Timeless Spirituality
Timeless Spirituality, hosted by Daniel "The Past Life Regressionist," is a captivating podcast that explores the depths of spirituality and its connection to time. Join Daniel and his guests as they delve into past life regression, astrology, and the timeless essence of existence. With occasional humorous moments, this podcast offers profound insights, making it a unique blend of enlightening entertainment. Tune in to connect with your inner self and uncover the totality of who you are and who you've been throughout time.
IG:@thepastliferegressionist
Website: thepastliferegressionist.com
Timeless Spirituality
Ep. 106 - The Challenge of Spiritual Comfort Zones (ft. Zack Alexander)
In this episode, Daniel sits down with Zack Alexander to challenge the idea, common in many spiritual circles, that "ignorance is bliss." They discuss why it’s crucial to face the uncomfortable realities of both individual and collective psychology and how doing so can strengthen our connections to ourselves and our communities. Zack opens up about his personal journey of moving beyond spiritual teachings that discourage engagement with the world, showing how true spiritual growth is deeply connected to active participation in creating positive change.
Zack's bio:
Zack Alexander is a Spiritual and Leadership Mentor who focuses on the integration of Trauma-Healing, Political Systems and Metaphysics.
IG: @iamzackalexander
DANIEL'S UPCOMING WORKSHOP: December 21st, 2024
https://www.jennysrp.com/event-details/experience-the-magic-of-the-season-with-quantum-healing
Zach Alexander. Welcome to the show. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing pretty well filling in. I was trying not to say I'm filling in last minute, sorry.
Speaker 1:Oh no, it's okay, we're not throwing anyone under the bus. So, yeah, zach is a last minute fill in. Of course I've wanted to get Zach on the podcast, but I had a scheduling conflict today. We'll put it that way. Or there was a scheduling conflict and I said to Zach last minute hey man, you want to come on today, you want to come on the podcast. So he's just coming on fresh, not thinking about it at all. I mean, I told him the topic I'd like to discuss. So you're getting Zach.
Speaker 1:This is not going to be the manufacturer. Well, he's. I love this guy, he's not me. That's not what. You know what I'm trying to say. Look, we're still recording this during a Mercury retrograde. So my thoughts are going to be kind of skewed. And, yes, I can blame it on Mercury retrograde, because it is, but then I should probably take personal accountability. But I'm going to say no, not now, because I'm just going to put it on Mercury retrograde. Anyways, after just, you're getting the raw Zach, all right. So with that, I think we're pretty much going to dive in. I'm going to not ask some of the normal questions that I ask. Well, I'll leave one or two off. My first question for you is what do you believe in?
Speaker 2:That's way too broad and ambiguous. So what do I believe in? Let's center it more. I hope you'll mind. Like where? Believe in in what?
Speaker 1:what I don't know. I mean, you could believe in sand, or it could be as big as the universe, or something else. Whatever comes up for you in this very moment, man what do I believe in?
Speaker 2:we really are doing this off the cuff because, like that one, I was not expecting. I believe that we are all on a hurling rock, having a third dimensional experience of individualized free will and seeing how we all work together and if we can all find a cohesion of love, acceptance, gratitude and not being nonjudgmental, violent shitheads to one another and where that leads us. Us and the complexities that experiencing the range of emotions and feelings rather shame, fear, terror, anger. Love, strength, wisdom, all the different things and how we all work together. That's so much I I that that's the best I got is that?
Speaker 1:I mean that's great, but all I heard is that you think that the earth is flat that's not what I said.
Speaker 2:I know that's a theory out there. A lot of us are staying, but so you're not saying the earth is flat, just to make sure that on me?
Speaker 1:no, okay, because I may have misinterpreted that. I mean, I personally don't believe it is, but then again, I guess I'll only find out if I ever go to space or once I leave the body. If there's not total nothingness anyways, who?
Speaker 2:is zach. I am a spiritual and leadership mentor, yeah, but you know what? You go on a podcast and everyone asks you who you are and then you give them the title of your job and the life experiences and I'm a dude who's trying to figure shit out. Who has been through it does feel like I've lived like 40 lifetimes in this one life. Who has been through it does feel like I've lived like 40 lifetimes in this one life. I've seen a lot, experienced a lot. I'm American, I'm a Jewish man. I obviously am in the spiritual wellness sphere. I hate using the fucking term coach, but you know I guess I would fall under that distinction.
Speaker 2:But you know, I'm here to hold space and essentially guide people back to themselves and, you know, very interested in what's going on in our world at large, what's going on in America at large, very interested in how we continue to work together to create systems, institutions that actually work for people, and really centering on, like you know, how our own government has potentially harmed us and how we can rectify that harm and how we just all build a world that we all want to fucking live in together. And so that's me.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's that's a good answer just so you know we don't cuss on this podcast. Yeah, yeah, that was great. Before I continue to give you a tongue bath, I'll just put it this way. You know my nice way of saying that. You know, I think you're awesome. I just I think you are.
Speaker 1:It's like do I want to say authentic like, because that almost sounds so just, but you are for lack of a better term you're one of the most authentic people that I've met in this space in the time that I've been in it. You're just, you're real, and even our conversations off camera. You're a goober, I'm sorry, I'm just going to call it out that way. You're, you're just, you're this big ball of fun and you, just you have a way about you which I think is great, and I think you're the perfect person to have this upcoming conversation with, because I don't think that you're going to hold back and I think that that's important for something like this.
Speaker 1:So one of the things I also admire about you is that, while you do take political stances, at the same time you you find a way to not just make it about what you'd hear on CNN or any of the mainstream media or anything that would be clickbait. You're doing this because you genuinely believe in that. I could be wrong, but that's what I believe. Just from knowing you, I believe that you're in it for all the right reasons and I think that you're more of what this space needs, because, look, you're still growing. I'm still growing, but you acknowledge that, yeah, and you don't just say, oh, listen to me, I'm amazing, I'm so good at this, I have a deep voice yeah, it's nice having a deep voice, so I will say that so that that's my tongue bath for you and I just I think you're great and I I just want to jump in right now because so just a heads up, this conversation may piss you off.
