Latest / Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries / Episode 76. Progress must "pro-gress"(ft. Sujit Varma)
Transcript
- 0:00Why do we love to complain?
- 0:06Okay, that's a really loaded question.
- 0:09It can go several ways.
- 0:10So now I wanna say that I'm probably not, uh, high on the complaining side and I'm probably, you know, putting myself in a pedestal.
- 0:19But yeah, I think we like to complain because.
- 0:23You know, we can never be satisfied.
- 0:25I think human beings are always, there's this desire to be creative and innovative.
- 0:30So that's a good thing.
- 0:32So no matter how successful the government is or society is, we always want something more.
- 0:38And how do you get that?
- 0:40You always complain.
- 0:41So, you know, like say, let's use example of the internet, you know, now we have 5G or six GI, I still hear, I have my kids complain and say, how come you're so slow?
- 0:50I mean, come on.
- 0:51I mean, 10 years ago I had to do the a OL dial up and they don't remember all that stuff.
- 0:56They don't even know the sound effect, do they?
- 0:58Oh yeah.
- 0:58They don't remember that.
- 1:00And I can imagine, like my parents, uh, you know, they did a lot of stuff that I probably never did.
- 1:05Like, you know, they knew how to do woodworking or fix a car.
- 1:10Now we are complaining when we go to the car dealership and say, oh, this guy's taking so much time.
- 1:15Why is he charging so much money?
- 1:16So I think it's just a.
- 1:18It's just part of our thing.
- 1:19No matter how much we achieve, the target keeps moving and I think that's a positive thing.
- 1:25It's a sign of evolution.
- 1:26We want to progress.
- 1:27And you know that saying no progress must progress.
- 1:31So I guess complaining could be a good thing too.
- 1:35I was recently in a coffee shop waiting for a friend and brother to arrive.
- 1:39I.
- 1:41Everywhere around me, every conversation was so negative, it was just loud and not a single person in that moment seemed to be sharing something they were happy about, that something good had happened.
- 1:58We'll get to that in greater detail in a little bit.
- 2:01Our guest today was born in India.
- 2:04Grew up in Kuwait where he lived until having finished high school.
- 2:09He then returned to India for higher education and went to medical school there after medical school relocated to Vancouver where he did a fellowship in psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, which was followed up with a psychiatry residency at the University of Texas in Houston.
- 2:28After Texas.
- 2:29It was a relocation from the Lone Star state to the North Star State.
- 2:34He lived in Hibbing for three years and then moved south to the Twin Cities where he has lived for 16 years.
- 2:40He is also a pass master of Lake Harriet Lodge, number 2, 7 7 in Minneapolis.
- 2:45Welcome, Sujit Varma.
- 2:47Welcome, Reid.
- 2:47Thanks for having me.
- 2:49You own a private practice clinic called Sci-fi TMS in Edina, and you practice as a psychiatrist?
- 2:56Yeah.
- 2:56Tell us more.
- 2:57Yeah, and I'm glad you pronounce it right.
- 2:58So it's spelled P-S-Y-F-I.
- 3:01And it sounds like sci-fi, almost like science fiction, but we are trying to not make a pun on that.
- 3:07It's psych psychiatric fidelity.
- 3:11Acronym, but we do do science fiction, uh, fact not fiction.
- 3:16So, uh, if you wanna know what the practice, yes, it's like a regular clinic.
- 3:20Um, we see people with, uh, behavior problems, mental health issues.
- 3:24We prescribe, we prescribe medications, we offer therapy.
- 3:29We also offer something called TMS.
- 3:30It's in the title Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, not the Metal Society or Toyota Motor Services.
- 3:38Uh, it's a newer technique to treat, uh, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, smoking cessation, anxiety, migraines among other things.
- 3:49And we also offer other treatments like ketamine for, again, treatment resistant depression among other options.
- 3:58What are some of the best or worst areas that you focus on that you, that you have to by virtue of someone's condition or when they come in for treatment and for help?
- 4:10Well, the best would be what I would let, definitely wanna see all the time, but they're so healthy, I can only see them once year.
- 4:16So that would be somebody with a mild case of anxiety.
- 4:19And anxiety is the commonest, uh, medical condition after I think.
- 4:25Osis, which is bad breath or gingivitis.
- 4:28Uh, so those patients probably just need to have seen once year they do some kind of therapy.
- 4:33Yoga, tai Chi, they're on a low dose of medication.
- 4:35Those are the best cases.
- 4:37Worst cases, we talk about the classic psychiatric diagnosis like schizophrenia, which is a chronic, debilitating mental illness or bipolar, can also be pretty crippling.
- 4:49Some of them are on social security disability, but the worst kind of patient, and I'm not trying to judge anybody, is somebody with some kinds of disorder because.
- 4:57Remember your question about complaining.
- 4:59I mean, these are patients that no matter what I might try to do for them, they're always complaining about my service or the cost of the medications, or why are they doing the therapy?
- 5:10Sometimes the complaining, the procrastinating or reveling in maybe making a competition out of that perceived Yeah, definitely.
- 5:20I mean, I'm always up for a challenge.
- 5:22I never.
- 5:23Try to get rid of a patient just because they are, pardon my use of this word, but a pain in the neck.
- 5:30I mean, they are seeing me because they have challenging problems and I'm probably the last person who can help them.
- 5:37I, in fact, I'm probably the best friend.
- 5:40Most of these people are divorced or have very low social support.
- 5:43They're lonely.
- 5:45They're in a group home.
- 5:46So, uh, they can complain to me, but I don't take it personal.
- 5:49And I try my best to.
- 5:52Offer them something that, uh, you know, is suitable to the condition with my means.
- 5:58Of course.
- 6:02How much have you seen anxiety increase as something you're addressing in the last few years?
- 6:07Is it really, is that on the rise?
- 6:09Is that the top?
- 6:10Yeah, like I said, anxiety is probably the commonest psychological condition.
