Interviews With The Dearly Departed: Martin Luther King, Jr

This episode is extremely special to me and one I’ve been wanting to deliver to you for a long time. Today's guest is Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin shares the best advice he received from his mother, why we treat others wrong and what your life's blueprint should include for a meaningful human experience. He also explains his dissatisfaction with the results that followed his famous "I Have A Dream" speech." Text Jay Shetty 310-997-4177 A Word From Our Sponsors: 3 months of unlimited access for just $30 at thegreatcoursesplus.com/JAY Get $50 OFF at BollandBranch.com, promo code JAY Try Fender Play FREE for two weeks AND save 50% off a Fender Play Annual Plan. That’s fender.com/podcast and be sure to use our special offer code JAY at checkout. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 0:44Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose. This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Value can be found anywhere, even in the clothes sitting untouched in our closets. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app where you can sell clothes you no longer want and get more value out of them. Whether you're running out of space, moving, or simply updating your wardrobe. Listing items is a quick and simple process, and once something sells,

• 1:30Jay Shetty?

  Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you. And the best part, there are no seller fees, so you keep what you earn. It's a simple way to clear out your closet, be less wasteful, and maybe make some extra money along the way. And if you've been thinking about a wardrobe refresh, this can make it feel a little more worthwhile. You're not just letting go of clothes, you're getting more value from what you already have. Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating.

• 2:16Jay Shetty?

  And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and is clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1

• 2:59Jay Shetty?

  Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 3:09Jay Shetty?

  In his famous words, "We must keep going. If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving."

• 3:29Jay Shetty?

  Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one place to be in 2020. I hope you're absolutely loving these weekly workshops that I'm now doing on a Friday. Of course, you can listen to them anywhere, at any time, wherever you are in the world, and it does make a huge difference. I love the fact that we have such a global community of conscious change makers. That's who I see you as, people who want to change their own lives and change the lives of others. A conscious community of change makers, which is what we need in the world, which is what the world is desperately seeking, which is what the world is desperately working towards, aspiring for.

• 4:14Jay Shetty?

  Your communities, your towns, your cities, your families, your friends are all looking for that community. And the fact that we can build it right here, right now, and the fact that you're investing in this community, I want you to remember this, this isn't just me giving... Our content, this isn't just content, this is life, this is meaning, this is passion, this is purpose. This isn't just content, this isn't just a podcast, this is so much more than that. We're just using the medium of a podcast, we're just using the messaging of a podcast, we're just using the technology of audio and video. But what we're doing is creating a conscious community of changemakers all around the world.

• 4:59Jay Shetty?

  Do not underestimate that for a second, right? Do not underestimate it for a second. What we're creating is truly powerful and beautiful and meaningful. And you, anyone who is listening to this, you are a part of that. You are a huge part of that and I value each and every single one of you. I really mean that. Now, it's nearly been a year since I launched the podcast. And you've heard me tell the story before about how we were about to launch with a big production company. And they moved out two weeks before, but I'll get into that on the anniversary episode a bit more. But why am I raising that point?

• 5:41Jay Shetty?

  Because I actually had an idea for the theme of the podcast before we started that I'm only getting to do now. And this is what I love about ideas. Ideas take time to come to fruition. It requires patience. When you meditate on something for a year, when you let something submerge into your consciousness for a year, when you let something truly boil, right? It's incredible what happens with it. And so today, what I'm going to share with you is another format that we'll be doing every month, another episode that we'll be doing every month, which you'll get to listen to. It's another style.

• 6:25Jay Shetty?

  So we've added the book club, of course, to our weekly workshops. And now we're adding this. And this is one that I've been looking forward to for so long, because I've had this idea for so long. And I'm finally, finally, finally getting to do this. And this is how creativity works. You have these ideas you want to bring to life and implement, but they take a while to come into fruition. But this one I'm really, really excited about. So this episode that we'll be doing every single month as well, just like the book club. Are you excited for what I'm about to say? This episode is called Interviews With Dead People. So every month, we're going to do an episode called Interviews With Dead People.

• 7:07Jay Shetty?

