The Cure for a Curse

00:00.33	mikebledsoe	Yes, I was just writing I was doing my books waiting on that max here and.
00:01.00	Max Shank	Oh.
00:07.77	Max Shank	We were just saying. It's nothing like a ah novel. It's nothing like a ah book. But that's how it all really began was we wanted to write down that you owe me 10 goats and I owe you. My daughter's hand in marriage when she comes of age or something like that right? it's it's Contracts. It's contracts. Basically I O use.
00:25.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah I remember. Ah yeah, it's a recording of of transactions so recording of contracts agreements the I remember um watching my.
00:42.30	Max Shank	It's like the word record you record a record.
00:44.30	mikebledsoe	yeah yeah I remember watching my dad do the books for his business back in like you know the 80 s and 90 s you know I wasn't I wasn't aware enough to know what he was doing until probably the early 90 s but ah.
00:49.82	Max Shank	Yeah. E.
01:03.41	mikebledsoe	Yeah I just remember him like having an actual book of things and and writing in the ledger where the money went and this not I Just remember like that was the most frustrated I ever saw him like.
01:11.51	Max Shank	Oh.
01:18.76	Max Shank	Is.
01:20.69	mikebledsoe	Like the guy. The guy's a craftsman right? He he was a craftsman and so like ah he was a builder like he did a lot of ah home improvements but also built these really amazing cabins from scratch and yeah.
01:24.29	Max Shank	What craft.
01:36.18	Max Shank	No shit building a cabin from scratch is like a really cool thing I think now that's what I think is cool now I think that is cool now I used to think lifting something really really big over your head was super cool.
01:39.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah, so he was.
01:43.13	mikebledsoe	Totally.
01:52.25	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah, yeah.
01:55.28	Max Shank	And it still kind of is but now making your own cabin from scratch that is fricking cool.
02:01.27	mikebledsoe	Well, it's interesting because you know he was so gifted at that and then because he wanted to do things the way he wanted to do them meant that he was going to own his own business which then came with all these other ah requirements. Ah, for.
02:18.27	Max Shank	Who.
02:20.53	mikebledsoe	To do that because and really the only reason is required is because you have to pay taxes. Other than that you you wouldn't actually have to maintain books. It'd probably be beneficial to maintain books to maintain a ah record of of your transactions and all that stuff.
02:31.97	Max Shank	Yeah.
02:37.60	mikebledsoe	But I think a guy like that would have done better just to have been winging it the whole time and put more of his attention into what he was actually skilled at.
02:45.24	Max Shank	Man that speaks so much to me because we could talk about this probably all day right? where these different personality types crazy thrive in one way and then really struggle in another way and it's like how do you. Compound and multiply your zone of Genius while minimizing the damage of one of these let's just call it a ah deficit or or just like a ah simple lack of desire to do you know back in the day if if you went out on the hunt.
03:15.51	mikebledsoe	Um, what.
03:22.60	Max Shank	Crafting is like a version of hunting or gathering kind of you can make that that leap it's about energy transformation and generation. Ah, there was no need to really keep a record because you either came home with food or you did not. There's no like little book. Oh I can.
03:35.72	mikebledsoe	Right.
03:41.83	Max Shank	Didn't get food again today. It's like no, we all know.
03:43.47	mikebledsoe	Yeah I think the only like thinking ahead that people had to do early on was if you lived up North you had to think about the seasons changing but aside from that you know if the the closer you move to the equator the less.
03:53.97	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
04:01.48	mikebledsoe	You really have to keep a record or think about much of the past or the future. It really is about. Did you bring home a kill today or did you find some food today or are we warm. Are we comfortable today? Yeah, so yeah, the um I you know what I I find to be interesting is.
04:10.29	Max Shank	Right.
04:21.38	mikebledsoe	I avoided doing the books in my business I avoided doing bookkeeping anything with finance at all and so ah, a little over a year ago I decided to I was talking to a friend I was talking to a friend like two and a half years ago and he was like well.
04:27.48	Max Shank	It. Ah.
04:40.29	mikebledsoe	You know you've never done your books I go no he goes you should probably do your books at some point just so you you know what's happening in the business like at a very granular level and I go I go. Okay, he goes I Still do my books and he's he runs multiple companies and.
04:47.89	Max Shank	I.
04:58.20	mikebledsoe	This and that definitely a different personality than I am right? but but he was right. There was a there was a there was something about the business I didn't quite understand yes I could get by without it I didn't need to do it. But if I rip.
05:00.86	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
05:09.86	Max Shank	Um, well, you're a star Mike you can make it you can make it work even if it's not a good plan and I can relate.
05:23.74	mikebledsoe	It's how you broke up for a None
05:24.72	Max Shank	Oh you can make a good plan Work. You can make a bad plan work. Ah, just because you have those skills and I can super relate to that and when you're ah less wise you trick yourself into thinking. That you had a good plan but really, you had a shit plan and you just happened to pull a miracle out of your ass.
05:48.20	mikebledsoe	Yeah, there's a pattern of behavior if you were to look back that the ah and it it is. It's like my whole family The ah the whole family. There was a saying growing up was like a ble so could fall into a pile of shit and still smell like a rose.
05:57.65	Max Shank	But.
06:08.40	mikebledsoe	like like 1 of those like we would put ourselves in these predicaments. But somehow we'd fucking escape. Yeah yeah, and it was kind of like a running joke. But the the thing is is when that is true when that's happened enough times. It starts.
06:14.20	Max Shank	Find the shower. Yeah.
06:22.76	Max Shank	Oh.
06:27.66	mikebledsoe	It's It's hard to make planning important when not planning you still get pretty good Results. Maybe not the ultimate result you're looking for but pretty good results and I think most people have ah they have developed some type. Of something in their personality ah patterns of behavior in their life where they have continued to get a reward and so that's why they keep behaving that way even though there might be some people saying hey you might want to try it this other way. It's like why would I listen to somebody suggesting to do it another way unless my weight. Hasn't been working but what happens is as we get to a certain point that has happened with me. It's like I keep butting up against the same ceiling right? It's like oh every time I try to make more than this amount of money I hit the ceiling every time I do this I hit a ceiling and or every time I have a certain goal I hit a ceiling in the in.
07:17.28	Max Shank	Oh.
07:22.65	Max Shank	On.
07:27.70	mikebledsoe	Reason is because the thing that got me to where I am now is probably the thing that's going to hold me back moving forward and I'm ah I'm a huge fan of of ah knowing your weaknesses and studying it.
07:33.46	Max Shank	Interesting idea.
07:46.19	mikebledsoe	A little bit just so you know what you don't know like I I do I learn enough about finance so that I know how to I can at least spot the Bs I can tell if somebody else knows what they're talking about. But if I don't know anything about it and I just straight up delegate it Out. I I think that's dangerous because I've done that before and gotten burned. How about you have you had like business partnerships and stuff like that where like not necessarily because somebody burned you. But.
08:12.67	Max Shank	Um, like you repeat that you you receive you repeat the same pattern is that what you're asking or.
08:18.90	mikebledsoe	No, no, no like if you don't know enough about a task that you have not developed yourself and say you completely outsource that task That's that's a problem.
08:29.86	Max Shank	Oh yeah, yeah, you put something you put something outside of your observation and and it leaves you vulnerable in in several ways I know at Discount Tire They don't promote anyone from the outside. It's only from the um.
08:47.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah, um.
08:49.31	Max Shank	The bottom up the whole thing and it's all about knowing every part of the process. Ah dude, you've said so many things that I want to respond to I took a couple notes here and the first one was ah in relation to the the bookkeeping. It's like.
09:01.15	mikebledsoe	You.
09:07.88	Max Shank	Reminded me immediately of the word intuitive eating and intuitive movement. So now we have intu intuitive finances. Ah here here on our show. We do intuitive finance is a new course coming out featuring ah featuring ah the.
09:19.79	mikebledsoe	Let me go see if that domain's available.
09:26.96	Max Shank	The crypto prince Mike Bledso and the ah the dinosaur.
09:29.82	mikebledsoe	Um, there's like so many domains I have to buy right now just spitting them out. Yeah.
09:35.97	Max Shank	Totally all right? So check it, you have intuitive eating and intuitive movement people are probably familiar with those terms but None of the things I was talking with my buddy about ah we're like man how are you shouldn't do. Intuitive eating if you suck like if you don't have knowledge and skills like intuitive eating is for sure the best way I would I mean it's a bold claim intuitive eating can be wonderful but you but also you need to have.
