Spirituality & Religion W/ Asa Jackson

“Religion is how you govern yourself and spirituality is the shoes you put on to go through the journey.” - Mars

Join the ISYB crew with special guest, Asa Jackson, as we discuss spirituality vs. religion, soul and self, and attempt to find the balance between it all. Grab your notepad because there are gems in here you don’t want to miss.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I

(00:02):
I see a bow. Yeah already you guys know the definition of government
No

(00:33):
To government control to govern men mind control that's actually
Latin Oh
Every day every day
Welcome everybody welcome welcome back to another I see you bro podcast

(00:57):
With your boy Mars we got Brandon and Yuri here man, and I want to say that we're actually very excited to have
Acer
He's the CEO founder of the Cannes Foundation the contemporary art
foundation our arts network, I apologize, but um
What what the biggest thing is your mission is that stuck out to me is that you're bringing?

(01:23):
You know people together to create sustainable careers, you know and within creativity and that's pretty dope
So shout out to you, and I appreciate you for joining us today. Absolutely man. It's a pleasure to be here
Awesome awesome, so without further ado we're gonna get up into it today's topic is spirituality alright, and
This is one of my favorite topics, and I think we got a good guess for it

(01:45):
I mean you try to get deep before we start at the podcast so I think I think you guys are gonna really enjoy
What's going on here today?
so
Well, I really want to get into more so is I personally
My spiritual journey, and I think everybody's spiritual journey is different, but not only is it different
I think everybody's definition and kind of understanding of spirituality is different which actually makes it very

(02:10):
interesting
So when we talk about spirituality as a whole sometimes people
Will equip spirituality and religion together right?
I personally think there's a difference to them right and one can
Kind of dictate the other so when I talk about my spirituality
I would say that you know I am a Christian

(02:34):
But I'm a contemporary Christian. You know whatever that means everybody likes it the way they do
but
My religion is
Christianity, but my spirituality is doing things that kind of makes sense
Towards my views on my religion so kind of want to ask you

(02:55):
Guys I'll start with Brenton kind of what do you think the difference or is there a difference between?
Spirituality and religion and kind of explain your your spirituality and your religion
What is the difference between spirituality and religion okay, so when I think of spirituality
I think about like my relationship with my spirit, right?

(03:17):
There is
a spirit within the within my flesh like
That I think that is separate from my humanness right am I making sense?
And that spirit desire certain things right
this spirit
has the ability to
Attach to things in the spiritual realm

(03:40):
Right that my that my human being cannot right?
And so when I think of spirituality, I think about
Being able to attach to those things that I can't necessarily see right
Religion when I think about religion. It's like well. How do I how do I cultivate that spirit?

(04:00):
What are the practices like you said that
Cultivate what my spirit you know shall so desire
What the spirituality look like to me to answer your question spirituality to me looks like
quietness
Spirituality looks like

(04:24):
A cohesiveness of like my heart and my mind
My body and spirit yeah
Spirituality is
I is is a is an ease to my being
When I when I think about my religion like you like

(04:45):
Christian right my religion is like I go to church right. I believe in community
Do I necessarily believe in everything that the religion like promotes or how they promote it?
No, but are there certain things like within my religion?
Christianity right that my spirit can relate to yes
Um, and so that's what it looks like to me like my religion looks like going to church and being in community

(05:12):
My spirituality looks like
Connecting with god
You know
On a one-on-one basis like right what's that alignment between me down like me here as the person and me?
With you know with the spirit does that make sense am I making sense?
Um, it's a it's a it's i'm still uncovering what spirituality looks like for me if i'm being honest too because

(05:36):
I was raised up in more religion and like in a more religious and I don't and I don't and I don't necessarily know
That it was meant to be that way
But I come the way that I was taught
Spirituality in the way that I was taught religion isn't necessarily what I practice now
So i'm having I say that to say I'm I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm not saying that

(05:56):
It isn't necessarily what I practice now. So i'm having I say that to say i'm i'm doing a lot of unlearning
And like relearning when it comes to this topic that makes a lot of sense because i'll tell you that I was learned
I was taught religion
And I think a lot of times in the black community when you're taught religion, there's not really spirituality in there, right?

(06:17):
It's just really just this is religion and then this is kind of how we we work in this religion
Which gives you some spirituality, but it's not really
Kind of like separate when you separate it. There's more power to your spirituality that can help your religion
Right and kind of your meaning for it
Um, i'm gonna ask asa what what do you think about first of all explain some of your spirituality and your thoughts on religion?

(06:41):
And then kind of if you think there's a difference
sure, um
Let's see
I think it's like it's like um, everybody's born, you know
and then
when you're born
You are something already

(07:03):
right and then
Depending on where you're born or when you're born or how you're born
You um and who you're born to and where you know all of that
You learn stuff
right
And the learning is socialization
the ways of being right culture
religion

(07:24):
You know, whatever
But the what you are and the who you are
Has nothing to do with that
And so that's kind of how I look at religion and spirituality
like
religion is like the cultural practices that you learned
and

(07:44):
Spirituality is what you are
and I think um
Taking the time to learn out
What you are?
Uh is very important. That's good. And I and I even I even think there's a difference between
What you are and who you are, right?

(08:04):
But I think what you are is the facts
And I think the facts can be discovered
Um, I think you know part of it might be scientific right part of it might be
way beyond physical
understanding
um, but you know there is
uh, I think a pathway to understanding and I think that

(08:29):
Spirituality is leaning on the what you are
Man it's gonna get deep
But yeah, I do think there's a difference between what and who you are too
Right and what is mostly mostly I believe is scientific kind of genetic makeup
But there's a little bit more to that like you said so yuri
um, what do you think about you know your own spirituality and um your own religion and then kind of

(08:56):
How do those differ for you?
Um similar to what was spoken here, uh religion was something that was taught
um
was catholic in my household, but
I don't
When I asked what the origin of that religion was for my family. No, it felt like the answers

(09:16):
You know, I couldn't get a clear answer as to why we believed in what we believed in
And I just went through life I was
You know as I got older I just drifted away from religion entirely. Um
Recently um for the better part of a year i've been considering

(09:37):
uh a religion, uh, I want to practice ramadan and kind of have that be like the entryway in
to
you know that but
For a long time I just couldn't really
Subscribe to the christianity cat like no offense to anybody that believes in that because I believe
Everybody deserves to believe in something greater than themselves. You know what i'm saying? That's something

(10:01):
You know what i'm saying that that's that's part of our driver here. Like that's why we're here today
But I just leaned so much more on spirituality
Who I am as a person really leaning on that?
And just that connection like you said that one-on-one connection with god with the universe like really

(10:22):
Getting in tune with that. Um
And just leading my life that way, um
I pray a lot. I pray in many different instances
um
I have not stepped foot in a church since before I joined the navy
but
I've talked to god

