Latest / Walking with Jaguars / #10 - Riki Bassic - From Fiat to Faith: Bitcoin and the Search for Truth

Transcript

#10 - Riki Bassic - From Fiat to Faith: Bitcoin and the Search for Truth · Walking with Jaguars

0:11
Okay, welcome everyone back to the Walking with
0:14
Jaguars podcast. Back after a bit of a hiatus,
0:17
took a month off to just go to Peru and switch
0:21
out my life a little bit. But we're back today
0:23
with Ricky. And he's a father. He's a hardcore
0:28
Bitcoiner from Queenstown, New Zealand. He's
0:32
out there building the Bitcoin Basin, which is
0:34
a peer -to -peer community, which I'd also love
0:37
to dive into today. Any other hats you like to
0:41
wear? Yeah, I mean, I run a construction company
0:45
or I own my own construction company here. And
0:48
one of my long -term aim is to be a Bitcoin -backed
0:56
business, if you like. So I'm into a development
0:59
at the moment, a small two -townhouse development.
1:02
And the front -end costs of that, like the soft
1:05
costs, you know, is... your architectural fees
1:08
and consultant fees and that are all being funded
1:10
by Bitcoin. And the strategy there is to, you
1:14
know, do property or real estate developments
1:17
with my building company. And then all the profits
1:20
that I make from that will go back into my Bitcoin
1:23
huddle for the longer term. So that's something
1:27
that I'm working on at the moment as well. Yeah,
1:31
unreal. Yeah. I mean, right now, like Bitcoin's
1:34
like down pretty far, you know, The wallets are
1:39
looking a little slim, but when you have income
1:41
in Bitcoin, it's fucking awesome, right? Because
1:43
it's like double pay. Well, that's it. I mean,
1:47
I actually pay a couple of my guys in Bitcoin,
1:51
a portion of that. So I'm really lucky that I've
1:54
got some of the guys on my team understand what
1:58
we're trying to do here as well. So I've not
2:01
earned Bitcoin yet. There's not many people out
2:03
there willing to pay Bitcoin to build a house.
2:06
Who knows? Time will tell. It'll come eventually,
2:11
you know, but it's a long way out. Especially
2:14
at the moment, you know, with the price because
2:17
all the fiat junkies and that, they don't understand
2:20
Bitcoin. So I've been getting, you know, you'll
2:22
probably be the same when. When Bitcoin's pumping,
2:25
you get all these messages from your mates going,
2:27
oh, wow, how good is this? And then when it's
2:29
going down, I had one the other day, a mate goes,
2:31
oh, what's up with Bitcoin? It's crashed, you
2:34
know, as if it's my fault or something. I'm like,
2:37
mate, this thing always does this, always will
2:40
do this. Just, you know, hang in there. Oh, yeah.
2:44
The price doesn't even really change how I feel
2:48
at all anymore. Nah. But I think that's the thing.
2:52
People don't realize, right? Nothing changes
2:54
from the Bitcoin side of things, right? TikTok,
2:57
next block, 21 million. You know, it just, that
3:01
never changes. What changes is obviously the
3:04
volatility and the dollar denominated value.
3:06
And that's what people that don't understand
3:09
Bitcoin, that's all their focus is on. and i
3:13
mean there's big games i think that are being
3:15
played right now with the market too you know
3:18
like just what was it like a year ago two years
3:20
ago you have blackrock do a massive investigation
3:23
into like how you should diversify your assets
3:25
and they like publicly released that 90 of all
3:29
your assets should be in bitcoin you know and
3:32
now they're running the etf and like they want
3:34
to get in and all this so i think there's some
3:36
big games being played like when it comes to
3:38
like the dollar amount Well, I don't even see
3:41
what they do as Bitcoin. You know, it's Bitcoin
3:44
exposure. They're the ones that hold the Bitcoin.
3:48
Anyone that's investing in that, you don't have
3:50
Bitcoin, bro. You need to have that in self -custody.
3:53
There's only one way to have Bitcoin, and that's
3:55
in your own self -custody. That's all there is
3:58
to it. Yeah, not your keys, not your Bitcoin.
4:01
That's right, man. I mean, it's all garbage.
4:03
And, bro, I don't even know, like, sailors buying
4:07
all this Bitcoin, but there's no proof of reserve.
4:10
are they even doing that like you know because
4:13
he's saying he's loading up you know he's buying
4:15
billions of dollars worth of bitcoin yet the
4:17
price goes down i mean i don't really care like
4:21
it is what it is but i just feel like there's
4:24
a whole bunch of garbage around who's buying
4:27
bitcoin who's holding what it just doesn't make
4:30
sense to me yeah i remember having this conversation
4:33
with my buddy like a couple months ago talking
4:35
about sailor Because Saylor's like, you know,
4:38
he came in the space and he like talks relatively
4:41
elegantly about these things. But like the mission
4:44
of Bitcoin is to have everyone like hold their
4:48
keys, you know? And now he's just making like
4:50
a bunch of different like companies that are
4:53
publicly traded so that people can get exposure
4:55
in different ways. And I think he's just kind
4:58
of playing pyramid bullshit games a little bit,
5:00
you know? I mean, he's... He's an expert in that
5:05
field. Or is he? I mean, the perception is that
5:07
he knows that side of finance and whatever you
5:11
like. He's using Bitcoin as that tool. But again,
5:15
bro, if you don't hold Bitcoin in your self custody,
5:18
you don't have Bitcoin. That's the reality, you
5:20
know? And it's not for me. Yeah. And we met at
5:26
Bitcoin Las Vegas. Yeah. Last year. I remember
5:32
just like I'd never gone to any conferences or
5:35
anything like that at all. Like I just everything
5:37
I learned was just like books and podcasts and
5:39
all that kind of stuff. And going out there and
5:42
seeing people react to Sailor coming on stage,
5:46
just like, what the fuck is going on? Mad, eh?
5:53
I mean, it's so crazy. Like I love that conference,
5:56
bro. Like a lot of people, you know, again, because
5:59
I'm the self -custody guy. So it's not, you can
6:02
see why people would be turned off by that. But
6:05
we wanted to go and just experience it. And I'm
6:08
so glad we did because, yeah, they had all the,
6:11
you know, the administration guys there wanking
6:14
on and lots of shit coining and all this sort
6:17
of stuff there. But there were a lot of good
6:19
people there. Obviously, we got to meet you.
6:21
And it was the second day, I think, of the conference
6:24
where I figured out what you're actually supposed
6:26
to do there and those breakout areas. just talking
6:30
to random people. That was the real key to that
6:34
conference was, man, I met some out -of -it people.
6:37
And Americans just don't muck around, right?
6:41
Their whole mindset around – I'm basically a
6:45
farmer from the little country in the bottom
6:47
of the world, like New Zealand, where these guys
6:50
are serious, particularly in the mining space.
6:54
It just blew my mind. I didn't even know that
6:56
mining was – as big as it was right that was
6:59
a massive part of that conference hey yeah i
7:02
remember i was in a booth there with the company
7:05
that i work for and like two booths down was
7:08
was it shell i think it might have been shell
7:10
with their like new uh immersion mining setup
7:16
you know just like a bunch of dudes in suits
7:19
and like no one talking to them i was like holy
7:21
shit there's like big players here What about
7:25
that Chinese one that was there? And it was like
7:27
a whole city like with Bitcoin mining, which
7:31
was then, you know, they were using all the,
7:33
you know, the heat and whatnot to basically power
7:37
up this whole town. It was just like, whoa, mind
7:40
blowing stuff. Yeah, I know there's a company
7:43
called like Mint Green. out in vancouver and
7:47
they do that they have like a massive mining
7:48
operation and they pump all the excess heat into
7:51
like the centralized system of the city to like
7:54
heat homes yeah yeah it's um bro there's so many
7:58
you know we got a lot of we have a lot of hydroelectricity
8:02
here in new zealand right and it's um one of
8:05
the big plants that we've got is uh um west arm
8:09
you won't know it's in the bottom of field and
8:10
so really remote and that was set up to power
8:15
this aluminium smelter that's down in the bottom
8:17
of New Zealand. And, you know, my thought, like
8:21
the thing with hydroelectricity is that, you
8:23
know, where this power station is located is
8:26
miles from anywhere, right? So then they run
8:28
lines all the way down to this aluminium smelter,
8:30
which isn't profitable, by the way. It's just
8:32
an initiative to employ the people down there
8:36
pretty much. It's never made any money. And then
8:39
my thought is, like, imagine if they were...
8:40
bitcoin mining you know because then obviously
8:43
you're you're mining bitcoin at the source which
8:45
then you're creating bitcoin and then you're
8:48
able to send it wherever you know um and that
8:52
could go into your public infrastructure and
8:53
we'd all be you know that this is just my um
8:57
you know dream if you like but it would never
9:00
happen because that's just the system's not set
9:03
up that way is it no not at all i mean i know
9:06
like uh out in el salvador they're like putting
9:10
together bitcoin mining rigs that are like going
9:12
into the volcanoes to use the heat to you know
9:15
do like thermal exchange and run the miners so
9:18
like they're going you know but i just i think
9:21
the west is just not going to adopt this at all
9:23
i was about to say mate it's the west you know
9:26
like that you weren't even so when you spoke
9:30
to now i don't know if she mentioned that we
9:32
went to parliament right so our parliament to
9:35
talk about bitcoin there was a entourage of us
9:38
that went there you know to speak to the government
9:41
like so the national party so we've got a coalition
9:44
government I think same as Australia and there's
9:47
three parties that make up our government if
9:49
you like and they all came to the parliament
9:52
to hear one of the guys talk about Bitcoin and
9:55
there's a whole entourage of us and what really
9:59
shocked me is that nobody in there knew anything
10:02
about Bitcoin and aside Just to add to that,
10:06
we'd just been in Vegas, right? So this was sort
10:08
of April, May, June, I suppose. And what blew
10:13
me away is that, you know, like Trump, you remember
10:15
he was campaigning on Bitcoin, right? You know,
10:18
David Sachs, you know, this whole Bitcoin -friendly
10:21
administration. And these guys that are actually
10:24
in Parliament in New Zealand had no clue about
10:26
Bitcoin, which was strange to me, being that
10:29
you would think that you'd be keeping an ear
10:31
on the ground as to what the American… government's
10:34
doing right especially if you're in government
10:36
yourself they knew nothing it was pretty pretty
10:40
wild actually and like how did they take to you
10:43
guys talking about it they loved it so i mean
10:46
i didn't say anything i was i was just tagging
10:48
along basically but um they so so the way it
10:53
works is um we had a a room it was the caucus
10:58
room of national party and um I want to say there's
11:03
probably 30, maybe 35 MPs showed up and they
11:07
all stayed for ages. Like typically they'll go
11:09
to something like that. They'll eat the food
11:10
and then they'll leave, you know, if it's not
11:12
interesting, but there was a lot of genuine interest
11:14
there. But I've got to, you know, so we've got
11:19
a thing called the Bitcoin Policy Institute in
11:22
New Zealand, which is, I think they've got them
11:23
in America and parts of the world where they
11:26
are looking or advocating for Bitcoin to governments.
11:31
And I just, again, this is just that water and
11:34
oil kind of thing. You know, Bitcoin's not for
11:36
central government, right? This is what separates
11:40
the money from the state. So I support these
11:43
guys for what they're doing. But, you know, I
11:46
can't see a time where a government who's got
11:49
access to their own money machine, right? So
11:51
we have the Reserve Bank here in New Zealand.
11:52
So the government basically has control of that.
11:56
Why would they embrace something that's completely
11:58
decentralized that they don't have any control
12:00
over? It's just not going to happen. Yeah. Everyone's
12:05
running accounts and it's like, they have no
12:07
access to them through the banks. You can't freeze
12:09
anyone. You can't tax anyone, you know, like
12:14
they'll never bring that in. Have you, have you
12:18
read the creature from Jekyll Island? No, I haven't.
12:21
You've probably heard of it, mate. It's compulsory
12:24
reading. I mean, it's a, Big book. And it's basically
12:26
about the creation of the Federal Reserve. And
12:30
you read that book, mate, and then you realize
12:34
how dark the Federal Reserve and the U .S. dollar
12:37
and everything connected to it, you know, the
12:39
IMF and the World Bank and all these other organizations.
12:44
Like these people or these organizations, if
12:47
you like, have got, you know, these guys create
12:51
misery all over the world. being responsible
12:55
for wars, proxy wars, deaths of hundreds of thousands,
12:58
if not millions of people. This is since the
13:01
creation of the Federal Reserve. These guys aren't
13:04
going to just roll over and allow Bitcoin just
13:07
to come in and take over. That's not to say that
13:09
Bitcoin can't. After reading that book, I'm sort
13:14
of thinking if Bitcoin was to take over, become
13:19
a reserve asset of the world. It probably wouldn't
13:24
happen in my lifetime, I don't think. I'm still
13:26
hopeful. But when you understand how insidious
13:31
these organizations are and the lengths that
13:34
they're willing to go to maintain control of
13:37
different countries and just our whole money
13:41
system, it would be very difficult to see Bitcoin
13:46
being a big player anytime soon. I know like,
13:51
you know, me based in Costa Rica and like a little
13:54
bit of the history here. It was like they got
13:57
their first huge loan from the IMF, right? And
14:00
like Latin America isn't set up economically,
14:04
you know, like the rest of the world, especially
14:06
not, you know, 50, 100 years ago. So they give
14:09
this massive loan to Costa Rica and then Costa
14:12
Rica can't pay it back. So then they go, OK,
14:16
we're going to send in a whole bunch of people
14:17
to like fix your economy and basically like.