  Now, I'll tell you why this concept is so important to me, considering this is the first one, and why I think it's gonna be so relevant to you. So I wanna share with you why it's important to me and why it's so relevant to you. So why it's important to me is because people always ask me, Jay, who's the person you'd like to interview the most? Right? Who would be the people that you would like to interview the most? And the interesting thing for me, very honestly, is that a lot of the people that I'd love to interview are dead. A lot of the people I'd love to sit down with and ask questions to about what's happening in the world right now, about their predictions for the future, about how they would give me the best advice they have are not around anymore.

• 7:53Jay Shetty?

  And I've talked a lot about how we can be mentored by people we've never met. And I really deeply mean this, like you can be mentored by people you've never met by studying their lives, by studying their work, by studying their words, by observing how they made decisions, by looking at how they dealt with struggled situations and challenging situations. When you observe the life of someone else, you can be mentored by someone that you've never met. And I learned this principle as a monk because in our monk traditions, teachers have been around for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. So some of the books I'm reading were spoken or written thousands of years ago.

• 8:37Jay Shetty?

  And we were always trained in recognizing that a personality is living through their words and the follower lives with them, right? This is a beautiful principle that comes about in the Vedic literatures. Is that a spiritual teacher, a teacher lives through their words and the follower lives with them. And that's why it's so relevant to you that when I do these episodes called Interviews With Dead People every single month, I get to sit down and interview and talk to people that I can't in any other format or in any other way anymore. And at the same time, you get to study their lives so that we get to learn from all these incredible people that have walked on our planet.

• 9:20Jay Shetty?

  That we may not even be aware of the depth of what they did and what they achieved. Another reason why this is so, so important is because I believe there are a lot of people that are no longer on the planet that still had phenomenally futuristic views. They already were able to see where the world was going. And some of their work, some of their texts that we may not even be aware of, things that we haven't really delved deep into, are so relevant about the current situation in the world. And they can shed so much optimism, so much light, so much enlightenment for each and every single one of us. So to, to lose out on that, to miss out on that would be such a big mistake.

• 10:02Jay Shetty?

  And I'm really, really excited about where this can go. Like, I imagine doing this on a stage with a hologram of the person, right? I want to turn this into an event where on a stage I sit down with the hologram of this person and artificial intelligence hologram that will move and talk and, and speak and respond to the questions I ask so that we can actually watch this interview in real time. That's, that's the goal with this for me. This isn't just uh, a cool episode. This is so meaningful as to how we could experience that person again, how we could live with them again, how, how powerful that would be, right? So I, I want you to stay with me on this one. And for this episode of interviews, oh, oh, I need to tell you this before I dive into it, is anything I give is the answer.

• 10:46Jay Shetty?

  So I'm going to be interviewing people that are dead. I'll be asking questions that I would ask today to these people that I think are important for us to know today. And any answer I give is taken from their answers. So I am not making up the answers of these significant people. I am not making up my interpretation of what I think they would say. I'm telling you things that they've said in the past as answers to questions I would ask today. And I want you to, I want that to really make sense. I'm not making up or interpreting or coming up with what I think these people would say. I will, I will tell you what I think about the, what they would have said, but these are real answers from them. These are things that they actually said. So

• 11:27Jay Shetty?

  uh, shout out to everyone who's out there who's listening to this episode. I can't wait to share with you for this episode of interviews with dead people. My first guest ever in 2020. My first guest is none other than Martin Luther King Jr.

• 11:49Jay Shetty?

  There's three types of people. Some people set goals only to give up on them when things get difficult. Others don't set goals at all, thinking if I don't set any goals, I can't fail at them. Yet there are still others who not only set goals and resolutions, but manage to meet them time and time again. How do they do it? Are they superhuman? No, they're regular people, just like you and me. They've just discovered something. Resolutions don't work. Not on their own anyway. Resolutions require action, but without intentionally doing the work to shift your mindset, you will find yourself failing and falling back into old patterns of thought and behaviour when things get tough.

• 12:33Jay Shetty?

  Let me say that again. Without intentionally doing the work to shift your mindset, you'll find yourself falling back into old patterns of thought and behaviour. But I can show you how to break that cycle for good. There are five intentions that are make or break for achieving your goals and being able to set resolutions with confidence. Awake, attention, attitude, attraction and accountability. But how do you start? How do you practise these intentions in a way that creates lasting change? I'd love to show you. Join me for a free online workshop on the five intentions for a purpose-filled year.