Speaker 1:That is not our intention. This is just the perspective of two guys who know a little about a lot, or maybe nothing at all, and maybe this is just the way that we choose to see the world. So it's not necessarily right or wrong. So if you are upset by what we say, just know we're not doing this to purposely piss you off. The topic of conversation for today has to do with, I would say, real-world awareness. Let's put it that way Because in the time that I've been in the still quote unquote spiritual community space, the message I see most frequently about world events is don't look at them, don't look at it, just disconnect, go off the grid and don't put any energy towards it, because it may lower your vibration or it's going to get in your auric field and it's going to damper your mood or your flow and be detrimental to you as an individual.
Speaker 1:My personal feeling I don't buy it. I don't think that that's the way to go about things, because look to each his own, but I think that there is something about having your eyes open that really does have a reverberating effect around the world thing about having your eyes open that really does have a reverberating effect around the world. That's not to say that the media isn't crooked or giving you a slanted point of view and that things may appear to be something other than they are, but there are bad things going on around the world. And also just not to excuse it by oh well, that's that person's comic path they chose to come into that scenario. Oh, that's one that really pisses me off, but anyways, I'm going to now phrase that as a question. So, with so many in the spiritual space advocating for avoiding distressing news in order to preserve their energy or vibration, why is it that you think that this perspective has become so prevalent?
Speaker 2:Why has it become so prevalent? I think it's a massive distortion. I think it's when people don't feel that they have the ability to influence or have power over a situation. Right, rather than dealing with that blockage, rather than dealing with that belief of I'm powerless and helpless, we're just going to avoid it entirely, right? Or we don't feel that we have the capacity to look at something, to see it right. It makes us feel uncomfortable, it makes us feel distressed and we don't know how to be with that feeling. We don't know how to appropriately engage with that emotion, engage with a tough truth it's better to look away, and then the spiritual sphere makes you feel inflated from looking away. It creates this whole ego inflation of you're more enlightened because you look away, because you're detached, and I feel like it's a misapplication even of the concepts of attachment or to engage with something appropriately.
Speaker 2:Listen, I mean what happens when you look away from the shadow of your own psychology? The shadow grows and it expands and it begins running you from the subconscious right. These are like basic, very basic, like inner work principles. And so now, on a collective level, like we are all part of the collective consciousness, like our institutions, our governments, our systems, like they impact and affect us, and we have a whole smorgasbord of people and leaders and teachers saying that you need to look away from the shadow, because to them, this is the shadow. I don't want to look at it, I don't want to see it, and you're becoming disconnected. You are actually severing your relationship to your own communities, to your own nation, to your own world, and I do think that there are times in people's journeys where it is appropriate to step back from news, where we might have to really be inward, where you know it's pick and choose, like there's not a blanket thing of like you always have to be tending to this. I haven't always been right, I'll come in and out, but there's notion that you are somehow better or more enlightened because you pretend that the harm induced in the world doesn't exist. Like it. I gotta be honest, I feel like it makes you a jackass, right? I don't think it makes you more enlightened, it makes you an asshole.
Speaker 2:And so this is a major theme that I see running off in spiritual spaces, and you know, there's even this notion that like, well, I'm just going to come and I live in my own little spiritual community and I've created this bubble for myself, so this doesn't apply to me. Like I'm just going to kind of be in my zone and the systems will come for you. That that's the truth. Like, just because you're isolated in some space or area right now, like the way that our government, the way that our manufacturing industry is, the way that everything our corporate capitalist system engages with the world, engages with the environment, like this will catch up to you Like we're all part of the spinning rock. So to say that, well, I'm in my own isolated community so it doesn't impact me, I think it's incorrect. It's not impacting you quote, unquote right now, but it absolutely will.
Speaker 2:So it is important to engage and at least look at what is happening in our world and be able to observe and witness it. Do you have to take on and absorb the world's pain? No, I don't think that does anyone any good. But do you have to keep your eyes open 110%? Because if you're shutting yourself down from everything and everyone, you're not really fully human in my eyes. Like you you're. You're severing yourself from a major aspect of the human experience, which is that we're all connected. Like that's what the whole spiritual journey is about. This whole recognition of oneness is that we are all in a cohesive relationship with one another, and then you are severing and fracturing yourself from real, deep aspects of this relationship.
Speaker 1:That's my answer okay, I don't know if you're just taking a breath. They're taking some water. I heard what you're saying about the systems, and I think that this next question is going to relate more to, let's just say, our fellow americans. What about those who decide to become expats and move to another country? How will it affect them?
Speaker 2:I mean I'm, I am an expat right now. I mean, I, I am. I am a douchebag that moved to Plata Carmen, mexico, for a year and a half to be by a fucking beach. I feel like I deserved it, right. I feel like, with all the trauma I was holding space for my career, I was able to take a time out.
Speaker 2:It will impact and affect you like like America is is, quote unquote the Roman empire of our time. Like their decisions and how they apply policy on a global level will impact and affect you, no matter what. Yes, like you can go and you can fuck off to Thailand or Bali and be in your own world, and maybe that's part of your journey for some time. Right, this is my belief system perspective. It resonates great. If you think I'm an asshole, you can throw it out. Okay, free will.
Speaker 2:But if you go to Thailand, if you go to Bali, and you just say that this isn't real, that these decisions don't impact us, like you're incorrect, okay. Like I said, we are part of a global collective consciousness. Even your refusal to be American and to say this doesn't matter, I'm done. There's energy to that, right. Like you know, we are living and we exist under a government right now, a military industrial complex that is engaging in wars and genocides that, from my lens, we shouldn't be. And so when you say I'm American and I have capacity to actually influence the system that is hurting and potentially harming other lives, and I'm saying I'm just going to be in Bali and I'm going to pretend it's not real and I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist, like that's your right, but there's energy to that, like there, there, there's a lot of energy to that and I think it's important to be cognizant of that.
