Sense of Soul - Life of an FBI Warrior Monk Soul

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

Today on Sense of Soul, Shanna and guest co-host Ryan Jamison had an inspirating conversation with, Anthony Arismendi, former FBI agent with a highly decorated and distinguished career spanning two decades of undercover operations against drug cartels, gangs, organized crime, violent criminals, and terrorist organizations. Anthony joined us to talk about his book “Outsider Agent: The Extraordinary Adventures of an Immigrant and Mystic in the FBI.” His story is profoundly inspirational, his unique blend of hard work, perseverance, and mysticism in the face of relentless adversity, reminds us that our reservoirs of courage and determination run far deeper than we know—and that we should never give up on our dreams, no matter how out of reach they might seem. Review on Amazon  “On the TV show CHiPs, I played California Highway Patrol Officer Poncherello, a Latino hero. I can tell you right now that my friend Tony Arismendi is the real deal! He is an awesome, compassionate, spiritual, and courageous human being who conquered innumerable challenges and became an incredible FBI agent." 
 — ERIK ESTRADA, actor, producer, police officer, and humanitarian Order his book Outsider Agent: The Extraordinary Adventures of an Immigrant and Mystic in the FBI Check this out on Amazon Follow Anthony’s journey: Link tree https://instagram.com/anthony.arismendi?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Book website:  https://outsideragent.com/media Visit Sense of Soul at www.mysenseofsoul.com Do you want Ad Free episodes? Join our Sense of Soul Patreon, our community of seekers and lightworkers. Also recieve 50% off of Shanna’s Soul Immersion experience as a Patreon member, monthly Sacred circles, Shanna and Mande’s personal mini series, Sense of Soul merch and more. https://www.patreon.com/senseofsoul Thank you to our Sponsors!  KACHAVA: www.kachava.com/senseofsoul ATHLETIC GREENS:  https:// athleticgreens.com/senseofsoul  

Welcome to the Sense of Soul podcast. We are your hosts, Shanna and Mandy. Grab your coffee, open your mind, heart, and soul. It's time to awaken. Hey friends, if you are looking for ad-free Sense of Soul episodes, you can find them at Sense of Soul Patreon. Become a monthly member at any level. You will also have access to our monthly SOS Sacred Circles, our mini-series, merch, and

MuchBorn. And it's a great way to help support our podcast so that we can continue to bring you inspiring episodes twice a week with our enlightened guests from all around the world. Check out our Patreon. Today we have with us Anthony Arismendi. He is a former FBI agent with a highly decorated and distinguished career spanning over two decades of undercover operations against drug cartels, gangs, field offices and FBI headquarters, and as a unit chief in the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division. Today, he is the president and CEO of ERIXMAR Private Investigation, but he is here today to share with us his new book,

Outsider Agent, The Extraordinary Adventures of an Immigrant and Mystic in the FBI. And Mandy couldn't be with us today, so I invited my friend Ryan Jamieson with me. He has a lot of wisdom. He's very authentic, and I thought he would be a great co-host for today's episode. So welcome, Anthony. How are you? Good. How are you?

I'm good. Hi, Ryan. Hey, how are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm excited to talk, Ryan. Hey, how are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm excited to talk to you. Absolutely. I'm happy to be on your show.

Yeah. Ryan actually got a chance to read the majority of your book. Really? What did you think, Ryan? I liked it a lot. It was a pretty fun book to read. I'm probably in like the last chapter that like in the last, I'd say 16th or 8th of the book, but so far so good. It's a pretty exciting book to read. I'm probably in like the last chapter that like in the last, I'd say 16th or eighth of the book, but so far so good. It's pretty exciting book to read. Oh, thank you, Ryan. I'm glad you liked it. Yeah, I liked a lot of the stories about like your mom and stuff. And like, I could relate to a lot of it. It was an entertaining book. I'm enjoying it. That's great. And it's very spiritual. I'm a very spiritual person,

always have been. And that's something that a lot of people never really knew or don't know about me or may find out. And so and I think that, Ryan, you probably have stumbled on that. Yeah, I did notice that too. I was raised Catholic as well. So when you were talking about the rosary being important to you, and just a way for you to like chill out and get your peace of mind, I can relate to that too. Yep. I'm from a Catholic family as well and learned how to do the rosary with my mom. We have momos in Louisiana. I'm from New Orleans. And although I don't do the rosary anymore, you know, mala beads are much like that. With the mala, you know, the rosary is 54 beads. The mala is twice that, 180 beads. There 180 there's no accident you know there's just a lot of the parallels there that smack of hinduism and buddhism you know with a lot of the

other religions but you know it's all religions lead pretty much back to the same source and so so when did you come to america i came to the United States when I was 15 years old. So it all started Caracas, Venezuela. I grew up there and it's a pretty tough environment, very dangerous. From the moment you wake up to the moment you went to bed, it's just very dangerous. And so I was raised by a really strong family. And, you know, as dangerous as it was, my mom is very fierce, beautiful woman, but very, very fierce and very, and I like to call her like a she-wolf, you know, tigress. That's my

mom. She created this environment for us to protect us. So my formative years really were more about surviving and learning how to survive in a really dangerous environment and, you know, getting good grades and going to school. And, you know, as parents, they do whatever they can to make sure, you know, you're getting this education. And my mom was a very tough woman. And I do talk a little bit about it in the book about some of the things that she did. And I give an example, like we were getting portraits at a studio, you know, back in the day where you go and pay somebody to get your family portraits and all that. And then my mom had parked.

But this Russian woman thought that apparently my mom had taken the spot from her and was very upset. But my mom didn't know that. We were sitting in the back as my brother, me and my sister. And then the lady comes up to the car and catches my mom completely by surprise and either punches her or slaps her really hard and my mom and then walks away my mom turns red and she was uh an aquila cub scout then mother so she had her scout knife in her purse and so my mom and we're sitting in the back and she reaches in the

purse, pulls her knife out and then turns around and tells us to sit and stay. So of course I'm a little kid, but I'm, but I'm still very concerned, you know, in my head, like, oh my gosh, what is my mom going to do with that knife? So she opens the door and it goes right back. And then the lady gets in the car and then she shuts the door, starts rolling up the window and sees my mom approaching, apparently, with a knife. And my mom just literally punctures every single tire on that car. You know, like, pa, pa, pa. And then she just walks right back to our car. And the lady was just, I'm sure, shaken.

