https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=YA0zN-uBcxA
I started off doing New Age stuff, but I feel like because I’m Australian I have that kind of Inherent down-to-earth casual sort of yeah relationship with it So I think it wasn’t as New Age hippie, but I think as I got more grounded over time people weren’t very happy with me and it’s Yeah, well something that I I Question because I find it weird how in this kind of world there is no word for pre-less There is no word for false spiritual experience and even that is very triggering because like how dare you? Say that my experience was false. It felt so overwhelmingly real and I’ve had many of those I’m not even saying that it’s false or it’s true. But the fact that there is no discernment between them How do you know but we don’t have to question the experience people have, you know It’s mostly it’s mostly that like you said the discernment of that experience And so, you know in the Orthodox tradition I think it I think they have the really good way of dealing with this which is basically saying You should ignore all spiritual experiences. I know people are gonna go like what just ignore spiritual experiences But that’s that that’s what they say and the reason why they say that is because they realize that if you really believe Even what a new age will say which is something like, you know The purpose of reality is to be united with the one right to be to kind of be united with the transcendent Reality then if that’s your purpose then that’s what you should be aiming towards and then these spiritual experiences that you have That’s not it Right, just because you see an angel or you have some feeling or you have some insight even if the inside is Root to a certain extent That’s not your goal. That’s not where you’re headed so you have to be careful not to not to give too much attention to that because you’re going to You’re going to stay there and you’re going to kind of turn around in these like these kind of experiences And so if you just ignore the experiences then there’s less of a danger of being you could say seduced by a demon you know or seduce something which is off-key because You’re just saying you’re just kind of and you will have the spiritual experiences, right? You will but you just don’t you don’t spend your time on them and you don’t You don’t wallow in them you could say you rather keep your eye on the ultimate goal Which is you know, which is the union with the divine? Yeah, yeah and even test your experience, you know and see if it holds up over time If it still makes cohesiveness sense with the rest of your conception of yeah, and also the fruits, you know You’ll know a tree by its fruits That is that if you have these spiritual experiences But you’re a total jerk to everybody around you and and it’s like and you continue to have all these sins in your in your life and all these things that are your obsessions and your You know your idiosyncrasies then that spiritual experience is pretty meaningless Like it might have felt real and it probably was real but it’s not moving you towards freedom it’s not moving you towards something which is Which is more than just a kind of like like an entertaining experience you could say Yeah, that’s why integration is so important like the work that you do afterwards It’s like kind of reading a book and not contemplating You know what I mean? It kind of just go right through your head except that it’s a little bit It can be a bit more dangerous obviously going into these realms and let’s say reading a book Yeah, but I think I think a lot of it has to do with like naivety like, you know I mean just overly trusting I found that the people who are the most trusting I think the people who are most interested in Navigating through these spiritual realms without actually taking it seriously are like usually yeah, just kind of young white hippie Western people Who’ve never really I don’t know because I grew up I’ve had some like kind of rough experiences and I’ve met people During my teenage years like who are very charismatic and they’re very actually good-looking and handsome and very You know what I mean? Like they know how to talk to you and make you feel good Actually a snake But you can see them go out in the rest of the world like people being like, oh, he’s such a nice person But then when you actually peek behind the curtain you like yeah, I know that guy Johnny’s a dick don’t trust it Kind of big so there’s a lot of yeah that makes that makes that makes a lot of sense and I think You know, I think there’s also an aspect of materialism which is part of that Which is that because we’ve been so hounded and we’re hounded in school and we’re told that the world is just a bunch of phenomena that can be calculated and be and Be measured is that when people have an insight that there’s actually something more Then it’s like whatever that more is they’re all excited about it and they just want to dive in and they want to experience So it’s like like you said it also the materialism leads to this lack of discernment as well because it’s like oh Wow, there’s this whole world that that they lied to me about that actually does exist and so it’s like open the doors open It’s like oh, there’s something there’s something it’s like this fast, you know, everybody’s just excited about it But it’s like no, no, wait a minute. No, no, that’s it. That’s a really bad thing like that’s a