The Happiness Quotient Transcription of #72 - The Soul of Seth Walker, Musician, Author, Poet & Artist's New Book Your Van Is On Fire
Greetings, here is the transcription to the soulful episode #72. Please excuse the exact wording of the music segments!
Episode #72 can be heard here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/8147283
Thom Pollard 0:00
THOM POLLARD: This is the happiness quotient.
For a free pdf download of a course in happiness, go to patreon.com slash the happiness quotient. Or if it's more convenient, check it out on my website at eyes open productions.com slash happiness. And I welcome your thoughts and ideas to on your happiness potion.
The Wood Brothers 0:34
MUSIC - All of my wisdom came on all of the toughest days. I never learned a thing being happy
Thom Pollard 0:57
I'm Thom Pollard and welcome to the happiness quotient. This is an episode about soul. If there ever was a person fitting the essence of the happiness quotient, it's this gentleman Seth Walker. He's our guest today. The happiness quotient exists purely to inspire people to follow their heart to listen to the song of their soul. Literally and figuratively Seth Walker, an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, author, poet painter, has followed the song of his soul.
Seth Walker 1:42
MUSIC Here I sit in this hotel bar jukebox playin' low , Whiskey in my glass, worry's all I know...mmm mmmm
Thom Pollard 1:55
He learned a classical instrument early in life taught by his parents, and in college became so enamored, obsessed with the guitar and learning the blues licks of musicians like t bone Walker to name one, that he literally dropped out of college to go as deep as he could into the world of being a musician. There's only so many hours in the day and Seth wanted to devote every one of those hours of each day two, learning how to play the blues like a real blues master. Seth has a new book out. It's about his life. It's called your van is on fire. And that's a great story he tells within his book about the van catching fire.
It's a memoir of sorts. It includes a wonderful array of short stories about his life, his early life poems and paintings, photographs of paintings.
Again, he's more than the sum of his parts. His music is captivating, soulful, beautiful, bright, and insightful, sometimes deep, or in the instance of his song inside. It can be dense. That's his word, written about a trip to Cuba in 2016. Right after the death of Fidel Castro. We'll play that song later. I learned about Seth by way of his publicist Kevin Calabro of Calabro music media. Kevin is also the publicist for the wood brothers. Among other fine bands. Seth has no less than 10 albums.
He's a real Road Warrior has been touring for years and years. His albums got to get back and leap of faith went high on the Billboard blues Album Charts number six and number two, respectively. Not too shabby. safty. Today, we're going to share a ton of Seth's music and weave it into a revealing soulful interview that I did with Seth just a short while back. And we'll talk a lot about his book and how it came to be, which probably wouldn't have happened had it not been for his touring schedule being shut down due to COVID. What's new, right?
What seems to be happening, at least here with the interview subjects I've had on the happiness quotient is that musicians have lost a ton of touring time and income but creative types that they are they've had a chance to pour themselves back into their craft, their are their muse. That's how Seth's book your van is on fire came to be. You want to know the world of a musician rising up through the ranks. This is a treasure for you
COVID helped Seth he said he was on a spinning flaming hamster wheel. It gave him time to reflect and write. I'm going to read you the liner notes of the book. Your van is on fire is a riotous and charming collage of a touring musicians meandering life, part memoir, part meditation, part Art Gallery, it sheds light on the ends outs and what have us of life inside the mind and van of an artist. The collection includes short essays, poems and paintings, capturing Walker's early years growing up in a musical family on a Quaker commune to his discovery of the blues guitar of T bone Walker, and his coming of age as an artist.
The book centers on his life making music in the southern love triangle of Austin Nashville in New Orleans, and includes some hilarious contemplative and wild Tales from the driver's seat of the van, and other random locales. So jump on in, go for a ride. Bring matches and a fire extinguisher, you will need both
Seth Walker 6:16
MUSIC: call me what you will. But I know that I could see what love can do
Thom Pollard 6:26
THOM After some pleasantries and telling a couple of Willie Nelson stories, how I personally met Willie and how Seth played at some Willie shows. Seth told me first about growing up on a Quaker commune. Let's hear our conversation interspersed with his fine music, and a reading or two from his book.
Seth Walker 6:49
MUSIC: you wake uppppp, and dream...
Well, you know,my, I guess was probably 19. I was born in 72. So around that time, my parent Scott and Carol Walker met this other couple, Jim and Susan Walton, and they just became buddies. They actually met this place called Quaker Lake, which is a little retreat in North Carolina and they were just buds and you know, when I say Quaker, Tom, please, it's it's, you know, Amish is, is serious, you know, Quaker, heavy duty Quaker. This we were it was kind of it was more of like a loose lifestyle than it was hardcore Quaker. I think the thing that my father resonated with it was met the meditative part of it, because it's, they it's a lot of silence. There's no preacher or anything like that.
So my father's always been in the Eastern philosophy things. So he was like, Man, this is pretty cool. There's nobody saying anything I can I can dig this. And and so they just, it just kind of organically happened that they decided to build this log house together. So we they built this thing, and I think they started in around about time I was born. Yeah, round 73 I think they started and we moved in there in 1975. And we lived we lived there community, nine of us for 13 years. That's how I kind of got that's, that's that's what I knew growing up. We had about 15 acres of land and I mean, we're talking about serious hippies, man. I'm talking about like, you know, I mean, it was Yeah, yeah. Willie Nelson records were playing. Yeah.
Thom Pollard 8:44
So we that's, that's appealing, and and very, very cool. So you're, it's like, it's like a commune kind of it. That's, uh, I don't know if that's a derogatory word
Seth Walker 8:54
It was a commune. I mean, we had chicken we had chickens. And they were you know, we were sharing the chores and I mean, how they even shared money which seems insane I can't imagine that night and trying to navigate that you know, and all the needs wants and desires of of of everyone and it really it really, you know, looking back on it, you know, it's it's it seems so natural growing up I really, personally I couldn't imagine trying to do that as an adult
Thom Pollard 9:32
Yeah, good. So your your parents obviously seem really really cool. I both your parents still alive now.
Seth Walker 9:39
Yeah, they're both alive. They're they're both great musicians. My father, a cellist guitar player, pianist. composer. My mother plays violin. My sister plays violin. And they're there. Everybody's healthy. They're doing great actually. They last couple albums. We finally got together and they collaborate with me on one of my albums and played some string parts with me, which was a real What a treat that was for me.
Thom Pollard 10:09
That is so cool. So you, you obviously fell in love with the with music and then the impact it had on you. And you obviously then is well showed quite the the talent for playing the guitar and other instruments and how on earth does someone go from just loving music and me likes like just kind of hacking away at a guitar, turn it into a real professional kind of dream because there are a lot of damn good musicians out there who just, you know, sleep on couches and eat dirt for their entire lives, you know? So it's a pretty big, like a big leap of faith to say, this is who I am. I'm going to do it come hell or high water. Good times & bad.
Seth Walker 11:01
Yeah, yeah, it was, you know, you know, growing up with the classical music. I will I will be the first to tell you that I Well, I didn't have the passion for it. It wasn't that it was it wasn't it wasn't like a total complete bummer. But it was and it was an art. It wasn't taught with an iron fist either. It was just what we did. Yeah. And I mean, I did enjoy parts of it. But it wasn't until college where these guys were playing electric. They're playing Stevie Ray Vaughn, Clapton, Hendrix. And when I something about it, man, when I picked up the guitar, like, there was something, it was something that I found. It was something that I discovered that maybe it just and I think just the the that blues thing. And the way you know, how improvisational it was and how much of a feeling that it was not the classical music doesn't have feeling but it's not written on a page. It's, it's, it's all by feel. And that's kind of how I grew up.
