Passion Struck with John R. Miles - James and Bersabeh Ray on How to Master the 3 Human Dilemmas | EP 551

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

In this episode of the Passion Struck Podcast, James Arthur Ray and Bersabeh Ray delve into the profound forces that shape our lives—God, Money, and Sex. Together, they explore how mastering these three core human dilemmas can lead to greater fulfillment, resilience, and clarity. Through stories of personal transformation, they discuss the true nature of success, the role of inner values over material wealth, and how aligning with purpose can redefine what it means to thrive in today’s world. Link to the full show notes:  https://passionstruck.com/james-arthur-ray-bersabeh-ray-god-money-and-sex/Sponsors:Rosetta Stone: Unlock 25 languages for life at “ROSETTASTONE.com/passionstruck.”Prolon: Reset your health with 15% off at “ProlonLife.com/passionstruck.”Mint Mobile: Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at “MINT MOBILE dot com slash PASSION.”Hims: Start your journey to regrowing hair with Hims. Visit hims.com/PASSIONSTRUCK for your free online visit.Quince: Discover luxury at affordable prices with Quince. Enjoy free shipping and 365-day returns at quince.com/PASSION.In this episode, you will learn:astering Inner Conflict: Learn how to recognize and dissolve the inner conflicts surrounding God, money, and sex that often hold us back from personal growth.Releasing Fear: Discover strategies for overcoming the fear that ties our sense of worth to external factors like wealth or status.Spiritual Integration: Gain insights into how spiritual practices can help align your goals and values with your financial and personal life.Authenticity in Relationships: Explore how being authentic in your relationships—whether spiritual, romantic, or professional—leads to deeper fulfillment.Embracing Abundance: Understand how cultivating a mindset of abundance in all areas of life, including finances and intimacy, can lead to lasting joy and success.Balancing Material and Spiritual: Get practical advice on how to strike a balance between material pursuits and spiritual development for a holistic, harmonious existence.Connect with Jay and Bersabeh Ray: https://jamesray.com/For more information on advertisers and promo codes, visit Passion Struck Deals.Join the Passion Struck Community! Sign up for the Live Intentionally newsletter, where I share exclusive content, actionable advice, and insights to help you ignite your purpose and live your most intentional life. Get access to practical exercises, inspiring stories, and tools designed to help you grow.  Learn more and sign up here.Speaking Engagements & Workshops Are you looking to inspire your team, organization, or audience to take intentional action in their lives and careers? I’m available for keynote speaking, workshops, and leadership training on topics such as intentional living, resilience, leadership, and personal growth. Let’s work together to create transformational change. Learn more at johnrmiles.com/speaking.Episode Starter Packs With over 500 episodes, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We’ve curated Episode Starter Packs based on key themes like leadership, mental health, and personal growth, making it easier for you to dive into the topics you care about. Check them out at passionstruck.com/starterpacks.Catch More of Passion Struck:My solo episode on 4 Inspiring Ways to Bridge the Gap Between Theory and ActionMy episode with Heather Moyse on How to Create a Gold Medal MindsetListen to my interview with Dr. Lynn Matrisian on the Frontlines of Pancreatic Cancer – Education, Awareness, and ProgressWatch my episode with Glen Phillips on the Soundtrack of a Purposeful LifeCatch my interview with Julie Fleshman on How PanCAN Is Raising the Pancreatic Cancer Survival RateListen to my conversation with Michael Marquardt on Breakthroughs in Early Cancer DetectionCan’t miss my episode with Michelle Curran on How to Conquer Your Upside Down DreamsIf you liked the show, please leave us a review—it only takes a moment and helps us reach more people! Don’t forget to include your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally.How to Connect with John:Connect with John on Twitter at @John_RMiles and on Instagram at @John_R_Miles. Subscribe to our main YouTube Channel here and to our YouTube Clips Channel here. For more insights and resources, visit John’s website.Want to explore where you stand on the path to becoming Passion Struck? Take our 20-question quiz on Passionstruck.com and find out today!

Coming up next on Passion Strike. I was supposedly worth north of 20 million dollars. I had a 7,500 square foot estate in Beverly Hills. I had all the accoutrements and they were gone like that, just like that. And so what value do they have? They don't. Everything in this world is transitory. The only thing that has true and lasting value are those things

which can never be lost or taken. And those things are not ever outside, they're inside. If it can be lost or taken, it has use value. You can use them and enjoy them, but they don't have any intrinsic value. I got carried away with all the fame and the success to a degree. And I got sucked away with all the fame and the success to a degree, and I got sucked into the system. I had to step back.

When I was standing in the desert, homeless and alone and $20 million in debt in 2013, I had to do a deep dive and say, what's James Arthur Ray 3.0 going to be, which presupposes there was a 2.0 and a 1.0, which are different stories. Who is he going to be? What's he going to be about? Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles. And on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people

and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs,

creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now let's go out there and become Passion Struck. Hey Passion Struck fam, welcome to episode 551 of the Passion Struck podcast. I'm your host John Miles and I hope you're enjoying this meaningful time of the year. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, we're simply taking the opportunity to reflect and recharge. It's a season of connection, gratitude, and new beginnings, and today's episode couldn't be more timely as we explore the foundational forces that shape our lives and the choices

we make as we head into the new year. Earlier this week, I sat down with an extraordinary guest, Dr. Abraham George, a social entrepreneur whose work has transformed the lives of tens of thousands in rural India through education, public health, and empowerment. If you missed that episode with a true everyday hero, it's one you want to revisit as we prepare for a year of purpose and impact. If you're new to the show, welcome to our growing community of passionate purpose-driven individuals. With over 550 episodes, I know it can be a lot to digest, so we've curated Starter Packs to help you dive into

topics like leadership, mental health, and personal mastery. You can find them either on Spotify or at passionstruck.com slash starter packs. And for weekly inspiration and actionable insights beyond the podcast, make sure to subscribe to my live intentionally newsletter at passionstruck.com. It's designed to keep you motivated and intentional in your personal growth journey. And don't forget to join us on YouTube where our community of over a quarter million subscribers continues to thrive. You can catch the full video of this episode on the John R. Miles YouTube channel and quick highlights on passionstruck clips for bite-sized inspiration. Today we explore one of the most challenging aspects of the human experience, the power to rise, rebuild, and transform after profound adversity.