- 6:14It's not necessarily that they would come to somebody like me, a professional.
- 6:18Most people will treat anxiety with their own versions like.
- 6:22You can go to a bar, have a few drinks.
- 6:24You can, in Minnesota, it's legal to smoke cannabis and you know, go to a gummy store.
- 6:30So there's a lot of non-healthy ways to deal with anxiety, and only even it starts getting worse and worse.
- 6:35Do they come to me?
- 6:36But what I've seen, if you want to.
- 6:39Have an academic answer.
- 6:41Since COVID, there's been an increase in two conditions.
- 6:45One is attention disorder or what we call A DHD.
- 6:49There's been an increased awareness of that, and I have a whole theory about that.
- 6:52And even an increased awareness of autism is that again, because of we are just being more sensitive to it and we are better ways of diagnosing it, or is it false representation through things like social media?
- 7:07Which can be informative, but also can give you false information.
- 7:12What do you attribute the attention deficit to?
- 7:15Is it one thing?
- 7:16Is it several factors playing into that?
- 7:18Yeah.
- 7:19Good question.
- 7:20So there's a whole, uh.
- 7:22You know, multiple factors that can affect that.
- 7:24Now, if you are working on a farm or you live in a rural place where there's less stimulation from social media, wifi, stuff like that, listening to a podcast like this, you probably, I.
- 7:37May not have a DHD if you have it, because you are just busy milking a cow and doing physical stuff.
- 7:43Nothing wrong with that.
- 7:44But now the pressure of high school in urban areas, getting to college, getting low, I mean, it's just the pressure is so high on young people these days that A DHD will start becoming more and noticeable and you are pressured to perform.
- 8:00At a higher level than what you need to.
- 8:02It's just times they are changing, as Bob Dylan would've said.
- 8:05The other thing also is, again, there's so many distractions out there.
- 8:08Like now we have Netflix and YouTube and Hulu.
- 8:13Even.
- 8:13I have difficulty keep you up with all that.
- 8:15I got so many shows I gotta watch.
- 8:17The other thing also is post COVID, we became a little bit more sedentary, so guess what we did?
- 8:22We did a lot of Zoom meetings.
- 8:24Now that also could increase A DHD.
- 8:26You're just sitting in front of a camera.
- 8:29You know, eight hours a day versus, you know, you're, you're driving to work, you are going out.
- 8:34So there is that thing where you are more sedentary.
- 8:37You could become more A DHD just by virtue of your lifestyle choices.
- 8:42Also, awareness of A DHD, again, through social media.
- 8:46Uh, but there is also a false thing, like TikTok sometimes just promotes a DHD, like, it's like having anxiety, but it's not, oh, so.
- 8:55Oh, they, they do.
- 8:56They, uh, I haven't watched some of these videos, but I've been told through some of my colleagues that they are promoting things like, just take a pill for A DHD.
- 9:05And the problem with it is those pills are highly regulated.
- 9:08They're called stimulants.
- 9:09Examples include Adderall or Ritalin, and some of them are converted into drugs like meth or ice.
- 9:16So there is a correlation between a controlled substance that is meant for A DHD and a drug that can be abused.
- 9:24Just to get euphoric or high.
- 9:29How often do you encounter a client?
- 9:31A patient who makes the realization that I have a cocktail or two, this is basically like ingesting a carcinogen.
- 9:41Well, it is a carcinogen.
- 9:42It's going to have the opposite effect initially.
- 9:45It feels good.
- 9:47Yeah.
- 9:47Feels maybe even out a little bit.
- 9:49Sure.
- 9:49But, but long that, that's not a great avenue.
- 9:53Oh yeah.
- 9:54And I get many, use the word carcinogen.
- 9:55You probably meant something that causes cancer.
- 9:57Uh, maybe you meant more like narcotic or something like that, that has an abuse potential.
- 10:02So yeah, I have patients that, um, I.
- 10:05I would say maybe once or twice a month at least.
- 10:07I have some random patient who says, oh, I'm here to see you for anxiety.
- 10:12And I said, okay, sure.
- 10:13Let's talk about that and I'm gonna give you this medication for anxiety.
- 10:15He said, oh, by the other, by the way, my, I spoke to my neighbor the other day and he gave me this drug called, and I knew what he is gonna say called Adderall, and it just took care of anxiety.
- 10:26And I thought, okay, you know what?
- 10:28That doesn't help anxiety.
- 10:29That just made you feel a little euphoric.
- 10:32And maybe you have a DHD, but now we talk about a different thing.
- 10:35So I do have people like that.
- 10:37They just do their own thing.
- 10:38They go on Doc to Google, uh, TikTok, Reddit.
- 10:42And so that's a problem.
- 10:43I am competing with all those other, uh, false prophets, if you wanna call it on social media.
- 10:49And it's very hard because people sometimes believe them rather than somebody with a degree.
- 10:53So that is there.
- 10:56The self-diagnosis on WebMD and otherwise is a real thing, but an obvious challenge.
- 11:01Reddit and Dr.
- 11:02Google.
- 11:02Yeah.
- 11:03Yeah.
- 11:03Those things that, uh, you mentioned COVID briefly, and it's come up frequently about our society's battle with loneliness.
- 11:14I think it was in 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services put out a statement.
- 11:20About society's current condition.
- 11:22That said, we're in a public health crisis of loneliness, of lack of connection and isolation.
- 11:31There's a friendship recession these days.
- 11:34Mm-hmm.
- 11:35Wall Street Journal put out last year.
- 11:39A report and a statement.
- 11:41One in five men in the US who are not married or in a relationship said they did not have any close friends at all.
- 11:51None.
- 11:51That's sad.
- 11:52Yeah.
- 11:53Did you, did you join a fraternity like ours in, That is actually something on my list of for us to talk about today is I've, in my travels, have shared.
- 12:03Replica.
- 12:05It's an app.
- 12:05It's spelled R-E-P-L-I-K-A.