10:05.30	mikebledsoe	Well, you have to be in touch with your intuition for it to work for 1
10:14.61	Max Shank	Some understanding of what is in the food like you can't if you go on just like pure ah like gut reaction. You're just going to eat ah like chips and soda pop all day long because it's delicious. So with finances you dig into the books a little bit.
10:17.74	mikebledsoe	By the way.
10:34.52	Max Shank	Now you might have a chance to approach something. That's a little bit more intuitive because now you have that vocabulary that ah understanding of the elements right? So that was the None thing I thought of um, it made me laugh.
10:50.14	mikebledsoe	Let's you got to have this structure. You have to have this structure in order to flow and like an intuition and flow go hand in hand. Yeah, exactly.
10:55.40	Max Shank	Right? We're talking about that last week right we were talking about that last week. The pipes are the structure and it harnesses the flow in the direction you want it to go ah and then the other thing that was interesting. We were talking about how? ah. A good outcome doesn't mean you had a good plan and if you're a super achiever guy. You can basically make a bad plan work and you don't want to conflate those 2 you don't want to confuse those things and think oh my plan was good. Really no, you're a stud but your plan sucks and so that's kind of. Looking at those weaknesses and then finally um, the the the identity perpetuating patterns is a funny one to me like if you ah I don't I don't know if this is true. It feels kind of true to me. But if you pride yourself and you label yourself as someone who's extremely tough who can take a lot of punishment and get back up every time they fall down. I have this idea that life is going to feed you more of that. What do you What do you think about that your identity perpetuating your reality.
12:15.37	mikebledsoe	Um, oh yeah, absolutely the? Ah ah well what we have to talk about the reticular activating system in this case and ah the RAS as a part of the brain.
12:27.38	Max Shank	Save the 10 dollars words for another podcast you son of a bitch.
12:34.80	mikebledsoe	Is responsible for so spotting things. So for instance, um, if I go buy a red pickup truck. What am I going to see a lot of on the road red pickup truck. We all know this we've all heard you know and we've all had the experience of.
12:35.99	Max Shank	Fucking nerd.
12:45.98	Max Shank	You.
12:52.32	mikebledsoe	We become interested in something and then all of a sudden we we start seeing it everywhere and we see it's a sign. Um and and so ah, the same thing happens with identity. If we believe something about ourselves and I like the way you talk about identity max which is you know the story we tell ourselves about ourselves if we that is our identity and we have this story about what is true I also like to think about what we believe to be true about ourselves and what we believe to be true about the world. Those are the None big things to have beliefs about right? It's either a belief about self or belief.
13:28.64	Max Shank	Yeah, maybe that's what encompasses your identity right? is your place in the world. Also it's not just the label you attach to yourself. It's um, there's that classic phrase is you know. Life is happening for you. Some people believe and some people believe life happens to you I used to start off asking people questions like ah do you feel Life is more like a game a show or a ride I used to start all my like coaching programs with these weird.
13:47.29	mikebledsoe	Right.
14:07.70	Max Shank	Questions and then I'd ask people what the word intelligent means and people would stumble all over it and have no clue what smart even means and it was just like this fun thing but depending on how you see life if you see life is more like a ride you might have a hell of a wild and awesome ride. But it's going to be different than someone who thinks they are playing a game that they must win right? It's going to be huge difference.
14:27.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah, totally yeah, right is passive that it's happening and there's not much I'm going to do um, a game I'm an active participant. It might be great. Ah.
14:36.17	Max Shank	Um, and it might be great. It might be great. The the thing is like I want to I make sure that people understand I'm not trying to say that one is superior although I love games and winning is fun. Winning isn't everything. But it's the only thing right? There's that all like ah but I've I've met people who live life like it's a ride and they they do well and they're very happy and I've seen people who. Live life like a game and it's a real challenge the whole time and it doesn't look as far and vice versa. So There's quadrants you know.
15:19.30	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well I think the ride I think the ride is a good way to go if you have momentum in a certain direction. There's like because well well what? what? ah.
15:32.12	Max Shank	Everybody's got momentum in a certain direction dude like you the word momentum starts with the word mom. As soon as you get launched out of a vagina there is momentum to you.
15:42.85	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well if you're if you're in a poor trajectory and you're on a ride then it's not a good thing. But if you have if you're going in a great direction with Momentum then the ride is probably really good for you. So.
15:45.53	Max Shank	Your life has momentum as soon as you cross the gate. Yeah.
15:58.64	Max Shank	I Like that we're going to bring it back to physics here. Yeah, we're going to coast a little bit kick push kick push Coast right? I think with when it comes to work which is ah a big part of.
16:05.45	mikebledsoe	Exactly exactly.
16:17.36	Max Shank	Ah, even having any accounting or bookkeeping to do. It's um, it's nice to remember that the suffering that you feel the amount of effort you apply has ah very little to do.
16:35.71	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
16:35.97	Max Shank	With the result you know, ah Momentum and Aerodynamics are a really really nice example of that. So just just having ah a better, a better setup can be. Be a huge difference maker. It doesn't matter how much effort or suffering goes into it I think that's ah, another big identity thing I know for me that was ah that was a challenge I Thought that suffering was proportional to success or or good or goodness right? Um, and I think.
17:08.96	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah.
17:13.79	Max Shank	A lot of people still do believe that is my guess so like.
17:14.60	mikebledsoe	They do I talk to people who do all time I Want to go back to like the the collecting of evidence for what you believe about the world and what you believe about yourself. So this this identity you know who you believe you are and what you believe the world is and how you fit inside of it.
17:26.34	Max Shank	Oh.
17:33.77	mikebledsoe	You These are all just a series of narratives that are playing out most of these narratives were set up when you were a kid and you what you've been doing the whole time. He's been collecting evidence to support it you ah the that part of your.
17:42.86	Max Shank	I.
17:53.20	mikebledsoe	Brain doesn't go out there looking for things that don't support it. They're going out there look for things that do support it and so you can tell? Yeah, so when you yeah so when you have stacked a lot of time.
18:03.25	Max Shank	Confirmation Bias I think is what that's called think like racism like racism you you get up ah in the morning your parents are racist. They're saying bad things about the neighbors. Maybe you live in a bad area where.
18:14.32	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah.
18:20.45	Max Shank	All your neighbors are bad white and black and yellow and different colors alike but you only look out like what you were saying with your ah reticular activating system is you look out for those things and not only is it that you see them. Because what you notice is so different than what you see and you just confirm those beliefs over and over again because your vision is crazy small and Selective. You know, kind of going back to the vision Piece. It's a very complex mechanism that. Creates a total illusion inside your brain.
19:02.83	mikebledsoe	There was a I was listening to a podcast by Lex Friedman the other day I forget who shared it with me. Um, but he's he's ah interviewing this like evolutionary physicist I don't know like so some some dude that's they. Is way smarter than either None of us and he was talking about.
19:24.72	Max Shank	Well I resent that clearly you don't know what the word smart means.
19:29.65	mikebledsoe	Ah, this guy. Ah, basically through mathematics is able to demonstrate how our perception is. It's impossible for our perception to match reality. And in fact, it's so far from reality that. Which which isn't not news to you or me but to a lot of people. They they do think that they're noticing some things and then they're perceiving others when in fact, it's None perception that's happening and if we look out through lens of evolution then what we're what we have is. Ah. Ah, ah, the fittest right? It's it's the fittest is what evolves it's not It's not the truth. So the truth does not actually ah doesn't come into play when it comes to survival so whatever you whatever you need to perceive in order to survive. Is how your entire consciousness will develop.
20:33.22	Max Shank	When you say truth What do you mean because I I would agree that what a person sees is dependent on their memory because what they're what they're doing is they're differentiating ah the way a picture is interpreted.
20:50.10	mikebledsoe	And um.
20:52.71	Max Shank	And the picture is just simply about the ah um, the reception of light and we only have a small visible spectrum. So you're talking about the truth being everything versus what is visible to the naked eye. Oh then.
21:08.25	mikebledsoe	That's correct.
21:11.57	Max Shank	Absolutely I mean there's ah there are some great pictures. You can look up on the electromagnetic spectrum That's like a really cool ah thing to check out. Everything is just buzzing around and some of it. We can see and some of it. We can't and some animals.
21:26.57	mikebledsoe	Yeah, and but it's not. It's not necessary. Yeah.