My guests today are James Arthur Ray and Bersabae Ray. Together they tackle three of the most powerful and often polarizing forces in our lives, God, Money, and Sex. Their new book, God, Money, and Sex, Understanding and Mastering the Three Human Dilemmas, offers a bold perspective on how these forces shape not only our personal lives, but also the collective challenges we face as a society. James' journey is one of triumph, tragedy, and ultimate rebuilding. Once a celebrated leader in the personal development space featured on Oprah and in The Secret,

his rise to prominence was as meteoric as his fall was devastating. A tragic incident in 2009 at one of his retreats resulted in the deaths of three participants and led to James serving two years in prison for negligent homicide. It was an event that not only shattered his business empire, but also left him facing the harsh realities of his choices and their consequences. In this conversation, we'll delve into the profound lessons that James learned during this period of soul-searching, and how he has worked to rebuild his life and reputation. As someone who has had to grapple with public scrutiny and personal accountability, James

offers a unique perspective on the complexities of the human journey, the necessity of owning our choices and the possibility of redemption. But this isn't just a story about one man's fall and rise. It's an exploration of the universal human capacity for resilience. At Passion Struck, we dive into the stories of people who, despite their darkest moments, find ways to reimagine their lives,

learn from their failures, and inspire others to do the same. This episode isn't about endorsing or excusing the past, but about uncovering the lessons that can guide us all toward living more intentional and purpose-driven lives. We'll also dive into James' new book, God, Money, and Sex, as we approach the close of this year, this is the perfect time to reflect on the influence these three forces have in our own life. Have you ever wondered how your relationship with spirituality impacts your decisions?

How your views on money shape your sense of security or abundance? Or how intimacy and relationships influence the way you connect with others? These are the questions James and Bersabe explore with depth and clarity, offering insights that will challenge your thinking, push your boundaries, and open new possibilities for personal and collective growth. So whether you're here to learn about rebuilding after adversity, exploring how to master your relationship with spirituality, wealth, and love, or simply seeking inspiration to take ownership of your own choices.

This episode has something for you. Let's dive into this conversation with James Arthur Ray and Bersabe Ray. Thank you for choosing Passion Struck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now let that journey begin. I am so excited today to have James Arthur and Bersabe Ray on Passion Struck. Welcome to you both. Thanks, John. Good to be here. Glad to be here. I am really intrigued about doing today's episode. One of the things that we often talk about here

are that we all have defining moments and we're gonna talk about those for both of you in a bit. But I thought I would start out with James, you and the beginning of your journey, because you really had just a profound impact in the self-help industry, starting with your early days as a motivational speaking and then your rise to prominence with The Secret. What

initially drew you into this field and how did you discover your passion for helping others unlock their potential? Well what originally drew me in the field John was that I grew up a very introverted, insecure, skinny, scrawny, bullied young man. And I never fit in at school and never fit in anywhere, quite frankly. I failed miserably at organized sports and those things are very important for a young individual. And so I thought I sequestered myself in my bedroom and thought if I could figure out how the universe worked, that I could figure out how my life worked and maybe I could turn my life around.

And that's what drew me to begin to invest in myself and learn about myself. And as that started to unfold, then things started to get better. I mean, my career started to grow, my confidence started to grow, and so many things started to unfold for me. And then I got a job. My formal career, corporate career was with AT&T School of Business. And I was a national sales trainer first for them. And then I became a C-suite consultant and I was teaching, I started

teaching in front of the room and it just felt like it was the right thing to do. It really, like I had a God given gift literally to do that. And so consequently it grew from there. And I left AT&T in 92 and started off on my own adventure as a consultant originally doing culture change initiatives, which Percival and I still do with businesses and then moved into broader and broader arenas, started doing keynote appearances and doing a one-on-one intensive coaching and all those types of things.

So it grew organically from there. And I understand that although your career was going well, it was really the secret that unlocked just a transformational moment for you. Can you take us back in time to that period? Sure. I was on vision sandwiches and faith cookies for decades. It took me two decades to become an overnight success, quite frankly, John. And it was arduous.

It was difficult as an entrepreneur. Any of your viewers will know that it's not an easy journey. And so I struggled and I scraped and I was really fighting and working for a long time and nothing seemed to be coming through. And then I was invited, I was part of a mastermind group that I was a founder of at the time. And a producer decided to come to one of our meetings and do some filming. She had a vision for a documentary, which ended up being the secret and talked about the law of attraction.

Now, the law of attraction was just a very small portion of everything that I taught and talked about. I really built my legs in business and consulting work and those kinds of things. And yet I did talk a little bit about the law of attraction. I was invited to record and they decided to only have a few of us be in that movie. And I was blessed to be one of the ones that was chosen. And from there, everything really blew up in a good way for me. I was on Larry King numerous times, on Oprah numerous times,

Today Show once a month for multiple months running, and Good Morning America. Everyone wanted a piece of me. And so everything really took off. And that was challenging too, quite frankly, because Napoleon Hill said all the way back in the 50s, there's a difference between wishing for something and being prepared to receive it. And I really wasn't prepared. The phone lines, I didn't have enough phone lines. I didn't have enough team members. I didn't have enough bandwidth for my computer systems.

My server, my online server crashed when I went on to Larry King Live the first time. And so there was a lot of scrambling once again. Success has a lot of scrambling, a lot of difficulty that comes with it as well. And many people don't know that. They think, oh, well, this is great. Well, it's great, but it's also very difficult. And that's one of the things I believe we have to embrace and understand is we grow you know, exponentially in the way we want to grow.

Well, our challenges grow with us correspondingly. And so that's really what happened for me. And it continued to rise and continued to grow until I was involved in a horrible accident in 2009, which you may be familiar with, maybe a lot of your viewers are as well, because it went gangbusters on mainstream media I'm gonna come back to that here in a second. I wanted to first introduce some of Bersabé's background

because you had quite a different upbringing you were born in Iran and different upbringing. You were born in Iran and were living in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war back in the early 80s. And you witnessed some horrific things such as your parents being taken away when you were only four, then having to get smuggled out of the country, etc. What were those formative years like for you? Let's see, the formative years, it was full of violence. One of my first childhood memories is bombs being dropped in our neighborhood. Imagine you go out in your street, count five houses down and having a bomb drop on it. And it was missiles dropping or missiles being shot out or gunshots or people being killed. And it was around the same time, close to that the whole so-called revolution happened in Iran, where the Islamic Republic took over. And so when they took over, they started giving a very hard

time to people who were Baha'is, Jewish, Christians, throwing them in prison, raping the women, killing people. I mean, it was a horrific scene. And given we couldn't... The military kicked down our door and took my father and threw him in prison. And the prison sentence there is that, you may not come out. It's a death sentence. My mother was raped by the guards there. I was also Experienced sexually abused by the same system parents are not there so That environment not only because of everything I just described on top of that women don't have any rights You can't work. You can't get an education, you can't go to school.

So all of that led us to leave the country. There was, there's no life for a human being, for a, to have any sovereignty there. And the way you got out was you had to find people to smuggle you out of the country. So you had to escape. And we found some people that we had to pay and they smuggled us out of the country and then a night through the desert at the risk of being killed, we made it out and we had to live in Pakistan for almost two years to be able to get our visas, our legal aliens to be able to come to the states. And when we came to the states, given that parents had to work full-time jobs, they weren't

never there, and we didn't have very good income, so the neighborhoods we lived in, there were bad areas. And given that, I was raised by the television and my environment I got into gang behaviors and so forth So I took went down the wrong paths of doing drugs and drinking and so forth and the time And I'll fast forward just a bit when I met James He had just recently gotten out of prison. Jon Moffitt How many of your guests can say that, Jon?

