George Thompson discusses his journey from a mental health crisis to finding balance through Taoism and nature. He emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, compassion, and the concept of "know thyself." George shares his experiences with anxiety and the inner critic, likening it to a monkey trapped in a gourd.
He highlights the significance of nature, particularly trees, in his spiritual practice. George also touches on the interconnectedness of all beings and the need for a balanced, sustainable lifestyle. His film, "The Subtle Art of Losing Yourself," explores these themes and has garnered over 850,000 views on YouTube.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/next-level-soul-podcast-with-alex-ferrari--4858435/support.
He highlights the significance of nature, particularly trees, in his spiritual practice. George also touches on the interconnectedness of all beings and the need for a balanced, sustainable lifestyle. His film, "The Subtle Art of Losing Yourself," explores these themes and has garnered over 850,000 views on YouTube.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/next-level-soul-podcast-with-alex-ferrari--4858435/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Next Level Soul podcast, where we ask
the big questions about life. Why are we here? Is
this all? There?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
What is my soul's mission? We attempt to answer those
questions and more by bringing you raw and inspiring conversations
with some of the most fascinating and thought provoking guests
on the planet. Today, I am your host, Alex Ferrari. Now,
if you wanted to go deeper down the rabbit hole
with Next Level Soul, please download the free Next Level
(00:34):
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they air anywhere else, and so so much more so Again,
head over to Next levelsoul dot com forward slash Subscribe. Disclaimer.
(00:59):
The view who and opinions expressed in this podcast are
those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the
views or positions of the show, its host, or any
of the companies they represent. Now today on the show,
we welcome George Thompson, who spent a lot of time
(01:19):
as a monk in the hills of China with a
Taoist master, and what happened to him and what he'd
learned is quite remarkable. So let's dive in, like to
Welcome to the show, George Thompson, and how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
George, Alex. I'm really good, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Thank you so much. Man. I'm so excited to have
you on the show, man, because your journey, your spiritual journey,
your inner journey, your inner awakening, is very inspirational. And
I know you have been going. You went through a
lot of the same ailments, if you will, not physical
ailments though something but mental elements, emotional element ailments that
(02:02):
so many human beings on the planet have gone through,
and you, for yourself, discovered a path that works for you.
So we're going to dive into that rabbit hole, man,
and we're going to see how how you came out
of the hole that you were in and what you
discovered along your journey, and of course how we met
is through your amazing film The Subtle Art of Losing
(02:23):
Yourself correct now find you for losing youself?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yes, and I wanted to do a shout out to
you quickly.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Is like your book film Entrepreneur is something that I
read early on, and you know, like, I'm excited to
share my story and grateful to be in space with you,
and yeah, sharing films that inspire balance, you know, for me,
for you, for humanity, and to show the beauty of
nature through film, and that our potential was human beings.
That's turned into somehow my life mission. And I'm really
(02:51):
passionate about creating a team around that. And you know,
I run a YouTube channel with almost three hundred thousand
subscribers now and tens of millions of views, which I'm
so grateful for. And so yeah, on that way of
sharing these ideas, these ancient teachings that I found, and yeah,
your book was really important on that journey. So yeah,
celebrate you appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Oh, I appreciate that so much, my friend, I really
really do. So. First and foremost, man, let's let's go
back to the beginning. What where were you in your
life that you were just like you were hit. You
hit a rock bottom for yourself pretty early on too,
because you're you seem like a very young man, unless
you're like eighty and you're just doing something I don't
(03:30):
know about, but you seem like a very young man
so to hit rock bottom like I hit rock bottom
for myself, and probably around twenty six twenty seven is
when I personally hit rock bottom and I had to
dig my way back out. But for you, how old
were you and what was going on in your life
that you just really were at the end of your rope?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And a quick note on age, Yeah, tichi masters, they
look at they're eighty five, but they actually like sixty
and got the energy of a much younger person. So
it is a thing, but not in this case. So yeah,
I started my journey after university, after education and entered
into the big bad real world. I was always wanted
(04:13):
to be a filmmaker, and I started a YouTube channel
making videos that I thought were good. Nobody was watching them.
I e created my value as a human being with
the number of views I was getting. I wasn't getting
any views. Therefore I wasn't valuable and I really didn't
know who I was. You know, I was single, living
with my parents, not many friends, working doing delivering food
(04:35):
on my bike, making videos, and suddenly all of this
confluence of my basic needs as a human being not
being met, you know, for connection and for support and
for expressing myself. A new character began to dominate my headspace,
who I personified as a troubled wizard called the Underminer.
Would say, George still single, not many friends. Oh, and
(04:57):
now you're anxious. You're a pathetic look at everything you've
been given when you are weak, and really, you know,
the judgment I'd give myself is objectively, nothing has really changed.
I've just been by myself for three months, and yet
now I'm in the deepest mental health crisis of my
life so far. And that shame I felt around, that
anxiety that was feeling and you know, feeling sick and
stuck in bed and not wanting to express it to anyone,
(05:19):
multiplied and perpetuated this pain. So really that was the
start of my journey of like, I need to change.
I'm hurting a lot right now and I need to
learn how to be with myself.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So how did you? I mean? So everything you just
explained a common thing, especially for young people and also
people my age and older. Sometimes they have these kind
of crisises that they have a mental health issue that
they just can't get through, and I'd argue it's also
an emotional issue. I'm also a spiritual issue because you're
(05:54):
just trying to figure it out. Would you agree that
we're all just trying to figure this thing called life out,
all of us. The second where it just spit into
this world, in this cold, hard world. You know, depending
on our parents and our environment and our upbringing, it
could be a negative or a positive thing, or a
(06:14):
balance of both. But then we just attach ourselves to stories,
stories that make sense to us or that were spoon
fed to us by our community, our parents, our culture
or whatever. And then if anyone comes along that kind
of disrupts that, that's when the violence starts. Because you
(06:35):
can't break you can't break that story up, you know,
because you're not open. You're locked in because it's something
that you've held on so tight to because I need
to hold on to this in order to keep going.
If you say something that goes against what I'm thinking
or I believe in, then that negates everything I believe in.
(06:56):
My foundation's gone. And it sounded like your foundation was
rocky to begin with, but then throw all the pressure
on top of you that foundation could have hold it
and it literally broke through and you had to find
a story or a system or understandings that you could
grab onto and hold on to. From my understanding, or
(07:17):
at least from my feeling, it's not that you're. At
least from what I've seen in your movie and the
work that you do, you're not rigid. You're very open.
You flow with ideas that come in and out, which
is the perfect way. Always be the student. But would
you agree with what I just said?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Absolutely? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And the image that came to mind is the way
that some hunters capture monkeys is they put a nuts
in a gourd and the monkey has to put their
hand in the gourd and then they grab the food.
But then as they've made the fist, the hand is
too big to get out of the god again, and
so suddenly the monkey's trapped. And then the hunters come
(07:53):
and pick the monkey up because the monkey's just holding
onto this thing. And all the monkey needs to do
is let go of what's in their hand and then
they can get out and be safe. But they are rigid.
They're stuck.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
They're stuck in.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Okay, food equal safety, this is what I need, and
they don't know how to let go, and so this
is a known way to capture the monkey. And so
that is a a metaphor for the rigidity in our
minds and how we hold on to stories, and yeah,
like change your story, change the world. That's something I'm
sure we're going to be exploring today is just how
important these stories are. And you know, what is unfamiliar
(08:28):
is unsafe for our nervous system. So even if I'm
really hurting right now, beating myself up and being you know,
in that state of anxiety, is that at least I'm
still breathing, I'm still alive, and this is safe for me.
And so what is unfamiliar is unsafe. To step outside
of that, take some energy, take some support, which is why, Yeah,
it is a not only an emotional healing, but a
(08:52):
spiritual healing and one of really know thyself, understand thyself
to know that it's safe to open up into uncertainty
and the known. And that is certainly one of the
big gifts that Taoism, the philosophy of the Mountain that
I've studied on that we can get to is really
one of his big gifts is moving with uncertainty, embracing
(09:12):
that and actually seeking it out.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That Yeah, I actually we just released on Next Levels
sol TV the Dow teaching for people to start to
listen to again and to and to read that book
because it's such a powerful, powerful, powerful, small book, short read,
very very powerful. And it is a story, it is
(09:37):
a system. It is something that people can use to
get to where they're going to and help them. And
would you agree that not every system, not every story,
not every ancient wisdom tradition is perfect for everybody. Everyone
has there's a thousand paths to the same place.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Would you agree, absolutely?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
So I like to say I'm exploring dow without So
what is the dow The Tao literally translates as the
way or the path, and it can refer to the
ways of the cosmos, or it can refer to the
ways of filmmaking, the ways of knitting, the ways of Alex,
the way of George, and the way of our beautiful
views and listeners.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
So the doo is the path, the way, and so
then to understand the Tao know thyself is to gain clarity,
and with that clarity we gain wisdom, the ability to
navigate life with skill, and then with wisdom cones peace, balance, harmony.
So for you know, to have the truth being in
a book like I'm a Taoist and I read the
(10:47):
Dowdaging exclusively. This is what the truth is is to
actually have a dead relationship. That's knowledge, not wisdom, because
wisdom has to be applied to this moment, which is
always unique and unfold from the here and now. And
so yeah, I really in my journey I called upon
many traditions, Buddhism and Christian mysticism and nature connection as
(11:08):
well as Daoism to support my journey of waking up.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So you spoke about going into the mountains and finding
and finding a man that helped you on your path.
You just discovered him. Please tell me this story because
it sounds very kill Bill. It sounds very kill Bill
or very you know shall link monk. You know, from
(11:33):
my days watching Come films when I was a kid,
it sounds like a young man's dream is to go
off into the mountains and find a master who will
teach you the ways. So tell me what was that like?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, I mean it did actually happen to me. And
I didn't really ever watch any kung through films. I
didn't do any martial arts as literally as arbitrary is,
you know, being anxious, And in my time of crisis,
I had written in my diary and university years previously,
when I'd watched some monks doing some backflips, I wrote
my diary, go join a monastery.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It was as arbitrary as that.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
And then I was looking at that entry and I
was confused and anxious. I was like, okay, obviously you
need to do something. Meditation I've heard about that is
probably good for me, and I was choosing yeah. I
was like, right, I'm going to just go to China
and I'm going to learn kung fu in a monastery.
So I turn up at this place called the Wudang Mountains,
which is this awesome collection of temples and monasteries in
(12:29):
kung fu schools and tai Chi schools all on top
of the mountain. It's the birthplace of tai Chi, the
birthplace of Wudang kung Fu. And I arrived at this
temple called Purple Cloud Temple with the swirly roofs, the
big courtyard. There's a monk sweeping the floor where I
go to say Nihau kung Fu. She's just like, excuse me,
(12:49):
Like while we do, like, I don't understand what you're saying.
And I was like, yeah, kung fu, kung fu, and
she's like just having none of it. So I said, okay,
well I'll try again. So there's another monk walking with
carrying tea and I go after say, nehow kung fu?
Nothing again, just not giving me anything. And then asked
(13:09):
the locals like, is this a kung fu monastery and
they say, no, it's not. It's just a normal monastery.
It's like, it's not a kong Fu monastery. I had
done my research badly, wasn't even one to begin with,
and I was like, okay, well, and it also turned
out it was a female onely monastery, so it's just
even funnier.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Really bad, really bad research. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So then I was like, turn to plan B.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
If I can't learn in a monastery, I learned in
the kung fu school, asked the locals to help me,
and one of them volunteered as my guide and took
me to this school where I found this master called
Master Goo, had a ponytail, go tea joyful smile, and
he introduced himself in English. He happened to be the
only master fluent in English in the whole mountain range.
(13:57):
And he said to me, George, I'm not a kung
fu master. I teach tai chi, but I'd be willing
to teach you if you'd be willing to be my student.