Speaker 1:So what led you to this perspective?
Speaker 2:So I mean, obviously, like I have my background and I went to the fancy law school, I had an awakening. I withdrew early, you know, I went. I became a fucking Reiki healer initially All due respect to Reiki, not the biggest fan of that, without a doubt. But you know I did the whole online spiritual healer thing right. It's part of my career, it's the space I'm in right now.
Speaker 2:But like I was fed a lot of this stuff from different mentors initially of like everything's perfect, it doesn't matter, their souls chose this. Like it's all just a game, it's all just corruption, just let it be there. And like the lower, the lower, the vibration stuff. You know you're lowering your vibration. Like just stay out of it. And I listened to it, I took it in.
Speaker 2:Like when you go through an awakening, there's a completely sometimes like dissolving of your perception of reality. You feel like this naked newborn. You don't know. So when people are feeding you this, I was called indoctrination in its own way, you're absorbing it, you're taking it in right, and I separated myself from anything going on the world. I lived in my own little bubble. I worked at a wellness center, like you know. It's like who's around me is all that matters. And then what's going on in my life, my evolution and my ascension is all that matters, right? I'll tell you that I really just really started feeling numb and dead on the inside, but like I wasn't feeling negative emotions that prominently so, like clearly, like I had. I was just very enlightened and yeah, obviously, uh, clearly right.
Speaker 2:you know, boy, it's cardboard cut out spiritual guy. And so I was just like there's something fucked up about this. Like this doesn't feel, this doesn't feel right, like I don't know what. Like this is really hitting eventually, this does not feel good or okay.
Speaker 2:And I'll say this like you know, a little over a year ago I started speaking as a jewish man about what was going on in palestine, or what happened on oct 7th right and the genocide occurring in Palestine, and for me, like it was a terrible business decision, like it was like my business, like clients stopped coming in. I pissed off both, like I initially pissed off both sides, like my income really shot down. It created issues like even in my own relationship, obviously right, and you know, a lot of my energy was being invested in there, and so this, on a surface level, was was quote, unquote not smart or not the right thing to do. And amidst all of that, internally I never felt more connected within myself, like I felt way better and it felt like the lights within me started to flash back on. So all this stuff that is horrific and terrible from the spiritual perspective and I'm feeding energy into something so negative and so bad.
Speaker 2:But yeah, while I'm doing this, I'm feeling way better about myself. I'm feeling way better about the part I'm playing in the world. I'm feeling way more connected, the part I'm playing in the world. I'm feeling way more connected into who I really am and I was like that's what really just solidified it for me, of like, wow, like I'm, I've almost gone under like some type of cult indoctrination.
Speaker 2:To be fully transparent with you, like and I'm, I'm done, like I'm, I'm out Bye, you know, and these were, these were like belief systems that were put in me on a level to almost disconnect and remove me from what was going on in the world. And if you actually want to look at things from a spiritual purpose, like what if people have awakenings and part of their purpose is to legitimately be involved in shifting things within institutions and systems, to creating different types of community spaces, to like to do all these different things, to be, to be very engaging, to bring things up for awareness, for people to see so these harms don't occur anymore, and then you tell them that none of it matters, like your spiritual teachers that are telling you none of it matters, they're taking you off the board Right, and so a soul that may have been here to influence things in a potentially positive way. Right is out, oh, but.
Speaker 1:Zach, what if that was that soul's journey was to have that situation where the teacher would come in Everyone please take note of the tone of my voice where the teacher would come in and say, none of it matters. What if that was that soul's journey? What would you say to that?
Speaker 2:Potentially yes and potentially no, because, like you're making decisions, you're creating an artificial cult-like vacuum and putting people in it and then saying, like this is your choice or whatever, but you're potentially taking them under a vulnerable time. It's victim shaming in its own way. Right, and I know we're all working through victimhood consciousness. It's not something you want to embody, but it is a complete, gross misapplication of spiritual principles. And who are you to say that? You for sure know that, that, that, that, that's that sojourner. You don't fucking know that, and so it's. It's a very insidious way to gaslight and emotionally manipulate someone into a situation and validate that manipulation. You know you're preying on someone's like subconscious in moments and sinking them with some thought constructs that may not apply to them and then spinning it. Then you know what's right and if they're wrong. It's their soul's journey. It's an insidious form of manipulation. They have to adopt their truth. They have to adopt your truth. It's their purpose. There's just a lot that's not good with that, and I also speak as a practitioner who's had nearly a thousand clients and seen a lot of people go through this type of journey too and kind of come out of this and it feels like a fog and it feels like a haze and they're just like, oh, what the fuck? I'm like, yeah, right, you know, I'm like, yeah, I know. And you can see that they didn't even feel like like the light was on behind their eyes for some times. Right, because we're so conceptual, applying these constructs and staying away from anything that's negative because it can lower eye vibration, these seem just like very big misapplications and distortions of real spiritual principles that like are trying to come in. And you know, the new age community loves to like throw the story of Jesus out there, right, in terms of like unconditional love and forgiveness and compassion, and as something to model, but they're almost whitewashing the story of Jesus as well. But they're almost whitewashing the story of Jesus as well.
Speaker 2:Jesus was crucified because he was a threat to the Roman state. He went into temples and when he saw people handling money inappropriately, he flipped over tables. This was a man that was speaking truth to authority, speaking truth to power, because the Jews at the time were going through an occupation by the Roman state and he was a part of pushing against that. And so we have this notion that it's these truly enlightened spiritual beings, or whatever like don't engage. That goes against history. And so are we going to look back with every major spiritual teacher and prophet that has existed throughout time, like they were always on the ground, like even Yogananda had assassination attempts on his life and was pushing things in very difficult directions sometimes, and we're sitting here saying, no, you're enlightened because you remove yourself. That's not even the history of of how real enlightened teachers have engaged with the world that we've seen throughout time.