James You're the third. Jon Moffitt Oh, really? Well, I'm not the only one. Jon Moffitt Oh, there you go. Jon Moffitt Yeah. Jon Moffitt So when I met him, he had just gotten out of prison. And the way that happened is interesting. I had just gotten out of a horrible divorce and I was living in Belgium at the time, got the divorce, moved back to the States and I had no idea what had happened with James and his whole story because it was all over the media. And I had gone into some, I was trying to rebuild my

life and get back into getting cranes, making some money and so forth and finding a new career. A friend of mine had invited me to a network marketing event. I went to one meeting one time and at that meeting they said we're going to have a special guest speaker from The Secret. They didn't say who, but I thought, oh, that's interesting because I had watched it and there's a story behind that too. I'll tell you in a minute. So I had watched it and I thought maybe I'll go because I was at a low point in my life as well, trying to rebuild everything on top of everything else that had occurred in my earlier childhood and so forth.

I went to that meeting and he happened to be the keynote speaker there and he had just recently gotten out of prison. He came in at the time they were filming a documentary on his life, Enlighten Us with CNN. So they come in and he comes in, he's got this long hair and goatee and I did not recognize him. I was looking at him, I thought he wasn't in The Secret. Who's that guy? And I was looking at him and he turned and looked and smiled

and I was like, oh, it's the genie guy or your witch is my command. She recognized the smile. I recognized the smile. So he got up on stage and I'll let him tell his story but he told his story and given where my background is, John, I listened to his story and later that night I went and Googled him, which you don't want to do.

Google's not my friend. Sure. I went and Googled him and the story didn't match the person that I saw on stage. Because when you meet someone in person, you can feel that person's presence. And that presence didn't match what I was reading online because they make him look like a villain Or a cult leader and so forth. He's been called so many different names and Given because of where I grew up. I knew I grew up with the idea that hey your go your government is not your friend they're not for you the people are for each other and

Authority normally in they're not they don't have your best interest at heart. And for that reason, I started working for him. I reached out to him and started working for him at first. And going to... Without pay by the way, because I was $20 million in debt and homeless. Well, maybe I'll let you tell us.

Yeah, I wasn't a real attractive prospect when she met me. And by the way, we weren't a couple initially either, but she worked with me for three years before we started to get romantically involved. We have our five-year wedding anniversary next month, which we've been together 13 years though, and so she said, I want to help, I want to work with you. And I said, well, here's the situation. I'm basically, I was $20 million in debt. I was homeless.

I'd just gotten out of prison. I was in horrible physical condition, John, and I was alone. I obviously wasn't with Barisaba yet. And I was sleeping on mom's couch. So not a real attractive prospect. And it's funny because we've done a lot of podcasts and some of them are about relationships and we've had relationship specialists say to Barisaba, well, I tell women, don't go for that guy. But she saw something in me that I really didn't see in myself at the time.

I was really broken and I was really angry. I had been on the brunt end of the weaponization of the legal system, which we're seeing happening in our world now today. And so consequently, I really wanted nothing to do with the industry that I had come from because they were the most hateful, quite frankly. The spiritual people, so-called spiritual people, so-called personal development people, were the most hateful, most attacking, most non-accepting group of people, all kinds of horrific comments and stabbing in the back. And everyone that I knew and wanted to share the stage with me or wanted to joint venture with me,

you would know the names. You could quote the names and I won't, but none of them even sent me a text message to say, how are you doing, or any of those things, which is very telling. And so I was bitter. I was quite bitter and I didn't want anything to do with personal performance or anything even close to that. And so it's been a long road back, John. It's been a very long road back. And yet through God's grace, I've healed and Bersaba has been a big part of that, certainly. And we've healed and Beersipa has been a big part of that certainly. And we've healed each other.

We've worked with each other for 13 years now and it is work. It's work, but it's worth it. It's not something that you can do just quickly and easily when you have a lot of trauma and a lot of disruption in your life, but two things I really learned through my whole situation, two primary things. There's a myriad of things, but two primary things I've learned is that you have to have a great relationship with God and you have to believe in that and have faith in that irrespective.

And then secondly, you have to know who you are apart from what anyone else thinks. That's self-awareness. You have to be able to take the hits and take the haters because that's what happens in today's world is haters hate. And it's unfortunate, but you have to be willing to take that and to say, I know who I am regardless. I know who I am. I'll just say this and then I'll throw it back to you, John.

But when I decided to finally come back and start working in leadership and performance, then I told my mom and she said, son, why would God rest her soul? She's gone now. But she said, why would you do that? After all you've been through, they're going to come at you and they're going to hate on you and they're going to attack you. And I said, I know. And I just was quiet. And she said, so why do you want to do it? And I didn't answer. And she said, I know why. You don't have a choice, do you? And I said, no, I really don't. Obviously, we

always have a choice, but I feel like God has a plan for all of us and that to degree we're going to live a fulfilling life and a meaningful life, we have to follow that plan no matter how hard it is. Thank you both for sharing that and for the audience who might not truly understand what we're talking about, in 2009 James was running a retreat that led to the death of unfortunately three participants and a number of others who were injured. And coming out of that, spent a couple years in prison as you were waiting for the trial and everything else to happen. At that point when this did happen, I mean, we look at people today, whether it's Tony

Robbins, Mel Robbins, Jay Shetty, I could name more. And we see them on all these shows, everyone wanting them. And that's exactly where you were. You were traveling 200 days a year giving talks. You were traveling 200 days a year giving talks. You were wanted everywhere. You had, if my numbers are correct, like seven houses that time, the primary one being in Beverly Hills,

like a 7,500 square foot mansion, another one in Nevada, another one in Hawaii. And you seem at that point to have it all. But I wanna ask, now that you've gone through this and you've had to over digest some of the most difficult truths about yourself, how did those realizations shape your view of who that person was at that time versus who you are today? It's a really great question, John. I feel like I'm a better man today.

I'm certainly, I do my best to be a great husband and to be the best human being I can possibly be. My intentions were always good. My methods were not always the best in retrospect. And I got carried away by what I'll call socialized mind. How we're conditioned in our world is that all the, whatever names you named, and I was one of them, is that they're so hugely successful.

Well, let me tell you something. I was supposedly worth north of $20 million. I had a 7,500 square foot estate in Beverly Hills. I had all the accoutrements and they were gone like that, just like that. And so what value do they have? They don't. They don't everything in this world is transitory.

