This rough draft generated by Otter.ai contains errors. If you would like to correct them, or join our team of volunteer proofreaders, please contact me.
Rick Archer: Welcome to Buddha at the Gas Pump. My name is Rick Archer, and my guest today is Adam C hall and I have glasses on, I’m going to read the back cover of his book To introduce it. We have entered an era like none other in history, the economy of the Western world and the ecology of the entire planet are threatened with the possibility of imminent collapse. In the midst of these dire circumstances, a dramatic shift is occurring within human consciousness. And I would like to interject here that I believe that these two are not just coincidental that a dramatic shift is happening. Because there’s there’s a deep inner relationship between what’s happening and in the world in terms of dire straits, and this upwelling of human consciousness. We’ll talk about that during the interview. Back to the Adams intro, the ancient prophecies of the Hopi, Maya and Inca, among others, all point to this moment as the time when humanity will undergo a rapid evolution within a single generation that will affect all future generations and evolve we must if we were to remain as a viable species on a healthy planet. Adam see Hall achieved the American dream in all its glory and then woke up to the nightmare of his own life condition. Once a financial power broker and real estate developer, Adam undertook a life changing metamorphosis that would ultimately alter his mindset from Earth conqueror to Earth keeper. To come this far, Adam had to come to terms with the misery that was at the center of his very privileged and comfortable life, endured the loss of all that he treasured most. It was only then that he was finally able to open to discover the creative power of the universe that is hidden within each of us. The earthkeeper ultimately Chronicles that’s his book that I’m reading here, the earthkeeper ultimately Chronicles Adams remarkable journey and illuminates a path for others to follow. Once a Conquistador who felt entitled to rule over the earth, Adam transformed into a nature centric under developer dedicated to maintaining harmony and balance within Gaia as all providing garden as founding steward and managing partner of the earth Keeper Alliance. Adam now preserves pristine wilderness by making allies of developers and conservationists demonstrating that every one of us has a greater destiny to which we can awaken an Indiana Jones saga of exotic adventure and redemption. The earthkeeper is a remarkable story of courage and conviction and a roadmap to a better future personally and collectively. So I the timing was such Adam that I managed to read this entire book cover to cover that doesn’t always happen. And it was very enjoyable. And, quite frankly, I was really hoping that you would still be alive when we did this interview, because just about every other page in this book, you nearly kill yourself doing something or other. So it was quite an entertaining story. And I think we’ll probably, you know, re capitulate the story during our interviews, just so people get a sense of what you’ve been through and what’s in the book. And so, yeah, yeah,
Adam C. Hall: it’s great. Well, it’s great to be here with you, Rick, and all of your audience. And I love the name your show Buddha at the Gas Pump. Where did you come up with that, by the way,
Rick Archer: a young friend of mine came up with it, I was sort of dreaming up a few different names, and they were all sort of trite and you know, like awakenings, and so on. And none of them was gelling. And I asked his friend for some ideas, and he spat out about a dozen of them, just like that young guy in his 20s. And Buddha at the Gas Pump was immediately you know, got to do that’s it. I think you get the implication. It’s just that in this day and age there in ordinary circumstances, there are people awakening to states of consciousness states of Enlightenment that were once considered rare or exclusive to rare, rare beings. But there’s sort of an epidemic underway these days. So that’s how we came up with the name.
Adam C. Hall: Well, I Yeah, well, thanks, I was actually at the gas pump the other day and of course, thought of you and the upcoming show and I was really pondering that you know, who you know, what is this Buddha at the Gas Pump and of course, you know, I of course, just I was pumping the gas so I guess I was the Buddha at the Gas.
Rick Archer: There you go. I mean, I could have called it Buddha at the supermarket or Buddha at the laundromat or something and in fact, some people in Australia said that you know, down there, they call it petrol and gas pump has sort of a flatulent implication but we went with gas pump and People seem to like it.
Adam C. Hall: It was interesting because it also took me back to what are my feeling like my, my tank with? What am I pumping into my life and it you know, of course we one of the great things about humanity is we have freewill to make that those kinds of choices. And so it’s interesting, what do we what do we put into our own personal tank? And I think the the name of the show is fantastic. And I commend you for all the good work that you’re sharing with everybody.
Rick Archer: Thanks. It’s a lot of fun. So as the intro have stated, that I read, you know, you were living the American dream, you had a 6000 square foot house and Malibu was it. And you know, making lots of money, beautiful wife, beautiful kids, the whole deal, you know, a life that most people, many people would envy. And but something wasn’t right. And it got it and you got a stronger and stronger impulse welling up from within you that you just couldn’t keep doing this. It wasn’t clicking wasn’t working for you anymore, right?
Adam C. Hall: Well, it was, it was literally killing me. Yeah. And I live by the law, the jungle will lease the law that I was told, I found out the true Law of the Jungle later on in my journey, but that law was, when you get up in the morning, whether you’re the lion or the gazelle, you better run like hell eat or be eaten, right. And So Rick, I lived a life of getting up before that sun came up. And, you know, headed straight out the door to the office, and was living that hard charging life. And I’ll never forget, one morning, I was heading down the Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu into my offices in, in West Los Angeles, because sun was coming up over the Santa Monica Bay and I was on the phone to a banker on Wall Street, we were in the midst of a major negotiation on a large loan transaction. And it went awry. And I before I knew it, I found myself cursing out loud and being just disgusted by this whole game of that I seem to be playing. And and then suddenly, a dog ran in front of front of the Range Rover and screeched on the brakes for actually had a heart attack, and just pulled the car over and said, My God, I what is happening with my life. And you know, and it’s just like I was reaching for the Tums. And it became pretty evident that there was a course correction that was due, and that it was immediate, and that I could no longer procrastinate, putting off the inevitable unfolding of of my life and, and where I needed to go, although I didn’t know at the time. So that’s kind of the beginning of it, all of that quest to answer some of life’s most important questions.
Rick Archer: And it’s interesting, I was thinking as I was reading your book of historical examples of people who weren’t the nicest guys in the world, but whose lives kind of got turned around by some sort of spiritual epiphany. For instance, you know, Saul on the road to Damascus who became St. Paul, he was like a persecutor of Christians. And he, you know, underwent this profound sort of awakening and completely changed his life. So another example is Valmiki, who wrote the Ramayana, he was a roadside robber. And he some sages came walking along one day, and I won’t tell the whole story, but through this encounter he had with them he turned his life around, he began to question everything that he had assumed, and turned his life around and went into deep meditation for like six or seven years or something. In fact, an anthill, supposedly built up around his body, he went so deep and he was oblivious to it Valmiki Valmiki beats ant born sage or something, and then he ended up writing the Ramayana. But in any case, just a couple of cases in point there many stories like this where people had been dead set on a particular kind of more materialistic path, and then something woke up inside and they couldn’t do it anymore and their life underwent a transformation.
Adam C. Hall: Well, you’re you’re you’re right on with that, Rick. And it’s, it’s not just a metamorphosis, or transformation, I often think of my journey as a what I would refer to as a metanoia. What does that mean? Well, that is that is, that is a transformation that takes place. That becomes so you become so intent. And you become so focused in your process, that it actually relieves the site psyche, and the physical body of all the energies and experiences that had affected that that person over a lifetime, or lifetimes for that matter, even that stuff. So the metanoia is actually moving away from the old definition of self and the old experience of self. And that’s why I often say it was it’s at this book is really about Adam 102, Adam two. So that was, that’s kind of the process that I referenced as a metanoia of letting go have those old stories, painful, or old actions that perhaps didn’t serve you or your community or your family or anybody. And so hence the subtitle of the earthkeeper and developing the future.
Rick Archer: And this, this transformation is no as easy as it I mean, because you don’t know where you’re going. It’s a kind of a Jack in the beanstalk story where you’re, you’re trading in the family cow for some magic beans, and your mother thinks you’re crazy. And you don’t know if these beans are going to amount to anything. And, and yet, you have to take this leap of faith.