And I had to kind of take some time to
like request that, because I was imagine myself breaking blocks
with my fists and becoming a karate kid and then
tai chi. In my ignorance, I was like, isn't that
for older people? But I tried it and fell in
(14:20):
love with it. I was very grateful for Mastergoo's generosity
and energy finding my master and his guidance, and then yeah,
that began the journey into Taoism and tai chi and
meditation and chigong and all these beautiful practices that I've
since dedicated my life to sharing.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So you focus a lot on nature, especially in the film,
you focus a lot in nature and the wisdom of nature.
Can you explain to me what that was for you,
like when you started to how did you even come
across that? Was it just being in those mountains or
(14:57):
how did you unders begin to look at nature for
guidance if you will?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So, yeah, there's word now the ways of nature, and
the method of discovery for the Daoists is observation. So
words are helpful.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And you know, all traditions, wisdom, traditions worth us all
talk about. This is that the words are helpful, but
they're not the thing itself. They're pointing to an understanding
that you have to discover for yourself. And so for
the Daoists, observation observing the dow the ways of nature,
both in the world outside of us and inside of us,
noticing the relationship between the two. So for the Daoist
(15:34):
nature is the core teachers. When we observe the patterns
and flows of nature, then we begin to understand the
classic you know.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
As above so below.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
The Daoist equivalent of that is, without going out the door,
see the heavenly ways, without looking out the window, see
the doubt, see the ways of nature. So this idea
that we can form this deeper understanding and this clarity
know thyself from observation. And for me, I have spent
(16:07):
a lot of time in the mountains, you know, grateful
to be in Scotland, in China, but also in Scotland.
And for me, when I see like the animals, particularly
in the Scottish winters minus fifteen degrees, and I'm they're freezing.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
My toes are freezing off and wearing a big fluffy jacket.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Meanwhile, this reindeer has just got its normal skin on,
and they're just chatting to each other, like hanging out
as family members. There's snow hairs running around, and I'm
beginning to think, like, wow, you know these animals, they're
having experiences, seeming emotions like a desire to play and
a care for family and fear. And I asked the question, well,
(16:45):
if they're intelligent and conscious, then what does that say
about my intelligence, my consciousness where I come from? And
so that observation helps me find a deeper and more
expansive understanding of who I am.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
What was like? What was the one of the biggest
lessons you learned from looking at nature for guidance in
your own life?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Comes to mind is trees. I love trees.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Forests is the elements that I feel most at home in.
I love all the elements, but I love to be
in a forest. I love to be barefoot in a forest.
I'm an unapologetic tree hugger. I like to do my
chigong standing where I literally hug a tree and breathe
into it and breathe with it, and to drop into
presents with it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And that can sound real woo woo, maybe as.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Your woo woo woo woo alarm for some people, but
I find that as a as a beautiful deep practice
to yeah, be in presence with a tree. And something
that it teaches me is this, this is a being.
A living being, you know, shares fifty percent of our DNA,
and so the fifty percent of the genes that we have,
trees have as well. That's because we come from the
(17:52):
same evolutionary heritage, and they recently they have serotonin, right,
the serotonin that affects our mood. Trees have as well,
so when they're in drought they release serotonin to fortify themselves.
So that's pretty amazing, same chemical molecule. So we are
deeply connected with these beings. And like the fact that
(18:13):
a tree has been alive for two hundred three hundred years.
It grounds me. So you know, there's parts of my
psyche that can panic, like, you know, can I do
the things I want to in the short lifetime?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Everything's changing too quickly.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I'm not good enough in all these ways and then
breathed with a tree and it grounds me, slows me down.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So you mentioned being barefoot in the forest. It sounds
to me that that is there is science behind that.
I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not,
but there is science behind the barefoot on the ground,
which is called grounding or earthing, where you're actually connecting
to the ethicity either not to make the electrical the
electrical charge that the earth is putting out, and it
(18:56):
actually heals you. It actually heals you. It is inflammation,
but you're doing a spiritual practice on it as well,
so it almost amplifies what you're doing. Have you heard
of this? Are you familiar with this?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
And Viva barefoot is you know, I wear vivabarefoot barefoot
shoes and met somebody who's been working on these, like yeah,
deionizing Viva barefoots that aren't the rubber souls that kind
of disconnect us from that electric field. It's not something
I've explored too much, but yeah, it feels like, certainly
my felt experience of that is a sense of grounding,
(19:31):
and it reminds me of one of the classic phrases
of the Daoists, and again this is found in many
traditions of Dao Tong tiend du Guan Gudgine. So between
heaven and earth, humanity stands and the Tao connects as all.
So when we remove the kind of the rubber insulation that.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, protects our feet, it's useful.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
But to remove that and to ground ourselves in the
earth and then to be this living, breathing being that
then yeah, we're kind of a conduit between the mystery
of consciousness and then the grounding of the earth.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So yeah, that's something that supports me.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show you mentioned in the
dow It says to know thyself? Can you really dive
into that, because that is one of those catchphrases that
(20:28):
you see in T shirts and you know, and that
kind of posters and stuff like that, almost almost next
to the cat on the on the wire going hang
in there. It's like it's one of those one of
those things. But when you look at at a surface level,
it's like, oh, yeah, we have to understand who we are.
But on a truly deep level, can you explain to
everybody what that is, because from my understanding, when you
(20:52):
start to dig into knowing thyself, there's work to be done,
there's shadow, there's there's things that you have that come
bubbling up traumas, things like that. Can you kind of
dig into that from your perspective and how you actually
were able to overcome a lot of those obstacles when
you started to investigate yourself.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
For me, the journey's captured in three sentences. To her
is to be human. We have awesome potential. Practice is
the path.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So to her is to be human.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
We've already talked about this, you know, like I would
beat myself up for being anxious, and I was uniquely
messed up. Nobody could understand me. And then I went
to China read these ancient books and wait a sec
The Ancine Chinese struggled as well, and their ideas still
land and still resonate, which for me suggests there's a
nature to being human being. You know, to have an
inner critic, my undermind is a part of being human.
(21:47):
So that journey of know thyself is when we understand,
like how the heart works, how our minds work, how
consciousness works, are placed in the universe. Then that's how
through that understanding we can build compassion for this life,
because compassion is really the core of all of these teachings,
meeting this moment with compassion and ease, and that compassion
(22:10):
is a natural consequence of understanding. So know thyself, like
if I know that, yeah, I'm a social creature and
belonging is super important to me. So you know, when
I was isolated and alone, then obviously that's going to
have an effect on me. And then to have an
inner critic that is harsh but actually trying to keep
me safe through thinking through all the things that could
(22:31):
go wrong. Then I can build compassion to that. Remembering
then I've got awesome potential that these teachers they give
us some hope. They're like hope merchants like you can
do it. Balance is possible. The name of my organization now,
Peace is possible. That for thousands of years, every teacher
has spoken to our potential, so to hers to be human.
(22:52):
We've got awesome potential, and practice is the path. Some
traditions will say, you know, like instant awakening and a
light enlightenment is possible, and I hold on to that
as a possibility. I don't limit that, But my experience
in my life has been this slow but steady and
real progress in finding compassion to myself, strengthening myself and
(23:16):
my body, finding more clarity as to my life's purpose
and meaning. And then the natural consequence of that is
this joy and ease and peace and balance that I
was seeking at the start.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
What kind of spiritual insights have you received doing this work,
because I imagine were you spiritual prior to walking down
this path? Grew up atheist really, so as an atheist
going down this going down this path, I'm assuming certain
things started to show themselves to you which countradicted that
(23:50):
story of being an atheist. How did you deal with
that and what actually started to show up that started
to shift your perspective on that there is no source,
there is no God, there is no anything like that,
and when we die, we just go into nothingness. To
where you are now.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, I always had a love of nature and a
sense of its mystery and kind of was Christian growing
up that rejected it and became an atheist. Had a
strong woo alarm which came out earlier, the woo woo
woo woo instinctually kind of skeptical of anything spiritual, and
then I started my journey understanding, Yeah, okay, I have
(24:31):
these ways of nature, this dowbt, And what I loved
about Daoism is that it worked for my scientific instincts.
And I still think science is super important as a
way of observing, collecting data, seeing how the data compares
against our predictions and what we thought would happen. And
there's a limit to knowledge. There's a limit to data.
And the mystery that is at the core of this being,
(24:55):
this life, this existence, the fact that there's something instead
of nothing, and instead of it being chaotic and unordered,
actually there is so much beauty and order and intelligence
and consciousness flowing through every crack of this planet, millions
of species of animals that are conscious having experiences. Then
(25:19):
you know, the plant life certainly intelligent, I would say
conscious as well, And we can explore that. And the
dominant worldview that dominates our world atheistic materialism, saying that
everything is just matter. It's unconscious stuff that bashes into
each other and over billions of years of evolution and
all of this stuff then created complex life and that
(25:43):
was all random. But it begs the question. It's like, well,
how did conscious experience like immateial unconscious material created conscious experience,
Like how did that happen? And if we run the
take back? Okay, humans, we're conscious? Dogs, yes, cats, yes.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Mice yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Worms, I mean, do they roll up in a ball
because it's an automatic biological response or is it that
they're experiencing some sensations and responding instead of reacting? Trees,
you know, they One amazing example is Acacia trees. They
fart to scare off giraffes, you know, when a giraffe
is eating them. When a giraffe is eating them, they
(26:24):
sense it and then they release this gas. That then
tells all the other Acacia trees to also release this gas,
which is a horrible gas.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
For the giraffes.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
So then all of the Acacia trees in the area
are protected. So that's just one example of so many
of the intelligence. Now, if we're saying that that's intelligent
but not conscious, where did consciousness go? So that is
a that's an unexplained miracle. Unconscious matter creates conscious beings.
(26:53):
And in philosophy this is called the hard problem of consciousness.
For me, then I'm a panpsychist. So keep on, like,
why do we need to say that unconscious, material, crazy,
conscious matter, what about everything is energy, consciousness matter, These
are all aspects of energy, and then that connects me
with the source. Like for my definition of spirituality is
(27:18):
my understanding of something bigger than myself, and the extent
to which that understanding is a resource to support me.
So resourcing, resourcing, So for me, where the materialists atheistic
worldview would just mean I felt meaningless and had to
be cold and analytical and calculating, my spirituality, still grounded
(27:38):
in scientific principles, gives me so much more a connection
of awe and reverence and sacredness and wonder at this
great mystery that I am a part of.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It sounds to me that you found your happiness in
your your balance from looking inward then, as opposed to
your other view, which was always looking outward of view
you hence views made me happy. The material things I
had made me happy. Everything in the materialistic, atheistic world
(28:08):
was outside of you. And when you attach yourself, which
is Buddhism, when you attach yourself to things that are
outside of you for your happiness, if anything happens to
that person or that, not only that, not only those things,
but people as well. If you give your power of
your happiness away to somebody else or something else, when
(28:29):
that thing is gone, you're gone. You have no no
anchor anymore in the ocean. But when you look inward,
as you've done, the power so much the well is
so much deeper, The power is so much greater that
nothing can really knock you off your pedestalis if you will,
nothing will knock you off the foundation because it's just
(28:52):
connected to source.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Does that make sense, Yeah, beautifully said, And yes, centering
centering is one of the key ways to the dourst work.
So our physical center, the danti en just below the
belly button, you know, the Vitruvian man. That's where all
of the lines intersect. And if I had a super
strong finger, that's where I could balance you. And so
(29:15):
to come to our physical center, as we do in
tai Chiap practice and chigung practice, is to bring our
awareness down to their you know, it was so much
of our confusion comes from our mind come into the body.