Speaker 1:Well, what if the only way to make the world better is if I focus on my own personal ascension process and purifying my body so I'll be able to go up in the ascension? Isn't that the only way to really fix things? Again, everyone sense the tone please, Because it's a broken world that we're living in.
Speaker 2:It's not an invalid perspective. I mean there's definitely times where I mean the consciousness can't shift if we don't shift individually, okay. So there's absolutely parts of this where it's like you have to be very in your own inward journey. You have to be very much reconciling your own trauma. You have to be working with stuff like obviously energies are coming through, you're feeling physiological shifts, like it's heavy and so it's valid that like that's a central focus, like that's not to say that you shouldn't be in your own internal world.
Speaker 2:And for some people, for some people, it may really just be in a process to be in their own and we're in where we're at. But I do believe that like that's some people's journey, totally good, okay. But this whole notion that like it's about all of us taking ourselves off the map and that's the spiritual journey, that's the spiritual path, I just feel is so invalid, incorrect, and I'm watching people become unwell, like a good amount of people becoming unwell from it because they're no longer listening to themselves, they're no longer listening to their own internal awareness and truth, because they've been indoctrinated with a belief system that runs counter to what they truly believe inside themselves.
Speaker 1:I'm on board with what you're saying right now. One of the things that worries me is you mentioned how maybe that is someone's path, or many people's path, to just go within. While I agree with that, my concern comes in the form of how do you know, as an individual, if that's your path, because I just think about being in that space and listening to this right now, I'm like oh, zach just gave me permission because I'm one of those people, I'm the one whose journey it is to go inside. So how do you truly know if that's your journey or not, or if that's just a story you're telling yourself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, the more that you really work, like I think, the more that you open up to yourself, like what, if it isn't my journey to just go inward, and you work with that and you still feel, no, I really I feel comfortable in my environment, I feel comfortable with what I'm doing, like this is, this is what I'm doing, right, like I mean, I, there are certain people that are just supposed to, like I really feel, anchor their energy into the land beneath them and like that's enough, like so, I, I, I, I think that for some people, they'll, they'll figure out, like they did, they, they know, but, like, when it's all of like, when we just notice that everything's like a mental concept, like is he thought, like wait, I have to like not care, because that makes me light and I can't, and you're just noticing, it's almost like a fucking programs in your head glitching like, sputtering out thought form after thought form. That might not be you like, you know what I mean, like it might not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's what we're going on there so you're just going through ascension symptoms at that point, right yeah?
Speaker 2:you know, well, you know, there's some weird shit out there energetically, so it's not all the symptoms.
Speaker 1:My own personal belief is that the shift in consciousness happens on an individual level. It's going to take everyone looking at their shit and moving past it, but actually looking at, not looking away, not moving away, but actually looking at it. Because that's how I think the collective shift happens, Because everyone starts looking at the world in a different way at that point. So I'm curious what the distinction is between working on your shit and going inward, Because when I hear going inward, I think of two things One, working on your shit, but also just detaching from the outside world and going into your own, you know WUSA space and just becoming one with everything and and not hearing the chatter of the outside world. So where's the distinction made?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, and that's and that's great for a lot of people, Like if you've had the space and ability to just go inward and just be with yourself inward and to evolve and to gain all these different like dimensions of perspective, like what a beautiful experience that you've had, and do you feel that that's available to everyone? And why, and why or why not, might that be available to everyone?
Speaker 1:you mean because of socioeconomic conditions and things like that?
Speaker 2:110, like, yeah, like if you're fucking working from 9 am to 7 pm, like every day, to barely make ends meet and you're in a survival complex day in and day out, like there is not space to look inside yourself, there is not space to do anything but to be head on like I gotta make this fucking bill or I'm gonna lose housing right, if bombs are flinging over your head, right, you're in Ukraine, you're in Palestine. Right now you're in the Congo. If bombs are flying over your head, I don't know how much time and space you have to go to yoga retreats and work on yourself. Okay, and so that's where I see is like, yes, that's important, but also maybe it's also our responsibility to create systems and structures that allow people to be able to participate in this journey appropriately, to be able to have space to participate in this journey appropriately, because just because you came from a background where this was available to you and you may have made it, doesn't mean that that's available to a lot of people and we're pretending like we're above them or we're and it's like. It's like we're participating in our own little spiritual hierarchies, like I.
Speaker 2:I've known a lot of people that I can sense are very, very, very advanced old souls and but there's a way, more complex way, that they have to engage with their process because there's trauma. They come from poverty, like they can't make ends meet, and so their journey is taking on some really difficult aspects, and we're pretending like it's not real or we're blaming them. They show it's like it's like. Well, what if we actually created systems that help these people, right, uh, what if all that like took you from being in their position was that you chose to go into a privileged life and you chose to incarnate in a privileged life? It doesn't make you above someone, but you have more access to an experience. I mean.
Speaker 1:Having you on here really takes the wind out of my sails because I'm like shit, why do I have to contribute to the conversation? He's covering all the bases, which I think is awesome, because, yes, that's one of the things that my ego needs to work on is that I don't always need to be the smartest person in the room. That's a compliment, Zach. Everyone. You see why I like this guy. If you're still listening, if you have been like I fucking hate this guy. He's such a fucking prick and that Daniel thinks he's so fucking cool and smart and funny. He is. But I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
Speaker 1:I come from a position of privilege. I'm fully well aware of it. It's much easier for me to take a few minutes and go sit and look inward than just, like Zach said, Do the people in Gaza right now have that opportunity? Well, yeah, they may have a couple minutes because you know everything's pretty much been stripped away from them. But is that what they're going to go do right now? And I wouldn't. If I were in their position, I would be like, oh, I have going to go do right now. And I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:If I were in their position, I would be like oh, I have this abundance of time right now, so this is my opportunity to go inward into a scent. Uh, no, I would not, because I'd be like I haven't showered in two weeks and even that shower that I had was a couple of drips coming out of a faucet. I can't sit here on my own filth and try to look inward. I don't know, Maybe they did this shit a long time ago, before showers and stuff or nearby. It's neither here nor there right now, but in the modern era of time not time as we're referring to, in linear time, because how else are we supposed to measure it?
