Ep 98 - Self Discovery and the Existential Meaning of Life

hi everyone welcome to the psychology and spirituality a bridge to Better Life discussion I'm your host Marcia trano and with me is yudi Castro yudi it's so so good to have you back with us and just know that I really enjoy how we come together our conversations around psychology and spirituality if you don't know yudy yet he's a clinical psycholog psychologist sorry and a spiritist hi Yi how's everything everything is great thank you so much Marcia always a pleasure to be here awesome awesome and Yi I just wanted to start a conversation um because we're now tackling right self-discovery and existential meaning of life so I wanted to perhaps take a second to to introduce our conversation because existential meaning meaning of life right can be defined as the search for purpose the search for meaning for significance in a world that we live that is so chaotic at best and at worst indifferent we live a world that nobody cares right nobody cares and uh when we talk about existential right existential meaning I think it's important for us to perhaps reference the work by the very famous existentialist like Jean Paul SRE Albert kumu and uh they both argued that life life has no inherent meaning oh boy and uh they argue that we you and I and all of us here all of us uh that are part of this or life with another eight billion people like all each one of us must create our own meaning and we do that through choices actions experiences so on one hand um this perspective emphasizes to all of us to to seek personal freedom at the same time exercising that with responsibility um and points us to this idea of living authentically living an authentic life and this is on one hand right on the other hand um this also acknowledges Yi the struggles that we all face which is just living simply existing um as I'm mentioned briefly our society today as a whole is dealing with so much right and I know um psychologists like yourself are I'm sure dealing with patients that are facing isolation but facing um increasing

ioned briefly our society today as a whole is dealing with so much right and I know um psychologists like yourself are I'm sure dealing with patients that are facing isolation but facing um increasing isolation but also facing anxiety um struggling with the inevitability of death and thank goodness for our belief systems uh that from a spirituality perspective that physical death does not mean death right but uh regardless of that it is all packaged together quite scary isn't it so I'd love if we could spend a few minutes talking about how uh we can confront these challenges how can we find our path our path to um achieving a life that is fulfilled uh of embracing all of these uncertainties but really creating our own meaningful narrative as we Face the absurdity of it all right how can we be ready and have the courage to take on this journey to self-discovery what are your thoughts excellent reflection Marc I think that you touched on many different subjects that are very interesting I want to start talking about the meaning of life as you started saying like those philosophers uh came to my mind the idea that you know we life is what we make of it so we assign the meaning to our lives to our experiences as a whole and talking about the field of Clinical Psychology made me uh think of the diathesis stress model of disorders which is this idea that most conditions there is a genetic component behind them most of these disorders that we have in the DSM 5tr but there's also something else that accounts for that so let me give an example when we're talking about schizophrenia concordance rates of twins fraternal and identical meaning those who are genetically the same and those who are not genetically the same 100% the same is for 48% for those who are genetically identical meaning if one twin develops schizophrenia there's a 48% chance or 48% of the cases the other one will but it's only 26% for those who are not genetically the same and even when when they're raised in different

one twin develops schizophrenia there's a 48% chance or 48% of the cases the other one will but it's only 26% for those who are not genetically the same and even when when they're raised in different places uh in life so there's a lower rate which means that even though biology accounts for a lot of that it doesn't account for it all there's something behind there's something else that will that accounts for these changes and in this example the development of a disorder as debilitating as schizophrenia and therapist I mean different different psychological um approaches have started to look into that what is what what are the meaning of these stressful events and how can they trigger these conditions so there there must be something there that separates those who are genetically the same in which one will develop a condition while the other one will not even when they're raised apart or when they're raised under the same household so there is very much we can say scientific proof for this idea that there is we do attach some meaning to our traumatic experiences or our experiences in general that can even dictate the course of a psychiatric condition for us to think about yeah this is very interesting right from a uh statistical measure of that biological aspect of schizophrenia in this case right and and what are your thoughts in terms of uh okay two twins and one develops schizophrenia one does not what is the what is the trigger event based on the research that you've seen or what are the things that we let's say I am a mother of twins what can I do to to look for those uh evidence that uh there may be something there yeah so the idea is good question the idea is that even let's say the the twins are 100% the same genetically and they are raised under the same household and let's say it's a traumatic household one if one develops the other one won't it already hints to this idea that psychologically there is a difference in those two even though everything if you