Then what I would call the spiritual center is is
awareness itself, consciousness itself, this beautiful spaciousness within which thoughts
and emotions and sensations arise and pass endlessly and exactly
(29:39):
as you said, like if we attach to the outside world,
we're not even attaching to the outside world. We're attaching
to what's happening inside of us. A sensation or a
thought like my other half, like that person completes me,
or I'm lonely without anyone in my life. You know,
that then becomes my reality of like who I am,
(30:00):
so I need somebody outside of me to fulfill me.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
And connection is beautiful, Like that's a great thing to
have in our lives. But you know, I've been single
for quite a lot of my twenties and like as
part of me, you know, like demanding perfection and like
needing to have all of these needs met. And actually,
if I can give myself the gift of wholeness in
this moment, then that's when I can really enjoy the
(30:35):
journey of life. Because the reality is we're not going
to have all of our needs met at all times,
and that's that's inevitable to hers to be human. But
what we do have is responsibility, the ability to choose
our response and the words of Victim Frankle. Between the
stimulus and the response, there is a space, and that
space is our freedom and our power. So to engage
(30:57):
with that spaciousness means that we don't need to just
be reactive, playing these old patterns that give us pain. Instead,
we can free ourselves.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You mentioned earlier that you started to read a whole
bunch of old books, ancient books, ancient things when you
were up in the mountains. What were some of those
teachings and how did you take some of these ancient
teachings and apply them to a modern world Because some
you know, sometimes the old the old ways, you're like, ah,
(31:26):
that was from you know, ten thousand, or from not
ten thousand, but let's say a thousand years ago. How
does that applied to the modern world today. I've also
found what you found surprisingly very well because the basics
of who we are doesn't change. A human now is
a human it was a thousand years ago. Sure we
have different, you know, exterior things and cultural things, it's like,
(31:48):
but we still want the same things that we wanted
a thousand years ago, two thousand year agos, five thousand
year ago. So that's why I believe that these teachings
hold themselves, but can you can you give us some examples.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, just because it's old doesn't mean it's necessarily true.
But if it still hits and it's old, pay attention.
Because we have a nature, right, we have it, like
we have a biology, and we have a heart and
mind that works in the same way basically that it
did for a human living five thousand years ago, ten
thousand years ago. And yeah, we have language and technology
(32:22):
and a more complex world, but the nervous system.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Is basically the same.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
So that was what I was really just my wow
like awakening moment was just like this is an ancient
book from two and a half thousand years ago. I'm
some bloke from Bristol in England, and this is waking
me up to how I work and the sense of
for me reverence from that. It's like wow, like they've
really got it, and you know not every text has
(32:50):
got it all and it's you know, using our wisdom
as to discern you know, like what lands take, what serves, leaves,
what doesn't serve. Yeah, just come back to this idea
of flow. I think this is every wisdom tradition has
a gift to the collective consciousness of humanity. And I
think one of the big gifts that Daoism offers is
(33:11):
flow or the terms that the Daoists use is wu
wey wooming non way being action, wu wey non action.
But really non action isn't about doing nothing, and said,
maybe non forcing would be a better way of saying it.
So this agitation in the mind that you know we've
talked to and was the start of my journey, that
(33:33):
is a lot of energy wasted in the mind of
like thinking through every potential that can go wrong. You know,
I've had so many challenges in my life, most of
which have never come to pass Marke Dwain. So that
is the human mind, right, it does that, but it's
unnecessary and we can thankfully train our mind and our
(33:54):
nervous system to calm and to trust. So wu wey
is non forcing. Like if you think about sunflower, then
it has this big, heavy head and it's not floppy,
it's not rolled up on the ground. That stem holding
it up has some rigidity, has some strength, but it
doesn't hold any more force than it needs to. So
(34:15):
can we bring that energy into our lives as well?
And for me, like how I've appligued. That is, notice,
let go trust. Notice, let go trust. Notice, let go trust.
Notice the painful thinking, the stories that are causing me agitation,
let them go, come back to this moment.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Trust.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Sometimes those thoughts are helpful and I act upon them,
but ninety percent of the time they don't serve me. Notice,
let go trust.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
When you said sunflower, the first thing that came to
my mind is in our conversation regards to nature being conscious,
there's actually been studies to see how conscious plants truly are.
And one of the studies I saw was they actually
put a a seed and they could see where the
roots were gonna go. One side of the of the
(35:07):
of the the enclosure was water and the other side
was not. It was underneath the underneath the soil. And
you actually saw this the roots start to go towards
the water. It wasn't touching, it didn't see, but it
was there, so it actually instinctually knew somehow that that
(35:29):
was where to go. But then it gets even more interesting.
They did another experiment where they put the sound of
water and nothing, and it went towards the sound of water,
not even water. It was fast, so you got it
if that's happening, How the hell did a seed no
to go towards the sound of water? It doesn't have ears,
(35:53):
so how does that work? And they did it again
and again again. It always was the same thing. It's fascinating,
isn't it. Hmmm?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, And just the countless examples, like anyway you look.
I mean, it's just magic, you know. And you know
we're so busy managing our lives that we forget the
great mystery that we are a part of, as John
o'donahue and yeah, that sense of reverence. Someone I love
is Cultner Keultner forgotten his first name, who talks about
(36:21):
or and wonder or walks, and so often we find
more awe and wonder when we walk somewhere new and
to just have the intention of an or walk where
we don't have the technology and we open our heart
and minds to what we can find. And I if
I'm with friends, you know we'll be in the ground,
(36:41):
getting our nails dirty, rummaging around, finding some mushroom or
something like that, and just the wow that can come
from that. Something beautiful about or in wonder is that
it predates language, so all around the world or and
wonder sounds are the same, ah ooh, and even monkeys.
(37:01):
Jane Goodall, such a beautiful example, observed chimpanzees looking at
a waterfall and doing these rhythmic shaking dances, making noises
that they wouldn't normally make altogether, and Jane Goodall made
the conclusion that this is the chimpanzees having their own
experience of awe and wonder.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
That's so beautiful. The title of your film is the
Subtle Art of losing yourself. Some say that losing yourself
is the path to finding yourself. Is that would you agree?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
And for our society that's a bit of a scary concept,
losing myself.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I want to lose myself.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, struggling as it is, and yet there is something
in that, you know, So like as we've talked about these,
so this consciousness, how this mind works is yeah, we
have this my understanding of it, the sensor and the storyteller.
So the sensor is this array of sensations and feelings
that give us this feeling of being. And then as
(37:59):
there's the story teller that observes what we experience and
then using thoughts, language, images, narrates and tell stories. About
who we are, and so that story we tell her
is essential. It's also like, my name is George, and
I live in Bristol, live in London, and my love
language is vegan brownies. And you know, I have all
(38:19):
these stories about you know, what I'm good at and
what I'm bad at, and that's essential for me to live.
And yet if I was born in a different country,
I'd have a different name, I'd have a different story.
I wouldn't be called George. And so there's nothing intrinsically
George about me. That identity has been created from the
thoughts that pop into my head. And so there is
(38:42):
also then the potential that I don't have to have
a story. If I create my own story. Then it's
also possible that I can experience myself directly, to lose myself,
to lose my normal sense of self, the narrated sense
of self, and to come into presence. This is trainable,
and this is what most meditation practices offer, is the
(39:03):
training to be able to quiet in their mind and
to experience consciousness or presence directly.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And one of the main ways.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
That has supported me to reach that ability to lose
myself and joyfully rest in presence as opposed to that
being a scary thing, is to be a nature walking
in nature, being quiet in nature, and to merge, merge
with this great mystery. And then so doing, I find
myself find a great, much bigger, more nourishing, beautiful, inspiring
(39:34):
sense of who I really am.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Is so beautiful because when you're saying to change the story,
tell your own story, that's terrifying. Because the story that
we have been told since we were born, the programming
I call it the programming. It's it's the first seven
years you're programmed by your parents, your you know, by
your society, by your culture, by the country you're in,
(40:00):
and all of that stuff that is the story you're told.
It takes someone extremely brave to then erase that story
or change that story in a way that makes sense
for them, because just like you, when you mentioned it
in passing, you're like, yeah, I was kind of Christian,
it kind of raised Christian, but not really, and I
(40:20):
just rejected it. We'll be right back after a word
from our sponsor, and now back to the show. You
already were showing signs of strength, even though you weren't
even aware that you were doing it at that point
yet because you was like, that doesn't make sense to me.
(40:40):
I'm not just gonna drink the drink the kool aid,
as they say, and yeah, exactly, so you started you
started to challenge that. But can you give any advice
to someone listening right now who is so ingrained in
their story yet open to change, because they're watching this
(41:01):
conversation and they're open to change. But they're like, but
how can I reject the story my parents who loved
me gave me, or my friends gave me, or my
community gave me, or my religion gave me. How can
I break free from that to find my own path
while not destroying either the people I love or the
(41:27):
story of the people that I love? Because that's it's easy.
If you got, you know, horrible parents, it's easy to
let go of that. But when you got loving parents
who they're just doing the best job they can. I'm
a parent, I know, we're just trying to figure it out. Guys,
there's no book. We give them the best we can.
But if that doesn't flow with you, how can you
break free from that? Do you have any advice?
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Firstly, you just celebrating that intention to turn towards what's here,
these experiences, this body, this lifetime, and to turn towards
it with curiosity, because actually it's quite a radical act.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
If I'm hurting right now.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Our society says, numb yourself out, go watch some Netflix,
go eat some food, go to do from shopping, don't
look within. So if you do look within, like, that's
a beautiful and actually radical act politically, because you know,
to turn towards our pain and realize it's not the
outside world creating it, but our relationship to the world,
our relationship to ourselves. That's when we take our power back.
(42:25):
And then to be gentle on the journey, because the
most famous line from the data geing a journey of
a thousand miles starts with a single step or another
few ones in that chapter is a tree wider than
a man's embrace started as a single seed, a seed
that could hear water. Then a skyscraper more than eight
(42:47):
stories high started as a single brick. So gently, gently
and yeah, like with our upbringing, this parts of our
parents that were really supportive and loving, and for almost
all of us, there were parts that were painful, and
there was stories from our society that empowered us, and
there were stories that held us back and limited us.
(43:08):
So the wisdom journey and waking up is you can choose.
You create your reality. You create your story, you know,
you create your experience.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Of your reality. So take your power.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
And find the stories that serve you, let go of
those that don't, and be really compassionate and gentle on
the journey, because actually, instead of punishing ourselves, I'm going
to change everything and I'm going to forget all of
that which used to give me pain is actually in
some ways running away. And really the compassion journey is
that we our heart has the capability to meet the
(43:43):
ten thousand sorrows, the ten thousand joys.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
We can do it.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
It takes time, and it takes practice, and it takes
resourcing and taking that journey real slow, real gentle.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Do you also have any practical advice for people who
are are anxious, who are have a problem with anxiety
and confusion and they feel lost. There seems to be
so many people who feel lost in this world. And
I think, as we've been talking, just my first answer
that comes into my head is like, because you're associated,
(44:16):
you're attaching your happiness to things outside of you and
you're not looking in. You're either afraid not to look in,
you don't want to deal with what's not looking in,
and your brain's gonna tell you. I'm assuming in your
journey your brain told you that little wizard that pops up, Yeah,
the underminer. I'm assuming when you went down this path,
it was yelling constantly, this is ridiculous. Do you think
(44:41):
you're a shalin monk? What is wrong with you? Go
back to go back to England, like, what is happening
to you? I'm assuming there was this this, this, this
voice which I think we all we all have that voice.
How did you overcome that? And after you tell me that,
what's your relationship with the underminer today? Because he's not gone,
(45:03):
he never leaves, he's always.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Absolutely absolutely yeah. You know.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
For me, there's a fundamental yin yang pairing that of
being and doing action non action work rest, and so
we can take that approach to our healing. So part
of the journey is taking really small steps to create
some momentum in our lives. So maybe instead of like
(45:29):
I'm so anxious, I can't do any exercise. So what's
the smallest single step you could do. I'm going to
put my shoes on, I'm going to step outside once,
I'm going to take another step. I'm going to take
another step suddenly, then you've got some momentum.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Then maybe you're going to enjoy that.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Walk, celebrate that walk, take those little micro steps and
really celebrate because you know, the anxious part of our
psyche and it's just a part will damp any celebrations
down because it wants to make sure you've thought through
all of the worst possible scenarios. Again, being compassionate to that.