- 12:09Okay.
- 12:09It's labeled as the AI Companion.
- 12:12The AI Companion.
- 12:13Who cares?
- 12:14Always here to listen and talk, always on your side.
- 12:18Now, this app known as Replica, it's used basically as a virtual friend or a sibling, and in my travels, when I ask, guess how many users are on Replica it, it's something like 25 million.
- 12:32Oh.
- 12:33People wanting to be heard.
- 12:35Basically just wanting someone to talk to.
- 12:40And when we, and when we think about that, the takeaway, countless men, people in the world recognize what we do as Freemasons they are approaching lodges with interest in possibly learning.
- 12:52They want to be around others of integrity.
- 12:55Values.
- 12:56True.
- 12:56A commitment to community engagement.
- 12:59The tenets of our profession, as we say in Freemasonry or the, the foundation of our values, our core values are being sought out now more than ever in this isolated world.
- 13:11Yeah, I think this is a great time to be a Freemason.
- 13:15In fact, uh, I think that, uh, it wasn't for Freemasonry when I would be like that.
- 13:19Looking for replica ai or does that surprise you?
- 13:2425 million people that use this virtual.
- 13:28Friends.
- 13:28Yeah.
- 13:28And I mean, I'm surprised, but I'm also not surprised.
- 13:31I just think that's the way society's going.
- 13:33I mean, we are reaching this phase where even me, what I do, I, I've heard of AI therapy, so I'm not a therapist, I'm a prescriber, I'm a md, but I have colleagues that do just talk therapy and there is a possibility that in the future their job would be obsolete.
- 13:51You could have an, you know, like a.
- 13:55Like an AI generated image that looks like a real person doing therapy and being so, you know, it's, you could have somebody trained.
- 14:03I know they say that, but you need a human being for the real empathy and the warmth.
- 14:10But oh my gosh.
- 14:11I mean, the way technology's going, there's a lot of things that, uh, it's kinda like, uh, you remember, I mean, I'm dating myself.
- 14:17There was a time when there were three people in the cockpit.
- 14:21Off the plane, there was the pilot, the copilot, and the flight engineer.
- 14:26And now we don't have the flight engineer.
- 14:27I mean, is anybody complaining about it?
- 14:30It's like that.
- 14:30I mean, does anybody even notice?
- 14:32Yeah.
- 14:32Didn't even notice.
- 14:33Yeah.
- 14:33Yeah.
- 14:34And even in medicine, there's a lot of things that, uh, have gone away.
- 14:37A lot of people don't know is that, and I know they see, oh, I, I would like to see somebody of flesh in blood, but guess what's happening now?
- 14:44My patients are not always seeing me in person.
- 14:46They're seeing me through telehealth.
- 14:49It could be all the way in International Falls, three and a half hours away from Edina, but they're seeing me now.
- 14:54There is an advantage to that They are getting, if you want to call a high quality care from the Twin Cities in the in International Falls, I could even send them a prescription to a local Walgreens Inn.
- 15:07They're not, they're not wasting any time driving down, coming back.
- 15:11There's no anxiety there.
- 15:12They can get good quality care where they are.
- 15:15And gone are the days where the doctor got on his horse or buggy and drove to somebody's house, did something, and then the, the lady at the house would make a pie and say, here's your copay.
- 15:26You know?
- 15:26Right.
- 15:27No interest is back.
- 15:28So, uh, that is, you know, it was so nice back then, like Little House on the Prairie or whatever.
- 15:33But now we are reaching this phase where we are slowly isolating.
- 15:37We are in these jobs where, uh, you know, we can just sit in our, the basement of a house and I.
- 15:44Even be the CEO of a company for all I know.
- 15:46And, that's where Masonry would be a great thing.
- 15:49I, I, I think apart from my marriage and my kids, masonry is the best thing that I've ever done in my life.
- 15:54And every time I walk into lodge, even I haven't seen a brother for several years, he come and say, Hey, Suge, how is it?
- 16:02And I feel so, and when I come back home, nobody wants to gimme a hug and, you know, embrace me as much at these brothers.
- 16:08So it's very exciting.
- 16:09And in lodge also people.
- 16:12Stretch the head.
- 16:13So maybe masonry is the solution, at least for the brothers who are listening to this.
- 16:19When we are in the relationship business, we are a face-to-face organization.
- 16:24If, if technology takes over completely in the fraternal setting, that will not be good.
- 16:30Yeah.
- 16:31I know there's a fine line between amassing.
- 16:36Books and information through AI to leverage that technology for medical treatment or psychological treatment for a number of different things.
- 16:46Yeah, but that must be a fine line between technology versus speaking to the machine when you, when you're doing a telehealth.
- 16:55Appointment with someone in International Falls, it's still you, it's still Dr.
- 17:00Jit.
- 17:00It's not just speaking to an algorithm that's Oh yeah, de definitely like a bot.
- 17:05Definitely.
- 17:05Yeah.
- 17:05Yeah.
- 17:06Wait, is that where this might be going someday?
- 17:09Yeah.
- 17:09So it's kinda like, uh, a game of chess.
- 17:11Now I heard there's something called Deep thought or something, or, uh.
- 17:15Watson, there was a thing where, you know, in jeopardy he could answer every single question, and then there was a thing that, so now what if you have all the medical algorithms inputted into this AI and somebody says, Hey, doctor ai, I have this headache and I got this.
- 17:33And then the algorithm just runs through, oh, you've got this kind of migraine just based on your symptoms.
- 17:38I'm not saying that I'm, uh, I'm for it or against it, but it is coming in the next five, 10 years, it'll be more common.
- 17:45In fact, even in my profession now, there is an AI where you just look at the screen and the AI will tell you, tell the, so the AI can be used to help the physician.
- 17:57It'll tell you what kind of neurological prompt that is just by looking at the patient's face.
