Breaking Generational Curses: Kentucky Freethought Convention

[00:00:00] Welcome to Sacrilegious Discourse.

[00:00:02] For this is what the Sovereign Lord says!

[00:00:04] Why do you need prophets to tell people who you are and what you want?

[00:00:07] If you can justify everything that the God of the Bible has done,

[00:00:11] then you can justify any of your behavior.

[00:00:14] A lot of this mentality is trickling into

[00:00:17] what is now mainstream right wing Christianity.

[00:00:21] I am capable of empathy greater than this God of the Bible.

[00:00:26] This is a Bible that they tell kids this is the good Lord,

[00:00:31] this is the good book.

[00:00:32] He is fantasizing about murder, mass murder.

[00:00:37] Head over to sacrilegiousdiscourse.com right now to find out how to leave us a review

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[00:00:48] Hey everyone, it's your favorite atheist duo.

[00:00:51] And we're bringing the sacrilege right to the Kentucky Freethought Convention!

[00:00:54] That's right! Join us Saturday, September the 7th.

[00:00:57] In Covington, Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati, Ohio.

[00:01:01] We'll be there with a lot of other atheists and secularly minded people.

[00:01:04] So make sure you're there too!

[00:01:06] Head over to our website sacrilegiousdiscourse.com

[00:01:08] and click on the link at the top of our site for more details.

[00:01:11] When you stop by our booth, make sure you mention you heard this!

[00:01:14] And we might have something special for you!

[00:01:18] Husband!

[00:01:18] Wife!

[00:01:19] Um, where are you going? Whatcha doing?

[00:01:21] Well, I'm going to the Kentucky Freethought Convention.

[00:01:24] And when is that?

[00:01:25] It's today.

[00:01:27] Yeah.

[00:01:28] If you're getting this, I'm probably either on my way or already there.

[00:01:32] Yep.

[00:01:33] Now, I keep saying I.

[00:01:35] Yeah.

[00:01:36] Uh, wife's not going.

[00:01:38] I'm really upset about it actually.

[00:01:40] Yeah.

[00:01:41] Because, um, I really liked the last time that we went.

[00:01:45] Yeah, we had a blast.

[00:01:45] It was fun.

[00:01:46] We made a new friend.

[00:01:48] Yeah.

[00:01:48] And we got to see some, you know, really cool people in the community.

[00:01:52] Some great speeches and all kinds of things.

[00:01:54] Yeah.

[00:01:55] It was, we picked up new fans even.

[00:01:57] Yes.

[00:01:58] Yeah, that was awesome.

[00:01:59] Yeah, it was a great experience overall.

[00:02:01] I really enjoyed it.

[00:02:02] Right.

[00:02:03] But as you, as everybody may know, if you're listening to this, possibly, and if you don't,

[00:02:08] you can find out the entire saga.

[00:02:11] It's called, I think we call it the episode Wife's Saga.

[00:02:13] Yeah.

[00:02:14] Or Wife's Broken The Saga.

[00:02:16] That's what it was.

[00:02:17] Wife's Broken The Saga.

[00:02:17] It's over on our Patreon for free for anybody.

[00:02:20] You don't have to be a member.

[00:02:21] So you can go over there and listen to it.

[00:02:23] But Wife is a bit broken.

[00:02:25] Yeah.

[00:02:25] I have broken bones, and I'm still in a lot of pain periodically.

[00:02:31] And being at a convention all day just doesn't light my fire right now.

[00:02:35] Right, right.

[00:02:36] So if you come to the Kentucky Free Thought Convention, we apologize, but it'll just be me.

[00:02:41] Yeah.

[00:02:42] But we will, I will be there.

[00:02:44] The pooper of the party will be there.

[00:02:46] But the party won't.

[00:02:50] That's, yeah.

[00:02:51] Nobody knows what you're referring to there.

[00:02:53] Well they would if they were in our live discords every Wednesday at 10.

[00:02:57] Right.

[00:02:57] They would know that you're the party pooper and I'm the party.

[00:03:00] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:01] But they got to show up at a discord to understand that reverence.

[00:03:03] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[00:03:05] And stay till like midnight.

[00:03:06] Yeah.

[00:03:07] Yeah.

[00:03:07] See?

[00:03:07] So it's a select crowd.

[00:03:09] It is a select crowd.

[00:03:11] Definitely.

[00:03:12] All right.

[00:03:13] Well, so I think what we're doing today is like a special episode based around the theme

[00:03:17] of the Kentucky Free Thought Convention, right?

[00:03:19] Mm-hmm.

[00:03:20] And that theme is breaking generational curses.

[00:03:23] Okay.

[00:03:23] All right.

[00:03:24] And what kind of stuff are we going to be covering today?

[00:03:27] It depends how far we get.

[00:03:29] I was going to let you choose what we cover first.

[00:03:31] Okay.

[00:03:32] Curse versus cycle.

[00:03:34] The illusion of fate and reframing the narrative are the three main pieces that

[00:03:41] I picked out that I thought we could talk about.

[00:03:43] I say we start with curse versus fate because I think that is...

[00:03:46] I don't know.

[00:03:47] You just combined two of the titles.

[00:03:49] Oh, did I really?

[00:03:49] Yeah.

[00:03:50] It's curse versus cycle or the illusion of fate.

[00:03:53] Oh, curse versus cycle then.

[00:03:55] Okay.

[00:03:55] Yeah.

[00:03:56] Sorry.

[00:03:58] I'm going to go down the list because I am assuming that's probably how you have

[00:04:01] your notes.

[00:04:02] I mean...

[00:04:03] More than likely.

[00:04:04] But I just wanted you to pick but yeah, I can go in any order.

[00:04:07] Okay.

[00:04:08] Doesn't matter.

[00:04:08] We'll start there.

[00:04:09] Okay.

[00:04:09] That's good.

[00:04:10] You ready to do this?

[00:04:11] I am.

[00:04:11] Let's do it.

[00:04:12] Okey-dokey.

[00:04:20] All right, so we are getting into this pre-convention episode with regard to the Kentucky Free

[00:04:30] Thought Convention.

[00:04:31] Yeah.

[00:04:32] And...

[00:04:32] I thought it was an interesting concept as far as what they're basing the convention

[00:04:37] on.

[00:04:37] It is.

[00:04:38] Breaking generational curses, like there's a lot there.

[00:04:42] It's a big topic and when I was kind of looking for ideas of how to approach this, I used

[00:04:50] AI to like say give me some ideas and it spit out so many and then from there I had

[00:04:58] to narrow it down.

[00:04:59] Yeah.

[00:04:59] It's such a broad topic which I appreciate because that means that you, I almost said

[00:05:04] we, I'm so sad.

[00:05:05] You are going to hear some really great speeches there.

[00:05:09] Yeah.

[00:05:09] That won't, almost there's no likelihood that they'll be doubling up.

[00:05:14] Right.

[00:05:14] Because it's such a big umbrella.

[00:05:16] Yeah.

[00:05:17] As I said we're going to be talking about three different things here today.

[00:05:20] Okay.

[00:05:21] Assuming that we don't get too chatty on each of them.

[00:05:24] Right.

[00:05:24] The first one is curse versus cycle.

[00:05:27] The second one is the illusion of fate and the third one is reframing the

[00:05:33] narrative.

[00:05:34] Okay.

[00:05:35] Okay.

[00:05:35] Yeah.

[00:05:35] With regard to curse versus cycle, I really thought this was interesting.

[00:05:41] There was a question of what does the term curse mean in a secular context?

[00:05:47] Like defining what do you mean by curse?

[00:05:50] How can it be a curse?

[00:05:51] Right because we don't really believe in the who we, who we, you know, bullshit

[00:05:54] out there.

[00:05:55] And I just thought wow what a great place to start.

[00:05:57] So that was the first place.

[00:05:58] I started my notes.

[00:05:59] Right.

[00:05:59] I'm really glad that you wanted to start there too.

[00:06:01] Actually recently we've had some discussions about feelings about connectivity I guess and

[00:06:07] just how, how you versus I feel about certain things.

[00:06:10] So it's an interesting topic I think for us especially.

[00:06:13] It is.

[00:06:13] It is.

[00:06:14] One of the things that they talked about with regard to curses in the atheist community

[00:06:20] is generational patterns or generational trauma.