Speaker 1:Even though I don't believe that time is linear, I'm still trying everyone, Because how else are we supposed to measure it? Even though I don't believe that time is linear, I'm still trying everyone. I'm trying to incorporate time into these conversations and not make it solely political or agenda-based, because, well, I think we're doing pretty well with that. Anyways, that's my tangent Everyone. I'm putting it on full display the shit that I still need to work on. Zach, my next question for you, With everything that you've brought up up until now.
Speaker 2:how has this shaped your spiritual practice? You know how's it, my spiritual practice I, that's a tough one, because it's like my spiritual practice is listening to myself, uh, taking time to be within my environment, but also to like be open to what I feel matters as important to me. I definitely feel like there's been more of like I I've felt before my initial part of my awakening, I felt very connected to what people were going through and experiencing, even on a collective level, and when I got involved with new age spaces and new age teachers, I felt that connection sever and outside of, like clients or people, like right in my immediate community. A lot of this is almost being intentional about. In that connection to to happen again, to allow myself to literally have an emotional experience or to really check in myself like what do I actually feel about this?
Speaker 2:And there are times where, like I can tell that I'm having an experience. It's not fully localized to my own life and that's, that's okay, in fact that's healthy, but like it's only my mind and body are confused because they're like we've been trained for five or six years that everything has to be about our own attention journey. And so why are you processing them? And it's like it's like, oh my God, like I fucking I'm sad because shit in the world kids are dying, like that's sad, like people I know are struggling from the systems, like that's sad and like you know I'm with it. But it's allowing it in now, you know, but it's like it's I would say it's I feel healthier, you know, and so that's that's, it's shaving my spiritual practice by being intentional about allowing myself to be open, that my experience isn't always localized to me. You know, like I may actually be having an emotional experience because of what is happening in the world at large, and that's healthy so duality and non-duality can coexist yeah, and that's I know.
Speaker 2:I know we want everything in a, in a nice little rule book for ourselves, and it's great for this next question.
Speaker 1:I want to take the lead on it and then I really want you to, is it the caboose? The caboose is the back of the train, right? Yeah, I want you to take the caboose for this one. So the next question that I had for you was everyone, I'm still working on it, but I gotta put my two cents in because, yeah, again, I think this is part of the process. Yeah, any validations. After you can agree with me, I can say no, it's fine, all right, am I doing okay?
Speaker 2:Am I doing well. Yeah, you're doing great.
Speaker 1:Am I smart? We're all in this together. But I'm smart, right? Yes, very, very nice stuff. Okay, I sense the sarcasm, it's okay, I'll look past it, right?
Speaker 2:now.
Speaker 1:So the next question was how do you suggest people stay informed about global events without feeling overwhelmed or disempowered? So I just want to talk a little bit first about the way that I go through that process, because in an interview that I did recently, I was asked about my spiritual practice, and one thing I said is I watched the news while being aware that it's a narrative that someone's trying to feed and that maybe everything isn't as it seems. But I felt that it was important to say that, because one it's true that is part of my practice, because I'm keeping an ear to the streets, in a sense, and having an awareness of what's going on in the world, and that way I can engage in conversations about it. And I think it's also important because there are episodes of the podcast that I choose to do that are like this important. Because there are episodes of the podcast that I choose to do that are like this, where it is talking about things that are a bit of a heavier nature, and this conversation is being influenced by events going on around the world, even though it may seem more localized in what we're talking about. Because Zach and I Zach please correct me if I'm wrong here In the back of our minds right now, we're thinking about a lot of the conflicts going on around the world. When we're talking about these things in the application, we are thinking about the wars going on in the Middle East, the injustices taking place across the world, because we are informed and it does influence the way that we teach in a sense, and sometimes we don't always need to say this is what we're specifically talking about. But if our heads were in a hole, we'd be approaching things much differently.
Speaker 1:And so when I watch the news, I'm going to be the first to admit right now I am a little more, I want to put it, I'm not very attached in those moments. I shift over to the left brain a little more. I want to put it, I'm not very attached in those moments. I shift over to the left brain a bit more and I view the situation for what it is and I say you know what? That's horrible. That is horrible, what is going on in that conflict right now, and I wish that there was something that I could do about it, but I'm also not in a position of power right now to do that. So if I spend too much time getting emotionally worked up over this. I'm the only one at that point who's going to face the detriment of that choice. But I still see it for what it is.
Speaker 1:But maybe I can't personally affect it. What's going on in that conflict? But maybe it's about spreading a different word and influencing hearts and minds in a way where a change will take place down the road, because, who knows, there may be someone listening to this right now who will be a future leader and what if this is that conversation that they remember and they decided to make a change and look at the world in a different way and approach in a different way. So that's the way that I look at it, but I also look. This is one of those situations also where I am speaking from a perspective of privilege in a different sense, because if we're going to get astrological here, I have a lot of earth in my chart, not a lot of water, and water tends to be the more emotional in a sense. So it may be easier for me to look at these things and not be as emotionally triggered by it. So I don't want anyone to get down on themselves.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:If you don't have that ability or if it's something you haven't cultivated yet. So that's the way that that I go about being informed is. See it for what it is. It's horrible, but I have to move on with my day, but I'm gonna do something about it in my own way. So how about you?