old and let's say it's a traumatic household one if one develops the other one won't it already hints to this idea that psychologically there is a difference in those two even though everything if you think about it everything is the same the environment is basically the same genetically they're the same they're physically and everything are they're identical you know they're the same but there's something else there and that's why I think and this is where I think spiritism brings so much light into this issue because yes Through The Eyes of our Mater through our materialistic eyes through the eyes of the world superficially they are the same they are raised the same how can one develop and the other one doesn't but then we got to remember that the all of this all of the material is is passing isn't passing it's not it's not going to last it's ephemeris but there's a spirit inside there's a an eternal spirit inhabiting that body with its own set of challenges with with its own set sets of uh of qualities so that is is the biggest leap I think and that's where spiritism can contribute so much to science in general to the psychological field by shedding light into these individual differences that exist no matter no matter if the environment is the same no matter if genetically they're the same so let me pivot back to the question right so for a parent looking to the external evidence of this or that it doesn't matter because it's superficial it's material uh it it brings that material lens to which we're looking at life uh so how can we pivot that to uh what about our journey um this self-discover journey because it is a very individual Journey right a parent cannot do that Journey for for the child right how can we uh use that to really um understanding to what you were alluding earlier this attributing meaning to our lives great question I mean it is it is this idea that no we're all individual beings and you mentioned the parents so what to look for is definitely to look

ng earlier this attributing meaning to our lives great question I mean it is it is this idea that no we're all individual beings and you mentioned the parents so what to look for is definitely to look for any signs of trauma anything that those let's say mother of twins or father of twins that and knowing that those two are different they're very different they're different Spirits they're different indiv idual so looking for signs on both of them but understanding that one may show signs and the other one may not but that but that doesn't mean that the one that's showing will develop could be actually the other way around so just being Mindful and attentive as a parent to the individual differences and the individual needs of both of them and let me tie that to your second question of the self-discovery because yeah the self- knowledge or the self-discovery this process this arduous process that we're still going through also puts the light back on us the mirror is raised and we're looking at ourselves and seeing okay what are some of my my own challenges what are some of my own shortcomings what are some of the my own abilities and how can I contribute to not only my life my own you know process of individuation my own idea of this development but also to those around me yeah very very very interesting um Reflections right in indeed Joanna deangeles in she has written extensively about this topic so whenever she talks about self-discovery she really emphasizes this importance of taking the time investing the energy for um this self-discovery through introspection and um in understanding um who we are truly but how can we do this do you know any anything that we can perhaps uh bring here as aspect for how to start our own journey and how to uncover those layers right uh and and we peel one layer there's a a deeper one that belongs to to us uh in in in this uh as Freud plits right our our personal unconscious and Jung explores even further with the collective conscious

nd and we peel one layer there's a a deeper one that belongs to to us uh in in in this uh as Freud plits right our our personal unconscious and Jung explores even further with the collective conscious but those are so many layers that we are immersed in how can we start to be able to peel those through the Journey of self-discovery what are your thoughts and and maybe you can elucidate to to everyone here on this live yes so I I think that the first step is to have the courage to look inward to have the courage to put like I said to raise the mirror and try to see yeah what can we discover because if you look at the word itself self-discovery we're discovering and the process of discovery mean that there's something there so what are we what are we going to find you know once when we put the the mirror to ourselves and we're trying to look to see what we're going to what we're going to encounter what we're going to discover because there is something there and what is there is this Immortal spirit with all its flaws and its abilities and all of the things that he has accomplished but there's so much more that we need to accomplish there's so much more that we still have ahead of us in the in terms of growth in terms of uh development so and and from the back sorry but from the back uh uh right all that we carry that we bring in uh we can say there are trauma there are moments of extreme pain that we carry that we may not be truly aware of almost as if um he used the word self-discovery and I'm the mental image yudi is you know the Pioneers let's talk about North America right so uh if you think about even today how strous it is to if you say I'm going to go on a hike right I'm gonna go on a hike today and oh what do I have to take with me well boots so you don't step on snakes that will bite to or pepper spray for the Bears that you go to can you imagine 500 was years ago when those first pioneers were doing that encounter this Virgin Territory full of everything that you don't know