[00:06:24] Okay.

[00:06:25] And what that means is stuff that's being passed down from parent to child and then

[00:06:32] the child grows up and passes it down to their child and that child grows up and passes

[00:06:36] it down to their child.

[00:06:38] So the concept of a curse in this particular case can be understood obviously without

[00:06:44] invoking supernatural explanations.

[00:06:48] It's just generational trauma.

[00:06:50] And there are many ingrained patterns of behavior and systemic disadvantages like monetary, like

[00:06:58] economic.

[00:07:00] In addition to the whole religion thing there's a bunch of other systemic issues that

[00:07:06] can be passed down.

[00:07:06] It's definitely hard to break out of a poor economic structure that she grew up in.

[00:07:11] That's not an easy thing to overcome.

[00:07:14] Exactly.

[00:07:15] So.

[00:07:15] And so these kinds of generational traumas or patterns get passed down through many generations.

[00:07:21] Right.

[00:07:21] And the term generational.

[00:07:22] Now I would say I don't like the word curse to be used in the, like it's, these are

[00:07:26] problems that have solutions right?

[00:07:29] We have ways of discussing these in society to come up with a way to fix these things.

[00:07:35] And that was my thought when you gave me that topic as what they're discussing

[00:07:40] at the convention, like the main overlying theme of the convention.

[00:07:45] That made me so curious what made them choose that specific term.

[00:07:49] Well, and that's, I mean right now we're discussing what it's a discussion, right?

[00:07:56] Where we're sitting here we're going what does that mean?

[00:07:59] What does that mean to us?

[00:08:00] Exactly.

[00:08:01] So that's a good thing.

[00:08:02] It inspires discussion.

[00:08:03] Absolutely.

[00:08:04] Yeah.

[00:08:04] It just made me really curious.

[00:08:05] So that's why I was starting there.

[00:08:08] Like what do you mean by that even?

[00:08:09] Right.

[00:08:10] So I'm curious while you're there this weekend and, you know, assuming that you get an opportunity

[00:08:15] to hear a lot of the talks and not just maybe only a couple of them.

[00:08:19] Yeah.

[00:08:19] Anytime you hear somebody give a definition of curse make sure you either jot it down

[00:08:26] or record it because I'm interested to know how other people have taken this word in

[00:08:31] the context of their discussion as they're presenting it.

[00:08:35] Sure.

[00:08:35] I know.

[00:08:36] My understanding is that we'll be close enough that we'll be able to hear while

[00:08:38] we're at our table.

[00:08:39] So perfect.

[00:08:40] That'll be great.

[00:08:41] Perfect.

[00:08:41] Yeah.

[00:08:42] Well, definitely be feeding me notes along the way.

[00:08:44] Yeah.

[00:08:45] I definitely want to know that.

[00:08:47] I should mention this real quick.

[00:08:48] If you're popping on here and you're listening to this on Saturday, September the 7th while

[00:08:53] I'm at the Atheist Convention, I am going to have Discord open and on in our stage

[00:08:58] channel.

[00:08:59] So you guys are more than welcome to join us there.

[00:09:02] And so that means that you will be able to hear what I'm saying, what I'm doing

[00:09:06] there while I'm there.

[00:09:08] And you'll be able to chat in the chat section and interact.

[00:09:12] I did not realize that.

[00:09:14] So yay.

[00:09:15] I think I'll be popping in and out too then throughout the day.

[00:09:19] So in between, you know, medication rounds and naps for that.

[00:09:23] Yeah.

[00:09:24] Unfortunately, I have an adverse reaction to all painkillers in that they knock

[00:09:28] me out, which I mean some might call that a good thing.

[00:09:31] I do.

[00:09:32] But okay.

[00:09:33] So in psychology, the term generational trauma is often used to describe the emotional

[00:09:38] and psychological effects of adverse experiences passed down through families,

[00:09:43] which we just discussed.

[00:09:45] Right.

[00:09:45] Generational trauma.

[00:09:46] Now studies have shown just as a large example that children of Holocaust

[00:09:52] survivors exhibit higher rates of PTSD and depression compared to the general

[00:09:57] population suggesting that trauma can indeed be inherited across generations.

[00:10:03] So this is just not just a psychology thing.

[00:10:07] This is an actual phenomenon.

[00:10:09] Well, if you and if you think about that, right?

[00:10:11] So I mean, if you have a family member or multiple family members that have

[00:10:17] a trauma that they endured, right, that is that is going to affect their

[00:10:22] lives and then by affecting their lives is going to affect their kids'

[00:10:26] lives in a certain way.

[00:10:27] So it can I definitely can see how that could happen for sure.

[00:10:30] Yeah.

[00:10:30] I just thought just on a large grand scale, it's harder to discuss

[00:10:36] something like this with a person of faith.

[00:10:40] Right.

[00:10:40] To say, you know, well, of course, your believer was passed down and they'll

[00:10:44] say, no, you know, I'm a believer because I chose it.

[00:10:47] And it's like, OK, right?

[00:10:49] I see you there.

[00:10:51] Yeah.

[00:10:51] OK.

[00:10:52] But if you were to point out a statistic like this, that backs

[00:10:56] you up.

[00:10:57] Yeah.

[00:10:57] You know?

[00:10:58] Yeah.

[00:10:58] And so I just found that really interesting.

[00:10:59] Yeah.

[00:11:00] No, definitely.

[00:11:01] All right.

[00:11:01] So did you have any more to add on curse versus cycle?

[00:11:05] I don't think so.

[00:11:06] I think that I think that that pretty much covered that for, you know,

[00:11:10] it is it is what it is.

[00:11:11] And but it's an interesting way to break into the conversation.

[00:11:14] Right.

[00:11:14] That's that's what I appreciate that.

[00:11:17] Right.

[00:11:17] What is a curse and how can you apply it to a secular form of

[00:11:21] thought in some sense?

[00:11:23] And that's that's to say that these things are it's essentially

[00:11:27] mental health, right?

[00:11:28] That mental health and economic health and social health that

[00:11:32] gets transmitted from one generation to the next generation.

[00:11:35] I'm so glad you said all of those because those are literally

[00:11:37] things we're going to discuss.

[00:11:38] Oh, OK.

[00:11:39] So yes, you are spot on.

[00:11:40] Right.

[00:11:41] OK.

[00:11:41] So moving on then to number two, the illusion of fate.

[00:11:45] And challenging the notion of predetermined destinies.

[00:11:50] So OK.

[00:11:52] That's one of the breaking generational curses.

[00:11:55] One of those is having the illusion of fate, you know.

[00:11:59] So there's challenging the notion of predetermined destinies as

[00:12:02] well as exploring how personal agency can overcome seemingly

[00:12:08] insurmountable obstacles.

[00:12:10] OK.

[00:12:10] OK, so let's talk about the first one a little bit.

[00:12:13] Challenging the notion of fate predetermined destiny.

[00:12:16] Yeah.

[00:12:16] You know, meant to be kind of thing.

[00:12:19] Right.

[00:12:19] What are your initial thoughts before I bring anything?

[00:12:22] My initial thoughts about fate are that it's a lazy way of

[00:12:27] accepting status quo.

[00:12:29] Yes.

[00:12:30] Right.

[00:12:30] So it's a way in which you can, if you're not, it's a way for

[00:12:37] you to accept what you have and say, well, this was fate.

[00:12:40] And this is the way it's supposed to be.

[00:12:42] And I have to accept it because this is the way it was predestined.

[00:12:46] God always planned this.

[00:12:48] Right.

[00:12:48] Yeah.

[00:12:48] Yeah.

[00:12:49] And it allows you to skip the hard questions of, well, do I really

[00:12:54] do I really accept this?

[00:12:55] Is this really something I want?

[00:12:56] Is this really something that was meant to be?

[00:12:59] Is this where I should be?

[00:13:00] Is this what I would have chose to be?

[00:13:03] The book, Candide by Voltaire really examines this.

[00:13:07] Yeah.

[00:13:08] A lot throughout the text.

[00:13:09] It's such a good book.

[00:13:11] If you ever have a chance to read it, highly recommend

[00:13:13] because it challenges the notion of accepting status quo.

