HealthyGamerGG - I Meditated, Now I Don’t Care Anymore

Episode Date: April 22, 2022

Today Doc talks about what it means when meditation works, the problem with successful meditation, differing between the ego and yourself, and Mantra Meditation. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/healthygamergg/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, like, if I'm internally content, why the hell am I here? It's because I have all of these gharmas to complete. Now you'll understand why you're here. You're not here for the sake of being here. You're here because you owe this world something. And then as you complete those things, you'll be free. So help. Meditation is turning me stoic.

I've been doing some meditation the past three to four years, and now I've discovered Dr. K. I've started doing it even more often. However, what I realized is that in the safe space of my existence, where there's only my eye and no turbulence, I'm so comfortable that I never want to leave, and it feels like the only real thing to my existence. For example, yesterday night, I was laying in bed

thinking what tattoo I want to get next, and then it struck me that the eye on the inside does not really care about tattoos. the I doesn't really care about anything. It just exists. So if I tune into it, into that, the more I feel like all my wants are completely erased. But then what's the point of living? Just to sit with that emotion of not wanting anything until I rot away? How do I practice meditation without feeling like things in my material world stop mattering? Or is this enlightenment? Realizing nothing matters and I can just sit there in my head and meditate

until I pass away. But if so, why do monks and such keep on living? What do I do when I easily can tap into the eye-safe space of myself? Live? Because I don't really feel like there's any motivation to anything. Editing in one of my replies in the comments here, I do get a boost from creating, working on self-development, or helping others. However, I feel like all these things classify as material. It's not my inner eye that gets a kick. It's my ego that likes feeling good about itself. My inner self just observes. It feels like it doesn't really care about these things. I'm also at a happy and stable point in life, so I wouldn't say that I'm using meditation as a form of escapism. Okay, fantastic post. So, sometimes when people start meditating, it starts working. What does that mean? So let's run through a

of relevant details here. So the person is sitting in bed thinking about what tattoo they want next. And then they realize, like, where is this desire coming from? I don't really need a tattoo. It's just like, I'm content in here. I don't need it. So as we meditate and as we get in touch with our inner selves, let's also remember that this person is relatively stable and happy in life, right? We start to recognize that, like, this is kind of weird. Like, I don't really need all of this stuff that I thought I needed before. My wants and desires start to go away, which is like one of the benefits of meditation.

So here we are, most of us, caught up in our desires. I want this, I want this, I want this. Right? I want people to love me. I want to be respected. I want to be able to hold my head up with pride. I want to be able to get the hell out of my house.

I want to be more physically in shape. I want, I want, I want. I want this person's love. I want more money. I want more stuff. And the problem with chasing desires is that it's the hedonistic treadmill. So I want a promotion, but am I content then? No. I want another promotion.

I make a hundred grand a year. Now I want 120. He's getting 120. I didn't get promoted this year. I want a tattoo. And what does this person want? Which tattoo am I getting next? So the problem with desires that there's always a next.

So despite whatever kind of fulfillment you do, there's more fulfillment to be had. So we start meditating. And as we meditate, we start to become a little bit less materialistic. We start to like understand ourselves more. We find a space of contentment within us. Which, by the way, is what all these people who are depressed and addicted and all that kind of stuff, that's what they're looking for.

That's why we teach people meditation, by the way, so they can find the space where I am content. I don't need something else. I don't need to feel shame. Or even if I feel ashamed, the shame is there. because your desire for the tattoo is still there, right? Let's be clear. It's just the desire for the tattoo no longer dictates your actions. So even as you start to meditate, you don't feel less. You don't become numb. You still feel guilt. You still feel shame. But that guilt and shame controls you less. That's why meditation is so powerful. So another thing to kind of point out is that this kind of state happens to more to people who are stable. and happy in life. So this is what meditation was designed for. It was never designed as a treatment

to fix what's broken. It was designed as taking someone who's stable and helping them become super normal. It's all the same, actually. But we'll just steer clear that for a second. So then we run into a problem if we start to meditate successfully. And now I have to toss out a disclaimer here,

which is that if you're just keep meditating, don't worry about this being the success that you should shoot for. Trying to attain this state, will interfere with your ability to attain it. So for whatever reason you meditate, just that's fine. You don't need to get here. You don't need to try to get here or anything like that. This is a consequence of meditating. So for whatever reason you use to meditate, you will eventually get to this place. Okay? The goal doesn't matter. Like,

it doesn't matter why you're running. If you run for five miles a day, there will be changes to your body that will definitely happen, right? You will lose weight. your cardiovascular health will improve, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Okay? So then this creates a problem for a lot of competent yet novice meditators, which is that I've lived my whole life.

