Duncan Trussell Family Hour - 719: Robert Ryan

Episode Date: October 19, 2025

Robert Ryan, world-renowned tattoo artist and one of the most disciplined spiritualists Duncan knows, re-joins the DTFH! Check out some of Robert's incredible prints, books, and even his custom tarot deck on his site: Raking Light Projects! Portland family! Duncan is coming to Oregon, October 23-25 at Helium Comedy Club! Click here to get your tickets now. Thank you, and we love you!! This episode is brought to you by: Go to Quince.com/Duncan for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off at Ridge by using code DUNCAN at checkout. Just head to Ridge.com and use code DUNCAN and you’re all set! This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/duncan and get on your way to being your best self.

Welcome to the DTFH. Hello. Oh my God, what an episode we have for you today. This covers the whole gamut of everything that I'm interested in, spirituality, politics, and mind control. And who better to have this conversation with than Robert Ryan? Robert Ryan is an artist. And one of the coolest artists I've ever met. If you're lucky enough to live in New Jersey, you could actually get a tattoo from this incredible human at Electric Light Tattoo Studio. But he's not just an artist. He's not just an occultist. He's not just a shyvite.

He's not just a scholar when it comes to the esoteric. He's also a musician. So I hope, my dear friends living in Asheville, that you will go and see him perform. He's going to be at the Ayurprana listening room in Asheville, November 22nd. And he's also coming to Cozum, Alex and Allison Gray's place, December 5th. All the links you need to find Robert Ryan are going to be down there. So here we go, everybody. Welcome back to the DTFH, Robert Ryan.

Now, Robert Ryan, we do need to know. We're just curious to know why were you found holding binoculars outside of the home of Jessica? French. Well, I was bird watching. Then all the sudden, uh, the house caught on fire right next to where I was standing. And, uh, I happen to have an accelerant that I always carry with me. Um, how you doing? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm good, man. You seem to be, as always, traveling the world, doing meditation retreats. Where are you at now? Are you, and it, this is something that is really weird when it comes to a spiritual practice is the in the modern world we have this conceptualization of progress that seems to not align with spiritual progress. Do you know what

I'm talking about? Like some days I just feel like what a waste of fucking time. Why did I even bother with that shit at all and some days you're like i think i'm in the precipice of enlightenment both days you're a fool yeah well when you realize that there's really nothing to be gained um that that becomes kind of your your guiding star you know that actually you're like refining rather than trying to uh attempt or uh get somewhere you know like the path is always unfolding you know You're always halfway there. You're always halfway there no matter what, you know? So when you become comfortable with that, and then you can start to peel stuff away,

and then the refining is actually what the path becomes rather than, like, striving for something. Because when you're striving for something, it gets corrupted usually. There's something in the way, you know, like, why do you need this? Why, what is enlightenment going to bring to you, you know, are you going to be able to, like, talk better on the podcast? Yeah. or, you know, like, be a better artist or anything like that. All those things hopefully do come from some sense of progress, as the word we used earlier, but they shouldn't be the goal.

The, that, that, those words you just uttered in the beginning. If you want to look at modernity as a religion, the words. nothing to gain that's blasphemy to say that in the modern world nothing to gain oh we're so programmed we hate that idea everything's transactional you want something out of everything and what I love about those words is it underlines something that is inside of everyone's heart this itchy kind of hunger for something more than this? Yeah, it takes you completely out of the moment, right? Yeah.

But when there's nothing to be gained but everything to be learned or everything to be experienced, you know, like it just leaves you with the, you know, the potential for just about anything, you know? And like the creative capacity of the entire universe is at your, within your breath. You know, so, like, once you let go of, like, your ideas, your preconceived notions of what the spiritual path is or what spirituality is, how many neck beads that you wear, how long your beard is, or what color robe you're going to wear, all those things, all that stuff gets in the way at some point. And you have to, that's the final renunciation, you know, like, I've been reading a lot about this lately. I've been reading the Avaduta Gita, it's called, which is the Gita, the song of Data, the song of Data. Treya. Do you know who Dr. Trey is? He's the three head. You've probably seen pictures of him. He has three heads, a human just with three heads. And it's to, I'd remember him. Yeah. If you came across them, if you saw him at Arbys or something, it's the guy with the three heads. Yeah. It's to symbolize the, the, the, the, the, the yanna, the crea, and the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, explain that some people won't know what that.