(10:42):
more
Since uh, I stopped going to church than every time I went to church, right?
Like so I feel like the connection has gotten so much stronger. I i've gotten such a great sense of who I am as i've gotten
and deeper into my spirituality, but
Yeah, I just felt like I I I feel like there's a greater source like we had this conversation before

(11:05):
We don't need to get into that like in terms of like god and all that but like it's like I
We all believe in a greater source and it was just like how do I build that connection with?
that source without
Compromising myself for like my integrity or what I believe in right? So I just found my own way to do that and
You know, that's why I am today. It's it's an ever-learning experience

(11:25):
You know, uh, you tap into it more you find out more about yourself as you continue because like everything else
It's part of the journey, right? Um
And you just you know, you wake up every day and the faith is going to be tested sometimes for long periods of time
Sometimes but you got to know that
In the end it all works out in your favor
Whether you like the end result or not it worked out in your favor. You needed whatever the result was

(11:53):
Asa I know we asked you mars asked, you know the difference but also like what does it look like in your life specifically?
I don't know that
you you
Told us that part. That's what we want to know. Like what does it look like for you? Yeah, man. Well
Um, all right, so

(12:13):
um, I was raised
Uh sort of in a
Abrahamic context
um meaning
uh
In my like
Nuclear family structure. It was you know from age, I guess four to sixteen
It was um, islam sunni muslim, right?

(12:36):
Um, so that was like going to the mosque
Uh, you know multiple times a week
Um having a community
Uh within within that framework
um, which was an international community with
a lot of um
Africans and people from the middle east and different types of people. Um, so it was a it was a

(13:02):
It was a uh, that was an interesting cultural framework
But then also like extended family like grandparents and stuff like that. Um, you know, it's like christian stuff
Um, so you get that and then also
We had a lot of like rastafari
Uh rastafarian rastas like, you know around us

(13:24):
Um, so I grew up with a lot of that and then you know
Like my life was like crazy
um
Like I went to a private school
When I was in elementary school, that was a christian school all white school. So I was one of the only black kids
so I learned

(13:44):
Christianity through their context which
Um, you're so you're so uh, i'm sorry to cut you off. You're so correct. I'm problematic
I mean I we we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there too. You know what I mean?
I'm just trying to give you the facts. Yeah, we go crazy. Right, right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I got you

(14:04):
My bad my bad my bad
But I learned it. I learned christianity through a protestant context with white people
um in the southern white context and then I learned um
Christianity through black people in the southern context and then
I learned um
Islam through a middle eastern context, you know what I mean?

(14:27):
But also I learned rasta through, you know, a jamaican, uh, west indian
um and black context, right?
um
So that and i'm an 80s baby. So like a part of my growing up consciousness was black consciousness
like being around like um
Like you know, like when I was a kid like I remember when malcolm x came out. I remember when

(14:51):
Sankofa came out. I remember when amistad came out like my mom took us to see all that stuff front and center. So like
We were being downloaded by a lot of things, but my mom had a lot of asian
uh friends my dad ended up you know living in japan pretty much the whole time I was growing up
So I had an asian stepmom and then my mom remarried. I had an indian stepdad at one time

(15:14):
I had a senegalese stepdad at one time
So I had a lot of mixed baggage right and through all of those
People you learn different things through all of those
associations you learn different things, but
when I was 13
I met a guy who was a

(15:35):
A vietnam vet
a ex-con
Um, you know spent 30 years in jail for for murder
um
And then got out and started a fish farm. It was a really interesting guy. That's cool
My mom introduced me to him to write a paper and

(15:56):
I had to spend a lot of time with him when I was 13 and and he said something to me that changed my
perspective in my life around religion and spirituality which
um
As a 13 year old was real heavy. He asked me one day after picking me up from school
If I believe in god, right and I didn't know where he was going with it. So it was kind of a scary question, right?

(16:17):
um
It always usually is right and so i'm riding with him
And he and he's like, yeah, what you think and I was like
You know, I gave him a generic answer. Yeah, I believe in god, you know, look at the sun look at you know, everything moving shaking
And he's like, yeah, but how you know?
And I then I had to think deeper

(16:37):
Like I guess I don't know. I guess this is what i've been taught
And it makes sense to me. So i'm riding with it
And he was like, yeah, that's kind of stupid though
He was like, why don't you figure it out for yourself? Why don't you?
know
And he said, um, it's a big difference between
Believing something and knowing something

(16:58):
And he said you should actually
Never believe anything that you can't know
And that changed my life as a 13 year old because most of what people know
Or believe in they don't know
Second hand experiences. Yeah, or third
Or worse. Yeah, right. You're right. Right most the most of what people believe in and understand and

(17:21):
Will put their life on they can't know
They haven't proven it
Right. And so I would answer to answer your question. I think what I practice is something that I know
It's not really I don't practice my beliefs
I practice my knowledge
You feel me? And I think that that that thirst for knowledge started when he when this gentleman told me that

(17:46):
His name was shabaka to come to shout out shabaka
When he told me that at 13
Um, this is the same year the towers went down
um that was
That was when that
thirst for the answers
This is a terrible probably a uh, not a terrible time, but a unique time for a person named

(18:08):
Um shabaka shabaka at that time. Yeah, yeah as well. I mean so it was it was also for muslims in the country
I don't know if you guys are privy to that or had any muslim friends around my friend was indian
Yeah, we went through that. I was right in jersey. So you see
the treatment and the difference in treatment towards you know people because of how they look or what their name is or how they sound

(18:32):
after that happened they became like public enemy number one for everybody because
It felt a lot of people around my area lost somebody like I know people that lost you up there
Yeah that lost somebody
So they were angry rightfully so right but they were projecting that anger onto like, you know what i'm saying? They
Everybody wants to blame somebody

(18:55):
And it's a conversation for another day, but when the media portrays a certain enemy
It's easy for everybody to target that same enemy right same thing with covid same thing with it
It's a lot of things once they paint an enemy. It's easy for the collective public to do that
The ironic part of that is is that they say and if you really think about that time

(19:15):
The the country wasn't was never or um, how do I say this?
It was a time when the country was
Together. Yeah, right. That's really ironic to say. Yeah, right as we're together just because it's it's but it's you can go back
What does that mean? You can go back in human. So they were saying that the time was the the

(19:37):
Like the country was coming together at this time because they had yeah one enemy exactly
But you can go back in human history and see that
On a lot of things when they created one enemy everybody's unified unified
Unified that's more. Yeah, it was unifying the american people more than anything. Yo, I learned a piece of history this year

(19:58):
Right not to throw off
But I learned a piece of history this year, right that actually will make you question every single thing in american history
past 100 years old
double triple times, right
um in the late 1800s
There were you know how like today we have like the prison industrial complex, right?