Speaker 2:yeah, so it's interesting. I don't watch mainstream news for the most part. Um yeah, by the way, I I'm not watching CNN.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, there are some news channels that I like on YouTube and they're very much like and they would even call themselves, I guess, mainstream to a degree and I really just even feel, and before I even click a video, I'm like, is this important for me to engage in? And I almost feel my body here say yes, no, really like even listen to my own discernment on that and to really take in what I feel needs to be taken in. And you know, when I feel like I got in something and understand something, it's like okay, that's enough and I'll remove it. You know, sometimes, like you know, I have periods of time where I'm engaging with social media or not engaging with social media, but I'm engaging it.
Speaker 2:Some news will pop up and I'll just really feel is this something that feels relevant to me and my experience of the world, or how I need to be a part of the world, or just from a larger perspective? And once again, we'll get some yes, no, things of that nature, notes. Things of that nature I mean I'll say this like an example today is I feel we're all in this world together and it's important that we understand how we're all interacting in this world together. And so right now, like I was, I think it was last night in New York the CEO of United Health Insurance was murdered on the sidewalk by a gunman in cold blood right, and there's videos of the gunman coming and just seemed very the New York Police Department is literally using the word proficient. It was like change the gun, like in and out.
Speaker 1:Everyone. We're recording this the day after this happened, so you probably know a lot more than we do at this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know a lot more than we do right now.
Speaker 2:But what I'll say is is like you read the comments even and see the feedback of what people and like a man got murdered right, and people everyone is almost universally applauding the gunman.
Speaker 2:Now I'm not saying that that's right at all, but you're feeling like where we are, where people's experience is right now, that people have been so harmed by our medical system and the insurance companies and watching a family member die because they were denied coverage, that like you're literally looking at like an initial stages of way of a violent revolt and people saying yes to it, like that's something really, like that's a momentous shift to take in.
Speaker 2:Now I don't think violent revolution, I don't think gunning down a CEO of a health insurance company is remotely okay in any fucking way, but like the fact that, like we're witnessing that people are like yeah, good, like it's, it says a lot and it says a lot of people's experience right now. And so I just feel like there's a lot to gauge to understand your neighbor, to understand the people that you share a country with, the people that you share a world with, what their experience is the news and then seeing how people are responding to the news gives us a window into that, and I think for a lot of us, it's an important window. Right, that's the unique thing about social media. I think there's so many things that aren't good about social media, but it does allow us to have an experience of what people are going through, or how they're interpreting and taking in what's going on right and we can see it right in front of us, and that's unique in terms of that wasn't happening 30, 40 years ago social media wise with everyone having that voice yeah
Speaker 2:I mean, you have to go out to your like town square to see how people were feeling and and things of that nature. But, like you know to be online, you can see how people in south korea are feeling, about their president declaring martial law and like, and the parliament saying, no, go fuck yourself. Right and like how south koreans are experiencing and it's a, it's a keyboard click away. You know. It doesn't have to be filtered through like some mainstream news channels to get to us Like it's like you can just see it. So there's something really unique about that, right. And then the access to how everyone around the world is interpreting the what's going on in the world.
Speaker 1:What if I learned about that event through a post, through the lens of it just being? This is what happens when Pluto is in Aquarius. What would you say to that?
Speaker 2:That's awesome, great Listen, I work. I'm not one of them, but I work with expert astrologists. If the planets are aligning to certain events and certain energetic paradigms being carried out, and you, you get it from, you receive, you receive what's going on from that, that's awesome. Who cares?
Speaker 1:I guess I bring that up also because I think about some feedback that I got last year on a recording on the podcast regarding the the astrological predictions. The feedback was well, I don't want to hear you talk about the nuance, that doesn't matter, I just want to hear the predictions. That's all I care about, whereas me and my guests at the time we were coming from this perspective of it's important to understand the events going on when these transits happen at other times. Therefore, you can understand the patterns and the energies that are playing a different way Again, understanding the history behind it and what these movements end up looking like and how they may look a different way. Because I personally feel that boiling it down to oh, it's just Pluto and Aquarius, it's like, yeah, like you said, that's great, but what does that really mean? And by chalking it up to just, oh, this is pluto and aquarius, this is just what, what's going to happen? Are you detaching by just chalking it up to pluto and aquarius, without really understanding the implications of what that means, and that someone lost their life? Now it's a horribly broken system. Yeah, it's fucked up in so many ways everyone.
Speaker 1:Just go watch the movie john q. I believe it came out in 2002. Very similar. But go watch that movie. This was going on in 2002. It's going on long before 2002, yeah, but that'll show you. There are patterns at play here and you know what? Pluto wasn't in Aquarius back then, yeah, but these kind of things were happening Now.
Speaker 1:Yes, john Q was a fictional movie, I believe, and I may be off base saying that. I am fairly confident that there have been other situations like that. I'll just spoil the movie, sort of, for you give you the premise. It was a movie where Denzel Washington's character he had really shitty insurance and his son needed surgery, like a life-saving surgery, but they wouldn't do it because his insurance wouldn't cover it. So he took matters into his own hands and held people hostage in the hospital to make sure that that surgery was done. I don't know if it's a similar situation to what happened to this person. Again, I don't want to speculate at this point because we don't know. It doesn't matter, but this stuff has been going on long before Pluto and Aquarius. I just worry about just chalking it up to something. Simply, could it be Pluto and Aquarius that caused this? Could be, but I think nuance is important and context always matters, and does that mean you're informed if it's just Pluto and Aquarius?
Speaker 1:I mean not really, I mean like, like you know, it's just you need, you need, I feel like you, there's validity to a system in any, in any way that can.
Speaker 2:That can explain patterns.
Speaker 1:They can explain by the way, I'm a full believer in astrology. Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, you explained my whole fucking letter. I gave you my chart. You were, you didn't even know me and you nailed down like everything that played out at every age and I was like, okay, well, this is, this is interesting. Um, so I know, I know the realness of it. I was like, oh fuck, does he know everything? So, like that's, it's valid. And like nuance, like this is this, it's not everything is so black and white.