[00:13:18] For example, right toward the beginning there's this ship.

[00:13:21] And I've probably given this example so many times now.

[00:13:24] So apologies from being repetitive.

[00:13:26] Right.

[00:13:26] There's a ship and people are drowning and there's people

[00:13:30] that are on the side just kind of watching.

[00:13:33] And the question is, well, shouldn't we go in and save them?

[00:13:37] And the answer is, well, no, if they're meant to survive, they will.

[00:13:41] Oh, yeah.

[00:13:42] No, the whole book is very tongue in cheek.

[00:13:45] OK, Voltaire is not saying that that is the correct thought process.

[00:13:49] He is saying the result of this thinking is you standing by

[00:13:53] and allowing tragedies to occur.

[00:13:56] Because as you said, it's lazy thinking.

[00:14:00] It's accepting status quo.

[00:14:01] Well, I think even more than that is a tool for disinformation.

[00:14:05] Right? So let's just put this in a personal relationship.

[00:14:08] We're in Hosea.

[00:14:09] We want like in the Bible, we're in Hosea.

[00:14:10] So I might as well use it this way.

[00:14:12] Sure. OK.

[00:14:12] So in Hosea, he talks about his wife as a metaphor for how God

[00:14:18] treats Israel and views Israel.

[00:14:20] Right? Well, let's talk about how a relationship could be viewed

[00:14:24] in regards to fate. Right.

[00:14:27] And let's just say that two people meet at a really odd place

[00:14:31] out in the world that they would have never expected to meet there.

[00:14:35] Right. Sure.

[00:14:35] And they knew each other from way back, way back when I mean,

[00:14:38] that's happened to me multiple times early.

[00:14:39] Sure. But let's just say that maybe maybe they decide to go on a date or two.

[00:14:44] Right. But then one of the people in the relationship decides to push

[00:14:48] the idea that this is fate. Right.

[00:14:50] This is this is meant to be.

[00:14:52] This is a this is a predestined thing and they lean heavily into the.

[00:14:56] Right. We met at this weird place and they do it like it's

[00:14:58] a way to manipulate people into believing something is correct and good

[00:15:03] without having actual basis in fact. Exactly.

[00:15:06] And I think that religion uses that same idea

[00:15:09] to get people to buy into their faith and their religion

[00:15:13] and their ideas through that predestined idea. Right.

[00:15:17] Right. Yeah.

[00:15:18] And so I just I that's why it's it's lazy, it's manipulative

[00:15:22] and it's not correct. Right.

[00:15:25] Like the things weird things happen.

[00:15:28] I mean they just do like for example, I grew up overseas.

[00:15:32] My dad was military.

[00:15:33] I was on a small air force base in southern Italy.

[00:15:36] Years later as an adult, I served in the army and was stationed in Hawaii.

[00:15:42] Yeah. And lo and behold, I ran into my when I was at the hospital,

[00:15:48] Triple Army Medical Center.

[00:15:50] Yeah. I ran into my cheerleading coach

[00:15:53] from my high school times in Italy.

[00:15:56] Now, one might say that that would be fate. Right.

[00:16:01] But when we really examine it, they were both contractors,

[00:16:05] she and her husband for the military.

[00:16:06] For the military. Now, granted, I'm talking about two different places,

[00:16:11] Italy to Hawaii. That's weird. Right.

[00:16:14] Right. And we're talking air force in one case, army in the other.

[00:16:17] Sure. But even so, the military world is so small.

[00:16:22] Anywhere you go related to military. Right.

[00:16:25] There is a like three in five chance.

[00:16:28] That's not nothing that you're going to bump into somebody that you know.

[00:16:31] I had another strange coincidence while I was in Hawaii.

[00:16:36] My dad discovered that he had a brother who was adopted out as a baby.

[00:16:42] Yeah. This happened while I was in Hawaii.

[00:16:44] He discovered this and moreover, that this brother that he didn't know he had

[00:16:49] had a daughter in the army stationed where I was stationed at the same time.

[00:16:56] So she and I met and got together for lunch. Very cool.

[00:16:59] Right. Yeah. You know, was that fate?

[00:17:01] I don't think so because we didn't really like each other a whole lot.

[00:17:04] Sure. You know, she did not stay in touch.

[00:17:06] It's one of those weird coincidences, right?

[00:17:08] And I actually heard I was listening.

[00:17:11] So Seth, Seth Andrews is going to be at the Kentucky Free Thought Convention as well.

[00:17:15] And you're so excited.

[00:17:16] Yeah, no, I am.

[00:17:17] I listened to his podcast and, you know, I enjoy his discussions

[00:17:21] and I do get something out of it.

[00:17:24] I think it's a good platform.

[00:17:26] But one of the things that he mentioned in one of his recent podcasts, I believe

[00:17:32] it might have been that I just recently listened to his book too.

[00:17:35] So either way, something I was listening to recently by Seth was that

[00:17:39] with regard to fate and coincidence and meant to be type scenarios, right?

[00:17:46] You could walk into Walmart a hundred times, right?

[00:17:49] And then on the hundred and first time you find this long lost friend there.

[00:17:52] Right. And you say it's fate.

[00:17:54] You say it's meant to be. It's this.

[00:17:56] But you've been there a hundred and one times, right?

[00:18:00] Like and and there was no fate or coincidence in the other times where you missed each other.

[00:18:05] Right. It was just that one like the fact that you know somebody

[00:18:08] in the world and they shop at the same fucking Walmart as you and you run

[00:18:11] into them one out of a hundred, a thousand, you know, whatever,

[00:18:15] however many times is not fate.

[00:18:18] It's just math.

[00:18:19] Yeah. You know, it's it's math that works out in your favor that day, I guess.

[00:18:23] Right. But it's still math.

[00:18:25] I mean, in a universe full of infinite possibilities,

[00:18:30] infinite possibilities are bound to happen.

[00:18:33] Right. And we're going to notice the ones that stand out, right?

[00:18:35] The ones, the ones that are weird, the ones that are different,

[00:18:38] the ones that are one offs, those are the ones you're going to remember.

[00:18:42] And then and then you apply way too much.

[00:18:44] Like if you believe in fate, if you believe in the over arching destiny,

[00:18:48] the magic of the world, right?

[00:18:49] Then you're going to apply way too much emphasis on those encounters

[00:18:55] and those situations, and you're going to apply them to this magic of the world

[00:18:59] that we call fate.

[00:19:00] Instead of just like, that's really cool that that happened.

[00:19:04] What a great day. That was unexpected.

[00:19:06] Right. Right.

[00:19:07] No, I mean, you could still think it was cool without attributing magic to it.

[00:19:11] Yeah, it doesn't. And that's just it, right?

[00:19:13] It doesn't take away from that encounter, in my opinion.

[00:19:16] No, me neither.

[00:19:17] It just is a different way to look at it that is not manipulating how you look at the world.

[00:19:23] Right. It's an honest enjoyment instead of somebody else put it there for me

[00:19:27] on purpose, enjoyment.

[00:19:30] It's a lot like when, you know, we talk about this a lot

[00:19:32] when Christians will thank God for something that somebody else did.

[00:19:36] Yeah.

[00:19:37] And it's like a doctor or the person that brought the food to their table

[00:19:41] or cooked it or whatever.

[00:19:43] You thank God and say the person who did it, right?

[00:19:45] God is good.

[00:19:46] Why not just enjoy the fact that you ran into somebody that you, you know,

[00:19:49] you hadn't seen in a long time instead of attributing magic to it?

[00:19:53] Right. Just be like, hey, this is a great opportunity to reconnect

[00:19:56] with that person that I enjoyed their company years ago.

[00:19:59] Yeah. And this was good food.

[00:20:01] And this was like all the things that you would say thanks for.

[00:20:05] Just be grateful.

[00:20:06] I mean, if you want to thank anything, thank math, you know, or.

[00:20:10] Or think, yeah, thanks, math, or you can maybe instead of thinking God,

[00:20:15] if you're going to do that, maybe go the extra mile by also hoping

[00:20:21] and marching and getting involved in campaigns that make minimum wage

[00:20:26] workers get higher wages.

[00:20:29] You know, like I'm instead of like you're at McDonald's, right?

[00:20:32] And you're like saying you're thank you for the meal before me.