Adam C. Hall: Well, no doubt, no doubt about it. And it’s interesting, because when I initially started my inquiry, which began, you know, many, many, well, before I really got focused and intentional about getting on the path and you know, awakening to my greater calling in life. But before that, you know, I, I really was a became a voracious reader of both Eastern and Western modalities. I was brought up in the Protestant Church, to a limited degree. And ultimately, one of the things that I recognized even with all the great teachers in the, in the great gurus and whatnot, that at the end of the day, it’s ultimately about creating, in your own experience, to be making that journey. And that quest for whatever that may be for you to, to make that experiential. And so the path that I have been on, and what I do share is one of not as an intellectual process, which that process works is, well, there’s no right or wrong, there are many ways to transcend yourself. But of course, for me, it was really about having the greater experience of that awakening in heading out into that unknown, like you that like you’ve referenced, and, you know, it’s fascinating because I, I go on quest, Vision Quest, periodically, generally about every couple years and get off the grid and get into environments that are unknown. And I. And the idea of that really is, you know, it makes me think, Rick about what the Course of Miracles says about fear, and about the unknown. And in that is, it’s not the unknown itself, that we fear. It’s the idea that it’s unknown. Because ultimately, what I found stepping into those unknown spaces, or those uncharted waters, so to speak is, wow, there’s gems there. Yeah, there’s so many wonderful things. And I and I don’t know much about your path, but I would presume you found have had similar types of experiences.
Rick Archer: I’ve never been, I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as brave and adventurous as you although I’ve done all sorts of wild things. And it was very impulsive acting on impulses and hunches, and which ended up you know, working out for me. But, you know, yours really was a bit of an Indiana Jones tale in terms of the the actual, the physical activities that you you got involved in. But before we get into more of that, I just want to comment on something you just said about experience, which I think is really important because there are millions of people in the world billions, who don’t really have an experience of the things in which they believe they’re just going on faith and and that is good enough for them, you know, or maybe they have some kind of intermediary who tells them that such and such is the case or will appeal to God on their behalf or some such thing. And they’re even people in the sort of the newer spiritual movements New Age or new advisor or whatever who seem to be conceptualizing to a great degree without actually having a living experience of what they’re talking about. But personally, I think it’s about as effective as, you know, reading a menu, and not actually eating the meal, or having, or having someone eat the meal for you and tell you about it or something, you know, you actually have to have this, you know, this experience yourself, no one can do for you.
Adam C. Hall: It’s, that’s, that’s a critical point. And it’s, it’s, I’m so glad that you’re emphasizing it. And it’s like, the difference is, are you living your life to the fullest? Or is life living you? And it’s like, what choices are we making? And the choices that we make experientially are the ones that ultimately get into our greater feeling, place of feeling, and intuition. And what I found is that, for 42, of my 53 years, I was really stuck in my left brain. And while I appreciate that, and the intelligence of that there is was a whole nother world that I had yet to discover, and that whole other world, is it necessitate? At least it did for me, that it be experiential, and that I can taste it, feel it, look at it. And beyond, I can feel it intuitively into a greater beyond those five senses that we all have. And so hence, the the book is very experiential. And yes, it is adventure venturous. And I think it’s my kind of my area nature, to want to get out on the edge of of it all. And that’s where I’ve been pretty much for the last 10 years and having a lot of fun with it. But that’s not to say it’s not without challenges, and all the things that come with being a being a human being, if you know what I mean,
Rick Archer: sir, well, in a way, it’s you became a spiritual seeker, in the same way that you were a businessman, you were you were a businessman who wasn’t content to do a nine to five job and it took risks and, you know, thought big, and so on. And when you started getting into spirituality, you brought those same qualities to that quest?
Adam C. Hall: Well, yes, indeed. And you know, and I’m a strong advocate, Rick, that to, you know, discover our greater capacity to live life in its fullest ways. What, what occurred for me was, you can’t just put your toe in the water, let’s get in. Let’s give it a ride. Let’s go for it. And sure enough, just with in that process of showing up for whatever was calling me at the time, it was one thing led to another. And I met one guide, one trusted mystic, one teacher, in ultimately, connected deeply with nature, and Mother Earth as perhaps one of the great teachers that we all have. And it’s readily available. She’s here to serve us and to hold us and love us. So that was all about taking that first step and showing up and moving moving myself forward. Because my sense is that if I did not do so, first and foremost, I wouldn’t be of any use, or good to my three amazing daughters. And I have a beautiful granddaughter now. And secondarily, how could I fulfill my life’s journey and serve this planet at a time when this planet is calling all of us, I believe, to really show up in a in a new and more dynamic and purposeful way. So it’s, it’s all a process and a good one. And I honor all of you folks that are in that process and doing that because you you have a comrade in arms in me and I get it.
Rick Archer: I love that point about showing up and about just taking the next step. And you know, what does that proverb a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step? Yes, something like that. And and that as you take the step, then new opera, the next opportunity presents itself. There’s a great book by Suzanne Siegel called collision with the infinite where she, her her Mantra became, do the next obvious thing. It will present itself just do the next obvious thing and then one thing after another will unfold. So
Adam C. Hall: Well, I would, I would second I would second that out and out, out and when I certainly was out in the wilderness, per se, and there was all kinds of interesting signpost that came along and that could have been, as I shared a story in the book about when I went to the Hopi and Navajo Nations on a really on my first big quest. Out in the middle of the winter in a storm, there was an old Indian man standing out there at Minton and kind of looking at me sternly. Rick like, what’s wrong with you white man, this is a snowy stormy day. Look around there is nobody here. And you should not be here either.
Rick Archer: And you went out anyway. Yeah, without
Adam C. Hall: anyway, I said, Well, we
Rick Archer: froze to death.
Adam C. Hall: I shared with him I said, you know, I, I, I may be a young man. But I I’m looking to get my feet on the ground and on this sacred earth that you have shared over the millennia. And he just shook his head. He go ahead, have it your way. Go. Go ahead. If you.
Rick Archer: Yeah, you know, what it kind of reminds me of is the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where Richard Dreyfus says, you know, he gets zapped by the aliens. And then he has this vision implanted, and he has to pursue it. And all of the conventional, you know, forces from his wife, to his friends to the government, everything else is trying to tell him he’s crazy and to get him to stop, and he just can’t stop. He’s just driven, you know, making mountains out of his mashed potatoes trying to you know, what is this? It’s mean something. I’m sure you’ve seen the movie.
Adam C. Hall: Exactly. Yeah. It’s like you’re just here you begin to salivate it. You know a Wilber Ken Wilber wrote that book, one taste. And it’s it is what the one taste of the capacity in the fullness that we all share in our humanity. But that one taste was certainly what is something that I began to doggedly pursue the greater truth of, of my existence. And as the, as you’ve been sharing, it’s been, it’s been a hell of a ride and a hell of an adventurer and fulfilling and opening me to just do new and wonderful things in life that I never even dreamed that existed. So it’s, it’s neat, and that one taste better watch out, you might get hooked.
Rick Archer: Let’s, let’s retrace our steps and get into some of the specifics. So, you know, you’re you had that incident where you almost hit the dog on the Pacific Coast Highway. And, you know, you’re really stressed out and, you know, your business was doing well, but it was, you know, something was telling you, you had to do something else. And, and you then you brought this news to your wife, like, I’ve got to go on to this spiritual quest or something. And, and, you know, so you obviously, she wasn’t too enthusiastic about that. But you kind of kept plowing ahead anyway. And, you know, one thing kept leading to the next, what was one of the first sort of, I guess, one of the first really outside the box, things you did was to decide to announce the IRS shutting down your business, you know?
Adam C. Hall: Well, it’s, it’s it. You know, it’s interesting, the decisions that we all make, and the decisions that I made at that time, were profound, like the one you just mentioned, just shutting down the business. And I had been to a holiday party of Rick, at a friend of mines house and a big one of those big shishi fancy types of parties. And they had a palm reader there. And I had always kind of just smirked at those type of things is kind of woowoo far out, new agey type of stuff. And so I was a skeptic, but my wife at the time, nudge me go there, go go over there and spend time so I ended up going in sitting with this palm reader. And she said one word, separation, separation. You are experiencing separation. And I became obsessed with that word. What was she talking about? Will do am I supposed to separate from my wife, Maya, my What is this this life? And I then I picked up a few books and started thinking about all of this and ultimately, what I chose, and guess I’m not not necessarily recommending any of the experiences that I had, because your path, and each of your path is your path. And it’s that’s key. And, and ultimately, the path that I took was, well, I needed to take a respite, and a timeout, so to speak, from life, in its entirety. Because I felt that I was in danger of jeopardizing my own well being, and those of those that I love, and that I, so it began with shutting down the business. And, and just recognizing what is going to be true in my life, and what are the who are the people that I want to cultivate, and surround myself with in support. And so I couldn’t do it in an old structure, an old model. And I couldn’t, I made a choice that I needed to separate from my wife at the time. So I was a bit of swerving the bus so to speak,
Rick Archer: you gave her the opportunity to join you. In fact, you got on your knees and almost begged her to join you, you know, but she wasn’t ready to do that.