14:20
make all the like slave export pay people nothing
14:25
of bananas and everything to the u .s and then
14:29
like people there was like assassinations that
14:34
were happening for people who like weren't taking
14:36
place and then like even down in columbia something
14:39
similar happened and it was like the united fruit
14:42
company you know like all these people went on
14:44
strike down there because they're basically being
14:46
forced to work because the government had to
14:48
pay back these loans And they all striked, and
14:52
then it didn't resolve, so they just went in
14:54
and just killed everyone. And just reset, like
14:58
full massacre, you know? And this is only, what,
15:02
this was like I think in the 40s, you know? It's
15:06
dark, bro. It's so dark. And this is the thing
15:09
with the IMF, right? So to your point, they do
15:12
exactly that. Come in, we'll bail you out. And
15:14
this is the same even they've done it, they do
15:17
it in America. The Federal Reserve will loan
15:21
money to these countries, sorry, the IMF or whatever.
15:25
They know they can't pay it back. All they're
15:27
interested in, they don't really care about the
15:29
principal so much. It's the interest payments.
15:31
That's the thing that they care about. So they
15:34
lend X amount of millions or billions. They can't
15:38
make the payments. That's okay. We'll give you
15:41
more money so you can keep paying us our interest
15:44
payments. And then they get even more in trouble.
15:48
until sometime then they start giving away their
15:50
sovereignty. You know, that's what happens in
15:51
these countries where they'll give away, you
15:55
know, whatever it is, gas reserves, oil reserves,
15:58
you know, anything to sort of try and stay above
16:02
water, but it's a lose -lose situation. The IMF
16:04
knows that. I mean, they're not in the business
16:06
of helping people out. You know, they're there
16:10
to basically bleed these countries dry, you know.
16:17
It's sick, actually. It is. And, like, thank
16:21
God for Bitcoin. But, man, like you said, like,
16:23
it's going to be some time, you know. Like, I
16:26
don't see any of this kind of working out towards,
16:29
like, a, you know, Bitcoin standard across the
16:32
world until the dollar fails and, my God, they're
16:36
going to squeeze, you know. Well, the thing is,
16:40
you know, these people that are trying to make
16:43
it work from a governmental level from the top.
16:46
And it needs to be the bottom up. And that's
16:48
really what Bitcoin is, right? So, you know,
16:51
piece by piece, person by person, just acquiring
16:54
Bitcoin. I love using Bitcoin, right? Like I
16:57
will spend a Bitcoin. I have some hard sort of
17:01
caveats to that. So we have merchants here because
17:04
of the Bitcoin basin. But if those merchants
17:07
aren't, and this is just my own personal thing.
17:10
Some people have different views. I've actually
17:12
had. some big debates with some other Bitcoiners
17:16
as well that if I give that merchant Bitcoin,
17:19
I need to know that they're going to hold it
17:22
or spend it somewhere else. If they're just going
17:25
to turn it back into cuck bucks or whatever,
17:28
then I'll just give them dollars, you know what
17:30
I mean? Because clearly they don't understand
17:32
the value of Bitcoin. That's just how I work.
17:37
So it's just going to take time, you know? I
17:39
mean, I've got a mate now who's only new to the
17:42
space. And he gets it, right? And he's a little
17:46
bit like when I first got into Bitcoin around
17:49
2020, 2021, like I didn't see a profit for like
17:52
two years because I just rode that sucker all
17:56
the way down. You get enticed by the all -time
17:58
high, right? I think I better get in. You start
18:01
doing your learning and some of us stick at it
18:04
and learn and then just ride it down and then,
18:07
you know, we'll come out the other end. He's
18:09
going through his first cycle, so he's still
18:12
very convicted and he's not going to stop. But
18:15
yeah, he hasn't seen a prophet. Then he probably
18:17
won't for another, God knows, maybe another year
18:20
or so. Who knows? But that's exactly it, right?
18:23
It's like, I don't see a prophet for a year or
18:26
two years or three years or four years, but like
18:28
you play this thing over 20, 50 years, there's
18:31
like zero doubt in my mind, you know? even if
18:35
everything goes to shit and they make bitcoin
18:37
illegal and they start fucking dropping predator
18:40
missiles on bitcoin mining operations it's like
18:42
it doesn't matter you know it really they've
18:46
tried to kill this thing so many times and that's
18:48
what again the normies if you like don't understand
18:52
you know they always have always think that there's
18:55
this you know the cia created it and there's
18:57
these back doors and you know that's just going
19:00
to get rug pulled and it's like bro you don't
19:01
understand how I'm lucky. I know a couple of
19:04
computer scientists here that have very switched
19:07
on, been in Bitcoin a long time. So I've asked
19:09
all those questions, right? And, you know, you
19:12
probably know this, but there's all these computer
19:14
nerds that have just tried to bend and break
19:16
this thing to see how it works and can't be done.
19:19
So far, so good. I mean, there's, I think, the
19:22
whole network right now sitting at like around
19:24
a trillion. Like if you can break the network,
19:26
there's a trillion dollar reward, you know? People
19:29
are trying every day. It's like, this thing works.
19:33
you know well that i mean you can see it from
19:35
the government like bro if the government the
19:37
us government could control this thing it would
19:39
be gone tomorrow you know what i mean they would
19:42
have it um yeah so i don't know yeah yeah crazy
19:49
world okay i think we just like when we touched
19:52
on it but what what drew you into bitcoin in
19:55
the beginning and like what was that journey
19:57
like of diving down the rabbit hole COVID, really,
20:02
was the catalyst. I even hate that word now.
20:04
But, you know, were you in Australia at the time
20:07
when that was going down? I was in Canada. Okay.
20:10
Well, that was pretty gnarly by all accounts.
20:12
But, you know, we were going into lockdown. And
20:16
this is that whole, my introduction to, we're
20:20
in a fucking matrix here. Because as that thing
20:24
started to happen, right? I actually took it
20:28
quite serious initially. I thought, oh, this
20:30
is scary. Like, what is going on? I didn't know
20:33
much about it. Saw things that were happening
20:36
online. But worked out pretty quickly that, man,
20:40
this feels real scammy. Like, this doesn't line
20:42
up, you know, what you're being told. So there
20:46
was that. And then they started, before the lockdowns,
20:50
there was a few moments. Going to jujitsu one
20:55
night and I drove past a big supermarket and
20:57
they'd been doing a big drive for people. Remember
21:00
getting tested? You know, like you feel fine,
21:02
but just be tested. Maybe you've got COVID. And
21:05
I remember thinking, fuck, who's going to do
21:06
that? Like, bro, no one's going to do that. And
21:09
I shoot you not, mate. I was driving to the gym
21:12
and this massive supermarket car park, there
21:15
were cars lined up for miles. And I thought,
21:18
oh my God, what is going on? And I knew it was
21:23
a scam then. And then the other one was when
21:25
the vaccine came to New Zealand, which was way
21:29
after everyone else had it. And, you know, I
21:32
thought enough people knew that it didn't really
21:35
do much at that point. But anyway, same deal.
21:37
I thought, no, no one's going to get that. No
21:39
one's going to line up for that. Same deal. There
21:41
were cars lined up for miles, bro. And again,
21:44
that actually freaked me out because I thought,
21:46
oh, my God, what is going on? And anyway, we
21:50
went through a lockdown. And I think we had about
21:54
eight or nine staff at the time and, you know,
21:57
had a Zoom meeting much like this, like everyone
21:59
else did. And we were having this thing like,
22:00
okay, guys, we're going into lockdown for four
22:03
weeks or whatever. You know, be cool. Like everything's
22:06
fine. And they were all laughing. They just thought
22:09
they were going on holiday. Whereas I never saw
22:11
it that way. You know, I just thought the government,
22:13
bro, is forcing us to stay at home with our hand
22:17
out. And I didn't like that for one second. And
22:21
once I started learning about Bitcoin, I was
22:26
like, I never, because we knew people that were
22:28
leaving the country, right? That were, they had
22:30
money that, you know, I didn't, we didn't have
22:33
any liquid money, basically. I had my business
22:36
and everything that we owned and had was tied
22:39
up. There was no liquid money, really, not enough
22:42
to leave the country. And so. We had friends
22:46
that were able to leave. They went to Mexico
22:47
and had a good old time over there. And I just
22:51
said to myself, never again. And that was really
22:55
the catalyst, bro, to really diving into Bitcoin.
22:59
And, yeah. But then again, getting into Bitcoin,
23:04
I didn't understand it, obviously, at the start.
23:07
And it was just as we went on this journey, most
23:09
like a lot of other people, you start realizing,
23:12
oh. you know, it's different. It's not just some
23:16
sort of crypto money. It's, there's so much more
23:19
to it than that. It like completely reorients
23:24
your entire life, you know, and you get major
23:27
discernment, you know, of like, you look at the
23:32
world and you're like, I don't know. I think
23:33
the matrix kind of fucked, you know, but you
23:36
can't quite put your finger on it. And then once
23:39
you realize like the money is just completely
23:41
broken, you're like, oh, man, this goes so deep.
23:46
I always thought I knew I had a base knowledge
23:50
of finance, you know, because I'd always been
23:52
into investing and I had a business in that.
23:55
And I thought I knew what money was. And the
23:58
answer is I just didn't. I understood the terms
24:02
like interest rates. I knew what they were. I
24:04
knew the terminology inflation, but I didn't
24:06
really know what it was. I just thought I knew,
24:09
like a lot of people think they know. Oh, inflation
24:13
is running at 3 .2%. That seems like it's okay.
24:17
And then real early on, Nell bought me the Bitcoin
24:20
standard straight out the gate, which is kind
24:22
of strange. She knew nothing about it. This is
24:25
my wife. She knew nothing about it, but thought,
24:28
oh, he's getting into this. So she bought the
24:30
Bitcoin standard for me. I didn't really sit
24:33
down and read it cover to cover, but I was just
24:35
sort of flicking through it. And I'm not sure
24:38
if it was in the Bitcoin standard, but what is
24:42
money, right? The question, what is money? Bro,
24:44
that was a real orange pilling moment for me
24:47
because I was like, I didn't know what money
24:50
was, right? I didn't know where money come from.
24:52
I didn't know what it was. We all have this perception
24:56
that we understand what money is, but we don't
24:59
know how it's created. We don't know who. controls
25:02
it we didn't and so that just opens up up your
25:05
world and you start digging deeper and deeper
25:07
and deeper and you know my understanding of macroeconomics
25:11
and things like that is way deeper than it was
25:14
in fact i would have thought economics was the
25:16
most boring subject in the world but turns out
25:19
it's uh you know it's something i'm quite passionate
25:22
about now well i think it is right like when
25:25
you're looking at all the keynesian economic
25:27
stuff it's all just like jargon bullshit And
25:30
there is no meaning to it. But then once you
25:33
find Bitcoin and Austrian economics, you're like,
25:35
oh, man, this is juicy stuff. Yeah, 100%, bro.
25:39
And this idea around centralization, because
25:44
that was another thing I didn't understand about
25:45
Bitcoin at the start was the decentralization.
25:48
I didn't really understand that concept. It sort
25:51
of came a little bit later. So before that, I
25:54
had no concept of what centralized government
25:56
was or central banking and this idea that, you
25:59
know, Our money, for example, should be centralized
26:02
and there's only a select few people that control
26:06
it basically and decide who gets it and what
26:10
interest rate they're going to pay. What's Carlin
26:16
say? It's one big club and you ain't in it. You've
26:19
got to recognize that, that we are the bottom
26:21
feeders or whatever they want to call us. We
26:26
don't live in the way that the elites do, right?
26:29
We don't have access to the capital that they
26:32
do. We pay more for it. We're getting fisted
26:35
by the tax department. And now you just look
26:38
at the cost of living because of COVID and the
26:41
excessive money printing. I'm not sure what the
26:44
cost of living is like where you are, but, I
26:46
mean, you'll know Australia's fucking crazy.
26:49
New Zealand's, you know, anywhere in the West
26:51
I feel is. We're in the end of days, bro. It's
26:54
just getting more and more expensive. And it's
26:58
kind of concerning, eh? I mean, Costa Rica is
27:01
definitely a little bit cheaper, like especially
27:03
for like rent and produce and stuff like that.
27:07
But when it comes to anything imported, it's
27:09
almost the same price. So as long as you like
27:12
live kind of like a local, you can live relatively
27:14
cheap. But, you know, my best buddy, his brother
27:18
just came out for a couple months. I kind of
27:21
just get some codes off me and my buddy about
27:23
how to live a good life and, you know, all that
27:27
stuff. And I was just showing him around my place.
27:30
And I mean, like, it's not like a crazy place,
27:32
you know, but like I pay like a thousand US for
27:34
this a month and it's like three bedrooms and
27:38
it's like, it's a, it's a big place, you know,
27:40
it's nice. And my buddy's brother is like walking
27:45
around and I could see his brain, like. turning
27:49
over he was like wait i'm actually so fucking
27:51
confused because i pay more than you for a room
27:56
in sydney it's very much like that here we are
28:01
in queenstown bro it's like a thousand dollars
28:03
a week for a house you know and more you know
28:06
for a basic house and you know i just don't know
28:10
how people afford that you know i'm i feel fortunate
28:13
i've got my own business you know so i guess
28:15
my income a little bit higher than most people
28:18
but um for people on fixed incomes you know this
28:22
is the other part of the psyop right like you
28:24
cannot get ahead you're you're you cannot open
28:26
your mind you cannot um raise your consciousness
28:30
when all you're worrying about is how you're
28:32
going to feed your family and pay your bills
28:34
and um you know basically never get anywhere
28:37
you know because the system is rigged that's
28:39
for sure and uh you know you don't have the time
28:43
You know, like, for example, it's the middle
28:45
of the day. I can be on this podcast with you.