It's part of being human. So the doing is often
(46:06):
what we talk about in our society. What is missing
often is the being And for me, that's the spiritual
dimension is to for me ground myself in either Tao
for me or whatever word works for you, source mystery
God and to know that you know, it's just not me,
small George, with all these perceived flaws that's working against
(46:26):
this big, scary world. Instead, I'm an aspect of the whole.
I have all of this resilience built into me because
I've got the DNA of millions of years of ancestors
that have survived to make me hear, you know, like
radical meditation to do is to imagine your your parents
with a loving hand on your shoulders. Imagine their parents
(46:49):
with loving hands on their shoulders. Go back all the
way to the start of time. See what you experience
with that, because yeah, that's all of us have an
ancestor that goes all the way back to the start
of the universe, because there's no separation, and that's a
scientific reality. So that then is a resource resource to
help ground the anxiety. Spaciousness is another key word for me.
(47:14):
So it's you know, anxiety is here. It's a part
of me. It's not I am anxious. There's a part
of me that's anxious. It's not I'm overwhelmed. There's a
part of me telling me I'm overwhelmed. Okay, there's also
you know, a raised heart rate, clinch in the stomach,
tension in the throat, and yeah, like even on Monday,
my first kind of anxious day for quite a while,
(47:35):
I had after payday for my team, you know, so
like and I was tired and under resourced, and then
suddenly that that was like a painful day. And you know,
you can't stop the waves, but you can learn to serve.
So I have have built more compassion to to where
(47:56):
I am. And so yeah, the undermine is still with me.
But he's a friend. Now he's an advisor. And when
he gets a bit harsh, I'm like, Okay, what do
you really need here? Tell me get let me know
what the need is, and then I can sort that out.
Because you don't need to be running the ship anymore.
You don't need to be driving the bus. I've got you,
and so then yeah, join me be an advisor. That's
(48:17):
how I now relate to that part.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
You've you've mentioned, you know, we've been talking about Taoism
and the and the Dudley Ching and these kind of
ideas are the way a lot of people look at
Taoism as more of a philosophy. It's definitely not a religion.
It's definitely not a religion to minuderstand. It's a philosophy.
But one thing I'm a little shady on, not shady on,
but confused about, is that what is the spirituality of
(48:42):
Taoism or the tao What is the spiritual? Because there
isn't you know, there's no Zeus, there's no Osiris, there
is no you know, you know, Michelangelo's or it was
a da Vinci, one of the two who gives the yeah,
the finger with the the guy, the old guy with
the white beard, who's white of course, sitting on the
(49:06):
throne somewhere in heaven on a cloud, you know, passing judgment.
That doesn't seem to be any of that. Indaurism was
one of the reasons why I actually really loved Daoism
when I was in my early search. It was one
of the first philosophies that came across that really started
to make sense to me. So what is the spirituality
of Taoism.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Yeah, we've got a few different approaches. So we've got,
you know, just to compare it. We've got the materialist
approach that we talked about, everything's random mechanical processes, unconscious
and then somehow out of that conscious life emerges. But
that how that actually happens has never been explained. And
then you have like the deity, the higher power in
(49:48):
the sky that created the universe, created everything.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
And is superior to us.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
And depending on the story human beings, we are a
superior species. This planet was given to us.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
Then you could say this the Hindu approach or like
the New Age spiritual approach.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Which is there is a we're.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
In a divine universe and consciousness animates us. So there's
like a spark of spirit within us and within animals.
And but like matter itself is not conscious. Well you know,
it depends on your on your view and understanding of that.
But still like this idea of like divinity and giving
(50:39):
thanks and devotion to divinity which is different but connected
to the world, then there's the Davas approach. And I
think the best way to understand the Davis approach is
the word sirran. So the word siran is the word
for nature, made up of two characters self ran so
siran self so. So the word for nature is that
(51:03):
which comes into being by itself itself sows. So the
spontaneity of nature's captures in the very word for nature.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
So for the.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
Taoists their spirituality, they see the universe like an organism,
self organizing. Like in the forest, there isn't somebody with
a clipboard saying, right, oak tree, you're growing one meter
this year because he'd been a very naughty boy, and Robin,
you're only singing a d sharp for the rest of
the week. So there isn't somebody running the show. It's
(51:32):
self organizing. And so they saw that, you know, they
saw there wasn't a conductor in nature. Everything was spontaneous.
And so then they continued that understanding that then the
universe is like a big organism, everything interconnected in it,
the inter being and for them, because there isn't any
separation between consciousness and matter, it's all energy and the
(51:55):
dow in a predating even form, so that this potential
start the universe before the Big Bang to help everything
get going. You know, the Tao was there as well.
So for them then it's this inclusive organist. I can
never say that word organist. Nick understanding of the universe,
where then their divinity, their sacredness, is found in all things.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
Very very good definition, sir, very good definition. It's it's
it's it's a it is it is a system that
needs someone who can kind of flow. It's not if
you need something to hold on to and grab, like
the monkey in the gorge, You're not going to find
(52:41):
it here. You know, a lot of religion does that.
A lot of religion gives you something very practical to
hold on to with rituals and places to meet and
so on. But this seems to like no, no, no.
You are literally as as Bruce Leland said, be water,
my friend. You're constantly flowing with the universe. And it's
(53:06):
a little scary when you're out there flowing. But once
you understand the power that's within you, it's as natural
as a robin singing a d sharp in the forest.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Could I sing you a song on that? A sure?
Speaker 4 (53:21):
So you don't need to know the way the way
he knows the way. You don't have to plan the way,
trust the way, feel the way the way knows, the
way knows he knows the way.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
You get the golden ticket. You're going to Hollywood. You're yes, that's.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
Awesome equivalent of Hollywood, more nourishing version.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
Trust me. I was there Ah for a long time.
I completely understand it is there. Finally, is there one
message that you want people listening to take away from
not only this conversation but from the art of the
subtle art of losing yourself as well as the film.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
What I'm passionate about is firstly our potential. So balance
is possible for you, for me, for humanity and just
to keep going, like, you know, there's parts of us
that can despare our own mental health and what's happening
in the world, and remembering that they're parts, and there's
also parts that kind of hope and to believe and
growth and change, and so to nourish those parts and
(54:40):
to hold on to them because it's super important. Then secondly,
you know, for me is like as my journey of
understanding my connection to the universe, to realize like self
development is really not giving justice to that.
Speaker 2 (54:55):
Which we are a part of.
Speaker 3 (54:57):
It's not just about me, about me meditating and creating
all these good vibes, but really that is important and
a foundation upon which I can enjoy my life and
to serve resiliently. But then so, yeah, I had this
energy of service, how can I contribute for me? That's
what my spirituality takes me to an energy of service,
(55:18):
to just do a little bit of contribution, whether it's
big or small.
Speaker 2 (55:21):
And then system change.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
You know, we can blame ourselves like I'm anxious, lonely, depressed. Well, like, yeah,
you live in a society that's deeply alienated, where it's
really hard to make new friends and the social media
hacking our psychology to sell our attention to corporate advertisers.
That we blame ourselves, right, So it's bigger than us.
(55:44):
And so then a political consciousness comes into me. It's like, well,
you know, with that understanding of our potential and our
interconnection that we are nature, we are a part of it.
And all of this consumption which is supposedly meeting our
needs around you know, buying the nice house and buying
the nice stuff. You know, it's nice to have a
(56:04):
nice house and a nice stuff. But where are we
going with all of this and with clearly affecting our
ability to live on this planet through over consumption? And
so what about the radical act of empowered moderation to
actually say that I've got enough and I want to
create a community and a society in a world where
(56:24):
I'm feeling the richness of.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
The present moment. How would the world change?
Speaker 3 (56:29):
And so that's a message that I hope can land
with people. It's not a scarcity of like, oh, you
shouldn't consume because you're a bad person, but like, yeah,
this is a gift of this lifetime and let's enjoy
it and support each other to really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
It, beautifully said, my friend beautifully said. Now I'm going
to ask you a few questions. I ask, oh, my guests,
what is your definition of living a fulfilled life?
Speaker 2 (56:51):
My definition of living a fulfilled life is to flow,
to grow, to enjoy, to love.
Speaker 1 (57:00):
If you had a chance to go back in time
and speak to little George, what advice would you give them.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
I'd give them a big hug and say you're a
right mate, You're good, I got you, and yeah, like
you've got all these beautiful parts of joy, there's also
sadness and worry and your right mate, you got it.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
How do you define God or Source?
Speaker 2 (57:20):
The mystery?
Speaker 1 (57:21):
What is love?
Speaker 2 (57:22):
What is love? Baby?
Speaker 3 (57:24):
Don't hurt, don't But for me, I feel love when
I'm in connection. And so we could say that love
is connection. And one beautiful thing that we learned from
our journey of waking up is that everything in the
universe is connected. So if love equals connection and the
universe equals connection, therefore the universe equals love.
Speaker 1 (57:44):
If you if you could ask God or Source one question,
what would it be?
Speaker 3 (57:50):
What first came up was a phrase that I love
is stop asking why starts saying wow?
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Where the daarists. They don't need to ask questions and
they can just be with the mystery.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
And an alan. What's classic comes to mind is that
eventually get to heaven and you ask God, why is
the grass green? And God says the chlorophyll.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
A simple as that? And family, What is the ultimate
purpose of life?
Speaker 3 (58:28):
I feel this life is a gift and to really
enjoy this unique embodiment, this unique lifetime. There's nowhere to go,
no place to arrive, but to enjoy the dance and
to enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1 (58:42):
And where can people find out more about you and
all the amazing work you and balance is passable is doing?
Speaker 3 (58:48):
Firstally just yeah, a lot of gratitude for you, Alex
in a really sense your journey and your depth of
these questions and everything that you've done, and the people
that you've reached, so they're really grateful to be in
conversation with you. And yeah, these beautiful views and listeners. Yeah,
what a gift for your presence and for me. Yeah,
there's subtle lot of losing yourself. Tie that in on YouTube.
(59:10):
It's for forty five minutes. It's my latest film. I've
had eight hundred and fifty thousand people watching it now,
which is so exciting, and I'd love your support and
sharing the film. If it resonates with you, stick it
on one evening. I also run events retreats and also
Taoist Wellness Online is the biggest Taichi school in the
world now with my Taichi master Mastergo and it's how
(59:31):
we fund me and the team, and yeah, we're on
this mission to inspire balance for people and planet, so
any contributions are really welcome and you get so much
learning as a consequence.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
And of course subtle Art of losing yourself is also
on the next levels soult TV, which absolutely as well. Yeah,
so I'm so excited to share it. It's been doing
extremely well, people watching it a lot, so it's it's
constantly in the top tenser so it's a good that's
a good sign people. I really love the film. It's
a beautiful film and I suggest anyone who wants to
(01:00:06):
find a little balance in their life to definitely check
it out. And do you have any parting messages for
the audience, my friend, We'll be right back after a
word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Keep stepping Journey of one thousand Miles starts with a
single step.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Fair enough, George, It's been such a pleasure talking to you,
my friend. Thank you for sharing your journey and your
story with us. And I hope that this helps people
around the world, help them on their journey, or at
least put that first step of their journey. This hopefully
will open their minds to new possibilities that if you
could do this, other people can do it as well.
(01:00:47):
So I appreciate you and all the love and energy
that you're putting out into the world and helping awaken
this planet, my friend, So thank you, Thank you, Alex.
I like to thank George so much for coming on
the show and sharing his experience with all of us.
If you want to get links to anything we spoke
about in this episode, including how to watch his film
The Subtle Art of Getting Lost on Next Levels SOLTV,
(01:01:08):
just head to the show notes at Next levelsoul dot
com forward slash five eight two, and if you like
this content and want to go deeper down the spiritual
rabbit hole, just head over to Next Levelsoul dot tv
and we have movies, series, original shows, live events, and
of course all of Next Level Soul completely ad free again.