And like nothing happened. My mom was was just, I'm sure, shaken. And like nothing happened. My mom was just cool as a cucumber. Turns around, let's go. You know, we're going to have some ice cream or whatever. Went back to our house. You know, my grandmother is just like the devout Catholic, wears black, you know, every time anybody dies for seven years. And so my mom's telling her the story. And, you know, my grandmother is just like,

when she gets to the part where she pulled the knife out and, and then my grandmother covers her eyes, you know, like, Oh my gosh, you've killed a woman. No, she didn't. But so, you know, that was my mom. I mean, like if I got into a fight, if there wasn't any blood, it was just like, get up, you know, you know, keep on going. Or did I win? It was like that. And she wouldn't let up and then my mom and dad I guess found out about this master karate guy and I came to the U.S. in the in the mid 70s so so she put us in with this master karate guy who was from Miyagi Japan so he was like our own Mr.

Miyagi yeah and so you know at that time when I was growing up, there was very little, I mean, there was no social media, there were no computers, there were no nothing. I mean, we barely had TV. And so there wasn't really much to entertain. And there wasn't the only way for you to get things here or anywhere really was library and all that. So she put us in that and so that we could learn. And at some, my parents were just fighting like cats and dogs. They were in the final stages of getting divorced. And then my dad and my grandfather had seen what was coming in Venezuela. He was a businessman and had talked to my dad about it.

And the fallout between my mom and dad led us to my brother and I moved in with my dad. And then he made a suggestion that maybe we should move to Europe or maybe, you know, the United States. And my dad was educated here. He went to Cheshire Academy, spoke English perfectly. He loved the United States and had always talked about it. And so it was sort of a natural thing for him. And then we made a decision. And basically, we left and we didn't tell my mom.

So she wasn't tell my mom. She wasn't a happy camper and, you know, but it worked itself out. It ultimately was the best thing for everybody, but it was hard for her and it was hard. It was a, it was a journey, you know? So then I landed here at 15. I didn't speak any English. I was an adventure really. I was just taken by everything that I saw, you know, everything that I did. I just thought everything was magical. The U.S. was already part of, I mean, in the 70s, it was all the U.S., you know, blue jeans, rock and roll, and, you know, American flag.

And we were just coming out of Vietnam War. And, you know, I was born really like probably 16 years after World War II was over. So the reality is like a lot of Europe was decimated. You know, it's like the Ukraine, imagine flattened to the ground with no buildings. Well, take that and multiply it by every single country in Europe. So every single person in Europe is displaced.

Millions of people have died. And so a lot of the Europeans were moving all over the world and a lot of them went to South America. I to Venezuela you know Colombia Argentina everywhere so I grew up with a lot of these kids and so coming here was for me an adventure did you go back often to see your mom no no I didn't see my mom for the better part of a decade and things got worse after we arrived because my dad's plans sort of uh he got taken by by a guy that he had been courting wealthy Venezuelans and so my grandfather got ripped off and my dad did too and so we ended up pretty much losing everything and then my dad had to leave us we drove all the way from Miami to Salt Lake City,

supposedly to my dad was going to partner up with this guy. And to make a long story short, the guy really was the shyster. And so he took my dad for whatever my grandfather had set up, that they were going to open an insurance agency of some kind. And then my dad basically had nothing. So he had to resort to doing what old parents do, you know, what are you going to do? And so he met someone that he fell

in love with it, who he's been married to for 40 plus years now, close to 50 years. And then we worked it out that we were going to stay in Salt Lake City, my brother and I. And so, you know, I went through all kinds of different challenges, you know, to say the least, and homelessness and, you know, dealt with everything and ended up graduating from high school in Salt Lake. But, you know, having come from the environment that I was in, there was nothing you could put me into here in this country and in Salt Lake City at the time that would have compared to what I had been through. So, you know, even the person that had the worst, you would say, okay, this person, you know, has the worst situation ever. For me, that was nothing.

So I never saw myself as going through any kind of a bad situation. I saw it all as an adventure, really. I just saw that the sky was the limit and America was magical and I just loved it. And even though I went through some homelessness and had to resort to all kinds of different things to support myself, I still saw the magic in it. I just thought it was just amazing through my eyes. And then from there, I ended up staying with a friend that I had met in immersion school so that I could learn the language.

And then I went to the local high school. And then after my dad left, I was just floating around, really. I mean, I just took showers at the high school. And most people, in fact, nobody really knew what was going on. And I wasn't about to tell anybody that I didn't really have a home and I didn't have any money. So I just ate whatever, you know, was in the cafeteria. I took food from other kids.

And then the last month or two, I think, you know, I ended up staying with this gentleman. He's a former Marine. I think he was a Marine, but he fought during World War II against Japanese. And he knew something was up. I connected with him and then he offered me his man cave downstairs part of the house. And so I stayed and slept on the couch there until I finished high school. And then I reconnected with my mom. And in those days, it wasn't really like there's no internet. You just write letters. And so the letters take three weeks to get there and three weeks to come back.

So we reconnected. I didn't say anything to anybody, even my dad. My dad finally connected with this gentleman and sent me like 10 bucks. And then my mom, I don't know, she scraped together like 40 bucks. And then I was finally able to buy myself a pair of shoes and some shirts. But I was pretty much, yeah, didn't have much there. But after I graduated, I moved to California and, you know, kind of continue on. And a lot of that stories in the book, it goes into more details.

And I'm sure, Ryan, you had an opportunity to read. I think that one of the things that kept me is I always felt that there was another side to it all. There was this hidden side. You know, the spiritual side of me is always coming out because my dad is a very spiritual person. He's like, you know, Gandhi meets Santa Claus. And he was very philosophical and read a lot of interesting books when I was a kid and things that weren't really mainstream at the time, really, even and especially, you know, in a primarily Catholic environment, you know. So my dad was reading all these different books.