[00:20:35] I love these chicken nuggets.

[00:20:36] Thank God. You're saying take actual action to

[00:20:39] thank the people that like make it count, right?

[00:20:42] God did not bring you those fucking nuggets, right?

[00:20:45] You know, yeah, the fucking minimum wage teenager with zits on their face

[00:20:49] brought it to you.

[00:20:50] Well, it's not necessarily even teenagers anymore.

[00:20:52] Yeah. People sustain a life.

[00:20:54] Older people who retired and thought they were done and are still working

[00:20:58] because they don't have a fucking choice or single parents working two jobs

[00:21:02] that's going to provide for their kids.

[00:21:04] Yeah. A lot of scenarios where you really should think that person.

[00:21:07] Right. You should think the person.

[00:21:08] And moreover, if you're going to be all think God about it,

[00:21:13] you know, you should actually be saying, well, thank you, God,

[00:21:16] for having this person that brought me the food.

[00:21:19] But could you maybe do something about the fucking minimum wage?

[00:21:23] And, you know, I don't know.

[00:21:25] I'm just so bitter.

[00:21:26] Like when people say thank God, I'm always like, no, fuck you.

[00:21:29] Yeah. God, don't give a fuck about your nuggets or if your football team one.

[00:21:33] No. If you think God does give a fuck about that, fuck that God.

[00:21:37] Yeah. Well, because I mean, look at all the stuff that he doesn't

[00:21:41] apparently care about.

[00:21:42] Well, when two teams are praying, does the one who won?

[00:21:45] Does that mean that their team pray over?

[00:21:47] I always wondered about that, right?

[00:21:48] I'm like, why do we put such an emphasis on these people

[00:21:52] that, you know, kneel in the end zone and pray to God and stuff like that?

[00:21:55] I'm like, but what about the people that just got run over by you?

[00:21:58] You know, how about instead we just say, all right,

[00:22:01] how many Christians are on each team?

[00:22:03] And instead of playing be like, oh, you brought 30.

[00:22:05] We only brought 25.

[00:22:07] Team with 30 Christians, please.

[00:22:09] That's what we should do.

[00:22:10] We should actually do a study about the amount of Christians

[00:22:12] and how hard they pray for before every NFL game

[00:22:15] and see if it makes a difference in the outcome of the game.

[00:22:18] Yeah. Right? Statistically.

[00:22:20] Sure. That way we should really, we should really get them on board

[00:22:22] and see if we can find a.

[00:22:24] But then you'd also have to account for the ones that pray at home

[00:22:27] watching TV, you know, how do you account for those?

[00:22:30] Because the one that had fewer show up,

[00:22:34] but they might have had more sitting at home.

[00:22:37] OK, so how do you account?

[00:22:39] I don't I don't know.

[00:22:41] I don't either.

[00:22:42] Yeah. So I think it would have to be those who show up.

[00:22:46] You think? Yeah.

[00:22:47] Those who can afford like a Nielsen survey or something

[00:22:49] like and then find out how many people were praying

[00:22:51] during that specific game or that team or whichever net

[00:22:55] of your Christian or whatever, whichever network that they air

[00:22:58] it on. Yeah, they could also track

[00:23:00] how many households were watching that game.

[00:23:02] I think we could do this.

[00:23:04] But then it can be done.

[00:23:04] You know, there's a way to do that.

[00:23:05] There is a way.

[00:23:06] I'm not saying that it would be done.

[00:23:08] Right. But it could be done.

[00:23:10] Yeah. And then we don't even have to play the game

[00:23:12] so nobody gets hurt.

[00:23:13] And really, I mean, specifically because he's like anti-American,

[00:23:16] apparently, if Colin Kaepernick was playing on a team,

[00:23:19] then apparently obviously they should always lose, right?

[00:23:21] They should, right?

[00:23:22] I mean, that's just the way that God works, right?

[00:23:24] Yeah. God only people that he doesn't like

[00:23:27] kneel during the National Anthem of America.

[00:23:29] Right. Because America is God and God is America, right?

[00:23:32] Well, yeah.

[00:23:33] Wasn't Jesus born here?

[00:23:35] Pretty sure he's white, isn't he?

[00:23:36] I mean, that's what a lot of people think.

[00:23:39] Yeah, they do. But no.

[00:23:41] I love watching those YouTube videos

[00:23:43] where people freak the fuck out when you tell them Jesus was a Jew

[00:23:47] and they lose their fucking minds.

[00:23:51] How dare you? That's so blasphemous.

[00:23:53] Oh my gosh. What?

[00:23:55] Yeah. Anyway, no, it's just great.

[00:23:57] We are way off topic.

[00:23:57] Oh, yeah, yeah. But it's fun.

[00:23:59] OK, so let's talk more about predetermined destinies.

[00:24:04] So what about the notion that one's life path is preordained

[00:24:08] or controlled by external forces?

[00:24:12] Like, you know, whatever job you pick

[00:24:14] and you're on the right path to riches

[00:24:17] and rich people got there because God wanted them to be rich

[00:24:20] and poor people obviously fucked up somewhere.

[00:24:23] Right. No, I don't think that that's look,

[00:24:26] there's there's actual.

[00:24:28] So this is one of those places where science muddles it a little bit

[00:24:32] because there is like the study that has been put out where

[00:24:36] it shows that you actually determine the the idea

[00:24:41] that your decision is determined before you make the decision, right?

[00:24:44] Like it's your your decision is actually predetermined chemically

[00:24:47] or or with that's where we're getting into like nature versus nurture

[00:24:52] and how hard you put forth efforts and stuff.

[00:24:57] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, there's a little

[00:24:59] this is more minute.

[00:25:00] So I should I probably shouldn't have even brought it up.

[00:25:03] But basically, whenever you make a decision,

[00:25:06] your body chemistry has already made that decision

[00:25:08] without you knowing you made the decision.

[00:25:11] There's something I whatever whatever

[00:25:12] like I'd have to look up the exact study.

[00:25:15] I'm doing it. No justice here.

[00:25:17] But there there is some study that the Christians like to bring it up sometimes

[00:25:20] like, no, we actually don't have a choice you're doing, you know,

[00:25:23] depending on what they're arguing.

[00:25:24] But there is a study that shows that you don't actually make the decision

[00:25:29] when you think you make the decision.

[00:25:31] OK, it's it's it's whatever it's a thing.

[00:25:34] OK, the only science that I will attribute to that

[00:25:37] is that the conscious thought hasn't quite verbalized it out loud

[00:25:41] to yourself. Maybe you have already thought it through in the back of your mind,

[00:25:45] maybe, but that ain't God. That's just right.

[00:25:48] No, you having done shit in the back of your mind.

[00:25:52] Yeah, quicker than you were able to.

[00:25:54] Right. Kind of like, you know, if you were to ask me math,

[00:25:58] well, I'd have to take forever at it, right?

[00:26:00] But if you asked me for, I don't know,

[00:26:03] I can't even think of a good example.

[00:26:05] But like if you asked me for a recipe to something that I love

[00:26:08] and I rattled off the instructions off just off the top of my head

[00:26:12] without even thinking about it.

[00:26:14] Yeah. That goes along with the idea that sometimes,

[00:26:16] you know, you're thinking too hard and that's why you fuck up.

[00:26:19] Sure. Like that's the opposite opposite opposite, you know?

[00:26:23] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just it has to do more with like

[00:26:27] so there was I guess there was a study in nine.

[00:26:29] I looked at that real quick.

[00:26:30] There was a study in 1983, an experiment done by Benjamin Leibit

[00:26:34] and participants were asked to leave it alone.

[00:26:38] They're asked to perform a simple action such as like flexing their wrist

[00:26:41] at the time of their choosing.

[00:26:43] Brain activity was monitored and participants were also asked

[00:26:46] to note the precise moment.

[00:26:47] They felt the conscious intention to act and the results show that

[00:26:51] the brain activity related to the action began before

[00:26:54] participants reported their conscious awareness of the decision to act.

[00:26:57] OK, I'm going to call bullshit on that study, though,

[00:26:59] because they were thinking about as soon as they were asked.

[00:27:03] They were thinking about it from the time that they were asked.

[00:27:06] It doesn't matter when they did it.

[00:27:07] No, I agree. I agree.