Because this was a very organic, kind of a, lots of moving parts. And you'd have to kind of improvise and how you lived your life with nine people. So maybe that somehow stems into why I kind of resonated with improvisational music, read, um, anyway. And anyway, that's, I just remember vividly, Tom, like when I could bend the string that you can't then the cello string, you know, it's hard to and, and then I was to get back to your question or your comment, I it wasn't even, it wasn't even a decision that I made, or any kind of epiphany that I had that I want to do this for the rest of my life. It was just, I just went I just did it. I just I just tunnel vision. It's probably it's probably good that I didn't think too much about.
Thom Pollard 13:07
Yeah, no, that's actually that's how it that's if you did then it's not really happening. It's kind of like the, you know, like this idea that when people want something, they find themselves in the state of wanting something as opposed to having this essence in your heart and soul and just going to it as opposed to like trying to get too much you put the thinking in it and it screws the whole thing up. It's like
Seth Walker 13:43
it's I mean, it goes yeah,
Thom Pollard 13:45
yeah, it's like I want to be enlightened. But and so there you are in a state of wanting to be enlightened. It's just it There you go.
Seth Walker 13:54
Don't work it don't work that way. But it's so funny man. Really just surrender to it. I mean, there's been many times obviously through the process where I have tried to grab it and steer it and white knuckle it and it then it always comes back to bite me on the ads because I because that's just not the way the Muse works.
Thom Pollard 14:18
It's not the way creativity works. That man that is just so right on what the Muse and so what is the Muse? I know this this is like, sometimes there are no words for it, but what is the Muse? What is your Muse and, man What?
Seth Walker 14:38
Well, it's definitely something that I it's, it's, it's something that I don't own. It's not mine. It's really, you know, just trying to be a conduit for it to to let to be open enough to let it come through and you know and as you as you as you grow and as you try and fail and try and you know that that muse changes some for sure just like obviously with the book i i needed i've been playing music my whole life and all sudden the world stopped and i'm staring out the window asking some serious questions and you know the muse just kind of redirected somehow thankfully redirected my spirit towards a new a new form
MUSIC they're could not be.... it was right in front of me i was searching up around i was looking out instead of looking in, and I've drfted, yes I've drifted
Thom Pollard 16:19
you the muse it's almost like some people would call it god or or source or something like that or divine inspiration it and that's really beautiful you just become a conduit to because it's it's like we're all connected to something greater than who we are at least as an individual maybe communally we can be truly great and more perfect and you know but but yeah it's like
Seth Walker 16:50
yeah it's it's an interesting it's an interesting concept elizabeth gilbert did a great ted talk about it and she was talking about you know they call like the genius it's like you know in african cultures they would they call it they call it the spirit you know or god like a genius and the genius would come through and it really started to get screwed up when you started to call when you started to call someone a genius because you know you can't be a genius it's like plus there's a lot of pressure
Thom Pollard 17:25
that's where the the power and the the intoxication with one's own you know superiority and that you know why people you know i've always been very uncomfortable neces when i was a kid i'd had you know i looked up to rock stars and musicians and stuff like that but when people begin to put say a leader of a religion or or even of a church in a way on some sort of pedestal that makes him or her greater than just an average person man the power the it doesn't work
Seth Walker 18:05
MUSIC that leads me back to the place
drifting
away i've lost my way lost my way calm at all gotta get back
Thom Pollard 18:46
this is Gotta Get Back title track offsets 2016 album it was produced by the woods brothers drummer and keyboardist the multi talented gentle rick's no doubt some deep experience and wisdom in these words but seth didn't just pick up the guitar and write a song magically he practiced he put the hours in he sweated it out fell in love with the sound of the blues
so just in in kind of the pragmatic practical aspect of it did you when you were first learning say guitar did you lock yourself in your room and practice you know eight hours a day i mean how did because it seems like a lot of people go through that
Seth Walker 19:44
yeah
i did the beginning i was just you know i that is all i did i didn't even i dropped that a college no i made the call to my parents and i literally sat around my dorm room and i just play blues good play Along with blues records, my uncle was pretty instrumental in some of the early development because he had a radio show down in Jacksonville, Florida called the after hours cafe and it was a blues program. And he played oh man all like Piedmont stuff. Blind Willie McTell, blind Blake, you know, out to Texas t bone and gate mouth and lightnin Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb and Chicago he played, he would play all these different, you know, genres or areas of blues, and he would send me these tapes, and I would just sponge a man. And that really, that those seeds were really the the kind of sprouted me to go to Austin, because I knew I wanted to be in, you know, and some rich soil out there that where this stuff comes from, or at least at least the version of the style of blues that I really resonated with. So to answer your question, yes. I played a lot of guitar in the early days.
Thom Pollard 21:04
Yeah. Damn. So how is COVID impacted you as it shut you down? Are you still just going forth kind of doing other things? Like, you know, COVID? Just, it's a wall up, but it's like, the creative juices don't stop. So for you personally, what what's that been like, for the last year?
Seth Walker 21:27
Well, you know, it was first it was obviously very, very shocking. And, you know, a shock to a system that I've been, I've been rolling with for, you know, last 1520 years, you know, just tour, a tour tour, and just, you know, just the whole perpetual feeling of it keeps me spinning. And so when the world stopped the the uncompromised the comfortables ness of it remain, but there was, but there was a new there was, I needed it. In other In other words, I actually needed I was on a spinning flaming hamster wheel that I needed to stop. Wow. And yeah, I and, and so I think I wouldn't have been able to write this book. If I didn't, if I didn't have the time to enter, really just reflect on my life and, and different, you know, things that I would shadows that I would bat back by just going back on the road, you can just kind of pretend like they don't exist, and I'll go do another gig. And so a lot of things creatively, and personally, that I needed to address. And this gave me the opportunity to do that. I'm not saying it was comfortable, right, because there was no, there, you know, that the money was tough, and you know, not making any income and, and just, you know, trying to realign my, you know, my, my Chi as it were. Yeah, but it's worked out pretty good.
Thom Pollard 23:10
Yeah. So tell me about your book, your van is on fire. I love it. It. There's there's a lot of touching parts in it. So I don't mean to say it's just a funny book. But there were times I just like, really, really laughed. I mean, great. You're, you are no problem poking fun at yourself. And, and you know, and that's the best part if you're real. And all of her would your friend he wrote the, the intro to it. And in it, he talks about how this, this book shows about you that you're you bare your soul, you and you know, so it's obvious in your music, but and in the book now that I've read it, but So tell me about it, what the process was and what you are endeavoring to do when you when you put this this artwork and poetry and prose together?
Seth Walker 24:07
Well, it originally was not, it was I had no grand scheme or plan to even write a book. I through the years, I would journal song from the road and I would write little things and I would do a little bit of poetry. I mean, I'm guessing, you know, obviously, poetry and songwriting are kind of, you know, somewhat and similar worlds, the brevity of it, but I went back to some of these early journals, these essays that I would write, and I had just a handful of them and I just I was like, oh man, these are kind of fun. And and I just, I just started you know, just retracing some of my upbringing and I've never really told my story. I've never written it down.
And it just so happened man that my next door neighbor name is Liz leadership. Little shots. She wrote a story about me in the East nashvillian. She's an amazing poet writer herself. And she was my next door neighbor. And so I showed her a couple of my pieces. And she was like, Wow, dude, you, you might have you got some stuff here. And she became my editor for the whole project. So that was very instrumental in having someone to encourage me have someone to tell me that, that I was barking up the wrong tree, or you know, that maybe I had some bones of something there, but it wasn't fully developed. So that was instrumental and then, and then, dude, I just deep ended, I just started reading, you know, the classics, I started studying. You know, how these essayists put it together?
And, and I just found myself so, so creatively inspired without even trying, I don't know, I just, it was so freeing not to be tied to a three minute song. Hmm. You know, even though these are short essays, yeah. For me, that's a long form. You know, two pages. I get to express myself in two pages. You can get a lot. Maybe it was just Yeah, I don't know, man. I just I felt there was no expectations about it. You know, this is my I'm not a writer. I don't I don't call myself a writer. It was just it was pure muse, I reckon.