bite to or pepper spray for the Bears that you go to can you imagine 500 was years ago when those first pioneers were doing that encounter this Virgin Territory full of everything that you don't know how to even deal with and and we do the same right how can we look at it with the eyes of uh this curious Pioneer that needs to be prepared to look at it and look at this entire new world with a sense of of how can we how can we deal with this new new situations new environments I don't know those are the the the the the thought processes that came to our mind as we're talking and when you mention new world it's interesting because yeah we can definitely make an analogy and I think it's a good analogy of these Pioneers all the way back then uh and we ourselves being the Pioneers but we're we're discovering is something that like I said it's already there it's ourselves but when we look inward when we have the courage to look inward it's we do have to be prepared and I think that that's a very good point that you bring so we need to have the courage we need to have all these tools to be able to explore ourselves and see the the the the shadow parts of ourselves to see all of th those pieces that we don't want to look at or we don't want to accept or we you know we shy away from examining and that's that's those are the pepper sprays the boots like all those things that you're saying are all these I think psychological spiritual tools that we can acquire in order to proceed in this in this uh Journey that is so so important in this self-discovery like I said in this process of looking at ourselves and and and knowing that we are Immortal beings and we have had a lot of you know challenges we have had we have acquired a lot of abilities throughout our existences or multiple existences and this this idea that we can come in and we can still still develop but we need to have the courage and we need to have the tools to do that are there any tools that we can talk about it uh for be better prepared

idea that we can come in and we can still still develop but we need to have the courage and we need to have the tools to do that are there any tools that we can talk about it uh for be better prepared absolutely I think I what are the pepper sprays that we from I say I say the boots let's use the same the same the same ones you said I say the boots are are the are knowledge I think knowledge is the boots because it's almost like the foundation and when I say knowledge I don't mean just psychological knowledge I mean spiritual knowledge as well well and that is something that I think again spiritism is so is such a blessing to our lives because it provides us with these boots that we can walk in the jungle of ourselves and know that we are on Solid Ground very rich indeed right yeah so so boots for its knowledge what else boots for the knowledge I think the pepper spray which is something more know like I don't know incisive something more uh in the moment I think this could also be achieved through through therapy I know I'm a clinical psychologist I may be biased in saying that but I think that we all can benefit from therapy yes in in different degrees but we all can benefit from from that so that the therapy this this idea of exploring ourselves and being vulnerable and having having the the courage to explore ourselves with the help of a professional and again this it doesn't doesn't have to be one specific line of work but just going to therapy and in having that capacity to explore ourselves that can be a tool that is very very important in this process of the self-discovery so it's our pamper spray uh shall we go for continue our analogy let's think in terms of maybe protection so Sun blocks or ex or or right uh um insect repellent is there anything that we can use to to repel against things that may may heard is for people listening we did not rehearse it this is this is in the moment okay yes I think the inct repellent repellent as you're saying the sun the sun block that

against things that may may heard is for people listening we did not rehearse it this is this is in the moment okay yes I think the inct repellent repellent as you're saying the sun the sun block that could be prayer that could be connecting our thoughts elevating our vibrations and connecting our thoughts with you know our heavenly father with the good spirits that are always there to help us with that is we create this this sort of protection around us against the you know the negative influences from outside or from the inside as well yeah yeah and and I would just say everyone um this is an exercise self-discovery that is not for the faint of heart it is something that we all should do must do eventually right but it it doesn't come easily because it really requires that Pioneer Spirit right it it requires us facing our own fear tears that we somehow repress right that we we we put down I'm afraid of blah blah and I'm AF I'm embarrassed to even talk about it so I somehow repress it I don't want to do it and self-discovery implies well let's look at those things that cause me fear as well right yudi um questioning all the societal Norms that I'm inserted on right so um where I am right now it it it represents perhaps my age my birth of origin my um my ability to to communicate with this language versus another language the the the all the tools that I have what is my Social Network that helped me etc etc but uh uh in in in in terms of all the defines me their Norms that somehow we accept blindly right and uh um this this self-discovery also means looking out and say is this even right is this something that uh uh I should reflect and and perhaps even quote unquote rebel against right and finally as we do all of it we come alone right and we we become very vulnerable because it's like but but but I thought I was so strong and I was inserted in this in this Society I knew how to speak this and I'm I'm speaking language not English Portuguese french Etc but the language