And, you know, and at the time, you know, the Hare Krishna movement was taking hold worldwide. So there were a lot of Hare Krishnas in Venezuela just chanting, you know. And so a lot of the thingsishnas in Venezuela just chanting, you know. And so a lot of the things, this mystical things attracted me. And I had a couple of events that happened to me when I was a kid that kind of just brought it out on me. At one time, I was on a swing, the makeshift swing that my uncle had made in the backyard. And then I fell and I knocked myself out completely. And I saw myself standing amongst my cousins. And I saw this kid, you know, just laying on the ground and I didn't know who the kid was. And so I'm trying to get my cousins to play with me, but you know, nobody's like

listening to me and I couldn't understand why. And then it took me a little bit and I recognized that the kid on the ground was me. And then after that, I was able to literally float around and see my uncle pick me up. And it took me to the hospital and all the different things that happened. And my mom talking to the doctor and I was able to describe all these things afterwards to my mom. And they were flabbergasted because like, how could I know all that? But I remember that experience stayed with me for a long, long, long time. And I had other experiences where I was spared, especially down there. I mean, spiders don't kill you.

Snakes don't kill you. Or if you happen to swim in the wrong river and it has piranhas in it, you're going to get eaten. If the piranhas don't eat you, then you could get kidnapped and killed and or something can happen to you and it was bad then so now i mean venezuela is on the news all the time and it's not for good things so those things put you on a 24 7 red alert you know it's not like you just can walk down your neighborhood just carefree and you know you always have on 24-7, your antenna is up. And so coming here, being wired that way, made me see how amazing the country was. But again, this spiritual little things that had happened, this incidents that had happened always

kept me open. And then of course, my dad being as spiritual as he was, and I didn't understand reincarnation, but I absolutely not believed that I knew that it was real. Because from the time I was a kid, I felt that I was an American. So my dad didn't understand this affinity I have for America. He just couldn't understand it, even though he was educated here. And even though he knew he loved it it and he wanted to relocate here, he just didn't understand it. And so being that there were no TVs and there was nothing for me to get any information from, my dad found it puzzling that I would talk a lot about the war, you know, which had just happened, which was World War II. And so on that I had a lot of

knowledge about tactics and movement of troops and things. And so I had talked to my dad about having died, you know, and I was a little kid. So my dad would scratch his head and try to question me and ask me like, well, what do you mean? You know, where, when? And so later, you know, as I was growing up, I knew that I had been an American soldier when I died in World War II fighting the Nazis. I knew in my heart of hearts, in my soul that I had happened. And I had this tremendous affinity for this country. And my dad would, you know, we've talked and he's told me along the way, like you would tell me the stories. And I'm like, there was no way for me to know any of this because there's no computers.

There's no TVs. I mean, the TVs are there, but there's no way for this little kid to figure out, you know, what the insignia on the helmet is or to know who what this general is or that, you know. And so all those things also stayed with me. And as you grow up, as kids grow up, they go through a period where all of a sudden these things kind of dissipate and disappear. And again, you know, once you're having to deal with the real world outside, you know, your four walls of your house and you're living in a very dangerous environment, you're in survival mode all the time. And so a lot of these things disappear, but they stay there because there are serendipitous, synchronous things that happen in your life that lead you to certain places and I had so many other incidents and throughout my life before I even became an FBI agent

and so all those I kept to myself for the most part some I shared with my parents and but they were meant for me you know we all have them they're just little incidents that happen here and there they are guiding you to keep you on a path, to keep you going in the direction that you need to be going. And my ancestors, my great-great-great-grandfather was the second in command of all the armies in the South American Revolution. So the revolution in South America was very much like the revolution here. You had George Washington and Jefferson, and they were basically trying to liberate themselves from the British crown, you know, the taxation without representation and all that. And in South America was very similar, except it wasn't England.

It was Spain. So my great great grandfather was general Eris Mendy and he was the second in command to Simon Bolivar, who was the George Washington of South America. So there's all these stories of the revolution. And then my great-great-grandmother was also a fierce woman who got captured by the Spanish and was taken to Spain to appear before the king. And, you know, they were using her as a pawn to get my great-great-grandfather to turn himself in. And they were having a really difficult time catching him, and they just couldn't take him out.

But she was young, beautiful, apparently didn't curtsy, didn't bow before the king, you know, so it created this big buzz there in the court. There was a British diplomat that was taken by her beauty, her charm, and so she was allowed to walk freely and became a little bit of a celebrity, conspired later to get her out to England. And then from there, she ended up in Philadelphia. And then after the South American Revolution, she went back. So all the stories of heartache and the love and all the trials and tribulations they

had to go through were told to me as a kid, as much as I could understand. And as an adult, I kind of forgot some of it until I was in college. And I was about to quit school because, you know, again, I didn't have any money to finish the semester. And I didn't have, I mean, I was just on a survival note. And I had been in this country just a few years. And so I was considering other options. And as I'm sitting in the library, I made a decision that I'm just going to go ahead and quit school because I just can't finish. And then I'd reached out my arm and I've been sitting in this place for several years studying, you know, like everybody picks a place in the library where they

can study. And so I reach out and I grab this gigantic tome. I put it in front of me. I open into the exact page and here's a portrait of my great, great, great grandfather. I'm stunned. And I look around and I'm like, oh my, what is this? And then I start reading and it's written in English. And so all the tomes on the side, I looked for the first time and I see, you know, South American Revolution. So I proceed to read this elaborate narrative that was very involved and very detailed. And it was something that I could understand as an adult, not as a kid story. And it told all these incredible challenges. And as I tell you this, I get chills because when I was done reading that, I realized that my ancestors were reaching from the other side, telling me,

no, you're not quitting school. No, you're not going to do that because it's like the butterfly effect. You know, something is guiding me so that I don't get off the path and the path is not for me to leave school. So here my ancestors are reaching out. I finished reading that. So at the time I was stunned. And so I called my ex-wife and there's no cell phones. There's no, I had to go to a pay phone, call her to pick me up at the library. So she's going to pick me up. And I told her, park the car, come up and I want to show you something. So I walk her through the whole episode. And then my ex-wife is like looking at me with her eyes like, oh my gosh, you know, and I thought that

was meant for me. And that was one of many situations, many whispers from the other side, either your guardian angels, your ancestors, you know, there's a whole world most people don't see. And, you know, we come to this planet and we live, what, 90 years, 100 years, you know, and then after we go, well, where do we go? We're not from here. We're from somewhere else. And that's where we go. We go back home. And so I think that most people think this is it. And it's interesting to me, especially with all the technology and all the discoveries that we've had, that people still believe that, you know, that what they're looking at is it. You know, but our bodies are nothing but flesh and blood. I mean, they're just primarily water. This is one of the reasons that I start really discovering.

