is within Right.
Within.
Which means you can experienceNirvana here now.
(12:54):
Yes.
You can experience heaven now,you can't, but you have to get
it to that level.
And there was something you saideither last time or before
reaching Nirvana, even theBible, Jesus spent 40 days and
40 nights in the wilderness.
Yeah.
And we are assuming that he wasmeditating.
Yeah.
And then Moses was on themountain.
Yep.
(13:15):
I forget which mountain it was,but he was supposedly meditating
and finding God also.
His image changed because of hisinteraction Yes.
With God.
Exactly.
Yes.
They, yeah, they said his facewas glowing and, he's, he had
that, that glow in his face andthey said he seen God, yeah.
Yeah.
His hair was gray and everythingelse.
Okay.
(13:35):
Alright.
Alright.
I've asked you two questionsback to back.
Now I got another one.
Okay.
Okay.
And now I'm asking this onebecause I know you studied the
Bible extensively.
Yeah.
Does this say anywhere in theBible that we should meditate to
become one with God?
Now, I know that it talks aboutJesus being in the wilderness,
what we just talked about for 40days and nights, and about Modus
(13:56):
Moses going into the mountain toreceive the 10 amendments.
Is there a connection betweenBuddhism or the idea of
meditating to reach Nirvana?
And the idea of going to heaven.
There was a story in the Bible,where John the Baptist was
called the prophet Elijahreborn.
Yeah.
Now we have to understand therewas 400 years between Elijah and
(14:18):
John the Baptist.
Yeah.
That sort of suggested there'ssome basis to believe that the
Christian religion believes inreincarnation.
What do you think?
Yeah.
I've had that discussion withsome people before and they're
like no, there's no such and nosuch thing as reincarnation and
Christian.
And I bring up the whole John,the Baptist and Elijah thing and
(14:40):
they really don't have much tosay about it, but they still
don't believe it.
But I do know this when therewas a verse in it might have
been Psalms maybe, or I think itwas Psalms, where God said, be
still and know that I am God.
To me that just explains it.
You be still get quiet and youtry to realize that kingdom of
(15:03):
heaven within you, right?
As Jesus said, the kingdom ofheaven is within you.
It says, be still and know thatI am God.
To me, that means, themeditation part to me right now
somebody else may see itdifferently, but that's just
what I, the way I see it.
So how did you tie that backinto the idea of reincarnation?
Oh, wow.
To, that's just, I think that'sjust a belief that each, that
(15:26):
each individual has to, eitherthey believe it or they don't.
Gotcha.
I can't prove it and this wholebe still and meditating.
I can't prove that it meansreincarnation.
Only thing I can say is that itmakes sense to me.
Okay.
Yeah.
Alright, then you know what, thenext thing I was gonna say was,
I'm really trying to understandif there's a greater connection
(15:48):
between Buddhism andChristianity connection greater
than we know.
And by default, is there agreater connection between
Judaism and Buddhism?
Because if, rememberChristianity is a offshoot of
Judaism, right?
So Judaism is one of the firstWestern religions.
And yeah.
(16:09):
Is there a greater connectionbetween Judaism and Buddhism?
There, there probably is.
Who's the first guy?
Enoch was the one that walkedinto heaven.
He didn't die or something likethat.
Back then, there was no tv,there's no radios.
There's nothing but a lot oftime to spend along out in Be
Wilderness or.
A lot of, and he was, he had aheart like goat, a heart like
(16:30):
God.
So I would assume that he'sprobably, he got connected to
God some kind of way where youdon't have to die and you just
go up into heaven, and that'sthe old Testament, the Judaism
part.
So I, in a lot of thesereligions.
Especially the newer ones, theytake a lot from the older
religions, right?
They do.
Yes, they do.
(16:52):
And so I can see a a connectionbetween those two.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Look, you know what, I'm justasking the question.
Yeah.
In my mind, there seems to be areally big connection between
Christianity and Buddhism.
Now, in my mind, I also thinkthat the differences.