Adam C. Hall: She was not ready to do that. And that was a critical point, when I walked went down for an evening, a stroll on the on the sand and Malibu and asked her, whatever is occurred, or whatever’s going on. Let’s do it. Let’s work on this and do it together. And all the therapy and the marriage counseling that, you know, she decided to not even stop going to that. And then I recognized Well, I’m going to have to take this journey alone.
Rick Archer: There’s an old Bengali saying it’s if if no one comes on your call, then go ahead alone.
Adam C. Hall: Yes, yeah. So that that was what was guided, obviously offered to me. And I said, Okay, well, then those are the choices I need to make. And my inquiry into separation. Got a lot deeper, really fast. After that,
Rick Archer: at some point, some sort of disembodied voice came into the picture. So what was the name Lisa, or something some guardian angel type thing was starting to happen?
Adam C. Hall: Well, yes. And her name was Lila Lila, right. And that is that is that is the essence of in sacrosanct is, you know, is the play of life. And in this, it was, it was really, I was really in the midst of what some say, Rick is that dark night of the soul, where, you know, you don’t know if you’re gonna make it or not, and I had no idea. And I was drinking too much. And I was moved into from the 6000 square foot big house I had built a few years before to a 600 square foot, little place down in Malibu was a nice shack, I must say. But it was I certainly downsized. And one morning after I woke up with a, just a terrible hangover, and I took a walk on the ocean and sea side and the ocean happened to be lapping back and forth, very gently, it was very calm, and the birds were out and it was very quiet, nobody was out. And I sat down. And I put my head down, and just began to weep. And asking for help of where should I go, where should I go? And that’s when I first heard this soft, loving, kind, nurturing voice. And I looked up like somebody around and if I you know, wait a minute, if I’m losing my mind, but I sat for a moment and took a few deep breaths. And there was the voice and and it was this voice that I gave the name Lila to and she really ultimately became one of the angels in my life and a guiding energy from Loving, guiding nurturing energy. And I believe that when we attune ourselves inwardly, and to listen, to listen, to listen deeply to listen within that within us all, there is that angel or that voice that is ultimately serves as a great guide. And in many traditions, in particular, Eastern traditions. Lao Tzu often speaks of that inner inner sage. And so whatever you however you want to language it, it’s truly that inner sage. We’re one of the inner sages, you may have more than one.
Rick Archer: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it can be just interpreted as one’s own sort of deeper intuition. And you’re just giving a name and a voice to it, it could also be interpreted as being an actual guardian angel of some sort. And sure, that whole thing actually fascinates me. I’ve just been writing something this morning, because I’m putting together a proposal for a presentation about that topic. And I’m going to have a group discussion in late May with four people all of whom have stabilized perception of subtle realms of creation and see angels and whatnot, as routinely as you and I see people walking through the mall. But in any case, there, you know, the, that’s a whole interesting area for exploration is you know, this, the subtle realms of creation that can be opened to our perception if the senses are refined enough to see them. But for many people, it comes not as sort of a regular phenomenon, but just as that sort of some kind of impulse that comes every now and then, you know, do this don’t do that. Yeah,
Adam C. Hall: yeah, exactly. And, in my sense, is is not to be dismissive of, of that of the idea of an angel or a voice, whatever. It, it doesn’t matter. What matters, is what we’re feeling and what we’re called to. Yeah. And what’s heard. And so, I spent very little time in the questioning of the experience, and lots of time in the cultivation of the experience yet, still interjecting questions that were about guidance, not about credibility, like who are you are, you know, what is your you know, code and, you know, or anything like that, and I don’t mean to dismiss any of that. But what I’m saying to you, no, I would, I would say is an everyday person on the path, getting on the path, cultivating the path, crystallizing their own life, and their journeys. Hay, it’s really about the experience that you’re having. And just what I found, honor that and honor all those seen and unseen, that I begin to interact with, in a big time, after that first intersection with Lila
Rick Archer: Yeah, you know, just about every spiritual tradition has iconography, paintings, statues, scriptural discussions of these sort of unseen intelligences. And you know, some of them actually say that when somebody makes the decision to get on the path, as you put it to aspire for deeper spiritual realization, it’s like the angels rejoice, you know, it’s like, oh, boy, we got a live one here, boys, let’s, let’s give them some juice. And you do get a lot of support and a lot of subtle encouragement and help from who knows where you don’t necessarily perceive where it’s coming from, but it’s there, and so many people can can relate to what you’re saying here, I think in terms of their own experience. Well,
Adam C. Hall: you’re, you’re right, right on with that, Rick. And ultimately, the little nudge that moves you to the right, or moves you to the left or the it says okay, let’s step that step back. For a moment. Let’s take a pause, to honor ourselves and what’s unfolding, those little nudges, those little impulses come from the universe. And you know, one of the things that is was fascinating for for myself, and one of the reasons why I gravitated to the work that I was doing on the path of course, there’s so many amazing modalities, and teachings and wisdom keepers in earth. As keepers and the few avatars that we’ve had in our lifetimes on Earth during this during this lifetime of the planet, they, it’s all good. And then ultimately always about cultivating the, our greater truth of who we are in our own humanity, individually, but collectively, and you know, one of the things that I found, and it is also ties kind of into the experiential nature of it, I, I wasn’t interested in tinkering around or fiddling around through this life for another life or two, or whatever, to really show up. So I created intentionality of cultivating to the best of Mike, human capacity, and the best of my reasoning, and rational self, and also the part of myself that wasn’t so reasoning or rational, to hold all of those capacities, to ultimately really, to show up in a quantum way to show up in a, in a level of that really says, We can move beyond just an incremental step we can jump and unfold into my greater my greater calling, and dude really dream a life that I was being called to, to live that. And so that’s why Rick, I really gravitated to shamanic traditions, and to the traditions of the indigenous cultures of the world, but primarily indigenous cultures of the Americas, meaning the innate Native Americans, Hopi Navajo, in particular, the Mayan and to even a greater extent, the, the Incan traditions that I really gravitated to. And all those indigenous traditions, they the really the practice of aligning with Earth with the Paci, Mama, and the stars was their connectivity was essential to earth and to the universe. And and so the those the shaman in those communities, really, what are what some would say, Were walkers of the worlds. In other words, they lived in resided in the manifest world, the visible world, but ultimately operated in outer time. And in in a place what is often referred to as infinity. There’s no time or space, there is only connectivity, the oneness of it all. So to walk between those two worlds, and those traditions have been instrumental in helping me on the path to balance spirituality, the scene and aspects of my life, the physical, what you’re seeing now, with also, what is the spiritual aspects into my greater connectivity to the cosmos. So I don’t want to be rambling on here. And I don’t mean to get too sidetracked. So forgive me, but it’s quite fascinating, that we really live in amazing time, that in this time, on this planet, and in particular, over the last 30 to 40 years, the ability for each of us to fully blossom or fully awaken into what we all carry, which is an enlightened state of being to awaken to that to shed the old skin like, like a snake sheds its skin, to do that, into quantum leap into this greater awareness and, and Enlightenment.
Rick Archer: Beautiful. There’s a lot of really nice nuggets in what you just said, you know, there’s a Chinese proverb, may you be born in interesting times, or may, you may live in interesting times. And I think is what you just said, what makes these times interesting is not only kind of like the severity of the crises we face, but the evolutionary opportunity that we also face or have. And I interviewed the biologist and futurists Elizabeth Vak Taurus a few couple months ago, and she said that even in terms of biology and evolutionary history, it’s evident that the greatest crises brought about or work in common with the greatest surges of evolution on the planet. And I think that works as much for spiritual level. Mission in our current time, as it does for biological evolution, you know, throughout history, there’s, you know, these are the best of times and the worst of times, I mean, we really could exterminate the human species in the next 100 years. And at the same time, there’s this conducive conduciveness to spiritual awakening, which I don’t think has really been so lively in other times, even the 1950s If you think about how many people were kind of like getting all enthused about spiritual awakening back then, but now it’s, it’s really there’s an upsurge. And then you can ride that wave if you feel so if you choose to do so, it’s like a good good surfing day for Enlightenment,
Adam C. Hall: though, and that’s a perfect analogy. Yeah. And in the surf is up. Yeah, surface, well, are you going to get on your board and get in the water? And ride the wave? Are you going to just sit on the sand and check it all out? Right. And so I, I think that’s a great analogy. And just a couple real time, observations that I would like to share with you on some of these very salient, important points that you’re making, Rick. And, and it’s true, we that that old ancient proverb is one of that is not necessarily about interesting times, because of course, it is interesting, but that’s a little bit of kind of missed a Chinese curse in its own way. They say they call
Rick Archer: it a curse, but I find it to be a kind of a pain to have a positive connotation.