It was a rediscovery because I already knew that I knew these things. And so the rediscovery process was studying a lot of esoteric things and reading about mystic things. And I got into astrology. And so I started really studying astrology. And I was set on becoming an expert as I could be, reading every book I get my hands on. And then I realized that there was something to it because, you know, your body is made out of water and the moon rules the oceans. So if you have this gigantic body called the moon, that's moving the tides of the ocean, what would make anybody think, me, you, or anybody else, that we are not impacted?

And if our bodies are 98% water, I mean, my gosh, it moves a gigantic wave, and my little body is not impacted by the planets. And so, I never proselyted, I never pontificated, I never said anything to anybody. I was on a quest to find these things for myself. And especially at a time when it wasn't mainstream. If you start talking about these things, they think they're crazy. And religious people, you know, it's not about religion. It's about being spiritual, about connecting with spirits. So what I noticed with the astrology was that there was a consistency to it. There was some element of it. It was interesting. And then the different signs, you you know if you're an Aries or a Cancer if you're a Capricorn and you know you could be a pure concentrated Aries because you

have so many planets in a particular house or a fire planet or you could be like a watered-down Aries you know like a cup of coffee I like to say like a cup of coffee you have pure coffee or you have a glass of water with three drops of coffee. That's still coffee, but it's very weak. And so I found it really interesting. And I also found it that I could sort of see and understand the personality. I didn't know what intuitive was. I just knew that I knew things. And so as I started connecting my intuitive abilities that I felt were part of something that was wired in me to survive, you know, in very dangerous conditions. But as I grew, I came to understand that I could sense things or see things. And then I was studying astrology, mystic, you know, teachings and things. And so, and I didn't share a lot with that with people.

First of all, for the reasons that I mentioned, and a lot of it is just for my own thing. I want to know for myself, what am I doing here? What, you know, what's the purpose of my life? You know, the perennial questions, you know, to be or not to be. I mean, what am I doing here? And so, as I started really, it's a thirst that I needed to quench because, and then of course, I'm in this new country and I'm starting to put the so as I continued my quest and my path, I started reading Paramahansa Yogananda's biography of a yogi. And I was reading, you know, Michael Newton's, you know, The Journey of the Souls, The Seat of the Soul, Gary Sukov, who was a former Green Beret, fought in Vietnam. I mean, so if you see him in the Oprah Winfrey show, he looks like the most calm person. But this guy was a guy like me. There is something to this. I was devouring, just reading as many books as I could.

The Puranas, the Vavakita. I started dabbling into Gnosticism and a lot of different paths. And then one thing that I could see was just this common thread, this real common thread. And then the astrology aspect of it, we affirm every single time I did a chart for somebody, I did a transit chart, or I tell them, don't tell me anything about you. I actually integrated it into my work as an FBI agent. But there's people, you know, and I don't know, I've never taken a survey, but there are people that are open to it that just won't talk about it. And nowadays is something that's just there, you know.

A bunch of closet spiritual people. Exactly. When you look at a nostological chart and you see, okay, here's the North Node, here's the South Node. Were you into it? And you can see, okay, well, this person was this in the past life and then they're pulling in this direction or their planets are pretty much on the upside on the top of the chart or the bottom of the chart and what does that mean well they're introverts or an extrovert on the left side they worked for everything on the left on the right side and so or the transits and the tri and the sex styles and and then what happens is that I would find myself just having

this like quiet kind of epiphanies where you don't share with anybody. We just kind of laugh by yourself. Like, oh my gosh, this is like, it it's there. And so it makes you questions like, okay, well, we do have free will. And at the same time, we do have a path to fulfill because we've come from, you know, the other side. And then now we wake up and mama, papa, and this is your name. And then this is how you have to go about your life. And these are the talents you've been given. These are the challenges you've been given. And there's no good or bad.

It's just the school, the school of life. And we go through that school of life. And then the only thing we take is our spirit. And the only thing we take is that vibrational field, but nothing else goes with us. And so what are we to do in that period of time is progression of the soul for us to progress spiritually. And then yes, you know, we get put with birds of a feather flock together, we get put with people that we resonate with, the vibrational fields. Everything is vibration. Everything is sound.

And then those sounds, you know, and then now scientifically, they know that. A lot of things that were written hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, I can only imagine somebody that picked up the book 300 years ago wouldn't understand it. It's gibberish. But nowadays we have science converging. It's gibberish. But nowadays, we have science converging. It's not diverging, converging with the spiritual, that the science itself is proving that all these things do exist, and we live with them. And so, when we have this vibrational field that attract us to certain kinds of music, certain kinds of people. And we have this mission, the purposes that we come to do. But if the person's not really living their

bliss, then things just don't flow the way they need to. And not everybody's purpose is the same as the other person. Right. You know, Anthony, I have to tell you, I know Ryan's thinking the same thing. There's been a lot of synchronicities and the things that you've said with Ryan and I, like our ancestor connected us. Ryan lives in Canada. I've never met him before. It was an ancestor of ours that reached through generations to connect him and I. And I swear, I feel like I've known Ryan known Ryan for well I'm sure I have known him in many other lives but isn't that crazy yeah yeah it's really interesting to me too because like

you said I keep coming back to this topic of our mutual ancestor and it's like I can't stop there's something beyond me driving me to follow up and through with this on every level of this particular journey and you're right like it's definitely them reaching out to us telling us we need to get stuff done today like now and dropping all these hints is not a coincidence and I don't think all these little things would come together like this unless there was more to it from outside of me because I sometimes I won't even know what I'm doing and I'll just be on the internet researching something and then I'll come across another tidbit or fact that ties into the story and it's just yes Anthony, our ancestor was a great shaman in the 1600s in Canada. And he is known as the apostate because the Jesuits came in and were basically forcing them to convert.