- 18:02For example, there's a condition in psychiatry called TD Tardive Dyskinesia, which is a abnormal movement of the lips and the eyes, and usually we as human beings, we might overlook it while we are doing the interview, but an a computer or an AI would look at that person's face while you're doing the interview and say, Hey, he blinked only 12 times a minute, and that.
- 18:24Means that you might want to look at whether he has that condition.
- 18:27Tardive dyskinesia.
- 18:28So it's, uh, so AI can assist us just like how we have x-rays and MRIs to help the physician or, so I don't wanna say that AI should be, you know, banned or something.
- 18:39I think it'll, it'll help, but unfortunately we don't keep up with it.
- 18:43It is something that's very hard to, you know, to overcome.
- 18:47Kind of like.
- 18:48There are certain jobs that are not there around anymore, like a hood.
- 18:51There are no meter MAs.
- 18:53Have you heard that term?
- 18:54I, I can date myself.
- 18:55Yeah.
- 18:55Okay, I remember that.
- 18:56Yes.
- 18:57Yeah, because it's all, you just go there, you pay your credit card, stuff like that.
- 19:01There are a few jobs.
- 19:02You don't see the milkman coming to your house and delivering milk.
- 19:05I mean, do people miss that guy?
- 19:07I mean, unless you live in a rural place.
- 19:09So it is something that we have to live with.
- 19:11Uh, but then they's still masonry 300 years plus.
- 19:18recently, a friend of ours picked up their daughter at college.
- 19:22The year ended, and our friends shared that they were in the dorm and they couldn't believe how quiet all the doors were closed every room, each resident in this dorm?
- 19:37Mm-hmm.
- 19:37Or.
- 19:38Very different than when you and I were in college in that common area.
- 19:42Outside of the dorm rooms is where everyone congregated and talked.
- 19:46Probably wasted a lot of time.
- 19:47Should have been studying, doing, yeah, more productive and constructive things.
- 19:52But even in the college experience, our friends were just.
- 19:55Shocked at how they assumed that the whole floor had vacated.
- 19:59Yeah.
- 19:59And everyone was still there.
- 20:01Yeah.
- 20:01But nobody was out socializing.
- 20:03Mm-hmm.
- 20:04We're so even in that, I don't know if that's post COVID, if that's just the way of the world.
- 20:08Now we are on our device all the time.
- 20:12When you, when I, we were watching the NBA playoffs and they go to commercial.
- 20:17Everyone is on their phone.
- 20:19Like, why are you even at a game?
- 20:22It's true spending an exorbitant amount of money to be there when everyone's staring at their phone.
- 20:26Yeah, no, that's a good observation.
- 20:30I remember like 10, 15 years ago, I, uh, I actually once caught a Greyhound bus seven in Texas and it was like for four hours.
- 20:37And I remember talking to the guy who was with me, he was like a veteran.
- 20:41He was, uh.
- 20:43I think he was in the Gulf War and I, I, I remember that conversation so well.
- 20:47But nowadays, like when you're in a plane, do you talk to the guy next to you?
- 20:50You're probably watching, uh, you know, something on the back of the chair in front of you.
- 20:56You got your wifi again.
- 20:58Uh, I think we just have a shorter attention span.
- 21:02Again, that's about a DHD.
- 21:03We are, uh, human beings are just changing the way we are, you know, push button, get what I want.
- 21:10Yeah.
- 21:10And we want quick immediate gratification now.
- 21:17I recently heard an influencer author type talk about impatience, speaking of, and he shared that yes, a lot of people these days are really, really impatient, and he himself admitted, he's impatient.
- 21:31He doesn't want to preach about it, but it's, it's become worse.
- 21:34Because we're so used to the power of our phones, our computers, we think everything, we're expecting everything to happen quickly and instantly.
- 21:43You mentioned this earlier, if we have to wait five seconds to get a piece of information on the internet, oh my god, it's taking so long.
- 21:49Yeah.
- 21:50But he made the point 20, 30 years ago you would've had to go to the library.
- 21:55Mm-hmm.
- 21:55Would've taken an hour to do something like that.
- 21:57So you, you learned how to develop patients to find things.
- 22:04People are so impatient because it's all so quick and easy and powerful.
- 22:09Now he made the point.
- 22:12You want to be able to slow things down though.
- 22:15You want to have the ability to say, if this is gonna take me an hour to learn, if I have to spend time practicing studying, if it's tedious that I'm okay with that.
- 22:28He talked about embracing that pain that's involved.
- 22:31It's funny that delaying his pain, but learning anything, developing any type of skill involves the pain, I suppose, of patients.
- 22:41You have kids in school?
- 22:42Yeah.
- 22:43How do they, is it, how do you manage that with, with that instance?
- 22:48I don't wanna wait for this.
- 22:49I want it now.
- 22:51Oh.
- 22:51And I can just again, look back up on your own childhood.
- 22:54I'm sure my parents, at that time, television was just becoming a big thing and they would say, oh.
- 22:58I think television is gonna rot his mind.
- 23:00And then now we have, YouTube is gonna rot your mind.
- 23:03Or TikTok, and I'm just making a joke here, but imagine like 500 years ago when Gutenberg invented the book or printing press, I'm sure there was some parent then who told, he said, oh my God, books are gonna rot your mind because you spent too much time.
- 23:17Yeah.
- 23:17Spending time reading.
- 23:19So it depends on what you mean.
- 23:20Now again, I'm not against technology.
- 23:22There is good and bad.
- 23:24We are becoming more efficient, like you said about the library incident.
- 23:27Like I remember you'd have to go to, I remember once looking up, I was trying to research, for some reason I was interested in John f Kennedy's assassination, and this is like 15 years ago when I was in Vancouver.
- 23:38I went to the library and I looked up something that we don't even see these days.
- 23:42It was like a newspaper archive that was on like a microfiche.
- 23:45Microfiche, yeah.
- 23:46Yeah.
- 23:46And I had to see them.
- 23:47I saw them, I thought, wow.