21:30.52	Max Shank	And see ultraviolet and Infrared. It's not Useful. It's really about what is a um I feel like I say it all the time.. It's like what is a predictable Pattern. What is a predictable pattern if you have a really hard turtle shell on your back. It's predictable that. Nothing is going to bite through it as long as you're inside the shell if you're inside a cave and the cave is sealed the the jaguar or the leopard or the line will not get you in the night those kind of things are um.
21:52.83	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah.
22:09.88	Max Shank	Stuff that we've learned based on what we've seen but it's not the the whole picture right.
22:13.80	mikebledsoe	No, no. But yeah, so we look for the fact is almost nobody has an accurate understanding of the world or of themselves. Well that.
22:26.49	Max Shank	What do you mean? almost nobody who's this who's this guy that has it all figured out I want to meet this dude and.
22:32.64	mikebledsoe	There's this one guy there's this one guy I think that he may have it figured out but he'll remain nameless.
22:40.97	Max Shank	He's the one he's the 1 standing on the milk crate at the corner of a Columbus and None right? it it is probably someone like that I mean hey yeah, the concept.
22:44.00	mikebledsoe	For sure for sure. He's the fuck crazy fucker lives under the bridge. Well, there's a have you read? the have you read this series by Jed Mckenna okay Jeed Mckenna wrote a ah.
22:57.58	Max Shank	M.
23:00.16	mikebledsoe	Series. The first book is called spiritual enlightenment The damnedest thing and um I used to be really hesitant to even mention it in public. But I've gotten a little bit looser because you know what if you want to destroy your entire ego. You know who am I to stop you So the. This guy. Ah, this guy wrote this book on Enlightenment. He basically outlines how spirituality is actually ah will keep you from being enlightened and really creates a distinction between the 2 And you know that the the deal is you can't explain what enlightenment is because it's something that would only you can only experience once it's you can only experience it and then once you've experienced it. There's no going back to the illusion and.
23:53.90	Max Shank	Well, and once again, what are we trying to describe when we say the word enlightenment so just getting really right? It's ah it's a sign. It's a symbol that we're using to determine like this feeling that we we have this feeling in mind.
23:57.14	mikebledsoe	Was It's indescribable. Well well being well being well being. Well different people. Well a lot of people see it as a feeling but the the way the guy describes it This book is that you only see you you know the absolute truth at all times you're.
24:11.78	Max Shank	Right? and.
24:21.41	Max Shank	Yeah.
24:23.10	mikebledsoe	You stabilize that state of consciousness and um, basically life gets incredibly boring because there's no narratives I mean you can witness narratives but you're not actually participating um in them anymore at all.
24:37.11	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
24:42.64	mikebledsoe	There's nothing to believe about yourself. There's nothing to believe about the world outside of what you can directly validate for yourself through observation and even then the story that tying the the dots together to create a narrative just doesn't exist anymore.
24:59.11	Max Shank	It would be so hard to function with other people if you actually did that it'd be.
25:03.36	mikebledsoe	Well well in the book If you read the book series. You'd really, there's he he's basically documenting conversations and he fucking almost hates having to interact with people. You know it's It's not a you know he basically just sees everybody as little children.
25:15.30	Max Shank	Um, right.
25:21.59	Max Shank	Well that I agree with I mean people are like little children. Um.
25:23.32	mikebledsoe	Well, he gets into that in the book as well. I think you would enjoy the series. Yeah, it's a it's a trilogy. It's it's I chuckled my way through it and it was. It was pretty good. Ah although I.
25:30.36	Max Shank	The series. Okay.
25:40.35	Max Shank	I Feel like.
25:42.47	mikebledsoe	Read it in 2017 at it early Twenty seventeen it ah it did do a number on me totally totally.
25:46.65	Max Shank	Ah, might hit a little different now too. Ah I liked what you said about spirituality getting in the way of enlightenment because when I think of the word enlightenment I Like you know me I like to keep things as simple as possible because I'm not as smart as all these science guys and.
25:55.97	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:11.66	Max Shank	When I think of enlightenment I think about just a reduction in in mass. So you're you're reducing So you're trying to literally make yourself lighter. Yeah, it's like I wrote this phrase down that I've always loved. It's like you can only sharpen.
26:20.42	mikebledsoe	It's a destructive process.
26:31.20	Max Shank	By removing material like otherwise it's a different thing but you sharpen something by taking stuff away and ah there are a lot of different analogies in some ancient wisdoms About. You know, don't be sharp like a sword you know, let yourself become dull and plain like a stone in a River and that kind of stuff and I really resonate with that and the more you have to keep up with these stories the the more you are burdened. And so it's like how do you find a way to fully connect which is like flow in that moment without getting attached and you realize every attachment you have is derived from that identity that you have all all the attachments. Are in relation to your identity. It's like a big net where you're the center spoke or maybe a wheel where you're in the center and it's all these relationships with everything else.
27:30.19	mikebledsoe	Well, the way the way that Jed ah he describes it in the book. He's like you know, a lot of people like to think about what you're talking about these these these beliefs that are in our consciousness like I believe they're in this beautiful web. Or a net or something like that he goes the reality is it's a rat's nest. You have no idea what belongs where until you start pulling a thread and and even then you don't know what? Ah every what all it was connected to and um, yeah, so like that that really hit home for me when.
27:59.22	Max Shank	Um, oh yeah.
28:08.74	mikebledsoe	Because I up to that point I was thinking Oh there's this beautiful web and if I pull this part of the web then I'm not really sure what'll happen on this other side of the web but he's like now it's a Rat's nest. It's just as a is a disaster zone inside of people's minds. Oh.
28:17.48	Max Shank	E.
28:23.29	Max Shank	Um, often yeah.
28:27.88	mikebledsoe	Which I find to be accurate because anytime I've worked with people through like a belief and then we watch it dissolve. There's just no way to predict how that's going to impact their life. It's like oh I didn't know it wass going to impact that area of your life in that way. Okay, that was a surprise.
28:43.17	Max Shank	Some people are more attached. Some people are a little some people have a pretty easy time letting stuff go and some people have ah a really hard time or.
28:44.79	mikebledsoe	Some people are more attached.
28:52.64	mikebledsoe	I have um so I have a ah story to share I have a ah mentee I was talking to yesterday and he goes mike do you believe in curses I was like well um, you know. If you're talking about someone putting a curse on you if you believe someone put a curse on you then the only way the curse will work is if you believe that the curse is real if you believe that someone put a curse on you then it weren't like you you are cursed and and.
29:21.25	Max Shank	Um, then it definitely worked. You're fucked. That's yeah.
29:29.50	mikebledsoe	And you're the only one that can undo it right? and so and so that was That's how I started he goes. He's like well well I met this guy and he said that he said that Um, my family had a curse and I.
29:43.89	Max Shank	Sounds like 1 of them spiritual ah barriers to enlightenment perhaps or maybe he was right I don't I don't know.
29:48.16	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well well Ego I Go what? Well I say I I was like well we have to Define Curse of course that we we do that on the show at Lot. We Define things and I was like like look I don't I don't necessarily believe in curses in the way that ah. People who use that language probably believe in them because I don't need to believe in the curse I Um I I think that people use that language when they're actually confused about what that is. It's like this. It's mystical. And that's one of the things that ah jeed was getting in the book with spirituality is there's so so much mysticism and that is there's so much mystery, There's so much that we don't understand that you have to buy into and that happens a lot in spirituality people start throwing these words around and I don't know what they're talking about.
30:44.60	Max Shank	On.
30:44.85	mikebledsoe	And I'm pretty sure they have no idea what they're talking about because they just strung together a bunch of words that don't make any sense to to anybody in the room and if I were to ask them to break it down in plain language. It's not going to happen and so anytime anyone starts using a lot of flowery language. Both me my fiancee would just leave.
30:55.95	Max Shank	Um, right.
31:04.62	mikebledsoe	Like neither one of us like to put up with that that shit you know and so that there's a lot of people in the quote unquote conscious community that exists that like you know I think they're doing good stuff I like them and all that but we're probably not going to hang out I don't want to like those people are confused. And so ah, what.
31:25.45	Max Shank	How could people not be confused I mean we act like it's just been this sequential build. But the reality is that cultures and nations and peoples and laws have just been patched together ah time and time again with. Almost never having a chance to really clean the slate. That's why when you have something like America it's like whoa. It's not totally blank slate but it's it's pretty close. They were like okay, let's let's think about this real quick like.
