The Rich Roll Podcast - IN-Q Wants You To Inquire Within

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

As we navigate this perilous moment, may we find some sliver of grace. May we embrace beauty. Choose curiosity over rigidity. Compassion and fullness of heart over closed mindedness. And social connection over geographic isolation -- even if it be temporarily virtual. Difficult times across history have always resulted in explosions of creative expression. Art as a means of better understanding our shared human condition. Few people embody this ethos more thoroughly than today’s guest, one of my very favorite people breathing air on planet Earth. Generous, present and deeply curious, he goes by the moniker IN-Q. Long-time listeners will fondly recall our two previous sit-downs (RRP #81 & #118 back in 2014) and his appearance at our more recent live event (RRP #473). For those new to the show, prepare to be amazed. IN-Q is a National Poetry Slam Champion, award-winning poet, spoken word artist and multi-platinum songwriter who has shared the stage with everyone from Barack Obama to Eminem. Named to Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 list of the world’s most influential thought leaders, IN-Q is the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque Du Soleil and has been featured on A&E, ESPN, and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. Inspiring audiences around the world through his live performances and amazing storytelling workshops, his poetry videos have a habit of going viral, clocking over 70 million views to date. Following in the tradition of some of the world’s great poets, IN-Q crafts verse that not only entertains, but challenges listeners to take a deep look inward, and consider their place in the world, their impact on the environment, and to recognize the threads of loss, forgiveness, transformation, and belief that are woven into all of our lives.  Today he shares his story, wisdom, and unique gifts. The occasion for this particular conversation is Inquire Within, IN-Q’s long-awaited, wholly original, deeply authentic and inspiring new book. Hitting shelves everywhere this week, the book — and this conversation — is a contemplation of universal issues: love, loss, forgiveness, transformation, and belief. This conversation was recorded pre-pandemic. However, the wisdom is timeless. Shining a light on the shared human condition, IN-Q provides a dynamic lens through which to think about ourselves and the world -- something we need now more than ever. Today I shine that light on him. And what a glorious exchange it is. The visually inclined can watch it all go down on YouTube. In addition to the two poems performed during the podcast, we also filmed a third poetic performance post-podcast which you can view here. And as always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Provocative, entertaining and refreshingly honest, IN-Q is unlike any other. May his presence, wisdom, experience, and poetry help you reimagine your truth. Peace + Plants, Rich Roll

First of all, however anybody finds creativity in whatever genre they find it in, I'm stoked. Because right now people need to use their voices more than any other time in history. And they have the ability through technology to do that. So everyone absolutely needs to be pursuing their creative voice in any way that they can. needs to be pursuing their creative voice in any way that they can. And to listen to your own true voice, because that is going to be the compass that is going to move you forward in life the way that you want to be moved forward. And I would say ultimately that's the lesson that I've been trying to teach myself over and over with my poetry, is to be quiet enough to hear my own voice, because that voice always tells me what I

need and where I need to go next. That's in queue and this is the Rich Roll Podcast. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. How you guys doing? What's happening? My name is Rich Roll. I am your host. This is my podcast. Welcome. weirder by the hour. And amidst the restlessness of our sequestration, the apocalyptic eeriness of empty streets and closed businesses, the harrowing stories of healthcare workers on the front lines, the lives lost, the lives threatened, the progressive dismantling of economies and the fear that accompanies all of it like a constant companion, there is this unmistakable sense

that the world has not only changed, but that it is indelibly and forever altered. And the valence of this shift remains to be seen, I think, but I'm holding space that it will ultimately serve as a wake-up call, a wake-up call to catalyze positive change and elevation of conscious awareness, a shift in priorities,

a transcendence of broken systems and behaviors that have led us to this place, ultimately to be replaced by a more elevated approach to both governance and life, a more compassionate relationship with our brothers and our sisters, a right sizing of our relationship with the material world, with our base materialistic urges, which will lead us to a greater nexus of understanding that everything is truly globally connected and a more sustainable relationship between humans and the biosphere.

Amidst it all, may we find some sliver of grace. May we embrace beauty, choose curiosity over rigidity, compassion and fullness of heart over closed-mindedness, and connection over isolation, even if it be temporarily virtual. Difficult times across history have always resulted in explosions of creative expression, the shared human condition writ large through art. And few people embody this ethos more thoroughly, more beautifully than today's guest, one of my very favorite people breathing air on planet Earth, a beautiful, generous, present, deeply curious, and uniquely gifted man that goes by the moniker NQ. our two previous conversations, episodes 81 and 118 back in 2014,

or more recently from our live event, which I shared with all of you guys in episode 473. For those newer to the show, it's fair to say that you are in for a most delicious treat. NQ is a National Poetry Slam champion, award-winning poet, spoken word artist, and multi-platinum songwriter who has shared the stage with everybody from Barack Obama to Eminem. Named to Oprah's Super Soul 100 list of the world's most influential thought leaders, InQ is also the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque du Soleil and has been featured everywhere from A&E to ESPN and HBO's Deaf Poetry Jam. Inspiring audiences around the world through his live performances and amazing storytelling workshops, which I highly recommend if you ever have the

opportunity to participate in one. I have, it's amazing. InkyQ's poetry, his videos have a habit of going viral, clocking over 70 million views to date. Following in the tradition of some of the world's great poets, NQ crafts verse that not only entertain, but challenge all of us to take a deep look inward and consider our place in the world, our impact on the environment environment and to recognize the threads of loss, forgiveness, transformation and belief that are woven into all of our lives. He's provocative, he's entertaining, he's honest. He's a beautiful man,

unlike anyone I've ever previously met and his wisdom and grace is coming up in a couple of few. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts

and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an

online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life and recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one

need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because, unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an

online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients

to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Okay. So the occasion for this particular conversation, above and beyond the simple fact that any conversation with InQ is a welcome and delicious treat, is InQ's long-awaited, deeply authentic, and really very inspiring new book called Inquire Within that's out this week. And the book and this conversation, both of which I should add were respectively written

and conducted before our world changed, is really a contemplation of universal issues, love, loss, forgiveness, transformation, and belief, themes I think we can all agree are more relevant today than ever. NQ has a very developed facility for shining a light on the human shared condition, a dynamic lens through which to think about ourselves and the world. And today I shine that light on him

and oh, what a glorious exchange it is. One quick thing, again, this conversation was recorded on February 3rd before the pandemic changed the world. Q was originally slated to perform a slew of live shows surrounding the release of his book this week, which we discuss in the conversation, but which of course have all been since canceled. And although a small matter in the grand scheme of what we are all managing at the moment, my heart nonetheless goes out to him

for the heartbreak of attempting to birth a book, the result of years of creative toil into a world that's really crippled by events beyond our control at the moment. And yet I think his work and his voice and his words are needed now more than ever. It's a salve to our souls. So if this conversation speaks to you, and I know it will,

do me and yourselves a favor and pick up a copy of his book, Inquire Within. Final note, in addition to the video version of this podcast on YouTube and the two poems that he performs at the beginning and the end of this conversation, subsequent to our podcast, NQ performed an additional third poem, which we filmed, and that is also viewable as a standalone piece on my YouTube channel at youtube.com forward slash ritual. So check that out. Okay, enough for me.

Let's hear from the man himself. Please enjoy the presence, the wisdom, the experience, and the poetry flex courtesy of my friend, Inkyu. We begin. Why don't you kick us off? This first piece is called Father Time. I'm staring at the number wondering if I should call. I can hear the tick-tock from the clock on the wall as it meshes with the thump-thump beat of my heart.

Sometimes getting something started is the hardest part. I didn't meet my dad until I was 15. I'd seen his photograph, but his image was sickening. A coward with a dick, but no balls to back it up. See, when he left me as a kid, I had cause for acting up. The funny thing about hate is the person you hate doesn't feel that hate. You feel that hate, but wait. The wait can be too much for a person to take, and personally, I was hurt, so I just locked it away.

I was angry all the time, and I didn't know why. I couldn't handle my own rage, so I would hide it inside, pretending everything was fine, became a daily pastime. Time passed, and I started to believe in my own lies. I took it out on my mom because she raised me alone. The rage that I couldn't own had left me totally numb. It was like laying mines in my mind that I didn't understand, so when the boy inside cried, the young man outside yelled. the young man outside yelled. I think I learned about my masculinity from TV. The people weren't real,

so I knew they couldn't leave me. I would sit there for hours, right in front of the tube. The images that I saw were my depiction of truth. It was manhood in a box, and I bought into it. The censorship of anything inside of me that's sensitive, the sentence is a lifetime of tears suppressed in a stone face, an overblown ego they've distracted through a paper chase. Back when I was nine, I imagined in my mind that my father was a spy working for the FBI. And that's why he couldn't stop by, write or drop a line. He was off saving our lives from the bad guys.

But that was just a lie that I used to get by so that you wouldn't see the tears welling up in my eyes. wouldn't see the tears welling up in my eyes. When you're rejected by the person that you're created by, you secretly feel like you don't have a right to your life. I thought if I confronted him, it would make it all right. But since I couldn't forgive him, it just recycled my spite. But since I couldn't forgive him, it just recycled my spite. I remember meeting him for the first time. Every time a person passed by, I would ask, Mom, is that him? I look a little like him, right?

No? Oh. What about that guy? And that was what it was like to meet the man that gave me my life. To shake his hand and look into his eyes. We talked till he apologized, then said our goodbyes. I walked away on my own, then I began to cry. Now, for years after that, I acted like it was all resolved.

I told him what I thought, so I figured problem solved. But it just re-evolved. My insecurities were eating at my mental health. I took it out on the world because I hated myself. That's when I finally decided I needed some help. I opened up. I started writing and sharing about my past. I got honest with myself and I started chipping at my mask. I looked into the mirror and confronted what I saw.