[00:27:09] So they were like, should I do it now?

[00:27:10] Should I do it now?

[00:27:11] No, it's just it's it's one of those things that's debated a lot

[00:27:14] and it's one of those things that there are actual studies with regard to this

[00:27:18] phenomenon, but it should have been very nuanced as far as what those things are.

[00:27:23] I think. Yeah, I'm not saying I'm against studying that,

[00:27:26] but it that should not have been the end all be all then.

[00:27:29] Right. It should have gone further.

[00:27:30] Yeah. And not just like dropped like boom, God.

[00:27:35] Yeah, I'm going to put a big no on that.

[00:27:37] Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm no scientist.

[00:27:40] Right. But that to me after reading that little snippet

[00:27:43] after doing a search, it was, you know, that doesn't really to me make any.

[00:27:47] That doesn't say God to me at all.

[00:27:49] What's the control subject in that?

[00:27:51] You know, you need a control where you don't tell the people to squeeze their rest.

[00:27:58] Right. You know, yeah.

[00:27:59] And how do you do that?

[00:28:00] The other side of that is that I've heard people that are,

[00:28:02] you know, religious, are you free will and not free will?

[00:28:06] Like they'll say that everything is predestined

[00:28:09] and then in the same breath, they'll say that everything is free will.

[00:28:12] You have free will at the same time.

[00:28:13] Yeah, at the same time. Yeah.

[00:28:15] I'm like, which which is it?

[00:28:16] Guys, I don't know where to argue the way the way that I've heard people

[00:28:21] describe it is that you have free will even though God already knows

[00:28:24] which way you decided. Yes.

[00:28:26] And that one makes me tired because I'm like, then why even fucking bother?

[00:28:29] Right. If God already knows, you don't have free will.

[00:28:32] Right. I mean, in my opinion, you've already

[00:28:35] you've already done the game before you even showed up.

[00:28:38] So why even be born?

[00:28:40] You know, like it just it's so pointless.

[00:28:43] It makes life so pointless to me.

[00:28:45] And it makes me question a lot of God's actions too.

[00:28:47] I'm like, if he knew everything ahead of time, yeah.

[00:28:50] Why? Why is he getting angry at all? Right?

[00:28:52] That doesn't make sense. Yeah, that's silly. Right.

[00:28:55] All right. So listen to this.

[00:28:57] There are studies about twins that have shown that while genetics

[00:29:01] play a huge role in certain traits and behaviors, yeah.

[00:29:05] Like, you know, you can ask quite twins questions in different rooms.

[00:29:08] And a lot of times they'll like give the same answer or or I saw one where

[00:29:13] this guy was asking these twins, there was a wall between them.

[00:29:17] But like they could both see him.

[00:29:19] Yeah, but they couldn't see each other and he could see both of them.

[00:29:21] Right. And so he's asking both of them, raise one of your hands

[00:29:25] and they both raise the same hand.

[00:29:26] And he says, hop on one foot and they both hop on the same foot.

[00:29:29] Sure. And then he's like, think of a number

[00:29:31] and they both pick the same number.

[00:29:33] But OK, so the first two, right?

[00:29:35] I'm just going to say they were they both predominantly right handed

[00:29:40] or left handed? Yeah, I don't know.

[00:29:41] And like so that that matters, right? Right.

[00:29:43] And and then with the picking of the number, maybe they're twins, right?

[00:29:48] Yeah, maybe they have the same fucking number on purpose.

[00:29:51] Well, that and they have clearly mirrored the same reactions over time

[00:29:57] because as the dude kept being like, whoa.

[00:30:00] And oh my God, like he's like just very excited that this is happening.

[00:30:05] Like I don't believe it.

[00:30:06] This is amazing. No, I mean, it's so no, no, no, no.

[00:30:09] Listen, OK, so the girls, both of them adopt the same stance

[00:30:14] and they're like, what?

[00:30:16] And they both put out the same hand.

[00:30:17] And then he's like, oh my God.

[00:30:20] And then they both like put their hand in their hair going, what?

[00:30:24] And so that was kind of cool.

[00:30:27] But I mean, clearly they have the same kind of mannerisms

[00:30:31] because they're around each other and they're inclined

[00:30:34] the same way. That's the whole nature versus nurture, right?

[00:30:37] Right. And genetics are much closer in a twin than they are.

[00:30:40] Obviously. So I mean, yeah, I mean,

[00:30:42] if they are identical twins, they are literally clones.

[00:30:45] Right. So yeah.

[00:30:46] So it makes a little bit of sense there.

[00:30:49] Right. Even though that is true, though,

[00:30:52] environmental factors also significantly influence individual development.

[00:30:56] So two twins might be raised the exact same way.

[00:31:00] But then later on, you have one that's like the good twin

[00:31:03] and one that's the bad twin or shit like that.

[00:31:06] Like one gets all the blame, one gets all the glory.

[00:31:09] Sure. You know, but that is more like the siblings in general, I think.

[00:31:14] Right. Not just twins.

[00:31:16] Yeah. Also, there's cases where twins have been separated

[00:31:19] right from birth. Yeah.

[00:31:22] And they managed to find each other when they're in their late adulthood

[00:31:26] and they find out that they both picked very similar style houses

[00:31:30] and cars, very similar looking spouses,

[00:31:33] same number of animals and the same type,

[00:31:37] same blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:31:38] Yeah. And so that's really cool.

[00:31:40] But then just as often or probably even more often.

[00:31:43] Yeah. They're just two different people living two different lives.

[00:31:46] Right. The end.

[00:31:47] Yeah.

[00:31:48] But you don't hear about those because those aren't as cool.

[00:31:51] Right. Again, that's math, right?

[00:31:54] Like, you know, I mean,

[00:31:54] and I'm not saying that there's some genetics involved there.

[00:31:57] But I mean, math also can play into that.

[00:32:00] Math is cool.

[00:32:01] And we're going to pick the ones that are really weird, right?

[00:32:04] The ones where they have those connections.

[00:32:06] And we're probably not listening off everything in their life.

[00:32:09] We're listening off the things that they have connections on, right?

[00:32:11] Just those certain things.

[00:32:13] The more obvious ones. Right.

[00:32:14] Yeah. And if it's obvious and it's obviously that's going to wow people.

[00:32:18] But if you said, hey, this neighbor five streets down

[00:32:21] has the same amount of pets that we do.

[00:32:23] And it wouldn't be as there's not the same wow factor.

[00:32:25] It's because they're twins. Yeah. Right.

[00:32:27] Yeah. So I mean, yes, is it kind of cool?

[00:32:31] OK, listen, now there was a examine it further to there was one.

[00:32:34] There was one and this is so stupid, but I love these dumb stories.

[00:32:39] OK, there was one where the two were told by multiple people,

[00:32:43] like, oh my God, this person has to be your twin.

[00:32:45] I've seen somebody that looks like you, but you weren't there.

[00:32:48] So, you know, clearly.

[00:32:50] And so anyway, they get in touch online

[00:32:53] and they're like, whoa, we really do look alike.

[00:32:55] You know, OK, let's meet.

[00:32:57] So they meet up and they had both shopped at Walmart or something

[00:33:01] because they were both wearing the same outfit, but like in reverse colors.

[00:33:05] So like one was wearing a blue top and white pants.

[00:33:09] And the other one was wearing the exact same outfit, but reversed.

[00:33:13] Yeah. And that was pretty cool.

[00:33:15] Yeah. And they were like, shut the fuck up.

[00:33:18] Which is how I would be. Yeah. I mean, math is cool.

[00:33:21] Math is just fucking cool. Yes.

[00:33:23] Like, math appearing in nature like that one number.

[00:33:27] I forget what it is that like, is it the Fibonacci sequence?

[00:33:31] Or is it like a fee number or something like that?

[00:33:33] I don't know. Anyway, it's the one that it's the same ratio

[00:33:37] in spirals that shows up in like sunflowers and seashells.

[00:33:42] Yeah. And it's fucking amazing.

[00:33:44] And that's not magic.

[00:33:45] It's beautiful math. Yeah.

[00:33:47] Like it's still math and it feels magical.

[00:33:50] So why do we have to add magic to it?

[00:33:52] Why do we have to say it's magical?