use it's like but but but I thought I was so strong and I was inserted in this in this Society I knew how to speak this and I'm I'm speaking language not English Portuguese french Etc but the language of in your case The Clinical Psychology I can express my thoughts or if I'm I'm not but if I were to be an art critic that link language that speaks well of that so when we we just say wait a minute this is just not all there is we become alone we we we we kind of become more naked toward all that life is and uh so not for the faint of heart can we I don't know if you're in a position to to perhaps talk a little bit more about vulnerability how can we discuss this uh you know this this idea of I am going I decided I'm going to be intentional about embarking a journey of self-discovery so uh I know that I'll be vulnerable how can I handle that I don't know if you have any examples Yi or or even any additional metaphors that we can utilize absolutely uh yes I let me just mention something you you said in the beginning that I really liked is you said is not for the faint of heart because we we we tend to avoid that I dare say I go even further I dare say that a lot of the issues that we have now are because we didn't have the courage to face them in previous lives we didn't have the courage to to sort of improve ourselves in those specific areas in previous existences so we are now caring that with us because we we need to deal with that so it is not only a a blessing to be able to to go on the self-discovery process but is also a necessity for us to continue to evolve you know in in the process of our spiritual depuration uh so again I dare say that we have a lot of these things that we are afraid to look at or especially the ones that scare us the most about ourselves yeah are things that we have not worked before and they're carrying almost like this burden this this Boulder that we're caring with us into this life and we definitely need to to to take care of that and we have all the

we have not worked before and they're carrying almost like this burden this this Boulder that we're caring with us into this life and we definitely need to to to take care of that and we have all the tools necessary honestly can can yeah can I stop you before hold on to your thought right but I just wanted for all of us who are here today in this live just give a little bit of reference because uh uh yudy references right uh uh this The Immortal Spirit uh the continuity of love life uh with many different existence and I just wanted to to perhaps frame that with some interesting work and this is scientific work to discuss this to if you if you don't believe in all of this right but if you want to know more I think it's important to perhaps talk about or reference uh the work that Dr Brian wise a just super well-known uh psychiatrist and and author one of his bestsellers is Many Lives Many Masters right yud where he he talks about patients that during a therapeutical session and I think they were he was dealing with trauma in many cases right phobia etc etc and he did H hypnosis and during those sessions those patients brought an entire to to the session an entire uh View of what's inside of them uh including previous lives previous uh trauma and the other uh work that has been brought to us uh quite well known is the work by Dr Ian Stevenson um both of them are here in the US but uh uh Dr Stevenson is a Pioneer in the study of the memory of past lives right and he in doing so he conducted oh I think was over 2500 children yeah that he right that he talked and they remembered their past lives and not only remembered because you can say ah if you're three years old if you're four year old it's all their imagination but those were documented and those were also confirmed including I and I I'm taking to Long here but I thought it's super cool to talk about was the fact of James linger he was a young child that he started to to have nightmares I don't know if you if you remember that you but

taking to Long here but I thought it's super cool to talk about was the fact of James linger he was a young child that he started to to have nightmares I don't know if you if you remember that you but he started having nightmares and and he kept coming back with the idea that he was a second World War World War II pilot yeah pilot and he remembered and not only he remembered he remembered the name of his previous life he remember very specific details of the the aircraft that he was piloting and all of it and and all of those details were confirmed so I just love it because as we talk about self-discovery in this archives of past experience is important for us in this discussion to understand you go through self-discovery but you also start to enter things that you didn't even know was there right yes can I add can can I add another one yes of course Jim Tucker which is a student student I guess you know of Dr Stevenson he has a book called life life before life in that he also investigates cases throughout the world so he's removing the the cultural aspect as some people may say oh because some cultures believe uh some cultures tend to believe more in past lives and reincarnation he goes through cultures all over the world gets people who speak the language so he's also uh they he he he and his team you know they also exclude the confounding varable as we call in research of the oh the language you know translation they go they go and they see cases throughout through know the in the entire world so I definit definitely recommend that one it's called life before Life by Dr Jim Tucker nice I and uh I have put all of that information for us so you can see in our references in the um uh notes about today's uh episode but let's go ahead and continue because I interrupted you so my apologies so we're talking about vulnerability right and and yes how uh uh in doing so um you you need to be strong and and and really I I love that uh um that reference um yudi that reference that uh we are pioneers right