Accepting the reflection by embracing every flaw, then directing the connection into breaking down the walls by reflecting the perfection of the God inside us all. I stopped focusing on everything that I had been hateful for and started focusing on everything that I could be grateful for. And personally, there is a lot I can be thankful for. If pain is dragging you down, just cut the ankle cord. That's when the weight lifted and I really started living. That's when my hate shifted and I really started giving.

It's when my fate twisted. It was like an ego exorcism. Your mind state can be the most powerful of prisons. My father never played catch with me or gave advice. But if nothing else, that man gave me my life. And that's enough for me. If that is all he could ever give. Because I'm appreciative for every day I get to live.

And even though I don't need my dad to validate me, I thought that I should write this poem to thank him for creating me. Because every moment that we are alive is like a gift. And if that's not enough to forgive, then what is? I'm staring at the number wondering if I should call. I'm staring at the number wondering if I should call. I can hear the tick-tock from the clock on the wall as it meshes with the thump-thump beat of my heart. Sometimes getting something started is the hardest part. I pick the phone up.

The dial tone begins to sing. I punch his number into it and it begins to ring, ring, ring. Hello, Mike. Hey, man. It's, uh, it's Adam. Your son. It's all in there, man. There's a whole life packed into that poem. Yeah. And I've heard you perform it a number of times. Every time I hear it,

I get something new and more nuanced out of it. And then reading it on the page is a whole different experience. I was sort of, you probably saw me, I was like tracking it on the page as you were reciting it. And it just continues to kind of reveal itself to me. Thank you. You know, there's a lot of layers to it. And there's a whole, like your whole life story is basically in there. Yeah. You know what I mean?

And it continues to reveal itself to me too. How has that evolved and changed? Because you wrote this a while ago, right? Yeah, I mean, everything that I write is really something that I need to be reminded of on a moment to moment basis. So I'm doing myself a favor getting to perform these things to other people.

Oh, yeah. And I guess, you know, the meaning changes as I change. I notice different things in there. At the beginning, I think it was inspirational and aspirational. And now more and more, I think I'm able to embody a lot of the lessons that I'm talking about, at least in that specific poem and in that specific situation. Yeah. I mean, I would say the predominant theme of that is forgiveness, forgiveness of your father, of course, but also self-forgiveness. But packed into that is the obstacles that you had to face and overcome within yourself to get to that place. There's a humility and a beauty to it

and a journey of transformation. There's a lot of subplots and subthemes that are at play as well. Yeah. And I mean, it's made me who I am in many ways. You know, this is a theme. Say again? Gratitude.

Yeah, gratitude and forgiveness. I mean, one of the main avenues to forgiveness is gratitude. You know, it's looking at something that was painful for you and seeing it from the standpoint of look at everything that I was able to learn from that situation. Look at who I am because of that, you know, and who would I be without that situation? I mean, I certainly don't think that I would have been a poet because it forced me to be internal and to observe myself and my environment in a way that I don't think I would have experienced had I felt safe and comfortable

growing up. But at some point you had to grab a lifeline and do that work to get to that place. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, if I hadn't, then, you know, I think maybe it could have been something that buried me. Yeah. Rather than something that transformed me. But I would say that writing the poem and then sharing the poem has been a part of that process. So it just kind of reinforces that level of forgiveness when perhaps a little resentment creeps in

or a little bit of anger. You can remember that poem, recite it in front of a crowd or perhaps to yourself. Yeah, and I think in that specific situation, I've done so much work around it. I do feel at peace until maybe I don't. But for the most part, when I say that, that feels true to me right now. When I think of you and how I experience you as somebody who is very present, incredibly gracious, giving, grateful, compassionate, and curious. There's a twinkle in your eye. When I'm with you, I know you're here with me. You're not elsewhere. Maybe you are in the recesses of your mind, but you're one of the most present people

I know. And I know that that doesn't occur by itself. And I know you weren't born that way. Like there's a lot that has to be undertaken, I'm sure on a daily basis to inhabit that kind of headspace. Well, first of all, I have the same experience with you. My own inner monologue of how I present myself is very different, I promise you. But that's the same exact way that I feel. I think it's probably rare that you would meet someone where their complete perception and how the world views them is aligned with their personal perception of themselves. Because they hear all of the noise that they have to sift through in order to decide how

to show up and be their best version of who they can be at that moment and continue to try to evolve that potential. You know, I definitely do practices around that. You know, we've talked about that many times from meditation to yoga to having different coaches and all sorts of areas of my life that hopefully helped me to continue to evolve and move towards that better version of myself. And then I would say poetry has been a real trampoline to that in every area because it's forced me to be self-aware in a way that I would say nothing else has. But even as you were saying all of that stuff, the joke that was running through my head is, oh, what'd you say? I wasn't listening, you know?

Because, I mean, of course, we still have all of those other internal dialogues going on. And we have to almost continue to let go of them so that we can show up in the moment. In a weird way, I mean, that's what meditation is. It's like a gym for letting go. We practice letting go of our thoughts and our emotions so that we can arrive and be more present. Before we get any deeper into this, I have to just publicly acknowledge you

with a little gratitude for the ways in which you've shown up for me in my life, particularly coming out on the night of the live event in LA, man. It just put the evening over the top. And I'm so thankful that you were kind enough to show up and bless everybody with your gift. Thank you, man. First of all, it's my pleasure. And I feel the exact same way, once again, about you. I feel like you've been generous to me in countless ways in our friendship. And I think that's one of the reasons that I love

being around you is because I'm inspired to return to my own generosity in that way. The other thing is I very much respect what you've built. I really do. I respect who you are in the world, how you show up, and the things that you continue to explore and create for other people. So for me to get an opportunity to show up and to perform for your audience, I mean, that's a blessing for me as well. I appreciate that. When I think about your particular form of art and creative expression, it's something that is so difficult for me to imagine being able to do. It's so distant from my own personal skillset.

And I was reminded of it when I was in New York City a number of months ago. And I went to go see my buddy Utkarsh perform at Freestyle Love Supreme. Oh, okay. I heard that show was amazing. It just rocked me to my core. I was literally agape the entire time, just delighted at what

I was seeing unfold in front of me. And for people that don't know, it's a freestyle rap, musical, spoken word kind of performance with an ensemble cast that includes Ukar. She's been on the podcast. Lin-Manuel Miranda showed up. There's a couple other cats and they you know they lob stuff out out to the audience and they get a bunch of participation from people and then they take these little pieces or or facets of people's stories and in real time weave it into essentially a you know one act musical spontaneous performance of singing, dance, rap, spoken word that just comes out of nowhere. And it's so amazing to watch somebody, watch a group of people with that level of facility perform in that manner, because it's, like I said, it's so distant from anything I could ever imagine being able to do. And although what you do is a little bit different from that, I mean, you come from

that tradition, like you're very connected to freestyling and hip hop and the rap scene and all of that. So, I mean, how, you know, is it a gift? Is it a skill? Is it both? Like, how do you develop that ability to, you know, react in that kind of artistic way? Well, first of all, I didn't see the show, but I heard. But you can imagine. I mean, you have a sense of what it is. Yeah, yeah, I absolutely do. And Lin-Manuel Miranda is a brilliant, brilliant artist.

And I've heard that the show is mind-blowing. So I actually really wanted to see, I'm going to New York tomorrow. But I think- Yeah, it's over now. Yeah, exactly. So I'll have to wait until they do it again. But I mean, I started out freestyling. It's certainly not the main focus of my career at this point. It's not even something that I practice on a regular basis. But that was my first form of meditation. You know, I fell in love with hip hop and, you know, I just started the process of freestyling by myself and then in cyphers and then battling. And I mean, there is nothing- You have to be super present to do that.

Well, that's why it really was the first form of meditation for me, because it's just, I mean, you cannot think about anything else, but the next word and the next rhyme, you know? And so it puts you so in the present moment, like nothing else, at least in my life at that time ever had. And the other thing is, is that, you know, it's almost like a dump of your unconsciousness, you know, coming out through your freestyles. And so there's this crazy experience of release when you're freestyling. And so all of the maybe thoughts and emotions that I didn't have another outlet for at that time, you know, with the different things that I already discussed in the poem and other things that were going on in my life growing up. This was my release.

And it was my religion at the time. Well, there was a pivotal moment in your kind of career evolution, right, that involved freestyling. Remind me. I think you told a story when you were coming up when you were young where you had the opportunity to like go on stage and i don't know if it was like a battle rap thing or whatever but it was it was a symbolic in that it showed you that you could do this yeah am i remembering that correctly it's funny because i hadn't i i don't i haven't really thought of that story in

a long time but yeah i was like 15 and I was at a club and ended up battling this guy on stage. And it was just a crazy experience to watch the 250, 300 people that were there respond to something that was coming out out of my mind and out of my heart and to win. It's different to win in a cypher than it is to win on stage in front of a real audience. And I think that was a pivotal moment of empowerment for me. And I think ultimately that what I wound up later at the first poetry open mic that I went to, which is called the Poetry Lounge. And it's every Tuesday night at the Greenway Court Theater. And it turned out to be, by the way,

the biggest open mic in the entire country. It was 350 people every single week that would show up to watch people perform their poems from signing up on a list. And I just literally showed up there one night and I started doing my rapping acapella. And that was the first time that I had ever seen people respond the way that people responded in battle raps, for example, but to vulnerability. It was like when somebody got up

and they said something that was true, the whole audience would be like, oh, you know, I mean, because they were- That connection. Yeah, the mirror of their own humanity, you know, sharing something that was so true that it made the audience feel less alone. And there was something really beautiful and powerful and inspiring about that. And I literally went every single week from then on. Yeah. Well, vulnerability is at the core of everything that you do. Yeah.