31:54.53	mikebledsoe	It was. It was pretty. It was pretty blank.
32:04.41	Max Shank	What are we going to do here and because and then of course now what we have is just the patchwork quilt of that initial weaving and we're just sticking stuff in here and we're like oh yeah, the school's not doing so good so they need more tests or we'll teach them the tests ahead of time and.
32:09.64	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:23.67	Max Shank	It's just all these fucking patches and ah so it's no wonder that it's just this absolute cluster fuck like you were saying where most of the stuff you just have to take on faith Ah, which of course is kind of kind of back to. Well.
32:35.95	mikebledsoe	We you don't have to I I I try not my my goal is I tell people a lot of times they'll ask me what I believe I go and I said you know I don't believe in much of anything if I can't validate it for myself then I'm gonna tell you.
32:42.72	Max Shank	Yeah I mean.
32:55.92	mikebledsoe	I don't know. Ah there are things that are useful if I were to believe when I believe this way it's something I can't validate for myself. But I can validate the result of believing it which is ah something I want in my life or something I don't want in my life. So I I like to.
32:56.92	Max Shank	O.
33:04.61	Max Shank	And.
33:11.30	Max Shank	E.
33:14.52	mikebledsoe	Be able to admit that I have no idea what the truth is but I do know what's useful and ah there are some things that I can validate for myself and I just know that now going back to the curse and and a curse on the family the the way that I. I Talked about that with him is that every family has a curse and the yeah and they they have some blessings as well. But the but the curse.
33:40.63	Max Shank	Whoa How about a blessing do they have blessings Also because if you can curse another person then it would stand to reason that you could also bless them The logic's not sound completely. But.
33:48.22	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah, you could.
33:55.70	Max Shank	If you believe that you can be cursed. You probably also believe someone could say a prayer for you or give you a blessing or cast a magical spell.
33:59.91	mikebledsoe	But I think we've all seen this like I think what? But what he was talking about is that there's a trend in his family. There's a trend of this pattern of behavior and and it seems mysterious to to them and maybe to people around them who who.
34:08.84	Max Shank	In.
34:19.57	mikebledsoe	Are Not very good at paying attention. Um, they're not in that practice and so but if you pay attention close Enough. You have well there is a pattern of behavior that's leading to these cursed results right? These results to seem to be a curse. Well the curse is going to be a mystery until you. Until you go to? why are people why? what is the behavior that's leading to this and where did that behavior come from and.
34:45.17	Max Shank	Back to curiosity if you can get to that state like then then that's like as close as you can get to a ah blank slate moving forward is to get curious about what is rather than confirming what you believe I think is the.
34:52.22	mikebledsoe	Key So curiosity keep curiosity.
35:04.14	Max Shank	The major key so you're curious about what is or perhaps what can be ah and that way you are not confirming the pre-existing beliefs right? Which definitely feels more stable I mean everything. All the all this talk about writing stuff down and recording things is to increase predictability and stability. So I feel comfortable lending you the None goats.
35:30.35	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well this is what as you I said Curiosity is the cure for curses. So if you if we're going to show title somehow. So so so um, look so I'm talking to him and I go.
35:38.60	Max Shank	Um, cool. That's that sounds nice.
35:50.26	mikebledsoe	This is the curse is what your parents learn from from their parents and then what they taught you is is there's an ancestral pattern of behavior that's playing out and if you don't understand how that pattern works then it's going to be mysterious. And then someone's going to come along and and use the label curse because it's the word curse is kind of a mysterious thing in itself like Witches curse things and that you know it's kind of like it's magic. Yeah, so like I and then so I have to go back in that. Yeah.
36:15.78	Max Shank	Um, yeah, like a Hex or something like that. Yeah, but you can use magic for good too. You know.
36:24.97	mikebledsoe	It to something that's magical or mystical is just something you don't understand how it works yet. Yeah.
36:29.62	Max Shank	Yes, exactly magic You don't get the trick and as soon as you know how it works. It's not magic anymore. It's just a trick hey do the trick. You know it's magic when you don't follow what's happening and most things really are magic I'm a very curious guy I don't like to not know stuff.
36:36.33	mikebledsoe	Now.
36:47.11	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
36:49.43	Max Shank	Honestly, maybe it's maybe it's a character defect or an an effect I don't I don't know exactly what it is but ah, it's really difficult actually to know how stuff works just if you look around wherever you are right now and just try to figure out how all the stuff is working. Unless you are a like Captain Science or something like that. You're going to find it really taxing to figure out how everything works in the world around you and I think one of the things about objectivism which is where i'm. Trying to come at things from it's weird I'm like objectivist in terms of like if it works I'm going to use it and that's good enough for me and also a more metaphysical connection to an everlasting eternal and infinite source that is. Totally the opposite of objective. It's completely subjective. It's like a feeling that it's funny because it's either ah true or not true and so if I am making myself. Believe that it is true and it gives me a good feeling then I just kind of gave myself a little blessing basically and I think that's a lot of what religion is about It's like hey you know what it feels good that there is a wise fatherly figure who's not too hands on.
38:06.49	mikebledsoe	Exactly.
38:21.42	Max Shank	By the way, not an overbearing parent or father figure all powerful looking out for me. He loves me says so in the book. That's that's going to feel pretty nice I can totally understand what I would feel nice. Are you kidding.
38:33.16	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well you know, ah this brings up. Yeah well well I see a huge like a really beneficial place for religion. Um, you know when I look at when I look at you know people that are you know mainstream people.
38:38.37	Max Shank	About the boost in morale.
38:47.62	Max Shank	Fanatics. Oh.
38:51.95	mikebledsoe	Religion is a really great way to get them to behave like if somebody doesn't hasn't been through the questions and the logic and really sat with themselves and have an understanding of like ah of karma basically cause and effect how you know if I do this and I get this result. Most people have no idea that person is going to do really good going to church on Sunday and having the None commandments repeated to them and because the 10 commandments. It's kind of hard hard to argue with that shit like.
39:26.10	Max Shank	It's a bit outlandish really I mean no killing or coveting the neighbor's wife give me a break.
39:30.48	mikebledsoe	I think there was there was I think the one that don't covet your neighbor's wife is the only one that does not include an action that every the 9 commandments was don't do these things and then the last one was like.
39:47.64	Max Shank	Don't even want this.
39:49.67	mikebledsoe	Stamp out that desire like it was the it was the only one that was around desire. Everything else was about behavior so which is really really interesting that it that it that it was wrapped like that which I think is also really good advice. Ah you want to be miserable.
39:58.36	Max Shank	Um, it's like yeah, ah.
40:07.81	Max Shank	Just covet everything You don't have.
40:08.31	mikebledsoe	Like it. Yeah I mean just means to have envy you know to be jealous like it's like oh you know that dude's wife is hotter than mine I I think about her all the time talk about suffering you want to make yourself suffer.
40:21.16	Max Shank	How about the illusion. How about the illusion like that I mean you bring up a great point could talk about it all day. But I won't I mean look at what we do to fabricate a better illusion shiny sports cars glittery tits. We're doing the whole nine yards just to. We're so hyper audio visual. We're so hypervisual. It's insane and you know that.
40:46.44	mikebledsoe	I think 75% of your perception at least seventy five eighty percent on the yeah well the eyes are just an extension of your nervous system. It's just like your nerves have come out and it makes more sense. It makes sense.
40:53.42	Max Shank	Um, it's like.
41:00.69	Max Shank	Yeah, yeah, no I follow I Follow what you're ah what you're going at um I think it's interesting. A lot of people consume media now with the sound off and it's just visual isn't that interesting.
41:03.82	mikebledsoe	Now.
41:10.63	mikebledsoe	I Do I I I have everything set up to where I have to like purposely turn the sound on and and I hope if you don't have a caption on your video I'm I'm skipping right over because I don't want to interrupt I don't want to interrupt my music.
41:19.50	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
41:24.52	Max Shank	Um, oh shit game over that.
41:29.22	mikebledsoe	And got my music playing to my phone now I'm going to have some fucking Instagram real barin now get out of here. So I caption everything. Ah.
41:33.86	Max Shank	Totally totally totally. But I think that just goes to show that we we are. We're very one-dimensional and very heavily focused on the vision and this whole this whole thing. It's like we're not quite.