The only thing that has true and lasting value are those things which can never be lost or taken. And those things are not ever outside, they're inside. If it can be lost or taken, it has use value. You can use them and enjoy them, but they don't have any intrinsic value. And so I got carried away with all the fame and the success to a degree, and I got sucked into the system. And I had to step back. When I was standing in the desert, homeless and alone and $20 million in debt in 2013, I had to do a deep dive and say, what's James Arthur Ray 3.0 going to be?

Which presupposes there was a 2.0 and a 1.0, which are different stories. But who is he going to be? What's he going to be about? And I reflected back on my study of the great philosophers. And this is without exception. You look at Plato or Soica or Plotinus, name the name, not one of them, without exception, not one of them taught us how to make a lot of money. None of them told us to make a lot of money. They told us to live moral and virtuous and principled lives. And so that became my center. That became my focus. And I decided that's who I'm going to be. And if it brings worldly success, then that's up to God. That's not up to me.

If it doesn't, then it doesn't. But I can lay my head down every single night and know that I've done my very best to do what God has sent me here to do. And that I've lived a moral life and a principal life and a virtuous life to the very best of my ability. Not to say I don't ever fall off. Of course we all stumble and yet you get back up and you keep going. And that's my real focus now today.

It's not about the fame and the fortune and the recognition and all those kinds of things. I ask a lot of our clients frequently, if you could do it. And let me back up. A lot of people, particularly in younger generations, say, I want to make an impact. How many times have we heard that? I want to make a difference. And so I would ask the question, if you could make an impact, if you could truly

make a difference in the world, but you've got no impact, if you could truly make a difference in the world, but you've got no recognition, no one knew who you were, you've got no fame, you've got no glamour, you've got no big money, but you knew you were doing God's will, would you do it? Most people shy away from that. And so they really don't want to make a difference. What they want is to make a difference for themselves. And that's a very self-centric kind of approach. It's not an approach that wants to make a difference in other people's lives. It's an approach that I want to make a difference in my pocketbook, or I want to make a difference in my life. And maybe if I'm really magnanimous,

maybe I want to do it for my family, I'll spread it out that far, but it doesn't really go much further than that. In my latest book, God, Money and Sex, I talk about how we have come to the altar in our traditional world today of money and materialism. And those things have become our God. We worship money and we worship materialism. And that's one of the main reasons we're in the situations we're in right now. We're on the precipice of World War III for God's sakes. How did we get here?

We got here because look at all the people who are in quote leadership, who are on the take. And they're just pursuing money and they're pursuing materialism and they're pursuing fame and they're pursuing fortune. And we see it reported repeatedly, not so much in the mainstream media because they keep it hush, but nonetheless, that's what's brought us to this precipice and we've got to get back to center. We've got to get back to God. And if I had not, if I had I had not had that incredible crash and burn, which I'm grateful for, believe it or not, I'm really grateful for it. I don't want to do it again.

Don't get me wrong. But I am grateful for it because it woke me up and it got me back to what's truly important. Yeah. So I'm going to go to a question for Bersabe, but I first want to just address this earlier this year. And I am releasing an episode on this in my solo episode this week about the power of gratitude. I talk in this episode about what's happened to me at this past year. I lost my sister earlier in the year to pancreatic cancer. A couple months after that,

we had three feet of water in our house due to Hurricane Helene. And it's nowhere near to you losing the things like you did, James or Bersaba, how like you had to move countries and lose everything. But it does give you pause when you have none of those material things, what really matters. I mean, what mattered most to me and my fiance during those moments was that we were all safe and the things that we were most emotionally devastated from were the pictures of kids and the paintings that we lost and the things that just couldn't be replaced,

not really the furniture and the beds and all those things. Those really didn't matter at those times and it really does give you an awakening of how important the important things are in our life and how often we take those for granted instead of doubling down on them. And I'm going to take this into my question for you, Percival, because you've been a critical part of James journey of rebuilding his life after such a challenging period, but you too have faced challenging periods in your life and had to rebuild your life. And so I want to ask this kind of in a joint way, how do you view the role of partnership in navigating life's toughest challenges, both the way that And so I want to ask this kind of in a joint way. How do you view the role of partnership

in navigating life's toughest challenges, both the way that you've supported James and the way that he has supported you on this journey together? Great question. Okay, so I'll start with the most important thing. The biggest first step that I took in doing that was taking absolute responsibility for my life. And that meant everything that even what happened to me in

my past in my childhood, all the way up to my adult years. Because after my divorce, I was in a horrible relationship, which was physically abusive, verbally abusive, it was just a horrible relationship. And it pushed me to a point to go, okay, what am I doing that I keep creating these situations in my life? I'm the one who chooses to pick up a cigarette and smoke it. I'm the one who's choosing to have a drink. I'm the one who's choosing this kind of a person to be in a relationship with. As soon as I did that, then your world starts to shift. Why? Because you're no longer in victim mode. You're no longer in, oh, it's my parents' fault. Or, oh, it's because this happened to me in my childhood. Or,

I've experienced these traumas, therefore I'm going to be this way and I'm broken and I can't do anything about it. But the minute you take responsibility, you sit in the driver's seat. And when I started working with James and being around him, one of the things that drove me, one, was because I saw the injustice that was done During his court cases and his trial and so forth and the fact that three people died is a big deal I mean he has to live with that for the rest of his life Imagine going into a retreat and you're wanting to help individuals and they end up dying on your watch It's the exact opposite of what you were trying to do for them those things that drove me to work with them to help him and

Also, I wanted to start being around Individuals that look at life from a perspective of I want to do better I want to live in the image that God created me in. I want to live the purpose in which I was created for. So I'm not going to allow my past to dictate what my future is going to be or what I came in this world with. So you start doing that. Then I start doing the cleanup work.

And what the cleanup work is cleaning up your unresolved emotional issues because all those things all the drugs cigarettes alcohol we are choosing bad relationships making bad choices are all effects of a cause and the causes war what happened is your unresolved emotional issues I started cleaning those up. I Quit smoking after 24 years. I stopped drinking. I replaced it with exercising I replaced it with Healthy diet changing your diet eating properly all these things count what you listen to music what you watch what things do you read.