28:48
I can choose to have some type of, you know,
28:52
freedom if you like. But sadly, most people are
28:57
not able to do that now. And then, of course,
28:58
you've got, you know, daycare fees and everything
29:02
else that goes into, you know, living. food is
29:08
food is really expensive here in new zealand
29:10
which is crazy considering we're food producing
29:12
country right we we export most of our food so
29:15
yeah yeah yeah and that's like for me like a
29:21
huge reason why i've like moved to latin america
29:23
and like stationed myself here and i'm going
29:25
to move to peru in like a month from now and
29:28
you know like i don't i don't make like a ridiculous
29:31
amount of money but like my money is all made
29:33
online right so i'm not location dependent at
29:37
all and like even on what i've made now it's
29:40
like i've retired my partner you know because
29:44
like we're good like the cost of living is low
29:47
and especially as like someone who's like entrepreneurial
29:50
and like creative and has passions and like wants
29:53
to explore different ways of generating income
29:55
i always tell people like If you're like living
29:59
in Sydney, it's so hard to make it work because
30:02
you have that like push on you all the time to
30:04
like just pay the next month off. Whereas like
30:07
you move to Peru, you're like living in a nice
30:10
place. And like you have all the groceries you
30:13
could ever need. And you're paying like, you
30:15
know, 600 US a month for all of it. You know,
30:19
it's like if you want to go big on business and
30:21
being an entrepreneur, it's like you have to
30:22
give yourself a little bit of like leeway to
30:25
fail and learn and like pay the tuitions. you
30:28
know that was the thing that stuck out for me
30:31
when we met you in vegas actually bro was like
30:33
when you said i live in costa rica and that i
30:36
just thought that was so cool like actually i
30:38
was like dude this this guy's on to it because
30:41
a lot of people well most people i guess we just
30:46
get stuck in the this again the system the matrix
30:49
of a lot of people wouldn't think that that was
30:52
possible actually you know that that you can
30:54
just do that um So yeah, that was pretty cool
30:59
actually. No, I appreciate that. And I mean,
31:02
like, that's the thing. It's actually like, it's
31:05
actually not that hard to do. Like in all honesty,
31:09
you know, like I went through the ringer to try
31:11
and work it out. Cause I had no idea what I was
31:12
doing, but like with a little bit of guidance,
31:15
you can actually put it together pretty quickly,
31:17
you know, especially when your cost of living
31:18
is like nothing. Mate, I believe that to be true.
31:22
Like we're our son, he's only six, but we're
31:25
homeschooling him now. And that was, again, this
31:30
whole thing where you go, oh, man. When Nell
31:33
first mentioned it to me about homeschooling,
31:35
I was like, man, you're crazy. What are you talking
31:37
about? That's just, you know, because that's
31:39
– even though I consider myself to be awake,
31:42
there's still parts to your psychology that is
31:45
still asleep, you know what I mean? And now I'm
31:48
just like, I can't believe we even – I can't
31:51
believe anyone goes to school. The place is –
31:54
the education system is – garbage and we thought
31:58
all those things like how are we going to do
32:00
this like how's it going to work well we're doing
32:03
it now and to your point it's actually pretty
32:06
easy you know you just have to choose you know
32:11
that's really it yeah nice so uh are you involved
32:19
in the the bitcoin basin or is that more nelson
32:23
That's Nell's thing, dude, but I'm 100 % supportive
32:26
of it. We go to a lot of events. We'll basically
32:29
go to any event in the country that is Bitcoin
32:32
-related just to try and support the movement,
32:36
if you like, because you can imagine it's very
32:39
small here. I guess the thing that gives Queenstown
32:45
the edge over the rest of the country is that
32:49
the basin's funded. So that's what is allowing
32:56
Nell to basically be able to do this. And there's
33:00
another guy that's going to be coming online
33:02
shortly as well. Plus we've got Lightning Pay.
33:06
I don't know if you've heard of that. Lightning
33:08
Pay, that's basically a Bitcoin -only exchange.
33:11
And one of the founders is here. So I kind of
33:15
consider Lightning Pay a Queenstown company as
33:18
well. beautiful affluent kind of area there are
33:25
quite a lot of low -key um bitcoiners that live
33:29
here so there's a real strong um you know community
33:34
of bitcoiners just by if you had we know a lot
33:40
of high net worth bitcoiners now that they're
33:43
real low -key like they don't want to be known
33:45
or anything like that which is fine but it definitely
33:48
attracts Those guys, if you've got the means
33:51
to live like that, guys that have been in Bitcoin
33:53
a long time and you want to live in New Zealand,
33:57
well, Queenstown's probably going to be the place
33:58
that you're going to want to live in. And then
34:03
we've got the benefit of having a number of merchants
34:08
and that as well. So it's obviously quite hard
34:13
at the moment when the price is down. It doesn't
34:15
exactly inspire people to get involved. yeah
34:19
it's uh i support it for sure yeah unreal yeah
34:24
i mean like you know here in costa rica i have
34:27
it pretty sweet right where like all the the
34:30
tech is all pretty good and you can do like the
34:33
bitcoin to e -transfer type deals like really
34:37
easily so the vendor doesn't even need to accept
34:39
bitcoin and you can use it and there's a lot
34:41
of peer -to -peer stuff too and now that i'm
34:45
moving to peru i was like holy you know my entire
34:48
income basically is in bitcoin and it's like
34:50
i need to create off ramps so now like i am planning
34:56
on like you know The sacred Valley just needs
35:00
to have Bitcoin. And like, I have more incentive
35:02
than anyone else to like start onboarding vendors
35:05
and everything. So like, I'm going to be on a
35:07
mission, you know, in a couple of months here.
35:10
Oh, mate, you're doing God's work, brother. And
35:13
so with the, is there quite a lot of, you can
35:17
use Bitcoin quite a lot in Costa Rica. I mean,
35:19
what's the vibe like there? Yeah. I mean, you
35:22
can pretty much use it like everywhere, more
35:25
or less. everyone has what's called sim pay here
35:29
and that's like you know you just like hook up
35:32
your bank account to accept like you know e -transfers
35:36
between each other like pay id i don't know what
35:38
you have in new zealand and there's basically
35:40
like a third party who does the exchange for
35:42
you and it's all non -kyc um so you can pretty
35:45
much use it everywhere other than like you know
35:48
walmart and mcdonald's and like those big international
35:51
places because like every little small business
35:53
and mom and pop shop and people at the farmer's
35:56
market they all just accept uh simpe so you have
36:00
really easy rails there um and there's like a
36:03
massive bitcoin community here too right and
36:05
they're all like you go down to the bitcoin jungle
36:09
that's what they call it like uvita dominical
36:12
on the pacific side of costa rica and that's
36:14
where like all the yodas are And it's the same
36:17
stuff. It's like the people that have been in
36:19
Bitcoin since they were mining on their laptops
36:21
back in like 2012, you know, and they all left
36:26
the US and Canada during all the lockdowns because
36:29
they were just like, fuck this. And they're all
36:32
just sitting on Bitcoin and they're like, well,
36:34
I want to use it, right? So they just built all
36:37
the tech and like the on -ramps and off -ramps
36:40
to make it happen. So it's pretty legendary here.
36:44
Yeah, no, that's cool. So is Peru more of a cash
36:51
sort of based society or what's the deal there?
36:53
Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure Peru is like 60
36:57
% of the population still doesn't have a bank
36:59
account. So it's like very much a cash society.
37:04
And I was down there for three weeks over like
37:07
Christmas and New Year's. And I was kind of just
37:10
going around and just like talking to a bunch
37:11
of random people, like the place that sells like
37:14
Mapacho and whatnot. and everyone seems super
37:17
interested so you know we'll see how we go bro
37:22
it's the i mean that's perfect for a place like
37:24
that you know just it just takes a while for
37:26
them to understand um what's going on but you
37:29
said before peer -to -peer mate that is the only
37:31
way because fuck the tax man in this country
37:34
and any other country you know we went from here's
37:37
the thing like cash is kind of frowned upon now
37:40
and I don't use cash. I don't have cash. People
37:45
just don't use it. And there's been a big push.
37:48
I remember when it happened. So cashies, I don't
37:51
know if you know that term for tradies and that,
37:53
you know, doing cashies as opposed to sending
37:55
invoices and putting it through the books. And
37:58
that became such a naughty thing to do, right?
38:01
Which is just bizarre to me, eh? But it shows
38:03
you the psyop of the governments and the money
38:07
system to gaslight us into thinking that. We're
38:11
doing something wrong. Bro, if I do a job for
38:14
you and we agree on a price and a methodology
38:18
of how you're going to pay me and whatever you
38:20
like, then who gives a fuck? The government should
38:24
just do one, eh? What part have you actually
38:27
played in this transaction aside from just trying
38:32
to help yourself? And now with transaction fees
38:35
and, you know, we're… I don't know if you have
38:37
pay wave. We have pay wave, which is that tap
38:40
type scenario. The cost of that alone is just,
38:45
you know, it's an extra 2 % or something like
38:47
that that adds to the price of whatever you're
38:50
buying. And, you know, that money goes to that
38:53
person and then they go spend it. So you know
38:55
the story. It's just getting clipped everywhere
38:57
that dollar's being moved around. So peer -to
39:01
-peer, I'm just 100 % all about peer -to -peer,
39:04
definitely. Yeah, it's like when you actually
39:08
start to think about just like how the taxation
39:10
works, you know, it just gets so crazy because
39:14
they have the printer, right? So they're printing
39:17
all the money. So then like, what do they even
39:20
need the tax for? It's actually just to destroy
39:24
some of the money that they printed. So inflation
39:26
doesn't go crazy. You know, and like you take
39:29
a car, for example, it's like you buy a car,
39:32
you pay tax, you sell a car, you pay tax, you
39:34
buy gas, you pay tax, you like fix the mechanic,
39:38
you pay tax. It's like the car might be worth
39:41
like 30 grand, but over the span of its lifetime,
39:43
it probably pays out like a quarter million in
39:46
tax. Yep. And it's all control, you know, it's
39:50
all because here's the thing, you know, kind
39:53
of to your point, the governments can just print
39:55
money if they need to do public works or whatever
39:57
they want to do. But taxing the – because the
40:03
money that – the tax revenue that we generate
40:06
is typically wasted, right? Like you'll see it
40:09
in every government. It's wasteful spending.
40:12
So whether it's some crappy initiative, like
40:15
it doesn't even matter what it is. It's always
40:17
going to be wasteful, right? So the government
40:20
will come up with an initiative. We had a howler
40:22
here about 10 years ago where the government
40:25
wanted to build – all this housing, right? Because
40:28
there was a lack of housing. So the government
40:30
said, oh, we'll step in. They created this initiative
40:33
called KiwiBuild, I think it was called. And
40:37
they were saying, we're going to build, I don't
40:39
even remember the numbers, call it a million,
40:41
no, it must have been like 100 ,000 houses or
40:44
something like this in a timeframe. Bro, they
40:46
didn't even build a hundred. I could have my
40:50
numbers wrong. They built nothing and they blew
40:52
through billions of dollars. just to try and
40:55
get this thing to happen. Then they just binned
40:57
it. No accountability. No one loses their job.
41:01
No one ends up in jail. No one even looks at
41:03
where the money went. They just move on to the
41:05
next thing. And then meanwhile, the taxpayer,
41:09
which is everybody, is just getting fisted and
41:11
finding it difficult to have a general quality
41:16
of life. It's insidious, bro. It's terrible.
41:21
Yeah, I remember like... You know, when all this
41:24
like the Bitcoin knowledge and everything started
41:26
coming through. And I remember listening to Safer
41:29
Dean's podcast and he was talking about the Middle
41:33
East. And there's like 10 countries that are
41:37
still monarchs and 10 countries that are now
41:39
democracies, you know. And if you're raised in
41:42
a democratic country, it's like democracy is
41:44
the best thing ever, you know. And then you look
41:47
at them economically. over the last 10 years
41:50
every monarch has been successful and every democracy
41:53
has basically tanked and i think like you have
41:57
these centralized parties coming in like we talk
41:59
about time preference in bitcoin and like if
42:01
you're the monarch like you want your you know
42:05
seven generations ahead of your ancestors like
42:09
children you know to still be in control you
42:13
know it's like still centralized but you actually
42:16
want the country to last. Whereas I think when
42:19
we look at democracy and in the West, it's like
42:21
you have these four -year cycles and it's like,
42:24
how can I try to make the biggest splash possible
42:27
and then potentially even fuck the person who
42:30
takes over? It's all fake, actually. The political
42:36
industrial complex or whatever you want to call
42:38
it. is fake. This idea that you, I mean, see,
42:41
I'm way past politics now, bro. I used to take
42:45
my vote very seriously back when I was asleep
42:48
in the matrix. I thought it mattered. I thought
42:51
whoever was in power could make some changes,
42:55
could do some stuff. And to your point, you're
42:57
exactly right. The timeframes are too small and
43:00
everything's set up for the greater good. There's
43:02
kind of this socialist communist idea that you
43:05
hear it all the time where Billionaire is bad.
43:09
I'm not, you know, there are a lot of billionaires
43:11
that are a bit suspect, but anyone that's got
43:14
money needs to give it to everyone that hasn't
43:17
done anything to, you know, this proof of work
43:20
concept, right? And to your point about democracy
43:23
is exactly right. I don't, I just want to be,
43:25
I want a clear set of parameters or whatever
43:28
you like. I can do whatever I want as long as
43:31
I'm not, you know, hurting anybody else or causing
43:33
any problem to anyone else. Let me live, stay
43:36
out of my life. and just let the free market
43:39
play out. But, of course, the government doesn't
43:43
want that because they want people to rely on
43:45
them. They want to have, you know, people that
43:47
need their help sort of thing because otherwise
43:49
what's their job, you know? Like if they were
43:52
all libertarian sort of people like us, we wouldn't
43:55
need a government. Maybe just to, like, fix the
43:59
roads or whatever, which, you know, they can't
44:01
even do that. But, I mean... People always manage
44:04
themselves. You know what I mean? Like you go
44:07
back to our distant, distant ancestors living
44:09
in tribal settings. They're still like the chief
44:11
and everyone's like, yeah, like he is really
44:14
wise, you know, like I'm happy to take his lead
44:17
on the small matters that concern our little
44:21
world, you know, but when you have these like
44:23
massive federal national level centralized parties.