41:42.53	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
41:52.86	Max Shank	Um, full slaves to our primal ah lust and hunger which that's pretty fun. That's one good option but we're also not fully bought in to this enlightened state either. You know? So we're not we're not really ah enjoying the primal ah savageness and we're also not really in the egoless enviousless wrathless smoothness of ah you know, connected communication and communion. With other things and ah creatures in your universe which is your unique perspective. So. It's a but it's a real bummer to be between those 2 is that's like the worst place you don't really get the benefit of either None you know you're.
42:35.65	mikebledsoe	Yeah, ah.
42:46.30	mikebledsoe	Ah, yeah.
42:49.76	Max Shank	Lizard Brain afraid all the time you're not really getting the you know the the lust and the hunger they're full due and you're not on the the wizard mode either sounds awful just bought in the illusion.
42:58.50	mikebledsoe	Terrible terrible. So ah, so so there there was this moment I had where I um I really got to have um, an appreciation for religion I was it was ah. 2018 I was in ah Paris France and I went to see Notre ah Notre Dame um and before it burned ah and I got to go I walked in.
43:22.62	Max Shank	Any.
43:33.80	Max Shank	Um I did too. It was awesome I might have been there in the same year I might have been there at like the same time is fucking weird. We were there on a date.
43:36.17	mikebledsoe	So cool. So I walked in I'm looking at oh oh weird. So they add all this these ah these these monk These monks had like these hats. You know you saw like the hats with the Jewels and.
43:50.57	Max Shank	Just kidding like.
43:55.44	mikebledsoe	And everything and are and I'm in there and I'm looking at the the cathedral from inside and I go and then I went and looked at the outside I was like man there is a lot of symbolism here and I was like this is super psychedelic like yeah, what I'm looking at.
44:08.63	Max Shank	Um, lot of fancy hats in religions too.
44:13.71	mikebledsoe	What I'm looking at is it looks very mystical and reminds me I remember looking at this one piece and I was like that's a fucking dmt trip right? there I'm gonna tell you right now I've I've been there and I and then I started seeing it everywhere I was like this is. These cathedrals in Europe are so psychedelic and so I'm in Notre domina and I'm like I'm like okay I'm getting a download here. Let's go home. Went back to the apartment I booked a tour.
44:32.94	Max Shank	Um.
44:45.59	mikebledsoe	For the next day I was like I need I need like a proper tour this me wandering around and by myself not going to cut it and so what do I do I drop acid before the tour because I'm a genius and ah. We signed up for a group tour but we were me and my ex-wife were the only 2 that signed up so we had a private tour while on Assad and we we got to go the guy was like I normally don't tell people about this because if there's catholics ah in the group they get really triggered.
45:06.25	Max Shank	Amazing.
45:20.80	mikebledsoe	Because there was so much of the symbolism on the church was taken from ah ancient Egypt and and basically every religion up to that point is represented in in Notre Dame um which makes it even more interesting than some of the other cathedrals. Yeah, it's.
45:34.90	Max Shank	See I didn't I didn't even know that that's awesome I checked it out but I did not get a tour I Certainly didn't get that.
45:40.33	mikebledsoe	Ah, there there is references in the architecture to ah the chakras 7 chakras it's very it to me. It was like very blatant but ah to someone who's.
45:48.49	Max Shank	So now.
45:54.34	Max Shank	Ah, neat. That's awesome. That's neat. No no, no, that's neat. No, that's really cool. This is neat.
45:59.19	mikebledsoe	Ah, he said 8 I was like but ah that is neat. So so i' go inside and I and I get to spend a couple I you know how long I spend because I'm on asset two or three hours with this tour guide and we're just jamming I'm like just pulling all the information out of him and I'm like I'm like well what do you think about this, he goes.
46:13.30	Max Shank	A.
46:18.69	mikebledsoe	Oh you're one of those I was like yeah man I don't care like like let's really go there So I got to go there with this guy and basically what I got the conclusion I came to is these monks are sitting in the church in a dark room and they're in there just chanting chanting for days.
46:19.83	Max Shank	Are in.
46:37.72	mikebledsoe	Chanting and chant they're getting into these psychedelic states they're doing it through chanting. Maybe they're drinking some wine and chanting and they're getting into this weird state and maybe there's some mushrooms in the wine who the fuck knows and they get these. They get all this information they get they get to have contact.
46:43.57	Max Shank	Yep.
46:56.58	mikebledsoe	With the divine this they have this mystical experience that they then get their experience truth in a way that you can't explain to somebody else. But once you have this experience. You go. You know we probably you know.
47:06.12	Max Shank	Oh.
47:13.26	mikebledsoe	Property rights is a thing and the cat back then the Catholic Church controlled property if you want to buy or sell you know your deed it was held with the Catholic Church and and Notre Damme was ah was it started being built I want to say in 808 or 900 somewhere there and wasn't finished until like well technically still not finished. But. I think it was ah like a none project so it was not a short project.
47:36.19	Max Shank	Um, the 151516 sounds right to me fifteen sixteen hundred I can't recall maybe as late as 17
47:43.49	mikebledsoe	Well I think they then I think they may have had like a finishing point but then they started up again and depending on who was who was who believed what at the time they would like tear down a statue and put a different statue up and all the shit. Yeah.
47:51.63	Max Shank	Rebuilding and building.
47:59.10	Max Shank	Funky right? I remember there were some cool statues and like gargoyles and devils on the outside and shut like that there. It was actually the outside was super hardcore I remember looking at that for a long time. There was a lot of angels and demons.
48:01.37	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah, it's like like super hardcore.
48:14.38	mikebledsoe	And Mary with Mary with a torch surrounded by gargoyles and yeah, it's fucking wild and so um, so I I got thinking about it and I got to appreciate I go all these peasants outside they're giving them gifts because they come out.
48:15.38	Max Shank	Devils and freaky shit. Yeah, you know that would.
48:33.28	mikebledsoe	After days of chanting go I got the message I had a meeting with god I had this divine mystical experience and you know what Don not don't try to fuck your buddys wife you know, ah and you shouldn't steal shit and you know what I mean like.
48:49.10	Max Shank	Um.
48:52.30	mikebledsoe	All these rules were created by the church. Um, but they're not they weren't new but like there was other rules like they had you know the church was running shit back then they were really running shit until around the fifteen hundreds and so um, ah.
48:55.35	Max Shank	Um, well those aren't new ideas though at that point either.
49:03.78	Max Shank	Yeah.
49:11.68	mikebledsoe	I Really just got a big appreciation for religion at that point because I go well for me to expect for everybody to have had I've had a lot of mystical experiences. You know that the meeting with God has happened several times where.
49:23.44	Max Shank	Um.
49:29.44	mikebledsoe	I Go into this really deep state and things become very obvious and the behaviors that follow like oh yeah I should change this I shouldn't shouldn't behave like this anymore like this because I'm at a blindment with this other thing and so as like I'm just making myself miserable.
49:35.35	Max Shank	What.
49:47.91	mikebledsoe	So when I first had that experience I go everybody should have this experience and then after years of promoting people to have this experience I Realized a ah most people are not willing to have the experience. They're not. They're not even curious about it. It's not interesting to them and then B some people.
49:52.47	Max Shank	Um I.
50:02.82	Max Shank	And.
50:06.73	mikebledsoe	Become curious about it and they probably shouldn't have touched it because they don't they couldn't they they can't handle. There's they don't have enough like some type of mental construct in order to handle the the weight of that experience because you're going from 0 to 60
50:24.37	Max Shank	Um.
50:26.10	mikebledsoe	And ah and a split second with some of these things. Um, and so.
50:29.42	Max Shank	Yeah, it's way faster than chanting. It's like you can achieve kind of a similar experience with a lot of different things like you can get the runners high or you can just ah smoke a blunt or something like that you can chant for three days or you can just drop some acid.
50:41.10	mikebledsoe	Totally yeah.
50:47.13	Max Shank	And so we have all these shortcuts to get into that state and I think it's a connected and receptive state. It allows you to see past your own illusion I think it it temporarily depending on the dosage right.
51:03.32	mikebledsoe	Yep.
51:04.40	Max Shank	Temporarily takes away that tight grip on the um ego that you've built essentially as a suit of armor to survive the environment that you live in and we live in an environment where stories matter quite a lot I Mean. Like the the reality of how I am on a day-to-day. Basis is so different than from what you would find if you just searched for me on the internet. You would think that all I do is play Sports lift weights.
51:33.37	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah.