His name was Etienne Picaroche, you know, but he didn't have a resolution. Wouldn't you say that, Ryan? There was no ending to his story. So I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, he came to us. And then, so it's interesting that you said that your grandfather came through and was reaching. Do you feel like there was a purpose, like a specific purpose that he was? Absolutely.

You know, my studying of ancient scriptures and I devoured, you know, when I was an agent, I mean, most people like they're going on vacation in Cancun and, you know, what are you going to do? I didn't tell anybody. I told my business partner and my best friends, you know, he would know, and where are you going? I'm going to do Vipassana meditation in Northern California, where you go and do meditation for 10 days. You can't talk to anybody. You basically eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and you meditate for like eight hours. You know, that was like what I was doing. And I mean, I really threw myself into that. And then of course, at the same time, I'm doing organized crime, drugs, money laundering,

gangsters. So it's like, well, why would that be my purpose? Because everybody has a purpose. And my purpose was a warrior monk. And that's basically, I had to come to grips with this is my purpose. I go into a very dark environment. And so you have to maintain your field, your energy. But I feel that, yes, I think that they come through because, I mean, we're continuing. we're eternal spirits having human experience. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means that the human experience is short. It's 100 years. How could we possibly learn everything we need to learn as spirits in 100 year period?

We can't. It's impossible. You can't judge everybody the same way. You know, I used to think about that. I mean, I remember coming out of the FBI headquarters and looking around and seeing a homeless person and then looking at this other person and then just having this moment where I'm thinking to myself, well, how can everybody be judged the same? You can't, you know, everybody comes from a different walk of life. And so we have these bodies that we come into, we have these missions, these purposes that we come.

And so, and I think that we get nudged, you know, we make agreements in that in-between world where we agree to, and we are provided opportunities. And I came up with my own way of explaining. And I said, look, it's like the phone that you have. You have an iPhone, I assume. And then if you have, you know, AT&T or Verizon or whatever, then the phone itself is nothing but hunk of metal glass. It's pretty to look at, but it has no purpose other than paperweight unless you activate it. And how do you activate that? Well, Verizon Heaven puts the spirit into it. Right. And now you have a number. Now you can call your friends. Now you can download your memories, okay, from the previous phone, the previous

lifetime. And let's just say the phone, we'll use the phone as the, it's the body, the human body. That phone lives 100 years. What happens when that phone breaks and it doesn't work anymore? Then you can't call anybody and it just becomes just a lifeless body, if you will. Well, that lifeless body has no purpose. So now you have to go back to Verizon heaven and say, hey, can I have another one? Yeah, we don't have that model anymore. We have the iPhone 13 plus whatever. And so, okay, no problem. And then guess what? The moment your phone breaks, that line, that spirit still there, it just needs to be activated. The difference is that human beings, for the most part, don't have the ability to download

all the memories from the previous phones they have. They don't have the ability to download all that information. And so they have to rediscover it all over again. Imagine having a phone where you have to program every single friend, every single memory, and you have to start from scratch. Well, we've advanced from those days. And by the way, I remember those days. I remember the first brick phones and the phones were, you know, if you lost it or broke it, you had to program every, every phone.

And we've progressed from that to this phones where you, when you change phones, you don't even miss the last one. You don't miss your last body. The body is gone. It doesn't matter because the body there was there to serve a purpose for you to have these lessons and then move on to the next phone. And then, so when you get that brand new phone again, and that phone's called Ryan, and then you wake up and you start a new journey, then hopefully some of those memories get downloaded and those connections are made. And all of a sudden there's this recognition that when you connect with Ryan, you go, wait a minute, I know you, I know you. And then you have

this conversation, but it's just sort of an instant recognition. And then why? Because you are to continue this journey and getting our spirits to learn the lessons. You know, most people think that we are just alone in the universe. We're not. I mean, we're this little tiny grain of sand in this gigantic universe full of galaxies, and we're just one of them. There's billions and billions of suns. So, you know, in our lifetime, we may not see it, but in lifetimes to come, we'll see, you know, Mars and we'll have humans traveling. But the reality is that it's just grander scheme of things. It's so gigantic, so enormous beyond comprehension, but we're part of that. And in being part of that is our spirits evolving, our spirits learning lessons, and then doing the things we came here

to the planet to do. And for me, I was born in Caracas and went through the journeys and all that. All along, I had guides and I had protectors because there were so many things prevented me from having a fatal end, dreams and things, and things that happened to me while I was working as an FBI agent that really were prompted, were promptings that I received one night and the next day is exactly what I saw, you know, so to protect me, to guide me, to get me going in a direction. And so you connecting with was no accident. There are no accidents. Really, everything is by divine timing. Everything is already synchronized. And so people would say, well, then do I have free will? Of course you have free will. We all do. It's like when you take your kids to the sandlot, you know, to play at a park. Then when you get there, you park the car, you let the kids go out, and now they can choose to play wherever they want. If they get out of the area that you've designated that they don't need to get out, that's when you intervene. But otherwise, you let them play and you let them do and they're

going to learn and they're going to do and you sit there as a parent. And that's what the universe does with us. And we have to learn. And so you reconnect for this period of time. And then a lot of times the veil is there so that a person doesn't get caught up trying to figure out if they were, you know, Cleopatra in a past life and spend the next 30 years trying to learn everything about Cleopatra, because who cares about that? What we need to worry about is the now, the here and now. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to be written. And what we have is the now. So the now, this very moment talking to you and Ryan is what we have.

And then so how do we build from here? What kinds of the recognitions that you have? And then when you start having those and you live from that, then the synchronicities and the serendipities happen almost every single second. Yeah. They're just everything that comes to you. You see the numbers. You see this. You see comes to you see the numbers you see this you see signs you see the bird land everything has a meaning if you're open to that meaning everything has a meaning and it's not like going overboard it's just being part of like the matrix like

literally seeing the matrix but seeing the numbers you know kind of like neo in the movie where you're just in and you understand that this is what this is, then what do you do? Well, then you've already come to recognition that you are that eternal spirit having that human experience. And so, therefore, what would my purpose be? Well, the progression of my soul and in the betterment and helping and giving and touching all those people who may not be open to these things. And they may not, in the physical sense, be open to it and in the mind sense, because it's mind, body, spirit. But their spirit is, but their bodies and minds may not be.

