TrueLife - Chaos, Austerity, & AI - Learning to see in the dark…

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/The Alchemy of AshesI. The DescentThey said the road was paved in gold,but I found only dust—dust in my lungs, dust in my veins,dust in the ruins of the gods I once believed in.The stars collapsed like dying prophets,whispering riddles to the blind.I clawed through the wreckage of my former self,searching for the bones of meaning,but meaning had been set aflame,and the smoke spelled my name in tongues I’d forgotten.O fool of the waking world,O dreamer in a land of steel!Did you think the fire would spare you?Did you think the night would kneel?II. The CrucibleThere is a moment in every exilewhen the wind stops wailing,when silence presses like a lover’s palm against your mouth—and you understand.Not with words, not with reason,but with the marrow of your bones,with the ache that only grief can conjure.The old world burns, the new one writhes,and somewhere between death and dawn,you learn to dance in the cinders.They call it madness, they call it sin,but Kesey called it the edge,Leary called it the key,and Morrison screamed it from the rooftopsuntil the night swallowed his voice.We have been here before,in the temples of Eleusis,in the deserts of the prophets,in the painted haze of acid visions—standing at the threshold of annihilation,laughing because we finally see.III. The RebirthLet them come with their chains, their rules, their fear—I have walked through the fire, and I am not the same.I am forged in the wreckage, baptized in the void,a child of ruin, a son of the storm.O city of sleeping minds,O kingdom of glass and smoke!You cannot hold me, you cannot name me,I have carved my own gospel into the skin of the sky.For I have seen the sacred spiral,the ouroboros coiled in eternity’s palm.I have watched death weep into the river,only to rise again,only to rise again,only to rise again.And so I rise—not in chains, not in fear,but in the name of all who bled before me,all who dared to whisper to the abyssand heard it whisper back:You were never broken.You were only becoming. One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearist through ruins maze lights my war cry born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope the sun is shining. I hope the birds are singing. I hope the wind is at your back.

I got an awesome show for you today, ladies and gentlemen. I had a little bit of a miscommunication with the guest I was supposed to have on. And so I thought I would just take some time to do one of these old school solo kind of conversations here. It's been a long time since I've done one. And I just thought I would share some things with some people that have been on my mind. If you are like most people, most people I see in the community I'm in, it's pretty tough times right now. It's been pretty challenging to see all the changes and the turmoil that seems to be finding its way into our lives. And it hasn't been easy.

Maybe what I'm seeing in the world is an echo of my life. But it does seem like we are on the cusp of like an incredible change. And you hear politicians throwing things around like the next golden year or the next golden age. And I spent a lot of time thinking about what that might look like. What might it look like if we were going to transition into a world that was better? In my mind, when you start thinking about things that are better, you start thinking about better economic times, you start thinking about better relationships, you start thinking about your health. and as crazy as things are right now, I think we are. I think we're moving into a time that is going to be better than anyone can imagine.

And I know that sounds difficult to hear, especially if you find yourself on the receiving end of a job cut or you get fired or maybe a relationship seems to be not really working the way you want. And there's so much of that now. I live in California as of right now. and I see people on the streets holding signs and protesting. I've always loved that. I've always loved people getting out in the streets and doing what they believe in. Almost regardless of what it is, I just see that as the fire that burns in the human spirit.

It's beautiful, and I love people getting their voices heard. And it does seem when you see people out on the streets and when you see so much division, it seems like chaos. And maybe there is a little bit of chaos. But I want to try and steer it into a, what would it look like in order for us to get to better times? Well, it would have to be chaos. It would have to be incredible pain

because there's only two way people really learn and societies learn. And that's either through inspiration or desperation. And there's times of quiet desperation that we find ourselves in are the catalyst in which we can move forward. I'll give you an example out of my life. Like a few years ago, I had lost everything. It actually happened in 2011.

And my life really started to change in ways that I couldn't imagine. You start losing loved ones. You start losing a career. And it's really that death. It's the death of your old self that allows you to become the fullest version of your new self. And you could never, ever become the best version of yourself unless you've lost everything.

Maybe it's a tragedy. Maybe it's someone you love. Maybe it's a job. Maybe it's a relationship or maybe it's all your money. But all of that is necessary. And I know people may not want to feel that or think that. But like, let's take, for example, the potential shutdown of the Department of Education. like that on the face of it, it seems like a huge travesty.

It seems like an incredible problem. And it is for a lot of people that have that get up every day and they go to work and they're doing their best and they work at a school district or they work for the DOE. And all of a sudden there's this huge shutdown. And again, I don't mean this to be... But I think it's kind of necessary. like if you think about the whole school system, like what are we turning out? Like what kind of kids are we turning out in public education?

We're turning out mediocre. Like we spend so much money on education. We spend so much money on all these projects and none of them seem to work. It seems to me that what's happened is that there's this incredible corruption at the top of institutions where the money never gets to where it needs to go.

Let's just stay with education for a minute. How can we spend billions of dollars, billions of dollars, and turn out mediocre kids? We're spending more money than any other country. And yet our kids don't have the future that they want. So many people, I would venture to say 50 to 75% of all people are in a job that they don't really care about. Like what kind of a society can you have where the majority of people are going to work and they don't really even love what they do? Just I'm going to pause there for a minute. I'm going to say it again and just pause for a minute.