I mean, I try to be as open with myself as I can through my work because I think the more open that I am, the more that it at least opens up a window for someone else's healing. Yeah. It gives people permission and a safe place to experience those emotions in their own life. Yeah, for sure. You know? Yeah. That's a huge part of these workshops that you do. I did one of your poetry workshops. I think it was at that Conscious Capitalism event, right? Do you remember that? I do, yeah. I mean, I know you do these all the time. Yeah. But there was something just so magical about seeing this group of people. They're all like CEOs and stuff like that. Yeah.

You creating this like crucible of safety to allow them to explore their imagination in a way that, you know, maybe they had never done before. in a way that, you know, maybe they had never done before. And then encouraging them to, you know, share these poems that they would work on over the course of the afternoon and then receive the support and the cheers and the kind of love from the group was an incredibly enriching experience. And I'm sure you see this, you know, you do this all the time. So it's got to be just as gratifying for you as it is for the people who are participating. Yeah. I mean, it's a really beautiful experience and it's something that I stumbled across. I mean, I never, almost like anything else in my career, intended it to be what it is. You know, I certainly didn't set out and think, I'm going to be a professional poet.

I mean, that wasn't even a fucking possibility. So what, I mean, when you're at a cocktail party and somebody says, what do you do? Like, how do you answer that? Well, I mean- I'm a poet? I mean, it's equally as ridiculous as saying you're a race car driver.

Like people look at you like, what do you mean? I think you're more likely to meet a race car driver than a poet. I know one race car driver. So, you. So I think it depends upon whether or not I want to talk about myself. Right. If I say I'm a poet, usually people are so dumbfounded that it becomes kind of like the center of the conversation. Right. You can't just go, oh, cool, and move on. Right. Right. So you're either the biggest douche in the universe. and move on. Right. Right. So you're either the biggest douche in the universe. Exactly.

Which by the way is accurate. You know, I'm either that or I'm something else, but you know, or both. So you got to read the room. Yeah, of course. And read myself. Do I want to actually have this conversation right now? Or do I want to just say, oh, I'm a songwriter and then, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I can switch the subject pretty quickly if I want to, but. songwriter and then you know blah blah blah and i can switch the subject pretty quickly if i want to but um but how did it come up like oh will you teach will you teach people how to do this like how did that arise well you know when i was in my 20s and i was trying to figure out how i was going to monetize this passion of mine um i was open to anything, you know, because I was just trying to make rent. You know, I didn't make pretty much any consistent money until I was 30 years old or something like that. And so one of the things that I wound up doing, I had an opportunity to perform and do these

workshops at a place called Art Share. And I just stopped by there the other day. I had to do something downtown. And it's an amazing, amazing artists like community and commune. And I just stopped by there the other day. I had to do something downtown. And it's an amazing, amazing artists, like community and commune. And they had a bunch of kids that would come in from East LA. And so for about four or five years, I would run these workshops with these kids and we would explore all the things that were going on in their lives. And then I was doing Upward Bound, which is for kids that, you know, their parents had never gone to college. They were the first generation in their families that were going to college. And so I started doing these poetry workshops with them. And so originally it was just for people that were younger and they were figuring out their lives. And I did it over and over and over again,

and, you know, all sorts of different environments. And ultimately, I ended up getting opportunities to do it with adults too. And I realized that adults needed it sometimes just as much or more than kids did. And so having an opportunity to provide a space for people to explore moments that changed who they are in front of strangers that very quickly become family because we realized that even if the circumstances are different, the humanity is the same, has been an absolute honor. And people come up to me over and over again that they've experienced something from the workshop and made major life changes based on something that they explored through their poem. And they thanked me for it.

And I'm like, I literally feel like all I did was provide a space for them to hear their own voice. You know, we were talking about that before the podcast started, that technology is amazing as a tool, but there's a difference between you using a tool and the tool using you. And we're not sitting with ourselves and hearing our own voices very often anymore. And so I think that this poetry workshop is a doorway into people doing that. And they're usually very surprised and moved by what comes up. Yeah, a couple thoughts. I mean, I think you're correct in that, you know, we do have these amazing tools with technology that allow us to create on a level unprecedented in the history

of humankind. The flip side or dark side of that is that, and we were talking about this previously also, is that you actually have to create structures around them in order to engage your imagination. Otherwise, you're constantly stimulated by scrolling on this app or that. do what you do requires, I would imagine, a lot of deep introspection and quiet time in order for these thoughts to congeal into words and phrases that end up coming out of your mouth or on the page. And if you're constantly distracted, you're never able to basically grapple with that voice. And that's my concern for myself, because I know what it's like

to try to do battle with technology in order to find quiet time, but also with the younger generation that's never known differently. Right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, look, the way that I even write poems in the first place is I just pay attention. I mean, if something inspires me or moves me or annoys me, usually that's the beginning of a poem. And so I just kind of stay aware. And when one of those things happens, I will write it down. And if I write it down and I start the poem in a place that's true, and then I give it time and space, the rest of the poem will almost write itself. You know, I consider myself like the vehicle and the obstacle for these poems to come into the world. I mean, they come through me and through my perception, but I also have to get in the way or get out of the way, excuse me, in order for them to really show up the way that they want.

And sometimes I'll write something and it's dope, but it's more about me than it is about the poem. It's not right. It's dope, but it's not right. So I have to go, no, this is what the poem actually wants to say. And to bring it full circle, writing this book was a really fascinating process for me because I start always in just a place that's true. I don't really strategize my inspiration. I'm not like, this is what I want to say. I'm usually surprised by where the poem goes because I'm just following the breadcrumbs.

And so to put all of my art into this one place and to look at it and read through it myself, it was almost like I realized what I've been trying to say all of these years. It's revealing itself to you. Yes, exactly. That's super interesting, right? Because when I look at the book, first of all, a lot of these poems, certainly not all of them, but a lot of them I've heard you perform many times. But the experience of reading it is very different. Of course, I have your voice in my head as I'm reading it, and I'm trying to recall your particular points of inflection and emphasis as I'm doing it.

But it quickly is very apparent that there is an intentionality in the ordering of these poems and that, you know, a sort of character arc or a hero's journey begins to emerge. And I know you've broken the book up into two discrete kind of phases. One is about your own personal transformation, and then it kind of shifts focus to how do you use that transformation to transform the world, right? But they're all in lockstep with each other in this really beautiful jigsaw puzzle that I was unaware of because I've just heard you perform individual poems. And I never really thought much about how these poems interrelate to each other. But this greater sense of the whole begins to kind of percolate as you immerse

yourself in the work. Yeah. First of all, I'm really glad to hear that you felt that when you read it. I mean, the idea of Inquire Within, first of all, my name in Q is Inquestion. And really, Inquestion was the second incarnation of it. The first was Inquiry. So Inquire Within, it just kind of makes sense. And I've had that name since I was 15 years old. But it really also is the central theme to all of the

content in the book. Because as we're discussing, you know, with technology, there's all these incredible opportunities. I mean, there's no way for us to quantify the ripples of even this podcast, who hears it, how they're impacted by it. You know, what you've created, I mean, you have really no idea the changes that people are making or the inspiration that they feel when they continue to come back to you as an artist and listen to the things that you put out into the world. That's really an unbelievable opportunity for us to continue to use our voices in ways that no one has ever had the opportunity in the history of the world. But, you know, it's also very isolating and people are not connecting in the same ways that they used to. And they're not taking time to be on their own. I mean, we're basically trained by consumerism.

to be on their own. I mean, we're basically trained by consumerism. I mean, everything wants something from us. It wants our money. It wants our time. It wants our attention. It wants our likes. It wants our love. And since we're always like looking outside of ourselves for the answers, if I don't know something, I look on Google, you know, I listen to a podcast, I go to a book, and all of these things are absolutely amazing. But as I said, it's a difference between you using a tool and a tool using you. And so just to be silent for a while and to listen to your own true voice, because that is going to be the compass that is going to move you forward in life the way that you want to be moved forward. And I would say, ultimately, that's the lesson that I've been trying to teach myself over and over with my poetry, is to be quiet enough to hear my

own voice, because that voice always tells me what I need and where I need to go next. Well, implicit in the title, Inquireire Within is that those answers reside within yourself. Yeah. Right? And we're in a culture, as you mentioned, where everything is about externalities. And there's no driving force telling us, affirming that those answers are within ourselves. Right. Instead, we're constantly questioning ourselves or we're

unlikely to trust that voice and instead look to the experts or what is that guy doing or what is that person saying? Right. And I think that's part of the problem of hero worship in the culture as well. It's like we look at our heroes and we just project all of this shit onto them. And then we resent them when they don't live up to our imaginary projections of their perfection, you know, and they reinforce it often. But that's why I tend to be drawn to people who are very honest about their own human struggle. Because I think that's more interesting. It's more interesting for me to look at somebody who I feel like is human and is dealing with all of these different things, but is still willing to wake up every day and strive to be the

best version of themselves that they can be. Because then their accomplishments are something I can look at and say, wow, that inspires me rather than something that discour can be. Because then their accomplishments are something I can look at and say, wow, that inspires me rather than something that discourages me. Because they're so amazing that they're almost like separate from me and I could never achieve something like that. And so I think that that takes us being more honest about all of our processes and not just the product. Well, that's what I was going to say. It's just honesty, right? Everybody's going through shit. It's a question of whether you're willing

to be transparent about that or not. The way that you hold yourself out to the world, we're all wearing masks, and there's a difference between our interior lives and that which we project onto the world or what we want people to know. And I think there's a place for, you know, privacy in that regard. But I think there is something super refreshing about the person who is willing to, you know, fess up to those struggles. And those are the people that, to me, just feel that I'm more drawn to and attracted to

because of that honesty. There's a trustworthiness, I think, that comes with that. I agree. Yeah, absolutely. How do you think about that as you, you know, comport yourself in public? Well, first of all, I need to know what comport means. How you hold yourself out. You know what I mean? Like, on some level, you're a public figure. Yeah. You're known for your art, but you're in the world. And I would imagine people project onto you a certain idea of who you are and how you think about yourself is probably different from whatever that projection is. Yeah.