king about vulnerability right and and yes how uh uh in doing so um you you need to be strong and and and really I I love that uh um that reference um yudi that reference that uh we are pioneers right and that we we need to have courage we need to have our protection those protections as you mentioned are for example knowledge uh for example embarking in in therapy a therapeutical um processes and as well as use the tools including prayer meditation Etc to safeguard uh and align you with with the Divine Right but let's talk a little bit about the more about that sense of vulnerability because as you go uh looking inside you can access your past lives as well as you're mentioning yes I uh and for that I want to mention Bren Brown she became quite famous recently but her whole work is on I mean not whole work but a lot of the work that she does is on vulnerability and it's it's has brought some incredible knowledge to us and you mentioned something about society when I think about we have to be vulnerable to be able to go on this process of self-discovery and know find what meaning we are tie to our we tie to our lives I think of society and the social pressures and nowadays is even more um difficult it's become even harder to go on this process of self-discovery not only to ourselves but to others because everything there's a lot of concerns with image nowadays there social media has you know widened our our you know global our our civilization I guess our we're not like um constricted to those around us I can say something or post something that somebody's going to be seeing Japan Australia Europe right know here and everywhere so nowadays we're much more transparent like we we have been thrust into the the Limelight and the idea is that nowadays it becomes way it's even harder to look in Inward and say you know you know what I still have this flaw here I still need to work on that and be able to admit that to ourselves and knowing that we're going to be seen by others with th those flaws I think

say you know you know what I still have this flaw here I still need to work on that and be able to admit that to ourselves and knowing that we're going to be seen by others with th those flaws I think that's when that's that's the biggest contemporary Challenge and again it's definitely something that vulnerability and having this idea that we need to work on our vulnerability we need to be able to be vulnerable in order to go through with this process despite the pressures from the outside yeah yeah and I I just uh want to say what you said uh sparked another thought process here with in my mind which is you know in in in I don't know in the age of Television right uh in the age of radio uh political figures for example that were the ultimate um uh public Persona in the 30s 40s Etc uh they could have their own life but then then during the broadcast of that radio it was a well-crafted uh uh well revised scripted uh discussion right um fast forward to the age of television and you can start to see that beyond the the voice and the words it's really how do you look and how we public at large start to look at it and judge well you you you're not uh enough goodlook enough have the right mannerisms etc etc right uh uh some people say that uh um Rosevelt would never be elected today because of um what he was going through uh physically speaking and and and so it's it's really terrible to say that that we have become a purveyors of of this physic ity that that came with TV but now there is this other aspect of it that the public Persona uh with PR firms and an entire um mechanism to protect that bubble of what people see in reality uh we are all as you mentioned public personas we ourselves did that right we exposed uh almost in some Cas from birth of pictures and reactions and uh and of course um most of us me included uh find it odd that yesterday I'm I'm just going to be cheeky here y yesterday I uh gave public Declarations of love to say boyfriend number one right public declarations and

um most of us me included uh find it odd that yesterday I'm I'm just going to be cheeky here y yesterday I uh gave public Declarations of love to say boyfriend number one right public declarations and and then go through divorce or separation and then second one and third one and and then if you're a follower right air quote here follower of that person you start to see but but is Is It Real Love is that is that undying unconditional forever love not really forever so even your words start to to to lose and be diluted in face of that publicity that public Persona that we all are now available and that puts us into a different questions in the future let's pretend we all now um have the capability of accessing telepathically each other's processes isn't that the ultimate sense of vulnerability when we no longer have to Safeguard from Radio to TV our you know physicality from TV to social media uh the the the the the uh Direction One Direction of our thought processes instead of this uh uh uh uh I I keep thinking of turns and and and uh points and counterpoints of who we are which is who we are right we we are full of contradictions we say something we feel something something else we fall prey to certain things so that is the the the area of vulnerability that we have to understand to truly be uh metaphorically speaking naked we need to be authentic so forget about those uh masks that we create about what we would like to be but who we're not and let's Embrace who we are does this make sense to you what I'm saying When you mention it I it made me think you're you're talking about the evolution of Technology made me think as well of the this idea that we all carry cell phones nowadays that's right those devices plus like I said social media before it was the voice like you said the radio the voice you know like what they were saying how they were saying then became television when they would go and they would present themselves there would be a recording people would