And it just takes that one little spark or that little opening. And it also may be that that person in their lifetime is not going to receive that because they are to learn other lessons. You know, there's different levels. It's like a school, you know, you have kindergartners, you have first graders, second graders, you have 12 graders. And you could have a lot of spiritual students all in the same school in the same place at the same time and some with different understandings of what's happening and that's okay too and that that's the beauty of it because we have compassion think about when you were fifth grade and then you have a first grader having problems and you think their their problems are nothing but to them they're huge like when you

have your son or daughter having a situation at school you have compassion for them because you've been there and you know that that's a silly thing, but they don't understand it yet. And to them, it's very real and the feelings are really just there. And so, you come in as that person that has been there and done that, and you show the compassion and you help them make it through. You're the steward to help those spirits, your kids, get through what they need to. And that's really how it works. I mean, as above, so below. We are just fractal. For me personally, you know, having gone through that journey, becoming an agent, and as was an agent, I knew it. I understood it. I felt it. And I continue that path. But of course, you know, when you're a

first responder, or when you're working in the military, you're a cop, you're a fireman. I mean, my job as an FBI agent, I work doing undercover operations, organized crime, drugs, money laundering, gangs, violent crimes. It's a very dark area that you go into because, you know, I mean, I'm going into places most people are running out of. Okay, that's where you go. You go to the place nobody wants to go in. So how do you protect yourself? How do you, you know, and all those things serve me, serve me because I knew that this is my purpose and I have to embrace what my purpose is. And so one of the reasons that I wrote the book and the book is not necessarily what people think

it is because I didn't want it to be a shoot himup book. I want it to be a story that you're hearing because this is really the story. And if it's there, you read some of it, Ryan, so you know that all of it is there and as you get through the book. But it's about that. It's just a mirror. You look at this and you see yourself

because you have that story. And it helps you in whatever. I mean, give hope and obviously inspiration, but also a recognition, you know, recognition that we have this common thread called the soul, the soul connections that we have. Yeah. And I did relate to pretty much all your stories about growing up and like with mama stopping the gang all by herself and all this like it's all very relatable

stuff you're right and it all does relate to the soul essentially but it's told in a way that just makes sense and is easy to digest it does still have some of the action parts like you said but I'm enjoying it a lot and I do relate to it on the level that you just mentioned also uh synchronicity is that i've been like researching and i you know i'm pretty sure that i was an investigator or some sort of agent in my past life i'm pretty good at diving but the gnostic i've been studying them for the past year or over a year now yeah very interesting it's amazing isn't it yeah i actually i have a whole side podcast just about uh basically the pissa sophia is mind-blowing to me growing up catholic as well you know i'm like we even like to well you know a lot of things were taken out

of the original bible and you know there's just a lot of things i mean you look at the council in mycia you know then they took out a lot of the books out of the Bible because they touched on reincarnation, you know. And but reincarnation is still in the Bible. I mean, there are a lot of. You know, I always thought it was hilarious. Jewish people believe in reincarnation. Jesus was Jewish. I'm like, hello, people. Well, you know, and it was threatening because, I mean, I think that maybe at the time and at those times, it felt like, you know, if you tell the populace, you know, that they're going to live one life and that's it.

So you better get it right. And they won't just like sit down and think that, OK, well, you know, I'm going to come back again. So maybe I'll just chill out during this lifetime. You know, I think that, you know, sometimes, you know, what happens is that the motivations are there, you know, but then all of a sudden it gets painted by, you know, the human element, you know, that they start twisting things around and hundreds of years pass. And then you have to have, you get these things that are conflicting. And so, yeah, I grew up Catholic and I always felt that there was something else, there were things. And so my discovery was, you know, like you guys is, you know, it was just a spiritual discovery where I was able to quench that thirst for myself

and could come to the understanding and also spiritual understanding of who I am, what I'm doing here, what's my purpose. And does that change the path? It does because it does change, you know, your outlook on life. But I always had that. And it's also a blessing in ways because you're being gifted the ability to, or you're guided to the book. Like you said, Ryan, you know, you're guided to the keystrokes, you know, where you find

something when you're Googling or you're researching. And then you come into something. And what's interesting about all of it is coming from the world I come from, most people would never expect to have the conversation I'm having with you guys now. In fact, I don't even think you guys expected it. But it's something. It's so much part of me that it's who I am. But it doesn't take away from the fact that I have a path and I have a different path to somebody else. And once you come to the realization, then that's when we collectively as humanity, and that's really the goal was humanity.

There are many more people that are really open to spirituality. There are a lot of people that are at the cusp of it. Some of them have just embraced it completely, and other ones are just dabbling in it and exploring it. And I think that the technology and the fact that we can communicate and connect the way we do, it really makes it so that people can find for themselves what they need to find, and they no longer can be kept in the dark you know nobody can be kept in the dark about anything of course you have to sit through and see what's fake and what's not because then you know there are people out there who will put stuff up that you know

it's not real i've heard of the analogy of a spirit being like a radio signal and your body being uh like more of like a stereo or a radio that receives the signal. But I like your analogy better of the cell phone because that way it accounts for past memories and past stuff because being downloaded into you kind of, whereas a radio signal wouldn't transfer that over. So I just wanted to let you know, I really, really like that. That was an amazing perspective. I agree, Ryan. And then I was like, wait a know, I really, really like that. That was an amazing perspective. I agree, Ryan.

And then I was like, wait a second, are we AI? Yeah, you really look at your phone. I mean, you have phones and you look at your phone and you think, okay, if I take care of it, it'll last for whatever period of time they determined that it's supposed to last. Right. And then, but if you don't, then you break it, then it's okay. You don't want to break it, but you go, you're going to have to come out of pocket and get a new one. But you for sure know that you can download that spirit into the next phone when it's available.