44:28
They just cannot do anything correctly. And it's
44:31
like a brainpower thing. It's like you have 200
44:33
people trying to judge the entire free market.
44:36
It's impossible. And you look at why communism
44:40
has always failed. And they do the same thing.
44:43
It's like, we've got to take down the billionaires.
44:45
You look at the USSR. So they take down all the
44:48
rich and all the oligarchs and everything out
44:50
there. But then they need another enemy. You
44:53
know, now we go after the academics and you kill
44:56
off all the academics, you know, and it's like
44:59
just slowly but surely you just like destroy
45:01
the entire proof of work system, you know, and
45:05
then everything just falls out of balance. And
45:07
that's exactly what you're talking about. And
45:09
this is where I'm at with politics, right? Like
45:10
it's all fake because you look at it in the West.
45:13
I mean, you can see it right now. There's no
45:15
leadership, bro. Look at like Keir Starmer, freaking
45:18
Albanese, Mark Carney. We've got, you probably
45:24
don't know, our Prime Minister Chris Luxon. Bro,
45:26
these are the beta -ish beta males you've ever
45:29
seen in your life. These guys don't have any
45:32
type of leadership. They're not people that you
45:35
look up to. They're not people that you think,
45:36
this guy's going to take us forward. They are
45:39
just weak, weak little soy boy human beings.
45:43
And that's by design because they're being controlled
45:48
by... the elites or people that we don't know
45:51
corporations whatever they they only know that
45:54
they're in there for a period of time they're
45:56
just going to line their pockets and you know
45:59
what is it with the in america is real bad where
46:02
they're on fairly you know modest incomes from
46:07
the government yet they all retire multi -gazillionaires
46:10
like how does that work you know it's pretty
46:12
obvious straight out of office and then you're
46:15
just like on the board of like 10 mining companies
46:18
and oil companies and all this shit you know
46:21
it's like oh yeah there was no handshaking that
46:23
happened there yep i mean yes i mean because
46:28
so so there's a a friend of mine used to used
46:33
to be a leader of a party a political party here
46:36
in new zealand years ago and um but he's A bit
46:40
older than me, obviously, but he's a real – I
46:42
love the guy. He's incredible. And listening
46:44
to him, you know, we've had a lot of conversations.
46:47
He doesn't even really care about politics anymore.
46:49
He doesn't even like talking about it. But I'm
46:51
interested in it, you know, and I've asked him,
46:53
you know, like how does this thing work, right?
46:57
And he said to me – and he was a party leader,
47:02
right? It was a small party at the time. probably
47:06
one of the more conservative parties in New Zealand.
47:09
Anyway, he said he would just turn, he would
47:12
turn, sorry, the limo or whatever would turn
47:15
up at his house in the morning. He would go in
47:17
it and he wouldn't even really know what he was
47:20
doing that day. He'll have a diary that's written
47:23
by his office and then they'd be like, what are
47:26
we doing today? Oh, we're going to go speak at
47:29
the... Whereas West Auckland Rotary Club, you're
47:33
going to do that. Then we're going to go fly
47:35
down to here and you're going to have a meeting
47:37
here and then you're going to do something else
47:38
and do something else. Cool. And that was the
47:42
day. So even times when they'd say, oh, you know,
47:44
now you're going to go and have a coffee with
47:47
this MP here to get a photo basically. And then
47:52
there's been some sort of, you know, kerfuffle
47:57
or whatever. But the bureaucrats that sit behind
47:59
him, basically, the politicians which are just
48:03
the figureheads of that party, the bureaucrats
48:06
that actually run those guys, filling up their
48:08
diaries and that, they've already done the deal,
48:10
right? You're just going there to take the photo.
48:13
It's already been, don't worry about it, we've
48:15
already done this. And it's the bureaucrats that
48:19
have been in Parliament for 40, 50 years. These
48:22
are the ones that you don't see, right? So they're
48:25
the ones actually running the country. the people
48:28
that are in there elected are just really just
48:30
the figureheads and just the you know the the
48:32
talking head for however long they stay in there
48:34
until they get rolled and then the next guy goes
48:36
in yeah it's like just all a big show you know
48:41
and like they have like the fancy buildings and
48:44
they wear the fancy clothes to make it look legitimate
48:47
you know it's the same with like even just like
48:50
all the language you know You read like, even
48:55
like to get visas, like I'm getting a visa right
48:57
now to go to Peru. And it's like all the language.
49:00
I'm like, I don't even understand what they're
49:01
asking me, you know, but it's almost like they
49:04
intentionally do that to be like, you're just
49:07
not smart enough to like understand how it actually
49:10
works. But in reality, it's just like this like
49:12
cognitive dissonance that no one understands.
49:15
And they're like, yes, because like, we're smart.
49:22
You've got to create the system to validate whatever
49:24
that thing is that you're doing. Like, I mean,
49:28
I wouldn't relate it to visas, but there's so
49:31
many, it's like, you know, vehicle registration,
49:33
like all these little ways that you have to pay
49:36
money for things that, why the fuck do I do that?
49:38
Why do I have to, you know, we have, I don't
49:41
know what you have in Australia, but we have
49:44
like, you know, road user charges, which is what
49:46
you pay on top of your diesel. Then we have.
49:49
registration, registered vehicle, then a warrant
49:51
of fitness. Then you're paying your tax through
49:55
your fuel anyway. And so there's all these little
49:59
slithers of money that's just going out of your
50:02
pocket for what reason? And it escalates pretty
50:05
much every year, which we all know is driven
50:09
by inflation. And sadly, most people don't even
50:15
know it's happening. It's the boiling frog scenario,
50:17
isn't it? Like you just sort of go, man, things
50:18
getting expensive. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean,
50:23
even trying to explain to people like what purchasing
50:27
power actually means, you know, like without
50:31
the foundation of Bitcoin, it's so hard to even
50:33
interpret it. You're like, oh, my bank account
50:35
hasn't changed. You know, it's like, yes, but
50:37
like everything else has doubled in price in
50:40
the last 10 years. And you know what the other
50:44
thing is, bro? Like I've seen this recently because
50:46
we went to Fiji last year, family holiday. And,
50:51
you know, we hear that the economy is kind of
50:55
depressed and people don't have money. But, man,
50:57
the planes were full of people, obviously. And,
51:01
you know, over Christmas and New Year and that,
51:05
I was down south at my brother's place and there's
51:07
a lake there and that. And I swear to God, I've
51:10
never seen as many boats boat trailers and fancy
51:14
trucks. I grew up in this town, right? And I
51:17
was like, my God. So what I realized is that
51:20
it's all fake. Again, it's all credit and debt,
51:23
right? That's what the whole fiat money system
51:26
is. It's credit and debt. So people just credit
51:30
and debt. It's this illusion of wealth, but it's
51:35
all fake. You've got some borrowing capacity,
51:38
so therefore you can buy. this vehicle and this
51:41
boat and then that sort of drives the economy
51:44
somewhat but it's all fake you don't actually
51:46
own you know some of those boats might be owned
51:50
outright but i'm fair to say most of them will
51:53
be ticked up you know they'll be they'll be you
51:56
know loans on on that stuff easy to get and uh
52:00
that's that's the ponzi eh you know that everyone's
52:03
just living on this credit and debt type thing
52:05
and it's completely normal and um yeah it's all
52:09
fake and and the idea of like inflation and deflation
52:15
and like depreciating assets you know like you
52:18
have people taking out these big loans to buy
52:21
like all their toys and they're paying interest
52:23
on that and then it's also depreciating and the
52:26
only person that wins is the bank and then you're
52:28
just like left broke at the end You know, and
52:32
even like now I've been really sitting with like
52:34
what an asset really means to me, you know, and
52:37
like the company that I'm working right now,
52:39
there's like about to be the share release and
52:40
like I'm getting a chunk of equity and it's coming
52:43
with like, you know, the cliffs and the vesting
52:45
and all of this. And I'm just sitting here thinking
52:48
to myself, like, I actually kind of don't give
52:51
a fuck, you know, like, yes, there might be an
52:55
exit in however many years, but. as an asset
53:00
like unless it's your business where like you
53:02
have the power to sell at any time like i'm just
53:06
like working to get this little piece but it's
53:09
not liquid whatsoever and i have no control over
53:12
its liquidity either and i would just way rather
53:16
bitcoin i'm the same right and i've always had
53:21
a bit of a dim not dim view but sort of i'm a
53:23
bit sus about these you know, these equity shares
53:26
sort of things in companies because unless the
53:29
thing is going to rip, I mean, obviously, you
53:32
know, you've got some that have turned out really
53:35
well for the shareholders. But one thing I've
53:39
learned about being in business for a while is
53:41
that, you know, it's one thing to operate a business.
53:44
It's another thing to actually make a profit
53:47
in business. And then thirdly, like what is the
53:50
end game for a business? Like I've got a construction
53:52
company, right? I'm under no illusion that I'm
53:55
not, I don't think I'm ever going to be able
53:56
to sell this business, right? It's just like
53:58
if I, my plan is that I want to bring my family
54:04
into the business, right? I think that's the
54:06
real key to generational wealth is building something.
54:10
I came from a family with no money basically
54:13
and no business people. So I'm at the start.
54:17
But I want to set it up to a point where my son
54:19
and my daughter and whoever else is in my family
54:21
can come in and, you know, we can carry this
54:23
thing on. And that's what, you know, wealthy
54:27
families do. They build things. And we're being
54:28
told this lie that, oh, no, just go off into
54:31
the world and find yourself and do all this sort
54:33
of thing. Whereas my thinking now is that it
54:37
should almost be part of our family. You know,
54:41
we should be. Trying to build things that we
54:43
can pass on to our families, you know, and build
54:46
something that will benefit all of us in the
54:49
future. Yeah. Well, what you're talking about
54:52
there, just like, you know, it reminds me of
54:54
like what the natives up in like North America
54:56
saying. It's like everything we do is for seven
54:59
generations ahead. You know, like who actually
55:02
thinks like that these days? We're not taught
55:06
to. The elites, again, I always talk about the
55:09
elites. That's what they do. Nepotism, for example,
55:12
which I don't agree with, is like hooking up
55:19
your family or whatever it is. But that's kind
55:21
of what I'm talking about. We should be building
55:23
things. It should be expected in some ways. And
55:26
it's not like that you can't go off and express
55:28
yourself. Because I grew up, I would say, poor.
55:32
We didn't need much because it was a different
55:33
era. That's not what I want for my children.
55:39
There's a better way. You know, there's a better
55:41
way to live life and have more control of your
55:45
own life. And starting with a good financial
55:48
foundation is key. And if we keep every generation
55:54
you're starting now, by the time you start, I
55:58
didn't start my business until I was in my mid
56:01
-30s because I always wanted to do business,
56:05
but I hadn't. No, like, knowledge, no capital,
56:10
no sort of hookups, if you like. I was just,
56:12
like, flounding around just trying to figure
56:15
out how to do it. You know, I had no skills and,
56:17
you know, now that I'm going, I've been in business
56:21
for just over 10 years now, I've got something
56:24
that I can actually pass on to my family that,
56:27
you know, make it a little bit easier for the
56:29
next generation and hopefully they'll go on and
56:31
go on and go on and, you know. create something
56:35
that'll actually be more beneficial to everyone
56:37
rather than just everyone starting each generation.
56:43
Yeah, man, a hundred percent, a hundred percent.
56:45
I mean, I'm definitely in the same boat now where
56:47
like, I'm trying to work out how to make moves.
56:51
Like I'm going to have a baby, hopefully at the
56:54
start of next year, you know, I'm getting married
56:57
in a couple of months and then we're getting
56:58
into baby making and it's like, things change.
57:01
It's like, I'm thinking about generations ahead
57:03
now. you know what well you just said before
57:07
mate which really impressed me that you've you've
57:09
retired your partner that that's that's a freaking
57:12
goal bro that that's that's that's cool you know
57:16
um to be able to do that and say that because
57:19
this is where we're at now in our relationship
57:21
you know i used to think You know, Nell and I,
57:25
we've been together for nearly 15 years, I suppose.
57:28
And when we first met, it was about, like, we're
57:30
just going to crush it and you're going to crush
57:32
it because, you know, she had a good business
57:34
going of her own right, you know. And, you know,
57:36
we were deep in the matrix at the time and thought
57:38
that's how it worked. You have your business
57:41
and I'll have my business and we'll just keep
57:42
rolling and crushing it. And the thought of her
57:45
being a stay -at -home mom or having that was
57:48
like, oh. that's not a flex and now i completely
57:52
said a completely different way and it is the
57:54
ultimate flex if you can do that 100 man 100
57:58
and i think there's just so much of that like
58:01
that programming around like you know women in
58:05
the workforce and like they gotta be boss bitch
58:07
and all of this and i just saw it like as soon
58:12
as we kind of made that transition it was just
58:15
like we were both way happier Yeah. Cause you're
58:18
assuming the roles like this is like Marcus Aurelius
58:21
calls it the logos. I don't know if you heard
58:23
that term, which is, I think it means like in
58:26
the natural order of things, right? When you
58:28
make that decision, like your, you intrinsically
58:32
have traits as a man, right? And even though
58:35
fuck whatever society says, trying to tell you
58:37
that you shouldn't think like that and be like
58:39
that, bro, that's the way you're wired and your
58:41
partner, she's wired her way. You know, woman
58:44
have this nurturing. ability that we don't have
58:48
you know there's there's there's things that
58:50
you have that she doesn't have and vice versa
58:52
and that's why god made us that way right this
58:55
is why when you get a couple that's you'll ride
58:58
or die you know man you guys are untouchable
59:00
like my wife gives me so much confidence to do
59:04
things and then it also i want to protect her
59:08
and i i um i want her to be able to um to nurture
59:14
our children like And, and, and it's a beautiful
59:17
thing. Like that motivates me to do my role.