ou said the radio the voice you know like what they were saying how they were saying then became television when they would go and they would present themselves there would be a recording people would see but nowadays people have access they can have access to our entire lives all the time and we can have we can like grant them access as well to our personal lives or if we're if we're out out outside and you said we're all public personas if we're outside somebody can snap a photo of us can record us so there is really we all became very transparent all those things that we try to keep away are are not we're not really doing a good job and again to bring a little bit of spiritism to sprinkle into this conversation we can think of question 459 of the spirits book of how much we're influenced by the spirit so this idea that even in our thoughts Even in our minds like there's still some um some ways to be influenced by that and to be vulnerable in the way that we can be yeah I love it I love it so let's uh we we have a few more minutes let's talk a little bit about the vulnerability um maybe because of uh uh I was studying uh a little bit earlier on gusta Jung right how he he emphasizes this this process uh of vulnerability and uh and self-discovery from the perspective that uh it it's all about a embracing oneself and embarking in the inevitable process of individuation right so what is individuation in in so many words just simply put the process for integrating all the aspects of who we are right we talked about all the the con the conflicts all of our idiosyncrasies all the fact that I want to be humble but boy in this situation X I was really arrogant but that's who I am still today I may be better tomorrow but today the snapshot with in a film that is our life right in that moment I may not correspond with my behavior with my intentions so all of that uh multiplicity of uh aspects of our personality that we bring which reflects our as you mentioned before you our long

at moment I may not correspond with my behavior with my intentions so all of that uh multiplicity of uh aspects of our personality that we bring which reflects our as you mentioned before you our long journey right and and I'm talking to you putting my hands towards my back because it's the sense that we carry this journey that we're not even aware it's behind us but it betray us that journey betrays us in what we are today there is an interconnectedness on the Mercia from yesterday the Mercia today and Mercia tomorrow absolutely right so um let's talk a little bit about uh How does selfis Discovery how embracing um those multifest aspects of who we are and how we behave so it's a uh from a behavior perspective as well as values but how that self-discovery is essential for us to attain that uh meaningful life or life of full of uh significance when you mention it it made me think of the the requirements or the prerequisites that Joanna d'angeles mentions yeah that are necessary for for us to achieve the self-discovery and this journey and she also mentions the word Journey so it made me think of of that so she says there there are five five of these prerequisites and I think it's it's interesting for people who are listening or watching to know she says the number one is the the satisfaction with what one is yeah or has or how one finds oneself so there needs to be this the satisfaction and sometimes this this can be a veil dissatisfaction or or is not so easily accessible so it's like the sense of discomfort right yeah a sense of uhhuh I'm supposed to be happy I have it all yet there's that sense of something is not quite right something is not quite right I need to work on this even though I don't want to but I need to so there's this discomfort this dissatisfaction number two she she calls a sincere desire for change so there needs to be this desire to make the change so you can find the the satisfaction that you don't have number three in intentionality right so

umber two she she calls a sincere desire for change so there needs to be this desire to make the change so you can find the the satisfaction that you don't have number three in intentionality right so intentionality yes so for me I would understand it's 31st of December and oh I come up with my list that oh by the way it's the same list of the past 15 years but where is my intention to change uh even if it's not in that list right what is my intention my commitment to change exactly number three she says the persistence the attempt look at that so the persistence this this aspect of resiliency of not giving up when we're trying to conquer parts of ourselves that we perhaps have tried in the past and failed but now we need to persist we need to have this uh this resiliency in our attempt to you know change our condition and change ourselves in this process of self-discovery what do you think I love it I love it it's uh we fall like the child right that uh I I the sense of uh of a child learning to walk is incredibly to me right that child that needs if you think about it it it uh it's not born walking right and it doesn't even know how to roll at the very early early weeks of of life but in attempting to roll you start to to create the the muscular uh requirements to to move and the way you move and fall right that resiliency the more you you you try the more you you you become you become stronger the better prepared you are to the first step the Second Step the you know the the ability to walk seamlessly and at some point not only just run and I I love this concept here you because the incredible capability of all of us humans to move move with Grace right to dance to have rhythm and and I I often wonder uh to myself right if you think of uh let's say a wounded uh veteran for example lost the legs or lost the ability to walk and the best of the best technology the best of the best it still does not have the grace just the grace the rhythm of regular human walk right