51:40.74	Max Shank	And dance in my backyard with my shirt off but I call it mobility instead of dancing and that would be That's like the whole thing. That's that's the illusion that's out there. So whatever. Whatever avatar you project out you you use it. Maybe not as armor maybe almost as like a scuba suit to enter the environment of society that we're in so it's natural that you would want to do that. You'd want to have armor plating you'd want to have these ah pretty colors on this avatar. So people really like it and maybe someone will even love you. If Your feathers are are pretty enough and so everything is just reinforcing these ideas but it's still coming from like a lizard brain type of desire and so it's no wonder that people are a little tangled up. Like in like a ah web of self and parents and teachers and fame and shame and blame and all these different things like that's why when you were like oh people are just children I'm like yeah they're like often abused children and abuse is like. It happens in so many different ways. It's like ah probably like 1 of the least popular things to talk about is rape but the only problem with rape is the lack of consent because nearly everybody is on board with sex and a lot of people from both genders like raping. Also. But that's like maybe even another. Ah, that's a different can of worms that I'm not not looking to unpack right now off the cuff because well look. It's um.
53:23.68	mikebledsoe	Why'd you even mention it.
53:29.53	Max Shank	People have their boundaries crossed in a lot of different ways and the the thing is it's that feeling of having your boundary crossed and so people feel um, abused or diminished or beaten down or taken from in a lot of different ways and so it's like. That idea that ah wherever you get wounded the bone grows back twice as strong like the calcification is like your personality from all these miniature traumas you've had and if someone's. Forcing you to do None thing or another they're still forcing you to do None thing or another and how you can harmonize that into the future is going to determine how you find the world and you know there are different levels of trauma. But if you're not willing to let it go. You are just going to go ah equal and opposite to that force basically right.
54:25.32	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:31.37	Max Shank	Ah, yeah, So I'm not Surprised. People are all all twisted up with identity and perception and I know personally I've found a lot of peace through trying to see things as they are. And it's not something that is like on off switch but it can happen really fast all at once. In fact, just for anyone listening. It's kind of an interesting thing in my experience. It's not a linear progress on this sort of. Thinking it All. It's like giant leaps forward and then a little plateau and then a giant leap forward and then a little Plateau I don't know what it's been like for you. But.
55:17.51	mikebledsoe	Yeah, it? um well the giant leaps forward or never yeah, they can be difficult. But yeah, it seems like seems like there's this giant leap forward then I got to stabilize the jump right? There's not a. So like oh I jump forward and everything's Great. It's like oh now because in those giant leaps especially if you have a shift in your own identity then everybody in your life. You're about to ah destroy their expectations of you. The stability is gone.
55:37.27	Max Shank	But.
55:49.48	Max Shank	Well, the Stability's gone right? The stability.
55:54.85	mikebledsoe	There's chaos it creates chaos and it creates chaos for your friends and your family because they can count on you to behave like this whether it's a good behavior or not and they're even looking to count on. They're counting on you to behave poorly and then all of a sudden you do something in order to be successful.
56:05.51	Max Shank	Right.
56:13.73	mikebledsoe	And they may even get mad at you about it. They like like I've I've had people in the past that were like mad that I was successful enough to where I didn't have to run my gym anymore they were like oh you're like leaving.
56:17.74	Max Shank	They'll definitely get mad at you about it. A lot of the time.
56:26.48	Max Shank	A.
56:30.18	mikebledsoe	Things behind you, you're you're changing and you're a different person like and they're mad about it I go Well yeah, that was isn't that the point like what do you think I was doing all this work for to stay the same.
56:34.66	Max Shank	Um, yeah, yeah, dude I remember that I remember the one that made me laugh The hardest um I fired this guy who worked for me because he was lying to me.
56:54.19	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
56:54.45	Max Shank	And if I can't trust someone. It's basically like see you later you know and 1 of the members at my gym texted me and said I can't believe you did this. You're really ruining my happiness.
57:05.62	mikebledsoe	Ah, you're in charge of their happiness. All of a sudden.
57:11.00	Max Shank	I just thought it was so funny. It was like anything different. This guy's like totally lost it and you know there are two sides to every story right? So there's no point in trying to have like an argument about its rightness or wrongness it. It just is what it is. It's like that Mark Twain quote how his. Taylor was the only reasonable person because he took his measurement new every time instead of measuring him against how he was in the past and dude absolutely like if you quit drinking I think that's ah one that a lot of people relate to you know.
57:34.38	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah.
57:45.54	mikebledsoe	Oh yeah.
57:48.86	Max Shank	Ah, used to be a bit of a party animal or just ah, a different type of party animal and as soon as you stop as soon as you stop doing that They're like what do? what are you doing? You're you're like ditching us. Oh you're too good for us or something I guess like no man like just doing a different thing.
57:51.25	mikebledsoe	Yeah I had the same thing quit drinking. Yeah.
58:03.26	mikebledsoe	Well it kind of sucks when you stop drinking because I had this experience I remember it was yeah it's like well 20 I remember it was like 2013 and i.
58:12.44	Max Shank	That's where our culture has fun for adults. That's like the place.
58:21.61	mikebledsoe	I had to actually cut back on drinking a little bit up to that point not completely I started smoking a little bit of weed when I was my and 2011 so I started smoking weed because I didn't like how I was behaving when I was on alcohol I was. Blacking out I was doing and saying stupid shit. Um I was around like my gym members. You know I'd be out at a bar with gym members. The next thing you know like like what what did I say last night I don't even know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the next day is like.
58:52.55	Max Shank	Feeling of up.
58:57.14	mikebledsoe	I Just I don't know what I did but I got this feeling. It wasn't good. You know, ah and so I cut back the drink and I I discovered that weed if I smoked a little weed before I went out I would drink way less and then weed would make me way less aggressive.
58:59.53	Max Shank	Right.
59:14.18	mikebledsoe	So I could still be out I could still be sociable.
59:14.87	Max Shank	Um, oh you think Alcohol alcohol is like so crazy when you think about it that we're just like yeah whatever you can have it have as much as you want? whatever.
59:21.30	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, yeah, but but I was using the weed to like offset the you know it calm me down and and then I would just drink less and because I was already kind of feeling it if I drink too much while being high that ah that. Wasn't fun I would I would hit it.
59:40.75	Max Shank	But it sounds like yeah I mean it sounds like you got to that point where you were ah using your intuition and getting curious about it instead of just writing the momentum of like oh it's Friday let's all get drunk because that's just what we do and I think a lot of folks.
59:52.70	mikebledsoe	Yeah now.
01:00:00.12	Max Shank	Maybe don't even like it that much. They just want to be liked so they'll do the thing that gets people to like them. You know, drinking can be a competition that you can win speaking of life as a game.
01:00:04.36	mikebledsoe	Well, it's.
01:00:12.87	Max Shank	As soon as I figured that out I was like hey I bet I could poison myself twice as fast as you motherfucker and that everyone's like yeah you did it.
01:00:19.94	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, if you ever win a drink game. It doesn't It's never as cool as you think it's gonna be and a lot of people need that liquid courage. You know like it's the only way they can. It's like ah well it's it's it's well they have to like D It's like.
01:00:34.52	Max Shank	Be sexual. It's the only way they can like let their guard down.
01:00:39.39	mikebledsoe	It detaches them from themselves enough to where they can just kind of let loose. But anyways I digress I um so in 2013 I started eating way more psychedelic mushrooms and then after my None big psychedelic mushroom experience.
01:00:44.50	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
01:00:56.66	mikebledsoe	I cut out alcohol a hundred percent I
01:01:00.40	Max Shank	Dude, we should do a series of shows on a different substance every week guys. We're gonna start it. Nice and simple coffee week. One is coffee nice and simple week two. We bring out a little booze week 3 weed week 4
01:01:03.90	mikebledsoe	Ah, it's not the None time I've heard this pitch.
01:01:12.40	mikebledsoe	I want to do it now I want to do it's a lead magnet. It's a lead magnet. We'll do 10 shows on 10 different substances and there's ah the lead magnet is that you can um you have to figure out which substance we were on. It's a mystery.
01:01:17.14	Max Shank	Okay, we're going to go in Spain.
01:01:31.10	mikebledsoe	During the show and if you can match it up successfully you get a prize. Yeah, you have to like you know label it. There's gonna be 10 shows 10 substances definitely social security number. Um yeah I think that's a great idea. So.
01:01:32.90	Max Shank	Um, and you only get None guess. You got to enter your social security number.