even means like it's cool that you're explaining that with something equally esoteric that people are going to be like what the fuck oh the trimertes what do you what what is that what is what do you mean to put it simply i think is like creation sustaining and destruction god okay those three forces exist in just about everything we do yes you know it happens in our breath you know we breathe in we hold it it collapses right you know we get we were born we live we die. Yes. You know, all, you can, you can, you can, uh, follow that thread through just about every mode of material existence. Yeah. So, uh, the, the, the Avaduta Gita is, uh, explaining what Avadut is. And an avadute is someone who isn't, who's reached a completely different

state of, of understanding where none of the things in this world have any kind of impact. don't make any sense. They're just living outside, actually completely living inside. They're having this internal experience. And I've met some people like this, you know, in India a couple of times. I've sat with Abadutes and they're completely,

it's not speaking any language, communicating in completely abstract terms, but the creative capacity is always there and they're doing amazing things. Amazing feature. of strength or um just uh you know it's just it's not of this world although they're in this world the the closest i can come to being an how do you say it avidut an avidut is once you become experienced using like lSD so that you're used to what's happening i don't i'm sure you've

been through the lsd phase anyone out listening who's been through the lsd phase you get to a point where you can really you're like nothing's going to shock you that's happening during that experience and if you're around people who are taking it for the first time you will seem supernatural in your ability to like maintain what appears to be complete sobriety even though walls are melting around you you're you're in a completely expanded state of consciousness but when you look at the human experience itself as this another psychedelic experience, it's longer, obviously, it's a very long trip, but a trip nonetheless. And it sounds like these people are people who are able to, in the midst of the ultimate

hallucinogenic experience, see past, that and there's a kind of sobriety in what you're describing yeah and living like the best moments of their lives completely enjoy you know right even though like they might be covered in their own feces and spit and like yeah you know completely haven't showered in months or so you know haven't eaten or any but they're they're without needs you know and there's an efficiency that comes without needs that goes beyond our conceptual way of living. Well, you know what? If I'm around one of them, I'm going to have a need for them to take a shower.

That's all. Like other stuff, you mentioned fine, but come on. Here's use some wet wipes. And they might honor that for you, but maybe not. Well, but this, so this, the, what I really love about this possibility, is that it is revolutionary. Like, you know, I was explaining to my kid this morning how in our world the way it is right now,

if your shoes get a little worn down, you buy new shoes. If your shirt has a rip in it, you buy a new shirt. If the toaster breaks, you throw it away, you get a new toaster. And how all of this is a result of businesses, is wanting to make more money, because if we learn to sew, if we learn to take care of our shoes, if we have less lower our standards regarding the wear and tear on the clothes we wear, that equals trillions of dollars that CEOs will lose.

And so we have been conditioned to believe that a sign of health or things are going good for you is everything's new. You're wearing everything that is freshly bought. And so what you're describing is the arrow and the heart of that. This episode of the DTFH is supported by my friends at Quince. You know, I live here in Texas, and as a never nude, who loves to wear winter clothes, that's a little challenging for me because Texas clings to summer, like a, like a malarial dog clings to an old bacterial-soaked tennis ball

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Yeah, I don't know why it is that you go to a store and some brand has splattered their stupid logo all over what could have been a perfectly good sweater. This is why Quince is my go-to. Normal clothes. Kind of clothes Jack Kerouac might have worn in some smoky jazz bar. Not something graffitied on by a corporation. also it's not just incredible clothes they've got everything you need some great cookware they've got it travel accessories they got it you don't really need to go anywhere but quince you could delete the entire internet just leave quince layer up this fall with pieces that feel as good as they look

go to quince dot com slash duncan for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in canada too that's q you i ncee dot com slash dunk Duncan, free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash Duncan. Thank you, Quince. when I was in school and there were kids whose parents would sew their clothes with them. I grew up in North Carolina, you were made fun of mercilessly. You know, if you had, if your clothes were sewn up by your sweet mom who couldn't afford to buy new clothes, brutally attacked, you know, it's viciously. It's horrible.

And so what you're describing, I think, is, you know, everyone these days especially, what do we do? What do we do? we start killing CEOs what do we do kill a CEO talk about a bunch of fucking heads another fucking heads gonna grow on that corporation that's already one growing in place of it before it's even gone that's right yeah that's right so you see what i'm saying right like these what what you're describing isn't just some kind of you know passive way of evading the grind of day-to-day life. It's literally a recipe for complete transformation of society if enough people

began to live in a place of non-addiction to material stuff. Yeah, of course, but also within that, they kind of advise against it that the Avedut's life is only for the Avedut. Of course. Now it's a fucking club of stinky people. our civilization would stop because it's not like they're having kids they're not householders they're not running countries they're just acting within this world as a example of what you can be and what can be done when you don't when you're efficient enough in your life that you don't have needs and you don't rely on the state you don't rely on the family you don't rely on the on the temples they don't go to they're not like hanging out in temples

are doing rituals even. They're beyond that. And they're beyond, you know, a big part of the Dharma is to transcend illusion. In their world, there's not even illusion. Illusion's just, you know, mixed in with the rest of everything else that they're transiting. You know what I mean? Yeah. So they're not even tripping about that where a lot of people, you know, it's their goal to like get past the illusion in this world. Which if you can even identify the illusion, you're already off to a good start, I believe. Well, identify the illusion. What would, what would it be?