(20:18):
Which is a major institution, right?
Well back then you had multiple major institutions, right? You had
The the prison institution, right?
But you also had the insane asylums which were just as large of an institution and you also had state orphanages
Which were equally as large of an institution, right? Crazy. And then you also had a fourth institution, which

(20:42):
Maybe a lot of we heard we used to hear from a lot of our grandparents growing up
um
But we never found out what it really was they used to say the poor house you ever heard of the poor house
Maybe heard your grandparents say well, you better save money gonna end up in a poor house stuff like that
Well, the poor house was an actual institution. So you had these four major institutions you had and this was like in reconstruction era

(21:06):
So you had the insane asylum
the the the poor house
the the state orphanage
and
The prison, right?
so so
basically
This is alleged information but there's a lot of documents backing this up, right?

(21:28):
There was a whole movement of reformating and and sort of
reconditioning
um the american people right in the in the late 1800s
right
Which had a lot to do with american expansion and to new cities, but it had a lot to do with
um

(21:49):
programming people's mind for history and
an industry, right? So
the insane asylums
Were used to throw people away who were deemed unstable
Right or problematic or problem. Yeah, that's where a lot of um
Women ended up when their husbands were done with them. Yes

(22:10):
the poor house were used
To throw people and who couldn't pay their bills
Right. So if you couldn't pay your bills and shit, they would actually put you in a place. That's like a prison, right?
Damn, um, or if you were derelict or you know, they were like
Like that. Yeah, right the orphanage

(22:31):
Was for all those people's children
Right. So so damn so so so
So if your parents got taken to the insane asylum
Or got thrown in the poor house, the kids would be taken by the state and put in the orphanage. So Annie
Yes, and that's why those movies are so big. Those are factual jumps. Yeah, they're not they're not myths

(22:54):
And and even the the the idea of the cabbage batch kid, right?
The cabbage patch kids those are orphanages and the I mean orphans stork, right?
This is how they used to repopulate human. I mean repopulate um u.s cities in the late 1800s
They would round these children up in the orphanages and then they would ship them
Or orphan trains to different cities and they would give them to to families

(23:17):
So people were mass adopting children moving them around but also they would lease these children out to factories
Because at that time there were no child labor laws. Oh no kids was working at three years old. So you had so you had
You had these new cities, right?
Where they would ship thousands of children to work in these new factories, right?

(23:37):
Which is why they had to even make labor laws for basic free
Wow, you feel me and the kids wouldn't have nobody protecting their at all. You feel i'm saying so the kids
Not only will be getting shipped around to new families having to do work having to be slaves getting abused all types of stuff
But at the same time they're being educated by the state
So they can be taught anything about their past they can be taught anything about where they come from

(24:01):
They could be taught anything about their racial identity. They could be taught anything about anything
And so there was a mass movement in the late 1800s that locked up
massive
populations of people either in the poorhouse in the insane asylum or in the in the prisons
Right in the prisons or for people who broke any laws

(24:22):
But you have to consider at this time you got jim crow laws and stuff like that. So breaking
The law could be for life all the time walking down the street at the wrong time
Right or like looking at the wrong person at the wrong time or or being able to read in some cities, right?
And so like and so
The I say all of that right now and I hate that I had to go on that tangent

(24:44):
But I say all of that in terms of looking at american history
It's hard to really say what the truth is because there was a massive
Retelling of the stories or resetting so to speak
And it goes deep man
I mean it goes deep into the architecture like some of the architecture in this country

(25:05):
You will look at and they'll tell you that it was built 100 years ago 150 years ago
But then when you really start rationally asking yourself
How the hell was this thing built 100 and 50 years ago before modern technology?
Right, and then you start to think about it
What was the technology?
Right

(25:25):
Like how how and then looking at the way the buildings are some of them look way much older than
They're accounting for right? So then questioning what was really in america before?
All of this and all it just what did it take deep?
So so that's why it goes into all of that to tie it back into this spirituality thing, right?

(25:46):
The question of who you are
Right versus what you are
Big difference because who you are somebody can tell you
More or less, right? Because who you are is oftentimes based on your racial identity
Your religious identity your economic identity your location
You know what I mean? All of these national identity all these somebody else's perception of who you are

(26:11):
But these tangible things right what makes you black? Yeah, what makes you human?
What makes you a man right? Those are all labels that somebody came up with
To identify something that they were trying to understand
But the thing is we have our own shot
At trying to understand this thing

(26:32):
Just as any of the uncountable amount of spirits who's walked on this thing, right?
So I can come up with new definitions
I can come up with new labels and new words and new ways to think about myself
Which can break the frame of
The concept right you already know so even even right talking about god
god is a frame of

(26:52):
Is a is a frame of reference for something much deeper, right?
So like we can say god right and we'll know what we're all talking about more or less
But we all might mean something vastly different
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(27:15):
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(27:43):
I just told I had to fix that conversation
Jesus is and Jesus and god is somebody completely different to each person
But we had that conversation in the test trial where we were like
Look at brand look at brand. I was just gonna say how how I felt that that god was a label
We tried to put on the source

(28:04):
To try to understand what it is because we truly don't know it is way more powerful
You're not no, you're not going to sit here and tell me you know
what who
God is what he she it is. You're not going to sit here and describe that to me
And tell me that you're right. Nobody no human is going to sit here and do that

(28:25):
But the best part is they are right to themselves that's their god, but we just don't know
It's like the wind dog. We can't see it, but we feel it. So Brandon you can have your opinion
Yes, so let me actually come into this because the next question is this kind of
and and thank you, uh
Asa because you kind of made the sense of with if when you don't have spirituality and you just live in religion

(28:51):
Your people can tell you who to be how to walk right and then they give you the spirituality right instead of you
Because spirituality is a self journey. It's a kind of something that you stumbled upon while doing
Your religion or learning your religion and I really think it's super unique because I tell people this all the time
Who are we to think that the religion?

(29:13):
Or the bible that our parents grew up in and put us in the church of is the right one
We just won the lottery
Uniquely enough you were able to see so many different religions growing up right and that way you were able to
hopefully
Learn and then kind of choose what made sense to you
So what I want to ask you Brandon as we're talking about Morgan, we know you are the the um, not more religious

(29:37):
But you are well moving in religion right now, right?
Um, well you it's in certain respects. So let me just ask this
I'll ask you this. Why do you follow the spiritual your spirituality?
Why is it the way it is and then why do you follow the religion the way you do?
the religion the way you do

(29:58):
Well, I follow spirituality because religion had me
What's the what's the
What's the proper way to say this?
It had me had you in a chokehold. Yeah, exactly because I because i'm actually don't even curse just yeah
Exactly. I'm trying i'm trying to keep it clean. You felt it here though, right? Like eventually you felt it at boxed up. So

(30:21):
so
I don't tell this story often, but I was a youth pastor at a presbyterian church
white
Conservative
A whole lot of rules
like
That's what it was. I loved it though
He was my experience

(30:41):
You know, you put a black man anywhere. He gonna thrive. That's true. That's just what it was and so
um
I watched that church go through a horrendous split. Uh, that was maybe in about 2020
I watched it. I watched it go through a horrendous split. Um, I not only