01:01:49.87	mikebledsoe	Started eating mushrooms and I cut out alcohol completely and I was the guy you know I owned the gym I was I had a a house with a big backyard at a pool and you know I I bought the house because it was a great place to entertain guests. So I'm throwing these parties I got a keg in the backyard like we're doing everything.
01:01:52.25	Max Shank	A.
01:02:08.74	mikebledsoe	I'm not drinking and it's not 1 those things where I'm like I'm trying not to drink is just like I really just don't give a fuck about having a drink at all like someone can hand me a beer and it's like 0 desire. Yeah.
01:02:09.43	Max Shank	Yeah.
01:02:20.10	Max Shank	But well you got something better something that that suits you better. That's what it's about right? It's like let's get intuitive about the different medicines that we're applying.
01:02:28.91	mikebledsoe	Yeah, and so I just remember this one afternoon I've got a bunch of people in my house were standing in a circle. Everyone's got a red solo cup in their hand I'm drinking water and I'm happy as a clam. And I probably smoked a little bit of weed. Um, but I kept on trying to have conversations that had way more depth than what I would have when I was on alcohol and I just remember people looking at me weird I Remember people getting uncomfortable and walking away and it was.
01:02:54.51	Max Shank	Or you can.
01:03:06.10	mikebledsoe	It was all of a sudden there was this barrier between me and the people who I had been getting drunk with for years and having a good time with and when I look back and I go oh I just wasn't meeting their expectation of who they believe Mike Bletzo to be. They didn't know what to do with me and in fact.
01:03:20.41	Max Shank	Inhale.
01:03:23.72	mikebledsoe	Probably didn't weren't that interested in talking to me because they were wanting to talk to a guy that was more like who I was behaving like and so.
01:03:31.56	Max Shank	And I mean your cells are all changing except for like neurons basically throughout your whole life. They're they're dividing and dying and dividing and dying. They're going through this process of death and rebirth and so.
01:03:38.33	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
01:03:50.75	Max Shank	If most of your cells are different seven years later wouldn't like you also be quite different seven years later and the fact of the matter is your brain and the pathways in your brain can change way way faster.
01:03:57.28	mikebledsoe	Absolutely.
01:04:10.50	mikebledsoe	Well yeah, the first was it in and exercise science I remember we were studying is like the majority of the results that people get in their performance in the first 12 weeks of training are due to new motor patterns new. It's your nervous system that's adapting. That's why you're that's why you got strong so fast.
01:04:10.32	Max Shank	Then like your bones and you.
01:04:29.88	mikebledsoe	After that now it has more to has less to do with the nervous system and more to do with the muscle mass or whatever other things that need to structurally change. But yeah, the nervous system can change really fast. Yeah.
01:04:40.79	Max Shank	Right? You're just using what you have better. You're just using what you have better when you get those neurological adapt changes adaptations. Yeah.
01:04:50.12	mikebledsoe	Thanks for putting in plain english.
01:04:55.94	Max Shank	Ah, fucking got me.
01:05:01.69	Max Shank	Um, and let's see we started with ah symbols and records and record keeping and now we're at the the record of your self which is in your Dna. Also we got your brain.
01:05:11.47	mikebledsoe	Yep.
01:05:19.45	Max Shank	Which is within your single life and then you got your Dna which is a long long very tightly bound record of all of the things that need direction for cell production.
01:05:34.99	mikebledsoe	That's ah, that's a great theory I think that that I think that's a a piece of it I've I've ah I've thought about this a bit the Dna thing yeah the Dna thing I think there's a lot we know about Dna I think that we can do a Dna test and we can find out our ancestry.
01:05:43.29	Max Shank	Um, tell me more tell me tell me more about it older we can match Dna we can match it. That's that's a good start.
01:05:52.85	mikebledsoe	Ah, figure out what part all that. But but here's a thing when they start looking at ah Dna of different ah species like humans have more their Dna has more in common with like some insect I forget which one it is.
01:06:05.58	Max Shank	E.
01:06:12.57	mikebledsoe	Then a fucking chimp and I look at that and I go we don't We don't know um wish I had it? Yeah please um there. Ah.
01:06:18.24	Max Shank	Um I don't know this one I'm going to fact, check this when the show's over.
01:06:31.44	mikebledsoe	Well I remember reading that story and I was like and people were like whoa. You know that's crazy I Go Yeah, that's crazy. It just tells me that we don't know nearly ah the amount that we think we know about what comprises who we are. Ah.
01:06:49.35	Max Shank	It's weird because we know almost nothing and we know a lot at the same time sometimes it's like the difference between knowledge and wisdom. It's like knowledge is knowing which Dna sequence is responsible for.
01:07:06.34	mikebledsoe	Right.
01:07:06.94	Max Shank	Sickle cell anemia. For example, like that's very, that's very consistent and repeatable so that would be something and be like oh yeah, that's that's pretty wild so there. That's how that basically happens right? and then there's also ah. Like way more that we don't understand about Dna I mean the way that it wraps itself up I think ah maybe Drew Barry Drew Barry is the Youtube channel you can watch like a little animation of. Dna moving around.
01:07:46.15	mikebledsoe	We're gonna be able to show that um I see animals that share human Dna sequences apes monkeys and humans um mice dogs chickens.
01:07:49.81	Max Shank	Oh man, Yeah, this is wild.
01:08:02.49	mikebledsoe	Ah, now it's just it's some article from some school. It wasn't very good information.
01:08:04.59	Max Shank	Does it show the different percentages because I'm guessing a chimp is more than a chicken.
01:08:13.61	Max Shank	But that's the record that's been kept basically that that's the record of how to direct resources I mean that's the record that's being played. That's the record that's being played.
01:08:18.96	mikebledsoe	Yeah, it is a record it is a record what my my my my thing is it's not in ah in the narrative. Well I would say.
01:08:31.24	Max Shank	No, that's the record that's being played in your body is your Dna is unzipping and rezipping itself up to make stuff.
01:08:37.50	mikebledsoe	Well I would just I would just say it's a record not the record I think there's way more. There's some shit we don't know.
01:08:43.40	Max Shank	Um, tell me more. There's like a little chip in my Pineil Gland or something like that like a calcium I don't know either.
01:08:51.19	mikebledsoe	Maybe I don't know I don't know what it is but I think it's I think it's a lot I think it's a lot safer like I think there's plenty of evidence and evidence to show that Dna There were so many things that they thought that would be solved by ah, sequencing the genome.
01:09:10.50	Max Shank	Oh.
01:09:10.85	mikebledsoe	And none of it came true and it's because it's it's I don't think it's telling as big of a story as they once thought it was going to be telling So I I think I think there's something Beyond Dna that is still yet to be discovered. That's going to. We're going to find plays a much bigger role.
01:09:18.79	Max Shank	Um, you know why.
01:09:28.81	Max Shank	Oh my gosh.
01:09:29.26	mikebledsoe	So I just like to hold that perspective because that's the perspective that keeps people looking and being curious versus saying that you know this is the this is the one and only true god.
01:09:35.68	Max Shank	E. Well here's how I would say it here's how I would say it is Dna is the ah program that's being run but there are a lot of factors that determine how your Dna is expressed how it's bound up. It's packaged whether we're going to copy this part of the code or that part of the code it changes based on how much sunlight you get it changes based on the different hormones that are working in your body I mean you have all of these different pieces playing together and so. To take back. Take it back to you know some semblance of objectivism. It's clear that the way you think the way you label things the way you um, retell tell and retail different experiences has an influence. On your physical body including the way your Dna is expressed so that's epigenetics right? So after you're already alive you have this relationship to your environment that's in a state of constant flux and your body. Just always like yeah we'll adapt to that we'll adapt it and it's happening so many times on such a small level that you can't really track it um, but just to keep it very practical. What you think is influencing ah the hormones it's influencing your digestion it's going to influence. How your Dna is expressed same thing with sunlight so there are all these external factors and what I'm getting to is from a practical standpoint you got to just start out with a few things that are really big boosters. You know things that very clearly. Lift you up to a higher state. Ah not necessarily drugs but it could be drugs that lifts you up to a higher state right? That's going to be what to that's going to be what determines your life. Basically.
01:11:41.72	mikebledsoe	Temporarily.
01:11:45.84	mikebledsoe	Yeah, and I like to think about it and um, we have we have states and then we have stages and like states are things that we we visit like we may have like a state of consciousness. It's like oh that's temporary. Your state is changing.