Because you may have to wait in line because there's nobody available for you to reincarnate into. Or maybe you have to wait for the new iPhone to come in and you want to buy that one. Then you go through the whole process of being reborn, you know, as a phone and then trying to figure out if it's the same as the last one or it's got a few more features. It's got a little camera here and there. But all you want to know is that you can download your memories and humanity is moving in the direction that we can do that. I think as we've evolved, a lot of it has been kept from your average person because again, you know, they'll get caught up. You know, maybe it's not a good thing for them to know all about past lives, maybe too much for the spirit. So they're going to be predisposed. You know, you're a mom and, you know, when you see kids, they have certain idiosyncrasies

that you can't really tell where is that coming from? Why do you like this like that? I don't know. And kids will say things that make you scratch your head. And even if you're not spiritual, like I did with my dad, where parents go like, what was that? You know, but what's interesting is that all those memories, all those things are there to be had. And as humanity moves forward, we'll be able to do like the phones do. And when you look back at the first phones, they didn't have the capability. They did not have the capability. That's something new. That's something that's happened in the last 10, 15, 20 years.

And so now that we're here, you have access to everything. So could you imagine as a human being born and having access to every single memory for every single lifetime that you've ever had, but you know, you're physically here and you know, every single contact you've ever made with Ryan and all the people, and even having this conversation, this is no accident. It is what it is. And so when we get to that point and we're almost there, I mean, the internet itself and social media and all that is connecting us in a way, but still, it's separated.

When we can do that with our bodies, like you said, Ryan, like the antenna aspect of it, and we can. I mean, we are constantly receiving energy. People say, well, I don't see frequencies and energies. And I say, well, if you take a lump of a radioactive material and you put it in front of a person, you think they're not going to get those gamma rays? You may not see them, but they're going to get sick and die. So there's frequencies and vibrations happening all around us all the time. And you can take a chunk of this

radioactive material that looks like a stone and it's sending energies and it can definitely kill a person or you can take a quartz and put it in front of somebody and the person says oh yes there's energies coming off of that people may not believe that but there are energies coming off of that their energies were surrounded with them and so we're continually downloading and there's all kinds of different frequencies. And we ourselves live in a frequency. It's the sheet of music, you know, there's octaves. And so what octave are we in? And what octave are we going to? That's the whole fractal aspect of it. And the fractal aspect of it is how our souls move forward and continue on.

And the grander scheme of things is something that we'll, I guess, discover and it won't be through our minds or bodies because our minds are finite as to what they can understand. So these are the mysteries and mysteries and mysteries. But when we uncover them, as you guys have and we're discussing, and people will get to a certain degree, certain levels of it. And I certainly don't know everything. And I don't. But I'm learning, you know, and I think that the part of it that really attunes us to all of it is your spirit. So taking a moment to meditate every single day through, you know, yoga. I mean, you see that, but what is it?

It's fine tuning the body to get all these little quirks out so that it can tune in. Tuning in means just being one with mind, body, spirit, and just bringing it in and then being inspired. And where do you see that? You see that with great musicians, you know, you're there in Colorado. So, you know, you know, at Red Rocks, you know, you see these musicians channel music. Where'd it come from? Artists, you know, where's it come from? It comes from there. It comes from that akashic records that we all have access to some people don't know how to tune into it or how to tap into it when i see that people are opening to it and coming to it and but you can still be in your world you can still like the things you like and i don't for the most part honestly i i don't proselyte i don't pontific I don't, if someone talks to me about it and they're open to it, I'm totally open to discussing

it. But I don't, for the most part, go out and just initiate some spiritual conversation because not everybody's open to it. Well, and I can only imagine that you were a very good private investigator using intuition, using the synchronicities, it's like when you are aligned, it's like you get that validation, like, oh, yeah, you're on the right trail. Like, it's almost like we are wolves on the hunt. And it's like, you're sniffing out this. Yeah. And then it's like, you're on the right path. And there's all of these validations. Don't you agree, Ryan?

I totally agree. Like even before I was researching what you and I are talking about, I was researching the same topic. So I knew a lot about it. And then my personal story got tied into all this stuff. I was obsessed with maps before this. So I was always looking at old maps and it discussed a lot of this stuff so I kind of knew all the backstory already so that just proved to me there too that it was preparing

me to do something I still don't know what it is but I know I'm on the right path because these clues or whatever hints keep coming up so yeah yeah yeah I can't ignore it. I can't deny it. Other people would say maybe I'm being a little fantastical or something, but it's just undeniable at this point. If you know what I'm talking about and understand it, which you guys do, you know, but it's really interesting and something else. And even with the astrology stuff, I've always been interested in astrology, but since I've had my kid, I noticed usually about once a month or so he was getting really grumpy so I just made a chart of when he would have his weird behavior and I figured out that two days before the full moon everyone there's no exception two days before

the full moon he turns into a wild man and he gets a weird look in his eyes and everything. And even my wife doesn't believe me at mapping it out because I was like, there's got to be something to this. And it is. It's two days before the full moon. My kid gets a little strange, like a werewolf, I guess. But it's just it's just interesting because I would have never thought that it could be that predictable. It sounds like it's like, you know, you're just basing something on the moon floating in the sky. But after seeing this, it just proved to me it's real.

Yeah, you know, and it's interesting because, you know, the planets are going to do their cycles and their circumpopulation, you know, when, where we like it or not, they're going to do it for eons to come. And they did it before we came to the planet and they're going to continue to do it. So through observation, really a lot of discoveries that happen have been through experimenting. And what is experimenting is watching something and then observing and

they're taking notes and then they observe, you know, and then Copernicus, you know, the apple fell from the tree and then what happens? And so he writes some notes and then, and then you start just deriving, you know, conclusions out of events and things that happen. And so the planets are going to do this thing, and they do impact us. And we're just little protoplasms walking around on Earth. I mean, the moon is the perfect example, but, you know, the moon is one of many planets, you know, and then we have all the other planets in our solar system that are impacting us. They're impacting life on the planet. And, you know, you hear Mercury retrograde all the time. That's like the most popular one. But what happens is really that it impacts the humanity and the way the individual interacts,

you know, during the course of a normal situation, you know, everything looks the same. During that period of time when Mercury does its thing, its retrograde, it changes the way the individual, every individual sees things a little bit differently. And it impacts them physically. And I mean, the proof is like, okay, if you drink a cup of coffee, what does it do to you? What if you drink a cup of coffee, what does it do to you? What if you drink 10 cups of coffee? You're going to start shaking and you can take something that can impact your body and the way you think and the way you feel. It doesn't take much for the human body to go off just so grounded, it doesn't take much coffee.