Thom Pollard 26:46
Let's read a little excerpt from your van is on fire. And you know, the problem with an excerpt is that it doesn't tell the whole story. This is a very touching book full of love full of this, this beautiful connection with his family and his friends. But it's also got some really funny instances. I'm going to read you this one excerpt from an essay of his called Southern knights and he had the privilege of playing with the musician, the New Orleans based musician Alain Toussaint, who passed in 2015. Among other songs, Alain Toussaint, wrote, get out of my life woman, which is was picked up on Paul Butterfield's second album, I actually have a YouTube video of Paul Butterfield's son performing that song with Jimmy vivino and it's smashing indeed.
But Alain Toussaint highly regarded musician truly like one of those guys that you can't touch. Funny, you should say can't touch. Let me read the first two paragraphs from this excellent essay. This is Seth writing now,
There's a small group of artists that possess a certain aura azsuna C'est quoi? levitating them a few feet off the ground wherever they walk. Floating. Allen Tucson, the New Orleans piano player, singer and songwriter falls precisely into this category for me. The man was Americana royalty, prolific, imaginative, funky, soulful, touching, mysterious, sensitive, honest and swinging. He left an everlasting mark on the world of music with his illustrious career. I had the distinct privilege to open two shows for him in New York City in the summer of 2012. I met him in the afternoon of our first performance down at the city winery in the lower west side of Manhattan. He showed up for soundcheck in full suit leisurely accented with sandals and white socks. His silvering hair was perfect. Mr. Tucson spoke with slow Southern rhythmic diction and eloquence. We exchanged some laughs and thoughts about life music and New Orleans. As we were walking off the stage, I patted him on the shoulder not thinking all country bumpkin style. Nice to meet you and see it tonight Mr. Tucson. He looked at me calmly but sharply and said, don't touch the suit my man. It seems I left quite a mark on him but not the one I was intending.
Seth Walker 29:29
MUSIC .
Thom Pollard 29:52
Back to that Muse thing. You're expressing yourself and that's what this book is. It's it expresses something really beautiful and alive. different forums and this
Seth Walker 30:01
sprawling it's it's sprawling, you know, I, I'm kind of like, I'm kind of like that with my music I've got so many different influences and different moods and different things. So I just kind of went with that same Yeah. brawling approach to this book, if you will.
Thom Pollard 30:17
Right on. I love it. In terms of of your music. Are you in? Are you putting together an album now? Are you right? Uh, do you have any, you know, recording sessions or any kind of in its new form, doing any live performances or anything
Seth Walker 30:33
I'm actually right in the middle of working on a new album. I'm actually kind of close to getting it ready to be mixed. I kind of worked on it alongside with the book somehow. And it's funny, man, the, I guess when you do something long enough, you it's easy, it's easy to lose sight of why you started doing it in the first place. And so the book really kind of realigned me in in in some ways, it's kind of got me back into into music again, I'm excited about music, just as a you know, as an as a contrast, it happened the same way with some of my artwork.
I remember years ago, I was living in Austin, Texas. And a man in the music business that beat me up so bad dude, I was I was I was about to check out. And I just started painting. I just started just and I painted for three months straight, seriously, and it kind of re align me with my, you know, to get back into music again. So the book has done a similar thing for me
Thom Pollard 31:40
Do you put just put the guitar down sometime for a week and not touch it? Or are you like one of those guys? Bam, you wake up in the morning. And you reach for it? And at least like a brain and maybe I'll see if anything is wants to speak to me.
Seth Walker 31:55
It's It's It's pretty it's pretty. It's pretty spiky? I don't have a I don't have I don't have as much of a as a routine as I probably should honestly. Be But yeah, I mean that they're laying around, you can see them there. I mean, I'm always I guess I guess you're right. I'm always picking them up. But, but real quick, I just had a thought I was just thinking back about how all three of those things I keep kind of dancing around between them are writing now and, and music.
You know, a lot of times it's just you know, I'll get if I get low, you know, or, or, or I'm having you know, you can get you can get in this business it can be it can be theirs, it can you can get spiky with your with your emotions, and your you know, your ego and your you know your fragility. And I find myself you know, looking out the window sometimes and then and then the windows looking back at me asking love asking some serious questions and the artwork and the art is the only way that I've found that, you know, provides me any kind of remedy for those reasons.
Thom Pollard 33:19
That's pretty awesome. Um, hey, I don't know if it would be putting you on the spot. But I love the story you told about when you drove up. You're just gotten back from a tour or live some time on the road and your buddy's urge you to drive up to go see guy Clark at a at a you know, small club in Austin, I guess.
Seth Walker 33:43
Pootie, Pootie, Pootie's Hilltop,
Unknown Speaker 33:45
yeah,
Thom Pollard 33:46
you put the silt up. And something like you were kind of actually it sounds like you were kind of aggravated to screw it, I guess. But there was some Yeah, if you use the word earlier in some of the Epiphany thing and that something kind of happened. And you when you least expect it. So can you share with me a little bit about that story? Yeah.
Seth Walker 34:08
Yeah, this was probably shoe man. Probably the early 2000s and I'm embarrassed to say that I was not familiar with God Clark's music at the time. I mean, that's that's but alas, my friends told me about him playing out there. So I drove out there way outside of town. I was Krennic very crusty state coming off the road and and I reluctantly did drive out there and and it was just such a you know that this today's hilltop. It's good. And back to Willie pootie was Willie's tour manager forever. So this was his spot. And you know Willie Nelson studios out there two part analysis studios out in the hill country, about an hour west of Austin and up up jumps Scott Clark and Daryl Scott and Berlin Thompson and I was just so I've been I've never been so schooled and sit like a just a dagger I mean just a real a real epiphany to it was just so potent his lyric and his music was so potent to me I just like it completely threw me for a damn loop and what what I what the amazing thing about God Clark's music that I've that I kind of discovered that night I touched on briefly in the essay was how accessible he could make and how simple these sometimes complex feelings and images that he that he would portray anybody from intellect to ranch handgun Get it?
Thom Pollard 35:59
So cool. So cool. And so yeah, and so this got all of a sudden boom, I got it and you taught I in your in your the the essay that you wrote about it you I think the word soul You felt that connection like he was pouring his soul out and that's it. That's you, man. That's like the music your music is
Seth Walker 36:22
and that's what we all try to do as artists, you know, he and he's definitely a guidepost. As far as that goes. I mean, what a lifer. I mean that that probably was a very, you know, a big reason why I ended up moving to Nashville. Because I started to listen to his music and I started listening to john Hi, Ed and I listened to Nick Lowe and Jesse Winchester and all and a lot of guys Townes Van Zandt, of course and Steve Earle. And that's why I that's when I realized, you know, maybe after that trip to parties where I was like, man, I need to I need to submerge myself with some songwriters. So I was this guy, Gary Nicholson, a great songwriter. And he's he writes a lot in the blues world. And when I heard him play, he lived in Nashville and he was playing blues with all these really great lyrics he actually worked with guy for a while and wrote a bunch of software guy and I was like, You know what, I think this was probably 2008 where I made the move to Nashville
cool Yeah.
MUSIC
No need to speak no need cuz you're tell me all the way down the windows there's something there's something there there's something there Here we are being known funny, cuz y'all need to know
you know, at first I was just so wide open and I was learning I was just taking it all in and really riding with a bunch of different people. And then I found myself
starting to as we talked about earlier with a muse starting to stare it I was trying to calculate stuff and like some of the songs I was writing man i didn't i didn't believe they might have been like crafty or they might you know, I was like man, I don't even believe what I'm singing. And it really it really messed me up man and I ended up moving to New Orleans as a
as almost like to
because that that city in that music culture is so wrong. It is so not calculate. It
is so pure.
As almost went to New Orleans almost to unlearn. I felt like I was getting squeaky or something squeaky clean I was getting tu tu tu tu policy that's why I moved to New
Malindi all army Here we go.