01:11:57.57	Max Shank	Right.
01:12:04.38	mikebledsoe	All the time it changes if you if you breathe really shallow and fast versus breathing really deep and slow that's going to change your state Now that's going to make an impact on how you perceive things. Um up.
01:12:11.85	Max Shank	A.
01:12:17.94	Max Shank	And how should you breathe. How should how should you breathe I mean it's like nutrition. Ah you should never breathe through your mouth or you should breathe through your mouth every day as fast as possible. Yeah.
01:12:22.50	mikebledsoe	Right.
01:12:36.38	Max Shank	You should always breathe as slow as possible or you should never hold your breath and never strain your breath I mean I can I can follow. Ah, the logic of most of those recommendations and they totally contradict each other. So once again, no wonder things are confusing the superstitions are all over the map in terms of how we should eat how we should manage our finances how we should move how we should even fucking breathe so that. Is probably what makes that simplicity so attractive.
01:13:12.35	mikebledsoe	You just made me want to look up the etymology of superstition. So I feel like that's like a very accurate way of talking about we tomorrow superstition. Um.
01:13:28.30	Max Shank	Alternate definition language you're fucked you just hit the center. The first use of superstition was just called language. It's like the snake eating its own tail I don't know what you're going to think you're going to find.
01:13:30.95	mikebledsoe	And I say what.
01:13:40.96	mikebledsoe	Yeah, ah was a ah.
01:13:45.12	Max Shank	I Means you you know Green Monkeys You know Green Monkeys have different calls for whether a hawk is coming or a tiger is coming and they will lie so that the other monkeys will look away so they can steal a banana.
01:13:59.56	mikebledsoe	A.
01:14:03.75	Max Shank	That's superstition hey look out. There's an eagle up there. Maybe that's not quite superstition.
01:14:06.90	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well. The definition here is an irrational belief that an object action or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences. Its outcome number None a belief practice or right irrationally maintained by ignorance of laws of nature or by faith and magic or chance. And None a fearful abject state of mind resulting from such ignorance or irrationality man.
01:14:30.84	Max Shank	Kind of back to curses on that last's definition the first one ah is just like a skinner box. Um, they did a lot of and experiments with a skinner box. Bf Skinner was the guy's name and they put a button inside the box. And they put a little feed thing and the feed thing was not connected to the button. It was just on a timer but the pigeon I think builds an association with the button in the food. So. It's just fucking pecking this button nonstop because it has now. Ah. Has this superstition that if it hits the button the right way or enough times that the food will come out but it's just on a timer and then what's funny is this guy who did a show called mind field and he did a show called vsauce before on Youtube pretty huge channel actually he did the same thing with people. In a box and a dollar bill dispenser and it worked the same way. So so people are just like hitting this button that doesn't do anything and dollar bills are coming out on a timer and they're hitting it different ways and it's like man we think we're so different than these other animals and we are but we we are super different and we're.
01:15:42.89	mikebledsoe	Now.
01:15:49.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah, ah the the use of the word superstitions I brought up I read this book a while back called most dangerous superstition or the most dangerous superstition by Larkin Rose
01:15:50.98	Max Shank	Like just the same. Yeah.
01:16:08.21	mikebledsoe	It's interesting because I won't tell people exactly what the superstition is but it's a easy read. It's like less than 100 pages and and it's it's good. It's good. It'll it'll change your thinking around some things. Ah, but.
01:16:14.78	Max Shank	You tease.
01:16:25.37	mikebledsoe	Yeah, that's my my book recommendation of the day speaking of superstition. It'll it it demonstrates. Ah it demonstrates how deep a superstition can get into a culture to where people just think that that's the way it is.
01:16:27.40	Max Shank	On.
01:16:42.99	mikebledsoe	And he he takes this one superstition and he just surrounds it and then something that you believe is actually necessary at the end you may think is not really that necessary.
01:16:54.74	Max Shank	Yo, let's get back to what's truly necessary that's a cluster fucking and of itself I mean how about how about the concept of a weekend that's just made up. We made that shit up. There's there's lunar cycles that shit.
01:17:03.41	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah, got yeah.
01:17:13.94	Max Shank	There's lunar cycles. There's solar cycles. There's days. There's years. There's months that shit makes sense a weekend a weekend. What the fuck is a weekend say we could look this up. But yeah.
01:17:17.70	mikebledsoe	Although the week is made up or the an entire week like once you once you get once you get down to like the lunar cycle then is the daily cycle I think it's just ah, some dudes got together and said you know we need to have. We need to split this twenty eight days after Twenty nine days up a little more ah huh yeah for working well and you know the the jews did it none with the the sabbath. You know you got one day off you, you don't do shit for one day
01:17:37.67	Max Shank	5 on 2 off 5 on 2 offs like for working. Basically.
01:17:53.58	Max Shank	Um, I also thought it was weird that the the word weak is the same as the word weak like the opposite of strong and on the weekend you will be weakened. Oh really? yeah I'm sure there is but I don't know if it's.
01:17:54.26	mikebledsoe	And then.
01:18:02.14	mikebledsoe	There's a whole Youtube video on this. You'll be weakened. She also goes into and in the morning. What what are you mourning.
01:18:14.14	Max Shank	Totally I've been saying happy day to people I've been saying happy day to people for a while now because I noticed.
01:18:15.22	mikebledsoe	Did you lose something Did you have a loss. There's a there's a group people that say Grand rising.
01:18:27.42	Max Shank	Heavy I like it. Wow that sounds way cooler. No question. Ah.
01:18:27.43	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, met with Grand rising instead of good morning. Yeah.
01:18:37.38	mikebledsoe	Ah, get some weird looks walk up the hotel Hotel desk Clerk Grand rising to you. Ah I think we should ah about that time to wrap it up. Ah.
01:18:42.65	Max Shank	Grand rising sounds like a Friday night type of Maneuver Grand rising um, yeah, why don't you why don't you let everybody know what the point of our conversation was today.
01:18:58.62	mikebledsoe	The point man to reduce the burden of your stories to to find the cure for your curses and to get more in touch with.
01:19:02.76	Max Shank	Are.
01:19:14.32	mikebledsoe	Reality even though none of us really have the opportunity to do that.
01:19:17.76	Max Shank	Um, thought we had some good stuff about intuitive accounting intuitive eating and intuitive movement and it kind of it kind of relates back to the superstitions thing that we closed out on so we have this idea. Ah, which is a beautiful concept of intuitive blank intuitive movement intuitive eating intuitive Accounting. Ah, but if you don't have that foundation ahead of time your intuition will just be very um, like easy easily Trickable. You'll be easy to trick and you're probably just writing the momentum of whatever superstition you were exposed to so whatever your environmental stimuli were you'll you'll just you know intuit on that. As opposed to building up that vocabulary and that also is going to make you feel more confident in what you do when you have ah when you can speak the language. You know that's kind of related to that concept of Fear. Really only being about the Unknown. So Um I think that actually works out pretty nicely. We have all these records Some of them are pure superstition. Some of them are observable and repeatable and that's really Cool. Um. But unless you get curious. You will probably just fall into superstition very very easily and yeah I think that's it the other the other part though is good.
01:21:00.21	mikebledsoe	I Like that if you're if you're not if you're not curious. You're susceptible to superstition. Yep.
01:21:08.65	Max Shank	And confirmation bias right? like both both of those are antithetical to curiosity and I I Really do think Man. Ah Curiosity is the way to um. Harmonize with the unknown in the future. It takes the future from something that you are afraid of to something that you are curious or perhaps even excited about and that relationship with the unknown is a big contributor to how someone ah participates. In the world. Be it A ride a game or a show or whatever. So um, you know we're full of superstitions get curious about it. We'll probably still die with a lot of superstitions that we still believe at the end of it all.
01:22:04.35	mikebledsoe	Except for max and I we're gonna be enlightened by the end. All y'all go check max out at http://maxschank.com and you can check out some of stuff I got going on over at http://thestrongcoach.com we got a summit coming up in.
01:22:05.17	Max Shank	But we'll do our best to get curious anyway.
01:22:10.96	Max Shank	Um.
01:22:24.10	mikebledsoe	Middle of September I recommend you come? Yeah, oh yeah, and oh yeah I got talk to you about that? Yeah there. Ya'll.
01:22:25.30	Max Shank	O Still got a few spots. Hu Ah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk later bye.