And in fact, the structure of life is based on ambition, on wanting things. That's what our culture is designed on, right? So if we look at things like social media and like we look at like targeted advertising and cookies, right? So like online cookies.

We try, we live in a society that, tries to create materialistic need. Hey, by the way, so you can just follow fashion trends. By the way, I know that some people paint their nails and did you know that you can paint the fourth nail slightly differently? And we're going to add a little bit something onto that. And then everyone starts kind of doing it. And then everyone's like, oh, like my nails aren't good enough. And now let me go pay an extra $3 for like this additional thing. That's what our society bases itself on, right? Even we're guilty of this. Look, merch store. right? Hey, there's stuff you can buy. Right? So this is the way that society works.

Where it's all based on ambition and desire, triumph. Elon Musk now owns this percentage of Twitter. That's something that someone out there is aspiring to. I wish I was a mega billionaire. Then I could do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this. So we build our lives on ambition. Oh, like little Jimmy, little Timmy, little Lucy. little precoche, you know, like whatever, little Jose, get A's. If you get A's, you'll get a good job. If you get a good job, you'll make lots of money. If you make lots of money, you'll be a desirable mate.

You'll marry someone who you love and who's awesome and attractive. Then you'll have babies and then you'll have this beautiful, perfect life. This is the road to happiness. It's based on ambition and accomplishment. So as you meditate, it's really confusing because this goes away. And now you're like, well, hold on a second. Ambition and desire is how I have structured my life and has been the source of my motivation. And let's be clear, it can be a very good source of motivation, right?

Very good source of motivation. That's why most people do it. Now as you start to like become, as you put it, stoic, you're like, I don't feel like doing anything because I'm kind of content. So this is not where a lot of people get confused because, you know, is they think, like, how do I live life now? And this is where I'd say, this is actually when you start living life. People prior to the state aren't truly living it. They're chasing desires.

That's not living life. So once you find contentment within yourself, a couple of very important things start to happen. The first is that opportunity cost shrinks. So like when I'm chasing desire, it's hard for me to pick one thing over another thing. My ability to pick is actually constrained by my desire. So when I lack contentment on the inside,

I need to eat a slice of pizza instead of a salad. Because I get more from the pizza. The pizza brings me more to happiness because I'm fundamentally not content in here. And so I choose pizza over salad. Or I choose playing video games over studying. So this is one of the benefits of meditation that people discover as you learn to be content within yourself, as you're thinking

about ordering a salad, you're like, oh, I want the pizza. Tap into that piece and say, I'm going to order a salad. And you'll be like, you know what? It's totally fine. I can order pizza and I can enjoy it the same as salad. Now you've activated God mode in life. As long as you can do this, your choices are exactly what you want them to be and are not going to be influenced by desire.

You can do whatever you want to. because for you, like, it's the same, right? If you're equally content with a tattoo or without a tattoo, you never have to get another tattoo. And so then people may wonder, but then like, how do I choose, which is something you'll learn? So here's what you should do.

Engage in life. Experiment. See what else is out there. Right? So what I would say is do whatever you kind of feel like doing. And I realize the whole point is you may not feel like doing much. So I'd say, like, live life. but live life from this perspective.

And what you'll discover is that all of it is way more joyous. And so, like, I don't know how to say this, but when we play a video game, like, why do we play the video game if it's not real? Like, what does it matter if I use a sword or a bow in a video game? What does it matter if I go mage build or bonk build in Elden Ring? What does it matter? It doesn't matter.

right? It's not like global warming will get better in either situation. It's not like you know, we're going to fix world hunger. It's not like we're going to clean the oceans by going bonk build over Mage build. It doesn't matter. And yet we can do it and we do it with so much more joy. So the other thing that starts to happen is that life becomes more like a video game. But in the best possible ways, it becomes less important,

whether I do things one way or the other. And so it just sort of becomes like a simple enjoyment. And then life transforms into something called lila. So as you move towards enlightenment, the word for reality, the word in Sanskrit that gets translated into English as reality is technically translated as play. But scholars will translate it as reality. So like life becomes play.

It becomes joyous. It becomes fun. No matter what you do, you're having a good time. time. And so then you can choose freely. And so just like then you could say, but how do I choose? Well, that's based on the internal rules of the game. So then you start playing the game of life. Right? So like, even though nothing is real, like how do you choose something in a video game? Because it's based on the internal rules. So there's like an internal set of rules, which we're going to play by. And life is the same way. So if you want to get a job, you should get a job.