59:20
And I know that she gets her, her role. And then
59:22
suddenly we're, we're, we're, we're following
59:25
God's plan, bro. We're, we're, we're in a tight
59:27
family unit and it's life is just so much better
59:30
like that. Yeah, man. A hundred percent. I couldn't
59:35
agree more. And I think we've just lost touch
59:37
of that so much, you know, and it took us a lot
59:40
of like healing to get back to that, you know,
59:42
as well. And it's, I mean, dude, you can get
59:47
yourself freaking barbecued by saying this sort
59:49
of stuff, but women and men have different attributes,
59:56
you know, and this idea that, and I grew up in
1:00:00
that era, right, the feminist movement, so I've
1:00:02
only ever known, and you're younger than me,
1:00:05
so you've obviously been right in the thick of
1:00:07
it as well, whereas, you know, I was brought
1:00:10
up in the girls. can do anything like anything
1:00:12
you can do i can do better girls can crush it
1:00:15
you know competing with the men and i actually
1:00:18
feel sorry for those women now because i'm i'm
1:00:20
in my 40s right and i know women that have missed
1:00:26
the boat you know sadly because they were hard
1:00:30
up their career wanted to fuck nose man like
1:00:33
what were you trying to do i'm lucky i'm lucky
1:00:37
because i had kids late right I was in my early
1:00:41
40s when I first started having kids. But I know
1:00:45
that that's not possible for some woman. And
1:00:47
I would hate to get to that time in your life
1:00:51
where you realize, well, what was that all about?
1:00:53
You know what I mean? Like working for this,
1:00:55
what was I doing? But again, it's that whole
1:00:58
psyop of, you know, you can go out there and
1:01:02
crush it. You can do whatever the men can do,
1:01:04
you know. But why? You're going to be so much
1:01:07
better. living the dream of raising a family
1:01:12
man there's no greater experience in life that
1:01:14
i've ever had than raising children bro it's
1:01:18
just you know only only those that do it and
1:01:21
aspire to do it will ever understand yeah and
1:01:25
i mean you know just how me and emily's relationship
1:01:29
is and our dynamic and how we plan for the future
1:01:32
is so different like even her brother right like
1:01:34
her brother like both they're both working it's
1:01:38
like they're taking all like the government handouts
1:01:40
paternity leave maternity leave all these complications
1:01:42
while she was pregnant she was like trying to
1:01:45
get a job so that she could apply for the right
1:01:47
level of maternity leave and like now they're
1:01:50
both working and like someone else is raising
1:01:52
their kid and it's just like chaos you know it's
1:01:56
chaos like i don't want anyone else raising my
1:01:59
children no Who's going to teach your child better
1:02:03
than you? This is another thing, part of that
1:02:05
PSYOP, and we went through that with this whole
1:02:07
homeschooling thing. And, bro, just to give you
1:02:10
an example, right, like our son went to school
1:02:12
for a year because he wanted to and we didn't
1:02:14
want him to not go because, you know, he did
1:02:16
the thing. And he couldn't read, right? And I
1:02:21
was okay with that because, you know, just whatever,
1:02:23
I know he's going to read at some point. And
1:02:26
like developmentally, I wouldn't say he's behind,
1:02:31
learning anything I could see that once he did
1:02:35
homeschooling I'm going to tell you bro it was
1:02:37
like five days and the dude was reading you know
1:02:40
not reading Shakespeare anything like that but
1:02:42
he's reading because he'd had that one -on -one
1:02:45
and they'd actually spent the time you know that
1:02:49
was the first week of homeschooling so you know
1:02:54
it's just things like for example they're doing
1:02:57
projects right And last week they, or the other
1:03:01
week, they did this thing on bees, basically,
1:03:04
you know. And they went through and learned this,
1:03:06
and it was quite interesting. I was even learning
1:03:08
some stuff about bees. And he's right into, like,
1:03:12
he loves Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Like, just
1:03:15
a kid loves, like, cars. Oh, that's a Lamborghini.
1:03:18
Oh, that's so cool. And I said to Nell, I said,
1:03:20
why don't you do a, next project's going to be
1:03:22
Ferrari or Lamborghini or something like that,
1:03:25
you know. We haven't told him yet because he
1:03:28
won't finish the one that he's doing. But he's
1:03:30
going to be frothing because now he's learning
1:03:32
about Ferraris and Lamborghinis. There's lots
1:03:35
to learn, and we can just choose that. You know
1:03:39
what I mean? We're not dictated. I don't know
1:03:42
what they're learning at school, but it won't
1:03:44
be the history of Ferrari. So something that
1:03:50
he's actually interested in and wants to learn.
1:03:52
It's a no -brainer. And I mean, like, you know,
1:03:56
my plan is absolutely to homeschool now, you
1:03:58
know, from everything that I know. And when I
1:04:00
was like 23, I was with Emily in Canada, in Northern
1:04:04
BC. And we went out to this lake, like way out.
1:04:07
It was three hours down a dirt road, like out
1:04:09
on the reservations. And we got a flat tire and
1:04:13
we ended up just pulling into this driveway to
1:04:16
just kind of get a bit of assistance. And we
1:04:20
shot, we like rock up there. And then the owners
1:04:23
come out and they're a German couple. and they've
1:04:26
just been living out on this reservation, like
1:04:28
basically completely disconnected from the world
1:04:30
for like 20 years. And they had a kid and I met
1:04:35
this kid, you know, and socially he was a little
1:04:40
bit, you know, not quite into the nuance of conversation,
1:04:45
but like he was brilliant, you know, like he
1:04:49
had access to the internet, no school, like they
1:04:52
didn't follow any program, nothing. And he he's
1:04:56
17 at the time. He'd built himself a business
1:04:59
doing web development that he was like making
1:05:02
an income from. And then when he wasn't working
1:05:05
on his own business, he was touring around Canada
1:05:09
at festivals doing like magician gigs. Right.
1:05:15
And. although yes there was like a little bit
1:05:19
of social kind of not quite rightness by like
1:05:21
having basically zero contact with the outside
1:05:23
world like he was brilliant like truly brilliant
1:05:27
you know in the way he thought and super unique
1:05:29
and i realized then like oh Just because like
1:05:35
the government has said like this is how schooling
1:05:38
is or this is how it should happen. It's like
1:05:40
the human spirit is so curious, you know, and
1:05:43
it'll just follow its passions and its curiosity
1:05:45
until the end of days. And that's where all the
1:05:48
learning happens, you know. And like for me in
1:05:50
my business that I like, you know, how I make
1:05:52
my income now, I went to high school and I went
1:05:56
to university and I did all of it. And everything
1:05:58
I do now, I told myself on YouTube, you know.
1:06:02
And it's like, it's all there. And then it also
1:06:05
just opens up to that greater thought, you know,
1:06:07
of like, and we say, you should give birth in
1:06:10
hospitals, because that's where, you know, babies
1:06:14
are made. And it's like, well, I mean, since
1:06:16
the beginning of time, that was like, actually
1:06:18
not what we did, you know, and like, just all
1:06:20
these ideas started to turn in my head. And it's
1:06:22
like, that makes me think of this reel that I
1:06:25
saw on Instagram one time, and it's this comedian,
1:06:28
he's an Indian guy, but he's pretending to be
1:06:30
a guru. And he's like, Everyone fucks up their
1:06:34
kids. So fuck them up in unique and interesting
1:06:37
ways. You know? And it's like, okay, I'm in.
1:06:43
So the amount of homeschool kids that I've met,
1:06:46
they're different. You know, they're super well
1:06:50
-adjusted. They don't have hang -ups with speaking
1:06:53
to adults generally. Like, I mean, I know I might
1:06:56
sound a little bit like Rain Man, but that's
1:06:58
different. And then you start learning about
1:07:01
people that sort of people that have achieved
1:07:07
this insane success in whatever chosen field.
1:07:11
It's not unusual that they would have been homeschooled,
1:07:13
eh? So I like practicing jujitsu, right? It's
1:07:19
one of the things I just like to do. It's kind
1:07:21
of fun. Anyway, we had a seminar. I attend the
1:07:24
odd seminar and there's a young guy called Cole
1:07:26
Abate and he's like one of the top in the world
1:07:29
in fact he i think he is world champ i mean he
1:07:31
has been throughout his whole career he was a
1:07:34
phenom when he was like eight i want to say you
1:07:37
know he's he was just looked like a boy and he
1:07:40
was a freak at that age he came and did a seminar
1:07:44
with us and um just people were chatting to him
1:07:47
or whatever dude was like 19 at the time and
1:07:49
mate he just sounds he's so articulate he was
1:07:53
just can you know seminar with a room full of
1:07:56
40 odd people just No dramas. And then I can't
1:08:01
remember how the question came up, but basically
1:08:04
he said, oh, I was homeschooled. And as soon
1:08:05
as he said it, I was like, of course you were.
1:08:07
And it was interesting. He told his parents,
1:08:11
he's a bit different, he's a smart guy. He said,
1:08:15
I want to be homeschooled. And they said, oh,
1:08:16
well, you need to sell it to us. And he'd come
1:08:18
up with this whole plan and everything, how he
1:08:19
was going to do it. But what was interesting,
1:08:22
they said, well, what about your friends and
1:08:24
that? And he said, oh, I always just. considered
1:08:27
the guys in my gym my mates you know i never
1:08:30
saw age as a he said oh the guys i used to train
1:08:34
with you know they were just my friends there
1:08:37
was never any sort of worrying about what age
1:08:41
i was and i just thought it was so cool you know
1:08:45
he's such a talented guy and i've met so many
1:08:50
homeschool kids that are sort of the same um
1:08:53
so there's all of that as well I mean, I think,
1:08:58
you know, my default is always whatever the fucking
1:09:02
modern world's got going on now. This is all
1:09:04
just like a big game for the last hundred years
1:09:06
that we're like experimenting with. And what
1:09:08
happened from a hundred years ago back is like
1:09:11
more closely related to the truth, you know,
1:09:14
of the human experience. And like, it's not like
1:09:17
you're in a tribal setting and like everyone
1:09:19
has a kid at the same age and like they only
1:09:22
hang out with the people who are the same age
1:09:24
as them. Well. I don't know if it was what it
1:09:27
was like for you, but school was stress. You
1:09:31
know what I mean? And I wasn't even, I was probably
1:09:33
one of the popular kids, I suppose. But even
1:09:36
that, even so, it was still stress. You know,
1:09:40
you don't know anything about anything. You're
1:09:42
trying to, there's class clowns. You know, there's
1:09:45
always a tension brewing between different factions.
1:09:50
There's bullying. You know, you get bullied if
1:09:54
you're too smart. You get bullied if you're too
1:09:55
dumb. You get bullied if you're fat, if you've
1:09:58
got ginger hair. Everything's, it's not a harmonious
1:10:04
experience. And then, like, for me, because I
1:10:05
was, I never liked school, so I was always at
1:10:08
war with the teachers, right? I never liked authority.
1:10:10
So, you know, add that into the mix as well.
1:10:13
So, you know, you tell me to do something, well,
1:10:16
now I can't do it. I'm not saying that's a good
1:10:18
thing. That's just the way I am. So, you know.
1:10:22
When you factor all that in, like what was I
1:10:23
even doing there? What did I actually get from
1:10:26
being at school? And when you actually talk to
1:10:29
most people, you mention homeschooling your kids
1:10:32
and they, oh, how are they going to get socialized
1:10:34
and all of these sorts of things. And then it
1:10:36
always ends up being, yeah, I hated school. I
1:10:39
didn't like it. It was garbage. So it's a part
1:10:44
of a scam, brother. It's another one of those.
1:10:47
I mean, I guess if you play devil's advocate.
1:10:51
And there's education then to educate a lot of
1:10:55
people. You have to come up with this sort of,
1:10:57
you know, curriculum or whatever, and they need
1:11:00
to sort of learn the basics. But see, even that's
1:11:04
been hijacked now. You won't know this probably,
1:11:06
but all the gender stuff is deep from kindergarten
1:11:11
age, right? And all this over -sexualization,
1:11:15
it's a fact, mate. It's in schools and it's being
1:11:18
taught, you know. for what reason like no kid
1:11:22
needs to learn this sort of stuff you know as
1:11:26
much as they're actually being um taught you
1:11:30
know i saw a podcast i don't know if you've seen
1:11:32
that one what are they called he's an australian
1:11:35
fella it's actually really interesting but he
1:11:37
was talking to a guy who was talking about these
1:11:39
satanic pedophiles in this in the education system
1:11:41
and basically saying that Out of the curriculum,
1:11:44
and I'm not sure what ages is, might be 12. What's
1:11:47
grade? What's year 10? How old are you then?
1:11:50
Oh, you'd be like, what, 15 or something like
1:11:53
that. Okay. But anyway, there's this curriculum
1:11:55
about the sex or the health education or whatever.
1:11:59
I think it was over 30 % of the curriculum was
1:12:01
sex, sexual stuff. We're talking about stuff
1:12:05
like anal sex and blowjobs and all this sort
1:12:07
of garbage. Why is that in the education system?
1:12:12
so there's so many reasons to not be at school
1:12:15
bro no man i couldn't agree more all right so
1:12:20
this podcast is the where bitcoin meets ayahuasca
1:12:24
podcast yeah i wanted to talk about that yeah
1:12:27
nice we could just pivot a little bit into some
1:12:29
to some other rabbit holes i'd love to hear about
1:12:32
like how you came to the medicine and and like
1:12:36
some of your experiences how you've changed and
1:12:38
your relationship to consciousness and all of
1:12:40
these things through that process bro i get emotional
1:12:44
every time i talk about this but um in fact i
1:12:48
should say that you know when you talked about
1:12:50
bitcoin and you know what brought me to that
1:12:51
like ayahuasca was actually a big part of my
1:12:54
awakening um and i know you'll understand that
1:12:56
um so uh a buddy of mine actually who was training
1:13:01
to be a shaman and we ended up ultimately as
1:13:04
business partners he was training in peru And
1:13:08
I can't remember whether it was his third trip
1:13:11
to the jungle. He went out there for three months
1:13:14
and he was working for me at the time actually.