Adam C. Hall: I do too. And I and I, and of course, it’s semantics, and it’s just wording. But I often just say, Me, we are living in a very exciting times, where we have infinite possibilities. And you beautifully referenced that because there’s obviously much talk about the point of chaos on the planet, and some of the things that are happening. And interestingly, in the in the Wall Street Journal today, there was an interview with famed biologist EO Wilson, who just is publishing his latest work, called a view of eternity. And one of the things that he was quoted as saying was, humans do not know what they’re doing, that we do not have real sensitivities to where we are going. And it’s whether whatever your worldview is, I would sense that there is no denying that the capacity of the planet at seven and a half billion going to 10 billion in most of our lifetime, immediately. And the things that are happening in around the biodiversity, which is well documented the extreme degradation of the environment, let’s not point fingers, because it’s just humanity and man that is, and then humankind, I should say, that is really moving in a direction that is rapidly putting humanity on the extinction list. And it’s,
Rick Archer: it really is I just want to interject here. I mean, if if people think that that’s an exaggeration, I mean, if you read the the UN report on climate change, it just came out and various interpretations of it. If we experience even a six degree centigrade rise in temperatures worldwide, it’s very unlikely that humanity will be able to survive, it’ll kill all the plankton in the ocean, which will, you know, cut off a major source of oxygen for the planet, it’ll, you know, it’ll decimate most of the agriculture on the planet, and, you know, 10 million 10 million, we won’t even be able to sustain 1 billion if that sort of thing happens. So there’s this sort of a, the word acceleration comes to mind there’s an acceleration of destruction. And yet at the same time, there’s an acceleration of technology where all kinds of incredibly interesting and potentially, you know, life saving technologies are coming up alternative energy things. And there’s also this acceleration of consciousness or spirituality. And the way they sort of intertwine and interact is fascinating to me,
Adam C. Hall: which is very fascinating, and hence another nother reason to know that we do live in interesting and exciting times. Wilson actually commented in his interview, that we are rapidly moving into a world that really could be managed just Why a couple High Tech Tech operations that can, you know, control climate or bubbles or spaces, mass spaces to be able to even occupy the earth. And, you know, as a futurist, I would say, Well, that may be far out, and may be something that is driven drives a lot of fear. But it really gets back to what you’re referencing about the rise in spirituality. And, you know, what I often say, around a lot of things that are happening with population and environmental degradation is, it’s it Yes, it’s true that this planet is overpopulated. And the big issue with our overpopulation is that we have, it’s all about doing, we live in a doing world. And so yes, there are too many people on this planet, doing what the humans do. And the challenge that I see for humanity right now, very relevant to our collective awakening, is that we need more people being being who we are at the core of our humanity. And this is really goes to the heart of why I even published the the earthkeeper on developing the future, because my sense is if if there’s any way to have greater connectivity of ourselves, with our being place and greater connectivity with Earth, that that in its own right, is going to make a massive difference in the crisis and chaos that that is now unfolding on this planet. And so that’s very much part of part of this conversation. And I’m grateful for you, Rick, to bring up how this rise in consciousness and in spirituality, is instrument is key. And it’s essential. And it probably in my, my sense, is the one area that has the potential to save ourselves, not save the planet, because that kind of it’ll be fun, but it’s fine. It’s a little bit of human arrogance, then we’re going to save the planet, oh, my gosh, we can do this. But one thing we can do is step into our own being place, you know what I’m saying?
Rick Archer: Oh, I know what you’re saying. And this is a great point, you were talking 10 minutes ago about the shamans having this capacity to live in the so called real world. And yet at the same time, live in infinity, you know, live in the subtle world. And that, to me is the definition of Enlightenment that we are these multi dimensional beings and most people are locked into just the surface dimension without being aware of all the deeper dimensions, an enlightened being or, you know, true shaman in the true sense of the world. Word has the full range open to their conscious awareness and continuous living way. And you know, you’re just talking about doing rather than being or being rather than doing we need to do actually, but the doing the doing should be grounded in being Yes. And there’s a verse in The Gita, which is, you know, how does it go? Yogastha kuru karmani, which means established in yoga establishing being perform action. Yes. And then and obviously, the way to do that is to become familiar with being by taking recourse to it on a regular basis. Having diving into that, and then engaging in action. Frank Sinatra said at best dooby dooby doo, you want to go back and forth.
Adam C. Hall: We always get it. And it’s really that dance of that yin and yang energy. And it’s what comes from the deep within the unmanifest into the manifest. And it’s, it’s exactly right, it’s like, is it is that you’re going to allow the tail to wag the dog. And when we’re doing and doing and doing dooby dooby doo, the tail is wagging the dog here. So it’s, it’s just a matter of whatever that language may be. But it’s a it’s a it’s a very relevant and important point at this at this time.
Rick Archer: Yeah, perhaps we could talk a bit more about spiritual conscious awakening as the ultimate fulcrum you know, the way a fulcrum works if you want to move a big rock you don’t just try to lift the rock you have you have something which just sort of with a minimum of effort actually can accomplish a great work. And so, and we know from physics that consciousness That not counting the subtle is more powerful. And we know from spirituality that consciousness is most subtle. So if we could sort of establish ourselves there, consciously and function from there, then we could have the sort of the, and it’s not only about power because that implies controlling nature again, it’s really about operating from the level at which nature itself operates the intelligence which governs the universe, if we can be one with that intelligence, then we will no longer be dominating nature will be cooperating with
Adam C. Hall: it. Yes. And I’m whether you on that a man’s or humankind, I should say is dominion of the Earth is coming to a close, didn’t work out so well didn’t work out so well. And I can only attest to that in my own personal life, and the journey that I walked. And ultimately now to focus on Earth keeping. And I like to just expand for a moment if it’s okay with you, Rick, on the some of the points that you were just making around consciousness. And one of the things that I have really experienced and really sit with, often in, in quiet contemplation, and also in practice, being that, you know, I’m, I’m in the world, but I’m not from the world,
Rick Archer: okay, in the world, but not of it.
Adam C. Hall: It’s an interesting paradox of our humanity, and, in some may take exception to what I am about to say, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. But it the the rise in consciousness, the, the LIGHT, shining into my own awareness, the ability to move beyond five century perception, the greater connectivity to the oneness of at all, this is consciousness, this is awareness. And this is really, I sense what many referred to as the witness that really been in the Eckhart refers to it as presence, and very powerful. And one of the things that, that I’ve observed Rick is that consciousness has levels, consciousness is of levels. And, you know, as my consciousness grew, then my openness in myself I expanded into this greater awareness. And it also is the level of my, in my intelligence expanded as well. But I would put forward for consideration that consciousness, while important and key in cultivating our greater capacity as human beings, that it’s not Enlightenment. And this is a very shamanic perspective. And as I am journey, deep within the out of the manifest world, and then those journeys and shamans typically do their work, with lucid dreaming, or some do medicine, like ayahuasca, to like Timothy Leary worked and to experiment to open his mind, not that I advocate any of that, but ultimately, in looking in going to a space, a time out a time, space and into a fit infinity, that ultimately consciousness while it cultivates so much, but it’s it’s not the entire capacity that we have as humans. And it’s, I put it forth as an exploration because it it what I’m suggesting here is that the place of the Akashic the place of the field, beyond all things that we have known as humans, ultimately, is, is a greater field of the universe. And the in that place, is a greater sense of the Enlightenment. That is the purity in that place of what some refer to as the Godhead were those two things Things are one is beyond even a conscious state. And it’s hard to even put words to any of this and I’m probably already said way too much. But I figured why not?