I mean, I'm a work in progress like everyone else. And I think, you know, if people project onto me, it's because they maybe see some sort of a finished product in a poem. And they think, oh, this is something that he fully embodies rather than something that I am embodying. Right. You wrote it because you're trying to work it out for yourself. A hundred percent.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's what's fun is I get to continue. It's not like I'm going to run out of material, you know, because I'm always going to be searching for something new. I was having a conversation with someone yesterday and we were talking about, it was some birds that were chirping in the background. She was like in a beautiful place in nature. And we were just discussing the birds. And I was just saying, basically, like the the birds aren't trying to win a Grammy.

You know? Right? They're not trying to go platinum. And I was like, that's the start of a poem. You know, because that's something that's moving and meaningful and interesting to me. And I still have that within myself, that, you know, the things that I'm trying to create, of course, I still want to be validated. You know, my ego wants people to like who I am and to be successful and all of that stuff. But me striving for that validation actually gets in

the way of the true communication that I want and that the poems want, because they were written from this moment of truth and they have a desire to be expressed in their truest nature. And so that's why I think I'm the vehicle and also the obstacle for them. How long do these poems ferment and age in the wine cellar before you release them onto the world? Like I suspect there's a gestation period where they're kind of evolving over time and that there's a window in which, you know, you allow them that space to ultimately become

what they become before you share them. Is there a timeframe on that typically for you? Do some of these happen really quickly? Some of them take a lot of time. And even some of the ones that you've been performing for a long time, do you make edits to them? Do you change them? Or are they just, you put them aside and say, these are finished works? Well, they've always been living, breathing documents before the book. Right, this is the first time they're written down. This is literally the first time I've had a though i mean you have an incredible memory like you're able to recall i don't know how you are able to do that but i would imagine you've got tons of

notebooks at home yeah before i transferred to writing on my iphone i had notebooks on notebooks on notebooks but they were always like crossed out and you know impossible to read and and so like those eminem you see those notes of eminem and it's just like there's no room on the page and just tons of yeah you know what i'm talking about yeah i've actually eminem writes in a really interesting way that i've seen when he writes on pages too because he writes like in different pockets uh-huh if my memory it's not linear there's like little circles and it's all over the place like a crazy diagram yeah which is cool to see a representation of how an artist creates you know um for me it was very you know big crosses

out and big letters and all over the place you know but definitely like in a linear way. But then it was difficult to edit because I would have to go back and forth. And when I transferred it over to the iPhone, the cut and paste made my editing process a lot cleaner. You know, the poems all have a different gestation period. Some of them have taken six months before. Some of them have taken six hours. And then I guess some have taken a half an hour and they just kind of pour out of me. And they're always different. And sometimes I'll get to a place where I have written maybe half of the poem and I don't know where it's supposed to go next. And I just kind of assume that I haven't

lived enough. I just go out and live a little bit more. And then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, this is where the poem wants to go. And so I'm not like in a rush. I don't force it to come out of me. And I do think that strategizing inspiration is dangerous because you're trying to control something that is made of infinite possibilities. Right. There is a discipline to what you do, but so much of it is about the allowing, right? Yeah. And getting out of the way. That's right.

And becoming as clear of a channel as you possibly can. Exactly. So, you know, people ask me, oh, how long have you been working on this book? And I'm like, well, about a year, you know? But then, you know, the oldest poem in the book is probably 14 years old. And that poem took me like 10 years to write. Right.

Pretty much. So I'm like 25 years, pretty much, I've been working on this book. Well, the truest answer is it took me my whole life. Right. Exactly. It's not about how long it took you to construct a poem. It's the expression of a life lived. That's right. And then it's also not only the poem that's created, but the giving away of the poem. The Miles Davis quote, I'm going to butcher it, but it has something to do with it took me my whole life to be able to play like myself, you know, and really truly being able to show up and, you know, give it away.

You know, I think that's something certainly I'm still learning, but more and more I'm able to really land when I'm performing. Well, that becoming yourself is part and parcel with the getting out of the way, but the becoming yourself is all the work that you did to, you know, do battle with your demons and overcome these resentments and all these, you know, things that you had to contend with emotionally, psychologically to become a more self-actualized human being, right? That would have the clarity to be able to, you know, grapple with these ideas and convey them in a clear manner. Yeah, for sure. So that ultimately is what I hope that the book is. I hope it's a window into people finding their own voice.

It's, you know, inquire within the pages of the book. It's that I had to inquire within myself to create it and that the person that reads it, it's an invitation really for them to inquire within themselves. What's interesting and what I didn't expect reading the book is that it's almost memoir and poetry, at least the first part of it is clearly.

Like I was expecting, I thought like, oh, there's gonna be poems, but it's going to be punctuated with more of your own writing, maybe expository or just stuff about your life to kind of contextualize your perspective. But it's not that you go right into the, there's, you know, you tell little stories here and there that aren't in poetry format technically, but it's really you revealing yourself through these poems that you've written. And it does function like a memoir in a very interesting way. And I've never seen anything like that before. Yeah. I'm glad to hear you say that. I mean, we definitely,

you know, we didn't want to strategize the inspiration, but we did want to strategize the conceptual through line. And I wanted there to be this poetic hero's journey in the first half. I mean, there's two halves to the book. There's inhale and there's exhale. And inhale is the personal journey, everything that I went through. And then exhale is more social and political. And it's the idea of changing yourself and then changing the world as above so below and so it was definitely something that we thought of consciously in the creation of it you know that it would have this jagged poetic conceptual through line and then when you add in the illustrations that it would have almost like a philosophical shell silverstein feel to it

where people would have an opportunity to delve deeper into the work by looking at these images that have kind of layers of depth. Yeah. The illustrations are awesome. Yeah. Who's the artist? Moustache Shereek. This guy who lives in London, who's a really brilliant artist. And he came on and we worked with him a really long time to create these images that have a deeper meaning to them. It's pretty cool. It's gotta be, well, I was going to say, it's a unique thing to put a book of poetry out in the world, but I think poetry is kind of having a moment right now in a way that we haven't seen in a very long time. Yeah. You know, obviously we have Rupi Kaur's book that just like exploded the internet. And

I don't know how you think about her or that book, but it's proof positive that people are interested in this medium in a way that I think a lot of people would not have imagined. medium in a way that I think a lot of people would not have imagined. Absolutely. And I think it's the beginning of that wave. I don't think it's the end. I think that poetry is going to be a really huge genre in popular culture, I think, in the next five years. I think so. And I think it's going to be very different from how people perceive it right now. I think the possibility of what poetry can be is just kind of scratching the surface. And I think poets are going to have their own specials and their own sitcoms and be on all the late night talk shows and everything like that.

And I think that we need that type of voice right now in popular culture, a voice that speaks truth to power, but also truth to illusion. So, Rupi, anybody out there who is furthering the art form, absolutely support them. And I'm really excited whenever I see a new poet breakthrough in some way. Do you know this guy, George the Poet? I know George. Oh, you do? From years ago. Oh, wow.

He's brilliant. I love his art. I was just reading about him the other day because he's got this podcast now. Are you familiar with this? You talking about George Watsky? No, this is, no. He's got like an African last name.

He's a British dude. I don't know George the Poet. And he goes by George the Poet. I know a guy named George Watsky who's an incredible poet. You got to check this out. He's got, and he's a very, from what I understand, and perhaps I'm butchering this because I don't know that much about this guy,

but I believe that he is like a working class kid from Britain who ended up going to like Cambridge. Like he's a very well-educated guy and started his trajectory was similar to your own. And then he started, he got a music contract and he was doing music and hip hop and, and you know, that he was, he was expressing his art in that vein until he had a moment, not dissimilar from the experience that you described of doing his, uh, you know, doing his art in a more spoken word format and really connected with people. And he's become like a thing. And he's got this podcast now

called, it's called, Have You Heard George's Podcast? And apparently, I got to check it out. I haven't listened to it yet. I was just reading about it. But he weaves spoken word with all different kinds of sounds and like, you know, from nature, from technology, from music. And he creates this kind of auditory experience that is quite unique that people are really cottoning onto right now. I'll definitely check it out. I also like ironic names for podcasts. I know. Have you heard George's podcast? It's a great name.

I know. It's very cheeky. But it's to your point of this medium being pushed forward and given like a modern veneer. It's like, okay, this is what we think of poetry being. What if we brought in these other auditory elements and wove those into like this constant reinvention, you know, that we see in music all the time, but we think of poetry as a very static medium. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And I'm excited for that. I'm excited for where it is and where it's going. And I'm excited for where it came from because, I mean, the community that I came from was absolutely brilliant and still is. I mean, some of my most amazing art experiences

were as an audience member, you know, watching other poets and being blown away by them just getting on stage and the simplicity of expressing a story through either poetic rhythms or rhymes and just watching how other people and I was moved by that. Well, there's a difference between poetry in and of itself and the performance of the poetry. Right.