It could be too much of a prescription, too much food, bad food. Our bodies are just these chemical factors that can be affected with the slightest thing. The planets do these gigantic things. They just seem so surreal, but they do. When they do, they do impact us. You know, I've seen it for myself, like you were saying with your son, you know, I'm sure there may be other things, but the reality is that it does, it does impact us. If the moon is affecting us in that way, when I think about like all of the cosmic rays of the sun

and the storms and stuff that we rarely pay attention to, But I'm sure that has, you know, similar significant effects to humans. Absolutely. I do believe that we get impacted by a lot of those things. And it impacts our bodies, and then therefore it impacts our lives. And that's one of the reasons that why do we want to take care of our human bodies or our phones, because then we can have that human experience, Being in the world, experiencing the world, but not necessarily taking it in. I think, you know, one of the biggest things that humanity deals with in this lifetime is, you know, fear. You know, everything is about fear. I mean, one of the big lessons is how do you overcome fear? But what is the fear? Is the fear, really, the

root of fear is the fear of death. You know, the person fears losing a job because they can't make money because if they don't make money, they won't be able to eat or pay the rent and end up on the street and then die. So all of it goes right back to the fear of death. But then what happens when you die? Well, you don't die because your spirit goes on forever. So when we come to that place, then we start really functioning from a reality that there is plenty, there's abundance, there's no lack. And so it all comes from fear, you know, the cousins of fear, jealousy and anger and all that. But it's all about fear. Every single thing that every person does, if you look at the root of it is fear.

When you are present, it's kind of hard to be in fear because usually it's either something in the past or something that you fear in the future. So being present is just so important. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. And a lot of it is just when you're present in your body and something that comes up that somehow triggers you, just allow them to be and then sit with them and let them, you know, just simmer. It allows for it to dissipate and to move forward and you're done with it. A lot of human beings, that's just the human nature, is we hold on to a lot of different things that we don't deal with. The universe is going to present opportunities over and over and over to resolve a situation.

And if that situation doesn't get resolved, it's going to present itself again. Yep, become a loop. So I'm very curious. Ryan and I both, we like symbolism. So looking at the name of your company, Eric Smart, what does the word mean and the logo? Yeah, it's the first three letters of my last name.

So it means mountain and then X, ocean. So mountain and ocean. And then the symbol is really my family coat of arms. My great, great, great, great grandfather. You know, it's my family coat of arms. I love that. I had a feeling it meant something. You know, I thank you so much I think you brought

a lot of wisdom your story is amazing God you would be so fun to do an investigation with well sounds like you're already the quite the investigator yeah you know it's uh I really appreciate it it's's been a journey. We're all on a journey. Every single soul, every single person. And, you know, I get asked all the time, you know, what do I hope people mirror. You know, I come obviously from a different kind of world, you know, and then you wouldn't expect this spiritual discussion that we're having. But I do come from that world. In fact, if anything, my career brought it more out in me because I could see things that were unexplainable. And so it made me even more spiritual, believe it or not. And so I hope that it does, you know, inspire, it does give hope. It's got something for everybody. You know, people will relate to different things to it, but it's the common threat there

is to be connected with your spirit, with your, and never give up on the things that you want to do, the dreams that you have. You know, I had the dreams that I had and I was able to fulfill them. But I also know that I wasn't alone. You know, I was able to draw on my mysticism, a drawing from the signs that I was given. And sometimes it was blatant, like so blatant that I could not ignore them in my face type. It wasn't like, okay, I think that was a sign. I think maybe somebody's trying to tell me something. It was like, no, you're going to, we need you to do this. So, and we have those signs and we need to follow them and

be open to it. I've been following mine a lot more in the last five to seven years. And I would say that's where the most positive growth in my life has happened. I've always had signs and been able to pick up on stuff similar to you since I was a kid. But when I was about 18 or 19, I just blocked it all out and didn't really get back into it or give it much credit or stuff until the last seven or eight years. But now that I accept that stuff and realize that it's a hint and follow those, my life is way, way way better and I think it's just from listening to the things that are put in front of me instead of trying to live a life according to someone else's vision of a success or something you follow your passion what that is you know some people's passions are different than other people's you know everybody has a different

makeup everybody has a complete different makeup. And you just have to follow that, whatever that is for you. And when he resonates with you, it may not be what maybe your parents want you to do or what your friends think you should do. Hey, Anthony, tell us about your friend, Larry Cano. He's a great writer. He had done a movie, Silkwood, and he was very elemental in helping me bring the stories to life. So just a great guy, great individual.

I'm really grateful that we have a friendship and that we were able to help me bring those stories to life. Can you also tell our listeners where they can find your book and anything else you would like anything else they can follow me on instagram at anthony.arismendi and then anthonyarismendi.com and the book you can find it on amazon outsider agent it's on audible too as well i picked it up at both spots yes yeah yeah so there's a there's a kindle ebook there's a paper book, hard book, and then Audible. Yeah, I'm all about Audible.

I can clean a whole house with one book. It's awesome. And now it's time for Break That Shit Down. Okay, I'll share with the world my favorite quote. It's not the critical count, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again,

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt wrote it in 1910. Oh, really? That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. That's how Teddy Roosevelt gave that speech in 1910. Oh, really? That's amazing. Yeah. That's how Teddy Roosevelt gave that speech in 1910. And it stuck with me because it's not about what people say, but it's about the person, the individual that's in the arena. Memorized it a long time ago, and it's carried me through. Yeah, that's a good one.

Thanks for sharing that. I feel like I want to go look at the words and actually read that and soak it in. Thank you for that. And thank you for coming on. You're welcome. And Ryan, thank you as well for filling in for Mandy. I really appreciate it. It's been fun.

Thank you for having me. Thank you, Brian. And till next time. Thank you. Great chatting with you today. Many blessings. Namaste. Thank you.

Namaste. Thanks for being with you today. Many blessings. Namaste. Thank you. Thanks for being with us today. We hope you will come back next week. If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate, like, and subscribe. Thank you. We rise to lift you up. Thanks for listening.