Part of the rules of life, or generally speaking, we should try out this relationship. stuff. So let's try it out and let's try to enjoy it and see if it's for us. And then you'll kind of come to a very simple experiential-based conclusion. This is good. I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to get a tattoo. I'm not going to get a tattoo. You become free from the constraints of desire, which allows you to actually engage more fully with life. And so what's confusing is people think that the opposite of ambition is apathy, which in a sense, apathy and ambition are opposites. But when you meditate, this is why people use the word transcend. You transcend. You transcend. that access.

You transcend the access of like ambition and apathy into just like enjoyment and freedom. And so this is why even as people talk about enlightenment, they call it bliss. They call it freedom. Like those, do you all get how those are like in the English language, those are not

synonyms. Bliss and freedom are not in the same ballpark at all. And enlightenment implies knowledge. Like what is going on here? Like these are not similar things. But as you progress spiritually, you will get to a state of mind, which when boiled down to translation, you know, like when we reduce things to the state of language and logic, which is not really like what reality is, right?

So reality is not dictated by human logic. Human logic is an attempt to approximate reality. And so we use these kinds of words. So as you progress, just live. By all means, play by the rules. and you will see that things are more joyous. The other thing that happens, you still have a long way to go. Are you enlightened yet?

I don't think so. Let me show you why. So the other thing that happens when we start to meditate is we conquer the big problems. And by big, I mean like, not more important. I mean the things that are more visible. So I was lying in bed thinking what tattoo I want to get next. And that struck me that the eye on the.

inside does not really care about tattoos. The guy doesn't care about anything. And then, so okay, fine. You're uncaring here, you're enlightened it with this thought, sure. So if I tuned into that more, all my wants are completely erased, but then what's the point of living? Just sit with emotion of not wanting until I rot away? See, this is an unenlightened thought. This word rot away. There's an attachment. You see that? So like, you're free over here, but you're not free over here. Right? Like, this is a problem for you, which is why you're making the post. But it's subtle. So this is where, in meditation, the problems that we deal with are subtler and subtler and subtler and subtler. They get smaller and smaller

right? So it's like, we pick the low-hanging fruit, which is desire over a tattoo, and then we get to other things. So then we also see, like, another thing changing, because I don't really feel like there's any motivation to things, but I do get a boost from creating, working on self-development and helping others. This is another quality of people who meditate. They become more altruistic. They become more creative. They improve as human beings. So this is absolutely in the right direction. This is the reason why many people meditate. You may not be doing it for these advantages, which is good. It's not the right reason to do it. Not really a right reason. But all of these consequences will start to change. You'll become more materialistically successful. Your

relationships will improve. Your understanding of the self will improve. However, I feel like all these things classify as material. Here's your problem number two. So now that we've got a real meditator, we're going to go into subtleties. Classification, this can never classify. Do you understand that? The mind of a meditator can never classify. Classification, is of the mind. It doesn't come from transcendence of mind. It comes from operation within mind. It's not my inner eye that gets the kick. It's my ego that likes feeling good about itself. So let's go even subtler. What's wrong with your ego getting a kick? Why do we place a value judgment on ego getting a kick is bad? And the internal state is good. Why do we place a value

judgment on the inner self over the ego? So now what we see with people who are good meditators is these are the next questions that come up. It's beautiful. This person is doing wonderful. But now the challenges that you face are more subtle. You've leveled up, but you're far from finishing the game. Like, we're just getting started. Like, you just completed the tutorial, my friend. And so now you dig into these things. So then ask yourself, what's it like having an ego that's gratified? So let's remember that there's a reason why we have an ego, right? The ego serves a purpose. Ego isn't bad. Ego in control is bad. You being in control of your ego is perfectly fine. And then you ask the question, what is the I in that sentence? Or what is the you? It's not the ego.

It's that transcend itself. So what should you do very practically? I'd say, first of all, you're on a fantastic track. Just keep doing what you're doing. But live life more fully. So engage more and observe. Now you're you're really, now you're centered in your capacity of observation, so now you can learn. So now you should go and do different things. Like, go find a romantic relationship if you don't have one. Go get promoted. Go swimming.