• 13:14Jay Shetty?

  In this workshop, I'll be teaching you exactly how you can put these five intentions to work in your life to help you confidently set and achieve your goals. First, I'll show you how waking up early is the key to a purpose-filled life and how to set up healthy nighttime routines. Second, we'll go over how multitasking is actually hurting, not helping your productivity. And how putting your attention on one thing at a time actually helps you do more than you think. Third, I'll break down three things we need to remove from our attitudes in order to grow. Fourth, I'll teach you how to use the concept of attraction to enhance who we already are, instead of worrying about who you aren't.

• 13:56Jay Shetty?

  And finally, you learn how important accountability and a supportive community are to growth. I would absolutely love to have you join me. You can sign up right now by visiting jshetty.me/purpose. I'll send you an invitation to join and watch the workshop right then. Let me just repeat that for you. jshetty.me/purpose. Let's make 2020 your best year yet. Look, we're two weeks into 2020 and I'm curious if you've been sticking to your goals. Have you continued to make learning a priority throughout these last few weeks? We should always set the intention to learn something new daily, whether that means discovering new interests or expanding your knowledge on specific topics.

• 14:42Jay Shetty?

  The Great Courses Plus has you covered. This online learning service offers thousands of lectures covering everything from personal development to business, science to history, the list goes on. There's something for everyone. I love that it's taught by the best professors and experts from top universities and institutions around the world, which makes what you're learning reliable information that you can trust. I recommend checking out the course Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain. It's a really powerful look at how to train your brain to become more motivated using exercises that are effective in managing mood and breaking bad habits.

• 15:23Jay Shetty?

  Overall, I felt it provided great practical tips and techniques for creating lasting positive changes. Do what I'm doing, set a goal to learn more this year. Sign up for The Great Courses Plus today. They're offering you this amazing deal: three months of unlimited access for just $30. That's only $10 per month. Don't wait, get all the details at thegreatcoursesplus.com/j. Remember, that's thegreatcoursesplus.com/j.

• 15:55Jay Shetty?

  Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Christian minister and activist who became the spokesperson and prominent leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King led a noble and peaceful struggle for civil rights. He experienced beatings and imprisonment but remained nonviolent. King influences all of us to be kinder to themselves and to others. Martin Luther King Jr., it is an absolute joy, pleasure, privilege and honour. It is an absolute honour to sit down with you on the podcast.

• 16:37Jay Shetty?

  Now, I don't do accents and I don't do voices, so I will not be doing the voices. Anytime I ask a question to Martin Luther King Jr., you will be hearing the words in my regular voice. And of course, I'm not sitting with him at all and I don't believe I am, but I do believe that we can learn so much from his life. Now, I want to start sharing a few insights that you may not have known about Martin Luther King. So, he enjoyed playing baseball and flying kites with his friends. He rode his bicycle all around the neighbourhood. As a teenager, Martin Luther King Jr. enjoyed wrestling, playing the piano and listening to opera. When Martin was in the 11th grade, he entered a speech contest and he won a prize for it, right? So it was always there.

• 17:20Jay Shetty?

  But the first thing I'd love to ask Martin Luther King is where does your commitment to the idea of nonviolence come from? And just so you know, these answers that I'm sharing to these questions are from the MLK talks, New Phase of Civil Rights Struggle, NBC interview. So, my question would be, where did your commitment to the idea of nonviolence come from? He would say, morally, I was led to nonviolence because I felt that it was the best moral way to deal with the problem. It would just be impractical for his community to turn to violence. He has neither the instruments nor the techniques of violence.

• 18:02Jay Shetty?

  We're about 10 or 11% of the total population of the nation and I would say we are about 1% of the firepower. So it would just be totally impractical and unwise and unrealistic for his community to think of violence. What I like about this approach to nonviolence... Is how practical it is and how non-emotional it is, how factual it is. Like, he's, he's saying that he, he chose to do non-violence just because his community is such underrepresented in the population. How are they even gonna find the tools to, to do a violent protest? And it's like, so I'd like to extract something that I'm learning here is that often we make bad decisions when we act emotionally or out of attachment.

• 18:48Jay Shetty?