Can be attributed to,translations between two
(17:14):
different cultures and maybe thetime difference between the
establishment of Buddhism andthe establishment of
Christianity.
So what I'm saying is that Ibelieve a lot of the foundation
of Christianity, the teachingsof Jesus came from Buddhism.
I'm just gonna put it out there.
Hard, a lot of people probablywon't like that, but I do
(17:35):
believe a lot of the teachingsof Jesus came from Buddhism.
When we look at the fiveprecepts, and you said it just
now a few minutes ago, it soundsawful.
Lot like the 10 Commandments.
Yep.
And the fact that Jesus and MoMoses both were in deep
meditation in order to listen toGod and receive his message, in
my mind, what they went through.
(17:57):
That's the definition ofenlightenment, which is what
Buddhists say.
Yeah.
And then Jesus has said that, weshould follow his lead in order
to get to heaven.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what he, Jesus said, Iam the way, the truth and light,
no man goes to the follow but byme, which he was telling us.
He was showing us how to do it.
(18:19):
And Jesus never said that he wasGod nor he never says he was
God.
He says he was one with God.
And even in the book of John, hesays, I go to my father.
The father is greater than me.
He says that in the Bible.
So I.
Jesus and Moses, Jesus had toget to that point where he was
one with God.
(18:39):
He's not greater than God.
He just became, it's an exampleis a big ocean, okay?
Uhhuh.
And you take a cup, dip it intothe ocean, and that cup still
has God in it.
Park into the water that saidthe ocean is God and the water
that you dip in that cup.
God, it's on a lower levellittle G, not a big G.
(19:01):
And but if you pour it back inthe ocean, you become one with
the ocean.
And so that is the same way withour spirits.
We, in this human body, we stillhave that God within us.
A lot of us don't realize that,but we do.
But so when we get to, we, whenwe die, or pass on, our spirit
becomes one with.
(19:22):
The big spirit, which is Godagain, right?
And yeah, but the wholereincarnation thing is you come
back and do it again until youcan able to just get to that
level where it's just purepeace, pure love and I think
that's what Jesus and Moses, andnot just those two, there were
others.
There were others who performedmiracles in the Bible too,
(19:42):
Elijah and another thing.
Elijah had his disciple, Alicia?
Yes.
And one of them raised somebodyfrom the dead.
I forgot which one it was, butthe whole reincarnation thing.
I once read that John theBaptist and Jesus was Elijah and
Elisha.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
(20:03):
And Jesus probably was, I'm notgonna say which one was which,
'cause I forgot I, I read thatthough.
I'm like okay.
And Jesus finally got to thatlevel.
He didn't have to come backagain.
He's just coming back now justto show us the way to God.
Okay.
Yeah, he may, he took the finalstep and reached that level.
Okay.
I got two questions and we cando this pretty quickly, but in
(20:23):
our religion, our Christianreligion, people always say you
have to pray to Jesus Christ toget into heaven.
I think that, what we read is.
At least what I believe is thatJesus, like you said, didn't
say, pray to me.
But he was the example of how toget to heaven.
What's your thoughts on that?
(20:44):
Yeah, I've always thought aboutthat too, and I just think that
Jesus may have said, I thinkJesus thought, maybe you can
pray to me if you if you feellike you need me to be a, a
connection between you and God,that's fine.
But it's not necessary becauseeven Jesus said, we call people
down here, father, this Father,even Jesus said, call no man on
(21:06):
earth, your Father, there's onlyone father.
So I, I think Jesus, when hereached that upper level, that
love level, that he don't careif you have to use him, he says,
you'd pray and he said, pray andI'll go to my father on your
behalf.
It's not necessary.
Okay.
Yeah.
I've never heard it explainedlike that, but I like that.
(21:27):
Yeah.
I like that.
Yeah.
And the second thing before we,close this out I'm gonna use the
analogy that you used beforewhere you put a cup of water in
the ocean, you take that out.
Yeah.