Do all of these different experiences and see what life has to offer. Because now you can live life to the fullest because you're not constrained by a desire. Now you can actually enjoy stuff. So like now we're in the video game and we're like vibing. Right? So the enlightened person vibe. with life. More practically, you may be ready for deeper spiritual practice now that you have this observing self. So if you have the opportunity to learn more mystical, esoteric, advanced,

or powerful meditation, I would strongly recommend that, depending on what your goals are and stuff like that. I think you're probably, because it requires a certain amount of like centering to be able to tolerate that kind of stuff. And unless you're centered in this way, that's when when people do powerful meditation techniques, I personally think we don't really have good data on this. We know there's meditation-induced psychosis, but I think when you're grounded in this way, you're hopefully won't become psychotic if you do a powerful meditation technique. That's been my experience anyway. And that's how they're taught in traditions. So the last thing is that this is one of the cases where I think that, you know, really

finding a good spiritual tradition will help you a lot. So like gurus are kind of, you've got to be careful in a sense, but this is why gurus exist. The real role of a guru is to guide this person. Because chances are, they're not going to find the answers to things, like in logic or in books or in other places. So you really need someone who's like spiritually, like, advanced to understand what you're experiencing and then like guide you effectively. And hopefully, ideally give you appropriate techniques to help you work on this stuff. But I'd say you can still, you know, but the essence of it is the same. You've already mastered the main moves. So much like a video game, like, you go through the tutorial, you know all the moves. Like, that's all the moves. The game gets

harder, but you just have to use those moves in a more sophisticated way. You have to use those moves against more difficult enemies. So then, like, think about that sense of rot, right? Can you sit with contentment while you rot away? Of course not. Then you wouldn't use the word rot. Okay, so where does that come from? So there you'll be. find a subtler desire. Can you let that go? No, I can't. So be non-judgmental towards that. Okay, I'm going to hold on to that desire. So be it. I'm in this world. It's my karma to have some of these things. So let me pursue them. And as you go on this path, so many of these things that people talk about will become very clear to you. What is karma? You'll understand this now. Now you'll,

now you're truly able to understand what karma is. So like, if I'm internally content, why the hell am I here, it's because I have all of these gharmas to complete. Now you'll understand why you're here. You're not here for the sake of being here. You're here because you owe this world something. And then as you complete those things, you'll be free. So it's even said in sort of the karmic traditions that after someone gains enlightenment, they take one more birth.

Why is that? It's because they still have karma left over. So as long as they don't really, engage in additional karma, they kind of like, you know, it's like probate, I think, after someone passes away, right? It's like settling the estate, which happens after you die. So this is the kind of stuff that I think is like tricky, because I think that like this is where we really have to, if you really want to understand what's going on here, I feel like I have to lean way more on the spiritual tradition far away from science and even away from logic, because logic like falls

apart at some point. And I cannot emphasize this enough. Like, once you understand spiritual experience, you'll realize that logic is not real, right? It's a human conception. It's our human mind's ability to organize reality. So even if we think about things like the laws of physics, like the laws of physics stop working at the quantum level. I barely even know what that means, but that's what people who are knowledgeable in physics say. Like, how is that logical? Like, the laws of physics just stop? It's like, I'm going to zoom in laws of physics work. I'm going to zoom in laws of physics work.

I'm going to zoom in laws of physics work. Zoom in a little bit more. Ah, laws of physics stopped working. Now, I'm sure there is a logic to it. I'm sure there's a system to it because that's the way the world works, right? It just exists in a particular way. Logic is the way that we try to understand it. But that's filtered through the shortcomings of the human mind.

And so that's why, like, I can't. teach this kind of stuff because all you're going to get is like logical explanation. But you have to be here first. Then you'll truly understand. Questions? Yeah. So someone saying, Plato would like to have a word with you? So would mathematicians logic is only a perception and not some intrinsic property of how the world works?

No. So the world works with logic. For sure. Human logic is different from the world's logic, right? That's why we make observations in the world that are not logical. then we have to adapt our human logic to better fit the harmony of the world. I don't know if that's a better answer, right? And mathematicians can have a word, but that's just words.

It's not reality, right? So like reality is one thing. Our representation of reality is humans is something else. We tend to get closer and closer. That's what science is about. Science is about understanding how do we reconcile that which is illogical. that which is illogical. And then we learn,

we adapt our human logic and our human understanding closer to reality. But that reality is out there and our human logic is over here and we're getting closer and closer and closer. It's unclear whether that relationship is asymptotic. So isn't it then nihilistic?

Also, how do we know what to do in such a state if there are no desires or difference to it at all? I'm lost? Yeah, that's why you have to experiment. That's my point. This is a hard thing to understand unless you're already here. So what I'd say is if you're in this place, go and engage in life.