(01:01:33):
Just head over to Next level Soul dot tv available
on Apple, Ruku, Amazon Fire, Android and iOS and Android phones.
And if you've only been listening to these episodes and
want to watch these amazing conversations, head over to our
YouTube channel at next levelsoul dot com forward slash YouTube.
Thank you so much for listening, and as I always say,
(01:01:55):
trust a journey. It's there to teach you. I'll see
you next time.
Welcome to the Next Level Soul podcast, where we ask
the big questions about life. Why are we here? Is
this all? There?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
What is my soul's mission? We attempt to answer those
questions and more by bringing you raw and inspiring conversations
with some of the most fascinating and thought provoking guests
on the planet. Today, I am your host, Alex Ferrari. Now,
if you wanted to go deeper down the rabbit hole
with Next Level Soul, please download the free Next Level
(00:34):
Soul app on Apple or Android. All you've got to
do is go over to Next levelsoul dot com, forward
slash subscribe, download and get access to meditations, exclusive interviews,
live streams with me, and early access to episodes before
they air anywhere else, and so so much more so Again,
head over to Next levelsoul dot com forward slash Subscribe. Disclaimer.
(00:59):
The view who and opinions expressed in this podcast are
those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the
views or positions of the show, its host, or any
of the companies they represent. Now today on the show,
we welcome George Thompson, who spent a lot of time
(01:19):
as a monk in the hills of China with a
Taoist master, and what happened to him and what he'd
learned is quite remarkable. So let's dive in, like to
Welcome to the show, George Thompson, and how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
George, Alex. I'm really good, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Thank you so much. Man. I'm so excited to have
you on the show, man, because your journey, your spiritual journey,
your inner journey, your inner awakening, is very inspirational. And
I know you have been going. You went through a
lot of the same ailments, if you will, not physical
ailments though something but mental elements, emotional element ailments that
(02:02):
so many human beings on the planet have gone through,
and you, for yourself, discovered a path that works for you.
So we're going to dive into that rabbit hole, man,
and we're going to see how how you came out
of the hole that you were in and what you
discovered along your journey, and of course how we met
is through your amazing film The Subtle Art of Losing
(02:23):
Yourself correct now find you for losing youself?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yes, and I wanted to do a shout out to
you quickly.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Is like your book film Entrepreneur is something that I
read early on, and you know, like, I'm excited to
share my story and grateful to be in space with you,
and yeah, sharing films that inspire balance, you know, for me,
for you, for humanity, and to show the beauty of
nature through film, and that our potential was human beings.
That's turned into somehow my life mission. And I'm really
(02:51):
passionate about creating a team around that. And you know,
I run a YouTube channel with almost three hundred thousand
subscribers now and tens of millions of views, which I'm
so grateful for. And so yeah, on that way of
sharing these ideas, these ancient teachings that I found, and yeah,
your book was really important on that journey. So yeah,
celebrate you appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Oh, I appreciate that so much, my friend, I really
really do. So. First and foremost, man, let's let's go
back to the beginning. What where were you in your
life that you were just like you were hit. You
hit a rock bottom for yourself pretty early on too,
because you're you seem like a very young man, unless
you're like eighty and you're just doing something I don't
(03:30):
know about, but you seem like a very young man
so to hit rock bottom like I hit rock bottom
for myself, and probably around twenty six twenty seven is
when I personally hit rock bottom and I had to
dig my way back out. But for you, how old
were you and what was going on in your life
that you just really were at the end of your rope?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And a quick note on age, Yeah, tichi masters, they
look at they're eighty five, but they actually like sixty
and got the energy of a much younger person. So
it is a thing, but not in this case. So yeah,
I started my journey after university, after education and entered
into the big bad real world. I was always wanted
(04:13):
to be a filmmaker, and I started a YouTube channel
making videos that I thought were good. Nobody was watching them.
I e created my value as a human being with
the number of views I was getting. I wasn't getting
any views. Therefore I wasn't valuable and I really didn't
know who I was. You know, I was single, living
with my parents, not many friends, working doing delivering food
(04:35):
on my bike, making videos, and suddenly all of this
confluence of my basic needs as a human being not
being met, you know, for connection and for support and
for expressing myself. A new character began to dominate my headspace,
who I personified as a troubled wizard called the Underminer.
Would say, George still single, not many friends. Oh, and
(04:57):
now you're anxious. You're a pathetic look at everything you've
been given when you are weak, and really, you know,
the judgment I'd give myself is objectively, nothing has really changed.
I've just been by myself for three months, and yet
now I'm in the deepest mental health crisis of my
life so far. And that shame I felt around, that
anxiety that was feeling and you know, feeling sick and
stuck in bed and not wanting to express it to anyone,
(05:19):
multiplied and perpetuated this pain. So really that was the
start of my journey of like, I need to change.
I'm hurting a lot right now and I need to
learn how to be with myself.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So how did you? I mean? So everything you just
explained a common thing, especially for young people and also
people my age and older. Sometimes they have these kind
of crisises that they have a mental health issue that
they just can't get through, and I'd argue it's also
an emotional issue. I'm also a spiritual issue because you're
(05:54):
just trying to figure it out. Would you agree that
we're all just trying to figure this thing called life out,
all of us. The second where it just spit into
this world, in this cold, hard world. You know, depending
on our parents and our environment and our upbringing, it
could be a negative or a positive thing, or a
(06:14):
balance of both. But then we just attach ourselves to stories,
stories that make sense to us or that were spoon
fed to us by our community, our parents, our culture
or whatever. And then if anyone comes along that kind
of disrupts that, that's when the violence starts. Because you
(06:35):
can't break you can't break that story up, you know,
because you're not open. You're locked in because it's something
that you've held on so tight to because I need
to hold on to this in order to keep going.
If you say something that goes against what I'm thinking
or I believe in, then that negates everything I believe in.
(06:56):
My foundation's gone. And it sounded like your foundation was
rocky to begin with, but then throw all the pressure
on top of you that foundation could have hold it
and it literally broke through and you had to find
a story or a system or understandings that you could
grab onto and hold on to. From my understanding, or
(07:17):
at least from my feeling, it's not that you're. At
least from what I've seen in your movie and the
work that you do, you're not rigid. You're very open.
You flow with ideas that come in and out, which
is the perfect way. Always be the student. But would
you agree with what I just said?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Absolutely? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And the image that came to mind is the way
that some hunters capture monkeys is they put a nuts
in a gourd and the monkey has to put their
hand in the gourd and then they grab the food.
But then as they've made the fist, the hand is
too big to get out of the god again, and
so suddenly the monkey's trapped. And then the hunters come
(07:53):
and pick the monkey up because the monkey's just holding
onto this thing. And all the monkey needs to do
is let go of what's in their hand and then
they can get out and be safe. But they are rigid.
They're stuck.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
They're stuck in.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Okay, food equal safety, this is what I need, and
they don't know how to let go, and so this
is a known way to capture the monkey. And so
that is a a metaphor for the rigidity in our
minds and how we hold on to stories, and yeah,
like change your story, change the world. That's something I'm
sure we're going to be exploring today is just how
important these stories are. And you know, what is unfamiliar
(08:28):
is unsafe for our nervous system. So even if I'm
really hurting right now, beating myself up and being you know,
in that state of anxiety, is that at least I'm
still breathing, I'm still alive, and this is safe for me.
And so what is unfamiliar is unsafe. To step outside
of that, take some energy, take some support, which is why, Yeah,
it is a not only an emotional healing, but a
(08:52):
spiritual healing and one of really know thyself, understand thyself
to know that it's safe to open up into uncertainty
and the known. And that is certainly one of the
big gifts that Taoism, the philosophy of the Mountain that
I've studied on that we can get to is really
one of his big gifts is moving with uncertainty, embracing
(09:12):
that and actually seeking it out.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That Yeah, I actually we just released on Next Levels
sol TV the Dow teaching for people to start to
listen to again and to and to read that book
because it's such a powerful, powerful, powerful, small book, short read,
very very powerful. And it is a story, it is
(09:37):
a system. It is something that people can use to
get to where they're going to and help them. And
would you agree that not every system, not every story,
not every ancient wisdom tradition is perfect for everybody. Everyone
has there's a thousand paths to the same place.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Would you agree, absolutely?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
So I like to say I'm exploring dow without So
what is the dow The Tao literally translates as the
way or the path, and it can refer to the
ways of the cosmos, or it can refer to the
ways of filmmaking, the ways of knitting, the ways of Alex,
the way of George, and the way of our beautiful
views and listeners.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
So the doo is the path, the way, and so
then to understand the Tao know thyself is to gain clarity,
and with that clarity we gain wisdom, the ability to
navigate life with skill, and then with wisdom cones peace, balance, harmony.
So for you know, to have the truth being in
a book like I'm a Taoist and I read the
(10:47):
Dowdaging exclusively. This is what the truth is is to
actually have a dead relationship. That's knowledge, not wisdom, because
wisdom has to be applied to this moment, which is
always unique and unfold from the here and now. And
so yeah, I really in my journey I called upon
many traditions, Buddhism and Christian mysticism and nature connection as
(11:08):
well as Daoism to support my journey of waking up.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So you spoke about going into the mountains and finding
and finding a man that helped you on your path.
You just discovered him. Please tell me this story because
it sounds very kill Bill. It sounds very kill Bill
or very you know shall link monk. You know, from
(11:33):
my days watching Come films when I was a kid,
it sounds like a young man's dream is to go
off into the mountains and find a master who will
teach you the ways. So tell me what was that like?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, I mean it did actually happen to me. And
I didn't really ever watch any kung through films. I
didn't do any martial arts as literally as arbitrary is,
you know, being anxious, And in my time of crisis,
I had written in my diary and university years previously,
when I'd watched some monks doing some backflips, I wrote
my diary, go join a monastery.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It was as arbitrary as that.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
And then I was looking at that entry and I
was confused and anxious. I was like, okay, obviously you
need to do something. Meditation I've heard about that is
probably good for me, and I was choosing yeah. I
was like, right, I'm going to just go to China
and I'm going to learn kung fu in a monastery.
So I turn up at this place called the Wudang Mountains,
which is this awesome collection of temples and monasteries in
(12:29):
kung fu schools and tai Chi schools all on top
of the mountain. It's the birthplace of tai Chi, the
birthplace of Wudang kung Fu. And I arrived at this
temple called Purple Cloud Temple with the swirly roofs, the
big courtyard. There's a monk sweeping the floor where I
go to say Nihau kung Fu. She's just like, excuse me,
(12:49):
Like while we do, like, I don't understand what you're saying.
And I was like, yeah, kung fu, kung fu, and
she's like just having none of it. So I said, okay,
well I'll try again. So there's another monk walking with
carrying tea and I go after say, nehow kung fu?
Nothing again, just not giving me anything. And then asked
(13:09):
the locals like, is this a kung fu monastery and
they say, no, it's not. It's just a normal monastery.
It's like, it's not a kong Fu monastery. I had
done my research badly, wasn't even one to begin with,
and I was like, okay, well, and it also turned
out it was a female onely monastery, so it's just
even funnier.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Really bad, really bad research. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So then I was like, turn to plan B.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
If I can't learn in a monastery, I learned in
the kung fu school, asked the locals to help me,
and one of them volunteered as my guide and took
me to this school where I found this master called
Master Goo, had a ponytail, go tea joyful smile, and
he introduced himself in English. He happened to be the
only master fluent in English in the whole mountain range.
(13:57):
And he said to me, George, I'm not a kung
fu master. I teach tai chi, but I'd be willing
to teach you if you'd be willing to be my student.
And I had to kind of take some time to
like request that, because I was imagine myself breaking blocks
with my fists and becoming a karate kid and then
tai chi. In my ignorance, I was like, isn't that
for older people? But I tried it and fell in
(14:20):
love with it. I was very grateful for Mastergoo's generosity
and energy finding my master and his guidance, and then yeah,
that began the journey into Taoism and tai chi and
meditation and chigong and all these beautiful practices that I've
since dedicated my life to sharing.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So you focus a lot on nature, especially in the film,
you focus a lot in nature and the wisdom of nature.