What kind of society can we have? What kind of a community can we really have if when people get up every day, they go to a place that they don't even love or want to do? I know for me, if I don't love something, if I don't really care about it or I'm passionate about it, I don't put out my best quality of work. And so when you start thinking about this chaos,

whether it's the shutdown of the DOE, a lot of government programs, I don't think it's something that's malicious. I don't think there's people at the top, that are trying to, there may be people at the top. But I don't think that the shutdown of all these government programs is something mean or malicious. It's something that's necessary.

Like we can't continue down this same path and be the best versions of ourselves. If there's so much pain out there right now, and I feel it, like I'm part of it. I've lost lots of stuff. But I just wanted to be a note for people to maybe shift the way they think. like it's necessary the pain the suffering it's all necessary it's all necessary and the only way we really become the society the community that we want to become is if all of us start taking a good

look at ourselves and realize i'm way better than this i am so much better than this and it's hard here's something that may be unpopular with people if you've done something for 25 years 20 years, 30 years, it's time to change. If you've done something that long, you haven't grown, you haven't become the best version of yourself, you haven't taken on anything difficult. I don't mean to be rude or disrespectful, but 25 years at one thing,

if you can do 25 years at one thing, that means it's time for a shift in your life. If you've accomplished something for 25 years, that means you've succeeded in battling life, lessons and life is calling you to do something more. And when I think about all these people that maybe being laid off, like it's time, that's the world telling you, I believe in you more than you believe in yourself. And I'm going to put a test out there for you. I'm going to take everything away from you so that you can rebuild and become the person that you want to be. And I honestly

think with all of my heart, when this tragedy strike you, whatever it is, this. This is, this This is where you have an opportunity. And it's hard to get there because there's a moment, there's a month, there might be a year, there might be three years where you kind of sit in this quiet contemplation of second gear. And you find yourself in a position like, oh, man, all these things I loved were gone. They're not around. Now what are going to do? But it's that thought. It's that very darkness that you find yourself surrounded in where you will begin to see a flicker of light.

I like to think of it as learning to see in the dark. There's that old quote that says, circumstances don't make a man, they reveal them. Circumstances don't make a woman, they reveal her. What are you going to do when tragedy comes your way? What kind of an example are you going to be for your loved ones? What kind of a community member are you going to be for your loved ones? I really think that that's the only way we can rejoin community.

And I think community is probably the most important thing that's lacking in our society. Sure, we have online friends and we have connections and acquaintances. But what are you doing in the real world to make a better life for yourself? Are you finding ways to... Are you finding ways to build relationships with people in your community that can benefit? Everything seems so transactional. I was recently speaking with a I met with this person and they were like

hey George I know you're an author you've got these cool books man we should we should do some work together and I was like that'd be fantastic and they immediately sent me here's how much money I charge and I couldn't help but laugh I thought we were going to work together

like why don't I do some cool things for you you do some cool things for me and we will build a community together and it just fell on deaf ears so many people want you to like, hey man, give me some money and then I will be part of your group. Like that's so silly to me. It's so silly to me. It's like you really want to be the very best version of yourselves. You don't need the money to do it. You just got to have the passion,

the gumption. You have to have the ability to force through the hard times and make the connections with people. And I think that that's one thing we're going to learn. I think it's going to get harder. I think you're going to see a sweeping, I think the layoffs have only begun. I think you're going to see austerity. If you really want to know what the future looks like, look at what happened to Greece. There's a great individual called Janus Verifakis, who was the Greek finance minister, and he speaks in depth about the austerity that happened to Greece. And if you just pan back from politics, and if you pan back from what's happening, what we're going to see in the United States, in my opinion is a giant wave of austerity.

And that means lots more people losing their jobs. That means more suicides. That means more pain for everybody. And so as someone who's gone through it, like I know it's not easy. I know it's not easy to go through that. But it's coming. The pain that I think is going to come for the next six months is going to be to some people unbearable. And that's kind of why I'm making this.

podcast. I feel I feel like I kind of jumped through that hoop a few years ago. And I've been talking to so many cool people on my podcast about their stories. I talked to Rob Poitner yesterday. He was a sheriff in Alameda County who crashed on his motorcycle while at work. And he talks about how when he after that accident, like his whole life changed, he was no longer a sheriff. He no longer felt like a father. He no longer felt like a husband because he couldn't provide that's in a crazy word, isn't it? Provide. He couldn't provide for his family the way he used to. Well, I can tell you from experience, someone who has sat down and struggled with the word provide, what does it mean to provide? Are you not a father? Are you not a mother? Are you not a brother or a sister if you can't

provide financial means for people? Nothing could be further from the truth. There is so many ways to provide. And the way you begin your life again is by providing for your community. And once you do that, once you begin holding your head up high, putting your shoulders back, and talking to people with the dignity that you deserve, that dignity will be reflected back to you in a way you can't imagine. Slow at first and then all at once. Slow at first and then all at once. But we're going to go through this incredible rebuilding phase. And it's going to get hard. But I just want to send a message out to everybody who may find themselves in some difficult times right now that it gets better. This chaos is necessary.