And you'll learn at a level that you've never learned before because of the capacity of your observing self. All right. Food will taste different. You'll struggle for a while. And then you'll discover like it's way easier than you ever thought it was. It's hard to describe. It's just way easier. So what meditation is recommended to reach this point of contentment? It is not a meditation that will bring you to this point of contentment necessarily. So the meditation that's recommended is not based on where you go. It is sort of, but the biggest requirement of what meditation

is not based on where you want to go, but where you are. Right? So if you were to ask me, what would you recommend if I want to learn quantum mechanics? I could say, go sign up for a quantum mechanics course. But if you're five and you don't understand arithmetic,

that's not going to help you very much, even though it's the right answer. So if you want to get somewhere, everyone's concerned about the goal. The bigger question is, where are you? Meditation should be designed for this, not for this. And this is the big problem with meditation. So everyone says, we do this, right? We fall into this trap.

We do it for reason, because it's the only way to do it. There's the best way to do it that I figured out. Which is, here's a meditation for this thing. Here's a meditation for this. Here's a meditation for this. Because we've gotten the idea that meditation is for something. That is fundamentally false. Meditation is not for anything.

The second you add a for something, it becomes of the world. It stops becoming transcendent. It's not... So why do we do that? To trick people into meditating. You trick yourself into this state. You just meditate for a while.

It doesn't matter what you do. As long as you keep meditating with any technique you will get here, if you're meditating properly, that is. Transcendence can be achieved from any of these techniques. It's just figuring out which one is right for you. So it's not about the transcendence, it's about you.

So can you sit still? Do you like focusing on your breath? Do you like to move? These are the kinds of questions. Do you want an esoteric practice? Does that excite you more? What gets you to practice the easiest? That's what meditation should be.

But aren't you desiring a relationship when you want to try it out? No, quite the opposite. So when you desire something, you have a particular goal or satisfaction in mind. Trying something out is actually the exact opposite, because you have nothing in mind. when you try something for the first time, you cannot have a desire for it. Do you all get that? Like, your desires, they may be based on conceptions, but that's not the real desire, or it's a desire based on a conception. So to try something out, it's like the first time you try pizza, after that, the desire you'll have for pizza is going to be completely different from anything you had before. So as you start trying things out, like trying stuff out precedes desire, not the other way around.

So life is a to-do list of karma. Life is sort of. Life brings with it a karmic to-do list. But this tidbit that I shared with y'all is once again, it's like reported, right? So we have no idea if that's true or not. But people from karmic traditions will say

that you'll have one last life post-enlightenment to settle your karmas. I have no idea if that's true or not. But for those people, it's a to-do list of karma. Okay, how do you differ between ego and I. So ego is I. So that's why, so even in translation, right? So in Sanskrit, when you look at these texts, they won't use the word I when they're talking about this. They'll use words like this. They'll use words like the self. They'll use words like Thurya. Tudya is that

which transcends other states. It's like the state that you cannot describe. right? So ego and I kind of go hand in hand. And so the key thing is that who you truly are is more than your ego. That's the self, which is why we use that term. And is the self I? No. And if they're like, how the hell does that work? That's not logical at all. You have to experience it. Then you'll understand. Like, I don't know. Like, that's the problem with these spiritual traditions. Is that logic, you can't transmit understanding through information. No amount of watching pornography is going to teach you what it's like to have sex. You just can't be done. Or at least, I haven't seen a way to figure it out yet. Maybe someone else will be correct. And maybe someone else will figure it out.

Okay. Yeah, so I know this last post, so this is the challenge, right? It's like what I tried to do today is get to a lot of different stuff. So there are different people in our community at different stages of their development. And there's also like sort of a sequence, right? So this is, it's nice that we see all of these posts. So I didn't really comment on this, but the nice thing about all of these posts is that all of them are good. All of them show self-reflection. All of them show curiosity. All of them show understanding. And it's just where you are. And it's not like, so even though I sort of implied that one is ahead of the other, it's kind of irrelevant, right?

Like, if I'm 22 years old and I'm finishing college and there's a six-year-old who's in the first grade, like one is ahead of the other, but it's not nothing to be ashamed of. It's just where we are. Right? So it's not that there's a value judgment on ahead or behind, which is what we put on it, right? That's what our mind does? We just are where we are. You know, like, what if I'm 22 and I'm in the first grade? Then I'm behind? Well, it's like that's where you are, right? It's not could you have been anywhere else? Well, that becomes complicated. Okay. Should we meditate? So when someone says, yeah, the six-year-old is owning the 20-year-old, so here's the thing. You're correct. But that presumes a comparison, right? A comparison implies some kind of judgment. You can't have a comparison without a quality. And once you add a quality, you're placing a judgment, right? If I say this is hotter than this, that implies a scale, it implies a comparison. Once I name something, is hot, I name something as cold. So you're correct. It's just, then you've slipped out of the, not the right kind of thing. That kind of thinking has value for sure. But it's not the right

kind of thinking for this goal. Okay. So by that standard, how do you escape judgment? See, you guys ask the same questions over and over and over again. How do you escape? You don't. You'll see that? Like everyone's always looking to escape. How do I avoid pain? How do I find ready? How do I become ready? How do I avoid pain? How do I escape judgment? How do I stop feeling this way? You're stuck in a loop? Absolutely. Right? I'm not saying it's bad. It's just notice it. So how would this be different if you were okay with a little bit of pain? If you were okay with some suffering. Right? And when we say deal with it, that's, you know, sort of. That's not, I mean, that's not very helpful. So the first thing is just like understand what your mind is trying to do.