That you're, that you're this body, you know, that, that, you know, like, that you're made, you know, this, this is who, this is your true reality. Yeah. This is the ultimate reality that you can one-click a new shirt when you need one, you know, or, you know, like, all those things, you know, you can go on and on and on about it. You know, you can work your entire life to get a great car to drive that great car to your job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're so it's like when we're talking about renunciation and you know I've brushed up against this idea here and there it's like the physical renunciation is just the beginning phase of the thing. The physical renunciation is actually there's what you're talking about is like the ultimate renunciation, which is to let go completely of all of these. conceptualizations that have been taught to you since you are capable of

understanding English or whatever your language may be and then you renounce that even you're renouncing being renounced right right in in a different state of consciousness completely yeah yeah and that so you know like when in in Buddhism when they you know you when they are talking about you know leave your family forget it forget the whole thing there's lots of ways to look at that you can look at it as physically abandoning your family which uh you can leave your family and still be with your fucking family in your head you know but this is actually what happens if you start recognizing that you're in a dream you're this is kind of a dream and it's a very convincing dream and but it's still a dream like you're you're you know you're going to wake up like in this case like death would be that moment but still a dream

and just saying that out loud is it kind of fills me with a little bit of guilt you know I want to believe in this all the way well you know I don't think there's anything wrong with believing in your dream either you know and you can't shun the dream like we were talking about renunciation and you know we can we're going into different schools of thought you know, of like tantra and Veda and things like that. But Bhagavigito warns us. Krishna warns Arjuna about false renunciation because that's what he tries to do on the battlefield. Yeah, right.

You know, he's like, I'm out. I'm not doing this. I'm not killing anybody. Yeah. And he's like, no, you're a warrior. This is what you need to do. Just the way we're householders. I'm a tattoo artist.

You're a comedian. We do our duties. But the awareness is where the renunciation comes into play. you know if you if you're a comedian and you have complete awareness of what you're doing when you're on stage performing comedy or if i'm doing a tattoo and i'm completely present in that moment of doing this tattoo for the person we're going to get the highest standard that's right well yeah that's right you just have to say bye bye like that's a thing is like when i'm on stage i can't be on stage i can't be there if i'm there at all

that produces latency and by me being there i mean there's some plan there's some like goal there's something i want there's a place i want to hit or something any of those things just they get wiped out immediately as soon as you're on stage right gone in the back i mean in the if they're not gone then you know that's fucked because it can create this cascading loop that's when you bomb yeah that's when you start bombing is because you're you're like oh shit i'm i'm here oh no i didn't go away all the way but it's when you get on stage and walk off stage and like there's a you that right before you got on stage there's a you when you get off stage it's when you're doing art same situation where you just look up and you're like hours have passed where the fuck were you there's a thing there

that you made but you weren't there at all like but you were right like you were really there your mind your thoughts weren't like drifting you know like that's the way a lot of people think like, you know, by thinking something through that you're being present, but maybe not so much, you know, by experiencing it, that's when you're being present. Yes. If your thoughts are getting in the way of it, then how present are you? Well, look, like, you know, let me just pull all this back to the federal government shutdown. I know you love talking about these things. This, but I think there is a weird parallel, which is like, if you look at the federal government as the mind.

and you look at the country as the heart we have the severe imbalance right now between the head and the heart which most people do we most people I've said this on the podcast a few times but one of the most ironic things I ever saw was this during some previous government shut down there's a dumpster in a national park trash is piled up around this dumpster and the reporter is like what are we going to do about this trash the federal government is shut down like you didn't take it out yourself right no one can only the federal government can take that trash out of the national park no certainly no one can do it for free no one's going to do it for no reason for just to get trash out no one has time for that shit i wanted to go on a fucking hike

i'm not a garbage man and so so the mind seem seemingly plays this same trick on the heart, which is it convinces you that without it, you are fucked. Like your thoughts, your planning, your strategies, your identification with whoever the fuck you think you are, your politics, the sports team, you like, this is the penultimate state. And all the other stuff, the feeling stuff, the whatever stuff that your heart is always like calling you to it's come on don't go there sentimentality of suicide you don't be some sweater you're a man don't let you don't listen that shit even though it's somehow like it's the undiscovered country it's this beautiful terrain that that like it's just always there this

what you're pointing towards in the description of these enlightened beings you know yeah and and who who's talking you out of of of taking that garbage out or who's talking you out of uh you know like helping out it's the ego you know it's all it's the list so it's the pairs of opposites that get in the way everything republican democrat left right black white you know it's the pair of opposites you know and the avidu't doesn't care about the opposites it cares about the opposites it cares about the unity and the unity of the heart the mind and the soul the unity of the creation destruction you know disillusion all those things once you cut one part out of it it's it's out of balance and when you said it's in balance earlier that's exactly what our problem is and and you can trace

that right to the most vital force in your body which is your breath right and we most people don't even fucking, God, you probably have a good breath practice, but my God, sometimes when I'm like, just, I'm like, why, why the fuck am I breathing like this, man? You know what I mean? Like, you look at your breath, you're not taking deep breaths. You're like, what am I doing here? Like, why am I breathing like I'm being stalked in the woods right now? I'm at the airport. Because we are. But the ego is stalking us in the woods. It's stalking us in our bedroom. It's stalking us, you know, at work. It's stalking us in our families. Yeah. It gets in a way. So yeah. And it is a response. And I've heard about this before. I'm not sure if this is how factual this is,