[00:33:54] No, to me, science is beautiful.

[00:33:56] It is. Science is amazing.

[00:33:58] And I don't need magic to explain those things.

[00:34:01] Robert A. Heinlein said something similar.

[00:34:03] I can look at a garden and appreciate the beautiful

[00:34:07] butterflies and flowers without adding magic to it.

[00:34:10] It's enough as it is.

[00:34:12] It is already beautiful. Yes.

[00:34:14] And I so appreciate that quote.

[00:34:15] Well, and again, I think you're taking away

[00:34:17] from the magic of what we like to me,

[00:34:20] you're taking away from the beauty of what it is to be

[00:34:23] this unique thing in the universe.

[00:34:26] Yes. When you add God, when you add magic, right?

[00:34:31] It's it should be enough, right?

[00:34:33] It should be enough that we are here and unique

[00:34:36] and what we are because of this random sequence of events.

[00:34:40] Right. That to me is so cool.

[00:34:42] Yeah. The final point under this particular topic

[00:34:45] is the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies,

[00:34:49] which suggests that beliefs about oneself and one's abilities

[00:34:53] can influence actions and outcomes.

[00:34:56] And I have mixed feelings about that

[00:34:57] because they're trying to say that self-fulfilling prophecy

[00:35:00] is, you know, let's not attribute magic.

[00:35:02] But to me, that's more psychology and less magic.

[00:35:05] Yeah, 100 percent.

[00:35:06] Because self-fulfilling prophecy, the way it's typically used is,

[00:35:10] you know, it's that whole if you say you're going to have a good day,

[00:35:13] you will. If you say you're going to have a bad day, it's still true.

[00:35:15] I was going to say psychologically speaking,

[00:35:17] we know that it pays off for yourself to put to

[00:35:20] to work on getting yourself in a better mood, right?

[00:35:23] Half glass full, half glass empty.

[00:35:25] Because you have a tendency to get, you know, sick, easier

[00:35:29] if you're in a bad mood.

[00:35:30] You have there's there's all kinds of negative effects to being in a bad mood

[00:35:33] because hormones. Sure.

[00:35:35] Whatever it is.

[00:35:36] But the mentality that you have going in is going to affect your day.

[00:35:40] It's going to affect what you do, how things happen.

[00:35:42] It's better to try to get into a state of mind that puts you in a better frame

[00:35:48] to work forward from.

[00:35:50] Yeah. So I happen to know that if I am expecting the worst

[00:35:57] and I am catastrophizing, which I used to do more,

[00:36:01] I don't do as much anymore. Right.

[00:36:03] But if I'm like everything sucks, so this is probably bad going to happen

[00:36:07] when the bad thing inevitably happens, then I'm like, see,

[00:36:11] it just added to blah, blah, blah.

[00:36:13] And then like it allows me to like wallow and to further feel vindicated

[00:36:18] also at the same time that I'm wallowing in my depression.

[00:36:22] I'm also vindicated because see, I was right.

[00:36:25] I knew the thing. Right.

[00:36:27] And then every bad thing afterward from there on out

[00:36:31] further proves to me.

[00:36:33] And it's like, no, but like you said, you know, it's just shit that happened

[00:36:37] if I walk in and I'm in a shitty mood and, you know,

[00:36:41] I drop my grocery bag.

[00:36:43] Yeah, that sucks.

[00:36:44] And you know, if the eggs break, like, God damn it, that really fucking sucks.

[00:36:49] I was already in a bad mood. Now I got to do this. Right.

[00:36:51] Now I can slow down and take a fucking breath or I can make a bigger mess

[00:36:56] by being a fucking bitch and, you know, throw shit or like stomp around

[00:37:01] and then accidentally drop something else. Right.

[00:37:03] And then be like, God damn it. Yeah.

[00:37:06] You know, it's not magic.

[00:37:07] It's your mood and your actions and personal responsibility

[00:37:12] and what you're bringing to the table.

[00:37:14] And that's not to say that you're not going to drop your groceries

[00:37:17] when you're in a bad mood.

[00:37:19] That's not to say you're not going to break eggs

[00:37:21] and then stomp around and kick something else.

[00:37:23] Sure. I think we all have been guilty of that, you know?

[00:37:26] That's just life.

[00:37:27] And sometimes a string of bad luck happens.

[00:37:30] Sure. Bad luck not in the magical sense.

[00:37:33] Bad luck in the mathematical.

[00:37:35] I was going to say a string of bad math, you know,

[00:37:36] that's really what it is.

[00:37:38] So I mean, really we ought to be saying like think science

[00:37:41] or think math, you know, instead of thank God.

[00:37:44] Yeah. Or like when we're having quote unquote bad luck,

[00:37:46] we should be like, whoa, I'm having some really bad math.

[00:37:49] I think you say math or fucker, you know?

[00:37:53] Math, damn it. Yeah.

[00:37:57] Oh, I really like that one.

[00:37:59] So yeah, math, math, but not really because I love math.

[00:38:03] Right. No.

[00:38:04] But I mean, in the moment when you're, you know, pissed off at math,

[00:38:06] you know, fucking math. Yeah.

[00:38:08] Are you kidding me? God damn science.

[00:38:10] We can love and hate math, right?

[00:38:11] Yeah. People love and hate God.

[00:38:13] So we can love and hate.

[00:38:14] We can love and hate math.

[00:38:15] And you know what the difference is?

[00:38:16] Math is real.

[00:38:17] Yeah. Exactly.

[00:38:19] So again, mixed feelings about this whole

[00:38:21] self-fulfilling prophecy thing.

[00:38:23] I'm not sure what they meant by that.

[00:38:25] It's magic. Are you sure about that?

[00:38:27] This isn't shit that convinces me.

[00:38:29] No. Of magic, God, anything like that.

[00:38:31] No. It just I feel like whoever put this in the notes,

[00:38:37] like was supposed to be like saying, you know,

[00:38:40] that's a bad thing to believe in.

[00:38:42] And I'm like, but it's not though.

[00:38:44] Right. Self-fulfilling prophecy is a thing.

[00:38:46] It's just that it's not magical.

[00:38:48] Right. It's, you know, you and your outlook.

[00:38:51] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:52] All right. So moving on, how personal agency can overcome

[00:38:56] seemingly insurmountable obstacles?

[00:39:00] OK. So we've got like the capacity for individuals

[00:39:05] to make choices, take action and overcome challenges,

[00:39:09] even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

[00:39:12] Again, this kind of goes back to what we were just discussing.

[00:39:14] Right. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:15] This falls under the same umbrella.

[00:39:17] Yeah. So it's just another point.

[00:39:19] Yeah. If you if you put yourself in the mindset

[00:39:21] that you are going like if you walk in, right?

[00:39:24] And I had a similar experience to this,

[00:39:27] actually with the new job that I just started.

[00:39:28] Right. I walked into that job and I said,

[00:39:31] I am going to blow their minds right off the bat.

[00:39:33] I am going to just turn heads.

[00:39:36] I'm going to make everything I can.

[00:39:37] You are so good at this mental trick.

[00:39:40] You really are. It's very admirable

[00:39:42] because I do not have it.

[00:39:44] Right. No, you I mean, we are complete opposites on this.

[00:39:47] Yeah. Right.

[00:39:47] So I see that it exists.

[00:39:50] It's not magic.

[00:39:51] Some people got it and some people don't.

[00:39:53] Yeah. But when you walk in

[00:39:56] and you say, I'm going to do this thing.

[00:39:58] If your every intent and action is built around doing that thing,

[00:40:02] you can make it happen. Right?

[00:40:04] Not not make it happen.

[00:40:06] You can come closer to make it happen.

[00:40:08] You can move that direction in a better position to make it happen.

[00:40:11] Yeah. So it's kind of like that whole.

[00:40:14] I think we were just discussing this

[00:40:15] in one of our recent podcast episodes,

[00:40:17] or maybe it was like on our discord,

[00:40:19] which again is Wednesday's at 10. Yeah.

[00:40:22] But it's that whole if you manifest shit into the universe,

[00:40:27] then good things will come to you

[00:40:30] through the magic of manifestation,

[00:40:31] which I totally don't believe in. Right.

[00:40:33] But you know what I do believe in?