And these are the things that together that we do, one of the things that connects us, one of the major things that is our foundation is that we share the same values. And our number one value that we share is that it's grounded in what does God want for us. So that drives the both of us. And when you have that solid foundation with each other, then you become a unit. Your married couple should. When you become a unit, you become one. Then you start moving together. then you're an unstoppable force. And it has to be grounded in something higher than yourself. It's our creator. It's who created you to even be here. Because when you make it about you and about your own successes

of what this life is supposed to be and my material gains or whatever it is, That's when everything goes down the drain and it loses its meaning and purpose. That's our ultimate purpose. And I think that's our greatest foundation that we share together. There's always, there's a greater power that can come through you than anything that can come from you. And that's so what we work at and we work, can you ask about a relationship? We work hard at it. I mean, we work on it every bit as much as we do on our physical fitness and

health, every bit as much as we do on our business, we make time and we focus on that. And like one thing, one little ritual we have every single morning, I get up at 3 a.m. every day, Merceba gets up at 3 30. She's a little bit of a slacker, but nonetheless, I have my morning prayer and meditation time and I do some stretching and she reads and I read the Bible in the morning and then I come down from downstairs and we have our tea time. And it's not, we don't have our phones, we're not doing, have the TV on, we're not distracted,

we have a conversation. Every single morning we have a conversation. Every single dinner we have dinner together. We don't have our phones, We don't have television on. We have a conversation And we make that sacred and we work on that every bit as much as we do on our business or on our health and fitness It's all important everything counts And when you do become that unit that she spoke of then you are unstoppable because god is coming through you And it doesn't have to come from you and hopefully that makes sense to you. And it definitely does and it reminds me of something that you write in the preface of your book. Everything happens for a reason. The hardest part is waiting for that

reason to present itself. That's right. And I remember talking to one of the other guests who went to incarceration and he told me, and he's now a youth minister and has completely rebuilt his life. And in my own book, I use him at the end of the book to really profile how someone can go from being at the top to the absolute bottom and rebuild themselves. And one thing I remember him telling me is that the greatest gift that he was given

was the ability to rebuild his life brick by brick because he now had the awareness, being able to look back on his past self, look forward to the future self he wanted to create, how he wanted to serve humanity and how he would rebuild his life to do so in a more intentional way. Does that ring bells for you too, as well? It definitely does.

When you hit rock bottom, it's a gift. It's a gift wrapped in pain and a gift wrapped in difficulty, but it's a gift because when you hit rock bottom, you finally are standing on a firm foundation from which to grow and you get, I had seven foreclosures, which begs the question, why the heck did I have seven properties? I mean, I had justified it all in my mind and it sure seemed right at the time, but I had all these things that got wiped off and my $10 million Inc 500 company got destroyed. It went away. It took me 20 years to build it and it was gone like that.

And yet there's some real great liberation in that because now, like you said, your friend mentioned brick by brick, I have nothing but blue sky to determine who am I going to be and what am I going to do in James Arthur Ray 3.0. And one of those things obviously includes Bersaba. And I was a single guy living in a 7,500 square foot estate in Beverly Hills. What kind of sense does that make? It makes no sense. And I was on the road over 250 days a year,

and I was only there on weekends. Saturday and Sunday, I was in my home, and then I was off on a plane Monday and running around the country and around the world. And so if God wanted me to do that again, then I'm certainly open to whatever God's plan is. And yet life is very different now and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wouldn't go back for anything because I've been given a great gift and I've been able to

rebuild and you have to keep the faith and you have to keep moving forward and you have to realize why you're doing what you're doing deeply. Be honest with yourself about that and then God can work through you and you can do whatever you're here to do and you can find that. Well thank you for sharing that and I found it interesting that this book, God, Money, and Sex, has been something you've been pondering for a very long time, almost 20 years. You were represented, as I understand by William Morris, I'm also represented by WME, and you had pitched this idea of God, Money and Sex back to them in 2004, 2005, if I have my figures correct, and you decided to write a different book which became a New York Times bestseller.

Why was this topic weighing so heavily on you for over two decades? I think it was inspiration. I really love the word inspiration because the prefix end from the Latin means to be. So in spiritus is to be filled with spirit. And I was inspired with that title a long time ago, as you mentioned, and yet I'm really

grateful. Let me back up and I'll tell you another story that's similar. I visualized being on the Oprah Winfrey show for two decades. Two decades. When I was home, working from home, I would turn on the television when she had her show, and I would watch her asking questions of other people, and I would pretend that I was on the couch and I was answering the questions. I didn't do it every day, but I held that vision for two decades.

And then I eventually got on the Oprah Winfrey show a couple of times. And what I realized, John, is that if I had gotten on, and there was a lot of times when I was frustrated, I was like, I've held this vision for so long, I'm working so hard, and why is it not coming through? And then when I got there, I realized it's perfect. Because if I had been there when I thought I wanted to be there, I wouldn't have been ready. I wouldn't

have had the same information, the same knowledge, the same experience. And the same is true with God, Money and Sex. When I got inspired to write that, if I had written that book back then, it wouldn't have been the same book. That was 2006. It wouldn't have been the same book because what I talk about in God, Money, and Sex are a lot of current events that have unfolded for us here in America and in the world since 2020. And obviously those things weren't happening in 2006. And so I realized it was all in divine timing and God's timing is always divine

timing. And so that's where you have to have faith and you have to just keep the vision and keep moving forward. But it had been burning inside of me and it was just perfect. I mean, when I wrote it, it was truly inspired and it just flowed. And so I'm really grateful that I didn't write it in 2006. My agent shut me down and she was absolutely right in doing that. And Harmonic Wealth was the New York Times bestseller that was the right book for the right time.

So I'm going to take you down a journey that heard you go down in the interviews that I've listened to. that heard you go down in the interviews that I've listened to. One of the most transformational books I have read, and I try to read it every year, is The Power of Myths by Joseph Campbell. And I think that myths play a huge role in our lives. And the reason I read his book is back in the 80s, he predicted so many of the things that we're experiencing today. And I'm just gonna go through a couple of the things

that he writes in the book and get your take on it. Maybe you can apply your wisdom from your book. In it, he says, people say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our innermost being in reality. So we actually feel the rapture of being alive. And what he's trying to say here is that we are so obsessed with the outer value of money status, et cetera, that we forget about the inner value, our internal

development, and that's all the real value there is. Well, I'm a big Joseph Campbell fan, so thank you for bringing him up. Mythology is the history, it's not literal history per se, it's the history of the human soul. And so these great myths that he talks so much about, and he did all this research, as you well know, across many traditions. And I do talk about that. The subtitle of my book, God, Money and Sex, is understanding and mastering the three human dilemmas. And we submit to you that God, money and sex are the three most

major human dilemmas in our world. There have been more wars and more injustice committed in the name of God than any other reason. Money, it creates some of the greatest fear and pain. It's one of the biggest reasons that we have disconnects in relationships. And sex is taboo for so many people. It's bastardized and it's become completely animalistic. And I say that sex is an acronym for sacred energy exchange. It's meant to be between a married, committed couple, and it's not meant for physical pleasure.

God gave us the gift of it being pleasing, but it's meant for two things. It's meant for reproduction, to be able to literally produce a human being. Think about how powerful that is. We've been told that we're created in the image and the likeness of God. Well, we can create a human being with another person. That's pretty powerful, pretty profound. And the second reason is it's a form of meditation and prayer. Now I know that goes against a lot of people's mindset, particularly in an animalistic world where human trafficking and pedophilia and all these things are so rampant, unfortunately.

And yet that's what that sacred act is meant for. And so we have totally missed the mark with these three human dilemmas. Going all the way back, John, to probably the enlightenment in the 17th century, which I really believe was in many ways a de-enlightenment because it got us away from our intuition. It got us away from God. It started to make fun in some degree or make it stupid to believe in a higher power. And we got all caught up in our rational mind and in our intellect.