Speaker 2:And like we also choose how we respond to the energies. We choose what we do with these paradigms that come through. Like obviously, like you know, even with the earth, with the astrological ages we're entering into the age of Aquarius we could choose to play out the negative parts of that sign or we could choose to play out the positive ones. That's going to come down to us. It's our conscious decision about how we engage with the energies coming through. Like I said, there's complexities to it. They can predict, definitely, things that will come through, but how do you engage with it, and it can bring up a number of different things that we still have to be incredibly mindful of.
Speaker 1:I agree. Next question you ready.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:So for anyone listening to this show who may be struggling with finding a balance between being informed and also having a healthy level of detachment, how would you suggest they find that balance?
Speaker 2:Between being informed and having a healthy level of detachment, mm-hmm. I mean, you can feel that feeling where something's starting to drain you, like I'm not online looking at all the pictures and videos of what is going on in Gaza. I know Palestinians who are not looking at all the pictures and videos of what is going on in Gaza. I know Palestinians who are not looking at all the pictures and videos of what's happening to their people, you know, and for some people, they feel that they need to be present to that and that's that's amazing. I saw a few that I felt like I needed to see, to viscerally understand, and I got it Right and engaging with it more, I could feel like something draining and sapping me and sprouting me into like this. This isn't helpful, you know, and so I. This is this is really being a master of your own experience, your own system, listening to your own truth and really finding that level of like. Okay, where do I feel that line of like I'm not participating enough and where is that line where I am getting caught into something that doesn't help me and doesn't help anyone? You know, and everyone's gonna have to feel out what, what that is like.
Speaker 2:The news, the news is, at its heart, a fear-induced mechanism that is there to pull you into a lot of shit. It's there to polarize you, it's there to divide you, it's there to scare you and so like like, yeah, be fucking mindful of, like, how you engage with that. You know it's like I I still watch. You know I experienced the flip side of I still I'm gonna say this like I am so not a fan of of donald trump, like I'm just I'm not like as a person, as a politician, I'm not a fan of who he is. I did not vote in this election because I felt both parties were horrible, but I, I just really do not like him, and I would watch some spiritual people come out and say this guy's Hitler reincarnated. And I'm like, no, he's not. Like he's not. Well, maybe I mean listen, like potentially, but I mean Someone. Maybe we don't have enough to like.
Speaker 1:I really felt, but I felt Sorry, you're on a past life podcast here, so I had to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I see, I see I missed the past life fucking joke. So, but like, maybe it was, but like it was, just like I could feel the position in terms of like how could you vote for Hitler? And it's like, but that's not it, you know, and so you can feel, even like spiritual people charge in some ways of like you know where they're spinning in things that feel very much distorted truths and and very fear induced, like oh my god, this is gonna happen. It's like you don't know that and like let's just, let's find a center here and just and and accept what this is bringing up in us, like the validity of what it's bringing up in us, and then just be open, right and and let's go all, let's ride this crazy roller coaster. We're all about to go on together, you know.
Speaker 2:But yeah, there's, there's so many ways that you can engage with this harmfully. And I feel like I do watch people in the spiritual sphere. They go, they swing between extremes. It's like that big pendulum. I engaged in news. It was so unhealthy I've stayed away. Then I recognized that disconnected I was, so I swung back and now hitler's here and everything's bad. It's like oh no, you know, and so it is. It's finding that that healthy medium, and that's it's, it's its own balance that each person's going to have to figure out within themselves.
Speaker 1:It's not fun when you agree with someone. So did the tea. I did not vote for Trump. I'm just going to state that right off the bat, maybe a little bit similar to Zach, that I'm willing to admit with a lot of these things. Well, you know what I mean with that. But no, I did not vote for him, which means I'm not a fan of his.
Speaker 1:But in every situation, I think you got to look at the totality of it and while I am an advocate of peace first and foremost, peace, everyone, peace. That's the idealist to me. But then the pragmatic side of me says I see the world that we're living in right now and things are not going to change overnight. And if you look at history again factual, if you look at history there have been people that we would deem to be monsters in positions of power who kept other monsters in check. I am not supporting that in any way, shape or form and saying that was the right way to go about things, but maybe there's an opportunity to look at this in a different way.
Speaker 1:I do not support him. I do not vote for him. I'm not cheering him on for the bad impulses but, of course, as an American, if he does well, we all do well, whatever that means. I just don't think it's black and white. That's the way that I'm going to put it Because with the state of the world right now and again, I bring this up now. So if you're being presented with posts or information of like saying, this guy's Hitler again the past life joke there was, maybe he was, that wouldn't have to be, but maybe you counter that with look, I think most, if not all, world leaders it's just my own personal opinion are a bunch of psychopaths.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And are just unhinged, power hungry at their core and are just a bunch of fucking morons too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But then you have someone who's unpredictable and when you don't know what they're going to do, that may keep you in check. Yeah, I don't think things need to be black and white, so I think there can be a healthy balance. So it's just, it's something to consider, and it's sometimes hard to come to that conclusion when it goes so in the face of everything you believe and when you look at the ugliness of something and saying, oh, that is ugly, but maybe there's something else in the ugliness that's important to look at and it's just not so black and white I think that's a great perspective to have, or whatever.
Speaker 2:Um, and is that true or not true? I don't know right, there's validity to like the whole thing you know around. Do you need a monster to to check the other monsters? And how bad are the actual other monsters that we don't, that we may not understand?
Speaker 1:you know.