but the whole idea of us doing that is like a reaction from the, from the floods, you know, from the time of the floods of us. Like when we, when we catch our breath, I'm like when we do that thing, that that's like a genetic response from the time of the. flooding oh you mean the great event the great event that is coming again it's happened in every one of the books once already why not happen again well yeah i mean yeah not i mean it's happened in all the fucking books it's like the the the all the ancient sites out there just like clear that this is another thing that points towards the sort of absurdity of the way we're currently living which is the earth is scattered with

ruins from cities that were massive and we have no we barely understand who they were all we know is there's certain things that seem to appear across the planet the the purse thing that's in all the petroglyphs the the recurring figures that's all we know and we don't think about it that much we don't think about the fact that that means there was an interconnected global fucking community that is gone gone beyond gone god i've been showing my kids They ask to see it It's not like I'm to sit down and watch this But like lava

Like there's all these YouTube videos of lava Flowing over Coca-Cola cans And it's like dude Yeah That Coca-Cola can That's gone now It's going to be an igneous rock Maybe at some point someone will be like

What the fuck is this But Like when Geo When like huge disasters happen Glaciation Volcanic eruptions Whatever the fuck was there is just the hard drives erased and we don't want to we we don't want to believe that that would

ever happen again even though we're not even close to coming up with a plan for meteor impacts sea level rising pole shifts supernovas you know micronovas or whatever we don't we just hang out in this very fragile civilization acting like it's we're going to be around forever yeah and could there ever really even be a plan for something like that you know like how do you plan for that go underground just breathe you know like that's the plan you know get right with yourself you know that's the only plan that you can actually commit to and carry out and the thing is you know i hate to be doom and gloom because it's it's not about that because we're all going to die no matter what every one of us every that's the one thing we have to

in common so why not try to get it right now while you're here or yeah you see that that thing you just said not trying to be doom and gloom that is another sign of how fucking nuts everyone is right now because you have to preface a statement of fact is that look i don't want to be doom and gloom but water's wet you know what i mean we don't want to admit fucking water's wet in this case why are you Why are you so negative? Calling water wet. You know what I mean? That's how imbalanced we've become.

I guess in this case, if we're talking about those heads, we don't really, like we're becoming increasingly ahistoric. And we certainly don't want to look into the impending oblivion waiting all of us. And so we just want to imagine this silly phase in the planetary history. is permanent and it's producing mad maniacs it's producing it created a it creates a mania you know when you deny death it creates a mania you know and like and it's the one undeniable thing you know it's like it's there's no one that could prove any other way i think but what dies well you you just come down man i think it's sweet who hasn't wanted to re-up on ecstasy i think it's

sweet these transhumanists are no different than anyone having a great ecstasy trip or we're like come on let's take another one it's like they just want to you know increase the length of the trip that's all they just want to stay high i get it i've been there i've been there you don't want to come down you know and people who are afraid of death they're just people who don't want to come down as we know what goes up must come down always and god help you by the way if you figured out have not come down. Jesus Christ, there's been many a time where I've been having a great trip. And I'm like, man, we got to take more. I got to stay like this forever. But dude, what a fucked up situation you'd be in. If you did manage to stay high forever, it would get old pretty soon.

You know, and I worry about these transhumanists. Because I worry, like, they're going to figure it out. They are going to figure out I live for thousands of years. And like 300 years in, they're going to be like, dude this was a fuck up this sucks i'm so over this well there's a new cottage industry for you you know the um healer to the transhumanists the what the healer to the transhumanists you know like it's called a bullet i'm just kidding transhumanists out there i wouldn't mind tacking on a couple hundred years the old getting the hair back you're gonna have the transhumanist beating down your door now man why would you say that i love life by the way i mean i think it's like if you don't want to you know people uh don't realize their fear of death is you know i've said this

before is fear of death is a love of life you know it's just it's the dark mask the love of life wears you're afraid to die because you love your life but you're so fixated on the fact it's going to end you can't enjoy it right and that's so sad yeah no totally that's like you know you're counting down the days you're counting down the I only have a couple years left with my family you know it's like who thinks like that and if you do you're fucked you know oh god you're so fucked you can't enjoy it at all all the fucking like

all those beautiful moments all those beautiful moments just covered in a cloud of psychic flatulence that doesn't have to be there it's like but I get it man there's so many times first day of vacation my dumb asses and like be on the plane flying back pretty soon four more days it's so sad it's so sad but but this you know this is like the shitty show that the mind is selling tickets to you know it's like it's the same show we keep buying tickets to the same garbage show well it's we're it's such a groove

It's such a, like, fixed groove that we're into, like, by going on vacation, we've broken our pattern that we're so used to that that's one of the first reactions, like, when is this going to end? You know, when do I go, when do I get back to the couch, you know? And once you live through a couple days, usually if you're not completely out of your mind, you can get into the groove, a new groove, you know, and a new, new sense of direction. But until then, you're, like, clinging to all the old things. And that's where the manias sets in. Yeah. Yeah. Just, you know, that, you know, it shows up.