And we're so caught up in our intellects now, we want to boast about our SAT scores. And yet you can be you can have 150 SAT score and be an emotional slave. There's a lot of very intelligent people who are emotional slaves. And so, yes, back to Campbell. And as I mentioned earlier, we have begun to worship at the altar of money and materialism and intellect. And we've gotten so far away from what I call in God, money and sex, this vertical principle, which is a metaphor because Christ said the kingdom of heaven is within, it's not somewhere in the clouds as we've been conditioned to believe, but this vertical principle is a metaphor for this connectivity to a hierarchy, to a controlling force.

And so consequently, all we have now is this horizontal principle that I talk about, which is the secular world. When you don't have a vertical principle and you don't have a hierarchy of what's moral and what's right and what's true, then where do you learn what's moral, right and true? Well, on a secular world, a horizontal plane,

you look at people around you and you say, what are they doing? And that's how I learned what's right and wrong. And that's what Behrseba talked about when she was growing up in gang behavior and in bad neighborhoods. She looked around and here's what's right and wrong. If you look at what's going on in our world right now, to tell the truth is not valued, John. You know, how many people have lied under oath in front of Congress and nothing has happened to them. Nothing.

And so consequently, to tell the truth is not valued in our current world. In fact, in many cases it's persecuted, some cases it's been prosecuted. And that's really unfortunate. And that's where we've gotten so far adrift. And Campbell is absolutely correct. And he talks so much about getting back what we call getting back to center and getting back to what these ancient myths have told us since antiquity. And they're all very common.

Just like I told you, I mentioned earlier about the great philosophers, very common teachings, but they become very unpopular, unfortunately. Well, that they certainly have, and I'm going to come back to that, but I did want to go to Bursava for a question. There's been a lot of discussion on what it means to be a woman in today's world, and I have had a number of episodes tackling this over the back half of 2024. As someone, as you both have explained, who's navigated significant challenges, and you've also had triumphs. What's your take on this? And how do you see women stepping more into their power and doing it in an intentional way? It's probably going to go against what the controlling narrative is. And I'll tell you how I got here because when I moved to the States, I mean, I bought into the whole thing and the woman's movement and women's rights and the women should have equal rights as men and get into's movement and women's rights and women should have equal rights as men

and get into the workforce and or the whole idea. Oh, I don't need a man. I can make it on my own kind of saying I'm man enough to do my own should tell you enough. I got to a point and I realized that this kind of programming, it is a programming, is actually taking women out of their power. And how I mean by that is that for a woman to have these beliefs, to think I need to compete with a man in a workforce, or that I don't need a man, I could do it all on my own, okay? It comes from a lack of self-confidence. Or that I don't need a man, I could do it all on my own. Okay, it comes from a lack of self-confidence.

When a woman is fully confident in herself, in who she is, you don't want to compete with a man. You could care less. You want a man who's strong enough, who's able to provide for you and who have a secure environment for you because the man is, you can say he's active and a woman is receptive. So the man gets a career and provides for the house, takes care of the family and so forth. The woman's job is to nurture, to nurture the home environment, the kids, even when you think about it, when a woman, the man, when you create a child, the home environment, the kids, even when you think about it, when a woman, the man,

when you create a child, the man gives, the woman receives, the man is the one who creates the baby. The woman nurtures that child and grows it in her environment. And the same thing happens in a household and outside in the world. Now, on a grander scale, when women are taken out of their power, their receptivity force, their magnetism, and they start trying to play the active part, it throws a whole world off harmony, off balance. Because it's our job as women to keep the peace and love and the stability and nurture not only of the planet, but of mankind. And it's on that grand of scale. Their power is that powerful because to take them out of that, it throws the whole thing

off. And that's one of the reasons why they've done this to women. You don't go to the women in Iran right now, and they're fighting for the idea of just to be able to show their hair in society. And then you compare it to what women here are complaining about is funny. Ludicrous. It's absolutely ludicrous. Well, and then think about women in Afghanistan as well. Yes.

And how much that is deteriorated. Oh, absolutely. The whole Middle East has for women. So I want to talk about the flip side of this. Last year, I had Scott Galloway on the show, and we were discussing his book, Adrift, but what we were really getting into was the weakening of men in today's world and the concept of toxic masculinity. I'll ask you the flip question,

and either one of you can take this, but what's your perspective on the role of masculinity in today's society? I'll take this one. I'm probably more qualified than Baris. I would say so. But I think we are direly in need of masculinity. Masculinity is leadership. Masculinity is courage. Masculinity has so many different qualities

not to fold in the face of fear, to get back up when you fall down or get knocked down. get back up when you fall down or get knocked down. That's true masculinity. And unfortunately, this term toxic masculinity has been misused. Now there is some, in my opinion, if you look at, and I could name some names and I probably won't, but if you look at certain individuals who are attempting to be masculine. They're saying you need to put a log on your shoulder and run up a mountain. Well, that's machismo.

That's not masculinity. Or you need to become an MMA fighter and mouth off and curse and say all kinds of loud things to your opponent. That's machismo. That's not masculinity. True masculinity is a man who takes care and treats his woman like a queen. Really does. And he looked people in the eye, looked people in the eye when you talk to them.

And that seems so simple. And yet I can't tell you how many younger generations, when I talk to them, they have no ability to look you in the eye because they have no self-confidence. And get off of your iPad for God's sakes. Go to the gym, lift some heavy weights. And that sounds very simplistic, but that's all part of being a man. Eat a lot of meat, no tofu. Eat meat, eat cheese, eat butter.

Those are all great philosophers. Read the great philosophers and study the great philosophers. Read the Bible and study this ancient wisdom. And that's true masculinity. And we're sorely missing that in today's world. I want to ask a follow-on about this, because one of the things that I think is plaguing society is this disease of disconnection that you just referred to, meaning we are spending so much time outside ourselves that we're not doing the self-awareness we

need to grow. And I think one of the things that you talk about along the lines of this in the book is the necessity of critical and independent thinking, which you really do in the solace of your own mind. And we live in this world of disconnect where we see so much misinformation being presented. How can people cultivate this essential skill and why is it so vital in today's world where we have so many challenges going on?

Well, it's a great question because our company name is Harmonic Wealth Global. And let me just explain that if I may, humor me for a moment, because most people think wealth is defined as money. If you trace the etymology of the word wealth back to its origins, it literally translates as well-being. I've worked with so many people we have who make a tremendous amount of money and they're not wealthy because they don't have a lot of well-being. And so consequently at our company Harmonic Wealth Global, one of the things that we're really committed to is creating independent thinkers. So thank you for the

question. And we have four primary practices that we talk about to become an independent thinker. And Behrseba already alluded to a couple of them earlier, but let me go through them real quickly. Number one, which Behrseba talked extensively about, you have to take absolute responsibility for your life. When I was standing in the desert, $20 million in debt and homeless, I had to ask myself, how did I create this? So many times I ask people, do you like the way that our country is going right

now? And they say, no, I really don't. And I say, well, how did you create it? Well, I didn't create it. I'm not in government. I don't have any power. Oh yes, you did. How long have you been complacent? How long have you been too comfortable?