Speaker 2:So it's everything is always very layered um yeah, and you know, I mean, if you're, if you're really into spirituality and evolution and ascension and growth or whatever, I mean looking at all the things playing out in the world, it's a hell of a thing to like to. I think that helps you like. I mean there's a lot of like you can understand, like behavior and psychology and patterning and all this stuff like it's playing out all around you like, and you have a rare opportunity, yeah, for 110, and it's like you're going to cut yourself off from that to exist in a bubble that you can predict because you feel it's safe. But you know, I mean we're here to experience the world at large. I feel, you know, for most of us and there's just there's a lot there to see and you know, if you've been cultivating this brilliant like perspective or way to look at things from your own unique gifts and lens, like you know it's, I feel like you're doing the world a service by not applying it to what's going on around you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, yeah, I love you, man, you're great. So I'm going to make the assumption right now that we're correct in our perspective. For all intents and purposes of this next question, it doesn't mean that we are, but if we are again big, if we are correct about this, how can we encourage other spiritual practitioners and influencers like I hit that word but to engage with the world without feeling like they're compromising their own health and sanity, and to maybe teach in a different way?
Speaker 2:in that respect, you do what the left has always done, which is you cancel them no, I'm kidding, um, I mean it's, it's you invite them in. You know, like you invite them in and you give them space to learn. Even like I definitely had some some, really you're surprised some very like well-known influencers, like or people are very big platforms contact me about Palestine, like right after it happened and because I was speaking on it and you know, I told them like like, take in what you need to take in. Like show up when you feel you're ready and it's coming from you, and not like I have to say this to say it, and you know and but but but like open yourself to the journey, like this is good, that you want to be a part of this. I think every influencer, or or whatever, like they have to, they have to understand why they want to do it, has to to be their own relationship with it. I don't think shaming someone into conformity is ever healthy or does anything honestly so, but I think you know when it was, basically it's okay to show up in this way, and you know a lot of people are afraid of getting canceled or losing business in this climate. I'll say that ultimately, like with me, like my business. I was speaking about like the most divisive geopoliticals of our time, so my situation was unique, but, like I took a hit and then my business completely rebalanced itself, just fine, and the clientele I work with just shifted right. I actually work with people that are from the region.
Speaker 2:Now, okay, you have to just be very grounded in yourself of, like, why am I doing this? Why does this feel important to me? You know, do I have something to say? Do I have something to impart here? And what happens if I also choose not to? What are the repercussions if I choose to stay away from it? If I'm sitting on this big platform where I'm occupying a position where someone else can potentially be occupying it and have this influence over others, and I'm choosing to not say something because I'm scared about what it does to me, uh, or how it impacts and affects me. So I'm gonna play it safe like guilty, no, but I mean um, no, but it's, it's, it's. I trust me, I have my, I have, you know, people of mind. It's not you, um, and it's it's. What are the repercussions of you not utilizing that? And I, I, you know, that's that's what I would say to other people with platforms or whatever. Like you know, you've been given influence, right, and what is the what is the good and the downside of you saying this isn't you know, and it's not because it's really just not for me, but because I'm scared and I don't want to and be uncomfortable for me.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that people sometimes miss, especially in the spiritual sphere. Having an influence is a privilege and it's a responsibility. Like people with followings, people who have people listening to them, like it is, it is a privilege, it's a responsibility in its own way. It's it's not I almost feel, like it's not that different from being an elected official. Like people are saying like hey, like I want to learn from you, I went to, like these are my things that I'm going through, can you speak on this? Can you speak on these broader issues? And so can you speak on these broader issues. And so when you say no, this isn't mine, because I'm scared and I want this type of money, like, are you better than the people that are even in office, who are looking out for themselves in their own way? You know, and I know there's balance, there's nuance to that, but I'll be fully transparent.
Speaker 2:Like I felt that there were. There have been situations where people with really big platforms, who have really big awarenesses around trauma healing and all these and spirituality and terror concepts should have spoken or applied their knowledge in that area. Right, and I felt them pull back because they were either either without a fear or I could feel a sense of just fear, right, not wanting to upset, not wanting to imbalance, not wanting to shoot people off, which I get, and still I feel personal opinion should have still done it and opinion of, like, a feeling of a spiritual superiority where I'm above speaking on this and it's like, yeah, you are actually a good teacher, you actually know so much, and like, and you have such a big following and you're not going to apply it to here now, like you're going to say this doesn't matter, like you know, I there was. I feel like there are people that aren't upholding their responsibility with the level of influence they have, so long winded, yeah.
Speaker 1:One more thing in there I want to add, though, be informed if you're going to do that know what you're talking about yeah, for sure, that's important too.
Speaker 2:Do your due diligence, understand what the fuck you're talking about a hundred and ten percent and like, I mean, you know, I, I threw out like a quick video about israel, palestine. I was like, hey guys, like I'm not a fucking expert on this. And then I realized, like shit, if I have to read on this, and I I knew I had to keep reading or researching, learning, speaking to others, like if I was going to continue to speak on this and utilize a platform where, like you know, there are things that I got wrong and incorrect. And like, because, like I'm learning, I'm making mistakes, but there has to be a willingness to learn. But like, but this is like, if you have a big, big platform, like, or you're an influencer, there's responsibility to come there. Like you're shaping and influencing the collective thought, the collective paradigms, and if you're shying away, like that's, like there's energy to that.
Speaker 1:I just, I just feel that so how can everyone work with you?
Speaker 2:instagram's the best way. Right now, I don't post on tiktok anymore, um, and so instagrams just go on instagram. There's, there's a there's a link tree up there. I have one-on-one containers. I also have an online community. Uh, there's a phone app. Uh, way showers, right, there's a whole online community that gets engaged with as much as you want, uh, through the app. There's meetings at least once a week in a number of different ways, right? So, uh, those are the ways that I am available right now.
Speaker 1:And where can they find you on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I am Zach Z A C K Alexander.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on here. It's not going to be the last time putting the pressure on you. Now, first of many.
Speaker 2:Thank you for coming on, Zach.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the work that you're doing out there. You are an inspiration. Thank you, man. I like to finish every one of these by saying yay, you can say two if you want to, yay.