1:13:17
He was a builder as well. And we did jujitsu
1:13:21
together. So that's how we met basically. And
1:13:23
I'd always been interested in ayahuasca. Well,
1:13:26
I shouldn't say always, but for a while I thought,
1:13:28
oh, I'd love to do that. I'd taken a lot of recreational
1:13:31
drugs as a young person, lots of psychedelics
1:13:35
and, you know, And I know my relationship with
1:13:39
psychedelics is completely different now, right?
1:13:41
It used to be a way to just get fucked up with
1:13:45
your mates, right? Completely, totally wrong
1:13:47
context and just bad, basically, and all the
1:13:50
recreational drugs and that that come along with
1:13:52
it. But anyway, ayahuasca was something that
1:13:55
I was very interested in, but obviously being
1:13:57
in New Zealand, we are nowhere near the jungle.
1:13:59
And so I thought I'd just put it on the bucket
1:14:01
list, you know what I mean? And then so anyway,
1:14:03
my buddy and I, he was like, I'm away for three
1:14:05
months. Oh, yeah, where are you going? Oh, Peru.
1:14:07
Oh, real? Do you know much about ayahuasca? Oh,
1:14:09
funnily enough, I'm actually going out there
1:14:10
because I'm training to be a shaman. So he went
1:14:14
out there, I think he was there for three months.
1:14:15
He came back and said, nah, bro, I'm not doing
1:14:17
it because I can't handle it, basically. The
1:14:19
training was too much. And I was like, oh, man,
1:14:24
I'd love to do it, basically. And he said, oh.
1:14:30
Bianca. So that's his friend. She is a shaman.
1:14:33
So they did some training together. She's actually
1:14:36
from Sydney as well. But anyway, one day out
1:14:40
of the blue, he just rang me. He says, oh, bro,
1:14:41
I've got Bianca. She's coming over, you know,
1:14:43
to do some ceremonies. Are you keen? And I was
1:14:47
like, oh, whoa. I mean, yeah. Whoa, whoa. Yeah,
1:14:53
I'll call you back, you know. For some reason,
1:14:56
I just freaked out, you know. And then I just
1:14:57
went, I just, Took five minutes. I rang back
1:15:00
and said, yeah, man, I'm in. So anyway, she came.
1:15:04
We got a space like south of Queenstown. It was
1:15:07
basically a retreat. So it sort of had a sweat
1:15:10
lodge and some, you know, tents and stuff like
1:15:14
this out there. And we did a ceremony. There
1:15:17
was probably 15 of us, I think. There was only
1:15:21
three people that had drunk medicine before.
1:15:24
So we're all pretty new. kind of knew each other
1:15:27
we're all sort of connected in some ways and
1:15:30
um yeah the first ceremony bro like uh none of
1:15:34
us knew what to expect so we're all very anxious
1:15:37
and i think so bianca was was running the running
1:15:42
the ceremony and then my mate luke had they were
1:15:45
sort of chummy so and he he's drunk hundreds
1:15:47
of times and another friend of ours had also
1:15:49
drunk quite a bit of medicine so there was that
1:15:53
because i think there was this She was a bit
1:15:56
worried, basically. There was probably about
1:15:58
13 or 14 of us that never drank ayahuasca before.
1:16:02
So, like, you know, what could this turn into
1:16:05
sort of thing. But as it happened, it was sweet.
1:16:09
And, yeah, so I did my first ceremony. And it
1:16:14
did change my life, bro. Like, I'll have to say
1:16:16
that straight out the gate. It was strange, man.
1:16:20
Like, I drank, you know, we drank the medicine.
1:16:23
I was like, oh, yeah, cool, whatever. And then
1:16:27
my first ceremony was actually the most profound
1:16:33
from my own personal level because I think a
1:16:36
lot of people think they're going to go dig into
1:16:38
the deep dark, you know, back to their childhood
1:16:41
or whatever or some real dark sort of past, whereas
1:16:45
I never really had that. I had this thing where
1:16:48
I was just sort of sitting there after about
1:16:49
an hour or so. I just started seeing this image
1:16:51
of Nell, like, you know, right in front of me.
1:16:54
And I was like, oh, yeah, there's Nell. I kept
1:16:56
on trying to look past, you know, to see what
1:16:58
was sort of behind and just didn't go anywhere.
1:17:02
And I'm giving you the short version, obviously.
1:17:05
And then eventually I started realizing, I started
1:17:08
getting this message of, like, this is your queen
1:17:12
and you're not respecting her or, you know, you're
1:17:17
not treating her as such. And basically, like,
1:17:20
you know, you're taking her for granted. You
1:17:23
know, if you don't change your ways or if you
1:17:26
keep going on this way, then you could, the real
1:17:29
possibility that you would lose her, you will
1:17:31
lose her. And then I had this overwhelming feeling,
1:17:35
bro, for most of the ceremony of like that she
1:17:38
had left me or that we had broken up and that
1:17:41
regret and pain of that because I didn't realize
1:17:45
how much I loved her, honestly, until I was confronted
1:17:49
with that. and dude i was just squirming the
1:17:52
i was just like oh man oh no like like as if
1:17:56
it had happened you know i was getting it so
1:17:58
bad and then um so that that was you know still
1:18:03
gives me goosebumps today and then i've got a
1:18:05
18 year old daughter and um she wasn't that old
1:18:08
at the time obviously she was maybe 12 or 13
1:18:11
or something and so then it was like her image
1:18:14
and then you know she was I got to see her face
1:18:17
and then she just started crying and it was this,
1:18:20
it was things that I'd said to her in the past,
1:18:22
you know, that hurt her feelings and she was
1:18:25
projecting that feeling back onto me, you know,
1:18:27
and then I could feel it. And again, because
1:18:31
the reason I'm telling you this is because these
1:18:32
were all things that I'd never experienced before,
1:18:35
right? This was just getting punched in the dick.
1:18:40
The people that I love the most, you know what
1:18:42
I mean? Like, I was like, oh my God. And then,
1:18:46
of course, and then so obviously got past that.
1:18:49
But then the other part, I'm sure you've experienced
1:18:51
this, where I saw my body as not me, if you know
1:18:56
what I mean. And then suddenly I'm like, oh,
1:18:59
my God, I love you. The person that you see in
1:19:04
the mirror, you just think that's you, but it's
1:19:05
not you. It's the physical vehicle that you reside
1:19:09
in in this world. And so I just had this overwhelming
1:19:13
love for myself. And that was kind of the three
1:19:17
big takeaways from that first ceremony. And,
1:19:23
yeah, man, it was so, so deep. And then the next
1:19:28
morning, because we actually did two ceremonies,
1:19:30
but I just left that day, bro. I was like, I
1:19:34
need to go. And I was probably two hours away
1:19:36
from home. And I just got up early in the morning,
1:19:39
jumped in my truck, and I just boosted home.
1:19:41
And then Nell was there. She goes, oh, what are
1:19:43
you doing here? And I just said, I'll only talk
1:19:46
to you. And bro, I just like broke down in tears.
1:19:48
She'd never seen me. She'd never seen me like
1:19:52
that ever. And yeah, I just apologized. And it
1:19:57
was just too much, bro. I mean, I still get emotional
1:20:01
thinking about it now, but man, it was just,
1:20:03
I'm sure you've had some similar experiences
1:20:06
yourself. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, me and Emily
1:20:11
have drunk. I don't know. 50 60 times together
1:20:15
you know and just like man clean up the relationship
1:20:19
like every time like we fall short in so many
1:20:23
ways and it's so hard to see it you know like
1:20:26
your own blind spots it's so hard to see it's
1:20:30
so much you can see everyone else's faults you
1:20:33
know but like just to have that really clear
1:20:35
mirror is like almost impossible and it's like
1:20:38
why the medicine is just so beautiful Bro, and
1:20:42
I just so badly want to go to South America because
1:20:46
I haven't drunk now. So I've done eight ceremonies,
1:20:49
and just the last couple of ceremonies, I was
1:20:54
like, oh, I'm not done. I know I needed to go
1:20:58
to the jungle. Everyone's told me how much more
1:21:00
powerful the experience is in the jungle and
1:21:04
the medicine and everything. The thing that's
1:21:09
holding me back is my kids, right? I've got two
1:21:11
young kids and just the thought of leaving them
1:21:13
here and going to South America on my own, which
1:21:17
I would do if I didn't have – I'm just not prepared
1:21:20
to do that right now, you know? I don't want
1:21:23
to leave them because every ceremony I've ever
1:21:26
had, I've just needed to come home and be with
1:21:29
my family, like just spend the day with them
1:21:32
and just, you know, it's that. You know that
1:21:36
idea that if you did something, like I said,
1:21:39
if Nell had left me and then it was too late,
1:21:42
you know, it's like that waking up and getting
1:21:45
that second opportunity, you know, the one that
1:21:48
they do in the movies, right, that you've lost
1:21:51
your family but you wake up, it was all a bad
1:21:53
dream and then they're there. It's that feeling,
1:21:56
like this over -appreciation of what you have
1:21:59
and this gratitude of the people that are in
1:22:02
your life. It's just… Yeah, man, it's powerful
1:22:06
stuff, eh? Yeah, my teacher, he talks about like
1:22:10
the four laws of a good life that the Incas carried.
1:22:14
And the four laws are family, community, work,
1:22:20
and ceremony. And they say, what's the most important,
1:22:24
you know? And everyone goes family, right? But
1:22:27
they actually go like, no, it's ceremony. Because
1:22:29
like if you're no good, like in yourself. and
1:22:32
like you can't see the love and you're like full
1:22:34
of anxieties and depressions and you can't focus
1:22:37
and all of this like you're no good for anyone
1:22:38
else you know and like when we come to the medicine
1:22:41
it's like we get to look at all the places that
1:22:44
we're falling short and then just like you said
1:22:46
just go back with so much love you know like
1:22:49
actually see the world for what it is not like
1:22:51
living in this like weird illusion of what we
1:22:54
think it is All right. Yeah, it's changed my
1:23:00
life massively. And everyone that I – because
1:23:03
Bianca started doing these regular trips and
1:23:06
she's been doing them for years now. And so many
1:23:08
people have obviously just done ceremonies with
1:23:11
her. And so many of them, bro, like have gone
1:23:15
to South America now or like just changed their
1:23:20
lives in so many ways. And even when you do a
1:23:24
ceremony with people and you didn't think they
1:23:26
got much out of it, they keep coming back because
1:23:28
everyone's experience is individual, right? And
1:23:32
even Nell, for example, like she had a full Nara
1:23:34
first ceremony because she was like, it was two
1:23:37
people in the ceremony with us and they were
1:23:39
just basically sitting there. When does this
1:23:42
thing start? You know, just, and Nell was getting
1:23:47
this, you know, this Pachamama was saying, Barry,
1:23:50
you're not, you're not, I'm not, it's not a,
1:23:53
this isn't a rollercoaster. You know what I mean?
1:23:55
Like. You get this when you're ready, if you
1:24:00
know what I mean. And I even had one with her
1:24:04
where I was just getting this, like the taste
1:24:08
of ayahuasca was like so powerful in the morning.
1:24:12
And I had to do this ceremony and we were doing
1:24:14
one together. And I was getting physically sick
1:24:18
all day thinking about drinking the medicine.
1:24:22
And it came to the ceremony that night and I
1:24:25
just went, I'm not going to drink, bro. If I
1:24:29
think about this, I want to throw up. And I believe
1:24:33
that the message was that I needed to be strong,
1:24:35
be there for now as a support as opposed to I
1:24:41
was being basically told not to drink the medicine
1:24:43
that day because I've never had that ever since.
1:24:46
And as it happened, that was another. power of
1:24:53
the medicine that you know you know what i mean
1:24:55
there's so much to it that um is unexplainable
1:25:00
and it doesn't really make sense but i believe
1:25:02
that to be the um the message that day yeah i
1:25:08
mean the magic in its very nature is just irrational
1:25:11
you know yeah oh it's beautiful work man and
1:25:15
and you know like meeting you guys at at bitcoin
1:25:19
vegas like You meet a lot of cool Bitcoiners
1:25:23
and you're like, oh, yeah, like that, you know,
1:25:25
they're doing the Bitcoin thing. They're like
1:25:27
actually really understand what's going on. They
1:25:29
have like this extra layer of discernment around
1:25:32
how to navigate life because they understand
1:25:34
Bitcoin. But it was like when I met you and now
1:25:36
it was like immediately I was like, I see you.
1:25:40
You know what I mean? Like I see the spirit in
1:25:42
you. And then like obviously the conversation
1:25:44
led to drinking ayahuasca and it was like, oh,
1:25:46
there it is. It makes perfect sense. As soon
1:25:49
as you said you lived in South America, we're
1:25:51
like, ooh. Yeah, and it's real interesting, actually,
1:25:55
bro. So some Bitcoiners, I won't mention their
1:26:00
names, but that are quite involved with some
1:26:04
of the funding aspect of what now that's up to,
1:26:08
they're also drinkers as well. that came out
1:26:14
because they've spent some time in south america
1:26:17
and whatnot as well and so of course that's like
1:26:18
oh and of course they drink because you just
1:26:21
know before you you know like you say you see
1:26:24
each other and it's just cool because anytime
1:26:27
you talk to somebody that's drank medicine um
1:26:31
there's a bit of a kindred sort of connection
1:26:34
there And the thing is when you relate your stories,
1:26:39
like I get emotional listening to other people's
1:26:40
stories, bro, because I feel it. I know that
1:26:43
they're not making this thing up or they're embellishing
1:26:46
it. Like that is what they experienced, eh? And
1:26:49
I don't know, I get real emotional about that,
1:26:51
eh? Like my sister -in -law was having an experience
1:26:55
with her mother who I know, you know. Yeah, just
1:26:59
like. there's just so many yeah cool cool experiences
1:27:03
from family and things like that so um yeah i
1:27:07
can't wait to come to south america dude probably
1:27:09
come peru's seems a bit out the gate for me but
1:27:14
um yeah who knows yeah it's cool man down there
1:27:18
it's scrappy you kind of gotta love the scrappy
1:27:20
but it's it's cool and yeah like the medicine
1:27:23
out in the jungle like they're no joke you know
1:27:25
they're the they're out there drinking 300 nights
1:27:29
a year That's serious. Serious. That's mental.