  So we may think that a particular option's good because we're, we're, you know, talked down to or we're not being treated well. But he was so good at looking at the more practical and impactful action. And I think this is something we may make a mistake on, on a personal level, a business level, a community level, where we make decisions from a place of emotion or judgment or how we've been treated and not really looking at, well, what's actually going to bring about a change? What's actually going to make an impact? So when we just react and we don't respond, when we just snap back, that doesn't actually have an impact, right? Like, if someone drives past you and doesn't let you drive carefully on the roads, this happens a lot in L A, and you then go and cut in in front of them, and then they cut

• 19:32Jay Shetty?

  in front of you, and then you cut in in front of them, and then they cut in in front of you, who really wins? If anything, you're both gonna end up in an accident and potentially cause harm to other people. It doesn't stop, right? It doesn't stop if you don't. And, and it's so interesting to see this movement towards peaceful protest that took place despite receiving, you know, despite receiving so much pain and bad treatment, but to go about it that way is, is truly noble. And, and I just read this, uh, read this beautiful statement today that I wanna share with you. Hoda, who hosts the Today Show, she shared it, and it was from Brad Turnbull. Listen to this, it's a beautiful quote. Many of the most generous people have no money.

• 20:14Jay Shetty?

  Many of the wisest people have no formal education. Many of the kindest people have been hurt the worst. That's just the way it is. Many of the kindest people have been hurt the worst. Many of the most peaceful people have actually dealt with the most violence. It's incredible that life works out that way. But it is beautiful for us to know why Martin Luther King Jr. decided to go down this route. Now, this will be my second question. Why are people able to treat or behave poorly towards others outside their race if we're innately good? Like, I've always felt this way, that humanity is innately good. We're born good. We're not born hating someone else, as Nelson Mandela said. We're not born judging other people, right?

• 20:59Jay Shetty?

  When you're born, you don't go, oh yeah, that person's a different color from me. Or that person doesn't make as much money as my parents do. Or, you know, you don't think like that as a kid. So, so I would ask him, why are people able to still treat or behave poorly towards other people when we're not born that way? Where does that come from? Human beings cannot continue to do wrong without eventually rationalizing that wrong. So he said slavery was justified morally and biologically, theoretically, scientifically, everything else. And it seems to me that America must see that no other ethnic group has been a slave on American soil.

• 21:41Jay Shetty?

  The other thing is that the color became a stigma. American society made his community color a stigma. And that can never be overlooked, right? At that time. And, and I'm sure people face this all the time now. You know, I'm sure people experience this in all different ways. And, and I'm sure that everyone experiences this, right? This isn't just an ethnicity thing. This is, this is everywhere. We all experience in different parts of the world. Now, it's interesting how we become good at justifying things that are wrong. And, and I want you to think about this in a very personal way. What are you justifying in your life? Something that you know you're doing is wrong, but you're justifying it. See how I'm extracting the principles from this that apply to you in your personal life? And I want you to think about this. What are you doing, right?

• 22:26Jay Shetty?

  We need to uncover why we do what we do, which helps us come through and out, right? Because how much are we rationalizing a poor habit or a poor trait? That we have because we find an excuse, right? Like if so, for example, like we say, oh yeah, I know I'm being really rude to this person, but they deserve it and we're rationalizing it. Or like they treat people badly, so they deserve it. I'm going to treat them badly too. We're rationalizing. So I would really question how much we rationalize our poor habits and behaviors and how detrimental they can actually be. Because it it gets really, really challenging when we rationalize something for too long and then it becomes the norm. And as Martin Luther King says, that then it can be never overlooked.

• 23:11Jay Shetty?

  Like then it gets to a point where it's so normal and you accept it as reality.

• 23:18Jay Shetty?

  What feels better than laying on your bed after a long, exciting day? Laying on your bed with new sheets, not just any sheets, but Boll and Branch Sheets. My goal is to always share the absolute best products with you and they are simply the softest and most comfortable sheets I've experienced to date. They have a reputation for quality and they're at a reasonable price point for one hundred percent organic bedding. Everything from the detail that goes into the packaging to what the company stands for will leave you feeling happy about your investment. It's simple. If you have a bed, these are the sheets you want to be using. Try them out and I know you'll be satisfied. For a limited time, you can get their luxury flannel bedding. Shipping is always free. You can try them out for thirty nights, risk free.