(31:02):
Lose my community because when you work at a church
when you work in that in that space and you know religion, right like
Especially christian religion, right when you
When you you gotta be there five six times a week, especially if you're a trustee yourself exactly exactly
And so that's I just left church before coming here. Exactly. Exactly. So anyway

(31:26):
um
I not in in that situation of me watching that church go through a split. I lost my community
I um lost my job
so my financial stability, but I also lost like
What I thought was my foundation
Because I was like if this is what I believe or what they're saying it is

(31:50):
Then how can it be this?
And because there's a mix up here
It's obvious you need to go on your own journey
And then me going on that journey
I was like, oh, yo, yo, do you even even really believe in jesus christ?
Do you believe do you believe

(32:12):
Let me ask you this question bro, let me ask you this question right and I i'm not trying to you know
Go ahead, man. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. That's what it's about. Um
If somebody was to ask us to recount tonight's experience, right? Yeah
And it's you know a whole room full of people in here, right but beyond us on the camera

(32:34):
Everybody's gonna have a completely different. Yeah narrative. Yeah, right and and the narrative might mirror
It might it might have similar elements, right? You see i'm saying
But because i'm sitting right here
And because I had the life that i've had
Right, it's gonna look completely different right i'm i'm gonna talk about it differently and i'm gonna log it differently

(32:57):
I'm gonna think about it. You're gonna receive it
I'm seeing you i'm seeing you from different angles, right?
My bro over there is seeing us from a different angle, right? He's seeing your your different side of the face
Yeah, you see what i'm saying? So like he's even remembering this memorizing this differently
Yeah, you feel what i'm saying? Like and everybody has their life experience. That's actually

(33:22):
sort of really
The lens at which we're coming to this conversation with right? Yeah, and so there's an interesting thing at play because
If we're going to talk about
Something right we can only at best hint at what the thing is
Because we all have different understandings of what that thing is, right? Right. And so there's there's this there's this um

(33:44):
There's this philosophy
That I love to think about from time to time because it's
it's a very close mirror in my opinion to um
Like the deepest level of all religion, right?
And I might argue right after you know in my life having gone through and studied many spiritual systems and religions, right?

(34:07):
I might argue that
the deepest level
Of the majority of all of them
Are the same right? I agree with that and they're trying to teach the same truth now what that truth is, right?
That that is true. I can subscribe to that but go ahead. I'm sorry, right? No, no
There's this idea you guys ever heard of solipsism

(34:30):
So in popular culture where you might have heard solipsism referenced is um
In the jay-z and frank ocean song uh on jay-z's
About no church in the wild not staying in his tuxedo at the basquiat show
Yeah, that's the end of the world. That's my song. So solipsism is is said in that hook

(34:55):
Frank ocean says solipsistic thoughts or something like that, right? So solipsism is a um
Is a is a philosophy that states that there's nothing
In the entire universe that you can prove to be true other than your own
awareness

(35:15):
Other than your own conscious awareness, you can't actually prove anything outside of you to be real at all
Literally even if you're not real
You can't even prove that to be true. And and and the reasoning why right is because every single thing has to pass through your own senses
Right meaning your smell your eyes your has to pass through your brain every single thing

(35:41):
The only way to test anything in the universe. You have to test it with yourself
Right. So so there's no way to prove that
Anything is separate from you is actually not you right? There's no way to prove it. And so
When you look at the deepest
portion of every religion, right and even what jesus was saying, right, um

(36:04):
I and the father are one there's no separation, right? Whatever the father hath. I also have right also
Spoken in the spirit of the father
There's no separation, right? Whatever the father hath. I also have right also speaking to things like um
Um he who hath all shall be given

(36:25):
He who hath not all shall be taken away, right?
You got to go into the deeper meaning of those scriptures right because I think what's being spoken of
And this is just my humble opinion, right?
Is the fact that
Um, and i'm not going to say the fact that what's being spoken of in my opinion is the idea

(36:45):
that
Um
The true nature of all things
And people is the same thing. Oh, absolutely. Yeah that one thing
Is the only thing yeah, you know what I mean? And when you develop an understanding
Understanding right and and I think this is what jesus was trying to say your own understanding an identity

(37:10):
rather, right when you stop identifying with
The little you
Right who is maybe asa
Right, right like asa is the little me and this fictional story of my life history, right?
Which I would say is fictional because it's I can only tell you based on my perspective

(37:30):
But my mom is going to tell you a different story
And my brother's going to tell you a different story and my homie's going to tell you something else about me
So what is the real truth? You know, I mean ain't none of that shit real right? The only truth is
I am my source are one thing
And my source is the actual source of all things and so my true identity is that thing

(37:53):
and
For me to take on any other identity is a false narrative
and I can
Go along with that for shits and giggles and for fun, right?
But if I was to say out loud i'm god, right?
Everybody here starts shivering in their boots people. I don't understand out loud

(38:13):
I don't understand that though because each and every single one of us has god inside us. So
So to your point all of what you just said, I agree. I agree from the aspect of
Of um, it takes a certain level of spirituality to know that and to be comfortable with that and to sit in that and to realize

(38:33):
God body my brother everybody got it. All right, not everybody subscribes, but some of y'all be taking it too far
I'm gonna just say that it doesn't stop them from being it because they're not really because they're not really
understanding it they're they're they're um
The culture has even flipped spirituality like they're they're they're like
Like it's the same thing as cultural appropriation. They're just you know, basically, um taking advantage of a time

(38:58):
Yeah, but I feel yeah god by it's within all of us
It's without and I mean that in in saying the spirituality like you said we are connected to the source
It is one
When we set our intention out into the universe this manifesting thing that people think is just a wish
It's it's really you setting your intention out into the universe
This shit here didn't happen by accident dog. I've been talking about some shit like this for years

(39:22):
What are we what are we looking at right now? Actually like let's let's try to describe
What this moment is
Like even on a physical level, let's look around the room right like for me
I'm seeing what's in this room, right and I can tell you what's behind all of this. You feel what i'm saying
At the end of the day is one thing and it's what is it?

(39:44):
All of us are here to help people okay
On that common ground and that's what I feel but that's my perspective, but I was I was just about to say that from
It's gonna have different it's all gonna look very much different
But the one the one commonality, is that a word? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool
It is today

(40:06):
Cool the one commonality like and that I that I respect that's about the space
about the space it in the context of spirituality is like
It's all trying to say the same thing essentially and it takes a spiritual individual and a spiritual man
to say hey it like

(40:27):
We're probably trying to say the same thing
But we're just because of where I come from and what I believe
We might be coming from two different avenues to meet at the intersection
But to his point if we dig deeper if we're probably at the root level on the same page because we're here aligned
Yes, right the same cause like we each have very different backgrounds
Yeah, we're here aligned for a common cause a common reason common purpose, right?