There was a day and an age when poetry existed outside of that performative element of it. If you look at, I don't know, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, like they weren't performing, to my knowledge, they weren't getting up and doing it in front of groups of people. No, but I would have loved to have seen that, right? So it makes me think like if that sensibility

was born in a young person today, I would imagine they're going to get directed towards hip hop or perhaps now with the growing medium of spoken word performance that they would find their groove in that discipline. Yeah. I mean, first of all, however anybody finds creativity in whatever genre they find it in, I'm stoked because right now people need to use their voices more than any other time in history. And they have the ability through technology to do that. And so everyone absolutely needs to be pursuing their creative voice in any way that they can. But for me, if I think of what you were just discussing, I mean, seeing Robert Frost live would have been almost like a window into another rhythmic spiritual dimension.

And so, you know, yeah, it's not only the creation of it, it's the sharing of it. And I would say that that's not only for people who are professional poets, but for anyone who's creating art. I mean, there is a completion in the giving away. There is a release when you allow it to not be yours anymore, when you allow someone else to interpret it in whatever way that they feel. And that's why I don't really have a strategy of how I want my audience to feel when they hear my work. However they feel and whatever it is that happens to them is what they need to take. And even when we were creating the audio book, which we just finished, and I'm so fucking excited about it, man.

Like both of these, the actual book, having something that people can hold in their hands and experience the illustration, and then the audio book, you know, and all of the different voices and styles that I used in the book that are actually showing up when people can listen to it. You know, the intention of making something that people could listen to completely focused on or in a passive way, you know, while they're fucking vacuuming and then whatever sentence pops out that they needed to hear is the one that they needed to hear. That's what we were kind of able to do was just like combine the feeling of me being on stage in front of 1500 people with me talking to one person and having that intimacy still there. That's what's exciting is whatever

it is that people need to take that's theirs it's not mine anymore you know what i think is cool is that with things like this usually somebody will buy the audio book or the book yeah but when you were performing that poem at the outset, I was following along on the page. Yeah. I could see people doing both because they want to see it. There's something about visually seeing the words that, at least for me, like help root it in my consciousness. But I also want to know how you perform it, right?

To be able to experience those in tandem. Yeah. I think would be its own unique experience as well. Yeah. And then, you know, if people take shrooms or whatever and fucking do both simultaneously. Yeah. I mean, that. Then you're just.

I mean, that would be. You are really inquiring within. Yeah, exactly. I think that, I mean, it's not something that I haven't not thought of. I definitely, like anything else, sometimes you can delve deeper if you get kind of into a different level performing, like you're performing the poems the way that you would in front of an audience, but you're just going through the whole book? Or was there something additional that you did in that that made it special for you? Well, I would say that this experience of writing the book was the biggest opportunity for me to evolve as an artist. biggest opportunity for me to evolve as an artist, there's nothing else that I've ever done that has brought this much growth to me as a poet. And so specifically now when we're talking about the audio book, when I first went to record it, I was recording it just like I would perform

on stage. And what I realized in listening back to it is that was the wrong approach because it's not something where I'm performing to a large group of people. It's really where I'm talking to one person and really communicating with one person. So how did that change your delivery? I had to find an area in my voice that allowed me to hold on to the passion, but also to have it contained in the intimacy. And that was an interesting thing to find. But I really was able to find it and create something that I'm unbelievably proud of. of. You know, I was listening to it on the way over because we're just doing like last minute edits and it doesn't get boring at all. I was like 40 minutes in and every single time, you know, there's a stylistic change or a conceptual change that allows you to ride the next wave. And I'm really excited to give it away and have it be whatever it needs to be for people. You had told me previously that writing this book

was like the hardest thing you've ever done. Yeah. Explain that to me because it's easy to look at the book and just go, well, it's just a collection of your poems. Right. Like how hard could that be? Right. Yeah.

And that's what I fucking thought. And you have, you've got some cool illustrations and you play around with typeset and font. There's that one poem where it starts off really tiny and gets a little bit bigger. You do some interesting, cool things. Visually? That one specifically, for example, that's Sound the Alarm. And so the reason that we did it, that it's very small and then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger,

is because the actual poem gets faster and faster. So when you're listening to it in the audio book, it's sound the alarm, something is wrong. People are tired of living to come, but then it winds up being sound the alarm, something is wrong. People are tired of living to come, waking up, working, walking away, you know, so it's that type of thing. So we wanted to find a way to visually represent the style of how I do it live on a page. So there was a lot of just that, man. It was like exploring my work in a way that I never had. It was editing my work in a way that I never had. Since they've always been these living, breathing documents that they would change as I would change. And you never had to think about how it would be presented visually. No. Right. How do you convey cadence and speed.

Right. On a page. Right. Or emotion. Yeah. You know, how do we, how do we create emotion on a page, you know, separate from the illustrations in where it is on the page? How do I put rhythm on a page? So all of those things were interesting. And then just me looking at all of my material and saying, all right, these edits that I'm making right now, I can't just change them in real time if I evolve. I have to make sure that what I'm saying is something that, to the best of my ability, is something that I'll stand behind in 20 years or 30 years. So I think there was a different level of intention in the final decisions that we made. So I think those were two of the reasons that it was a complicated process, but an amazing one.

Then I think getting through the mountain of writing the book and putting it in the conceptual order that really made sense. Because I wanted people to have the experience of picking up the book and having the option after they read it through from beginning to end to just choosing a poem. But I didn't really just want it to be a thing where they just flipped through and looked at a poem. I wanted them to have the experience at least of feeling the poetic story that we were trying to create. So anything that was unnecessary, it didn't matter if it was a great poem, I took it out because I wanted the story to take you somewhere. Yeah. My first inclination when I got the galley, which I know you want people to see like the new cover and all that.

You're like an excellent like control freak after my own heart. Exactly. But before I even read a page, I kind of flipped through it just to get a sense of like how this thing is structured. And I was like, oh, it's basically all poetry. It's not what I thought it might be.

And then I thought, well, this is going to be that kind of book that you could crack open. But then, you know, I just go to the first page and, you know, basically you're like part one, part one, inhale. And I was like, oh, that's not going to be the way that this goes. And then you read the first poem and you're like, oh, this is the beginning of a bigger story. Like you're going to have to read this all the way through from beginning to end. Like you said first. Yeah. Right. And then interestingly enough, now in the audio book, hearing it from beginning to end, that story comes through in a different way. So even for me, man, you know, it was like listening to it was like listening to my poems

for the first time. And it was actually nice for me because I got a chance to experience them from the outside looking in. You also do these interesting things with like page breaks and where you place the text on the page, like in this growing up poem. Yeah. Was this, I mean, it's kind of an E.E. Cummings thing that you're doing here a little bit. Is this the way it looks in your notebooks? Or did you think intentionally about how you wanted it to look written down for the first time when you were putting this together?

No, all the formatting stuff is unique to the book. When I write, I just pretty much write. And I'm much more interested in getting it out. I don't really care how it looks at that point. And yet now I'm so excited about this because I'm taking my own advice finally, which is that if you create something you have to truly give it away in order to release

it and move on so for this to have a new life for other people there was almost like a mini death for me but it was beautiful and so now I'm super excited to see well what am I gonna create? And now even in creating it, in the back of my mind, I'm like, well, then how would I format this? Which is never something I even considered before. Right. In the sense, in the same way that a comic who does a special now has to kind of retire that material. Right. Because you've been doing these poems for a long time. Right. Right. It So time to turn the page. I don't think that I'll ever fully retire them,

but I do think that there is going to be a sense of release. I already feel it. And I feel a sense of ownership, and I also feel a sense of uh just completely giving it away yeah how do you reconcile the control freak who you know wants you know everything perfect on this car like when we walked it's a joke when we walked in talking about before we started the podcast it's like oh that's the galley no the new book looks so much better and I wish they did this whole thing. Right. How do you, you know, reconcile that with this, um,

the important notion that in order to do what you do, you have to let go of perfectionism and be in that allowing, like you can't let, uh, you know, that attachment to perfection be the enemy of good, so to speak, right? As the average goes, like you have to be in the flow, right? So there's that allowing, and then there's also that like clamping down to make it just so. Yeah. I mean, I think both are important and both are

necessary. And I think if we're going to take the book as an example, there was never a place, making a project better because you have attention to detail and you're meticulous and you care about the thing that you're putting out into the world. You want it to be the best it can possibly be, to be world-class, to know that you left no stone unturned. And then actually clipping the bonsai tree to the point where it's just branches. You know, and only you will know like anything else. But if you're aware of that razor's edge that you're walking, I think it makes the walk easier. Yeah. Yeah. It's gotta be hard though. Yeah. You know, I mean, how do you do it? I don't know. I don't know. I wish I, I wish I had that kind of clarity to be able to articulate it.

I wish I had that kind of clarity to be able to articulate it. I think I have a tendency to get too caught up in tiny details that don't matter, and I lose the force for the trees. That's like a recurring pattern that I'm always doing war with. I'm okay with it in the moment. Like right now, I'm trying to be present, but in the back of my mind, I'm like, is this going okay? Like, what am I going to ask next? You know, like, am I going to run out of questions? I feel pretty good.

Okay, I've got to just come back to the present because if I'm paying attention to what Q has to say, like, we're good. You know what I mean? So that, you know. Is that something that you normally go through when you're doing podcasts? Does that happen every time or? I mean, it depends on who you're talking to. But I go into everyone wanting it to be, you know, I set a high bar for myself. And I think, I want this to be the definitive conversation of all time with this person. So automatically, I'm setting myself up for disappointment and failure. But you're also setting yourself up to do the absolute best that you can. That is the intention that I go into it with, but that pressure also can get in the way.