- 23:49I think it was a Dallas Tribune or something, and he said, November 23rd and all, and I thought, boy, if I had the original copy of this newspaper, that would be a great thing to have.
- 23:58But now guess what?
- 23:59You just go on Google, go to Wikipedia.
- 24:01You can see a picture, you can read about it.
- 24:04It's like at your fingertips and you don't, I don't know, I don't get the satisfaction that I got by me going to the library and doing it, but that's me.
- 24:11Now, my kids probably won't know that because they were not raised that way.
- 24:15They're just raised in the.
- 24:17Internet generation, and they just think like, even if I ask my son something, Hey, what do you think about this?
- 24:22He's always fact checking me.
- 24:24Like he say, Hey, no kidding.
- 24:25That's not what you said, dad.
- 24:26It's according to this.
- 24:27I thought, oh, great.
- 24:28I would not fact check my own parents, but he's fact checking me, so he's putting me on a spot.
- 24:33So, and again, you, you can't believe what's in the internet, but people are fact checking and is it a good thing where there is that efficiency level?
- 24:43Uh.
- 24:44But again, it, you are losing some social skills.
- 24:48Like I said, back in the day, the doctor, his bedside manner would've been impeccable.
- 24:53I mean, he's going in his buggy horse cartt to the la to the house of the patient, well dressed, you know, he's spending time with the patient.
- 25:03Uh, and now we just do it through telehealth where I could be wearing shorts underneath, uh, my right.
- 25:09But the only thing, the top half of my body, and, you know.
- 25:12Uh, so anyway, I'm just saying I don't think it's something that's going to, we can do anything about it.
- 25:18We can really do something about ourselves, be the change that you can be.
- 25:22If I feel there's a lack of social interaction in my life, uh, through work, I go to the lodge and I get all that back.
- 25:29You know?
- 25:29I mean, it's all about balance though.
- 25:33Yeah.
- 25:33We often talk about the Masonic experience as being a uniquely analog experience, and yes, we use technology.
- 25:41Websites, socials, we're using all of the, leveraging that to the best of our ability, but there really is remains to be something to be said about putting our devices away.
- 25:51Sure.
- 25:51And reconnecting as friends and as brothers, and it really is being sought out by a younger generation.
- 25:58I continually have conversations with young men that are interested in finding a strong bond of authentic friendship.
- 26:09They want community engagement.
- 26:11They want to grow and evolve, become a better version of themselves, and as much as they spend time in front of Netflix using the, using AI chat, GPT.
- 26:24Mm-hmm.
- 26:25None of that is replacing that authenticity Oh sure.
- 26:28Of the human to human connection.
- 26:33How big of a challenge in your line of work is procrastination?
- 26:37You see that a lot?
- 26:40Yeah, like, uh, procrastination is, uh, a big deal.
- 26:43Uh, you tell somebody to do something that's for their own health, like something simple like go to the gym, eat right.
- 26:49Uh, and there are a lot of theories, like the mind gut theory, stuff like that.
- 26:53That's all positive.
- 26:54I.
- 26:55And, uh, drink less coffee or something for less.
- 26:58And you can tell them that only so many times.
- 27:00And then you talk to them again after a month and they say, oh, I'm here for my meds.
- 27:03And they say, oh, did you do so and so?
- 27:04Oh yeah, it's on my list.
- 27:06And it's like, I just think, you know, I'm telling this guy how to, uh, or this lady, a person, how to improve their life.
- 27:14But they're getting good advice, in my opinion, from me.
- 27:17But they're not really listening to me.
- 27:18They just want that pharmaceutical thing, which again, is that immediate gratification.
- 27:23So it's almost like even though I'm giving them advice, I'm having job security because these people could be easily cured of their condition if they followed me.
- 27:32Advice, just like the dentist telling you to brush your teeth and floss to avoid cavities, and you kind of do it half far, half-heartedly, and then.
- 27:40He's got a job there because you know, you didn't floss that well, you didn't brush your teeth.
- 27:44So procrastination again, uh, is it because there's too much going on, like the, you don't have enough hours in the day?
- 27:50There's just so much stuff.
- 27:51Even I personally, I like to spend some time in the gym, but then when I come back I gotta catch up on, I.
- 27:57Last of us on max or something.
- 27:59I got this list of things that I, long list.
- 28:00Yeah, long list.
- 28:01And I gotta spend some time with my family.
- 28:03I mean, I make sure that I don't miss that out.
- 28:05And then there's the Masonic thing.
- 28:06Suddenly somebody will say, Hey, do you wanna do the third chamber lecture at an just something?
- 28:12Uh oh.
- 28:13Where do you do them?
- 28:13There's a practice on a weekend or something.
- 28:15You have to balance all that.
- 28:17And I try my best to put masonry there somewhere.
- 28:21But remember there's the cable toe.
- 28:23And it's all there.
- 28:25It's just that, uh, how would you define a cable toe for a listener who is a non mason?
- 28:30Okay, so the cable toe, again, in my opinion, it's, it's a very philosophical term.
- 28:35It's basically this thing that's wound around you when you go through your degrees and it says that it, there's a pull from it.
- 28:42The pool indicates the, your responsibilities and I'm, you can correct me if wrong, like to your family, to your country, to your job, stuff like that.
- 28:50So they say that Masonry should not ever replace that.
- 28:55Now seeing that the minute you become a Mason, the next thing you know, hey, do you want to join the shrine?
- 28:59Do you wanna join the York Rite Scottish Rite?
- 29:01You are inundated with so many things, and if you don't say that secret word no, then you just, the thing is, once you start doing it and you start, you show that you're really good at the de the floor work, and you'll be called more often and you keep seeing this usual suspect.
- 29:16The same guy is always doing this.
- 29:19Uh, so there is a cable toe, but again, I.
- 29:23Are we really respecting the cable toe?