• 24:03Jay Shetty?

  And right now you get fifty dollars off your first set of sheets at bollandbranch.com with the promo code J. Get fifty dollars off at bollandbranch.com with the promo code J. That's spelled B O L L and branch dot com and use the code J.

• 24:21Jay Shetty?

  So we don't ever want to get to a point where we stop questioning our beliefs, our habits, our values, because then we get on the dangerous side of rationalizing something that can be actually very painful to our own selves. So I want you to answer right now, like think about it. What are you rationalizing in your life, a behavior, just one behavior that you know you want to change about yourself? Get really close to it because I want you to start thinking about how to reframe it and thinking about how to change it. And all you have to do is, once you're aware of it, you can amend it. Right, once you become aware of something, you can amend it and then act on the amendment. So if I say, you know, one of the things that I rationalize is being judgmental. Like, I think that everyone should just get on with their life and stop complaining. Right, let's say that. So, okay, how am I gonna amend that?

• 25:03Jay Shetty?

  I'm not gonna be more empathetic or compassionate when that thought arises. Because actually, I'm realizing what I'm doing is rationalizing something that went wrong. Like, he talked about slavery was justified morally, biologically, theoretically, scientifically. And he says, human beings cannot continue to do wrong without eventually rationalizing it. Which is crazy, that's such a powerful statement, that we, we can keep doing wrong, but we have to rationalize it at one point because we don't want to feel we're doing something wrong. This, wow, that is just, it's so powerful because it shows that humans are innately good. We are good people. But when you're doing something wrong, you make yourself feel that it's good to do that. Oh, that is so powerful, so powerful.

• 25:47Jay Shetty?

  Thank you so much to Martin Luther King Jr. for making us aware of that. Such a powerful point. Now, okay, uh, I, I would also ask him this. Martin Luther King, I'd love to ask you, what do people really want in your opinion? Like, what are we really looking for? I, I want to know that from you, from an existential point of view. They want equality, period. We want to be persons judged not on the basis of the color of our skin, but on the basis of the content of our character. And I think this is something that we all have to strive for, for ourselves first. If we want to be liked for our externals, if we want to be liked for what we have, or what we own, or how we think, rather than who we are, then we are also attracting that judgment, right?

• 26:32Jay Shetty?

  If, if we are just who we are and we're happy in that and we share that, then we'll find people who like us for who we are. But if we always try and gain the validation of others based on who, what we own and, uh, you know, how well we think and who we know and that kind of stuff, then we're almost inviting that judgment. So we also have to reflect the other way around. How are we judging those around us? Are we unfairly judging someone because of their skin colour, because of their clothing, because of their accent, because of their background? How many judgments do we have in our lives that are external? It may not be someone's colour, you you you know, that may not be it, but we all have more subtle judgments in us that stop us from giving people equality. That stop us from giving ourselves equality.

• 27:16Jay Shetty?

  The more we judge others for these externals, the more we're gonna judge ourselves for our externals. If you're judging someone for what they post on Instagram, you're now gonna think you're doing something right, but you're gonna judge yourself on a deeper level. See, judgment is a trait. If you judge others, you'll judge yourself more. And if you judge yourself more, you'll judge others. When we become empathetic and kind and honest with ourselves, we become empathetic, kind and honest with others. It's a it's a muscle that you don't just switch between how you treat yourself and how you treat others. We we seem to have a similar pattern, like if we're always being mean to others, we often think that person is, you know, confident or arrogant. But actually, that person often is treating themselves badly as well. And I think we forget that, that a lot of people end up treating themselves badly too.

• 28:01Jay Shetty?

  There was something I posted on Instagram. I'm just trying to find it because I think it was really, really important. Where is it? Where is it? So there was this thought that that I shared. People who put you down, ignore you and make you feel bad are not confident. They have their own self-esteem issues, don't make it about you, there's that. And there's also one more. Yeah, if someone is not good to you, this was this was something. If someone is not good to you, they're probably bad to themselves. Remember that, right? Like, see, it's it's interesting how all of our behaviours come together in that way. So I think that's a really, really powerful reflection point. Now, I'd go on to ask Martin Luther King. I'd say, what can you share with us about your famous "I have a dream" speech?