Like, I don't mean to keep going back to politics, but it shows up in like the political slogans of the last election. We're not going back or make America great again. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like, we're not going back there, fixated on the fear of the past. or we are going back there because this here is fucked and both of these are denying that this here you first of all there's no going back anyway you can't go back there's no going back

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You know, when you realize that, like, not to deny all the bullshit out there right now, because there's a lot of, but when you realize, like, you're scared of fascism, you're living in a fact, your mind, and it's all of the tricks it's playing on you and the mine orwellian mind fuck it's constantly playing on everybody the gaslighting your mind it's all the distortions you're subconsciously creating to evade reality as it is dude there's no no no federal government nothing could do that much of a mind fuck that you're doing yourself right you know the mental ghetto is as treacherous as the physical ghetto yes that's That's it. But it's real hard to let go, man. Like, you know, that's the other thing is like addiction is addiction. And I am addicted to things being a certain way.

I want, you know, I need things to be a certain way, man. You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm not above any of the things we're talking about. And I'm also contributing in all the things we're talking about. But I do try to bring that awareness into my life. And when we're talking about going back to something, going back to a perceived reality with rose-colored glasses. that never existed in the first place is one thing.

Trying to get back to a sense of simplicity where like maybe the ancients may have practiced some of these things could definitely enrich your life. Yes. Yeah. Just you're not, don't wait for the fucking government to do that for you. It's never going to happen.

They're never going to do anything for you. Never going to have it. They're going to take as much as they can from you. And they'll wrap it up in a slogan just like they, They always do, you know, and like, you know, I, and again, I'm not an anarchist, you know, I like order, you know, I like, you know, being able to, you know, not fear, you know, like if I'm going to go to the store that I'm about to get shot for what I'm carrying out, you know, but that being said, you know, I'm also not relying on the government, you know, to answer my questions. Well, in general, in general, just statistically, when you leave. the store, you're not going to get shot. But because of the, because of these motherfuckers, a lot of us feel like that when we leave

the goddamn store. A lot of us feel like that all the time, looking around all the time. Is that a fucking Marxist? Is that a fucking fascist? What's happening? And it's like, nothing. That's the great tragedy. I'm not, again, I'm not discounting.

There are things happening, but in general, in general, like right now, whoever's listening to this, I pray that you're not like being dragged into a van right now. And if you are, thank you for listening to DTFH. But you know what I mean, man. The fear velocity. The fear velocity is high right now. And what I love about what you're talking about and what I hate saying, this is a new age term, these ancient technologies offer us is a breaking system to slow down

that velocity of fear in ways that I understand why people would think they're having mystical experiences. It's not mystical. You're just slowing down a little bit. When you get into this stuff, you're like, oh, my God, the synchronicity's the, oh, but it's like, you know what you're experiencing, just what it's like to be normal and not freaked out all day long and think about like what was fast-paced 3,000 years ago compared to now where we're like you know we're accessing images upon images upon images you know like

William Burrough said images millions of images you know like yeah it's just we're we're living in the that deluge right now you know that flood of just information maybe that's the new you know uh end time storm well we're just going to drown in information and not in an actual water. It's cocaine. It's just the new cocaine is information. Like, everyone's doing big fat rails of it all the time. And, like, because we're, you know, like any other great drug, you get a tolerance.

And so once you get a tolerance for apocalyptic events, it's like, you know what? I think I need three apocalyptic events per week, please. Two just isn't scratching the itch anymore. Then you get in the dark internet and then you're hitting the crack pipe. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Here we go. comet atlas oh my god those robots can do backflips oh my god the sun's not acting normal

something's wrong with the sun oh my god drones over neuters oh yeah oh yeah why am i shitting blood you know why does my nose randomly start bleeding why is my body aching what's going on i'm taking the vitamins you know this is this the state of modern human is on one level colors are still working gravity seems to be intact on another level we are for sure living in an apocalypse of sorts and it's just weird because the two the apocalypse it seems to be happening in our devices uh more than it's happening around us definitely if not in the device it's amplified through the device oh there you go yeah there you go yeah there you go yeah there you go apocalypse amplifiers yeah we just got one in our pocket of speed just the it's just the craziest shit

to think that these things that were heralded as like this is going to be star trek man this is going to be the thing that like unifies the planet this is going to be the thing where everyone has access to the library of Alexandria times a million this is going to be the thing that's going to transform the way we work give us more time with our families it's crazy that all these things seem to have done is just made us exponentially more anxious that's it yeah because it took us out of it took us out of the moment you know it takes us out of the moment you know you're you know i do it online you know i'm standing in line waiting to check out i look at my phone oh dude you know why why you know like it hurts yeah but it doesn't have to doesn't have to hurt

you know there's you know like you can you might meet your best friend the next person line you could meet your worst enemy too but that's you know that's the existence that we that we're participating in i'm so fucked up that when i'm packing in my hotel room i'll turn the tv on won't even watch it i just need the background chatter of people talking because otherwise as i'm packing i feel too lonely dude what's wrong what the fuck like we i've like we're losing the ability just to not have chatter around us where we we and i what is that by the way you know that feeling when you're by yourself nothing's going on around you you're just by yourself hotel room your room car you haven't turned the radio on yet it's just you