an for example lost the legs or lost the ability to walk and the best of the best technology the best of the best it still does not have the grace just the grace the rhythm of regular human walk right the best of the best even robotics uh it's the same it's very choppy yet we get it all of us have it but starts with falling and having that in the case of a child that impulse to keep on trying you fall you get back up again love it I agree with that number so number three is persistence number four she says is the willingness to accept oneself and overcome on oneself yes and this made me think of uh since we're in the field of psychology a little bit here car Rogers he said that we cannot change as this quot says we cannot change we cannot move away from what we are until we thoroughly accept what we are so this willingness to accept our condition accept you know our flaws and try to work on them but if we don't have the acceptance piece and I usually like to make this reference with being diagnosed let's say with a cancer you can get the diagnosis and but you're only going to start treatment when you accept that the the reality that you have the diagnosis and and that I think the acceptance is almost the bridge between you know when you find out what you have in the issue and the healing process the treatment the acceptance is this bridge that connects that beautiful yeah beautifully said thanks for that in in the fifth one the last one is capacity for emotional growth that she talks about so capacity for emotional growth because the process of self-discovery the Journey of self-discovery and you know aying that to the existential meaning of life is related to growth yeah oh this is awesome um wanted to maybe we have just a minute or so uh bring we referencing several individuals in in their books but I wanted to to maybe uh bring to us someone that I'm a fan all right uh and I don't know if you know him I I'm sure you do but St Augustine right so St Augustine Yi is uh so we have to put a

books but I wanted to to maybe uh bring to us someone that I'm a fan all right uh and I don't know if you know him I I'm sure you do but St Augustine right so St Augustine Yi is uh so we have to put a little bit of context about who he is and who he was but he is one of the church fathers right he is considered one of the most influential uh figure in Western Christianity and uh uh but he was inserted in the culture the fourth Century so think about fourth Century it's 300 plus years after Jesus right ad and uh it it really marks that the the brink between um the Christianity being adopted and and disseminated globally and beforehand which is inserted in a very in in in Pagan um culture and religion so anyways so he's a young man he lives in Algeria Today is Algeria right North Africa he at the time very wealthy very acccessed everything he wanted so this is the parallels here and uh but he was very known to have a life of self-indulgence right I I live for pleasure right I live to to get all my desires fulfilled and he does that and he Embraces that up until the moment that he goes through this conversion right so those moments of conversion that is not a a switch of the of you know light switch that uh we all think about it but for example we can refence St Paul right or Saul and Paul at the the road of Damascus or even St Francis those are figures that come to my mind as those that were converted from One Life to another but in the case of uh um St Augustine he was converted still and he end up uh becoming the bishop of Hippo so he's known as St Augustine Augustine of Hippo and he and did his life so many years later I think still working as a as the bishop but what I would like to bring us at our final moments together is the fact that U he he wrote profusely and he wrote about Free Will so freedom freedom to act freedom to think freedom of uh of pursuing but he also one of his books was confessions right he talks about the sense of Grace the sense of uh what is sin what is not a sin who is God