demon and that’s actually a projection of your passion and that’s a it’s like and so but it’s at first people don’t They don’t have that capacity because they’re used to be complete materialist And so that’s probably one of the problems that we have to you know, it’s yeah, I relate I went through that too Yeah, and it would even Maybe even some people listen to this right now might be triggered for when people even say oh, it’s a demon like all right Crazy Christian fundamentalist. What do you mean by that? I mean if demons it’s saying the role of God anyway Why does it matter? Yeah. Well, yeah people recognize that’s a let’s say let’s let’s give it a simple example Let’s say you’re you’re addicted to something. I don’t know. Yeah, you you drink too much or I don’t know Whatever it is you watch porn or like you you have this addiction Right and you know that it’s an addiction because it it because you can’t control it, right? because you try to and then you can’t and then it kind of pulls you and so that’s a Principality that that’s that’s also a principality. That is it’s it’s a pattern in reality That is cosmic. It’s cosmic because you’re not the only person with that addiction, dude Yes, there are other people that also have that addiction means that that’s not a need you a synchronicity you it’s not just relative to you It’s an actual real pattern that exists in the world but in which you are participating and that that you are not only Participating but that you by engaging in these bad habits and behaviors you are feeding it You’re sacrificing your time and your attention to this pattern and you’re making it stronger in the world Because you’re you’re like a you’re a branch of it. You’re a body for it You’re a you know your tool for it to appear in the world, right? So it you don’t need like a Ghostbusters way of thinking like it doesn’t have to be something like a woo-woo Science-fiction thing. This is just cognitive reality of how things work. So that principality Has a cosmic version of it It has to because it doesn’t just exist in it exists and all these other people and so That’s a demon and you can encounter it and you can be possessed by it And you can be a tool for it to spread in the world Like have you ever met someone who has a bad habit and is obsessed with getting other people to participate in that very bad habit? Why they even know they even know that it’s bad for them Like if you you pry them a little you know that it’s destructive But nonetheless they want to get that young kid to smoke and they’re they secretly want to get these teenagers to drink or to Do whatever it is that that they do and so they’re they’re they’re a tool of this demon It’s a real thing. I’m getting flashbacks because like you it’s so true like when people are so entrenched in their bad habit, let’s say whatever weed drugs and I’ve had these experiences where You’re like I don’t want anymore. Just have one man They’re like and they even kind of physically transform into that kind of orc demonic like And it’s like dude no and then as soon as you try to break away from Their lifestyle then they get like triggered and inflamed and like what do you mean? What you think you’re better than me? You know, it’s like whoa. Whoa. Whoa, man. I just didn’t want to do drugs. That’s all Yeah, no, but you you’ve got there exactly there. You’ve understood the right pattern and So So these so you can understand that let’s say let’s say think about this So there are principalities in the world that are trying to get your attention, right? there are some that are light and there are some that are dark and You know like all the good things all you know, like loving your neighbor helping your friends, you know Being good to your spouse taking care of your children. There are all these light these light Patterns in the world and they are trying to kind of get your attention and you want to give your attention to them And then you have all these darker ones that are there as well now you can understand these these these patterns as just Abstract patterns in the world, but they we are conscious beings like we are persons and those patterns end up Coagulating into something like persons as well And so that’s why we then the same way that I encounter you a pattern thing in front of me, right? You’re just a pattern but I encounter your face and your behavior as a pattern being That is the same for these higher principalities You know, and so and so you can yeah, you can like I said you can encounter them They can manifest themselves to you and sometimes in a more immediate way depending on people’s sensibilities but even if they don’t you can still understand that they’re acting on you and And and you you know, and like let’s say I don’t know if you’ve ever You kind of free yourself from a bad habit Let’s say you have this bad thing that you’re that you’re dealing with and you’re able to free yourself from it um, and then when you’re kind of free from it, you you’re even like Like who is that guy who was doing that? You almost don’t recognize yourself like you look at yourself and you’re like who’s that guy that was doing this? Like how is it that he was doing this and you’re like you almost like you don’t even There’s something about it that you can’t even barely you can barely recognize it of course until the day that you’re like in a weak spot and then all of a sudden you don’t then again you don’t know what’s going on