Thom Pollard 40:53
If somebody said what what, what is Seth Walker's music, you have your own sound. That's that's what if that's it, my gut tells me that if any musician is after anything, its originality to be who he or she is. And you, you got that? Like, thank
Seth Walker 41:13
you, that's, that's my that's my that's my goal to end. And as you as you go, you're you're you're constantly changing if you if it with any luck with any luck, you're you're you're changing and you're morphing events, I don't want to I don't want to put out the same record every time I'm a different person every time right? You know, so I tried to you know, find that run that balance, you know, to, to step outside my comfort zone somewhat. Step out to the skinny into the branch, see if it'll hold me and then all the while staying true. To my my sound or my you know, my place is a tricky is a tricky is a tricky little one. But I really appreciate you saying man, that's that's as artists we want to you listen to BB King, you're like, bam, one note, you know is BB,
you know, right?
never find show. never find a way back. You'll never find yourself.
You know what, that's kind of funny. You could insides kind of a dense track, but it's cool. It's It's It's raining here today. So that's a song that I wrote, I actually referenced it in the book, it's about it after a trip I took to Cuba. called Havana quiet is the piece and it was after Fidel, we arrived there three days after Fidel Castro had died. And I was you know, they had banned all music for nine days and morning. It was, you know, it's all detailed in the book, but very, very strange, bizarre time to be in Cuba. But it it was so stark to me how the, the art and music of that culture of any culture that is repressed like that, and you know, finds a way
you know,
creativity always finds a way through the you know, the mean go back to slavery, they're out there just sing in their soul. And in any event, I bought a painting down there of a man holding an umbrella, silhouetted and it had rain all on the inside of this guy was like it was just raindrops all in him and he had no umbrella, but he couldn't, there's no way you can get out of the rain, if the if the raindrops are on the inside. So ended up writing the song, as a poem was not expecting to be a song, start as a poem, and then I'm later made it into the song that's called inside. So that's kind of tied in right in the training, the training and his training and his training.
Thom Pollard 45:21
So you said you don't have a lot of journals, but some of the recall of some of the little details I'm thinking,
Seth Walker 45:29
I heard, I don't know. I don't know how
I can remember that shit, either. I really don't. I can't remember what I have for breakfast yesterday. But I can remember these I really like glowing details of some of these early days. It's funny, it's very similar to with a Suzuki method that I grew up is an ear is an ear training thing. So you don't learn from the page, I guess is indirectly related to what we're talking about. But for some reason, when I pick up a cello, which I never do, I don't even own a cello. I can remember these early songs from like, when I was you know, 12 years old. It's some kind of weird encoded thing. It's selective memory. I guess you'd call it above? Yeah, I don't know.
I
some of these, I
will say this, some of the stories in the book are so outlandish and funny that I've been telling these tales. You know, through the years, you know, to the bow, bandmates, or whoever, but I just never written them down.
Yeah.
MUSIC Got to get next to you. Guys.
Thom Pollard 47:38
What's this? So the Suzuki method, this this method? Did your mom and dad teach you this? And could you explain it? Yeah.
Seth Walker 47:48
Yeah, it's, uh, Dr. Suzuki is a Japanese music teacher. And it's, it's set up into, I think there's 10 books for violin, I think is the seven or eight books for cello. And it's, it's it's all, most, at least in the beginning stages is all learned by ear. So you don't you're not reading notes off the page. So for it, you start off with Twinkle, twinkle little star. That's the first song in every book. And then there's variations of that theme rhythmically. They'll have, you know, and then. And what happens is you we would play the tapes, or records as you go to sleep or during the day and you hear these things in your subconscious. Right. You know, so when you go to play them, you know, the way it's supposed to the melody, how is supposed to sound so you're not tied
to this
lot, you know, these lines on the page. So I think it's a really beautiful way to learn music. It's definitely helped me through the years because I play a lot by ear a lot by field. I'm not a I'm not a surgeon with music theory.
I
in the same breath, I will say sometimes it can be inhibiting, because you you haven't learned that other side. You know, it's all about balance. And any anything you do
find the ballet.
Thom Pollard 49:39
This Suzuki method thing is really cool. Some days I'll just play and I love. I love the wood brothers. So I've got a couple of like, I'll slow down all of her and like freeze it. I'll be like, what the hell cord is that? And he's got this right and he's like this. Yeah, he
Seth Walker 49:57
got he got he got some chords. Yeah,
Thom Pollard 50:00
so this is just should I be just frickin play the guitar? Like what do you think I should do?
Seth Walker 50:07
I mean it's always it's it's always good to know a little bit more than you do on anything.
But
yeah man it's all about it's all about the feel. It's all about. It's all about the way the way it feels it's like is people people don't want to hear math. They want they want to hear they want to hear music, you know.
MUSIC Love is a giver....love is a thief. We'll pick you up and then that job is seem like a no friend. No fan and the cold. There were times I've been untrue. of big things don't always go to play the way you wish they were when that no, you never got to be come on and son. Wherever you are, wherever you are, wherever you are. Just call Monday
Thom Pollard 52:18
the beautiful music of Seth Walker. That's a lot of soul. This is call my name off is gotta get back album released in 2018
Seth Walker 52:31
MUSIC trial little forgive. My see you're brand new. There wherever you are you just call Monday. Makes no difference. By with you. Just call wherever you are, wherever you are, wherever you are you call Monday
Thom Pollard 56:17
It feels like sacrilege to talk over any of Seth Walker's music. So if you want to hear these incredible songs of Seth's and any of his 10 albums in their entirety, start off by heading to Seth walker.com. I'll provide links for where you can buy Seth's music in the liner notes of this episode. And I'll also list each song we've played in today's episode. The soul of Seth Walker, musician, singer, songwriter, guitar player, author, poet, painter, man of wisdom sets book, your van is on fire is a damn good read. I loved it. I recommend it for especially any aspiring musicians.
But for that matter, anyone who is breathing thank you to Kevin Calabro of Calabro music media for introducing me to Seth. And a special thanks to Seth for taking the time out of your day, that rainy day in Nashville which inspired your song inside when you were in Cuba. And that rain perhaps was the tonic necessary to get you to go so deep in this excellent, insightful interview. I'm deeply honored. Thank you for taking the time. In the notes of the episode, I'm also going to post a short video link from our conversation where Seth showed me his favorite two guitars. on video, you can see them and if you're into guitars at all or beautiful pieces of art, you will surely drool. Thank you for listening to the happiness quotient.
Thank you to the woods brothers for their gracious permission for the use of their song happiness Jones as our theme music,
The Wood Brothers 58:17
MUSIC all of that wisdom came from the tough day I never learned thing in happy.
Thom Pollard 58:27
If you'd like a free downloadable PDF of the happiness quotient, a course in happiness, visit me@patreon.com slash the happiness quotient or head over to eyes open productions.com slash happiness.
The Wood Brothers 58:47
Happiness Jones
Thom Pollard 58:50
for more information about me to inquire about personal coaching, or public speaking in person or online, eyes open productions.com look for the word contact at the top click it. Boom. Please, my friends share this episode with anyone that might find these words inspiring. I rely on the kindness of the listeners to share and distribute these episodes.
The Wood Brothers 59:17
to get, happy
that ol' dragon
Thom Pollard 59:22
set your mind to things of good intent. Even though the search can be dark and deep, something bright does await us even in this tragedy that we call life. Thank you for visiting the happiness quotient. I will see you all real soon.
The Wood Brothers 59:42
Happy, Happy Happy, happy
happy happy happy happy
Happiness Jones
Words I wrote
to rock my boat was stuck in my throat when I was happy.
I was singing
and next thing I'm thinking I might as well change my name to happiness, Jones my friend. Happiness Jonessss
Happy. Happy, Happy.
Happy, Happy. Happy, Happy.
Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy Happy. Happy
The Most Unique and Least Popular Personality Type: That's Me! (The Happiness Quotient)
The Most Unique and Least Popular Personality Type: That's Me! (The Happiness Quotient)
21 December marked the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere. On that day I posted the inaugural episode of The Happiness Quotient (Episode #63 - with the Reverend Freakchild). My intent on posting this "first" of the rebranded Baker Street with Thom Pollard on the shortest, darkest, emotionally coldest day of the year, was filled with intended irony. The Happiness Quotient, to those disinterested in looking beneath the hood, is NOT a touchy-feely, sage-burning, happy happy, New Age type cure-all for the maladies of western civilization. On the contrary, The Happiness Quotient endeavors to enlighten listeners/viewers (like me!) with information, knowledge and inspiration to conquer that which stifles our ability to experience the full range of happiness in this life.
Why is Happiness in the title? Each individual that has ever been born on this planet was born a perfect, fully loving being, pure and endowed with the essence of innate happiness. As soon as a baby begins interacting with the world, receiving messages and energy from those around him or her, that baby takes on the vibrations of whatever confusion, anger, sadness and depression, or malevolence that those people may be experiencing. In the process, a baby must navigate through life having taken on the energies of those who raised him or her. Happiness, however, is innate and deep inside, requiring a vision of clarity and openness to experience it. I'm not talking about the happiness one feels when receiving a gift or a back massage. I'm talking about pure happiness.
Why is Quotient in the title of the episode? A quotient is the sum of one number divided into another. Metaphorically, as an individual goes through life s/he gains experience, and, ultimately, wisdom. On The Happiness Quotient listeners/viewers learn and become inspired by the wisdom and experiences of the guests we meet on the podcast. In so doing, we're able to whittle away - through deduction - the preconceptions and fixed ways of thinking that has kept us in ignorance. When we attain a quotient, of sorts, we begin to experience true happiness.
So, today I was doing a bit of research for my next episode when I saw that Jordan Peterson, a psychologist/philosopher that I admire, is an INFJ in the Meyers-Briggs world of personality testing. INFJ stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging. The INFJ is the least common personality, according to studies. Only 1.5% of all people who test for it turn out to be INFJ. That also happens to be what Jordan Peterson is. Another thing I saw in my research was that INFJ is one of the LEAST liked personality traits. Well, I bent over laughing at that one. If you know me, my gut tells me that few would describe me as an offensive person. Maybe I broke the mold? If you're so inclined, here's the test: 16 Personalities free test.
This is the essence of The Happiness Quotient: Connected, engaged, passionate people inspire us to discover our own truths, and help make our lives more meaningful by challenging our preconceptions, our fixed and unbending ways of thinking and living. My journeys have taken me around the globe, from Easter Island to the top of Mount Everest and everywhere in between. But the greatest adventure of all is life itself….the journey of the soul, the search for meaning. On The Happiness Quotient we meet inspiring people and hear amazing stories that help us unlock the mysteries. They in turn help us grow in wisdom, revealing the inner happiness we were all born with.
I hope you'll sample episode #63 or any of our past episodes and join the community of citizens of the universe who wish to reveal their true nature.
Here's the link to the episode, Healing Power of Music and the Reverend Freakchild
Peace and Love,
About The Author
Calling Upon Voices of the Past for Inspiration, Bob Marley's War and my Patreon Experiment
Hi Friends, I took the leap and am now officially on Patreon, with exactly ZERO supporters! I smile, because I didn't get into podcasting for the money. However, I'm putting the vibe out there in hopes to raise some funds for new equipment and a bit o' mojo. If you're interested, below is the Patreon link. Oh, and if you get to Camp 1 of support, you get a mug with MY 'mug' on it. Talk about inspiring!
HERE'S THE TRANSCRIPT TO MY RECENT EPISODE (SEASON 2 EPISODE 10) about atonement, and gaining inspiration from philosophers of the past. ENJOY!
SOUNDS OF NATURE: (00:01)
SOUND OF OWLS CALLING IN THE NIGHT
THOM: (00:11)
THOM: One year ago tonight, I crawled back into my tent at advanced base camp on Mount Everest in Tibet. Earlier in the day, I had had the symptoms of what is known as a transient ischemic attack. TIA, as it's known as, is like a small stroke, and I was told that what I should do is not go up the mountain.
THOM: (00:54)
Hmm. And
THOM: (00:58)
When I went back to my tent that evening, I made the decision to go up no matter what. And here I am tonight, listening to the sound of a barred owl calling out into the night, hauntingly, beautifully, soulfully reminding me that going with my gut instincts, going with what feels right inside of my body
THOM: (01:32)
well
Speaker 2: (01:35)
It is the only way to go
THOM: (01:44)
Welcome to Baker street with Tom Pollard, that recording that introduction that you just heard was made about two weeks ago in my driveway at night, you can hear the barred owls echoing into the night, incredible creatures that live near here with the other beings of the air and of the earth. I intended at that time to use it for a Baker street episode. And this very episode, episode number 10 is fitting for the matter at hand. One thing I want to say here off the bat is you shouldn't believe a word. I say, when you hear something from anyone, be it a podcaster or a politician or a preacher or priest don't believe what they say. Don't take it as fact, what people don't do often enough is to go deep inside to ask themselves if what they're hearing serves their higher. Good. And if it doesn't, then the question has been answered. If it does not serve your higher good. When you come from a place of love, then you know that it, it isn't a truth and it is not for you.
THOM: (03:13)
And so today we're going to talk about equality about Haile Salassie Rastafarianism about judgment, inner peace and how they all tie together with recent events in the United States and the world, the activities in the United States and the world appear to have risen really to a fever pitch in the last several months. But going back about a year that the protests and uprising in Hong Kong began basically over China, who had planned to extradite a prisoner to the mainland for prosecution and the protests ultimately worked tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of people got behind it. And in time in September, China actually repealed their plan to begin. Extraditing prisoners to the mainland. And the protesters now have have a core set of demands. One of them is, is for the government not to call them rioters, but in the year, since those, those peaceful protests started and they've turned violent protesters, some of them throwing petrol bombs at police police have responded with live bullets.
THOM: (04:31)
There have been deaths, thousands of injuries, casualties to protesters and police alike. And then here in the United States arising out of the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Back at the end of may at the hands of a police officer who along with three other police officers standing by have all been charged with murder. George Floyd was a black man whose death has set off growing unrest and dis ease here in the United States, exacerbated greatly by a growing political and economic divide in this country and the world. This has been going on for time immemorial and occasionally things quiet down. People go back into their places. And as time goes on political parties, the gap between them widens and in the last week or so, I personally grew increasingly restless after watching with total indignation and rage as the protests grew across the country and the world, which in my estimation was, was really just catalyzed by George Floyd's death.
THOM: (05:48)
That it was, it was rumbling and grumbling and growling in the stomach of, of the beast, ready to rise up where the vacuous gap between the haves and have nots has grown out of control and people are angry, many blame it on the current administration, which seems willing to go to any lengths to protect its own interests. It continues to pander to the base voters, most of whom who have zero in common with the wealthy elite running the government. And I mean that on both sides of the fence, but most egregiously from the standpoint of the current administration, creating tax loops for corporations and the top 1% who seem to just be getting richer and richer. So why I bring this up today is not to launch into a bitch session and grieve my woeful position as one of the 99%. But to talk about how my inner sanctuary was uprooted this week at my own doing by the fact that I allowed the negativity and low vibrational energy of newscasts news, the news that came across through my telephone and my television, I let it invade my inner peace instead of just watching.