And this feeling appears that I feel like a lot of us, we really don't want to feel it. And so we find this morphine via some distracting distraction. Like my podcast, thank you for listening. And but what, what is that, Robert, that feeling, that ache? Well, that ache is just, again, your ego trying to fill the space that, once you get past that loneliness or that weird feeling isn't so bad at all and there's actually a sweetness to it think of all the amazing beautiful music books uh movies that have been written out of loneliness you know the the potential for for so much output can come from that that one feeling that you're gonna suppress that you're gonna like you know let bubble up inside you and all these the the feeling doesn't go anywhere you just feel it you know you just replace it with something else but it's not going anywhere it's still there that feeling is there for a reason you should pay attention to it spend some time

with it maybe make friends with it or have it become your worst nemesis at at least your you're your um face to face with it well it's not hiding from it and you're not trying to trick yourself that is not there it's a shock collar yeah you know it's it's like the the you know it's some kind of self like we put the shot collar on ourselves I guess but like the moment you get into the undiscovered country which is the zones of silence the places of non-transaction or doing something for some reason the most obvious way to get there is meditation lots of other ways the thing starts going off and that is a good sign. You know, it means you've found the perimeter of your fence here. Some asshole

is putting Invisible's fence up here. You're the asshole. And, but if you keep going, I've noticed that, yeah, that feeling, it's like, even though it gives the impression that it's going to get worse or last forever, it really does. There's not a lot of, like, it doesn't have a long battery life, whatever the shot caller is. You know, it just suddenly it stops bothering you. and then it's like suddenly you're I mean this is the kingdom of heaven all of a sudden like this thing you've been you've been basically trying to avoid what 10 minutes of unease and because of that you're missing out on what's on the other side of that invisible fence this is a really tortured analogy I'm so sorry but it's not though because there is something to be said about like knowing your limitations but then you're the one that's able to move move them further you know and push them you know and not being like you know not giving into like well i can't do that because i'm into this you know i can't go to this place because these kind of people might be there all those things you know i don't listen this kind of music i don't watch these kind of movies i don't wear this kind of clothes i don't do i don't do this i don't get fisted i don't fist wait a minute i'm fisting it's not so bad yeah or you know through all that like i really wanted to get fit as it turns out i needed a good fisting who would have thunk and and the but this this i'm sorry i always i always

ruin everything this uh to me like you know not to get conspiratorial here but i do think a lot like what if we are going to continue with my idiot shock collar comparison i feel like that we've created it actually it's been created for us There seems to be built in to the medium, built into advertising, built into everything, like an intentional kind of, I don't know, distraction technology that is trying to do everything to keep you from realizing that just not doing much, not playing video games, not distracting yourself doesn't lead to depression or malaise but rather to this place we started talking about in the beginning this incredible realization you don't you don't really need much

to be okay yeah there's a huge market in it that's why the you know in the shock collar market you know like uh you know that if you don't like you said earlier if you spend the time to mend your own clothes to do your own work to fix yourself and fix your own problems you know you're taking the third party out of it and that third party exists off your fear you know you oh that's so creepy yeah that's so true too my god it's so true it's a huge currency fear is a huge currency we need like i'm i guess like not to go in the completely other direction some of the potential AI overlays, you know, now that it can monitor things in real time, meaning that theoretically you could put an AI overlay over your TV,

and during commercials, it could detect how much the commercials trying to scare you. And just a little meter could appear, like, you know, the levels of fear that it's trying to induce in you, either in a subtle or overt way. And you'll begin to realize that 90% of commercials have embedded in them. some ghost story that is supposed to scare your ass into getting the fucking thing the next time you're watching commercials just ask yourself are they trying to scare me right now it's not like they come right out and say listen motherfucker you're you're fucked if you don't buy this fucking thing it's a more subtle thing like hey did you hear about henry what heart attack yesterday no life insurance

policy do you have a life insurance policy honey no i don't want to do it you need it for our fan you know what i mean it's like over and over and over again whatever it is whatever the commercial is scaring your ass and that's money baby that's money yeah it's scaring or it's like tricking you you know like oh uh this this like very soft gauzy world is out there if i take this medicine you know i'll be able to play in this gigantic backyard show with all these people you know and it's every race is represented and all the ages are represented and everyone's having a great time and everyone's dancing around a little pill. It's right on the other side of that pill. Yeah. Yeah. And then we have a jingle that's going to be so fucking addictive and horrifying that if you don't remember it, you might, you know, you might lose your mind.