I'm often thought, you know howpeople sometimes say I had a
feeling I saw something.
It was like something thathappened before.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I look at that andI'm like, yes, you take this cup
(21:48):
of water out.
And this cup of water has all ofthese experiences.
Yeah.
But then when you put it backin, all of those experiences,
everything that cup of waterexperience, now, the whole ocean
has that experience also.
And then you take another cup ofwater out, part of that first
cup is gonna be in that secondcup.
(22:08):
Yes.
So there are things thathappened in that first cup that
are gonna be in that second cup.
But things that happened in thatfirst cup are gonna be in a
thousand other cups also.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So that's, yeah.
That's pretty amazing the wayyou, that's, I never thought
about it like that, but that'spretty amazing.
They always say that we are allone, right?
(22:30):
Yeah.
We are all one.
We have the same thing in us.
That same spirit, if you wannacall it spirit of God within
you, the energy or soul,whatever.
We all have that within us.
Yeah.
We just don't, we just don'trealize that we get too busy in
our lives and not, don't connectto that spirit in us, but we all
have that spirit within us.
And yeah.
(22:51):
Which we, yeah, that analogythat you, you gave and then what
I just said.
I'm like, I believe that.
And so maybe that's thereincarnation, because what the
experiences that we had, they goout and they may be in a
thousand other cups.
So part of what I experienced,part of what you experienced are
gonna be something that's gonnabe in Yeah.
(23:13):
The next cups that are gonna bepulled out of the ocean.
Yeah.
So yeah, it, yeah, it's there.
We just gotta be still andlisten or experience it or
whatever.
And yeah, we all can experiencethe same thing, it.
It takes effort though.
It takes effort, to be still andreally listen and experience.
And be con and live a consciouslife.
(23:34):
And live a con, which is what wetalked about in the very
beginning.
Yes.
That purposeful life.
Yes.
A conscious and purposeful life.
Yes.
Okay.
Exactly.
Alright.
Yeah.
Look, we talked about a lot oftheories and everything else.
But before we close out, just aquick review.
We've said some things that are.
Probably not common Christianconcepts.
(23:54):
But in, in my logical mind it'stelling me that there's probably
a greater connection between,the two religions that we talked
about today, more, connectionthan there are differences now.
Yeah.
That doesn't mean that Mayan, inyour case, I think that our
faith in God has changed ordiminished, but on the contrary,
I think that my faith, and I'mgonna make a assumption, your
(24:18):
faith is probably stronger atrealizing that there are
connections and it's notseparate.
Yeah I totally agree with that.
I think that when I meditate orwhen I pray and meditate.
And read the Bible.
I do read the Bible alike,especially with what Jesus says.
(24:39):
When he says the kingdom ofheaven is within, you try to
really connect to that spiritwithin and also listen, there's
this guy named Yoko Nanda.
I don't know if you've everheard of him, but he's a great
Indian sage.
He has the book one of the mostwell-known books in the world.
I forgot what it's called, butit's really nice.
And he has these YouTube, videosand he talks about getting close
(25:00):
to God and, the meditation andall that.
It's pretty good read.
And so pretty good listen.
Yeah, it makes you connection toGod and belief in God a whole
lot stronger.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
Look, we had a greatconversation today and as,
because of this, I think thatnext week we'll start and talk
about the idea of heaven andhell.
(25:21):
Yeah, you're laughing.
Yeah.
With that we'll begin discussingthe idea of Satan and hell,
Buddhism doesn't say anythingabout a hell, but it's prevalent
in our religion.
Yes.
And I think this is a good timeto talk about it and try to
understand how it affects ourlives and, our path to creating
that purposeful life.
(25:42):
Yeah.
That'd be nice.
Okay.
Do we have a story today?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Our story today comes fromJason, and Jason writes, they
say, when you're told you'redying, something inside, you
either breaks or burns brighter.
For me, it was the latter.
(26:02):
It started with a cough thatwouldn't quit, but I chalked it
up to the change in seasons.
I've never been one to rush to.