1:27:35
No, I've only ever done two in a row, I think.
1:27:39
I've never done more than two in a row because
1:27:41
it's just the way it's rolled. But, yeah, I want
1:27:43
to go to a retreat, man, and spend a good week
1:27:46
or two or whatever it takes to really get into
1:27:49
it and do some work. You know what I mean? I
1:27:50
feel like I'm starting to get that calling again,
1:27:53
eh? yeah plants are wonderful teachers and there's
1:27:58
just so much noise in the world you know just
1:28:00
so much noise like you open up your phone you
1:28:03
turn the tv on whatever it is and it's just like
1:28:05
bombarded with shit you know and like then you're
1:28:09
just out in nature and like just with the plants
1:28:11
and everything is just so balanced you know i
1:28:15
mean it's that idea of raising your vibration
1:28:17
hey like you know this idea that um So social
1:28:22
media, for example, you know, this idea that
1:28:24
that's where the energy farming and that comes
1:28:26
from, right? Like you're giving your energy to
1:28:28
this thing that's like all the Trump stuff, the
1:28:31
Epstein files, you know, all the stuff that's
1:28:34
not good. But why am I spending my energy, like
1:28:40
giving it to this low vibration, you know, and
1:28:44
being in that, in that. space when you're so
1:28:49
right go outside look at the sun breathe in the
1:28:52
fresh air listen to the birds like we we need
1:28:55
to raise our vibration so you know i'm real conscious
1:28:58
of that now you know alcohol lowers your vibration
1:29:04
you know everything lowers your vibration people's
1:29:09
energy you know i can't be around people that
1:29:11
have got negative um thinking on any level i
1:29:14
just don't want to be around it not because i
1:29:16
don't love them i don't like these people it's
1:29:17
like nah bro i'm not coming i'm not getting involved
1:29:22
in this conversation i can't be around you yeah
1:29:24
yeah i mean you just start navigating life so
1:29:28
differently like once you're playing the consciousness
1:29:30
game i doubt and you feel it man i mean so so
1:29:35
ayahuasca another thing brought me to god like
1:29:37
i i'm a christian now so I believe in Jesus Christ.
1:29:43
That's just my beliefs. And unwittingly, you
1:29:46
know, through drinking ayahuasca is what brought
1:29:48
me to God. I was pretty much agnostic. I think
1:29:53
I just didn't think that or I wasn't an atheist.
1:29:58
I just wasn't sure. Like I would call it the
1:30:01
universe. You know what I mean? I wouldn't come
1:30:03
out and say God. And then. This is just my own.
1:30:09
This is where I'm at with it. Like, you know,
1:30:12
I believe that God created the world. And I was
1:30:17
at church once, just a local church here, and
1:30:21
I'm quite friendly with the pastor in that here.
1:30:23
And he said he was handing out these leaves.
1:30:27
It was in the middle of autumn. And he said,
1:30:29
I want you to look at this leaf and just ponder
1:30:33
this leaf, right, and just look at it and just.
1:30:36
feel what jesus is trying to tell you about this
1:30:39
and i'm like oh leaf all right the whole you
1:30:42
know we're sitting outside actually it was a
1:30:44
nice day and i turned this leaf over bro and
1:30:46
i start looking at this leaf and i swear to god
1:30:49
man i just started seeing it as a creation like
1:30:52
oh my god look at this thing and the more you
1:30:54
looked at it the the deeper the detail you know
1:30:57
you started seeing how this thing was constructed
1:31:00
and how you know, how it works and how on the
1:31:03
face of it, that's where the sun and the photosynthesis.
1:31:06
And then you realize that that leaf is part of
1:31:09
millions of other leaves and, you know, that
1:31:12
leaf is insignificant, but it's actually very
1:31:14
important because it supports the whole tree
1:31:17
and that, you know, we're effectively like a
1:31:19
leaf, you know, like we're sort of insignificant,
1:31:21
but important to God at the same time. And you
1:31:23
realize that if someone created that as an artwork,
1:31:27
you know, you think, oh, this is the greatest
1:31:28
art that's ever been. you know created but reality
1:31:32
is god created that that leaf like there could
1:31:36
only be a creator this thing didn't just happen
1:31:38
by chance this didn't just happen there was nothing
1:31:41
and then we had a big bang and then suddenly
1:31:44
it was all there bro that's just not good enough
1:31:47
you know like you can see god everywhere you
1:31:50
just have to be prepared to to see it you know
1:31:54
look at it and and you know sit in nature and
1:31:57
just ponder what it is like to your point before
1:32:00
like get off internet sit there do some breathing
1:32:03
and just look at the world that's around you
1:32:06
because it's right there in front of us and we're
1:32:09
all just head down in the matrix you know completely
1:32:13
disconnected with nature and that's sadly where
1:32:17
the human race is these days yeah my my best
1:32:22
buddy he came out to to drink medicine with me
1:32:26
in like june of last year and then since like
1:32:28
you know he's been going pretty hard he's probably
1:32:30
done like 60 ceremonies in the last you know
1:32:33
year or so and uh he just like the other day
1:32:38
i was just talking to him and he was like man
1:32:40
like i'm just starting to realize like the world
1:32:43
is actually perfect and we just it up you know
1:32:48
it's so easy to be like the world is but like
1:32:51
the world is perfect you know nature is just
1:32:55
divine the world bro you don't need to do anything
1:32:58
to the world the world just does its thing right
1:33:00
like it just we we garden like you know i don't
1:33:03
not personally but you know we create gardens
1:33:05
and things like this and nature just i mean you
1:33:08
live in the jungle bro you you you cannot curate
1:33:11
that man that thing just does its thing and it
1:33:13
works perfectly yeah i was uh i was living down
1:33:18
in the jungle for three months working with jaguars
1:33:22
And I'd like go and cut these trails so that
1:33:24
I could like take them out on like the hikes
1:33:26
through the jungle. And just like the sheer intensity
1:33:30
of the life down there is almost overwhelming.
1:33:34
Where I would go and get a machete and I'd like
1:33:36
cut these trails. They're like 10 kilometers
1:33:38
long, you know, so I could take the animals out.
1:33:41
And within three days, the jungle would just
1:33:44
consume the trails. It's just like, what the
1:33:49
fuck, man? it's so intense that's why they don't
1:33:53
have roads right through the amazon right they
1:33:55
just can't be done i think is that is that what
1:33:57
that yeah for sure it's insanity you know it's
1:34:02
insanity man and like there's like a ketos which
1:34:04
is like the biggest city not accessible by road
1:34:08
and it's out in the middle of the amazon you
1:34:10
know you can't drive there that's where all the
1:34:14
um is that where all the retreats are akitos
1:34:16
yeah yeah they're kind of usually like in akitos
1:34:19
or pokolpo which is like a little bit further
1:34:21
south bro that looks so hardcore to me i was
1:34:25
my mate was telling me about it so i looked it
1:34:28
up online and there's like vultures and freaking
1:34:31
you know just i'm just like whoa that place looks
1:34:34
gnarly it is it is gnarly it's all it's amazing
1:34:38
though but it's gnarly you know yeah i want to
1:34:41
go yeah nice Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. So where, where,
1:34:47
where were you based yourself? Like where, where
1:34:50
were you based? I'm going to be based in the
1:34:51
sacred Valley. So like, I'm like up in the Andes,
1:34:54
like I'll be living at 3000 something meters
1:34:57
above sea level. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like
1:35:01
the air is thin up there and like, it takes like
1:35:03
three weeks to acclimatize. Um, but I just like,
1:35:07
I really. I had this calling to just like go
1:35:09
live in Peru and just kind of switch it up from
1:35:11
living in Costa Rica. And it's so cheap there,
1:35:15
but the jungle is like amazing. Cause obviously
1:35:18
like the medicine's really close, but it's just
1:35:19
so intense. It's so hot, you know? And the sacred
1:35:24
Valley is like 20 every day, all year round.
1:35:27
And then like at night, it's like fluctuates
1:35:30
between like 10 and zero. It's kind of like a
1:35:32
high desert. but where i'm living it's only like
1:35:36
one degree further away from the equator than
1:35:39
i am here you know like i'm in the jungle so
1:35:43
it's like it's tropical it's just super high
1:35:46
altitude that's mad and and so what what was
1:35:51
the reason for going there like why why do you
1:35:53
choose there i mean i think there's like a fair
1:35:58
size like expat community so there's like people
1:36:01
around um and yeah like the the culture is is
1:36:09
cool there where hot like 50 like you go to the
1:36:14
market right on a saturday like the farmer's
1:36:16
market and 50 of the people are still talking
1:36:19
quechua right they're not even speaking spanish
1:36:22
so like there's like really deep indigenous roots
1:36:25
and like the andes like have their culture and
1:36:28
it like hasn't been totally like captured and
1:36:31
conquered yet even with 500 years of like spanish
1:36:34
influence you know whereas like you go to like
1:36:37
the capital city it's like it's it's very spanish
1:36:40
you know so it was kind of like a perfect midpoint
1:36:44
where it's like you know still very deep roots
1:36:47
and like beautiful traditions and a beautiful
1:36:48
culture that's still like somewhat intact um
1:36:52
but the weather's also pretty good do you think
1:36:59
you would be uh trying to be a shaman or is that
1:37:03
something you're keen on or i mean we'll see
1:37:05
you know it's a long arduous difficult path you
1:37:09
know but like from my perspective there's not
1:37:14
really like a greater path that you can walk
1:37:18
in this life than like learning to do that but
1:37:21
you know i'm also young i'm like only 28 years
1:37:24
old you know so like i'm gonna just continue
1:37:26
taking kind of steps slowly towards it um but
1:37:30
you know once you really start it's like 10 years
1:37:33
of like serious apprenticeship you know right
1:37:36
it's i mean speaking to the shaman that i know
1:37:39
like i feel like that's i feel like it's a um
1:37:42
I almost feel like you don't get a choice, eh?
1:37:45
That's what I'm thinking. I don't know if I'm
1:37:47
right or not wrong, but it's like the shaman
1:37:51
that I know, it's like she is, I could be wrong,
1:37:54
but I feel like it just drags her back in. You
1:37:57
know what I mean? It's like life, you know, like,
1:38:00
yeah, I just, I wouldn't want to talk about her
1:38:06
like private life, but I feel as though my observation
1:38:11
is that it's, just you get dragged into it you
1:38:14
know like you might have some money and then
1:38:16
it goes so then you're back into it you're unlucky
1:38:19
in love or whatever it is like all these circumstances
1:38:22
that kind of keep bringing you back to that and
1:38:28
then I don't even think that man I've had so
1:38:31
many profound experiences and I'm like what you
1:38:34
do is just incredible but i don't think she sees
1:38:39
it i've never met any other shaman i don't know
1:38:41
if they feel the same way or whether they're
1:38:43
kind of just you know once you get selected you
1:38:47
don't really have a choice you'll get rewarded
1:38:50
and maybe in the next life i'm not sure but it
1:38:53
seems like a pretty brutal vocation hey oh dude
1:38:57
it's so brutal like I can't think of a more difficult
1:39:03
path to walk in this life either. And it scares
1:39:05
me, you know, but I just feel like, I don't know,
1:39:08
I'm just kind of like meant to walk this path.
1:39:10
So like I got to see it through, you know. Because
1:39:14
for me, it's like the diet in that, you know.
1:39:17
And so a couple of the ceremonies that I did,
1:39:21
I didn't take the diet very serious and they
1:39:25
were not very good. ceremonies, actually. And
1:39:28
so I'm like, oh, okay, you've got to do it properly.
1:39:32
You know, you've got to dedicate yourself. That's
1:39:34
part of the, bro, the least you can do is sort
1:39:37
of prepare yourself right, eh? You know, you
1:39:39
can't just rock up on the day and go, oh, let's
1:39:42
go, you know? So again, you know, obviously very
1:39:46
limited experience, but that's one thing I think
1:39:49
I've learned from my experience is that it's
1:39:52
no joke. And, you know, you need to prepare accordingly
1:39:55
and, you know, respect it. I feel that. You got
1:40:00
to love it, you know. You have to love it. I'm
1:40:03
getting a calling, bro. Like I'm telling you,
1:40:05
in the last sort of year, I suppose, I'll be
1:40:07
down. And I've actually changed so much as a
1:40:11
person since my last ceremony, you know, because
1:40:15
it's a journey, right? And I was telling you
1:40:17
before we went on air, like everything's fake,
1:40:19
everything, and I see it as that. Once you wake
1:40:24
up to it, you can't unsee, you know, what you
1:40:28
know now, right? Like governments are fake. The
1:40:31
money system is fake. The pharmaceutical industry
1:40:33
is fake. The food industry is fake. The education
1:40:35
system is fake. Everyone at the top level is
1:40:38
connected in some sort of weird way. We're chasing
1:40:43
these dreams, if you like, for what purpose,
1:40:47
you know, like these careers and things like
1:40:49
that that don't actually mean anything, bro.
1:40:52
You talk to someone who's got a high -stress
1:40:55
job and, you know, all they're doing is, oh,
1:40:57
my God, you know, this, that, and the other.
1:40:59
I'm like, bro, what do you care? Like, you could
1:41:00
die today and no one will give a fuck. Your job
1:41:03
will be up for, you know, on seek within a week.
1:41:08
You know what I mean? Why do you care? And you
1:41:13
have to wake up to this, like, what is – this
1:41:16
is the thing, like, this, you know, this NPC
1:41:18
behavior. Like, you're either – This is a thing
1:41:21
like, you know, conspiracy theorists, right?