How long have you been asleep at the wheel? Did you vote? Yes, you contributed to it and you created it. And to the degree we take absolute responsibility, it's a hard pill to swallow. But only when you take absolute responsibility, can you begin to think clearly. And do you have the power to change anything? Number two is you have to become self-aware. How do you become self-aware? Well you ask

yourself some really poignant questions and you have to be very honest about the answers. There's no value in lying to yourself. Why do I value what I value? Why do I think what I think? Why do I like what I like? Why do I dislike what I dislike? And if you're really honest what you'll recognize is that most of the things you think you value are not even your values. Most of the things you think you want or something that's been handed to you from an outside source has been conditioned into you by society. And that's what Berserker called the controlling narrative.

This controlling narrative tells us what we should value. If I were to ask you, if you would rather, if you, if I give you a free watch and you could have a Rolex or a time X, what would you take? Well, most people say a Rolex just like that. Well, why, why would you take the Rolex? Well, it's more valuable. Why is it more valuable? How do you know it's more valuable?

Well, it costs more. Well, why does it cost more? Break it down. Well, it is finer craftsmanship. Are you sure about that? Because I've had a Rolex and every time it breaks, it costs a fortune to fix it. If you have a Timex, you can either just buy another one or you can get it fixed very inexpensively. And at the end of the day, they both tell time.

Well, the reason you want it is because of what you think people are going to think about you. It's about an image that it's going to portray. And so is it really what you want or is it something you've been conditioned into? That's self-awareness. Number three, did you want to say something, John? No, keep going. Okay. So we have absolute responsibility.

We have self-awareness asking critical questions. Number three, it seems like a venture from the first two. Clean up your diet. Clean up your diet. Fluoride in the water calcifies the pineal gland. That's a fact. And the pineal gland is the gateway to divine, to the divine. We know that.

It's our connectivity to God. We have so many toxins and so many chemicals. If you go back to the sweat lodge where three people lost their lives, broke my heart, what the medical evidence proved, 4,000 pages of medical evidence, proved that it was pesticides that caused the death. But they came after me, even though the property used pesticides. Pesticides in the human system are toxic. Well, our vegetables and all our beef are full of pesticides. Clean up your diet. Quit eating garbage. Because so many times we've heard the little memes, John. We've heard change your thinking, change your world. What you think about comes about. Boy, that sounds so nice, doesn't it?

But if your brain is toxic, you can't think clearly. You can't change your thinking if your brain is toxic and full of toxins. And so clean up your diet, exercise. And then number four, Barisoba mentioned too, is your unresolved emotional issues. 95% according to psychology of what we do every day, every single day, is driven by your unconscious mind. 95%. So that means you're operating on 5% of your cognitive capacity,

your conscious mind every single day. 95% is driven completely out of your cognitive capacity, your conscious mind every single day, 95% is driven completely out of your awareness. What happens between birth and 14 is that we have these issues that happen, these traumas, these difficulties. We don't have the resources necessary to deal with them. And so we power through in some way, shape or fashion, and then we stuff them and we think they're gone.

They're not gone. They're still there and they're still running behavior. And so those are the four ways you can become a critical thinker. And until you do those things, and it takes work, as we mentioned earlier, and it takes time, but it's worth it. Would you rather work to be free or would you work to be a slave? You're going to work regardless. Well, thank you for those. And I just have to say, I try to do everything that you talk about. One of the things I incorporated from my fiance is for really about the past five years, I do a daily detox. We both put drops in our water and drink it throughout the day.

And I can't tell you how much better I have felt when I do that detox and have eliminated using fluoride toothpaste. We only use bottled water. We test all the water that we drank, et cetera, to make sure that we're trying to eliminate as many toxins as we can, air filters throughout the house, et cetera. So I truly believe in what you're saying. Well, RFK junior says he's going to clean house. So hopefully when he gets into the health organization, he'll be able to do that.

Well, even if we just adopted some of the things that they do in Europe and don't let so many of the money driven decisions impact our food supply and other things, it would have such a profound effect. I, I remember my family, like many's has been deeply affected by cancer. And I talked to my fiance who's in the medical profession about this all the time. And we've talked to experts who tell us that we have cures for all these cancers, but the pharmaceutical companies don't want them to come out because it would take away so much of their revenue stream. And to me, it's just, it's just one thing that truly gets under my skin where

we're having so many people suffer because we're trying to keep industries going instead of making people's lives better. Sure. We could do a whole podcast on that. Yes, we could. Yes, we could. It's truly evil what they're doing. Well, one of the last things I wanted to talk to you about, because I thought it was really

an interesting point, is that what we're going through today isn't a political set of challenges, but a spiritual set of challenges. And I would just hope you could go a little bit deeper about that. I'd love to. Do you want to take that? Sure. The spiritual war that we're in. The spiritual war. There might be a whole other podcast for this. Yeah, there's a whole podcast there too. another podcast for this. Yeah, there's a whole podcast there too. Well, if we look around and it's been more in our faces forefront since I believe 2020 even though it's been going on way

longer than that but more people became awake in 2020 the ones that were supposed to wake up woke up and there's still some of that are still asleep and And if you look nowadays, given that we're almost on the verge of World War three and every, and all the wars that are going on to look around and what you just mentioned about the pharmaceuticals and the food industry here in the United States, it's how can you not believe in God now? How can you not see that there's actual evil forces in this world? They are literally trying to kill us.

I mean, that is just a fact. I mean, you yourself just said you have family that's been battling with cancer and we have the cure for it, but we're not gonna give it to the people. Why? Because we can't make money off of it. And we're gonna give vaccines to people that we want to depopulate. I'm sorry. How are you going to do that?

How are you going to bring the population down to what is it? What did he say? A million? Two billion, two billion people from eight billion people on the planet. You're going to bring it down to two billion. And how are you going to do that? Exactly. I mean, people need to start asking these questions. And we were on a podcast, I believe it was yesterday, where we're talking to someone who's in the UK. And one thing that we've noticed that's different

here in the United States than it is in the other part, western parts of the world, is that here in the United States, you can feel the movement. There's a movement of people coming together right now in Christianity, come and saying, hey, no, God is real. This is God's world. And there's a stronger faith and a stronger connection with people with each other grounded in that. And I asked him, I said, do you feel that people in UK have this connection? And he said, no, we don't have it here. And the things that they're going through there now, the things that he was describing for us, where the police comes knocking down your

door because of a post you made on social media. It sounded to me like things that you would be afraid of if I was living in Iran, which is just, it's madness when you think about it. And the other, with America, it is so multicultural. It is the most colorful, united piece of land that people live on. If America falls, then the rest of the free world falls too. And one thing that's kept us grounded and together still is that people came together and their belief in God.