- 29:24Because I feel sometimes that, boy, I mean, people are like pulling me in this way and that way and, uh, I'm still married and all that, but, you know, I wouldn't sacrifice my social life for the sake of masonry.
- 29:36But I feel there are some Bren who might have overstepped their thing and not, uh, well, they're out of, out of balance, out of the Yeah.
- 29:43It's a, and it's a fine line.
- 29:45You don't wanna say no all of the time, but how to achieve that balance between priorities of family.
- 29:52Career for other hobbies.
- 29:55Yeah, yeah.
- 29:55And still staying active within the Masonic experience.
- 30:00So what you said is also interesting.
- 30:01So there is a term that one of my associates, his name is Mike Miller from Lake Heritage Lodge.
- 30:05He told me that, does Masonry compliment you or does it define you?
- 30:13so you could look at it like, is masonry just something you also do or is it a lot of what you do and.
- 30:20I see some brothers who are like super involved.
- 30:22Maybe they just have more time or they're retired.
- 30:24But, uh, I mean, I think it to, to each zone, I just feel that masonry should be there.
- 30:32But it shouldn't be like an obsession or something if, you know, I don't want you people to lose.
- 30:36They are focused on what they're here for.
- 30:40You know, you're here if you have a family and a job and all that, you know, still focus on that.
- 30:44That's an interesting take.
- 30:49We often talk about other topics within the lodge setting that would be meaningful and impactful to our members.
- 30:58I alluded to this earlier, that prospects that come to us seeking more information really want to find a level of authentic friendship mentoring, whether they're the mentor or the mentee, I.
- 31:13The community engagement front of how do I, we get asked this all the time.
- 31:16How can I give back to the greater good?
- 31:21As a result of that, the conversations continue to happen across the state with lodges.
- 31:26What else are we offering as far as Masonic education, and sometimes I've called it non-MS education, which some brothers have corrected me in saying, well, it's all, it's all Masonic education.
- 31:38When we look at things though that are off topic a bit.
- 31:42Financial planning, leadership skills, mental health, talking about addiction, PTSD, effective communication.
- 31:54There's a big difference between saying the words, saying the word brotherhood and have it be an abstract concept versus a.
- 32:04Brotherhood of knowing what's going on in each other's lives.
- 32:08When it's time to celebrate.
- 32:09Yes, we celebrate good things, graduations, kids born, grandkids born.
- 32:16But on the other side of that, when life happens, people are struggling having mental health crisis or addiction loss, and I'm, I'm reaching an age where I recently at the store, I bought the six pack of sympathy cards.
- 32:32Man, it, it's just.
- 32:34No one prepares us for that.
- 32:36No.
- 32:38There's a big difference in the lodge between saying all of the words, or living them.
- 32:47Mm-hmm.
- 32:48In a very meaningful friend to friend and brother to brother context.
- 32:52And that's something that Ai.
- 32:55Or sitting in front of a screen or sitting isolated in one's home or apartment, just there's no comparison.
- 33:01Oh yeah, you're right.
- 33:02And, uh, what you said is very enlightening.
- 33:05So when I joined Masonry about 12 years ago, I would hear about somebody mentioning that Mr.
- 33:10So and So Brother So-and-So passed to the Celestial Lodge about, and we all stood up and had a moment of silence.
- 33:16And I didn't know who that person was because I was new to Masonry.
- 33:20But now, for the last few years.
- 33:23I've known those people.
- 33:24Like I was with a brother who, you know, he was in his late eighties or early nineties and they passed away.
- 33:31And now I'm sensing that sense of mortality that I've known these people, they've passed away and they're almost like a family.
- 33:38So when you say about those six pack sympathy cards, uh, I'm also of that age where I know these people and I'm just thinking.
- 33:46Boy, I miss that brother.
- 33:47And when you say ai, yeah, I mean there are some things that AI can never, like the, the handshake, the pat on the back, you know, just that feeling of comradery.
- 34:00You can't just get that through ai.
- 34:05AI is currently doing a lot for us in our daily lives.
- 34:09It will continue to do that, but the one thing that AI will never do is replace the human to human connection.
- 34:18Definitely.
- 34:18I.
- 34:23Anyone who listens to our podcast knows that we like to pose a couple random questions in an effort to get to know you better.
- 34:30You're laughing already, Sujit.
- 34:34What is the dumbest feature of the human body?
- 34:37I.
- 34:39I think it's the nose because me personally, I would, I told my wife that, um, I don't think I can smell that well.
- 34:45She would say, oh, what do you think of that?
- 34:49And there's some perfumers.
- 34:50And I said, no, I think I've got a, I don't think I can smell it.
- 34:53So I told her, should I apply for one of those handicap uh, stickers?
- 34:56And she said, what do you mean no?
- 34:58I said, I can't smell, so I have a handicap.
- 35:00Right.
- 35:00I mean, why is it only blind people and deaf people that get that thing?
- 35:04I should get that.
- 35:04So I don't know if I'm.
- 35:07Olfactory challenged something, but I'm not a very thing.
- 35:09So I don't know.
- 35:10I think the nose is good for breathing, but I meant besides that, you know, people spend a lot of money trying to get a rhinoplasty, trying to, trying to modify it.
- 35:18Yeah.
- 35:19And I don't know, maybe the grand architect, the universe should have come up with some other way to breathe through the skin or something.
- 35:29What do you think could actually unite most people?
- 35:37Good question.
- 35:37So I was gonna go down the route, uh, route of saying a belief in a higher power.
- 35:43But if you know anything from the 10th degree, usually it's belief in higher power that sometimes is the cause of most of the wars in society.
- 35:52But there is always a, a common thread among all these great religions.
- 35:58And I'm not saying I'm a philosopher who can unite all of'em, but.
- 36:03I think the only way to unite people is to just be more secular and open and not, uh, you know, be culturally sensitive because everyone, like even, you know, I'm from a different part of the world.
- 36:17Originally when I came here, the Masons, the brothers, they were the most.