It's just the way the way it's all shopped to us is like, I mean, they're experts. They're experts in mind control, you know. That's what you do when you're an analysis. Oh, my God. It's so creepy. And then, you know, the other thing I realize is in the same lane that we're driving down right now. This episode is this episode is sponsored by Better Help. Did you know October 10th was World Mental Health Day? And we must thank our nation's therapists.

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it's brutal and then you sit in a room and you heal people's minds you can't imagine what that's like my mom was a therapist and wow some of my best friends are therapists wow I'm always impressed by what that's like the reality is that the right therapist can change everything happened for me if you're somebody skeptical about therapy I was too and I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. It's still skeptical. Sure, this is going to work for some people. It's not going to work on my old, crusty mildewed brain, my calcified heart. But I found a great therapist, and holy shit, when it works, when the catharsis happens, it's the most incredible moment. You never forget it. This World Mental Health Day, we're celebrating the

therapists who've helped millions of people take a step forward. If you're ready to find the right therapist for you, BetterHelp can help you start that journey. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash Duncan. That's betterhelp.com slash Duncan. Take care of yourself, friends. It's rough on them streets. Find a great therapist. Will that better help? Help you. that so the way the algorithm works is it it you know you look at your phone and you're seeing these examples of like varying degrees of madness whatever it may be you're seeing somebody drinking their menstrual blood and by the way if you want to drink your period blood i'm not saying that's madness but what the madness part to me is setting up the tripod before you drink your

menstrual you know what i mean being out there in the woods getting the lighting right and then drinking your bowl of blood and you know what i mean so the so you're seeing these the algorithm likes these things whatever it may be you know and and but if you'll notice and again this is my algorithm. I don't know what you're getting. But you'll notice that your role when it comes to the algorithm is a normal person. Because we like to think of ourselves as normal people. But we also like to look outside of the bubble of what we consider to be normal. And that scares us. My God, what does the world become? But in general, this normal observer thing, this is how we've all been identified. You're the, you're normal. You're just a normal stable dude. You want to be okay. These

assholes out here are fucking nuts. And then the reporter, you know, is the ultimate version of the normal person. He's just reporting. He's completely, he's got the suit on. Completely normal. No accent. No accent. Perfect geometry. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's got the weird hypno language thing going no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So you watch him and you're like, that dude, it's way more normal than me. Look at that. It's beards trimmed. Look at how, look at his fucking suit. I'll never have a suit like that. I'm going to trust this motherfucker. And you forget that that normal person's paycheck is coming from people selling the fucking pill that apparently will allow you access to the hyper-inclusive, fuzzy, gauzy dream world where you're finally able to play guitar in front of people at a backyard barbecue. you. Ain't it the truth. It's true.

I mean, that's like what we feed the algorithm. That's what we do. We're stewards to the algorithm. We maintain the algorithm. That's right. And it's funny. Like, you know, click on one fight video on Instagram. That's all you're going to get for.

Oh, my God. And it is, you know, there is, that's where you do start to see the lopsidedness. in it where like the most intense stuff that you might highlight in your in your viewing is going to show up way more than like something that's more subtle i don't know absolutely man and like that's why it's it's it's curious to me and maybe it's just because i'm like an old man now and i don't know tech but there should be on all social media an obvious button to reset your algorithm There should be a button you press, which is like it washes the slate away and deletes. Palate cleanse and erases all the metadata they have on you.

There should be a button you press that just wipes the little fucking slate so that you, you know, I sent my wife a picture of a sexy, pregnant amputee. And I don't know why I did that. And dude, I'm still getting them. It's like, by the way, no, it's not like that's the worst thing. algorithm served up but it's got a long neat a niche thing though that like that where does that exist in the corners of the internet and how are they farming that towards you right and like what you're talking about is pure anarchy bro you know because if you want to reset the algorithm that's like years and years of data mining down the tubes for them you know whoever they've

been paying you know to set that up you know their job is you know start from square one and it's true you know the old the old adage you are what you eat same thing happens online same thing happens musically what what you're listening to what you're watching on tv there you go but there is an algorithm you can reset right that's the old internal fucking algorithm as above so below and you know you're when you realize that your brain seems to be functioning just like TikTok. Ticktok didn't invent anything new. They're like, let's just copy the way humans habituate when it comes to fixating on things. And, you know, if you start, what do they say? Neurons that fire together, wire together. And so if you, if you have spent the last, you know,

many years worrying over whatever you've been worrying over, that's all you're going to get, man. Your brain is just going to keep spitting that shit. out over and over and over again and you have some control over that like there is control over that yeah yeah you ultimately have agency to go back and just focus on your breath you know which is the ultimate palate cleanse and you know like take it for me I've done it and you know I don't do it all the time I might not be great at it but I do have experience with it and every time I have concentrated on bringing that into my life, I felt better because of it. Spoken like a man who just got back from a silent retreat.