Rick Archer: That’s okay and a couple of Vedic literature’s verses come to mind that relate directly to what you said. One is from the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 13, verses one and two Arjuna asked Krishna, what is knowledge? And then Krishna replied, knowledge is to know the field and the knower of the field. And to my mind, what this means is that the field is like the field of the relative which has vast potential for knowing all sorts of details. The knower of the field is we can say consciousness, and you can’t just have one without the other Western society is largely, you know, knowing the field without knowing the Knower. And then there are some who feel like only knowing the Knower is important, but really, actually, once the Knower is known once, once the self is realized there is vast range for potential exploration to know the field more deeply to know that the relative world more more intricately and subtly. And there’s another one more thing I’ll throw out and we can bounce it back to you. And that is, there’s a verse in the Rigveda, which goes something like ritual X ray param, Avi Oman Yasmin, Deva divish, Vedas che do, which means that the the impulses of intelligence which govern the universe, reside in the transcendental Akasha, we reside in the sort of field of pure being. And then the verse goes on to say, I don’t know the Sanskrit that those who know that field received the support and cooperation of all those impulses of intelligence, and those who don’t know it, what can those impulses of intelligence do for him. So we kind of live in a society where we don’t know that sort of transcendental field very well. And so we rely on, you know, fragmented, limited manmade knowledge, which can accomplish things, but which always has unintended consequences. You know, we do one thing over here, and there’s all these terrible side effects. But if we could sort of act from that level at which from which nature governs the universe, then the impulses of our creativity, our technologies, everything else, could be much more comprehensive or harmonious, they could produce desired benefits without unintended consequences.
Adam C. Hall: Well, in that’s a good point, because it is, it is about how nature governs governs the universe. And you know, there’s a great new field coming forth called biomimicry. It’s been around but its credibility is really gaining speed of how that how we, too can create designs, and use nature’s technology to put forth new ideas. And it’s happening with green building in water systems and other systems. And my sense is that adapt our ability to adapt to things like that nature, is our going to be key. And one of the things that came to me as you were sharing Rick was the the thought of that we are sharing around consciousness, enlighten all the same type, where did what is that ultimate source of that? And one of the things that I share in in the book is this theme of undeveloped mint. The real deep scholars in this space, and what are they aware of, you know, a lot of the Vedic traditions do speak of this word involution. You know, we are so geared towards evolution. Yes, we do evolve and we spiral in time, from birth to death, hopefully, and hopefully in a meaningful and purposeful way. But at the same process, the same time there is a process that it can be cultivated in, in work like a muscle. That is really what I refer to as undeveloped, and that’s really a code word for involution. And that is simply the process of deconstruction, a process of, of taking away and releasing and doing so graciously and way that serves the, the and allows our, our soul if you will, if that’s a big word, and many, you know, I would say yes or no, but allows, say, our spirit or whatever that is for you to or that God to flow freely through our, our this this human, this human hardware that we have. And that process what I found is is is is very potent. And it’s the Alchemist of old, you know, often speak of how we turn lead into gold. But ultimately, indigenous alchemy is really this process of where if we were a moving ourselves through a kind of ache, a chemistry experiment, where we are in the crucible and where we are in the fire and in the vapor and in the air, and we’re ultimately crystallizing what is there when we synthesize it all, what pops out through this all chemical process is this sense of Enlightenment, and this nothingness. And it’s, no word can put it there. And so my, my conversations are often in where I’m really heading is a lot of really around this power around involution. And this idea that we too, can return to that point in time, where, where the universe or the cosmos or some would say, God, we were infused with that into our cellular body and into our coding. And when we moved return to that place, we know that we too, are the CO creators of our life. And so not to get overly abstract or esoteric here, but really to say, you know, it’s not always about adding more and stuffing more in our head, it can really be about simply unloading the baggage that we carry within our human vehicle. And such as, you know, the ancient Chinese proverb is the master pouring the tea to the student, and the tea is just flowing over as he’s born and just bliss, you’re filling, my cup is just pouring over. And exactly, we just are wanting to pour it all in. But to do that, let’s empty the old junk, it kind of goes back to what we’re, I was pumping at the gas station, and like pumping the junk into my tank and polluting it with all this stuff, or my putting something that fulfills my life and serves my, my own journey to be of greater service and a greater capacity to others.
Rick Archer: Well, you know, Jesus, Jesus said, You can’t, shouldn’t pour new wine into old wineskins. You know, and I think what you’re saying about transmutation and, and we need to become a more fit vehicle for, for spirit or for presence. And there are actually people who sometimes prematurely awaken Kundalini and awaken spiritual energy, and end up in mental hospitals or end up severely destabilized or traumatized or something because the vehicle was not prepared vehicle was not fit to handle that intensity of spiritual energy. So there’s a lot to be said for, you know, making ourselves more fit. And this term involution I, the way I understand it, when you say it is that it implies kind of an inner exploration taking the attention within and they’re discovering the, I think you said the origin of the universe or the origin of our connection with the universe is something is that what you’re saying?
Adam C. Hall: Well, yes. And in addition to that, it’s really, it’s really an energetic connectivity. Yeah, it’s really it’s it is that deeper space, and there’s what I would consider one of the big conversations happening in the field of, of of awakening or spirituality is epigenetics and Bruce Lipton is talking a lot about this because it’s really about how collectively we hold our environment. And ultimately, that is what informs our DNA, and I’m no scientist here, and I’m thankful for For that many ways, and but the scientists are doing great work around this, what I call rewriting our software. And the process of rewriting software is really involves quite a few things. And not that we need to get off on that. But the idea is very evident that we are writing software that is serving, where we’re going, what we want to, to how we want to share how we want to serve, what can we do in our greater capacity with the gifts that each of us have. And this idea is, Okay, it’s time to rewrite software. And like any software programmer, it’s a continuing process. And you don’t want to be operating on an old, old old system, when you can really be operating on all cylinders. With a new system, yes, we have this incredible hardware. It’s just stunning, this human capacity. And there’s a great conversation that’s happening. And I alluded to it a second ago, and it’s about this new human. And many, many folks are beginning this conversation, that this this new human is upon us. And it’s the dawn of this new age of humanity. And I am, I am fully recognize that in my own human capacity, that this there, the new 2.0, or whatever your version may be, is upon you. And you made a good point, Rick, because the ability to to hold that capacity necessitates that we do the work, the ability to even take it upon ourselves, so as to not have this premature Kundalini lightning bolt of energy that shoots through the system, to you don’t want to be short circuiting that or blowing out the fuses. So the idea and what’s I think, and I’m observing both in the domain in the world out there, the unquoted, the unconscious world, so to speak, is that there is a great story, there is something that is moving in, they may many do not know quite what it is. I sat next to a billionaire at a luncheon not too long ago, and I an elderly man. And I said, Well, how are things if the markets are incredible? And you know, at the time they last year, they were up? 20 30%? Not? Not so good. I just got this tremendous unease. And I said, why so what? What’s precipitating that? He goes, I, I don’t quite know, but I’m hearing that from my peers. And, and then, you know, you know, that’s when we become very complacent. And it’s like, so the work that you’re doing and sharing is so important, because the ability for to have a greater capacity to we live in this time, where there is the potentiality. And the possibilities is unlimited to leap into this new human so to speak. And some say this is the HOMO Sanctus luminous the the human, the sacred human of light. Some say like my friend, Barbara Marx, Hubbard, this is the HOMO Universalis, you know, the human or other human of the universe. And then others like Alberto Villoldo, who wrote the foreword to my book, it’s the HOMO luminous, the ancient ones have been speaking and sharing this for for hundreds of 1000s, if not 1000s of years. So this is these are interesting things to explore together as we go forward.
Rick Archer: That’s all all very interesting. Actually. One particular point I want to bounce off of that you just said when you’re sitting with that billionaire, and he said he felt this sense of disease. Here in my town in Iowa, there’s a corporation that is planning to build this huge grain silo on the on the edge of town, right next to this property of some people who lived there for four to yours or something, and a lot of people are really upset about this, the farmers like it, but the people who are trying to make this a green community and a more enlightened community and so on, are kind of upset about it. And when you think about what that grain silo is going to be used for, it’s going to be used to, you know, the whole corn industry, right. And corn does what it create, they make a lot of high fructose corn syrup, which contributes to obesity and diabetes, they feed pigs, which and those pigs live horrible lives, and the people who eat the pork, they probably could be on healthier diets, they use it for ethanol, which is a really stupid way of getting alternative energy compared to other possibilities. So the whole industry is at this has this thought hasn’t even entered the minds of the farmers, but the whole industry is based on stuff that really wouldn’t fit in very well, in a more enlightened society that really doesn’t deserve to exist, ultimately. And that can that’s just a case in point, there are so many examples of so many foundations of our economy, you know, they are really big building blocks in our economy, that really need to be pulled out and pulverized, because they just don’t fit in to a more enlightened society. I mean, tobacco industry, the fossil fuel industry, you’re doing genetic engineering, and go on and on down the list. And so I think the reason this billionaire is feeling nervous, is that he doesn’t know it consciously. But there’s a deep rumbling taking place. In world consciousness, a deep sort of giant is awakening. And I think that a lot of structures to which people are deeply committed financially, emotionally, in many other ways, are going to come tumbling down. Maybe I’m being optimistic and idealistic and naive, and so on. But I’ve felt this for decades. And, you know, it’s still hasn’t really happened too much yet. But if, if we’re going to shift to a more enlightened society, it’s going to have to happen.