- 36:22Inviting people I've met, I, I, I tried to join the jcs, the Road Track Club, the LEO Club, and I thought they were all friendly, but, uh, none.
- 36:31I mean, I even joined Mensa.
- 36:32It sound like I'm trying to push, I.
- 36:35Put myself on a pedestal.
- 36:36Again, it's the Higher IQ Society.
- 36:38I went to a MENSA meeting and I saw a bunch of guides and I saw this guy, and I'm not making fun of them.
- 36:43He had very strong body odor, so that's where finally Oh, I see.
- 36:46Well, your nose.
- 36:47Yeah, my nose was working and I just casually looked at him and said, Hey, I.
- 36:50What do you do for a living?
- 36:52Just, you know, to break the ice.
- 36:53And he looked at me and he had a smile and he says, oh, just because I have a high IQ doesn't mean I'm employable.
- 36:58And he started laughing and I thought, oh, so that's actually a negative, a deterrent.
- 37:03The higher your iq, the more you're gonna complain to your boss and you'd probably lose the job.
- 37:07I thought, this is not helping.
- 37:09So, but when I joined Masonry, I met guys from all walks of life from, you know, uh, you know, like a construction guy all the way to a lawyer.
- 37:17And they're all, they're all on the level.
- 37:20So I'm kind of blanket on your question.
- 37:22Oh, how do we unite people?
- 37:23Masonry would be a great one to unite people because we are all on the level, but beyond that, I mean we just have to break down the walls and be culturally sensitive.
- 37:32Again, I don't know how that's gonna happen if we keep isolating and using, again, AI to, we need to probably get together.
- 37:41But again, when you have people talking to each other.
- 37:44There could be again, uh, frustration and people want their own agenda, but the reason is when you mention the word complaint, why somebody complaining, there's probably a reason why he's complaining.
- 37:56If you can understand the reason why he's complaining, then you will also be em empathetic or sensitive to that issue.
- 38:03Usually they have something happened earlier in the day that probably ticked off that person, not he's honestly angry at you, so.
- 38:12But beyond that, no.
- 38:13I'm, I'm not a philosopher or a politician.
- 38:15I have no power.
- 38:16I just wish that people would be more open-minded.
- 38:18That's your your opinion though.
- 38:19Yeah.
- 38:19More open-minded.
- 38:20Learn from each other.
- 38:21Yeah.
- 38:21Yeah.
- 38:21Learn.
- 38:22Don't be so, you know, quick to judge.
- 38:24Like try to figure out like, why did he say that?
- 38:26Why is he thinking that way?
- 38:30Try to understand one another.
- 38:31It's something we don't do very well in our isolated world.
- 38:34Yeah.
- 38:34And on behind the screen, on social media and lash out.
- 38:38You don't agree with me?
- 38:39And I don't agree with you.
- 38:40So we, yeah.
- 38:41Yeah.
- 38:41We just can't be friends.
- 38:41Yeah.
- 38:42Uh, I don't, I don't, then I don't just hit a like or a dislike on social media.
- 38:46Now, here's this thing that I was told by somebody, is that most people, most people in the world are good people.
- 38:54So we don't wanna say that every person we meet is, you know, you gotta be kind of suspicious.
- 38:59People are good.
- 39:00I mean.
- 39:02Just, you know, the cup is always half empty in my opinion.
- 39:05Or maybe three fourth.
- 39:06I mean, I said it the other way around, is three fourth full and one fourth empty.
- 39:13You and I are old enough to remember meeting people that perhaps we knew right away that we're probably not gonna be the best of friends.
- 39:21Yeah.
- 39:21We didn't agree on certain things, but that doesn't mean that we.
- 39:26Shut them out or isolate or just completely avoid that person.
- 39:30But that feels like the vibe of today, that behind that screen, social media, if you and I aren't for and against all the same things, then mm-hmm.
- 39:40No way we're, we're done.
- 39:43Yeah.
- 39:43And I think social media gives you that, uh, you know, it's made, made like a cowardly way of, because you're not telling it to their face.
- 39:52You're just posting it out there.
- 39:54And you know, it's kinda like, maybe it could be somebody who's thousands of miles away, but you're putting like, oh, screw you, or put a thumbs down.
- 40:03And maybe you had some other agenda before it, that's what ticked you off there.
- 40:06But, uh, I, yeah, I, I, I see that all the time.
- 40:09I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram once in a while.
- 40:11I'm not addicted to it, but I see somebody make a comment and sometimes they kind of like hijack my own comment and make it look like I'm saying something stupid and just like a neutral, sarcastic comment that gets misunderstood.
- 40:24And, but that's the way the world is.
- 40:26And I find that difficult because people constantly.
- 40:31Use social media to affirm their beliefs.
- 40:35Yeah.
- 40:35I'm for this, I'm against that.
- 40:39It's platitudes.
- 40:40It's just talking.
- 40:41Yeah.
- 40:41There's a big difference between saying, oh, I align myself with this.
- 40:45Or actually going out and doing constructive, productive work on behalf of someone or someone.
- 40:53Someone in need.
- 40:54Mm-hmm.
- 40:55Anyone can say the words, but who's out and, and I don't, I don't mean for that to sound like to do something radical or disruptive.
- 41:03Mm-hmm.
- 41:04But just seeing an opportunity, seizing an opportunity, and that's what I love about the craft.
- 41:09Okay.
- 41:10Where do we see those opportunities to give back to someone in need?
- 41:13And it doesn't have to be grandiose.
- 41:16Small things are impactful too.
- 41:18Yeah.
- 41:19Coming back to what you just said.
- 41:20You know, some people just have strong opinions and that's the, probably the sa, the easiest way to put it out there because if you go and tell that to somebody in the face, it could end up in a debate, an argument.
- 41:32Maybe even a slugging a fist or they won't want to talk at all.
- 41:36Yeah.
- 41:36Face to face.
- 41:37Face to face.