Can you explain to me what that was for you,
like when you started to how did you even come
across that? Was it just being in those mountains or
(14:57):
how did you unders begin to look at nature for
guidance if you will?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So, yeah, there's word now the ways of nature, and
the method of discovery for the Daoists is observation. So
words are helpful.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And you know, all traditions, wisdom, traditions worth us all
talk about. This is that the words are helpful, but
they're not the thing itself. They're pointing to an understanding
that you have to discover for yourself. And so for
the Daoists, observation observing the dow the ways of nature,
both in the world outside of us and inside of us,
noticing the relationship between the two. So for the Daoist
(15:34):
nature is the core teachers. When we observe the patterns
and flows of nature, then we begin to understand the
classic you know.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
As above so below.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
The Daoist equivalent of that is, without going out the door,
see the heavenly ways, without looking out the window, see
the doubt, see the ways of nature. So this idea
that we can form this deeper understanding and this clarity
know thyself from observation. And for me, I have spent
(16:07):
a lot of time in the mountains, you know, grateful
to be in Scotland, in China, but also in Scotland.
And for me, when I see like the animals, particularly
in the Scottish winters minus fifteen degrees, and I'm they're freezing.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
My toes are freezing off and wearing a big fluffy jacket.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Meanwhile, this reindeer has just got its normal skin on,
and they're just chatting to each other, like hanging out
as family members. There's snow hairs running around, and I'm
beginning to think, like, wow, you know these animals, they're
having experiences, seeming emotions like a desire to play and
a care for family and fear. And I asked the question, well,
(16:45):
if they're intelligent and conscious, then what does that say
about my intelligence, my consciousness where I come from? And
so that observation helps me find a deeper and more
expansive understanding of who I am.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
What was like? What was the one of the biggest
lessons you learned from looking at nature for guidance in
your own life?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Comes to mind is trees. I love trees.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Forests is the elements that I feel most at home in.
I love all the elements, but I love to be
in a forest. I love to be barefoot in a forest.
I'm an unapologetic tree hugger. I like to do my
chigong standing where I literally hug a tree and breathe
into it and breathe with it, and to drop into
presents with it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And that can sound real woo woo, maybe as.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Your woo woo woo woo alarm for some people, but
I find that as a as a beautiful deep practice
to yeah, be in presence with a tree. And something
that it teaches me is this, this is a being.
A living being, you know, shares fifty percent of our DNA,
and so the fifty percent of the genes that we have,
trees have as well. That's because we come from the
(17:52):
same evolutionary heritage, and they recently they have serotonin, right,
the serotonin that affects our mood. Trees have as well,
so when they're in drought they release serotonin to fortify themselves.
So that's pretty amazing, same chemical molecule. So we are
deeply connected with these beings. And like the fact that
(18:13):
a tree has been alive for two hundred three hundred years.
It grounds me. So you know, there's parts of my
psyche that can panic, like, you know, can I do
the things I want to in the short lifetime?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Everything's changing too quickly.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I'm not good enough in all these ways and then
breathed with a tree and it grounds me, slows me down.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So you mentioned being barefoot in the forest. It sounds
to me that that is there is science behind that.
I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not,
but there is science behind the barefoot on the ground,
which is called grounding or earthing, where you're actually connecting
to the ethicity either not to make the electrical the
electrical charge that the earth is putting out, and it
(18:56):
actually heals you. It actually heals you. It is inflammation,
but you're doing a spiritual practice on it as well,
so it almost amplifies what you're doing. Have you heard
of this? Are you familiar with this?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
And Viva barefoot is you know, I wear vivabarefoot barefoot
shoes and met somebody who's been working on these, like yeah,
deionizing Viva barefoots that aren't the rubber souls that kind
of disconnect us from that electric field. It's not something
I've explored too much, but yeah, it feels like, certainly
my felt experience of that is a sense of grounding,
(19:31):
and it reminds me of one of the classic phrases
of the Daoists, and again this is found in many
traditions of Dao Tong tiend du Guan Gudgine. So between
heaven and earth, humanity stands and the Tao connects as all.
So when we remove the kind of the rubber insulation that.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, protects our feet, it's useful.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
But to remove that and to ground ourselves in the
earth and then to be this living, breathing being that
then yeah, we're kind of a conduit between the mystery
of consciousness and then the grounding of the earth.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So yeah, that's something that supports me.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show you mentioned in the
dow It says to know thyself? Can you really dive
into that, because that is one of those catchphrases that
(20:28):
you see in T shirts and you know, and that
kind of posters and stuff like that, almost almost next
to the cat on the on the wire going hang
in there. It's like it's one of those one of
those things. But when you look at at a surface level,
it's like, oh, yeah, we have to understand who we are.
But on a truly deep level, can you explain to
everybody what that is, because from my understanding, when you
(20:52):
start to dig into knowing thyself, there's work to be done,
there's shadow, there's there's things that you have that come
bubbling up traumas, things like that. Can you kind of
dig into that from your perspective and how you actually
were able to overcome a lot of those obstacles when
you started to investigate yourself.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
For me, the journey's captured in three sentences. To her
is to be human. We have awesome potential. Practice is
the path.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So to her is to be human.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
We've already talked about this, you know, like I would
beat myself up for being anxious, and I was uniquely
messed up. Nobody could understand me. And then I went
to China read these ancient books and wait a sec
The Ancine Chinese struggled as well, and their ideas still
land and still resonate, which for me suggests there's a
nature to being human being. You know, to have an
inner critic, my undermind is a part of being human.
(21:47):
So that journey of know thyself is when we understand,
like how the heart works, how our minds work, how
consciousness works, are placed in the universe. Then that's how
through that understanding we can build compassion for this life,
because compassion is really the core of all of these teachings,
meeting this moment with compassion and ease, and that compassion
(22:10):
is a natural consequence of understanding. So know thyself, like
if I know that, yeah, I'm a social creature and
belonging is super important to me. So you know, when
I was isolated and alone, then obviously that's going to
have an effect on me. And then to have an
inner critic that is harsh but actually trying to keep
me safe through thinking through all the things that could
(22:31):
go wrong. Then I can build compassion to that. Remembering
then I've got awesome potential that these teachers they give
us some hope. They're like hope merchants like you can
do it. Balance is possible. The name of my organization now,
Peace is possible. That for thousands of years, every teacher
has spoken to our potential, so to hers to be human.
(22:52):
We've got awesome potential, and practice is the path. Some
traditions will say, you know, like instant awakening and a
light enlightenment is possible, and I hold on to that
as a possibility. I don't limit that, But my experience
in my life has been this slow but steady and
real progress in finding compassion to myself, strengthening myself and
(23:16):
my body, finding more clarity as to my life's purpose
and meaning. And then the natural consequence of that is
this joy and ease and peace and balance that I
was seeking at the start.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
What kind of spiritual insights have you received doing this work,
because I imagine were you spiritual prior to walking down
this path? Grew up atheist really, so as an atheist
going down this going down this path, I'm assuming certain
things started to show themselves to you which countradicted that
(23:50):
story of being an atheist. How did you deal with
that and what actually started to show up that started
to shift your perspective on that there is no source,
there is no God, there is no anything like that,
and when we die, we just go into nothingness. To
where you are now.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, I always had a love of nature and a
sense of its mystery and kind of was Christian growing
up that rejected it and became an atheist. Had a
strong woo alarm which came out earlier, the woo woo
woo woo instinctually kind of skeptical of anything spiritual, and
then I started my journey understanding, Yeah, okay, I have
(24:31):
these ways of nature, this dowbt, And what I loved
about Daoism is that it worked for my scientific instincts.
And I still think science is super important as a
way of observing, collecting data, seeing how the data compares
against our predictions and what we thought would happen. And
there's a limit to knowledge. There's a limit to data.
And the mystery that is at the core of this being,
(24:55):
this life, this existence, the fact that there's something instead
of nothing, and instead of it being chaotic and unordered,
actually there is so much beauty and order and intelligence
and consciousness flowing through every crack of this planet, millions
of species of animals that are conscious having experiences. Then
(25:19):
you know, the plant life certainly intelligent, I would say
conscious as well, And we can explore that. And the
dominant worldview that dominates our world atheistic materialism, saying that
everything is just matter. It's unconscious stuff that bashes into
each other and over billions of years of evolution and
all of this stuff then created complex life and that
(25:43):
was all random. But it begs the question. It's like, well,
how did conscious experience like immateial unconscious material created conscious experience,
Like how did that happen? And if we run the
take back? Okay, humans, we're conscious? Dogs, yes, cats, yes.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Mice yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Worms, I mean, do they roll up in a ball
because it's an automatic biological response or is it that
they're experiencing some sensations and responding instead of reacting? Trees,
you know, they One amazing example is Acacia trees. They
fart to scare off giraffes, you know, when a giraffe
is eating them. When a giraffe is eating them, they
(26:24):
sense it and then they release this gas. That then
tells all the other Acacia trees to also release this gas,
which is a horrible gas.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
For the giraffes.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
So then all of the Acacia trees in the area
are protected. So that's just one example of so many
of the intelligence. Now, if we're saying that that's intelligent
but not conscious, where did consciousness go? So that is
a that's an unexplained miracle. Unconscious matter creates conscious beings.
(26:53):
And in philosophy this is called the hard problem of consciousness.
For me, then I'm a panpsychist. So keep on, like,
why do we need to say that unconscious, material, crazy,
conscious matter, what about everything is energy, consciousness matter, These
are all aspects of energy, and then that connects me
with the source. Like for my definition of spirituality is
(27:18):
my understanding of something bigger than myself, and the extent
to which that understanding is a resource to support me.
So resourcing, resourcing, So for me, where the materialists atheistic
worldview would just mean I felt meaningless and had to
be cold and analytical and calculating, my spirituality, still grounded
(27:38):
in scientific principles, gives me so much more a connection
of awe and reverence and sacredness and wonder at this
great mystery that I am a part of.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It sounds to me that you found your happiness in
your your balance from looking inward then, as opposed to
your other view, which was always looking outward of view
you hence views made me happy. The material things I
had made me happy. Everything in the materialistic, atheistic world
(28:08):
was outside of you. And when you attach yourself, which
is Buddhism, when you attach yourself to things that are
outside of you for your happiness, if anything happens to
that person or that, not only that, not only those things,
but people as well. If you give your power of
your happiness away to somebody else or something else, when
(28:29):
that thing is gone, you're gone. You have no no
anchor anymore in the ocean. But when you look inward,
as you've done, the power so much the well is
so much deeper, The power is so much greater that
nothing can really knock you off your pedestalis if you will,
nothing will knock you off the foundation because it's just
(28:52):
connected to source.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Does that make sense, Yeah, beautifully said, And yes, centering
centering is one of the key ways to the dourst work.
So our physical center, the danti en just below the
belly button, you know, the Vitruvian man. That's where all
of the lines intersect. And if I had a super
strong finger, that's where I could balance you. And so
(29:15):
to come to our physical center, as we do in
tai Chiap practice and chigung practice, is to bring our
awareness down to their you know, it was so much
of our confusion comes from our mind come into the body.