[00:40:35] If you have like what you're saying,

[00:40:37] this intention that this is what I'm going to do,

[00:40:40] you're going to overlook the bad shit

[00:40:42] and you're going to concentrate on the good shit,

[00:40:44] which is thereby going to allow you to be in the mood

[00:40:48] to create better opportunities for yourself.

[00:40:50] It's not just it's just not just focusing on the good shit.

[00:40:53] It's it's saying I am going to do this.

[00:40:55] What are the things that are going to get me

[00:40:57] to be able to do this?

[00:40:58] And every single day, every single hour,

[00:41:01] every single time you have to reset your mood,

[00:41:04] you say, OK, get back into it.

[00:41:06] What are we doing?

[00:41:08] How do I get there?

[00:41:09] What do I need to do from here?

[00:41:10] It's just refocusing, refocusing. Yeah.

[00:41:12] So toward that end, actually, studies have shown

[00:41:15] that individuals with a strong internal locus of control

[00:41:20] or belief in their ability to influence events

[00:41:23] tend to be more resilient and successful

[00:41:25] in overcoming challenges.

[00:41:27] Yeah, so that makes a lot of sense.

[00:41:30] I mean, it's not you're looking for the opportunities.

[00:41:34] Yeah, again, it's not magic.

[00:41:35] It's just a matter of your mindset

[00:41:38] and your willingness to allow yourself

[00:41:41] to find the way to do the thing you want to do.

[00:41:43] It's just a better way of phrasing the whole

[00:41:47] or a less elegant way of phrasing.

[00:41:49] Every problem is an opportunity.

[00:41:51] Yeah, you know, right?

[00:41:53] I mean, a lot of people call it tricking themselves, right?

[00:41:55] Trick yourself into being in this way,

[00:41:57] to be this way to enact a certain outcome.

[00:42:01] Right? And people do it before sports.

[00:42:04] People like so, like, you know, people who play sports, right?

[00:42:07] I specifically remember when I was younger

[00:42:10] and wanting to be better at sports,

[00:42:11] I did a lot of research into how to do that.

[00:42:15] And I read books about how, you know, some of my

[00:42:18] favorite people that I followed back then,

[00:42:21] what they did and they would prep before a game, right?

[00:42:25] They would get their mind in a certain state and calm

[00:42:28] and do certain routines to prepare themselves for the game,

[00:42:32] mentally walk them through themselves through the game

[00:42:35] before they ever played it, right?

[00:42:36] They would imagine scenarios.

[00:42:38] They would do all these things.

[00:42:40] And so I think I internalized a lot of that throughout my life.

[00:42:44] Yeah. And I carried it forward with regard to how I treat

[00:42:47] my ability to be in a certain situation and enact change.

[00:42:53] Yeah, it's manifestation that you actually did

[00:42:57] by putting work into it, right?

[00:42:58] Not by just asking the universe to deliver it to you.

[00:43:02] No, God didn't replay those fucking games

[00:43:04] in my head before a game.

[00:43:05] That was my idea and that was not my idea.

[00:43:08] I stole that idea from somebody else,

[00:43:10] but it was my choice to do that, right?

[00:43:12] In order to try to prep myself for whatever game I was playing.

[00:43:16] Yeah. So are you familiar with the term neuroplasticity?

[00:43:19] I feel like I've heard it, but I'm not familiar.

[00:43:22] I know. Same here.

[00:43:23] Like I was not.

[00:43:24] I had heard it before, but didn't know what it was

[00:43:26] off the top of my head.

[00:43:27] It's the brain's ability to reorganize itself,

[00:43:31] which demonstrates that individuals can change

[00:43:34] and adapt throughout their lives.

[00:43:36] OK, so just kind of goes along with what you're saying.

[00:43:39] You can kind of force your brain to fucking grow, guys.

[00:43:43] Right. You know, you have to want to, though.

[00:43:46] Well, there's those things like it takes 30 days

[00:43:47] to be able to have it, right? There's things.

[00:43:50] That's I'm saying generally speaking,

[00:43:52] like there are there are these little ideas in the world.

[00:43:55] But if you do certain things for certain amounts of time,

[00:43:57] you can retrain yourself to do certain things, right?

[00:44:00] Not necessarily 30 days, but yes, I hear you.

[00:44:03] Right. I'm just saying that you can work on changing your behaviors.

[00:44:08] You can work on changing your personality even.

[00:44:12] You can work.

[00:44:13] You know, I mean, that's what people go to

[00:44:14] for for counseling for.

[00:44:17] Yeah, right. They want to improve their mental health

[00:44:20] and their their ability to interact with other people.

[00:44:23] Right. And problem solve.

[00:44:25] Right. Like instead of being a bench and punching a wall

[00:44:28] or, you know, screaming my head off, which I've done both in the past.

[00:44:32] Maybe I should, you know, learn some tools to manage anger

[00:44:35] or to manage frustration and why learn why I'm frustrated.

[00:44:40] And luckily as a society, we have realized that these are important

[00:44:43] medical things that we need to treat.

[00:44:45] Yeah. These are important mental states that we need to bolster.

[00:44:50] They are things that are important for us as humans

[00:44:53] to understand and try to work towards, right?

[00:44:56] It's not the days of old where we where we lobotomize people for being crazy

[00:45:01] or what you know what I mean?

[00:45:03] You know what I'm saying?

[00:45:03] Like or lock them in a freaking room and fed them drugs, you know, like this is not

[00:45:08] these are not those days anymore.

[00:45:10] And and we grew up in a world that was just on the almost

[00:45:14] we were almost there.

[00:45:16] Yeah. Yeah. Well, but there was still the stigma of what it used to mean.

[00:45:22] And so counseling and mental health was still not prioritized when we were younger.

[00:45:26] The only ones that had counseling were the jokes about people in Hollywood.

[00:45:31] Everybody's got a counselor. Right.

[00:45:33] Like I can remember specifically that there were a lot of shows

[00:45:37] where that was like a joke that was made.

[00:45:39] Yeah. And I didn't quite understand it

[00:45:41] because given that I got a touch of the Tizm,

[00:45:43] I was taking it literally and I was like, but what's wrong with that?

[00:45:49] Isn't that a good thing? Why is that funny?

[00:45:51] Ha, ha, ha. Well, I do remember specifically.

[00:45:54] I remember me and my brother got counseling after my parents got divorced.

[00:45:58] Oh, wow.

[00:45:59] And I remember being a little scared what people would think

[00:46:03] yeah, that I was going to counseling.

[00:46:05] So I didn't I never talked about it with anybody other than my immediate family.

[00:46:09] I don't even think I remember you telling me that.

[00:46:10] I'm sure I probably did it.

[00:46:12] That's why I phrased it the way I did.

[00:46:13] Yeah, it's not it's not something that I talk about a lot because honestly,

[00:46:17] like I said at the time,

[00:46:18] I think I was more traumatized by the fact that I was going to counseling than.

[00:46:22] No, I mean, that's that's how I felt.

[00:46:24] Like it was it was one of those things where like, oh, I have to go to counseling.

[00:46:28] What? Yeah. You know, and even as a kid, I remember thinking that.

[00:46:31] Yeah. But now I have a completely different view of what counseling means.

[00:46:34] And I I believe and know it to be a good thing for people.

[00:46:38] That's so funny because when my ex and I divorced,

[00:46:41] we put our kid in counseling right away.

[00:46:45] And, you know, they and I both are still in counseling

[00:46:48] and, you know, for various mental health issues and stuff.

[00:46:53] And it's just like a thing.

[00:46:55] And like, we're not embarrassed or ashamed.

[00:46:57] We're like, nor should you be. Right. Exactly.

[00:47:00] But like, we don't mind not just telling family, but like anybody who asks.

[00:47:05] Yeah, I don't care. Right.

[00:47:06] That's the difference just in our lifetimes.

[00:47:09] Jen X is a really, really weird age, I'm just going to say.

[00:47:13] We were on the we were teetering between two worlds, you know, like we were.

[00:47:18] We were teetering between the world of before and after everything.

[00:47:22] Literally literally the technological age came to being in our in our lifetime.

[00:47:27] It wasn't when we were going through our, you know, adolescence.

[00:47:30] Yeah. So it was it was an interesting time to grow up.