- 41:38But then you do it over there.
- 41:39You can just block somebody, you can write back and you know, and again, it depends on how much stamina you have.
- 41:44I've had somebody, people, you know, cyber bullying somebody and you just ignore it.
- 41:51Uh, but beyond that, yes, I think Masonry teaches us, uh, to be civil, I would think.
- 41:56And I think that's what's kept us in business all of these years that we are apolitical.
- 42:02Non-sectarian for those who listen to our podcast that are not masons have to have a belief in God and a higher power.
- 42:10He can't be an atheist, but our members are Christians, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu.
- 42:17I always use Benjamin Franklin as an example, was more of a deist.
- 42:21Oh yeah.
- 42:22But we do not argue religion.
- 42:24Mm-hmm.
- 42:24Or politics when we are together.
- 42:26Now, if we could only encourage our members who have a proclivity to do that on social media to stop doing that, that would be very helpful.
- 42:34Yeah.
- 42:35isn't it a great place to go to get to know friends and brothers?
- 42:39Definitely.
- 42:39Yeah.
- 42:39Void of those two divisive topics.
- 42:41Yeah.
- 42:42And coming back to the thing about our brothers, now, of course I believe in freedom of expression as long as it's, uh, not.
- 42:49Detrimental.
- 42:49You're not trying to totally, you know, insult somebody.
- 42:53So I know that sometimes they say, well, when you do that in the social, in cyberspace can say you are also representing masonry, or whatever it is.
- 43:04Uh, we can only tell them so many times, but it is freedom of, you know, it is.
- 43:09Yeah.
- 43:09And people are free to.
- 43:12Say or share whatever they want to.
- 43:14The question comes up though, why would you want to, why would you want to alienate 50% or more of your friends, your family, your colleagues on social media and for what?
- 43:27So you can have that moment of feeling self-righteous.
- 43:30You can get on that hill at that proverbial hill and.
- 43:34Bask in your glory.
- 43:37No, so that's a good question.
- 43:38It's almost rhetorical Now, the reason you and I are asking the question is because we don't think like that, those people, so we don't get our juices, you know, or our adrenaline rush out of that.
- 43:51There are some people who get that, they just are that type of people.
- 43:54No, maybe there's a personality variable and all that it, you know, is it because we're getting older and we're not old, but we're not 30.
- 44:04So somebody said that if you're not controversial, you are.
- 44:08you are irrelevant.
- 44:10So it's kinda like some people take that literally, like if I don't create, if I don't stir the pot, nobody knows who I am.
- 44:16I'm getting this.
- 44:17It's easy to get notoriety than to do something positive and get.
- 44:23You know, an ap, uh, an, you know, applauded or an applause for that.
- 44:26It's easier to be, you know, to be like, I'm not saying I'm not justifying this, but it's easy to be a criminal and get fame, infa be infamous than to be famous and do something good.
- 44:38Mm-hmm.
- 44:38I mean, you can do 10 good things and just do one really bad thing, and it's the bad thing that people remember before and they forget all the.
- 44:47So again, I don't know if some people just like that weird attention thing.
- 44:52Is it a personality thing?
- 44:53Very ego driven.
- 44:54Yeah.
- 44:55Yeah.
- 44:56So many influencers that are 20 million followers that are just keeping up though this aura, they're keeping up.
- 45:02There's, it's all an act.
- 45:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 45:03Until the reality will finally come along and Yeah.
- 45:07Like when you hear about those viral videos, usually what are they, something that's beyond human experience or some, it's not something nice.
- 45:15It's not like.
- 45:16You know, something that we, oh, there was a beautiful sunrise.
- 45:20Why would we wanna watch a viral video of the sunrise?
- 45:22Yeah.
- 45:23You know, I'll date myself with a song lyric.
- 45:28A mentor reminded me, I can't remember who it was.
- 45:31This was it, Billy Joel.
- 45:33I had my pointless point of view, Uhhuh.
- 45:35But life went on no matter who was wrong or who was right.
- 45:39Oh, And he didn't stop the fire.
- 45:43You remember that one?
- 45:44That was a couple years after that one.
- 45:46Yeah.
- 45:46Yes.
- 45:47I heard he can't sing anymore, right?
- 45:48He, uh, yes, I saw a headline about him.
- 45:51Yeah.
- 45:51He is in poor health.
- 45:52I was shocked to see he's, is he like 76 now?
- 45:55Yeah.
- 45:56I didn't know.
- 45:56He was only that old.
- 45:57I thought he was much older.
- 45:58Did you Oh, classic.
- 46:00Yeah.
- 46:02So what's next for you on the work front?
- 46:04Family front?
- 46:05Do you have big plans, big projects in your near future?
- 46:10Yeah.
- 46:10I'm trying to be humble.
- 46:10My son is graduating high school any minute now.
- 46:13This is the grad season.
- 46:14I think it's tomorrow actually.
- 46:16Yeah.
- 46:17And then he's going to the UMD, university of Minnesota Duluth for engineering.
- 46:21So he's kind of following in my, in my father's footsteps, his grandfather.
- 46:25Uh, and me personally, no.
- 46:27I mean, I'll continue doing what I have to do, trying to, uh, you know, help people with mental health issues in the area.
- 46:36Um, continue my masonic, uh, pathway and do good deeds to others so that, you know, hopefully the world is in a better place when I leave.
- 46:51You have a very unique.
- 46:53Opportunity to be truly giving back to those in need, the people that you care for and provide that guidance is, I'm sure frustrating as it can be time and again, you shared some of their procrastination or some of their delayed, Hey, just, just fix it for me now.
- 47:09But, but big picture, you're doing great work.
- 47:12Oh, thank you.
- 47:13Yeah.
- 47:16Sji.
- 47:16Varma, thank you for being with us in studio today.
- 47:19Great pleasure, Reed.
- 47:21Call me again if you need me.
- 47:23I will do that.
- 47:23I appreciate you and until next time I.