(40:53):
and
that's where I feel spirituality comes in where it's like
We are nothing and everything at the same like we are like everything has life everything is connected to one another like
We the frequency and vibration we're on
It's matched. That's why we're here. That's why we've been able to do the work. We do the frequency. We're on aligned with

(41:16):
Everyone here. That's why we're all in the same plane now like
That's what brought us together and I feel like when we tap into our spirituality
We get a better sense of discerning who's on our frequency
I want to ask you something but I want to ask why you do it you do spiritually and religiously
But I want to get back to you on like you were talking about how everything broke down

(41:38):
Right. So how did it how did you come back?
Because I think it was stronger right to your point to end their ace. I'm gonna throw it to you because you I know you
had something to say
but
You had something to say
No, it all broke down and to to your point. I was left with nothing but my innateness

(41:58):
in my oneness to like
What do you know? What do you feel in this moment? What do you actually believe?
Yes, aside from what you've been taught aside what you're aside from what you're being taught
Aside i'm still learning like I have to unlearn stuff every day in the culture where it's like so to to your point

(42:18):
Yeah
Everything had to go before I was stuck with self to figure out what who my spirit was
And who my spirit wanted to be what it actually desired
Outside of what I was being told and a lot of people and a lot of men
Don't get that opportunity. They don't get an opportunity to sit with it generally takes you being

(42:44):
Stripped of everything before you are left to really check your spirit
Um, and so that's really why i'm able to have the conversation about spirituality
Because my religion actually don't really want to have this type of conversation, right? I'm cool with that
Everything ain't for everybody. I'm gonna stand on business. They're gonna stand on business

(43:07):
Um, you feel me everybody's standing on business. So that's what we're gonna do. That's what that's who my spirit is
My spirit is actually confrontational as hell
I want to fight
You know, but anyway, that's that's how it all it all had to I had to be stripped away asa
You I felt like you was you was about to you a preacher low key

(43:29):
That's why he was that in the in the
Drama some some points there because like you you said something and and what you just said was, you know
Writing exact too, but my brother was saying he said, um
You said we are all nothing and something at the same time, right?
And I and that just resonated with me so hard because when we when we go back to this thing of like

(43:52):
What we are, right?
right
What everything is is atoms?
Right and atoms on a physical level right on a purely physical level quote unquote, right?
Everything is atoms
And atoms are broken down into even smaller components called protons neutrons and electrons

(44:14):
This is some basic stuff that we learn probably in elementary school or middle school, right?
But how often do we take that really elementary teaching?
That we learn and apply it to how we're dealing with things almost never right because
Atoms behave in a certain way
Protons neutrons and electrons behave in a very specific way

(44:38):
And if that is the building block not only of our entire body physical body
but also of every single physical
And invisibly physical thing like oxygen and gas and all that stuff. If the basic building block is
atoms
Then we have to do some studying on how atoms behave and how they react to things. You see what i'm saying?

(45:01):
and and and and my bro was
Elaborating by talking using words like frequency and things like that. So so so to look at atoms, right?
And to look at electrons and valence
And to look at electrons and valence electrons and things like that. They deal with frequency, right?
But if you if if one was to actually

(45:23):
observe
The life of an electron, right?
Every moment it is popping in and out of reality
Right if you actually put a microscope and observe
Electrons they are popping in and out of reality
every moment
Right. So so to say something is physically what it is is only a perspective

(45:45):
Right. And so and so if you look at one atom
One atom is vibrating at a certain rate, right?
If we look at multiple atoms that are vibrating at the same rate, they become compound elements
You know what i'm saying?
when
Atoms are vibrating at different rates

(46:07):
they
Repel each other
Right. They're not able to link up when they vibrate at the same rate. They can link up, right?
So so looking at that how we do right?
But let me let me they also and this is to the point kind of what you're making is
They all are on the same vibration, right and they're being exposed and they're they're on the same vibration

(46:29):
However, their journey is different
Their journey the atoms aren't necessarily moving. I'm sorry, but moving the same way and that
That's the most interesting part is that people don't understand is that even though we're on the same vibe like you mentioned
We're all here for different reasons, but for that one main reason on the same vibe, right?
Yeah, like we're different different paths, but one thing let us hear exactly. Yeah

(46:54):
well thinking about that, right if if if
if
We're all made of atoms
which are then made of the smaller things like
Then we're popping in and out of reality
every single moment
truly factually actually
Every single moment. I feel that i'm a brand new person and the only thing the only thing

(47:18):
No, whether you want to believe it control it or not control it
Whether you put say i'm gonna consciously do this or whether you never think about it ever in life, right?
Every single moment you are a brand new person
Every single moment and the only thing that is connecting you or giving you identity is a story

(47:39):
Yeah, that you adhere to every time you wake up, right?
It's a story you telling that's being reinforced by the people right reinforced by the things that you put in your life
Reinforced by the the words that you use right and so thinking about this, right?
You asked me what my religious practice is right now that we've been talking. I think I can land on something
Right because I I like to stay away from labels because it's hard to describe something with labels sometimes right?

(48:05):
Yeah, but for the basis of this conversation general understandings help you
I'm a magi
Right. Now, what is a magi? I just learned about magic, right?
We so okay my man, right?
So so if you read the bible or you study ancient, you know, abrahamic or whatever, you know, you know
You know something about the magic

(48:26):
You know, you you know something about the magi who was a priest class, right now the magi when you look at the
The word right you got to go deeper because magi is also the root word of magic
Right, and it's also the root word of imagination
See i'm saying they were before people to really understand by the way

(48:50):
Magi
Biblically and you know just throughout history have been sought out and destroyed just to let you know as groups
because they were always on to something and doing certain things that
kings didn't like
Thank you. Thank you for that context and that's actually that's actual factual right there
We just added to that because the magi what their mechanism is right what they practice is magic

(49:17):
The magi practice magic and the mechanism of magic is the imagination
And man is actively using magic
constantly
You know i'm saying whether you
Want to believe you are or not whether you know you are or not whether you're doing it consciously or unconsciously everyone is using magic

(49:39):
Right magic is the byproduct of your imagination
So everyone is actively using their imagination, but here's the thing your imagination is an entire world
It's actually not just in your head. It's actually an entire real world
Yes, just as real as this physical world. Yes, right and

(50:01):
We live in both worlds simultaneously at every single moment at every moment
There's one foot in your head
And in your heart right and there's one foot in this shit. You know i'm saying
Narnia
And right i would contend by saying right

(50:22):
That whichever world you put more emphasis on
Both worlds will be dominated by that world right so if you put more emphasis on the physical world right your imagination
Will start to be dominated by the things that you're experiencing man. Stop giving away the secrets
This is why I say people in the same
You're giving away the secrets bro

(50:44):
People in insane asylums and stuff like that
This is why the the saying is ignorance is bliss because when you're ignorance and stuff you just live up here in that area
Right so people I think people in the same asylum have like one of the most peaceful lives
You would think the opposite on the side looking in
Because they're locked down and all this other stuff
But they're living in here. I would still not want to ever be in an asylum, but you wouldn't if you're living in here

(51:08):
You're not in an insane asylum
Well, here's the thing I can I can be completely living in here
If I can't go to the store and grab some that I want to eat because i'm in an asylum i'm in an asylum
I see you as in an asylum, but if you don't see yourself one flu of a cookie
I see what you saying. No, I know what he's saying. I'm just fucking with you
I feel you but people need to hear that because most people were saying it like

(51:29):
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(52:45):
Or
iного
For me
and it goes along in lines with what you're saying,
like your imagination.
She said, your brain is meant for beautiful things.
It's not meant for trash.
And so, and I'm like, oh wow,
every time a negative thought passes through me,

(53:05):
I'm like, nah, my brain isn't for that.
My imagination isn't for that.
And to your point where it's like,
I just learned that this year, bro, like last year.
I literally, whenever I thought something negative,
it would, I would just say I love myself.
Literally, like that was my key until I stopped.
And so, but yeah, we'll.
For black men.
You gotta find those things.