THOM: (07:04)
I did let it, let it upset and topple my inner peace. I grew angry. And as you heard in last week's episode, I began posting fervently on my social media, particularly Twitter, but also Facebook, even on Instagram on my story, which here to for has always been a nonpolitical zone of mine, kind of a, a safe place where I could focus on things of creativity, mountain climbing, electric guitars, and other like-minded artists and filmmakers and nature lovers could share with me the things that they love as well. So the other day I made a post on Facebook pointing out a comment that was made by former secretary of state Madeline Albright, the first woman, secretary of state in the United States. And she was interviewed about Trump and how he's played into the hands of, of Russian premier, Vladimir Putin, and how in communist theology, she shared, there's a saying about having a useful idiot to help their cause.
THOM: (08:15)
And she said something to the nature of, I don't really have to say anymore for you to understand the point that I'm making. And so I posted the quote and was very quickly called out by a guy I've known for years who lives up in the Valley, where I live. And he thought that the post was beneath me B look, he seemed defended and actually kind of angry. He called me out saying that was really below my level of intelligence. And at first I was upset and, um, you know, I, my ego was damaged a little bit and, but it really sent me along on a thought trajectory where second thought I thought about what I'm really all about. Who am I, what do I want to portray to the world? What do I want the inside workings of myself and soul to feel like every day that I wake up, no matter the chaos that might be going on outside, how do Y want to spend my days?
THOM: (09:17)
And what do I want to project to my friends and to the people who listened to my podcast in that very moment, it was as if my wheels became re-engaged on the tracks. I felt that once calm in control and extremely thankful for that post that this guy had had made on my page, which I have since deleted, I reached out to him and I said, you know, this is by private message. And I just said, listen, I, I hear ya. You know, um, thanks for reminding me, um, that maybe I'd let the emotions get the best of me. I, it doesn't change my opinion. I still feel very strongly about those things, but it made me realize, you know, I am better than that. I've got more to offer the world than my ramblings and quotes from Madeline Albright, as much as I do believe that she is a brilliant woman and, uh, but I'm best doing the things that I'm best at.
THOM: (10:18)
And so I'm going to quote two other people today. Um, I'm going to talk about Albert Einstein and Haile Salassie so, yeah. Um, so this is episode 10. Here we are in this COVID-19 world protests around the United States and the world, the economic and political divides appear to be growing greater. For me. My world has grown, colorful and enriching because I'm a person who has always seen that in our tragedies and losses comes an opportunity to learn. And when we're giving over to anger or particularly judgment, we're giving away our power. So I've said many times in this podcast, we create our reality with the thoughts that we empower. That's the very foundation of Baker street with Tom Pollard, more plainly put, when we have a thought inside of us, when we give it strength, when we give it power, empower it, it becomes us.
THOM: (11:26)
That's our reality. That's what we project to the world. So if we do what I did last week and allow thoughts of anger and judgment to consume me, that's the not only what I portrayed to the world, but that's what I was. I was very upset and I didn't sleep well through the night. The few nights that this took place, I woke up early. I was visibly not the person that I have always liked being. And that's person from a place of positivity. You know, when we give into fear, we ultimately give our power away. We stop becoming the master of our own experience. Your physical body is the reflection of the thought forms empowered by your consciousness. So we're all manifest from source. We are all one. We're all knowing indestructable beings of light. We are all in this together. We all come from source manifest the same place.
THOM: (12:31)
It has only one ending to this thing, and we're all going to die. And in the time between now, and then if we come from a place of love, our lives can be a lot happier and peaceful. So Albert Einstein said the soul given to each of us is moved by the same living spirit that moves the universe. So here's a guy who's known as a brilliant mathematician and physicist. And here he is talking about the soul given to each of us moved by the same living spirit that moves the universe. I think about that. There are consequences. This is me talking, not Albert Einstein, but the same offshoot. There are consequences. When you choose to come from a place of love. And then there are consequences. When you choose to come from a place of fear, one of them sets you free. And one of them imprisons you.
THOM: (13:26)
And that second one, the latter is from your own doing nobody, but yourself can make you feel fear or love. No external events can make you happy or unhappy. Prisoners of war being tortured have found joy. Don't get me wrong. They want to be out, but they're, they're not broken or beaten down in terms of who their soul is from any condition being imposed upon them. We're connected to one greater living thing, not a he or a she, but in it. And when we understand that we become less judgmental toward the other beings with whom we share this journey. So when you find yourself doubting or limiting yourself, release those doubts into space up toward our source, transmute them with love and then learn through experience by the mistakes. There are no mistakes, but by those mistakes that we've made. And remember when we judge another or giving away our power do not embrace judgment around anything, everything you judge, you support energetically at the expense of your physical and emotional wellbeing.
THOM: (14:46)
When you judge it allows others from physical and nonphysical levels to feed off your life force, don't give away your power. Haile Salassie was an emperor of Ethiopia back in 1930, up until about 1974, his internationalist views was part of why Ethiopia became a charter mender member of the United nations. And in 1936, among other things he condemned Italy's use of chemical weapons against its people during the second Italo Ethiopian war. So he was, uh, outspoken for equality and, and against racism. Now I know that there are people who have done their research, that Haile Salassie was also criticized by some, for his suppression of, of various rebellions in Ethiopia. Um, and he opposed certain reforms that, uh, you know, that some say hampered Ethiopia's ability to modernize rapidly, but, but for the sake of this podcast, and I'm, I'm embracing that there was a negative side to him.
THOM: (15:59)
Like there are to all of us, um, on among the Rastafari movement, Haile Salassie is, was, but is still, even though he's been dead for decades, um, as the returned Messiah of the Bible, God incarnate and beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafarian movement, uh, thought of him as a figure who could lead them in the Rastafarians into eternal peace and prosperity. There's a song that Bob Marley does and it's called war. And it sounds so much like that song could be spoken today. And I'm able to read the words to that song because the words to the song war were taken from a speech that Haile Salassie gave to the United nations in 1963. And it was published in a book back in, um, the early 1970s, which States that any portion of the book could be reproduced without permission, which is pretty cool, perfect for a podcast or like me looking for content.
THOM: (17:16)
So here's part of Selassie's speech that Marley put to music in war. You should look it up and play it and crank it. And I'm going to read it for you because anybody who's aware and familiar with the events that are going on in the United States today, we'll see that our struggles are not new. It's on the question of racial discrimination. He talked about as long as there is racial discrimination to those who will learn there is this further, further, less than that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation, that until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship, and the rule of international morality will remain, but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained.
THOM: (18:38)
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and Goodwill until all people stand and speak as free beings equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of heaven. Until that day, we will not know peace. We will fight if necessary. And we know that we show when, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil that's Haile Salassie. I swapped out some of the words. He talked about Angola and Mozambique and South Africa and Africa, but as a world nation, his words hold true. So as our nation, the United States and the world, those listeners I have from Australia, from Nepal, from India, from Finland, from France, from Italy, from Spain, I have friends all over the world, listening to this.
THOM: (19:44)
As we ponder racial and economic chasms that continue to grow, we can do our part by remaining centered, coming from a place of love, not judging others or ourselves, staying above the fray, not giving away our power by investing in ways to harm or discredit someone we disagree with. When we do that, we only give away our power, our power. That's all we have. And we have this life we do that. We make that other person, the object of our scorn or disagreement. We make that person politician whomever, more powerful. We're giving it away to that person, hold onto your power. Keep your love. Stay centered, come from a place of love. We're all in this together. This life in this realm, we're going in the same direction. Whenever that fateful day may arrive, it will be over. And we will only have our legacy to call back upon handle yourselves with integrity, mend ways.
THOM: (20:49)
With those, you disagree with fight hard for your beliefs. Yes. Vote on November 3rd. If you are an American citizen and you disagree with the current administration, as I admittedly do urge others to vote as well, use your voice. Don't lean too far left. Don't lean too far, right? Stay in the center. Keep your wheels on the tracks and listen to the voices of those who disagree with you and be open to change. Listen to the voice of others as I did from that Facebook post, thankful for that person to remind me about who I am today, because of that disagreement on Facebook, which has now been deleted. We both admittedly grew in respect for each other. Peace and love to you all. I will see you real soon with another Baker street with Tom Pollard. I leave you now with the wisdom of the owls of New Hampshire.