Adam C. Hall: And well, in very much so and I and I, in my worldview, for whatever it’s worth, it is happening. And you know, it, it reminded me of a hike that I used to take in Malibu, that it became quite famous when Eckart made a reference to this hike be in his book, The New Earth, because he to trip this hike. And when you get to the back of the canyon, there’s a sign there that said, Beware, the structures within are dangerous. That’s great. And so how, how, what a powerful statement about these times, because ultimately, the the structures the the pillars, that that you are referencing in our, our collective economies and cultures, whether that is our reliance on carbon, we you know, we live in a carbon based world a carbon based economy, that doesn’t work, no. We live in political systems that are being torn apart and tested. And we’re recognizing the frailties in this, the deep shortcomings of a democracy, although it reminds me of Winston Churchill, it’s the best thing we’ve got going. And this may be this is the truth, but it but the point really is, the point really is where wherever, wherever our modern or postmodern societies are, economically, culturally, whatever it is, wherever we are in that arc of time, they truly are in a state of collapse. Now the towers came down in 11. I mean, no one to a 911. So we certainly symbolically know that we as conscious sentient beings in that capacity, although we are so much more, but let’s just be in that capacity, because we’re in this doing world of extensively getting to more of a bean place to do but the idea really here is to what I am finding, and what came to me is one of the deeper Wisdom Teachings of Mother Nature is the the ability of, of of ourselves as humans to have a deep root and a deep grounding within our own lives and within our own communities. And that that grounding is essential for what is now evolving around humanity. And the idea here is that the human, the human, to not be snuffed out and that the flame will burn bright. And of course, I don’t operate from a place of fear, because it’s really not about that that’s out there. It’s about what’s in here. It’s about our own internal flame and our own sensibility of this greater capacity that we’ve been talking about. And that’s about, that’s what ecology colleges have spoken very much about. And that’s really, the thrust of what I share in the book is, is that and that in order to have that deep root, in order to build those pillars in our life, and those foundations, in our lives, and in our communities, and in our families, it’s essential that they’re built to last. And what I found it was in the 1.0, I wasn’t built to last, it was it was unsustainable. And so the process of creating sustainability, and I refer often referred to this as conservation, preservation, and restoration. I refer to it that in what I do in with the land and real estate, but I also it originates from conservation, preservation and restoration of my self. And what that takes to do that. And if you think about that route, that each of us plants in on this earth, as we move across this great planet, of ours, we certainly want our soil, we want it to be healthy, we want it to be vibrant. And we want it to be purposeful. And the idea here is are some of the things that you just spoke around around the corn industry in the genetically modified food industry. And it’s the the issue, there is not a right or wrong issue, the issue there is, how does that affect the root of ourselves in our humanity, in for eternity. And when we look at that, we will quickly recognize it poisons the soil, it poisons our root, it takes us out of the place of our place of our heart as heart centered beads. So it’s a it’s really an important conversation. And that’s why I often think, Rick and let’s, let’s talk a little more about some other stuff. But I often want to say, you know that? What is the bottom line here? You know, what is it and my sensibility and what came to me as I was reentering the world after my quest, which is never ending but coming back into life to serve, and to do things, but I’m, I’m just no longer predatory capitalists, I’m still a capitalist, a conscious one is what is the bottom line? And what is the bottom line in my life? And what is the bottom line in the life that I’m living, and what I’m doing both in my inner world and my outer world, and that bottom line is what I refer to as the quadruple bottom line. And that’s about people, planet, profits and purpose to be purposeful in what we do. And in the end, the idea is, if my actions are not accounting for that bottom line, then I am not building supporting that root. And it’s okay because some would say, well, making a dime or making a profit is not, you know, would say, well, that’s not really a spiritual thing or, and i Many don’t say that because even the ones that substantially are, quote, unquote, most spiritual are very active in this arena. And so but I sense and I put a call out to the listeners and everybody, what is your bottom line? And if you practice this crutch, quadruple bottom line, my sense is that we will all be better off and it begins with each of us.
Rick Archer: Well, it’s a good stuff in that one. One thing that came to mind as you’re speaking is just that everything we see in the world is kind of a manifestation or reflection of collective consciousness, you know, if we, if we see a city that’s full of pollution and ugliness and crime, and, you know, all kinds of bad air and whatnot, I mean, who created that city, obviously, human beings did. And they, they did so from a certain level of consciousness with certain motives, and so on. So guess where I’m going with this is that, that back to that idea of consciousness being the ultimate fulcrum, and that if we want the, the outer manifestation to be more wholesome and beautiful than that, which gives rise to it has to be more wholesome and beautiful, has to be awake, alive, enriched, I guess this pertains to your involution point. But, you know, I think that if it were possible, a society comprised largely of enlightened people would spontaneously manifest a lot of outer beauty and purity and lack of pollution and all that just the, the way they would naturally conduct themselves would without without a whole lot of intellectualizing about it, when they would naturally evolve technologies and pursue lifestyles and so on, that would make this a beautiful world, even the the, you know, obviously, the jungle is beautiful, but even the more human fabricated parts of it.
Adam C. Hall: Well, yes, Rick, and it that center point that fulcrum in in many would argue that about this. I don’t, because I can only share what I experienced. And that is at that fulcrum, and in that center point, innate within you, all, who, within humanity is that enlightened state, that place of that lies at the core, that we know that the place of love and being in the place of awareness, and in service to the whole of the life on Earth, that organism, and which of course, were a big part of it, and to being to serving that whole wholeness is essential. And this is these are real and important and timely conversations. And so it’s, it’s fun to be sharing some of these things, yet at the same time. You know, it’s Pete, you It’s often said, amongst the Guru’s and others that are the avatars are so well, it’s all perfect. Yes, it is all perfect. However, if you look at the actions taken by those who have chosen to be in the world, I mean, you can live in the ashram, I live in the mountains, or live in the teepee. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you are choosing to be a conscious enlightened being in the world, and fully integrating our greater human capacity, then we know this, from watching those that have come before us, those sages and those wisdom keepers in those Earthkeepers. And those day keepers that have really held our humanity together magnificently, to this moment that we’re talking now, if we observe that they, in their perfection, are in doing and being engaging in the world, because they know that when children go hungry 16 point 7 million in America alone, or much of the world exist in conflict, or that there’s this sense, deep sense of social injustice on this dominion of earth, and all these things that exist on Earth, we the we know that it is our responsibility and duty to show up to attend to it. Yeah, for the betterment of everybody.