Yeah. Because whether or not this is a conversation that's going to be inspiring and helpful to other people is in large part a function of how much I can get out of the way and allow it to be what it wants to be. But it's the same thing. It's that concept we were talking about earlier. You're the vehicle and the obstacle for it. Right, at all times. Literally at all times, and me too.

I mean, like, for example, I want the same thing. I want this to be the definitive conversation with Rich Roll, like 100%. But the reality is that all I can do is show up and be myself. And all you can do is show up and be yourself and be prepared and do our best. And then ultimately, however anyone takes this, it's not my fucking business. Yeah, it's not my business. You know, like, and so I think it's the same thing with the book or any piece of art that you create. And if you try to control how someone else perceives you, it's a waste of energy. If you try to control how someone else takes a piece of art, it's a waste of energy.

And I'd rather take that energy or that anxiety or whatever it is, the uncertainness, the wanting to control and use it to work on something that I can control or work on something that I can create. And then in that way, I think I'm alchemizing that energy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm just processing all of that. It's so much easier said than done. It is. Yeah. And I go through my own ups and downs with it. Yeah. is and probably always will be like ego. It's like the ego gets in the way because the ego wants you to be positioned in a manner so you will be perceived by the outside world.

And then if you can do that, then you're gonna get that affirmation that you think you want, that you need to be happy. But in truth, all you have to do is inquire within. Right? To bring it back. I'm definitely going to put that on my social media. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I want to talk about the idea, like the fleeting nature of life which permeates so much of your poetry, right? It's a constant reminder to like come back to the present and that it's the little things that matter. And it's about paying attention to what is. Like you told the little story earlier about the birds like not trying to win the Grammys, right? Like that kind of encapsulates that idea that life is happening now. And we're so distracted from ourselves and everything that's going on around us that we miss the most important things. Yeah.

I mean, nature has an ego, but only for survival. You know, like, for example, when you were talking about ego earlier, I don't think we can ever get rid of our ego because our ego is, it's what it means to be alive, you know, is to have separation in the illusion. That's what allows us to have our identity. So I think ego is necessary. But operating from ego can get me in trouble.

And so it's unlearning that process over and over and over again. And nature can be a great teacher in that way because nature has ego for the survival aspect of things. But a cheetah doesn't care how it's perceived when it's running. You know, I mean, an elephant isn't insecure. Right. You know what I mean, an elephant isn't insecure. Right. You know what I mean? So I think, and are we weirdly like the only animal that pretends to be something other than what we are in order to navigate? Right.

I mean, Julie always says this. I don't know where she got it, but it's something along the lines of, we're not, I'm going to butcher this, but it's something along the lines of like, you know, a frog isn't pissed because he's not a bird or we're not angry at the frog because he can't fly. Right. But with human beings, we project onto ourselves and to other people this expectation that they need to be something that they're not

while forsaking celebrating what they actually are, right? Like you need to fit into this box. And if you can't, you know, check all these boxes, then you're less than. Right. As opposed to like, well, what is so awesome about you? Exactly. And let's, you know, focus on that. I think that that probably comes from the tribal thing.

You know, I mean, in the hunter-gatherer times, I think one of the main sources of like death was like murder. You would literally like see someone from another tribe, you would just murder them. You know what I mean? Like, and these hundred person groups of people, you know, if you were outside of that and you had to deal with nature on your own. Survival tactics. Survival, man.

And so we're all walking around on this pre-programmed, we got to fit in. I got to make sure everyone likes me or else. But it's fucking boring, man. We're all so beautiful and so unique. And I'm just much more interested in following my enthusiasm to see what's next. Yeah, we are hardwired for tribalism. I love your short little poem about ideas versus ideology on that, which is, it's a trap, right? Because we all want to think or believe that we're about the ideas and we're not about the ideology.

Right. And the minute you commit to being somebody about ideas, you've hence formed an ideology. Right, exactly. So the story, I'll just tell it because I tell it in the book. I was coming out of my therapist's office and we had been discussing the differences between ideas and ideologies. And by the way, this is just a separate thing, but anytime somebody's like, oh, like therapy, like why are people talking shit about therapy like don't you want to coach for your fucking life man like seriously like who the fuck is talking shit about therapy in 2020 it's a it's a remnant of a bygone decade i think yeah it's like residue

uh of a past decade that looked that frowned upon that kind of thing if you're doing that you're damaged yeah i want to go fucking coach for everything. We're all fucking damaged. Exactly. So whatever. So we were discussing the differences between ideas and ideologies. And this was his philosophy. He was saying that ideas are tools that you can use in your life that changes your truth and your experience changes. But ideologies are prisons that you have to force everything in your reality into the frame of otherwise you'll lose control over that ideology and that part of your life because an ideology becomes a part of your identity so then if you're letting go of the ideology you're

letting go of your identity you're fucking dying and you'll do anything to not let go of your identity. Right? So then I was like, oh, I only want to use ideas then. And then that was the whole thing is from now on, I'm only going to use ideas and then fuck, I just created a new ideology. Right. Exactly. I think it's very emblematic of our current moment when you go online and we're all siloed and virtue signaling to our respective tribes and trying to be upstanding members of whatever ideology that represents. And at the same time, protesting that we are partaking in a restrictive ideology. Yeah, yeah, exactly that. And it's really, it's denigrating not just public discourse and our institutions, but I think the moral and emotional fabric of everybody. Yeah, and we can't even respect people who have a differing opinion anymore. I mean, we look at them like-

You can't even have a conversation. No, we dehumanize each other. have a conversation. No, that we dehumanize each other. And look, there are many, many things that I do not agree with opinion-wise of different people who are out there, but also you have to take into consideration the environments that they're in. I mean, and this is actually a departure of what we're talking about, but think about the poem that I did earlier about my dad or my mom. Like, my mom is an incredible, incredible human being. She's a school teacher that raised me on her own. And yeah, you know, we have a complicated relationship, but she's layered and she's deep and she's so intelligent. And she has been there for me more than anyone else ever has in my whole entire life.

And so I have this deep respect for her. But in the time that you break apart in your teenage years, which is necessary to form your independence, you have to judge your parents. It's a part of the process. I'm experiencing it right now. I'm sure you are. Trust me, process. I'm experiencing it right now. I'm sure you are. And I'm happy to discuss that. It is a necessity to them really, truly allowing freedom is to look back and judge. But the full circle of that is ultimately, you at a certain point realize your parents aren't God. You know, when you grow up, your parents are your God. And rightfully so.

They teach you every single thing about life, including love, what love even is, you know? And so you look at them like God. And then when you separate, you judge them. And then the full circle is realizing that your parents had parents and their parents had parents. And it's this infinite line of people. And if I judge anything, my mom, I am judging her based on the life that she gave me. That I grew up in Santa Monica, California.

That I have all the experiences that I have to look back on her life and separate from that. When in reality, she grew up in 1950s Brooklyn. I have no fucking idea what that was like. And I have no fucking idea what the environment of a lot of these people who have differing beliefs than I do right now in this moment is like and why they have different priorities. But the only way to find out is to actually communicate with each other and not dehumanize each other. How do you square that level of compassion and understanding this sense of non-judgment, especially if you haven't walked a mile in somebody's shoes, with the more political bending poems that you've done?

I mean, your poem on gun violence is like super powerful. Yeah, thank you. I really, really, really want to retire it. You do? I don't ever want to have to do, that's a poem that I want to retire. Any of the social or political stuff, I hope that I never have to perform them again. I wish I never had to write them, but. Right, but you have conviction about those issues.

Yeah, I do. And you have performed them in front of people. And so that's a very different message from the one of compassion. I mean, it's compassion. It's directed in a different manner, I guess I would say. It's directed in a different manner, I guess I would say. You know, I've had people come up to me and say that they changed their vote based on a political piece that I put out. And I think that now more than ever, as I said before, it is a fucking responsibility for everybody to use their voice to stand up for the things that they believe in.

And I do think that dehumanizing other people in the process is a real mistake. It's a cataclysmic mistake. But not speaking up for what you believe in is an equal mistake. And so I think we all need to be speaking our minds, speaking our hearts, even at the risk of being wrong. Because there's a lot of pieces that I do that are more social and political that I know I'm going to get a part of them wrong, that they're naive. There's pieces I've done about racism, for example. I don't know that experience fully myself.

So it's going to be a naive poem. But I feel that I have a responsibility to say something that I'm passionate about and something that I believe in to be a part of the conversation. Because I think the more people that talk about it, the more we can get to truth if we're actually not only talking, but listening. So I not only try to put out, I try to listen to the best of my ability and find that middle ground. How would you say that you have changed or evolved since maybe, I mean, when was the last time we did a podcast? Had to be a couple years ago.

Yeah, it was like maybe three or four years ago. Yeah. You know, my sense of you is that you're more grounded, you're more self-assured in not just your art, but in your life and your sense of who you are. But how do you think about that? Like, what are the things that you've kind of faced and overcome in the years since we sat down last? Well, once again, that's kind of my same experience of you. Like, I kind of mirror that back to you. I feel the same thing. One of the things that I really liked about

something that you put out recently was just you've been talking about how the things that you've accomplished in life kind of happened at a later age. I remember that list that you put out and how it was so, that was one of those things where it was something that allowed me to go, wow, man, I can go farther. I can go deeper. I can climb higher. And it didn't make me feel discouraged by accomplishments. It made me inspired by them. So I felt like you were walking the talk and talking the walk by putting stuff like that out into the world. So I think that's where I'm at is I think at a certain point, I thought I needed to do something or get somewhere. And I was chasing something or running from something.