Then what I would call the spiritual center is is
awareness itself, consciousness itself, this beautiful spaciousness within which thoughts
and emotions and sensations arise and pass endlessly and exactly
(29:39):
as you said, like if we attach to the outside world,
we're not even attaching to the outside world. We're attaching
to what's happening inside of us. A sensation or a
thought like my other half, like that person completes me,
or I'm lonely without anyone in my life. You know,
that then becomes my reality of like who I am,
(30:00):
so I need somebody outside of me to fulfill me.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
And connection is beautiful, Like that's a great thing to
have in our lives. But you know, I've been single
for quite a lot of my twenties and like as
part of me, you know, like demanding perfection and like
needing to have all of these needs met. And actually,
if I can give myself the gift of wholeness in
this moment, then that's when I can really enjoy the
(30:35):
journey of life. Because the reality is we're not going
to have all of our needs met at all times,
and that's that's inevitable to hers to be human. But
what we do have is responsibility, the ability to choose
our response and the words of Victim Frankle. Between the
stimulus and the response, there is a space, and that
space is our freedom and our power. So to engage
(30:57):
with that spaciousness means that we don't need to just
be reactive, playing these old patterns that give us pain. Instead,
we can free ourselves.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You mentioned earlier that you started to read a whole
bunch of old books, ancient books, ancient things when you
were up in the mountains. What were some of those
teachings and how did you take some of these ancient
teachings and apply them to a modern world Because some
you know, sometimes the old the old ways, you're like, ah,
(31:26):
that was from you know, ten thousand, or from not
ten thousand, but let's say a thousand years ago. How
does that applied to the modern world today. I've also
found what you found surprisingly very well because the basics
of who we are doesn't change. A human now is
a human it was a thousand years ago. Sure we
have different, you know, exterior things and cultural things, it's like,
(31:48):
but we still want the same things that we wanted
a thousand years ago, two thousand year agos, five thousand
year ago. So that's why I believe that these teachings
hold themselves, but can you can you give us some examples.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, just because it's old doesn't mean it's necessarily true.
But if it still hits and it's old, pay attention.
Because we have a nature, right, we have it, like
we have a biology, and we have a heart and
mind that works in the same way basically that it
did for a human living five thousand years ago, ten
thousand years ago. And yeah, we have language and technology
(32:22):
and a more complex world, but the nervous system.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Is basically the same.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
So that was what I was really just my wow
like awakening moment was just like this is an ancient
book from two and a half thousand years ago. I'm
some bloke from Bristol in England, and this is waking
me up to how I work and the sense of
for me reverence from that. It's like wow, like they've
really got it, and you know not every text has
(32:50):
got it all and it's you know, using our wisdom
as to discern you know, like what lands take, what serves, leaves,
what doesn't serve. Yeah, just come back to this idea
of flow. I think this is every wisdom tradition has
a gift to the collective consciousness of humanity. And I
think one of the big gifts that Daoism offers is
(33:11):
flow or the terms that the Daoists use is wu
wey wooming non way being action, wu wey non action.
But really non action isn't about doing nothing, and said,
maybe non forcing would be a better way of saying it.
So this agitation in the mind that you know we've
talked to and was the start of my journey, that
(33:33):
is a lot of energy wasted in the mind of
like thinking through every potential that can go wrong. You know,
I've had so many challenges in my life, most of
which have never come to pass Marke Dwain. So that
is the human mind, right, it does that, but it's
unnecessary and we can thankfully train our mind and our
(33:54):
nervous system to calm and to trust. So wu wey
is non forcing. Like if you think about sunflower, then
it has this big, heavy head and it's not floppy,
it's not rolled up on the ground. That stem holding
it up has some rigidity, has some strength, but it
doesn't hold any more force than it needs to. So
(34:15):
can we bring that energy into our lives as well?
And for me, like how I've appligued. That is, notice,
let go trust. Notice, let go trust. Notice, let go trust.
Notice the painful thinking, the stories that are causing me agitation,
let them go, come back to this moment.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Trust.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Sometimes those thoughts are helpful and I act upon them,
but ninety percent of the time they don't serve me. Notice,
let go trust.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
When you said sunflower, the first thing that came to
my mind is in our conversation regards to nature being conscious,
there's actually been studies to see how conscious plants truly are.
And one of the studies I saw was they actually
put a a seed and they could see where the
roots were gonna go. One side of the of the
(35:07):
of the the enclosure was water and the other side
was not. It was underneath the underneath the soil. And
you actually saw this the roots start to go towards
the water. It wasn't touching, it didn't see, but it
was there, so it actually instinctually knew somehow that that
(35:29):
was where to go. But then it gets even more interesting.
They did another experiment where they put the sound of
water and nothing, and it went towards the sound of water,
not even water. It was fast, so you got it
if that's happening, How the hell did a seed no
to go towards the sound of water? It doesn't have ears,
(35:53):
so how does that work? And they did it again
and again again. It always was the same thing. It's fascinating,
isn't it. Hmmm?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, And just the countless examples, like anyway you look.
I mean, it's just magic, you know. And you know
we're so busy managing our lives that we forget the
great mystery that we are a part of, as John
o'donahue and yeah, that sense of reverence. Someone I love
is Cultner Keultner forgotten his first name, who talks about
(36:21):
or and wonder or walks, and so often we find
more awe and wonder when we walk somewhere new and
to just have the intention of an or walk where
we don't have the technology and we open our heart
and minds to what we can find. And I if
I'm with friends, you know we'll be in the ground,
(36:41):
getting our nails dirty, rummaging around, finding some mushroom or
something like that, and just the wow that can come
from that. Something beautiful about or in wonder is that
it predates language, so all around the world or and
wonder sounds are the same, ah ooh, and even monkeys.
(37:01):
Jane Goodall, such a beautiful example, observed chimpanzees looking at
a waterfall and doing these rhythmic shaking dances, making noises
that they wouldn't normally make altogether, and Jane Goodall made
the conclusion that this is the chimpanzees having their own
experience of awe and wonder.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
That's so beautiful. The title of your film is the
Subtle Art of losing yourself. Some say that losing yourself
is the path to finding yourself. Is that would you agree?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
And for our society that's a bit of a scary concept,
losing myself.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I want to lose myself.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, struggling as it is, and yet there is something
in that, you know, So like as we've talked about these,
so this consciousness, how this mind works is yeah, we
have this my understanding of it, the sensor and the storyteller.
So the sensor is this array of sensations and feelings
that give us this feeling of being. And then as
(37:59):
there's the story teller that observes what we experience and
then using thoughts, language, images, narrates and tell stories. About
who we are, and so that story we tell her
is essential. It's also like, my name is George, and
I live in Bristol, live in London, and my love
language is vegan brownies. And you know, I have all
(38:19):
these stories about you know, what I'm good at and
what I'm bad at, and that's essential for me to live.
And yet if I was born in a different country,
I'd have a different name, I'd have a different story.
I wouldn't be called George. And so there's nothing intrinsically
George about me. That identity has been created from the
thoughts that pop into my head. And so there is
(38:42):
also then the potential that I don't have to have
a story. If I create my own story. Then it's
also possible that I can experience myself directly, to lose myself,
to lose my normal sense of self, the narrated sense
of self, and to come into presence. This is trainable,
and this is what most meditation practices offer, is the
(39:03):
training to be able to quiet in their mind and
to experience consciousness or presence directly.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And one of the main ways.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
That has supported me to reach that ability to lose
myself and joyfully rest in presence as opposed to that
being a scary thing, is to be a nature walking
in nature, being quiet in nature, and to merge, merge
with this great mystery. And then so doing, I find
myself find a great, much bigger, more nourishing, beautiful, inspiring
(39:34):
sense of who I really am.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Is so beautiful because when you're saying to change the story,
tell your own story, that's terrifying. Because the story that
we have been told since we were born, the programming
I call it the programming. It's it's the first seven
years you're programmed by your parents, your you know, by
your society, by your culture, by the country you're in,
(40:00):
and all of that stuff that is the story you're told.
It takes someone extremely brave to then erase that story
or change that story in a way that makes sense
for them, because just like you, when you mentioned it
in passing, you're like, yeah, I was kind of Christian,
it kind of raised Christian, but not really, and I
(40:20):
just rejected it. We'll be right back after a word
from our sponsor, and now back to the show. You
already were showing signs of strength, even though you weren't
even aware that you were doing it at that point
yet because you was like, that doesn't make sense to me.
(40:40):
I'm not just gonna drink the drink the kool aid,
as they say, and yeah, exactly, so you started you
started to challenge that. But can you give any advice
to someone listening right now who is so ingrained in
their story yet open to change, because they're watching this
(41:01):
conversation and they're open to change. But they're like, but
how can I reject the story my parents who loved
me gave me, or my friends gave me, or my
community gave me, or my religion gave me. How can
I break free from that to find my own path
while not destroying either the people I love or the
(41:27):
story of the people that I love? Because that's it's easy.
If you got, you know, horrible parents, it's easy to
let go of that. But when you got loving parents
who they're just doing the best job they can. I'm
a parent, I know, we're just trying to figure it out. Guys,
there's no book. We give them the best we can.
But if that doesn't flow with you, how can you
break free from that? Do you have any advice?
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Firstly, you just celebrating that intention to turn towards what's here,
these experiences, this body, this lifetime, and to turn towards
it with curiosity, because actually it's quite a radical act.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
If I'm hurting right now.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Our society says, numb yourself out, go watch some Netflix,
go eat some food, go to do from shopping, don't
look within. So if you do look within, like, that's
a beautiful and actually radical act politically, because you know,
to turn towards our pain and realize it's not the
outside world creating it, but our relationship to the world,
our relationship to ourselves. That's when we take our power back.
(42:25):
And then to be gentle on the journey, because the
most famous line from the data geing a journey of
a thousand miles starts with a single step or another
few ones in that chapter is a tree wider than
a man's embrace started as a single seed, a seed
that could hear water. Then a skyscraper more than eight
(42:47):
stories high started as a single brick. So gently, gently
and yeah, like with our upbringing, this parts of our
parents that were really supportive and loving, and for almost
all of us, there were parts that were painful, and
there was stories from our society that empowered us, and
there were stories that held us back and limited us.
(43:08):
So the wisdom journey and waking up is you can choose.
You create your reality. You create your story, you know,
you create your experience.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Of your reality. So take your power.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
And find the stories that serve you, let go of
those that don't, and be really compassionate and gentle on
the journey, because actually, instead of punishing ourselves, I'm going
to change everything and I'm going to forget all of
that which used to give me pain is actually in
some ways running away. And really the compassion journey is
that we our heart has the capability to meet the
(43:43):
ten thousand sorrows, the ten thousand joys.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
We can do it.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
It takes time, and it takes practice, and it takes
resourcing and taking that journey real slow, real gentle.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Do you also have any practical advice for people who
are are anxious, who are have a problem with anxiety
and confusion and they feel lost. There seems to be
so many people who feel lost in this world. And
I think, as we've been talking, just my first answer
that comes into my head is like, because you're associated,
(44:16):
you're attaching your happiness to things outside of you and
you're not looking in. You're either afraid not to look in,
you don't want to deal with what's not looking in,
and your brain's gonna tell you. I'm assuming in your
journey your brain told you that little wizard that pops up, Yeah,
the underminer. I'm assuming when you went down this path,
it was yelling constantly, this is ridiculous. Do you think
(44:41):
you're a shalin monk? What is wrong with you? Go
back to go back to England, like, what is happening
to you? I'm assuming there was this this, this, this
voice which I think we all we all have that voice.
How did you overcome that? And after you tell me that,
what's your relationship with the underminer today? Because he's not gone,
(45:03):
he never leaves, he's always.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Absolutely absolutely yeah. You know.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
For me, there's a fundamental yin yang pairing that of
being and doing action non action work rest, and so
we can take that approach to our healing. So part
of the journey is taking really small steps to create
some momentum in our lives. So maybe instead of like
(45:29):
I'm so anxious, I can't do any exercise. So what's
the smallest single step you could do. I'm going to
put my shoes on, I'm going to step outside once,
I'm going to take another step. I'm going to take
another step suddenly, then you've got some momentum.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Then maybe you're going to enjoy that.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Walk, celebrate that walk, take those little micro steps and
really celebrate because you know, the anxious part of our
psyche and it's just a part will damp any celebrations
down because it wants to make sure you've thought through
all of the worst possible scenarios. Again, being compassionate to that.
It's part of being human. So the doing is often
(46:06):
what we talk about in our society. What is missing
often is the being And for me, that's the spiritual
dimension is to for me ground myself in either Tao
for me or whatever word works for you, source mystery
God and to know that you know, it's just not me,
small George, with all these perceived flaws that's working against
(46:26):
this big, scary world. Instead, I'm an aspect of the whole.