Rick Archer: We were talking about levels of consciousness earlier, and you’ll have to meet my friend Timothy Conway who lives right there in Santa Barbara. Loving Yeah, he wrote an article on his website which is enlightened spirituality.org enlightened hyphen, spirituality.org I believe, which in which, which he titled The three levels of non dual non dual reality. And the first level, the Sefirot. surface level is a level at which it’s obviously not perfect, there’s all kinds of things that are broken and that need fixing, then there’s a deeper level, which find all as well well and wisely put, everything is divinely orchestrated, it is all perfect on that level. And then there’s a deeper level at which nothing ever happened. The it’s the unmanifest, the universe hasn’t arisen yet. And all these levels have their own sort of validity on their own levels, but you can’t mix them up, you know, it’s not right to, to sort of take the reality of one level and I would say, Miss apply it to another level, you only sort of it ends up being uncompassionate. You know, for instance, if you say, It’s all perfect, the starving children in Africa, whatever, it’s all divine Italy, ordained, then your misapplying levels. And you know, you put someone needs to go to Africa and help the children and so on any in that person, let’s say they’re an enlightened person, they’re aware of the level at which it’s all perfect. And, and they’re also aware of the level on which nothing is happening or ever happened, but they’re working to feed the children. So it comes back to that thing we’ve talked about earlier about the enlightened being someone who traverses or encompasses embodies all levels of reality simultaneously, and is able to sort of give each level to do
Adam C. Hall: well in well, well put into context in a good way. And I often spend time contemplating exactly what you articulated quite well there. And that is, it is that sense that, you know, it’s whatever level we are operating on, or whatever level we’re not operating on, for that matter, whether it’s the non duality or the true duality, it’s the trap is ultimately to be existing in in one of them. And to think that there’s the exclusion of the others to the exclusion, rather. And that in that case, then we see the rise of dogma. And, you know, extremism, primarily, we’ve seen it in religion over the last couple of Millennium. And so we, we now have this capacity always have but the capacity that, you know, it’s the bottom box, it’s none of the above,
Rick Archer: or all of the above, depending on Yeah, exactly,
Adam C. Hall: exactly. Like I sometimes I, I like all of the above. And then I also also go to well, when you mash them all together, and you throw them all in the pot, you get what some would say is the, the magic, or the miracle, or the magnificence of, of, of grace, on earth, and Heaven and Earth. So it’s, it’s cool, and we’ll check it all we’ll we’ll take we’ll take all those boxes. And, look, we get get to share with what each other, all of those great human experiences that we’re all sharing and having together
Rick Archer: Nisargadatta Margot Maharaj just you’re probably aware of him he wrote that is that that sage of where was he Bombay said the measure of spiritual maturity is the extent to which one can incorporate paradox and ambiguity to be comfortable with paradox and ambiguity. And your reality itself is paradoxical. A physicist will tell you that I mean, there’s so many levels of reality as described by physics, each of which has its own laws, but you can’t miss apply them. You know, the physicist can tell you about a level at which gravity doesn’t exist, because it hasn’t arisen yet. But his understanding appreciation at that level doesn’t let him jump off buildings with impunity. So you really have to give each level its do
Adam C. Hall: we all yes, very much, very much, very much so into on and to honor those things. I mean, for myself, I, I do spend time every day before I launch, launch, shout into the things that I’m I’m doing and what I’m being out there the best day in my capacity, but ultimately, to recognize the that, you know, it is being a human being is it is extraordinarily challenging and challenging. And, you know, I work to be gentle with myself and for forgiving of myself and where I feel that that’s necessary and, and to recognize Yeah, well it may be all perfect and it may there may be nothing ultimately to forgive at the end of the day, but hey, this is this is part of the joy of The Journey and to really to recognize that and I’ve been, you know, one of the things that always comes to mind a little bit is that is that life on Earth and I forget who said this life on Earth is is addicting. Except reality, which is unbearable. It’s like, okay, there you go. We, it is so addicting all of it. But yes, we also hold this greater capacity and greater truth that is oftentimes can be challenging, or difficult. You know, and I, and that’s, that’s the kind of joy of joy, joy of it all. And so it’s, it’s fun to fun to be in that, that evolutionary process and that evolutionary process.
Rick Archer: So in your book, you talked about this one development that you did up in Big Sur where you, you kind of bought the land along with a bunch of investors, and you preserved it, and you’re planning to develop a small portion of it to sort of generate income or something, but essentially, to preserve the whole thing. It’s a big, it’s a big world. I mean, have you done more projects? Now? Since then, is this kind of expanding to become a greater grid? And then enterprise that could actually be seen from the International Space Station?
Adam C. Hall: Well, I, I don’t know about if you can see it from the space station. But if you can see it, if you’re if you if you have an eagle eye, you fly like the eagle, you can you can zoom in on it. And yes, the answer is, yes, we have been moving the paradigm shift that I had around real estate, when I came to big Sure. And that shift really was about in this may provide some ideas or thoughts to those that are in a place where they’ve come to an intersection in their life, where they’re not only weaving in their inner and outer lives is one because ultimately, who we are, what we do, really should be one in the same thing. And if they’re not, then I would encourage everybody to focus on creating a lot of equanimity around that part of their lives. But this when I came to that intersection, many years ago, was where was I going to reenter into the world? It really said to me, Well, I’m coming back to Big Sur, and I’m in Big Sur, how can I serve the real estate industry. And the real estate industry is defined by highest and best use, what is the highest and best use for real estate and that is, well, the maximum amount of development rights and entitlement rights you can stack on a little piece of property? Well, what we recognizing is, that doesn’t necessarily work. And it’s not sustainable. So I kind of rewrote that paradigm for myself and just said, Well, wait a second, we can create conservation, and preservation and restoration work around the land. We can undeveloped it, in other words, we can take away entitlement rights. And in doing taking away some of those development rights, we create what we leave, we leave some development. That’s it’s not like, not my neighborhood, nothing. It’s the quadruple bottom line. But it’s taking into account the sensitivities not only of the land, but the neighbors in the community. And when we look at land in that capacity, when we honored the rivers, and the the woods, and the animals, and all the flora and fauna that we look at that what we recognize what remains is something that has far more value, because it’s in living in harmony with that. And so that is that’s really what we’re up to. We’re working on a project in Hawaii. It’s very challenging. It’s a 16,000 acre project with four and a half miles of ocean frontage. And fortunately, through a confluence of events with both economic and also my strong relationship with the owner of the property, it’s not going to be built into a massive resort community with golf and homes and jet strips in hotels and all that. And we’re also looking at some new projects now that are all about repurposing golf courses that are really what I refer to as dead golf, to recreate a recreational space and to create garden space. And to do that in association with homeowners group And instead of having something that’s blighted and is impinged upon value, it increased it’s a creative to their value increases the value of owners. So we’re doing things that are different around the land, but they’re very oriented or annotated how communities can be in greater relationship with the earth, and in the process of being in that greater relationship, create a greater to, say, support there root, in that on that Earth, so that those pillars are unbreakable. And that’s why we’re all so focused on urban gardens, and getting youth into gardens. So our work around the environment and land is underway. It’s a new model. A lot of people scratch their head and say, you know, hell no. But we’re marching forward patiently and very intentionally. And we’re really working to restore or help to restore humanity’s connection to the earth. And this big buzzword now that we face, we have this disease, called nature deficit disorder, and di, D, it’s real. And they did a study, Rick, in Great Britain, amongst children, and 70%, were had very little or no connectivity to the animals or the plants or the earth. I was at dinner with Lizanne the other night, to honor a dear friend, Dr. Michael Tobias, perhaps one of the foremost prolific scholars and writers of our ecology in relationship to the environment. And he said many things that would literally made your hair curl up and go, Oh, my gosh, what’s happening on this planet. But one of the points he made was, well, they did a survey of kids in Arizona, middle school, kids high school, they know, twice as many are actually more than that brand names, you know, Frito, lay verse, Oh, that is a woodpecker, or so we have something that needs to attend to and our conversations are about cultivating that route, that viability of our humanity, and helping others to their connectivity to it to in support of, of the wellness and vitality of this planet.
Rick Archer: One thing I find fascinating, and it came to my I think we’ve sort of touched on it, but it bears repeating it came to mind, as you were speaking, is that, you know, it’s everything, again, is a manifestation of the consciousness of the people that have created it. And there’s so much of a mentality on this planet, where it’s the very kind of narrow focus of what is good for me now, what is good for my company’s bottom line for the next quarter for the investors and all that without any regard for the broader consequences of what’s being done. So whether it’s the tar sands in Canada and the pipeline, they want to build across the country to bring the whole the oil to, you know, the Gulf Coast, so it can be shipped to China. Or, well, there’s so many examples, but it’s always this thing of, you know, I want my profit, and I want my company to have its profit and to hell with the consequences. And let’s funnel money into convincing people that there won’t be any consequences. And it’s just so fascinating, that you, having undergone this this transformation, meta analysis, I think is was the word you use something like that. Metanoia metanoia. It’s so fascinating to see how your outer activity has changed as a result of an inner transformation. I think that’s the gist of this whole interview. And the gist of your story is that the you know, your everything you put your energy and not into now is done so differently than you did when you were in a sort of an egoic consciousness. Now you have a broader consciousness, a deeper consciousness, something which kind of literally embraces the whole planet. It does on a deep level consciousness is unbounded. If you establish yourself in that unboundedness then you know everything the world is your family. And this is so fascinating to see how that has manifested in your life and what you’re doing with it. It’s really commendable and an inspiration hopefully for many, many others.