Because just like if you all caught the thing about avoidance and being ready, oftentimes it is our desire to escape that traps us the most. Right. It is the avoidance of problems that creates problems. Like that's not, Dr. K doesn't need to explain that to you. Y'all all understand that, right? Oh my God, I only have seven days left to study. Let me avoid that problem and not study today.

Oh my God, I only have six days left to study. Oh my God, that's overwhelming. I wasted a day. Let me waste another one. It's tricky. This is some crackpot stuff. Dr. Kay still feels fear, anxiety, pain. He's not some kind of realized Buda under a Bodhi tree.

You're damn right, I'm not. And I feel all of those things. So I see people keep on mentioning Jordan Peterson. You know, I've talked briefly about Jordan Peterson before. I don't know if I mentioned this to you guys, But I watched, when I was in residency, I watched his course on personality, and I thought it was absolutely phenomenal. I'm not so sure about some of his more recent stuff, but in terms of, like, his ability to synthesize and explain things, I think it's very good. The other thing is that I don't think neither me nor Jordan Peterson are original thinkers, for the record.

I certainly am not. Like, what I teach is not based on original thought. In fact, it's like based on a huge tradition of people who figured things out way before I did. Maybe Jordan Peterson was an original thinker. I don't know. Now, you guys are really, really good at regurgitating derivative information. I completely agree. So if you look at people who tend to be popular on the internet, we're good at transmitting information. We're not necessarily original thinkers. Does that make sense? So like success on the internet is about transmission of information, not original of thought. So I think we're good at it. explaining things. Yes, we can meditate now. So I thought I was good, so people are asking questions, you know, how do I become content? How do I let go? Things like that. So also maybe I'm feeling a little bit more on the spiritual side today. So I was going to teach y'all the shanty mantra. So people are also asking questions about mantras and stuff like that. How do I find my mantra? That's also weird,

esoteric, cultish kind of stuff. So one mantra that I think is safe to share, for lack of a better term, won't induct you into any kind of cult. You can use it if you want. to you, you cannot use it if you don't want to, is the shanty mantra. So shanty means peace, and it's just something that you can kind of chant, right? So we know that from a scientific perspective, chanting stuff, just in general, seems to have positive effects on our mind and has benefits from, you know, evidence-based or evidence-scientifically validated benefits. So I don't think that the shanty mantra will hurt you. The other thing is that for people who are, you are, you know, So the Shanty mantra has a religious connotation to it, but I don't really think that that's an accurate representation.

I don't think that you are praying to a particular thing or becoming part of a particular religion by intoning the Shanti mantra. So the Western concept of religion is if you do certain things that makes you a certain kind of religion. So Western religion is very like, there's us and there's them, right? there's like the infidels and the chosen people. Like there's that dividing line. And it's like these are the things that separate the us from the them. So the Eastern religion, like what happened is people from the West showed up in the East and they're like, oh, these people have a set of beliefs. That's a religion.

So the Shanti mantra is a mantra. It's just a chant to ideally invoke peace. So if you call that, you're not asking a God to do it for you. So it's just an attempt to cultivate peace is the best way that I'd put it. Now, if you think that's religious, you can easily make an argument for that. I'm not saying that you're wrong. It's just not how I see it, which is part of the reason that I teach it. So if I were to teach, anyway, we may teach religious stuff at some point, but, you know,

there's some like goddess worship things or like Shiva worship or stuff like that. Like the worshipping stuff, I think, is more clearly religion. This seems a little bit different to me. So the Shanti mantra is tricky because most people can't say the word shanti. So what they say is shanti. So the first thing that we're going to do to learn the Shanti mantra, We're going to teach you all the proper pronunciation. Does the proper pronunciation matter?