A good metaphor that people use is the caterpillar turning into the butterfly. And if you take a moment to think about that, think about what the caterpillar does. Like it consumes, it consumes, it consumes, it eats everything. And then all of a sudden, it appears to die. But it doesn't really die. It just changes forms. And if you look at ourselves, the human race, as part of nature, we are in a radical metamorphosis right now. We have consumed for like the last 40 years.

We have a public education system that teaches the Prussian school model to turn out factory workers. There's nothing wrong with a factory worker. I consider myself a truck driver. I've done it for 25 years. But the time of change is now. And if you make the conscious change, if you yourself, make the conscious change to become the best version of yourselves, you won't have to wait for calamity to strike.

And that's what's happening to so many people. Like they find themselves on the receiving end of a tragedy or calamity. But it's really just a metamorphosis. There's some really incredible green shoots that I see. And I'll take the psychedelic revolution because that's kind of where my heart is. There's so much incredible growth happening in the world of psychedelics. I talked to lots of people almost daily about the changes happening in their life. And if you're listening to me, there's a good chance that you have had a relationship with psychedelics and has changed your life in some ways.

I see this as just a radical transformation. Another metaphor might be the snake that sheds its skin, right? The snake has to shimmy out into like an open patch of dirt where it's really rough and then move all around until it shakes that dead skin off. right because it's growing through its skin it's uncomfortable and it's vulnerable the snake that slither its way out under the patch of dirt all of a sudden there's all these predators out there's all these birds there's all these rodents and there's a good chance that that snake may not live but if the snake doesn't do that the snake will die like you must shed the skin that was your prior self You must have the courage to go out there against the odds and find, search, seek to become the very best version of yourself.

And I think most people will be pleasantly surprised that they have the ability to do it. You know, when we talk about these cuts or when we talk about the austerity that's coming our way, another word for those things is fear. Right. Like how many people live in fear of not being able to keep. keep their house. How many people live in fear of never being able to buy a house? How many of our young kids today live in fear of never having a family? Like how much longer should we fear this? Because that's what we've been living in for the last 30 years. It's just this bubble of manufactured ideas that are meaningless. That's pretty good. I should say that again. Manufactured ideas that are meaningless.

So much of the legacy media, so much of the information that comes to us via social media is just propaganda. It's such propaganda. You know, and I can tell you from someone who's done some independent media, the way in which we are targeted for information is disgusting. Like, there's all ways to target people. I see it all day long. Like, do you want to reach a group of people from the, ages of 18 to 22 that wear purple Nikes, no problem. I got a list of people for you.

And when you target information, when you target people, you're targeting them to send them a message. And it's usually not a message that's good for you. It's usually a message that's motivated by money to get you to do some things that you don't want to do. It's targeted towards you to spend money you have, spend money you don't have to buy crap you don't need. So the austerity that's coming our way is, in some ways, it's our own doing.

I feel like on some level we got lazy. Like, we just stopped. We stopped really caring for the things that are important in life. We got lazy. And now is the time where new leaders are made. I think there's an incredible lack there of passionate, caring people who are at the very top. I don't think that a lot of the people that are. running large corporations really give one shit about people on the bottom.

And so I'm, I'm actually really interested to see how this austerity plays out. You know, there's another great quote that says when the poor have nothing to eat, they eat the rich. I think that's a big part of what's happening here is that you're beginning to see the masses transform from that caterpillar into something like a raven's locust.

And what happens then? All the institutions fail. All the, like the school system fails. The community begins to fail from the corruption at the very top. I'm like, that's where we're at. That's where we're at right now. And I think that it's the people on the bottom, the 99% of the people on the bottom, maybe the 80% of people on the bottom that are going to become the new leaders. And it's not easy to become a new leader. It's not easy to become a new leader. It's not. It's not easy to fight all the minutia and all the momentum that's been piled against you. But it's possible. And we're going to see a group of radical young leaders come up and fight their way to the top and carve out a new place for us. And I just want to say that everybody, you can be part of this revolution. You listening to this right now are the people that we need to step up and become the best versions of themselves. because the change happens from the bottom up. Each individual becoming the very best version of themselves

is what transforms a society into a beacon on a hill. And that's where we're headed. That's where we're going to end up. But there's going to be a lot of fight ahead of us. But I just want to finish off this last little part right here with if tragedy has come your way, you lost a loved one, you lost a relationship, You lost a job.

I say congratulations to you. Because today is the first day where you're going to begin contemplating what you can do. It won't be easy. Definitely won't be fun in the beginning. But it's there for you. And I hope you take this clarion call to action to become the best version of yourself. I love you. I hope you have a beautiful day.

And do yourself a huge favor and engage in the community in ways that are meaningful that you'd be proud of. and watch your kids look up to you and tell you how much they love you. Look at your loved ones and just realize that as of right now, if you have your family, you have everything. If you have your freedom and you have your health, then you got everything. So I hope you have a beautiful day. That's all we got. Ladies and gentlemen, hello.