1:41:22
Like if you don't, if you're not a conspiracy
1:41:24
theorist now, are you even a real person? Yeah,
1:41:31
totally. Bro, I mean, like, are you even freaking
1:41:35
a real person or are you just some drone, like
1:41:40
some sort of clone? Because you can't live in
1:41:43
this world. It's not acceptable, you know, like.
1:41:46
I love that scene in The Matrix, you know, he's
1:41:47
eating that steak. He goes, I know the steak
1:41:49
isn't real, you know, but I don't want to remember
1:41:51
anything. And it can be quite confronting at
1:41:55
times and it gets quite overwhelming. But I want
1:41:59
to know. I want to seek truth. I want to learn
1:42:03
more. I'm up for it. You know what I mean? It
1:42:06
does get pretty dark at times. I don't want to
1:42:10
fucking live the way I did before where I was
1:42:12
completely oblivious to the real world. And I
1:42:16
was, you know, thinking I was being a good little
1:42:19
worker bee, I suppose, a slave, you know, just
1:42:23
sort of existing. And I see that in the church
1:42:27
as well. Like, I haven't been a Christian that
1:42:29
long, but my relationship with Jesus is quite
1:42:32
different. I don't necessarily like church. And
1:42:37
I was attending church for a while, but then
1:42:39
I started realizing, bro, half these people are
1:42:41
asleep. They're just doing it because that's
1:42:44
what they believe is what's required to be a
1:42:49
good Christian. Whereas I believe that to have
1:42:54
a relationship with Jesus, you do that in solitude.
1:42:58
You do that as my relationship with him. And
1:43:01
I don't need to be part of a congregation to
1:43:03
do that. My relationship with God is personal,
1:43:06
and I want to develop that relationship. But
1:43:11
I'm not going to do it through a church, really.
1:43:15
That's kind of how I feel about it. Yeah, no,
1:43:18
I totally understand that. My teacher's teacher
1:43:21
down in the jungle, he's like big deal. He's
1:43:24
like the Dumbledore, the Yoda of ayahuasca down
1:43:28
in the jungle. and uh he while like my teacher
1:43:34
was apprenticing with him he was always like
1:43:36
you know no bible no jesus no none of that because
1:43:39
like you know the spanish came in so heavy like
1:43:42
all through south america and he was like trying
1:43:44
to maintain his indigenous roots and not take
1:43:47
in like the the ideas of what spirit's meant
1:43:51
to be you know and then like you know 15 years
1:43:56
ago So he's like, you know, 65 at this point.
1:44:00
And Jesus comes to him in ceremony, you know,
1:44:03
and they like sit down and they like talk for
1:44:06
a few hours. And then now he just like walks
1:44:08
around with this giant stainless steel cross.
1:44:11
And it's like, he found his way to it. You know,
1:44:14
it had nothing to do with the book. It had nothing
1:44:16
to do with like a religion or a congregation
1:44:19
or anything like that. It was like, he just found
1:44:21
that what that means, you know, that heart. A
1:44:25
hundred percent. And that's kind of what I'm
1:44:28
trying to say is, like, I don't need to be taught
1:44:31
in a church. And I could be completely wrong.
1:44:33
I don't think I am because, again, it's my personal
1:44:36
relationship. And I had a similar experience,
1:44:41
which I considered. So I used to own this other
1:44:44
business, which was a float therapy place. And
1:44:47
we would do ketamine floats. That. If you ever
1:44:55
get the opportunity, try that, man, because that
1:44:58
is some, you're talking to God when you're doing
1:45:02
that, that's for sure. And so I would do those
1:45:05
on occasion and had some pretty profound experiences,
1:45:09
you know, talking to God and healing your body
1:45:13
and things like this. It's like pretty wild and
1:45:16
a lot different to plant medicine. Same with
1:45:20
mushrooms as well, like I sort of dabble in those
1:45:22
from time to time. But, yes, I think ayahuasca
1:45:27
or plant medicine is definitely in a league of
1:45:30
its own. Yeah. Ayahuasca is like top of the totem
1:45:34
pole, you know. 100%, bro. It's, yeah. You're
1:45:40
actually getting me excited now. I need to, well,
1:45:42
not excited. I don't know if that's the real
1:45:43
world. It's like the calling is getting stronger.
1:45:48
And like, you know, for me, like I go through
1:45:50
phases of like, you know, really kind of intense
1:45:53
work with the medicine and then like I back off
1:45:55
and then like reevaluate and make changes in
1:45:57
my life and all of this. And, you know, it's
1:46:01
nice to just go back every now and then and just
1:46:03
get the next set of orders, you know, the next
1:46:07
to do list of what needs to be done to like live
1:46:10
a good life. Yeah, it's um. I mean, yeah, as
1:46:16
I said, I can't speak highly enough about it,
1:46:18
the experience of it. I've never experienced
1:46:21
my own death. I know people have had that in
1:46:24
ceremony. I'm not sure if you have, but that's
1:46:26
not something I'm looking forward to experience,
1:46:28
but I'm told that. Yeah, no, of course. Well,
1:46:36
that's the thing about ayahuasca, eh? It's not
1:46:39
– I tell people, like, this isn't fun, bros.
1:46:42
This isn't like – a weekend with the boys like
1:46:46
this is serious shit and it's yeah it's nasty
1:46:52
i feel in some but i mean it's it you know what's
1:46:55
the it it's just essential i think yeah there's
1:47:03
just so much to come to terms with you know and
1:47:05
there's so much healing to do There's so, there's
1:47:08
so many like invisible leashes that are pulling
1:47:11
us all around the place and putting us in weird
1:47:13
situations because we're just like running on
1:47:15
autopilot, you know? And like, to me, that's
1:47:18
what it's all about. It's just about like accessing
1:47:20
more free will less like control, you know, my
1:47:23
own consciousness. A hundred percent. Cause I
1:47:26
feel that we're, you know, in society and you
1:47:28
know, is that we're, we're, we're dumbing down.
1:47:35
I don't know what you want to call it, like consciousness,
1:47:37
I guess. Most people don't even realize that
1:47:41
we have a conscience, like really, that we can
1:47:44
raise our vibration. And you feel it in a room,
1:47:47
bro. Like you work into a room and it's electric.
1:47:51
You feel that. We are. And then you can walk
1:47:54
into a real dark environment as well and you
1:47:56
can sense it. We're not even taught that stuff.
1:47:59
It's just in us. And sadly, we just… We're not
1:48:03
taught to, you know, I believe that I've got
1:48:05
so much to learn to, you know, I don't even meditate,
1:48:09
you know. It's something that I've always thought
1:48:11
I want to learn about, but I haven't actually
1:48:14
done the work, you know. I've tried to meditate
1:48:17
and I just, oh, man, my mind is to focus, you
1:48:21
know. Do you meditate? I mean, not like consistently.
1:48:26
I've gone through phases, you know. But I mean,
1:48:31
the real goal is to make life the meditation.
1:48:35
What's the point of having a practice where you
1:48:37
sit on a mat to get a lie and then you stand
1:48:40
up and then you go back to life and you're just
1:48:42
flailing around? Life happens in action. It certainly
1:48:50
does. Yeah, cool. I mean, maybe the last thing
1:48:55
I just want to touch on, just out of interest.
1:48:58
obsessed with indigenous cultures as someone
1:49:01
who's part maori i wonder how that's influenced
1:49:04
your like perspective on life yeah look i'm probably
1:49:09
i had a bit of a strange one so my biological
1:49:11
father was and my mother were real young and
1:49:15
so i never really knew him um and so even though
1:49:19
i've been part of the you know um the culture
1:49:22
I suppose I wasn't raised that way so I grew
1:49:25
up in the South Island of New Zealand right so
1:49:28
right at the bottom and then my father and my
1:49:33
whakapapa is what it's called is from the top
1:49:36
of the North Island so I've been there a couple
1:49:40
of times but I don't have a big knowledge of
1:49:44
my ancestry when it comes to that and when I
1:49:49
was about 18 I suppose I went through a real
1:49:52
identity crisis because I wanted to know more
1:49:55
about this culture or who I was and where I came
1:49:59
from. And, you know, I did study that for a couple
1:50:04
of years and learned more of the language and
1:50:06
all the rest of it. But again, it's, you know,
1:50:09
a lot of what I see with indigenous cultures
1:50:13
around the world, and you may think this from
1:50:15
Australia, we're going through the same thing
1:50:18
where it's actually a tool for dividing. the
1:50:21
country we've got a real divided divisive um
1:50:26
so we've got a race -based party in in in politics
1:50:30
to party maori and they're just radicals and
1:50:33
they're and they're just telling everyone that
1:50:35
they should feel aggrieved and um you know that
1:50:39
we should be angry at the white man and i don't
1:50:42
know i see that in other parts of the world as
1:50:45
well which isn't helpful because there is a lot
1:50:48
of great things about Māori people and their
1:50:50
culture and our culture, if you like. But it's,
1:50:53
I don't know, it's not being used for good and
1:50:59
that there's a lot of division being created
1:51:01
in the country. And I don't think it's a good
1:51:08
thing for the country, if you like, just trying
1:51:11
to put people in different camps. But to answer
1:51:17
your question, like I don't – there's a – I think
1:51:21
it's one of Bob Marley's albums. I always remember
1:51:26
it because – and on the back cover, I don't know
1:51:28
if it's positive Rastaman vibration or whatever
1:51:31
it's called, positive vibration, where he says
1:51:34
a man without any knowledge of his past or his
1:51:37
family is like a tree without roots. And I've
1:51:40
always felt like that, bro, because I've never
1:51:41
really had that. deep connection to my to my
1:51:46
family so i'm probably the wrong person to ask
1:51:49
i mean like we're all going through it you know
1:51:53
what i mean i have no idea what my ancestors
1:51:57
were doing no idea you know well i'll tell you
1:52:00
what so like on my mother's side we never had
1:52:04
like anzac is a good example i never had much
1:52:08
of a connection to anzac day because In my knowledge,
1:52:11
we never had any family that fought in the war.
1:52:14
And I only learned maybe 10 years ago that I
1:52:18
had a lot of family, like great uncles and, you
1:52:21
know, that actually fought in the Second World
1:52:23
War and, you know, were lost over there and whatnot.
1:52:26
And, man, it's given me a sense of pride. You
1:52:30
know, I don't advocate for war on any level.
1:52:33
But to know that I had, you know, blood family
1:52:36
that fought in those wars, effectively gave their
1:52:41
life uh to the rothschilds um you know that that's
1:52:48
a real sad sad thing but it makes me feel proud
1:52:50
that i had family that um went there and you
1:52:53
know died sadly yeah yeah man i definitely had
1:53:01
some family who were out that way but yeah i
1:53:04
mean like you know i try to like kind of find
1:53:07
my ancestry you know and I'm like sixth generation
1:53:12
white Australian on my dad's side and fifth on
1:53:15
my mom's. And it's like, I got no idea. But this
1:53:20
is the thing, bro. Like you've been taught, we've
1:53:22
been told now that you shouldn't feel proud of
1:53:24
that, of your whiteness. And it's so bad, man.
1:53:26
Like we should, you know, I don't, cause I believe
1:53:31
that history is a lie as well. You know, that's
1:53:32
probably for a whole nother episode. Like, and
1:53:35
it's easy. Bro, it's exactly right. You know,
1:53:38
it's so easy to actually see the fakeness in
1:53:41
our history. And so, you know, for some one race,
1:53:47
like to then want reparations from something
1:53:49
that they didn't live through, that you didn't
1:53:51
actually do, but somehow, you know, need to pay
1:53:55
it. It's just, it's not helpful, bro. Like none
1:53:59
of this idea of that living in the past and someone
1:54:02
must pay or something like that. I don't, I don't
1:54:05
know if. If my family, my ancestors were fucked
1:54:08
over by Captain Cook or whoever, I don't know
1:54:11
that. And as sad as that is, I'm not hung up
1:54:15
on that. I don't want to be, I don't know, given
1:54:19
any sort of reparations or I feel like I'm hard
1:54:21
done by or anything like that. I'm just focused
1:54:24
on me and my family and what's ahead of us, not
1:54:27
what's behind me. You know, it's not helpful.
1:54:33
Oh. to a brighter future yeah man for sure well
1:54:39
thank you so much ricky for talking to me um
1:54:42
you have a podcast potentially coming out yeah
1:54:49
yeah yep i'm just sort of um we'll chat for sure
1:54:52
because i want to get you on there um because
1:54:55
I mean, the catalyst was Bitcoin because I always
1:54:59
wanted to be involved in Bitcoin. You know, I'm
1:55:01
not a computer scientist. I'm not a finance guru.
1:55:04
But I just think in order to push the awareness
1:55:08
out there, everyone, I mean, if you've, I was
1:55:12
like, what can I do? And I was like, okay, I
1:55:13
can buy some podcasting equipment and talk to
1:55:16
some interesting people. And that is sort of
1:55:18
still the plan. It's just I've got a lot of other
1:55:21
things going on as well. Yeah, piece by piece.
1:55:24
I mean, I was talking about getting this thing
1:55:26
started for like three years. You know, the coolest
1:55:32
thing, bro, that I've learned, you know, is that
1:55:34
you just get to talk to good people for a good
1:55:37
couple of hours or however long an hour or whatever.
1:55:40
And, you know. my people or our people, you know
1:55:45
what I mean? And how cool is it that we've got
1:55:47
technology that allows us to do it, right? You're
1:55:49
literally on the other side of the world yesterday
1:55:51
and we can do this in real time. That's the real
1:55:55
cool things about technology that we have today.
1:55:58
Yeah, absolutely, man. Absolutely. Makes the
1:56:01
world feel small. Yeah. Unreal. Okay. I think
1:56:06
that's all. I think that's all I got. That's
1:56:10
good talking to you, man. Yeah, man. Appreciate
1:56:12
it. Absolutely. All right. Another one in the
1:56:14
bank. All my relations.