Now, I'm going to go ahead and say yes. And the reason I'm going to say yes is because people who I trust told me it mattered. So the first thing we're going to do is learn how to say. So hopefully most people can say it's Sean. So it's not Shan. So if you think about Shan versus Sean, it's the way that your mouth widens or opens vertically or laterally. right so if i say shanty shanty

it's going like this and if i say shan it's opening so the first thing is shan is like opening tall and it's kind of weird but if you just practice that you go shan shan shan shan shan shan shan shan you'll notice what the difference is okay next thing is the thee

so this is hard especially from people of like western cultures so what they'll say is shanty right so it's not or shanty It's not shanty, like a shanty town. So that's because when we make the sound T, notice where the tongue is. Okay, so I'm going to zoom in a little bit. T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T.

The tongue remains behind the teeth. When I say T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T, T. So just do that for a second. Go five times. T, T, T, T, T, T, T, okay. Now what we're going to do is T, T, T, T. So, put your tongue between your teeth.

That, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that. T, t, t, t, that, that, t, that, T, that, T, T, T, T. Okay. You all got that? So, this is how you say Seanthee. So try it with me now. Sean Tie. Sean Tee.

Sean Dee. Shanti. So you can go slow at the beginning if you want to. You can practice. So I see a lot of people who are like into yoga and like converting to Hinduism and stuff like that, usually Caucasians or maybe South Americans or things like that. But, and then they'll, you know, they'll really struggle with the Sanskrit pronunciation. I don't think it's that hard. I think no one's ever bothered to teach them. Right? So it's like enya from Spanish. So, seigneur, you just have to learn how to form your mouth in the right shape, and then the sound will come out naturally, okay? So, shan thee, okay? So if you feel like you've got a good handle on that, shan thee,

Shan thee, let's practice a little bit, shan thee, shan thee, shan thee, shan thee, shan thee. Now we'll do it a couple of times more quickly. Shanti, shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty. Okay? Now what we're going to do is the shanty mantra. So we're going to take a deep breath and I'll demonstrate. So, ohm shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty. Okay, that's the mantra.

Om shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty. All right. Oh, shanty, shanty, shantyhi. All right, really simple. Okay? So now we're going to do it together. So what I want you all to do is sit up straight. Okay?

Take a deep breath in and Ohm shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty he. And again. And again, Om shanty, shanty, shanty he. We're going to do it a third time. Om shanty, shanty, shanty. And now what we're going to do, we're going to add two modifications, okay? The first is we're going to slow it down and stretch it out a little bit.

The second is that as you chant with your eyes closed, focus on the vibration, not on the sound. So at the very beginning, we're going to be focusing on the mouth to make sure you can do the movements right, make sure you get the pronunciation right, invoke it properly. I saw a good comment that pronunciation is something invocation is sacred. Interesting, right? So it's an invocation. So we're going to focus on that vibration and kind of slow it down a little bit. Don't try to squeeze through it, okay? Or don't try to rush it. So close your eyes. Just take a moment to observe your breathing. And now we'll take a deep breath in and begin.

Om shanty, shanty, shanty, shanty he. And really feel that, you can continue to breathe, feel that rising force as you say shanty. So focus on that upward momentum that you'll feel kind of from your abdomen through your chest and out your mouth. So we'll begin again, deep breath in. Om shanth.

Shanti, shanty, shantyhi. Again, deep breath in. Om shanty, shanty, shanty. Take a moment to breathe. And one more time. Om shanty, shanty, shanty. And so this is a practice that you want to do if you're feeling upset in some way. It's an invocation for peace. And even from sort of like a mind-body perspective,

whatever feelings you have, negative emotions tend to be felt in the belly, in the chest, and in the throat. And so as you chant Shanti Mantra, you're like letting that stuff out. You're like cleaning it out, cleaning it out, cleaning it out. You can do the practice for five minutes at a stretch if you want to. Ideally, you can work your way up to 15 or 20. And we'll sort of demonstrate now what a really is like kind of slow shanty mantra looks like. In general, the shanty mantra is going to have a lot of physiologic benefits that all meditations have. You'll notice that as you do the shanty mantra, it's by definition going to change your pattern of breathing. So remember that the rate of exhalation heavily governs the calmness or speed of mind.

So when we're very, very rapid, hyperventilation is associated with anxiety. So as we slow things down, it may not be anything mystical about shanty. It just may simply be. breathing. Right? So we know that some of these things are going to work, regardless of whether there's any emphasis to the mantra itself. For those of you that are open to it, I recommend opening yourself up to the Shanti mantra and seeing what kinds of effects it has. Remember that a lot of these mantras were kind of developed based on these weird like experiences or spiritual sensations, this idea of brana or chi. Right. So does it affect that in any way? Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. you're a choice whether you want to explore that or not. So we'll end one more time. So I'll end with

one final shanty mantra that'll go nice and slow. Okay? So you can join me if you want to. So we're going to breathe just in and out. I'm going to do three breaths and then the big breath and then the mantra. So breath number one, number two. I'm going to slow down before number three. Number three. Nice and slow. And now we'll begin the shanty mantra, a deep breath. in. That feels good. Shanti. Shanti.

Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. That feels good. Right. So as you do that nice, slow breath, notice how you feel. Maybe a little lightheaded.

Maybe it was a bit much for you. That's okay. Do what your breath allows. Shanti means peace, right? And feel that vibration. Hum shanti. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Great question.

Why can't we just go peace? So, beautiful experiment. I want you to try chanting peace three times. See how you feel. See where the vibration is. See what the difference between Shanti and peace is. You'll be able to tell. So here's the last thing I'll leave you with.

You know how we were saying earlier that science or the world or reality operates by logic and human conception tries to capture it with our own logic? There's like the way the world works and then there's our understanding of science. And through progression, we get closer and closer to the way the world works to understanding the real science. So the Shanti mantra was not. someone trying to invoke the idea of peace. It was someone trying to understand the fundamental nature of peace and then figuring out what set of syllables closely matches the quality of peace.

The shanty mantra is not words that mean peace. It is an attempt to encapsulate the fundamental concept of peace with a a vibration. I know that sounds very esoteric, very mystical, and very weird. But if you all want to understand this, you can do it too. So, for example, the breath has a particular set of syllables, consonants, vowels, vowels that are the sound of the breath. There is a sound of the ocean.

These things have sounds. And so what mantras are, they're reverse engineered from observation. They're not language that is then used to capture a concept. I guess actually that's exactly what it is in a sense. But what I mean is that the mantra is reverse engineered from the thing itself. And so that's why it's Shanti. And that's why when I teach, I don't teach peace, peace, piece, piece. And if you chant peace three times, you're going to feel the difference.

And then you ask yourself which one is closer to peace. And then you'll find an answer. and then your logical mind is going to be like, what the hell does that even mean? How can a sound be close to peace? Like what? Those two things are fundamentally not related. But then you do the practice

and then you'll be like, actually, yeah, like one of these feels more peaceful than the other. And so as the yogis observed and observed and observed, they came to these conclusions. They're like, that's weird. Certain sounds are closer to peace and certain sounds are closer to like other stuff. Right?

and they just followed their observations. This is why they were in a sense scientific, because they didn't approach it with a preconceived notion. They just saw what they made observations, and then they practiced experiments, and they came to conclusions. So for those of you that are skeptical, don't believe me.

Do it yourself. If you come to a different conclusion, then you come to a different conclusion. Maybe I'm wrong. Definitely a possibility, quite likely. Maybe my experience is different from yours, also a really, really important thing to understand. Maybe there isn't one Shanti mantra for all people,

all possibilities. But how are you going to know? Practice it. Right? Don't take my word for it. Practice it yourself and see what conclusions you come to. Am I confident in my conclusions? Sure.

Are they 100% correct? How on earth can I say that? I have no idea. Maybe you'll be the one who discovers that the peace mantra is superior to the Shanti mantra. Who said that the yogis did it right? who said that the yogis got all the way there? Just practice.

You figure it out. You decide. What do you say to these people that say that these mantras are demonic? I'd say that these mantras aren't demonic, but they're absolutely demonic mantras. And we just don't teach those. And once you learn a demonic mantra, you'll understand what a demonic mantra is and how these are really not demonic mantras. Right? So let's remember that in these traditions of meditation, they're all.

there's black dantra, white dantra, and red dantra. Interesting, right? Because in Final Fantasy, there's Black, Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage. May have something to do. A lot of the Final Fantasy world is actually based on the Hindu mythology or Buddhist mythology. So three kinds of tantra. Mantra is a subset of tantra. So there are black mantras.

And there are also, like, negative organisms, right? So a lot of the prayer and stuff, which we tend to see are clear. of. So if you look at like Hindu temples, they're like gods there, right? And in Buddhist temples, there are bodhisattvas. These are like organisms or beings that have like a positive alignment to them. They come from the positive material plane or the positive elemental plane or whatever. But in these mythologies, there are also villains, raqshassas, assures. Right? These are the things that once again, in the Final Fantasy games, like, are the bad guys. So that level, too. We just don't go near it. Right? But like who said that all of the all the bodhisattvas have to be good? That's a duality in the judgment in and of itself. It's there. You guys really want to know you can go to some of these like you know weird places and really do some cult kind of stuff. And then you'll encounter this stuff. It's wild. Don't get me wrong. It's just not you know, not everything is for Twitch.