Adam C. Hall: Well, thank you. Thank you, Rick and Ian. to you as well for the work that that you’re doing. And one of the things that warms my my heart to no end is all the incredible, what I refer to as Earthkeepers. Because I believe we are earth, all Earth keepers, that has that have come into my life and that are coming into my life is is is makes me know, for certain that not only is there hope for this planet, and our humanity, but our best of times and our greater unfoldment is is now dawning upon us. And it it, I see that I feel that I’m experiencing that I went to the Amazon jungle two years ago, for the fifth time, in the deep jungles of Peru down near the Bolivian border. And I tell some of these stories in, in my book, The earthkeeper, as you you know, and I checked in because the jungle is the womb of the mother earth. This is the place that biologists refer to as the hotspots where there is the most bio diversity. Whereas there there’s the most perilous proliferation of life in all its forms. And on from vertebrates, to just pure organisms. And when I went to check in there, and just did a check in not in Peru, but just recently as well, on another vision quest, when I checked in there, everything is operating, it’s challenged. And it’s trouble. But it’s all operating, the system is working its way into greater balance. And the key here is, like Dr. Wilson said, as I referenced earlier, is, you know, humans have to become more conscious. So we know what we’re doing, and where we’re going. And the ship can be pointed in new directions. And that’s happening. And it’s happening in a big way. And it’s great to be connecting with others that are making it happen. And all of you who are listening, in your own little way, are the ones that will make it happen in a bigger way in a more purposeful way. And every single one of us is essential in this process. As US you referenced earlier, Rick, the collective is shifting, the collective needs to shift. But for that to shift each of us to must shift.
Rick Archer: Yeah. And as we shift, we all have our Dimas, I would totally suck as a real estate developer, but I have my dharma, you have yours. And so you know, however, one can manifest this. As we were talking earlier, you take a step and the next obvious thing presents itself. So it’ll become more and more apparent to each of us, I think as we go along.
Adam C. Hall: Indeed. And that’s the beauty of it. Can you imagine, if you shed your old story, you undeveloped, that old story. And you already knew the new story
Rick Archer: wouldn’t be wouldn’t be a very interesting book, you know, I wouldn’t be very interested
Adam C. Hall: in it wouldn’t be very fun. Yeah. And in in the process, my gosh, we would miss out on the greatest gift that has been given to us. And that is the ability in the capacity to be co creators, and to be collaborators with others. And so the time really has come on this planet, to shed the old stories, and to write the new story, the story that each of us is dreaming into being from a place of our heart’s truest desire, and from a place that our soul is calling us to, to come home to
Rick Archer: beautiful. We should probably move towards including this interview but I just want to say I just want to say, first of all, that if anybody listening to this wonders has not really gotten the point about, you know, why a whole discussion about saving the Earth and ecology and stuff like that is relevant to, you know, someone who is primarily interested in spiritual development or spiritual awakening, I think again, because first of all, if we don’t save the environment, there isn’t gonna be a place for any of us to get spiritually awakened unless we reincarnate on other planets or something. And secondly, this as, as Adam and I have been discussing, this whole spiritual awakening thing is very much tied in with what’s happening on the planet. And then the things that you see in the news every day about, you know, global warming, and Greenland melting, and all sorts of things that are going on. So it’s the point made on that second, this book, very, we didn’t talk too much about it during the interview. But it’s a lot of fun. And there are all kinds of interesting stories in here of things that Adam did, as he was following his quest. Like, for instance, getting on a horse and Canyon to che. In New Mexico, having not ridden the horse since he was four years old, and that was just a Shetland pony at a fair or something, and galloping at breakneck speed through a thunderstorm. That was interesting. And sweat lodges and snowstorms and climbing that how did you get off that rock and Sedona Bell Rock you draw, it’s harder to climb down from something than it is to climb up? And you never told us how you got off the rock?
Adam C. Hall: Well, you know, exactly. It’s easy to get up there. But you know, how the heck do you get down and I got down, like, I think I would say is probably something that took me a while to learn over my 53 years. And that was to go slow, methodically, and to really be present with the rock that I was standing on. And each step that I took. So when I got into that grounding in that centering, it really wasn’t wasn’t so difficult.
Rick Archer: Oh, good. Well, I was thinking you may be called to helicopters. And then there are other stories. I mean, you know, falling off a four wheel drive vehicle and breaking your collarbone your leg and crawling to safety and confronting a mountain lion, and, oh, God, there’s so many interesting things. So it’s an entertaining book, with a very profound spiritual current running throughout. And one of the things I’m curious about, which readers of this book won’t know, unless you tell us now, has Gigi mellowed out at all your ex wife? Is she kind of realizing that you’re onto something after all, or no progress on that front? No.
Adam C. Hall: All right. Still very excitable, tough nut to crack. It’s it’s a tough nut to crack. And it’s interesting when we have great characters like this in our life, because it is our lives are like theater. And the question is, do you want to have theater of drama? My particular case is, as it’s shared in the book is really kind of a tragic comedy within an adventure, adventure is twist, like an Indiana Jones style as you referenced, yet your you can live in a place of that really is one that decides that, well, my play needs to be what ever is I’m being called to and, you know, and for her, it’s those are the choices that she has made. I’m very grateful because her character and her she as a person is giving me the greatest gifts in my life. First and foremost, my three amazing daughters who i i love deeply and have a powerful, deep relationship with them, that we’re cultivating all the time. And then secondarily, without GGS push. Without her absolutely pounding away, then, perhaps, and I’ll never know, I wind have really took that deeper look into myself and looked more concretely at who I was and where I was going. So it’s all
Rick Archer: there really Carlos Castaneda his books? Yes. When he she she was your petty tyrant.
Adam C. Hall: Yes. And yes, and you know, some, you know, it’s the villain, the petty tyrant. It’s the things that, you know, Castaneda referred to Don Juan referred to as The things that are the past the energy that tries to eat upon you. And this is a very important thing to, to work with that, not to battle it, and to create conflict and war, but to create come from a place of the heart, and peace, and to move beyond the old story, to write the new story.
Rick Archer: And you know, just to get a little esoteric here, she may very well be a very highly evolved spiritual being who took on this role to play that part in the play of your lives, you know, who had some karma to workout with you, whatever. It’s, it’s not, we can’t be judgmental and say, Oh, Adam is the big spiritual guy and his wife was too unspiritual to come along with him. In the big picture of things, we just never know who’s what you know, and who was
Adam C. Hall: very much so Exactly. And that’s why everything is a gift in its own way, and not to overly generalize it. But she gets the Academy Award. There’s no doubt about it gets the award for doing that, and showing up and I’m grateful for her in more ways that I could then I could share right now.
Rick Archer: Great. Well, that’s a nice note to end on. Oh, praise to GG. So let me make some concluding remarks. In general, I’ve been I’ve been speaking with Adam C. Hall, who is author of the earthkeeper. I’ll have a link to his website and his book on his page on batgap.com. This interview has been part of an ongoing series, there are about 225 of them in the can now. And you can find them all on batgap.com Bat gap, which is an acronym for Buddha at the Gas Pump. There you will also find a number of things you’ll find a discussion group, one that is sort of dedicated to each particular interview, you’ll find a donate button, which I appreciate you clicking if you have the inclination, there’s a place to be to subscribe to be notified by email each time a new interview is posted. There are several different indices of the interviews is an alphabetical one, there’s a chronological one, there’s a categorical one. So poke around in there, you’ll find all sorts of stuff. And there’s even a page where you can vote for your favorite interviews. And cuz sometimes people ask me what my favorite ones are. And I don’t like to say it, I don’t feel like I should say it’s, I have my favorites. But those are just my preferences. And so there’s, there’s a place where you can do that. So I think that wraps it up. So thanks for listening and watching. Thank you again, Adam is great fun.
Adam C. Hall: Great fun to be here with you, Rick, look forward to carrying this important conversation further and connecting with you and all of your listeners as we head down the path together.
Rick Archer: Yep. Towards the light at the end of the tunnel, which is not an oncoming train. It’s actually something nice.
Adam C. Hall: Hey, by the way, on that note, I’ll never forget I left a business meeting and I walked was in the book and I will. I walked the gentleman to the elevator and I said, I see light at the end of the tunnel for this problem we’re having and the guy. deadpans, he looks at me. That light could be a gorilla holding a flashlight. On the elevator, he went.
Rick Archer: I had a friend who stepped into an elevator one time not realizing that there was no elevator there and very last moment he had the wits to jump across and hang on to the paid cables or something and save his life. Anyway, on that note, thanks for listening or watching everyone. Oh, listening. I mentioned listening. There’s also a link to an audio podcast that you’ll find on batgap.com. Let many people like to do it that way. And we’ll see you next week. Thanks