(53:26):
For black men, like to your point,
learning that when you said give away the secret, right?
We're like the lead in homicide and going to jail
and depression and suicide
and all the fucking destructive categories, right?
Which is a cause, which is caused by anxiety, depression.

(53:50):
Right now, now, it's clinic.
Everybody's on fucking meds, people taking drugs,
people going to church to try to figure out
how to solve their anxiety.
Yo, it's one simple fucking way to solve your anxiety.
Stop worrying or thinking about the future.
Mm-hmm.
The future doesn't exist.

(54:12):
Or the past.
What'd you say at the Cannes event?
What's that?
The only real time is right now.
It's right now, yo.
You literally, like people say worry.
I'm worrying about you.
I'm worried about you, right?
I'm worried about this thing.
I'm worried about these bills.
I'm worried about this.
So I'm worried about that.
Or I got this thing coming up.
Or all this shit that you're worried about,

(54:33):
which is causing you anxiety or frustration or depression.
Or shit that happened in the past.
Damn, it's on me still, it's on me still.
The only reason any of those emotions are happening
because you're not right now.
You're not in right now.
That's a lot of people's problems.
So as we're talking about that,
let me ask you this, Eerie, since we're on that.
Because that's literally like you're saying

(54:55):
how people are on drugs and doing this
and not really understanding their realities here
and their mindset is here.
And that doing things like how you just said
was that I'm not gonna allow this idea
to pass through my head.
I hear it, it's here, but I'm gonna throw it out.
And then I'm gonna think positive things
like how you just said, I love myself.
And so as we're sitting there,

(55:15):
is there a correlation in the fall of religion in society?
As we're talking about society,
just either being religious or not.
Sometimes people will say we're in the most demonic age
we are, right?
Which throws you out of spirituality and religion.
But I think spirituality could be demonic.
But what would you say about that?
The rise or the fall of it in this space?

(55:35):
I would say that we are in a time where people, kids,
don't necessarily feel like they have to adhere
to the religious beliefs or practices
that their parents are trying to instill in them.
Like maybe we were or our parents were.
We're in an age where it's filled with information.

(55:58):
So there are pros and cons to that.
It leads people to be more curious.
What else is out there?
I want to subscribe to something different
because I don't particularly like what's being taught here,
my experience here with this religion.
So I just feel like we're in an age

(56:18):
where there's a lot of confusion, right?
People don't have a steady set of rules or codes to live by.
I fortunately created that for myself
when finding spirituality, right?
To kind of learn who I was.
I knew in order to be the best version of myself,
there were certain disciplines I needed to take.

(56:39):
There was a sense of strictness I needed to have with myself,
a certain standard I had to hold myself to.
Majority of society, I feel like they're looking
for the answers externally
when they should be looking within.
It all starts within.
So there's not a lot of spirituality going on.
I mean, you can say that, because people, you get glimpses.

(56:59):
Whether you tap into it or not,
life is gonna show you glimpses of your spirituality,
your intuitiveness, right?
Your gut feeling telling you something.
You're gonna feel that.
I just feel like as time goes on,
the less you tap into it, the less you have that ability.
So I don't know, it might be a mixture of those things.
It might be a mixture of people really trying to find
what is for them and not really subscribing to the norm

(57:23):
of you're a Christian because your mom and me are Christian
and your grandparents are Christian.
Or whatever the case is, for us it was Catholics.
It was just everybody was Catholic.
I'm like, why are y'all Catholic?
So you know what I'm saying?
They didn't know.
So I'm one of them.
I was curious.

(57:44):
I'm like, what else is out there?
And I found that there's things in a lot
of different religions that I believe that resonate with me.
There was not one particular
that I could fully subscribe to yet,
but it was just like there's things
that I could get from each one.
And I'm like, damn, yeah.
So like you were saying at the base level,

(58:05):
things are already happening.
But no, no, no, it's all the same in terms of like,
they're all trying to help people be better humans.
Like I feel like you reach their best self, right?
They just all go about it their different way.
That's it, I tell people that all the time too.
So that's why I just leaned into spirituality.

(58:27):
You know what I'm saying?
So yeah, to answer your question in short,
I just feel like it's people really trying to find
who they are outside of what they've maybe learned
or subscribed to and people really having to look within
for their answers rather than externally
and really tap into their spirit
and kind of gain those answers from there.

(58:48):
Cause everybody's guilty of that probably more
before their spiritual journey.
So that's what I think, probably a mixture of those two.
You said a lot of people are confused
and I think that is it.
And you said they're looking for people to tell them.
And I think that's where religion is so successful, right?
Yeah, people wanna be told what to do.
Exactly, and then what do you have with most religions?

(59:11):
You have a pamphlet, right?
Which is the Bible for most people.
And it tells you exactly what to do.
And so I feel like that is easier for people.
But when, like we were mentioning about you, Brenton,
and when it falls down, when you start questioning
because of something, right?
Cause some people's biggest thing is why they question

(59:33):
their religion is when somebody passes, right?
Somebody close to them or something really goes terrible.
And it's like, is there somebody up there doing good for me
if that thing can happen to me?
I've always had conflict with that, I'm sorry.
But like, and I wanna get your perspective on this too,
Brenton, but it's like, why do people think God

(59:53):
is only supposed to do good?
Yeah, that is that question.
Why do you put God into question when somebody dies?
Like he didn't birth you.
Like a spirit may live on, but it's like,
I've just always been confused by the fact that
you have to accept that beautiful, good, bad, ugly,

(01:00:15):
God is all that.
There's always an opposite.
Yeah, God is all that.
That coming down to the neutrons and electrons,
they're positive and negative.
So yeah, that's something that I, I'm sorry.
No, I'm with you on that.
You said best self.
It's like, how do you know your best self
if you don't know your worst self?
And so you gotta love actually
and indulge in your worst self sometimes

(01:00:37):
in order to know your best self.
Yeah, I wasn't, I didn't start achieving
leaps in becoming a better version of myself
until I accepted the worst parts of myself
for what that is and what that looks like.
Because for a long time, we get scared of that.
Like I can't be that.