freedom to act freedom to think freedom of uh of pursuing but he also one of his books was confessions right he talks about the sense of Grace the sense of uh what is sin what is not a sin who is God what is the nature of God so all of those thought processes shaped how we think of Christianity Today right but the the thing that I would like to bring to all of us here is that he talks about attaining this sense of meaningful life ah it all comes together and that sense of having a meaningful life is all about seeking this relationship in his case right with God and I I I I move my hand up and down vertically because that's how I see my connection with God and aligning my will with this Divine Purpose so for us to do this he's he said you must invest and now you have to Endeavor in understanding your own human desire which is what you're saying with those five prerequisites right understand who you are and decide have the intention of undergoing in a journey that includes inner reflection Faith pursuit of the truth and I love it compassion so he excellent excellent so he brought all of it because without those it's empty it's just a journey of Discovery without compassion for oneself compassion for others so he's um just to conclude his uh uh thought about around a meaningful life is all about this loving relationship with yourself with God Guided by grace and uh expressed through how you behave how you you you love the others so in your own capacity because of course we know love has a an infinite number of gradation my my expression love is very different than Some Like A Mother Teresa for example right but that that expression of how I can love others and myself and at the same time not stop seeking my own truth right so uh do you want to say some something else before we close I just I I I love the the comment about St Augustine yeah and compassion is almost like the missing link I think the missing ingredient because we can talk about the know thyself and how

fore we close I just I I I love the the comment about St Augustine yeah and compassion is almost like the missing link I think the missing ingredient because we can talk about the know thyself and how important that is and the journey of self-discovery but also having the compassion towards ourselves yes knowing that we're still imperfect we're still you know we're still going and we're trying to become the better version of yourself of ourselves I mean the best version of ourselves and having compassion with our own mistakes still uh striving to be the best that we can be but having compassion to ourselves when we fall and just get up and continue walking love it so for all of us as we close here today uh we we find uh this idea this this this point of know thyself right which is really an imperative if you think about right Yodi it's this this notion but this imperative is not new it's not yudi's imperative or Marcia's or Joanna d'angeles it's it it comes all the way from Greek philosophy and um and it's attributed for example to Socrates as uh from the Oracle of Deli that he he he he brought that idea of you you have to know thyself so what are the Imp ation on knowing yourself or embarking in a journey of self-discovery first of all you have to have self-awareness right so let's understand where we are and Who We Are by analyzing perhaps our thoughts and please interrupt if I if I'm going sideways here yod but your thoughts emotions values motivations right and knowing that I'd say in Modern Life in your daytoday at work at home etc those just the self-awareness can lead us to uh achieve better decision making to have a uh a sense of a personal growth professional growth this is number one perhaps but if we keep on going with that we we talk about knowing thyself right know thyself imperative is a a self uh a sense of authenticity and uh and knowing who you are uh you know knowing um how that sense of authenticity can or not align with my belief systems or uh is my sense

thyself imperative is a a self uh a sense of authenticity and uh and knowing who you are uh you know knowing um how that sense of authenticity can or not align with my belief systems or uh is my sense of self or lack of authenticity I'm just joking here can can really just be a how I conform to the external expect expectations for me right so for example if I'm I'm just going all really off here but uh let's pretend I'm a princess right I was born and I I live in a monarchy uh let's say England the expectations for my behaviors are very very very different than who I am today right so yes think let's think about how do I think of myself what what is my authentic self and is that authenticity uh just how I conform with my surroundings or how people expect of me um responsibility right so it's a sense of uh for me to know my thyself myself is I need to understand how my decisions my thoughts my omissions really brings a result and how I am responsible for that how all of my uh behaviors impact or not all those around me right and uh I I think if I can just uh uh finish up here is um to understand that uh knowing ourselves can really as you mentioned and Joanna mentioned provide a sense of resilience in facing our own life's challenges how it also can help us uh navigate our own difficulties with Clarity but most important purpose right so overall we can say know thyself let us really Embrace this foundational principle for our own development okay but love it thank you and this is we are at time we are uh really at the the brink of my time to say goodbye but I just want to say if this is the first time you listen to our program please note the psychology and spirituality weekly talks are based on the works of Joanna d'angeles but we're here to save the to to offer the safe space for us to talk to compare to to confront right between uh uh thinking and and ideas but this is all about bringing Concepts that uh uh Are Spiritual in nature from a psychological perspective

fe space for us to talk to compare to to confront right between uh uh thinking and and ideas but this is all about bringing Concepts that uh uh Are Spiritual in nature from a psychological perspective so it's really Maring those uh perspective so that we all can lead a better life I want to thank our sponsors uh they are manand Cino the United States Spirits Federation the international Spirits Council and Ami Brazil and for those who do not know it's Army Brazil is the Brazilian arm of the medical spiritist association with that I want to say thank you and hope to see you back again next week thank you yud for being with us bye everyone thank you byebye