The doctor always figured alittle prayer and some soup
would do the trick, but thescans don't, didn't lie.
Stage four Wow.
Words I never thought I'd hearattached to my name.
(26:24):
At first, the world dimmed.
The air felt heavier.
Every step of chore.
People spoke to me like I wasalready halfway gone.
Polite, smiles and tilted.
Heads filled with pity, but Iwasn't ready to surrender.
Not to the cancer, not to thefear.
I remember sitting in theparking lot after my diagnosis,
(26:46):
hands shaking on the steeringwheel when I said out loud, God,
I can't do this.
And in the silence thatfollowed, I didn't hear a
booming voice or see a holylight.
I just felt like I wasn't alonein the car.
That's how it started.
My mornings became sacredrituals.
(27:06):
I'd open my eyes and whisper.
Thank you.
Not for the pain or theprognosis, but for the breath
still in my lungs for the chanceto love my family.
One more day, my Bible stayedclosed.
It's pages worn from use marginsfilled with scribbles and
terrace stains.
Psalms 46, 1 became our anchor.
(27:28):
God is our refuge and strengthand an ever present health and
trouble.
I recited it until I memorizedit and it became a part of my
daily routine.
My body weakened over time, butmy soul felt stronger.
I started writing letters to mychildren.
They're still young, too youngto understand all this, but I
(27:48):
wanted them to know their fatherwasn't just sick.
He was brave.
He believed in a love biggerthan fear.
People would ask if I'm angry atGod, and maybe in some moments
of depression or desperation Iwas.
But more often I found peace andsurrender.
Faith isn't a magic wand.
(28:10):
It didn't erase my illness orpromise a miracle, but it gave
me a lens to see the beauty andthe mess, hope and the
heartache.
One evening my wife and I sit onthe back porch watching
fireflies flicker against thedark sky.
She asked if I was scared.
I told her the truth, yes, butnot of dying.
(28:30):
What scared me was leaving her,the kids, the warm cup of coffee
in the morning.
The sound of rain on our roof.
All the simple little things,and yet my faith tells me this
isn't the end, that beyond thisbody there is something eternal.
I believe in that promise, notbecause I need to, but because I
felt it.
(28:51):
And the quiet moments and thekindness of friends who show up
with food and prayers and thestillness of 3:00 AM when I feel
most alone yet somehowcomforted.
Today I watch my youngestdaughter dance at her school
play.
While watching her in thatmoment, I forgot the tubes, the
pills, the hospital bills.
(29:11):
I just felt pure, unfilteredjoy.
That's the thing about knowingyour days are numbered.
It sharpens your senses.
You savor more, forgive faster,love deeper.
And while cancer has taken muchfrom me, it's also given me this
clarity of understanding thateach day is a gift, not
guaranteed, but full of grace.
(29:33):
No, I don't know what tomorrowholds, but I do know what holds
me.
Wow.
That's powerful.
Okay, thank you, Jason, forsending your story.
We hope that you have found somepeace and purpose in your life,
and we believe that your livedlife experience is someone's
playbook for dealing with thestorms in their lives.
(29:55):
James, your story will helpsomeone to find the strength to
deal with the storms in theirlives.
Okay, so this will close ourpodcast for today.
Thank you for joining us todayon Cirque Soul.
We hope that it sparked some newthoughts about the purpose of
life.
If you would like to send ussome questions for discussions
or if you'd like to send yourstory.
(30:17):
Please email though.
Email these to CDUsoul444@ggmail.com.
At C-I-R-Q-U-E-D-U-S-O-Ul444@gmail.com.
And if you found value intoday's episode please share it
with someone who might benefitfrom it.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe so you don't miss any
(30:37):
future episodes.
And remember, your spiritualjourney is unique to yours.
But you are never ever alone.
There'll always be others tohelp you through the storms in
your life.
So take care of yourself, takebe kind to yourself and be kind
to the world around you.
And until the next time, have agreat day in paradise.
(31:10):
And drop my.
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