(01:00:58):
Why am I that, right?
But then it comes from questioning.
Yeah, but it's like when you accept that
and you're just like, I can use this,
use this, whether it's this energy that I get from this,
whatever it is, like this darkness,
you can transmute it and make something beautiful out of it.
But like you said, it's all opposites

(01:01:20):
and it's all pretty much your intentionality
with the energy and where your focus is on that.
But yeah.
No, that, cause yeah, you're absolutely making
a lot of sense.
And to your point, back to kind of Brenton,
and you bringing yourself back, right?
Because for you to go through a timeframe

(01:01:42):
where you thought you knew what was going on
as far as religion goes, right?
How did you kind of basically relearn?
Like what was your relearning journey looking like
with your spiritual, or kind of finding your spirituality
within following your religion?
Okay.
So, well one, you also asked,

(01:02:07):
do you want me to answer the question that you asked
Yuri about the rise and fall?
You can answer whichever one's comfortable.
I mean, I think we kind of hit on like the rise or,
but if you feel like there's something that's missed,
please touch on that too.
So no, no.
I'll answer the second question,
which was what am I doing to relearn?

(01:02:29):
Spending time with myself.
Yeah.
That's a good question.
And nine times out of 10, I'm gonna hear it again.
And it's gonna resonate with self.
And there are gonna be frequencies,
and there are gonna be moments in the flesh
that align with self.

(01:02:49):
And so how am I learning that?
I'm learning to pay more attention to self.
What do your atoms say when you in this space?
Asking yourself that tough question probably, right?
Asking yourself the questions you might have ran
from asking yourself and answering before, right?
Yeah.
It's like I'm spending time being quiet.

(01:03:15):
What does that look like?
It means I'm never gonna bring up something
that I ain't spent time with myself
and that I really thought about.
I'm not gonna bring it up in conversation.
I'm not gonna be confident about it.
And so I'm learning that as I get older,

(01:03:39):
I want more moments with myself.
Bro.
Like moments, a life that allows me
to actually sit with my anatomy, right?
And so that's what I'm doing is allowing myself more moments
to really just sit and be like, what does self say?

(01:04:01):
And bro, that's so hard for me right now
because where I work, a lot of the spaces that I take up,
they're spaces that force a certain agenda.
And I have to consciously ask myself,
are you gonna risk all of this for the sake of self?

(01:04:22):
And not even for the sake of self,
but are you willing to risk it all to be truthful?
And that's what I-
To self.
Into that, do you feel like when you're starting
to be truthful and diving into your relearning
and spending time with yourself,
you feel like are you betraying any parts of you
that once was or any kind of, explain that.
Absolutely.

(01:04:45):
I still code switch.
You know what I mean?
I'm learning that self actually desires
to be the only type of him in the room.
He don't wanna look like everybody else.
You know, self actually is not a head-nagging ass nigga.
He's not that.

(01:05:07):
You know, actually self is not cool with everybody.
He just laughs to make himself likable
to fit into the space.
And so I slip into that, but bro,
that's something that I'm consciously even like,
I don't have to show up at 150 every day.
Yeah, I'm glad you don't show up
going here on that bullshit.

(01:05:28):
Yeah, I'm not doing that.
I'm not like, and so I'm learning bro.
Like I'm learning.
Like even my job is 60 people in the room.
Eight of them are black.
No, but I-
I'm not smiling and laughing at everything
cause y'all not funny.
No, but I say that to say,
I'm glad you show up here comfortable enough
to just be yourself.
You don't feel like you gotta do all that other shit, man.
So to answer your question, Morris,

(01:05:51):
I do fall back into it.
And I think that if you are not conscious
and aware of these types of conversations,
then you, yeah.
You're more success.
What's the word?
Susceptible.
Yeah.
That was a little bit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's a big word for Elmo.
Yeah, but nah, it's-

(01:06:12):
But nah, it's, yeah.
We all learn.
Yeah, it's crazy man that you say that
cause it's like learning who you are.
You fall back into who you feel you're betraying sometimes.
Okay, yeah.
So it's just tapping into that spirituality, man,
because something like you said,

(01:06:32):
I feel like for most, for all of us here,
it was a sense of maybe not tragedy,
but when things fell apart
that we had to really connect with spirit.
That we really found out that all this shit
we felt was important at that time really wasn't, right?
In a sense.
Cause I feel for most people,
that's when you really get a chance to connect
with the source.

(01:06:53):
When you have nothing else to lean against.
Every, you know what I'm saying?
Like I've fallen into that,
but I've done a much better job
and I'm proud of myself of keeping God in my life
when everything is great too.
Good, bad, ugly, gray in my life, right?
Always praying.
But it's just, to Brandon's point, when,

(01:07:16):
and that's part of the level up,
when you take that journey and you grow spiritually, right?
You tend to fall back into what you're used to, right?
That's just your subconscious.
It's what you've been comfortable with, right?

(01:07:37):
But it's just like, you're just shedding that
as you go along,
because you're gonna get sick and tired one day.
And I hope it doesn't come to a point
where you have a Kanye moment
where it's crazy as hell,
but you're gonna get tired.
Yeah, you're gonna get tired of that.
You're gonna ask yourself, what the fuck am I doing, right?

(01:07:58):
And you're gonna enter a point where you wake up one day
and you're just like, I'm not doing that.
Like I'm not code switching a day.
You know what I'm saying?
And you'll feel that liberation
and it'll continue you going.
And that is the beauty of spirituality,
is unshedding everything that is not you,

(01:08:19):
so that you can be who you are, bro.
And it's just, yeah, so tapping into that,
it's a beautiful journey, man.
I feel like I said, we're learning every day.
It's not perfect.
It's not meant to be.
It can get fucking ugly.
There's days, man, where I am, it's tough.

(01:08:41):
I'll say that.
It's really tough on the journey,
but you know that as long as you continue
to keep going and continue to put your best foot forward,
there are no downsides
to continue to exploring your spirituality.
There is literally no downside.
You're gonna heal, you're gonna grow,

(01:09:02):
you're gonna inspire others to do the same.
As Jerry's giving his final thoughts,
I think that when you start taking a step back
and looking at not only just your journey

(01:09:22):
and your experiences,
but what they are shaping you for,
why did I go through that?
And then like I kept saying,
you mentioned that I started asking myself questions.
When you went through something
where you felt comfortable and then it started breaking down,
then guess what you started doing?
Asking yourself questions.
And Asa, all your life,

(01:09:45):
you've been asked pretty good questions.
And while you're asking yourself questions,
and I think when you said,
I think he was Muslim,
the brother that asked you the key question
that kind of shaped a lot of what you're doing now
was what do you know about what you think you know?