And you can see that all across the nation. And he can go more into detail about the guard forces and so forth. I love to quote Ephesians 6-12, which Paul wrote to the Ephesians obviously. And he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, We wrestle against principalities and powers against the forces of evil against spiritual wickedness in high places. And he could have written that today. We think we're in a war of Republican versus Democrat. We think we're in a war of conservative versus liberal. We think we're in a war of communism versus capitalism. We're not in those wars. Those are effects. We're in a war of good versus evil. And every great tradition has told us this, has told us this time and again. It talks

about in the book of Genesis, and it gets glossed over a lot because our systems have failed us, including our religious systems, have completely failed us. And yet in the book of Genesis, it talks about the sons of God came to earth and had, and mated with the women of mankind and they created bastard children called the Nephilim and these Nephilim were giants and they created bastard children called the Nephilim. And these Nephilim were giants and they were evil forces. Now you can't see these things, but you can feel them. And it talks about it in the book of Revelations. It talks about them in the book of Enoch, which was taken out of the Old Testament because it didn't conform to Jewish orthodoxy.

It talks about it in the Gnostic traditions. They talk about the Archons, which are these dark forces. And so modern science tells us that we live in a 5% universe. This third dimension of visible light is 5% of what exists in the entire universe. of visible light is 5% of what exists in the entire universe. That means 95% of what exists we can't perceive because we don't have the sensory acuity to perceive it. And so you think if you can't touch it, taste it, smell it, that it doesn't exist, well, you can't see oxygen either. It exists. And so these forces of evil have literally indoctrinated so many people. And there are those little voices we all hear, oh, what's the big deal?

Let's just have some drinks. What's the big deal? Let's just watch some kind of pornography. What's the big deal? Let's do this. Let's do that. Well, it is a big deal because everything counts. And that's the battle that we're in. Let's do this, let's do that. Well, it is a big deal because everything counts.

And that's the battle that we're in. And we have to get up every single day and it goes back to masculinity. We have to fight. We have to fight against it because it's tempting and it's seductive and it sucks us in to the money and the materialism and everything we've talked about here already today, John.

I'm gonna ask you both this final question. If you had to pick one quality that every person must develop to not just survive, but thrive, what would it be and why I'll start out with you or Sabai. Ah, tell the truth. Always tell the truth. Take a stand for who and what you are. Have some integrity. I would go with that.

We need that. We're in dire need of that. That's what we need. And if everyone did that, we'd be in a much better world we would be living in right now. Yes, I'm going to have to piggyback on that. It's my answer. I love, oh, what's his name? Immanuel Kant says, if the truth kills them, let them die. I's my answer. I love, oh, what's his name? Immanuel Kant says,

if the truth kills them, let them die. I love that quote. If the truth kills them, let them die. I think we really need truth. We need to live for truth. We have to study the truth. We have to know the truth. We have to speak the truth. And the truth literally will set you free, but it doesn't mean it's going to be comfortable. You're going to have to be able to, and going back to masculinity, and it's true for femininity as well, but you're going to have to be willing to take the hits. We've been shut down three times on social media because, and during COVID, because I was telling people to take vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc and get lots of sunshine and boost their immune

system and that didn't fit with community standards and so they shut us down. Well, okay, that's a very small price to pay and we came back and under a different auspice. So you're going to have to be willing to stand for what you believe in. If you won't stand for what you believe in, then you really don't know what you stand for. Well, thank you both for joining me today. For those who want to learn more about you and the work that you're doing now, where's the best place for them to go? Well, we, if it's okay with you, we'd like to give a blueprint, a free gift to your viewers.

Is that all right with you, John? Sure. I have it in my, uh, I downloaded it myself. Oh, did you? You can go to harmonicwealthglobal.com forward slash freedom. And we have a freedom blueprint there, which deals with these questions about God, money and sex and how you can do some introspection for yourself on where you are with those things

and what your opinions are and your positions are. And of course, our website is harmonicwealthglobal.com. Well, thank you again for joining me today. And I really appreciate the discussion. Well, thank you for having us. God bless you, John. Keep doing great work. As we reflect on today's episode, it's clear that the topics we discussed today,

God, money, sex, and redemption, are deeply personal and often challenging. They touch on the core of who we are and how we navigate the complexities of life. The insights shared by James Arthur Ray and Bersabe Ray encourage us to pause and examine our own beliefs, choices, and relationships with these forces, especially as we approach the start of a new year. December 26 is a moment to take breath after the celebrations and think about what truly

matters. This time of year invites us to reconnect with our values, question what might be holding us back, and envision how we want to move forward. It's not about agreeing with everything you've heard today, but about engaging with the ideas and using them as a lens to reflect on your journey. As you carry these reflections into the week, consider how you might bring more intention and balance into your life. What steps can you take to align your actions with your values? How can you build a stronger relationship with the forces that shape your choices and your impact on the world.

If this episode sparked questions or thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Please take a moment to leave a 5-star rating and review. It's one of the best ways to help others discover the show and join the PassionStruck community. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's message, please share it with them. For links to everything we discussed today, including James and Bersabae's new book and the tools they shared, check out the show notes at passionstruck.com.

You can also support the show by visiting our sponsors at passionstruck.com slash deals, where you'll find discount codes and special offers from our partners. And remember, each of these resources helps fuel the show and bring you inspiring content every week. Beyond the podcast, I'm passionate about bringing these insights and strategies

to organizations, conferences, and teams through speaking engagements. Whether it's a keynote, workshop, or team session, my goal is to help teams tap into their potential and to start making intentional, impactful choices. You can learn more at johnrmiles.com slash speaking, or feel free to reach out through the website. And if you haven't already,

subscribe to our Live Intentionally newsletter for exclusive content, insights, and our weekly Courage Challenge, which helps you put these lessons into action. Next week on New Year's Eve, I'll be joined by Shira Gill, author of Lifestyled, Your Guide to a More Organized and Intentional Life. Shira's work offers simple practical tools to help you bring clarity and purpose to every area of your life, from your home to your relationships, your health, and beyond. It's the perfect episode to help you start 2025 with intention and focus. Every year on New Year's Eve, I sit down and I just take a few minutes to rank each area

of my life on a scale of one to five based on level of fulfillment and overall satisfaction. And so that's part one of the exercise. It only takes about five minutes. And so that's part It only takes about five goal of course is not to area, but just to kind of check of how am I doing, in all of these different you've ranked each area, some quick reflections a

two you can do to improve each area for the following year. Thank you for spending your time with me today as we close this chapter of the year remember to reflect reset and take steps towards living the life you envision until next time live life passion struck. you