And I was always exploring being here, but I wasn't really here. And I mean, in the past four years, I started meditating. That's been an absolute game changer. I got a body work coach that kind of helped me move through some of the old unresolved trapped emotion that I had in my system and release it. I think that brought me more into the moment. I'm in a great relationship. You know, that really has been amazing to learn how to love and be loved unconditionally. And so I think a lot of those things have helped.

And then also I think having more of a sense of foundation in who I am as an artist rather than wanting, rather than needing. Just more like trusting and allowing, which is a word that you used earlier. Yeah, all of those things. I think we're seeing that play out with Mike Posner right now, like this massive jump in his personal evolution where he's really taken a different turn in his career,

like divorcing himself from those externalities to live his life in a different kind of intentional way, I suppose. And the way that he's sharing it, I think is super inspiring. But when you were explaining that, I was thinking of him, like I'm seeing that. That's happening in real time with him right now.

I love what Mike's doing because Mike is showing his process. I mean, first of all, he's one of my best friends and I absolutely love him, but I also love what he's doing because he's really showing that whole process. Like he's not only showing the walk, you know, where I'm a hero and look at this walk. He showed the difficult moments. He showed what it took him to get through those moments. And that's something that, you know, all the people who are watching and following his journey, they get to mirror that back onto their own journey and find those little ways that they can overcome those obstacles in their own lives. And also walking away from something that is incredibly enticing.

And I think for most people would be difficult to imagine the kind of life that he could be living doing what he does. What is that life though? Well, there's what we imagine it to be. And he's somebody who's experienced it. And his sharing like, listen, it ain't all cracked up. It's not what you think it is.

And the fact that he is talking about how it's not fulfilling in the way that you imagine it to be. There is never an end to more. No. There just is never an end to more. And so if more is your goal. How many super rich people with tons of fancy cars do you know that are super unhappy? I mean, come on. Yeah.

So I think, you know, he experienced that and he decided to walk in a different direction, you know, in the world, but also within himself. And so as his friend, it's been really inspiring. And also Mike is a true artist. And you know that because you've seen him in every single project that he do transform into a new moment and almost a new identity, not only in what he's talking about, but stylisticallyistically because it's him following his enthusiasm in that moment you know if you have success what do you do you want to repeat it you know but but who the fuck wants to just repeat something over and over again it's just like that's boring as well it's like why not be surprised by your own artistic journey? And yeah, you might lose

some fans who say, oh, you're not the person that I fell in love with, but you'll find other ones. Because if you're being honest and true to who you are as an artist, there's always going to be someone out there who goes, that reminds me of me and where I'm at. Yeah. So how do you take that and use it to fuel your own, you know own kind of constant reinvention with what you do? I mean, it's just, once again, it's just paying attention rather than trying to strategize the inspiration. You know, I am really curious about this next stage of what it is that I'll want to do. about this next stage of what it is that I'll want to do. But right now I'm more focused and excited on just the idea of finally giving something away

to the world. Birthing this thing, yeah. You know? I mean, one more idea about Mike and we'll move on. But I think what really strikes me about him is that he's been able to really protect his childlike nature. Like there's a purity to that guy that is very rare. Yeah.

And I see that and I yearn for that place and create from, you know, from that head space and heart space that we all knew innately as a child, I think is really, you know, a big part of what makes his expression beautiful and why it resonates. What does that look like for you? Like, when have you experienced that in your life that you can recall? And what was the feeling like? I mean, it's hard to recall a specific moment like that. You know, my memory is clouded, you know, when I think back. But what I connect with emotionally is, or what I try to imagine is that sense of just childlike wonder, you know, that is uncorrupted

by any kind of adult impulse that is standing as a barrier between you and your vulnerability, right? Yeah. I mean, look, what do musicians do? They play. You know, When I am going to a show, I'm playing, I'm performing. And even though it's what I do for a living and I monetized it and I have a brand or whatever the fuck that means, if I lose that sense of play, then there is some sort of a gap between me and possibility, you know, and imagination, you know. So I think that's something that I want to continue into the adult thing in life, you know, that I kind of lose that play. Do you consciously try to protect that? I consciously try to be a fucking goofball, actually. Like I really do try to create spaces that I can be a goofball. And then the other thing that I try to do is I try to do shit that I'm really not good at because it's very hard to be cool when you're not good at

something. It's like, whatever. If I go rock climbing or whatever, I am not going to be fucking cool when I'm doing it. If you're going to make all those people in the workshop get up and recite a poem, then you've got to go out in the world and do something that is way far afield of what you're comfortable doing. No, totally. Because you can't talk that talk unless you're walking the walk yourself. A hundred percent, yeah. I mean, and so I like doing things like that. And that's one of the reasons actually that I love traveling by myself.

I travel often by myself. And one of the reasons that I love doing that is because I get to show up in a place where no one knows who I am. The language is different. The food is different. I don't know the streets. And I don't even have a friend or a partner that knows my story or my identity. So it's almost like the clearest mirror that the world can give you to how you're showing up in that moment.

I'm not in queue. I'm just some fucking dude, Adam, who's like wandering around the world. And I sometimes get my best ideas from that because I'm in that place of forced play. And I try to then bring that back to my life in different activities that I do as well. Henry Rollins talks about that all the time. He's oriented his whole life around that very thing, like traveling to remote corners of the planet, not places you would go on vacation, but like really off the beaten path places most people don't want to go. Yeah. And he just shows up with a backpack and nobody knows him. He doesn't, he goes alone because he wants to have an authentic experience.

Yeah. That's how he can connect with himself. And I'm sure it informs, you know, his version of what you do, like his art. Yeah. I mean, I love his art as well. I mean, it's, the world is so much bigger than your insecurities. Yeah. It's so huge, man. You know, and being in it is what a wild fucking ride this is, you know? One of the things I've noticed about you and how you live your life is, is you seem to be very conscious about surrounding yourself with high vibe people. Yeah. Like you got a solid crew. Great crew.

That you roll with. Yeah. So how did you go from where you were to that place? And did that just, these are just people who became your friends? Or was there a concerted effort like, hey, I need to really, you know, be conscious about the vibration of the company that I keep? Well, I think it's like anything else. You know, you're attracted to the clearer that my frequency was to

attract somebody else who was maybe on that same path. So most of the people that I spend time with are seekers. I don't give a shit about success. I mean, that's cool, you know, but I'm, I certainly don't give a shit about money. I care about somebody being a good person. don't give a shit about money. I care about somebody being a good person and I care about them striving to be a better version of who they are on a day-to-day basis and to seek to ask questions about themselves and the people that they spend time with and their environment and humanity as a whole. Those are the things that really light me up. And then when I get a chance to be around other people that are pursuing that seeker's mentality through a different discipline than me, they have a different perspective to share with me. Whereas, you know, I have amazing,

amazing poet friends that continue to enrich my life in every possible way. But we do have a similar lens that we come from. Whereas, you know, when I'm talking to somebody else who does this or, you know, does that, and I have really no sense of that in an experiential way, they usually give me a different tidbit that makes me walk away and have a different perspective on my own life and where I can go. What does that seeking look like? What would be a practical example of a friend of yours who is a seeker? What are the characteristics of that human being? Well, we could take Mike, for example. We could take you, for example we could take you for example i mean uh it's somebody who is striving you know to move forward in life and to be present in life and i think that is the

dichotomy of the modern monk whatever that even means i i have never said that before. So, you know, don't make that my Instagram title. We found a title for this podcast episode. Yeah, exactly. Q is the modern month. Jesus, no. But really, I mean, when you're sitting on a mountaintop and you have no goals, you know, and you just want to be present. Being present is your only goal. I mean, what an amazing life of service that is. I think that's really, really beautiful. It's something that I look at and I'm like, wow, I really respect that and I admire it. But that's

not the life I'm living. You know, there are things that I want to accomplish. And so it's basically balancing those two worlds of what I want to accomplish and And so it's basically balancing those two worlds of what I want to accomplish and also knowing that there's nothing out there. And so I would say that all of my friends who are seekers usually are balancing one foot in one of those worlds and one foot in the other. Right. It's more about the relationship to the achieving, right? The difference being one that is ego-fueled versus one that is sort of fueled more by a sense of service or purpose-driven, right? Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the reasons that I responded to that post that you made. It's that when you get to be a certain age, you're supposed to do this and do that.

Everything is so almost like robotic. Well, you're just kind of who you are. Now the dust has settled and this is the way that it is. But just for purposes of clarity, how old are you now? I'm 42. 42. All right. Well, we've known each other for a while. And I can promise you that the person that I was, you know, at 42, 32, you know, it's just, I'm coming up from the rear man.

So I'm trying to make hay while I can. Like I'm very much a late bloomer in that regard. Uh, so it's not like, oh, I'm, I'm this model example of, of constant, you know, um, uh, reinvention, so to speak. It's just that I was, you know, completely, you know, in my own way for a very long time. So I didn't begin this process until much later. Right. But two things. One thing that's funny is I'm not 42, I'm 41, which is exactly the whole point. What the fuck? Who cares? I literally got it wrong right now. I was getting a haircut the other day and I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was thinking, wow, I am one haircut closer to death. And it was actually funny to me. It wasn't like a... Because that's a weird moment of checking in. Every single time you get

a haircut, if you took a picture, you'd look at yourself in the mirror and you'd be a little incremental and accumulatively, but significantly older over time. And yet there's so much possibility because everything that you just said, it's like, wow, what you've accomplished up until now, but what will you want to do tomorrow? I mean, there isn't, yeah, the dust has settled, but in another way, you're going to kick all the dust back up again and reinvent yourself. And I'm curious who I'll be when I'm 70. What will I dress like when I'm 80 years old? You know, like what will I be interested in? What will I be curious at that point?