True. Three days, which was very easy. Three days is like nothing compared to what the, you know, the Vapasana practitioners do 10 days usually. But three days I needed it and it was amazing. Ten minutes, just do 10 minutes. I mean, honestly, like most of us are so fucked up that if you just do it for 10 minutes, oh my God. Like, you won't even believe it. Like, it's so funny and so absurd that that's all you need. I mean, it's literally you need it. But it's so absurd that just sitting and watching your breath for 10 minutes, that can be the thing that sets your entire life in a whole new direction.

By the way, and I said new direction, not new direction. Are we, how are we doing on time? It's 115. My time. I still got another 15, 20 minutes. Okay, perfect. yeah okay perfect um so i'm curious this is something as i was thinking about our conversation you know when people hear about shiva all right that those those people who know that is those people

who know that is most of us don't believe that's real in the sense of there's an actual shiva you know I mean that there's an embodiment, an actual, I don't want to use the term person, but personification. An entity. And I was curious, man. What's your take on that? Do you think, do you actually believe in a trident wielding being that lives within and outside of this reality?

I do. But I also believe in the consciousness of infinite goodness that has no body or identification and that being the true Shiva. For us, we make the symbols of Shiva as an archetypal figure, you know, that Trident has a meaning, that double-ended drum Damaru has a meaning. him standing on one lake has a meaning him wearing a tiger uh cloth has it has it that's all embedded encoded spiritual symbolism uh for the greater force that is the potential for all creativity the the the shakti which is the female you know shiva will take the lingam as a symbol you're familiar with the lingam yeah it's the it's the yoni which is the base yeah and the the lingam which is the male so it's the male female like that yeah combined together the potential and

kinetic energy and that's what i believe in as shiva shiva is the potential energy devi is the kinetic energy um have people made personifications for those symbols yes obviously it's to help them connect with them. Did they actually exist historically? Not for me to say. Could it have been in a completely different loka, you know, like a different realm that is outside of our earthly realm? Very good potential for that. You know, when I was in a Hari Krishna temple and had, I would say, one of my most profound religious experiences, it was because I realized, like, to try to control it I had been telling myself I mean

this isn't real in the way that like you know my brother's real and then it showed up and I realized oh fuck it's it's real real and you know the yeah the personifications aren't going to do it

justice any more than like trying to draw I'm sure like trying to draw an elephant at least I'm not a good at drawing it's you know look at the old pictures of elephants you know what I mean but you realize like oh my god it's real and my mind seeking to dominate it told myself a story that it's not real it's archetypical mythological an assemblage of you know aspects but surely not the thing itself but I think it's real real like yeah I don't know where or why certainly not why but I to me I think that's one of the wild moments you can have in some kind of theistic spiritual practice it's as real as it is here for you if you're experiencing it in the heart it's as real as it is happening in that moment it's like me

trying to tell you what an apple tastes like if you've never tasted an apple or what a song sounds like if you've never heard the song it's completely experiential and that's the difference of like blind faith being like oh this is god this is what he looks like this is what she looks like this is how old they were this is where they lived rather than this is this inner dwelling master that if you pay enough attention and have enough awareness within you you may be able to experience and you may be able to adapt into your life and have that become, you know, the direction that you're going to walk, the path you're going to walk is going to be that Shiva.

And you're going to get there through today's sponsor, OZMPIC. Oh, oh, oh, OZAMPIC, you'll see Shiva. You know the song. It's embedded, man. You are the best. As always, I love our conversation so much. I love you, too, man. It's great catching up.

I love you. And I can't wait to see you in the flesh again that night after the show. I'm coming out to Philadelphia. I'll let you know. I'm coming to healing again. I hope we get the chance to hang out. Yeah, please let me know. We're going to be playing in North Carolina.

My band, Soma. I play in a band called Soma. And we're playing in North Carolina, which I know you're not there anymore. But if you have people that are there, maybe you can refer them. And we're going to be. playing at Alex Grays two in December on the full moon. Where in C? Where in C?

I can't remember the name but I'll text it to you. I'll just send it to me. I'll say it in the beginning. Yeah, it's in Nashville and it's amazing space. Oh, Asheville? The orange peel maybe or? No, it's the listening room. The listen. Oh, just send it to me. We don't have to Yeah, yeah. But that's, so you're going to be a chasm?

We'll be a chasm on the full moon in December. Fuck. That is so cool. Please come. Please come. Oh, God. God, I love them so much, man. They're the best. They're the best.

And what amazing experience just to be there with them and what they've created there is incredible. I recommend it to anybody. They let me park my tour bus once when I was on tour at Cozum and I slept in front of Cosman my tour bus and had the craziest dreams I've ever had in my fucking life. It was so weird. Yeah, I wonder why. Just coincidence. Just coincidence.

You're sleeping in from a living art. museum. I know. So cool. Yeah, they're sweet, man. Well, okay, you're the best. Onwards and upwards. Harry Krishna. That was my friend Robert Ryan, everybody. Go see him perform, won't you? And if you're looking for a tattoo, he's the only person you should get a tattoo from on this entire planet. If I'm ever going to get a tattoo, it's from that man. And it will be a tattoo of the Burger King sitting on a throne of human skulls. I'll see you next week. Until then,

Hara Krishna.