(01:10:07):
And living in that knowing,
and you have to ask questions to know.
And before you can ask other people
the question that you really need to know,
you gotta ask yourself it.
And not to say that you have the answer,
but the answer is that I need to find this answer out.
So who or where can I go to kind of learn this
and live in my imagination so that I can pluck it out

(01:10:31):
and then it's reality.
And so I'll say,
Brent and I would like you to give me your final thoughts
after mine and then Asa.
But for me, spirituality and religion,
you have to separate them, right?
I feel like a lot of people live in religion
without spirituality.
And when you live in religion without spirituality,

(01:10:54):
your journey is capped for me.
And this is just kind of how I feel.
Because when you are living,
religion itself, technically to me,
is like a blueprint on how you should govern yourself
and how you think other people
should be governing themselves, right?
But spirituality is kind of like the shoes you put on

(01:11:17):
and the clothes you put on to kind of go through that journey.
It's like going, if you know you're gonna go hiking
in the summer, you're gonna wear some shorts probably,
or long, it depends on you, right?
Your journey, right?
I don't wanna get ticks.
So I'm gonna wear long shorts
or legs, leggings or whatever, right?
And then some people are like, I'm gonna be hot, right?

(01:11:39):
Pants, thank you.
Thank you, or pants.
But if not, it's all different.
It's all different.
But the spirituality is kind of like
how you prepare yourself to live in your religion, right?
So I think you can live your life
spiritually without religion.
But I don't think it's really beneficial

(01:12:00):
to live religiously without spirituality.
And so that's kind of like how I view it.
And I think there is a huge difference,
but they both benefit you,
they're both beneficial together, right?
So kind of what is your final thoughts on your spirit,
not yours, but kind of spirituality
and religion as a whole for you?
I have none.
It's like, no.

(01:12:21):
You said it.
Like you said something that stuck out.
You said living in religion without spirituality,
caps your journey.
I'm gonna say it the same way.
Like living in religion without spirituality is cap.
You get what I'm saying?
And living-
I like that.

(01:12:42):
Look at him on the shirt.
And living in spirituality without spending time
with your spirit is also cap.
You know?
And I'm not, and shout out to this conversation
because it could be much longer.
Yeah, it can.
Yo.
It could be much longer because I can't wait to hear,
see some of the comments from people,

(01:13:02):
the fake pseudo deep people.
Man.
No, no, that's exciting
because it brings different perspective.
I want to learn what other people feel
because like he said, we're speaking from one lens, right?
Which is ours.
So to learn different people's perspective,
we'll learn where they're coming from

(01:13:23):
and it might teach us something.
It might make us look within a little bit more,
might make us search for some answers.
You know what I'm saying?
To kind of make us think deeper on the whole thing.
So it's beneficial.
There is going to be, you know,
there is going to be that.
But I feel like there's going to be some good,
glass half full type of, you know?
Asa, what's your final thoughts on spirituality and religion?

(01:13:47):
Oh man.
Though you said so much and thank you for that.
Yeah man. Magi.
This was my pleasure, man.
I don't have any final thoughts.
I just leave some thoughts for people to keep thinking on
and you know.
Um.
You'll be thinking for a very long time.
Here we go.
Here we go.

(01:14:07):
Let's go Asa, come on.
You know, just, you know, you guys already said it.
You know what I mean?
Just about learning yourself.
But not being too bent on anything.
It's like, I don't care if I learn myself.
I don't care if I learn myself.
Don't care if I live, don't care if I die.
It doesn't matter.
You know what I'm saying?
Ultimately, yeah.

(01:14:28):
Ultimately it doesn't matter, right?
I'm living my purpose, right?
My purpose is to be alive.
And, right?
In my knowledge base, I would say that
when I'm no longer alive, I'm still on be alive.
Right.

(01:14:49):
And so I'm cool.
I'm not fully anticipating what the next moment has.
And I'm not too bent on what has already happened.
Right now, I feel good.
Yeah, right?
I can breathe.
I got clothes.
I got a car.
I got everything I need right now.
Right now to get where I'm going, right?

(01:15:09):
Everything I need right now.
I'm not worried about what happened yesterday.
I'm not worried about what's gonna happen tomorrow.
You know what I'm saying?
Everything is taken care of right now.
You know what I'm saying?
And right now I'm happy.
You dig?
And so if I focus on the happiness,
it's probably more in the next moment.
You know what I mean?
And so, hey, everything is love.

(01:15:31):
Everything is beautiful.
And yo, I'ma leave, this is the real last one.
Ooh, I knew it.
I knew it.
I was waiting for it.
This is the real last one.
I was waiting for it.
Because everybody needs to hear this shit, right?
My mom used to say this to me every day
growing up, to me and my brother, right?
Word sound has power.
Right?
Word sound has power.

(01:15:53):
The things you say become real,
whether for positive or negative.
So if you talk about your situation,
like if something negative is going on around you
and you talk about it out loud, you're reinforcing it.
You're recreating that in your mind over and over.
Acknowledging things in life
that you don't really wanna accept

(01:16:14):
or that aren't really good for you.
Stating them, because here's the thing.
The more you say things out loud,
the more you reinforce your thoughts and your feelings.
Sometimes just not saying it will kill the thought
and kill the feeling.
You know what I mean?
But if you feel like lacking something you wanted
and you keep talking, I don't got this, I don't got that

(01:16:37):
or this motherfucker hurt me or something, something,
something, you gonna be recreating those feelings,
recreating those moments, recreating those circumstances.
So if you want good things,
talk about it before it happen.
Right.
You know what I mean?
I always feel like you could tell a lot about a person
by how they speak on a situation when it's negative, right?
Or how they speak on their outlook on things, right?

(01:16:59):
Cause you could tell where they're at
in their spiritual journey just by their outlook.
So yeah, yeah.
Just be vigilant.
Amen.
Also, I appreciate you for coming.
Shout out to him. Word up.
The founder of the Cann Foundation,
which y'all definitely need to go check out.
This man is way more, as you guys can tell,
if you've been tuning in, way more than just the founder.

(01:17:19):
We gotta get a part two.
Yeah, yeah.
We're gonna have to have you back, bro.
Anytime, man.
Shout out to y'all brothers, man.
This is an incredible platform and this is much needed.
Yeah, so Brandon, go ahead and kick us out.
Bet.
Well, everybody, welcome and also goodbye
from the I See You Bro podcast,

(01:17:40):
a space dedicated to creating space for men of color,
especially to just talk about some of the things
that we don't generally get the space to talk about,
like spirituality and religion.
So shout out to everybody that tuned in today.
Like I always say,
we ain't trying to tell you a certain path.
We just trying to give you some options to think about

(01:18:00):
and trying to give you some space
to just think about some stuff.
So I'm Brandon, one third of the I See You Bro pod
and we out.
I'm out.
Hey, it's your boy Mars, one of the number one misfits
and make sure you like, share, and subscribe
and we'll see you at the next one.
And it's your boy, Yuri.
Please, please, please share your perspective

(01:18:21):
in the comments because I really wanna see
what y'all talking about.
I wanna see who you agree with, why,
and just a little bit about your life too and your journey.
I'll kick it off the Acer to say goodbye too to the folks.
Hey, peace, y'all.
Much love, man.
Everybody, man, peace, peace.
Peace.