THOM: (21:53)
BARRED OWLS CALLING IN THE NIGHT
https://www.temi.com/editor/t/knvGNZKDAStHS60xvBR7WV6ECzthJhDRES2espYM3esvaap2jd0WSbGXhNiAbU8-oi05bcVGEjLcQnzy6AK9arRLP5c?loadFrom=SharedLink
Episode 23 of Baker Street transcribed!
Episode 23 of Baker Street with Thom Pollard has made quite an impact on a few listeners. So much so, that I've decided to transcribe it below. The Episode is about why one should never lie, how it impacts our destiny. It's also about encouraging others, and why that is so important. Below is the transcript.
(Episode 23 in audio form can be found at BakerStreet.buzzsprout.com - scroll down and click on Episode 23. You also can find my podcast on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify and wherever podcasts are found.)
EPISODE 23 - DON'T TELL A LIE, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT
MUSIC: (00:03)
MUSIC
Thom Pollard: (00:17)
Welcome to Baker street. This is Thom Pollard. Thank you for coming back again. It has been a long couple of weeks, lots going on. I am eagerly watching the last of the crop, if you will, of Monarch caterpillars turning into the chrysalis and flying away and the late season Monarch butterflies are the ones that catch the thermals and fly down to Mexico for our winter. And then they come back and lay the eggs and those are the eggs of the, of the monarchs that hatch back up here on our patches of milkweed that we see flying around in the summertime. And I reluctantly release summer and slowly bring autumn in, And it's been a good autumn. I'm still having fire pits. I've got a good fire pit. Last night I was warm and, and got in just in time. And then a couple of hours later after I was sound asleep, I was awakened by the sound of rain and it was very peaceful. So it's kind of an interesting time of year. I always feel a little melancholy this time of year as summer slips away and the cooler evenings settle in. I do love fall foliage but I'd take summer pretty much anytime. I just love the warm weather and walking around barefoot outside and that's kind of my groove.
Thom Pollard: (01:52)
We are together again on Baker Street. So come on in and why don't you guys put your feet up, get the most comfortable chair in the living room because today we're going to talk about destiny and our calling, and primarily why one should never tell a lie. It's not going to be a long podcast. Right to the point. Rip your heart out and then set you free to go look for your own Monarch butterflies flying off to Mexico like I think that some of us wish we could for the warm weather down there.
MUSIC: (02:35)
MUSIC
Thom Pollard: (02:37)
We are listening to my man Lobo Loco and I picked this song not only because I love his music, but the name of the song is Battled Daemons. And for those of you who have ever read about or read Socrates, he talked about his daemon, not his demon, but a daemon being a sixth sense, if you will, a voice that would speak to him when a thought or, or an urge came upon him or that was improper or or immoral. But daemon would speak to him and, and, and remind him that, that it would be better for him to not do what it was he was thinking about or about to say. So Battle Daemons - daemons, in the context from what I just shared with you are really good but - but they, they linger and are, call us to our attention, the bad things that can go through our mind. And that's why also I picked it was because we're going to talk a little bit about destiny and calling and why one should never tell a lie.
MUSIC: (03:55)
MUSIC
Thom Pollard: (04:07)
When we do not act in accordance to the central spirit of our being, we become off kilter. And I say that meaning we have been put on this planet and there's this fire that burns within us that some listen to and some do not. And millions and millions of people live their entire lives, never truly listening to their central spirit of their being and die. And, and when those people die, for every person who dies, never having followed that central spirit, the world ends up, a,, a colder place. And so the calling of this episode is to, to urge all, to listen to the central spirit of our being, to avoid becoming off kilter. Uh, this world is very, very difficult. The Buddha said that life is suffering and, and eh, but for our ways to transcend that we can accept that we can understand, yes, that, that life is suffering.
Thom Pollard: (05:18)
And in so doing, we can experience the vicissitudes of life, the ups and the downs. And, and in, in, in order to do that, we have to let go of attachment. Attachment not only to our material objects or to the love or affection of another or attachment to our own bodies or, if you will, of living here, cause we're all going to die that much as assured and we're gonna lose things that we love or that we desire. And so if we were able to let go of our attachments and accept that everything is change constantly,
Thom Pollard: (05:58)
...that change is everywhere. That is the one thing that will always be happening. A beautiful feeling will change. It will go away. An awful feeling we'll change that will also go away. And everyone knows deeply in their heart that there's a calling essential spirit. Everyone knows it. We're all human and we've been put on this planet for a purpose and go back in some of my earlier episodes, and I talk about the purpose of life, that, that ability and that, that freedom for us to go and explore our creativity all as one as connected to the source, we, which we all are. So some whom the world often chastises or conversely, champions for living their own calling are heedless to the judgment and rejection of others because they know that their central calling is tantamount to their survival, to their own, if you will. their way of transcending the fact that there is suffering, that there's sadness, that there is death, that we're all gonna die.
Thom Pollard: (07:10)
So we have to look at those people who have, who have gotten up the courage to live the life that they were meant to be on this earth for and, and understand that that somewhere deep within them, they have a gratitude for everything. Everything that happens in their life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent. And for me personally, I've spoken about this before in losing my brother to suicide. My soul mate, my best friend, it completely threw my world off-kilter. I was, you know, I, I was, I was gonzo baby. I, you know, my dad had passed away only three months before and my brother kinda rallied and, and then boom, you know, he, he was gone and, and I, the, the, the rug was swept out from underneath my feet. Any, any bullshit lie I'd ever told myself about, you know, me, transcending suffering was I was, I was on my ass.
Thom Pollard: (08:12)
I was, I was right on the ground. And so, you know, and also God knows, I look in the mirror and know that that ugliness of, of whatever moved my brother to do what he did is within me. It's in us all. We all have that capacity for evil and ugliness. But what we also have a deep and profound and undying capacity for love, for, for joy and, and, and the people who truly embrace that, who understand that, that, that every, any person who is happy, who comes from that place of love makes the world a better place. Those people who do that actually wish not only for their lives to get better each day, but for the lives of those around us. Even our, if you will, enemies. I've spoken about Ubuntu, that, that notion that when one wins, the community wins. When one succeeds and, and, and loves the community, succeeds and loves.
Thom Pollard: (09:24)
Imagine what a world that would be if we were to encourage just one other human being every day just in the smallest way. I have a close friend and she's a middle school teacher and I had this conversation with her recently and talked about how important it is. You know, I love kids. I could never be a teacher. I couldn't do it. I used to think, Oh man, you know, there's oh it's such an easy job. It's not, it's such a big job. But I could never do it. I, I always had to be off flitting off around the world on this adventure, that adventure. But, but here are these teachers, they, they, they stand in front of this class and in this classroom there's 20 kids or 25 middle school kids, 12, 13 some going through puberty, some who are outcasts of some who are, you know, the, the stud or the hot shot or the, or the girl who's pretty and all this different levels and, and we'd never know what, what insecurities or fears are within them.
Thom Pollard: (10:26)
And back to that conversation with my friend who was the school teacher, I said, can you imagine how incredible it would, how incredible it would be for each kid in, in every class that you teach for every single kid to hear maybe once a week because every day you can't do it. But every week or maybe every two weeks or 10 days, that every single kid that comes into that classroom is told how capable they are individually of such great things and how beautiful and perfect they are. Just the way they are and all that they have to do. Just one small thing they have to do. Yup. This is the thing that cripples people, is have the courage to embrace the central spirit of what burns within them. Now, for a kid who maybe has a parent who tells them that they're good for nothing or they'll never amount to anything, and I never had that.