I have all of this resilience built into me because
I've got the DNA of millions of years of ancestors
that have survived to make me hear, you know, like
radical meditation to do is to imagine your your parents
with a loving hand on your shoulders. Imagine their parents
(46:49):
with loving hands on their shoulders. Go back all the
way to the start of time. See what you experience
with that, because yeah, that's all of us have an
ancestor that goes all the way back to the start
of the universe, because there's no separation, and that's a
scientific reality. So that then is a resource resource to
help ground the anxiety. Spaciousness is another key word for me.
(47:14):
So it's you know, anxiety is here. It's a part
of me. It's not I am anxious. There's a part
of me that's anxious. It's not I'm overwhelmed. There's a
part of me telling me I'm overwhelmed. Okay, there's also
you know, a raised heart rate, clinch in the stomach,
tension in the throat, and yeah, like even on Monday,
my first kind of anxious day for quite a while,
(47:35):
I had after payday for my team, you know, so
like and I was tired and under resourced, and then
suddenly that that was like a painful day. And you know,
you can't stop the waves, but you can learn to serve.
So I have have built more compassion to to where
(47:56):
I am. And so yeah, the undermine is still with me.
But he's a friend. Now he's an advisor. And when
he gets a bit harsh, I'm like, Okay, what do
you really need here? Tell me get let me know
what the need is, and then I can sort that out.
Because you don't need to be running the ship anymore.
You don't need to be driving the bus. I've got you,
and so then yeah, join me be an advisor. That's
(48:17):
how I now relate to that part.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
You've you've mentioned, you know, we've been talking about Taoism
and the and the Dudley Ching and these kind of
ideas are the way a lot of people look at
Taoism as more of a philosophy. It's definitely not a religion.
It's definitely not a religion to minuderstand. It's a philosophy.
But one thing I'm a little shady on, not shady on,
but confused about, is that what is the spirituality of
(48:42):
Taoism or the tao What is the spiritual? Because there
isn't you know, there's no Zeus, there's no Osiris, there
is no you know, you know, Michelangelo's or it was
a da Vinci, one of the two who gives the yeah,
the finger with the the guy, the old guy with
the white beard, who's white of course, sitting on the
(49:06):
throne somewhere in heaven on a cloud, you know, passing judgment.
That doesn't seem to be any of that. Indaurism was
one of the reasons why I actually really loved Daoism
when I was in my early search. It was one
of the first philosophies that came across that really started
to make sense to me. So what is the spirituality
of Taoism.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Yeah, we've got a few different approaches. So we've got,
you know, just to compare it. We've got the materialist
approach that we talked about, everything's random mechanical processes, unconscious
and then somehow out of that conscious life emerges. But
that how that actually happens has never been explained. And
then you have like the deity, the higher power in
(49:48):
the sky that created the universe, created everything.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
And is superior to us.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
And depending on the story human beings, we are a
superior species. This planet was given to us.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
Then you could say this the Hindu approach or like
the New Age spiritual approach.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Which is there is a we're.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
In a divine universe and consciousness animates us. So there's
like a spark of spirit within us and within animals.
And but like matter itself is not conscious. Well you know,
it depends on your on your view and understanding of that.
But still like this idea of like divinity and giving
(50:39):
thanks and devotion to divinity which is different but connected
to the world, then there's the Davas approach. And I
think the best way to understand the Davis approach is
the word sirran. So the word siran is the word
for nature, made up of two characters self ran so
siran self so. So the word for nature is that
(51:03):
which comes into being by itself itself sows. So the
spontaneity of nature's captures in the very word for nature.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
So for the.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
Taoists their spirituality, they see the universe like an organism,
self organizing. Like in the forest, there isn't somebody with
a clipboard saying, right, oak tree, you're growing one meter
this year because he'd been a very naughty boy, and Robin,
you're only singing a d sharp for the rest of
the week. So there isn't somebody running the show. It's
(51:32):
self organizing. And so they saw that, you know, they
saw there wasn't a conductor in nature. Everything was spontaneous.
And so then they continued that understanding that then the
universe is like a big organism, everything interconnected in it,
the inter being and for them, because there isn't any
separation between consciousness and matter, it's all energy and the
(51:55):
dow in a predating even form, so that this potential
start the universe before the Big Bang to help everything
get going. You know, the Tao was there as well.
So for them then it's this inclusive organist. I can
never say that word organist. Nick understanding of the universe,
where then their divinity, their sacredness, is found in all things.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
Very very good definition, sir, very good definition. It's it's
it's it's a it is it is a system that
needs someone who can kind of flow. It's not if
you need something to hold on to and grab, like
the monkey in the gorge, You're not going to find
(52:41):
it here. You know, a lot of religion does that.
A lot of religion gives you something very practical to
hold on to with rituals and places to meet and
so on. But this seems to like no, no, no.
You are literally as as Bruce Leland said, be water,
my friend. You're constantly flowing with the universe. And it's
(53:06):
a little scary when you're out there flowing. But once
you understand the power that's within you, it's as natural
as a robin singing a d sharp in the forest.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Could I sing you a song on that? A sure?
Speaker 4 (53:21):
So you don't need to know the way the way
he knows the way. You don't have to plan the way,
trust the way, feel the way the way knows, the
way knows he knows the way.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
You get the golden ticket. You're going to Hollywood. You're yes, that's.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
Awesome equivalent of Hollywood, more nourishing version.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
Trust me. I was there Ah for a long time.
I completely understand it is there. Finally, is there one
message that you want people listening to take away from
not only this conversation but from the art of the
subtle art of losing yourself as well as the film.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
What I'm passionate about is firstly our potential. So balance
is possible for you, for me, for humanity and just
to keep going, like, you know, there's parts of us
that can despare our own mental health and what's happening
in the world, and remembering that they're parts, and there's
also parts that kind of hope and to believe and
growth and change, and so to nourish those parts and
(54:40):
to hold on to them because it's super important. Then secondly,
you know, for me is like as my journey of
understanding my connection to the universe, to realize like self
development is really not giving justice to that.
Speaker 2 (54:55):
Which we are a part of.
Speaker 3 (54:57):
It's not just about me, about me meditating and creating
all these good vibes, but really that is important and
a foundation upon which I can enjoy my life and
to serve resiliently. But then so, yeah, I had this
energy of service, how can I contribute for me? That's
what my spirituality takes me to an energy of service,
(55:18):
to just do a little bit of contribution, whether it's
big or small.
Speaker 2 (55:21):
And then system change.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
You know, we can blame ourselves like I'm anxious, lonely, depressed. Well, like, yeah,
you live in a society that's deeply alienated, where it's
really hard to make new friends and the social media
hacking our psychology to sell our attention to corporate advertisers.
That we blame ourselves, right, So it's bigger than us.
(55:44):
And so then a political consciousness comes into me. It's like, well,
you know, with that understanding of our potential and our
interconnection that we are nature, we are a part of it.
And all of this consumption which is supposedly meeting our
needs around you know, buying the nice house and buying
the nice stuff. You know, it's nice to have a
(56:04):
nice house and a nice stuff. But where are we
going with all of this and with clearly affecting our
ability to live on this planet through over consumption? And
so what about the radical act of empowered moderation to
actually say that I've got enough and I want to
create a community and a society in a world where
(56:24):
I'm feeling the richness of.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
The present moment. How would the world change?
Speaker 3 (56:29):
And so that's a message that I hope can land
with people. It's not a scarcity of like, oh, you
shouldn't consume because you're a bad person, but like, yeah,
this is a gift of this lifetime and let's enjoy
it and support each other to really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
It, beautifully said, my friend beautifully said. Now I'm going
to ask you a few questions. I ask, oh, my guests,
what is your definition of living a fulfilled life?
Speaker 2 (56:51):
My definition of living a fulfilled life is to flow,
to grow, to enjoy, to love.
Speaker 1 (57:00):
If you had a chance to go back in time
and speak to little George, what advice would you give them.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
I'd give them a big hug and say you're a
right mate, You're good, I got you, and yeah, like
you've got all these beautiful parts of joy, there's also
sadness and worry and your right mate, you got it.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
How do you define God or Source?
Speaker 2 (57:20):
The mystery?
Speaker 1 (57:21):
What is love?
Speaker 2 (57:22):
What is love? Baby?
Speaker 3 (57:24):
Don't hurt, don't But for me, I feel love when
I'm in connection. And so we could say that love
is connection. And one beautiful thing that we learned from
our journey of waking up is that everything in the
universe is connected. So if love equals connection and the
universe equals connection, therefore the universe equals love.
Speaker 1 (57:44):
If you if you could ask God or Source one question,
what would it be?
Speaker 3 (57:50):
What first came up was a phrase that I love
is stop asking why starts saying wow?
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Where the daarists. They don't need to ask questions and
they can just be with the mystery.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
And an alan. What's classic comes to mind is that
eventually get to heaven and you ask God, why is
the grass green? And God says the chlorophyll.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
A simple as that? And family, What is the ultimate
purpose of life?
Speaker 3 (58:28):
I feel this life is a gift and to really
enjoy this unique embodiment, this unique lifetime. There's nowhere to go,
no place to arrive, but to enjoy the dance and
to enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1 (58:42):
And where can people find out more about you and
all the amazing work you and balance is passable is doing?
Speaker 3 (58:48):
Firstally just yeah, a lot of gratitude for you, Alex
in a really sense your journey and your depth of
these questions and everything that you've done, and the people
that you've reached, so they're really grateful to be in
conversation with you. And yeah, these beautiful views and listeners. Yeah,
what a gift for your presence and for me. Yeah,
there's subtle lot of losing yourself. Tie that in on YouTube.
(59:10):
It's for forty five minutes. It's my latest film. I've
had eight hundred and fifty thousand people watching it now,
which is so exciting, and I'd love your support and
sharing the film. If it resonates with you, stick it
on one evening. I also run events retreats and also
Taoist Wellness Online is the biggest Taichi school in the
world now with my Taichi master Mastergo and it's how
(59:31):
we fund me and the team, and yeah, we're on
this mission to inspire balance for people and planet, so
any contributions are really welcome and you get so much
learning as a consequence.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
And of course subtle Art of losing yourself is also
on the next levels soult TV, which absolutely as well. Yeah,
so I'm so excited to share it. It's been doing
extremely well, people watching it a lot, so it's it's
constantly in the top tenser so it's a good that's
a good sign people. I really love the film. It's
a beautiful film and I suggest anyone who wants to
(01:00:06):
find a little balance in their life to definitely check
it out. And do you have any parting messages for
the audience, my friend, We'll be right back after a
word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Keep stepping Journey of one thousand Miles starts with a
single step.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Fair enough, George, It's been such a pleasure talking to you,
my friend. Thank you for sharing your journey and your
story with us. And I hope that this helps people
around the world, help them on their journey, or at
least put that first step of their journey. This hopefully
will open their minds to new possibilities that if you
could do this, other people can do it as well.
(01:00:47):
So I appreciate you and all the love and energy
that you're putting out into the world and helping awaken
this planet, my friend, So thank you, Thank you, Alex.
I like to thank George so much for coming on
the show and sharing his experience with all of us.
If you want to get links to anything we spoke
about in this episode, including how to watch his film
The Subtle Art of Getting Lost on Next Levels SOLTV,
(01:01:08):
just head to the show notes at Next levelsoul dot
com forward slash five eight two, and if you like
this content and want to go deeper down the spiritual
rabbit hole, just head over to Next Levelsoul dot tv
and we have movies, series, original shows, live events, and
of course all of Next Level Soul completely ad free again.
(01:01:33):
Just head over to Next level Soul dot tv available
on Apple, Ruku, Amazon Fire, Android and iOS and Android phones.
And if you've only been listening to these episodes and
want to watch these amazing conversations, head over to our
YouTube channel at next levelsoul dot com forward slash YouTube.
Thank you so much for listening, and as I always say,
(01:01:55):
trust a journey. It's there to teach you. I'll see
you next time.
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