[00:47:34] Yeah, it really was. Yeah.

[00:47:36] So, OK, talking about mental health and stuff, though,

[00:47:39] that is a great place to jump into our final topic, which is reframing the narrative.

[00:47:46] Sure. Interesting, because we did kind of touch on that. Yeah.

[00:47:49] It's shifting the focus from blame and victimhood to empowerment and resilience.

[00:47:55] Right. So we're talking about a mindset

[00:47:57] that avoids dwelling on past injustices or assigning blame

[00:48:01] and instead advocates for taking ownership of one's narrative

[00:48:05] and focusing on solutions and possibilities.

[00:48:09] So it's I mean, I think reframing the narrative is just a completely

[00:48:13] wonderful way of saying that. Yeah.

[00:48:15] Well, and to bring this back into context with regard

[00:48:17] to what we are going down to the Kentucky Free Thought Convention for,

[00:48:21] which is, you know, a secular and atheist convention where we are talking about

[00:48:26] for all intents and purposes, we're talking about God, right?

[00:48:29] Not not. We're talking about the lack of God and the ability to live a life

[00:48:33] with a lack of God or without God interfering in our laws

[00:48:37] or whatever the case may be, right? Right.

[00:48:39] So with regard to the God of the Bible and Christianity

[00:48:44] and how this culture affects us

[00:48:48] and in the United States or the world in general, that does,

[00:48:52] you know, fall into the purview of Christianity.

[00:48:54] It's, you know, we the God of the Bible is very not modern.

[00:48:59] And we've talked about this quite a bit.

[00:49:02] Not modern. Well, you know, yeah.

[00:49:04] No, I we came up in Hosea recently because we're reading Hosea right now

[00:49:08] in our in our read through the Bible and how they talk about,

[00:49:12] you know, framing the negative that is the Israelites in reference

[00:49:16] in it as a woman or women or, you know, things that are

[00:49:20] failing in its misogynistic, right?

[00:49:23] Yeah. The whole idea and the basis of the whole Bible is that

[00:49:27] that humans are are bad and sinful from birth, right?

[00:49:32] Because because we we did the ultimate center, the the what?

[00:49:37] What is it called the original?

[00:49:39] Original sin. Yeah. That's what I was trying to come up with.

[00:49:41] And so we are bad and wrong from the get go.

[00:49:44] And that is part of why we have trouble in our society

[00:49:48] with mental health, because we collectively as a as a Christian,

[00:49:53] more or less a Christian society.

[00:49:56] Now, we don't view ourselves that way overall.

[00:49:58] We want to be secular generally speaking.

[00:50:00] I would say the majority of Americans would agree with secularism

[00:50:04] as is the way to go.

[00:50:05] Now, that's debatable as to how things are going right now.

[00:50:08] But overall, we've we've walked that path quite a bit as a country.

[00:50:12] But the mental health aspect has been a slow build to where we are now

[00:50:16] because there's not a lot of room in Christianity to allow for us

[00:50:21] to have mental health issues if we're we're viewing ourselves

[00:50:24] in the the light of a perfect God.

[00:50:26] You just need to have more God.

[00:50:27] You just need to get Jesus right, right?

[00:50:30] And then you'd be fine. Yeah.

[00:50:31] Didn't you know? Right.

[00:50:32] And and and, you know, there's a lot of Christians

[00:50:35] and and people who don't view mental health in the best light

[00:50:39] who will say things like build a bridge and get over it or.

[00:50:42] Oh my God.

[00:50:44] Or, you know, just basically diminish the whole idea of mental health.

[00:50:51] And it's not always because they are religious in the moment.

[00:50:54] It's it's more because of the generational curses.

[00:50:58] Yes. The generational, you know,

[00:51:00] wrongness of this Christian idea in our society.

[00:51:03] Yes. That builds this hate into ourselves for ourselves.

[00:51:08] You know, and that that's that's what we have to break free of.

[00:51:11] Yeah. That's the general generational curse.

[00:51:13] The societal norms as it applies to Christianity,

[00:51:17] as it applies to a secular society.

[00:51:19] Exactly. We have to be able to take the ideas

[00:51:21] that we have grown up with as a nation, as a world, as a society

[00:51:26] and say enough is enough.

[00:51:28] This is not how we want to be as as humans,

[00:51:31] as people who are progressing, as people who are becoming better and more.

[00:51:36] And we have to be able to say that this has to stop

[00:51:40] and we have to be able to break away from these ideas.

[00:51:45] I think that is a perfect place to end this.

[00:51:47] Holy shit. I mean, you brought it right back around.

[00:51:51] And it is exactly

[00:51:54] everything that we said from beginning to end and back around.

[00:51:58] You know, yeah.

[00:51:59] No, just real quick.

[00:52:00] This is why I love our podcast, right?

[00:52:04] I these these these ideas that are in the Bible that affect our society.

[00:52:08] They're not correct.

[00:52:09] They're not right.

[00:52:10] They're not progressive.

[00:52:12] They're not good for human beings.

[00:52:14] They are.

[00:52:15] They're not good for human beings and they're not good for human beings

[00:52:18] that have grown past these silly ideas.

[00:52:21] Yeah, we're better than this.

[00:52:23] We are. We are better than this.

[00:52:25] And we should act as though we're better than this.

[00:52:27] Yes. So that that to me is what this is all about.

[00:52:31] Yes. Well, hopefully you're at the Kentucky Free Thought Convention.

[00:52:34] You can tell me what you thought of the episode.

[00:52:35] Yeah, me because wife's not going to be there.

[00:52:37] I know.

[00:52:39] You can tell her on Discord, though, when she joins on Discord,

[00:52:42] you can you can talk to her right there and she can chat back.

[00:52:45] Yes. But in that, that's all we got today, I think.

[00:52:48] Sure as fuck is. All right.

[00:52:49] Well, thanks, guys, for joining us on this special episode

[00:52:52] where we're kind of going over a topic that's relevant

[00:52:54] for the convention that we're going to.

[00:52:57] And if you're there, love to see at our booth.

[00:53:00] We do have some, you know, knickknacks for you.

[00:53:03] If you mentioned this when you stopped by the booth,

[00:53:04] so definitely do that.

[00:53:05] If you stopped by, you should also make a point of stopping

[00:53:10] by Stephen Hines booth.

[00:53:12] He's a wonderful person and a friend of ours.

[00:53:16] The we met him at the last Kentucky Free Thought Convention

[00:53:19] and he happens to live, you know, God put him in our path.

[00:53:23] He lives like a half hour from us.

[00:53:26] So he's just a great guy.

[00:53:28] He'll have a booth.

[00:53:29] We're just for the record, wife was kidding.

[00:53:31] Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:32] No, God didn't put him in our path.

[00:53:34] Right. Yeah. Geez.

[00:53:35] No, but he and his wife are fabulous.

[00:53:37] She won't be there this time.

[00:53:38] But Stephen will stop by and see him as well as us.

[00:53:41] Yeah, definitely.

[00:53:42] And buy a book from him and he's an illustrator or no.

[00:53:46] I'm sorry, he's not illustrator.

[00:53:47] He's a writer. Yeah.

[00:53:49] I was thinking of this fantastic comic.

[00:53:51] If you can't make it, join our discord.

[00:53:53] The link's always in the show notes.

[00:53:54] Yes. So go down there, click on that link, join us on discord

[00:53:57] and you can be right there with us at the Kentucky Free Thought Convention.

[00:54:00] Fuck yeah.

[00:54:01] Yeah. That's how wife's going to be there.

[00:54:02] Yeah. Not even though she's not there.

[00:54:04] I know. Stop saying that.

[00:54:06] It's like you want me to cry.

[00:54:08] All right, we're going to get out of here, guys.

[00:54:10] I've got a lot to do before I get on the road to the convention.

[00:54:14] So have a good day and I hope to see you there. Bye.

[00:54:17] Bye.

[00:54:35] For Tiefenreinewäsche.

[00:54:36] Einfach die Diske in die Trommelwerfen.

[00:54:39] Und der Rest, das macht deine Waschmaschine, weil du immer dein Bestes gibst.

[00:54:43] Probier jetzt die besten Disks von Perzille.

[00:54:46] Außer Reichweite von Kindern aufbewahren.