And there's so many people that I think feel trapped by the lives that they've created for themselves. And I'm saying that as one of those people, I can relate to that, but I always want to undo that so that the things that I'm choosing to do are not obligations. You know, I don't have to do anything. You know, I have some responsibilities based on the life that I've created, but it's not that I even have to make a different choice. It's that I have to understand that that I even have to make a different choice. It's that I have to understand that I have the choice to make a different choice. Yeah. I think that it's important

to understand that even if you're living a great life, you can still be a prisoner of that life. Because we become so habituated to whatever routines are comfortable to us, that we perpetuate them and becomes hard. I will say as somebody who's 53, and I am 53, I'm being honest about that, that you do become, you know, the calcification becomes harder and harder to confront and overcome, right? Because we're creatures of habit, right? And when something's working, you keep doing it. And it's a discipline to continually confront those patterns and ask yourself,

like, is this serving me? Or even if it is, let's redirect. And I've been doing it, like the show is an example. Like, well, I guess I'm a podcaster and I do this. Like, I actually have a choice. This could be the very last episode that i ever do that choice is available to me yeah probably not gonna make that choice right but just to remind myself that i don't have to keep doing this yeah and just because there's a lot of momentum behind it doesn't mean that it's a foregone conclusion you you could decide that you're just never gonna write a poem again and you're never gonna perform again i don't have to be a fucking poet you and mike are just going to go hike mountains well you can join us it'll just be a musician a poet exposition x podcast you know what the fuck we're what you know i mean

it's not that we have to make a different choice it's that once you know that you are making the choice you're not a prisoner of it you have the freedom to look at the reality that you're in in a different way. And so I am curious. I mean, I know that that calcification process has happened, and I know that it will happen more. But I also know, you know, I could decide I want to go river rafting tonight. And I could just leave here and go, you know, I mean, it's just, it's more interesting to me to look at my life like that because there's more possibility. Right. With respect to the book, we talked about how somebody's reaction to your art is none of your business. And, you know,

once you kind of put it out into the world, it becomes public domain, right? It's you are, you are relinquishing ownership over this piece of work, right? At the same time, I still imagine that you have a sense of what you want people to take away from this. So if you had to articulate that, what does that look like? I had a friend once that said, only you will know. That was like one of her mantras when I would be discussing something or she would be discussing something with someone else where they had that specific issue they were working on. And she would talk it out with them. And then at a certain point, she would say,

only you will know. And I think that's what Inquire Within is about. So this is supposed to be a doorway for someone to connect with that inner voice within themselves. And I hope that they wind up finding whatever it is that they might not have even known they were looking for and that that leads them to a more fulfilling and empowered life. So these are broad things that I think when someone picks up this book. I don't have anything specific because I think then I would be confining people to what I want rather than whatever it is they need. I look at it, so much of what I get out of it is permission, right?

Permission to be vulnerable, permission to forgive. Permission, right? Permission to be vulnerable, permission to forgive. I think a lot of people, we're victims of these emotional loops that we run that are playing these tapes around who we resent, how we were wronged, and we're the ones who are suffering as a result. Totally. And here there's a sense of freedom that you explore by giving yourself permission to forgive those who have wronged you by engaging in self-love, right? And you see this evolution from somebody who was in pain and who has been wronged and who has suffered to this freedom and this lightness that comes with gratitude and love and forgiveness. Yeah.

And life is really fucking beautiful, man. I mean, it's hard. It's painful. But it's beautiful. And I want to be living in that curiosity. I mean, it's hard, it's painful, but it's beautiful. And I wanna be living in that curiosity, living in that beauty, living in that possibility. And this book has been my roadmap to getting here.

I think that's a good place to put a pin in it. Great. I want to end with a poem, but before we do that, do you, I presume you're going to go on a book tour and do the whole rigmarole with all of that, right? Everything that gets baked into that, including podcasts and stuff. Are you going to be performing? Yeah, we're doing a big show in LA la at the palace we're doing a big show in new york uh a big show in san francisco and then we'll do like dc and seattle and a bunch of different cities so we'll do these public shows um and then i think we'll do different bookstores and things of that nature as well and then we'll do a longer tour in the fall, but I have a bunch of videos that are going to be coming out as well around this and, um, you know, really excited for people to

experience the book and the audio book and look, self-promotion has been probably, uh, the least thing that I enjoy and the least thing that I'm good at in, uh, being a brand, whatever that even means. But I'm not uncomfortable promoting this book. It's actually been a joy because I see it as a separate thing from me. And I know that the book wants to have a life of its own and wants to get into as many people's hands as it can or as many people's ears as it can. So this is a fucking exciting process for me to get out there and spread the word. Well, beautiful and well-earned. Thank you, man. You're doing the tour with Conscious City Guide, right?

Yeah, yeah. With Mel, who I actually met at the event that you did. Yeah, she's the best. She's awesome, man. So thank you for that. Yeah, of course. She's been producing our retreats. Yeah, she's the best. She's awesome, man. So thank you for that. Yeah, of course. She's been producing our retreats forever. And what she's built with Conscious City Guide is really quite something. Yeah, and very aligned. Yeah.

Yeah. She gets the job done. For sure. Yeah, it'll be cool. Well, super excited for you. Pick up the book, Inquire Within, from independent bookstores. If you don't have one, go to Amazon, all that good places. Go to, what's your website?

Is it in.q.com? It's I-N-Q in question. So I-N-Q.com. And then, you know, all the social media stuff is in QLife. Right. Take us out with a poem. All right. This is called Learned Fear.

Learned fear can be overcome when you realize the voice inside your head is not yours. It's an imitation of the voices from before repeating on a loop inside your quiet core, receiving since your youth when your choices weren't even yours. Perceiving was the proof, but reality has many doors. So why are we still fighting other people's wars? Learned fear can be overcome when you realize the voice inside your head is not yours. It's an imitation of the voices from before, repeating, repeating, repeating on a loop inside your quiet core. And you can't tell the difference because it sounds the same. But trust me when I tell you most of what you think is from somebody else's brain. They have us trained, shackled by imaginary chains.

Imaginary rules for imaginary games. But they don't know the reasons either. So where should we place the blame? And who is they anyway, when we're all the same? Our parents had parents and their parents had parents. Apparently it hurts to see, so I'll be transparent. The world is so much bigger than your insecurities. And they don't speak on your behalf without your soul's authority. The world is so much bigger than your culture or community. And they don't speak on your behalf without your soul's authority. Because if it's all a story, then nobody else can tell it for me. Since I'm always transforming, I defy a category.

When you do the same thing the same way, it's habit forming. But nothing in this land of mortal man is mandatory. It's all just transitory. Our world's a laboratory. Experimenting on today can change tomorrow morning. And since matter is mostly empty space, we're in a sea of consciousness where the boundaries are erased. So I stared at my reflection until I couldn't see my face. Then I picked myself and put the flowers in an empty vase.

If you came for validation, then you're in the wrong place. The only certain satisfaction is becoming what you've chased. And there's no running from the inner voice. So it's important that you choose. But it's more important that you know you have a choice. You have a choice. Are you living someone else's life? You have a voice.

Does it haunt you in the dead of night? Would you fly if you weren't convinced to be afraid of heights? And who convinced you anyway? They had no fucking right. Right? Right? No one can dim your light. You shine within so bright that you could blind the sun from sight and scare him back into the night.

No one can dim your light. I said it twice because you're greater than the circumstances that surround your perfect life. You're not your nature or your nurture. You're a prototype. And if you hone it right, eventually you'll hack your satellite. At first it's nothing. Then nothing turns into a whisper. Turn the dial and it gets crisper in your transistor. Wait a while and the whisper turns into a scream. It overwhelms your system and you won't know what it means. But pump the volume up and it can tell you all your dreams. Till pretty soon it's the only voice you'll ever need. Now all you have to do is listen when you want to lead. Your fear

disintegrates when you decide to stop and breathe. It's your authentic voice. No matter where you go, it never leaves. And that's God, no matter what religion you believe. and that's God no matter what religion you believe. I'm starting my own religion and everyone is welcome but nobody can join. If you did, you'd miss the point. Love you, man. Love you too, brother. Thank you so much stay true dude you too bro peace are you totally enamored i don't blame you what's not to love about that guy? Also kind of a beautiful break from the incessant

coronavirus news that we've all been perhaps overly consuming at this moment in time. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Do me a favor, hit up NQ on Instagram and Twitter at INQLife. Let them know how this one landed for you. Please check out his book, Inquire Within. It truly is a timeless work of art. And don't forget to visit the show notes on the episode page at richroll.com to learn more about NQ with copious links to his work and wisdom that will keep you occupied with high vibe content during this time of home isolation.

If you'd like to support the work we do here on the podcast, subscribe, rate, and comment on it on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on YouTube. Share the show or your favorite episodes with friends or on social media, and you can support us on Patreon at richroll.com forward slash

donate. I want to thank everybody who helped put on the show today. Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes, and interstitial music. Blake Curtis and Margo Lubin for videoing today's podcast. Jessica Miranda for graphics. Allie Rogers for portraits. In addition, she directed and edited

the standalone poetry piece by NQ that you can find on my YouTube page at youtube.com forward slash richroll. DK for advertiser relationships. And Georgia Whaley for Copywriting and Theme Music by Tyler Pyatt, Trapper Pyatt, and Harry Mathis. Thanks for the love, you guys. Hope you're finding yourselves safe with your loved ones,

remaining connected despite our geographic separation. And I will see you back here in a couple days with another great episode. Until then, may you invest in your creativity and express your unique voice because we need all of you to be more of who you really are now more than ever. Until then, peace, plants, namaste.