Thom Pollard: (11:31)
My parents were so cool and they told me how amazing I was probably almost over the top. But there are kids out there who go home and their parents tell them, you are a piece of trash. You are nothing. And they believe it. Can you imagine that teacher telling them, you are amazing. You can do great things. All you have to do is embrace essential spirit of what burns within you. Now you take your time, you wait, you hold onto it and any friend who tells you you're crazy for having that central spirit of what burns within you. If any friends who says that stupid, they're not your friend, therein. Is that secret to life. How do I know who my friends are? Boom. You know immediately your friends are the ones who embrace you the way you are and who champion your successes.
Thom Pollard: (12:22)
And comfort you and your loss, right? How many times have we hung out with people or gotten married to people who treated us like crap, but because we were so weak and, and lacking self guidance and assurance that we stayed in those relationships taking the abuse, Oh, I'm good for nothing. I deserve that. So how do, how if a kid looks at you, or your friend and they say, how do I embrace that spirit within me? And the way to do it is to live in truth. And how do we live in truth? Well, it's, it's by speaking the truth, by not literally, literally, fundamentally by not lying, which we all tell small lies every day perhaps, you know, um, I'm not talking about, you know, how do I look in this dress kind of thing and saying, Oh, you know, it looks great.
Thom Pollard: (13:27)
I mean, the truth might be miserably on the opposite end of that. But sometimes not lying. Is is merely done by not opening your mouth, telling the truth if you, you know, so and, and if we're, and here we are, we're all on our path toward, we're all going in that same place. We're all gonna die. So if we're going to do something, we fricking might as well do that. We might as well aim for some thing that we believe in, right. Instead of, Oh, you know, I think I need to be doing this, or I think I need, you know, you know, you know what the central spirit of your heart is. So many people spend the rest of their, their entire lives crushing it. I've had friends, some of my best friends who were artists or writers and, and they gave it up because, and that's fine.
Thom Pollard: (14:32)
They made their choice because they were like, well, I, I want a bigger house or I want a better car. I want to send my kids to private school. It's fine. I have no judgment about it. What I'm saying is I could never do that. And wow. You know, I, I, I that well it cost me marriage I suppose in a way. And I know my children listen to my podcast. I'm not saying I was a letch or anything but, but I couldn't do anything but go after the person I was put on this planet to be honest. But the one thing at least,
MUSIC: (15:07)
Thom Pollard: (15:10)
it at least at least I was going after something right. Why not? Why not go after something that means something true to who you are? And if you lose the person who you're married to because of it, then who cares? At least you're going after the right thing and you can look in the mirror with dignity and integrity. If you don't do anything malevolent or unkind or tell that person things that hurt them and then your children can look you in the eye and know that you are real.
Thom Pollard: (15:50)
The only way to live properly is not to lie to yourself or to others to allow the truth to shine through and not, not, not until allow yourself to be condemned or judged by those we pass by each day. Who are pissed off and angry because their lives suck worse than yours and they just want nothing more than to read about you failing. There's a lot of people out there like that.
Thom Pollard: (16:14)
We don't hate them. The people who come from that place of truth and love don't hate them. We don't judge them. We just don't spend a lot of time in their presence. They're hurting too. They need hope. God knows every single student in that classroom needs hope. Every single person who goes unnoticed every day elsewhere, they cry for some level of understanding or encouragement that they are perfect. You know? Tell them their lives will improve if they practice that. If they practice just living the truth, honoring what light burns inside of them. Never lying is a big challenge for some. I mean, Holy crap. Some people, that's all they do is lie, but, but how about just by not opening your mouth when you feel a lie coming on, that's a good start. That's a darn good start. So many of hopeless, you know, hopelessness in their lives. And you know, when we start to embrace things that come from the truth of who we are and why we were put on this planet, we start to become, you know, surrounded by people who are doing the same.
Thom Pollard: (17:30)
I listened to this, this, this speech recently by Jordan Peterson, who, God, I'm just, this guy tells it like it is. Um, he says, he says something about we're always bettering betting our life on something. And if you make a commitment truth, your life straightens out in that we find a meaning. And now these are my words, cause I'm just rattling off a conviction. We find dignity by undertaking something of importance in ourselves, in the core of who we are, why God or Source put us here. We literally changed the world one for ourselves. But by coming into contact with the hundreds or thousands of people that we have known or that we know, they come into contact with a man or woman of dignity who is willing to lose, willing to be judged, willing to be shunned by people, for living their conviction. And that is inspiring to students.
Thom Pollard: (18:38)
That is inspiring to the people who have no hope. And when we treat ourselves as an entity that's worth something by just doing something so simple as not lying. We show ourselves respect. And in doing so every day we grow in dignity and confidence. And so another thing that one time, one thing I heard from Jordan Peterson, he said, when you wake up in the morning, don't judge yourself on, on the people you look up to or your idols, judge yourself on the person that you were yesterday. That's, that's really cool because we can't be what other people are.
MUSIC: (19:41)
Thom Pollard: (19:42)
So you know, I'm not ashamed to tell you, man, my life has been difficult at times. I was a complete screw up in business. I tried so many times. I was not a great husband. I didn't cheat. I wasn't a bad man. I, I never hit, but, but damn, I wasn't a great husband. I, I just, I mean, I'm pretty sure I was a damn good dad. You know, I, I lost it on my kids a few times. I mean, damn I, but, but for me, I felt like so many things like fell apart from me at times financially and, and even, you know, my brother committed suicide three months after my dad died of lung cancer and we had just moved into our new house up in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire. I was a complete and utter mess and my wife at the time would walk into the kitchen and I'd be sitting there in front of the fire in front of the wood stove just staring.
Thom Pollard: (20:37)
And she asked me how I was and I couldn't even, I couldn't even talk. I couldn't even answer. And she would take my hand and say, stand up and walk me down the driveway, the little pond near our house just so I could go outside and reconnect with the trees and the grass and the air. Feel my toes in the grass. And, and in so doing, I started to remember that life was going on despite my own suffering inside, despite my incredible loss thinking, you know, my kids will never know my dad or my brother, you know, the way I knew them, and you know, well we still got divorced, but God bless her, she deserves something so much more than I was able to give her at the time, you know? And so doing that, the, the gift for me was that another human being looked into, the wretch that sat there before her. And in the simplest act of taking my hand showed me that even in the deepest depths of Hell there is, for lack of a better word, Whoa.
Thom Pollard: (21:43)
Now, almost 15 years after that suicide of my brother I've been just as broken many times in between then and I'm sure I will be again working for myself and just following my passion. But, but at least now I look at his tragedy, the tragedy of losing, losing him as a miracle, as a gift. And even in the evil, there's, there's beauty. And in one and I accepted that I was never angry with him. But by walking in that truth as one person at a time, we make this world more tolerable. We make it possible to ascend above this suffering and the death and the reality of that we will all one day die and lose those things that we love. You'll have to say goodbye to our dog or say goodbye to a parent. And if we lie, just one lie, we reject the foundation of what we are put here on earth to experience this, this, this flame that was born within us in our soul, this thing that will never be tampered - tampened? (laughs). And we reject the core of our own being by lying, the true spirit of our existence. The essential core being is to stand straight in truth and accept that which is in us and to be be a person of dignity and honor and courage and not to lie and to tell the truth. When we do open our mouths and speak and as more and more people grow up and take responsibility for themselves, they help eradicate malevolence in the world. Just by keeping their own house clean, to borrow the words of Jordan Peterson, and when we do that, the world is going to be a better place.
MUSIC: (23:44)
Thom Pollard: (23:44)
I hope you'll visit website eyesopenproductions.com go to contact. Please click on that. I'd love it if you would follow me and I'll put you on my mailing list and check me out on iTunes and wherever you can find podcasts and I also have a YouTube channel that's got some kind of cool stuff on there. You can see my funny face when I start to cry and a YouTube. If you hit search Baker street with Thom Pollard, it will come up. I hope you'll subscribe to me. I appreciate you guys taking the time to listen. I hope I haven't shocked my children. Maybe I should block them from listening to this one. I love you all. Have a great day. I will indeed see you all real soon.
MUSIC: (24:28)
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