and it’s like Yeah, you wake up and you’re like back in the in the pattern and you’re thinking how did I get back here? Out of this thing like I thought I wasn’t there anymore. So how did I fall back? Wake back into satan’s den Exactly. I said i’ll never do this again and you’re waking up with like 10 hookers around you drugs So you’re like, man, you’re like what like how did I get here? Exactly? And so like but these experiences are real like everybody’s had them and so we can understand them just in terms of uh, psychology, but they’re more than that and and you know ancient cultures and And and christian culture was able to recognize that this is not just idiosyncratic to you These have objective reality these patterns and there are ways to deal with them religiously And that’s something even like exorcism can actually have an effect on you In the same way that a coach why is it that a coach who speaks to you before a game? Would make you better at playing basketball that you think that’s you don’t think that’s stupid. Well, why does it? Bother you that maybe someone with authority could With spiritual authority could affect you in a way that would Free you at least somewhat from that from these different bad patterns that you have So there are all these ways to kind of be able to look back and see again these rituals these practices that we see In in in ancient culture and just see how they they’re totally coherent. They’re not at all They’re not strange the way that people told us they were Yeah, yeah, definitely and What I really appreciate about the trinitarian view of god is that well three The number three is actually the number of reconciliations right transcends opposites and something i’ve been searching for so many years because no matter what World view I came to there was always this dialectical tension as always This or is that hermeticism actually did a pretty good job of explaining uh, like transcending duality and uh dark and lightness and all this kind of stuff and even in hermeticism they Completely prove that you can’t be god because of this this and this You know, and I found that very interesting because in this world today we Well, either you don’t believe in god or you believe you are god, which is mathematically the same thing, right? Yeah, exactly. No, that makes a lot of sense. And that’s what you you end up seeing. Well, we it’s more like yeah, we’re We think we’re like little gods, you know, and then we kind of act that way but usually If you observe someone who thinks that you realize that they’re just They’re just a series of possessed like they’re just possessed by all these things, you know Yeah, and you kind of see them pop up when you’re looking when you’re watching someone and all of a sudden you like oh, oh, oh here comes This thing like here it comes and you gotta see it coming. It’s easier to see it in other people, which is horrible I know, right, but you know I know, right, but but it’s true. You can see it you’re with someone and all of a sudden You can kind of see something coming out, you know Of them some of some like obsession or some weird way of interacting with others like you for example, like You you you watch uh, you know, you have a friend a woman friend, let’s say And then you know, you’re engaging you’re talking with her and then you go to a party and all of a sudden you see her like Fall into like flirt mode and you’re like what? I was like, she’s like a whole other creature and we like moves and speaks About her and you’re like, what is this? Like what’s going on? This is like this being is is uh, yeah It’s not the same being that I was dealing with, you know an hour ago Yeah That’s why I like to just Constantly remind myself. I’m just human. I’m always I’m fallible I’m always gonna fall and as far as actually quite freeing to think that way Versus you’re you you are your own god and you can basically bend reality to your will And i’m sure you can for a little while, but I don’t know man. I feel like there’s always a price For everything that snaps back. Yeah the bill snaps back because Yeah, there’s 98 percent of you that you’re not aware of so much of who you are you’re not aware of like You know in in the orthodox tradition people wonder why that is but we we’re constantly confessing sins that we don’t realize we’ve done They were constantly saying, you know, wittingly or unwittingly like this Confessing the sins that i’ve done, you know on purpose or on accident because there are aspects of my being that i’m not even aware of and so people who think that they’re That they’re kind of like these little gods. They don’t realize that they have these little imps that are riding them and and so they they kind of act and and all of a sudden something happens like you know, this this aspect of themselves that they hadn’t Accounted for you know kind of springs forth And uh, yeah, and then they get they get sideswiped, you know, so Yeah, that that’s why community is so important, you know having I say this all the time But I think it’s good. It’s very important to have good friends that will call you out on your bs. Oh, yeah You know, it’s definitely being in your own lone world having spiritual experiences and yes gaining so much knowledge Just inhaling all that wisdom and you just yes, i’m god Yeah, exactly And recreating that reality. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly and can’t do normal human to human interactions