• 28:45Jay Shetty?

  I think it would be an amazing thing to ask him because it's such a powerful speech for something that was said in words, without music, without, you know, it wasn't said in a, it was said in a in a challenging time and it remains so powerful. And and still to this day, everyone's heard of the speech, like that that's such, there were such powerful words there. And we already know that Martin Luther King won a speaking prize when he was eleven years old, as I said, so. I think it's a, I think it's a cool question to ask. So. I must confess it, that dream that I had that day has at many points turned into a nightmare. Now I'm not one to lose hope. I keep on hoping. I still have faith in the future. But I've had to analyze many things over the last few years.

• 29:31Jay Shetty?

  And I would say over the last few months, I've gone through a lot of soul searching and agonizing moments. And I've come to see that, that we have many more difficult days ahead. And some of the old optimism was a little superficial. And now it must be tempered with a solid realism. And I think the realistic fact is that we still have a long, long way to go. Wow. Those are his words. I did not make that up. Martin Luther King said those words in this NBC interview. How incredible. It's amazing that someone like him is able to say that about. Probably if not definitely the most powerful public speech of all time in terms of.

• 30:15Jay Shetty?

  You know, global notoriety. Amazing. He is able to pause, check and reflect. It's okay to change your mind and admit that something was optimistic and now you're trying to figure it out. And think long and hard about what worked, what didn't. And how you can move forward in this effective way. And what I love most about this. Is he knew how much work was needed. He was aware of how much work was needed. And he wasn't losing hope on it and he was still committed to it. And at the same time, I don't think, I don't think the speech was false promises. I think the speech was a.

• 30:57Jay Shetty?

  Emblem of aspiration of who we want to become and who we should be. And I think we need that. I don't think he shouldn't have said those things at all. I think that speech is needed. But I think what's lovely here, and this is another statement by him that. Those who love peace need to learn to organize themselves as well as those who love war. And that's why this statement of old optimism was a little superficial. And now it must be tempered with a solid realism. I love that because I think that's often where we miss out is that we have these beautiful ideas. We have these beautiful goals and desires, but we don't turn them into a solid realism. And this is something that I would really press for you to do in your own life for twenty twenty is you may have these lofty goals.

• 31:41Jay Shetty?

  You may have this amazing idea, turn it into solid realism, right? Don't just become an armchair philosopher, don't just become a couch pundit or a, you know, someone who's just sitting there talking about these things. Get into action, try things out, go and go and build that community, go and start that venture. Don't just settle for talking about these things. And so I love that transition he's recommending for all of us to go from a superficial understanding to a solid realism. Okay, so the next question I would ask him, which which I think is a really important one for right now. And I think it's a fascinating for for us to think about is what are your thoughts on war?

• 32:21Jay Shetty?

  When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, it loses its social perspective. It's much more difficult to really arouse a conscious conscience, sorry, during a time of war. I've noticed the other day and weeks ago, a person that he knew was shut down in Chicago. And it was a clear case of police brutality that was on page thirty of the paper. But on page one at the top was seven oh eight Vietcans killed. That is something about a war like this that makes people insensitive. It dulls the conscience, it strengthens the forces of reaction, and it brings into being bitterness and hatred and violence. And it strengthens the military industrial complex of that country.

• 33:06Jay Shetty?

  So this is something that's really, really important and powerful that we get distracted from what's really important when this happens. And I'm I'm not a political or social commentator at all, so and I don't want to claim to be. But I but I think it is important. That war doesn't really bring us together as people and we've never really come out of a war and felt good about it. Like, you know, I don't think that that exists, especially if you're starting it yourself. I think, you know, responding to what's happening and and certain wars that were maybe unavoidable, but you know, this is just something that really needs to be carefully assessed when we look at the impacts

• 33:50Jay Shetty?

  of of this on our society as a whole. Now, the next few segments that I'm gonna share from Martin Luther King are from a BBC face-to-face interview from nineteen sixty-one. So my question would be, what is some of the best advice you've ever received from your mother? She always said to me, you must never feel that you are less than anybody else. You must always feel that you are somebody and you must feel that you are as good as anybody else. And of course, this came up with me in spite of the fact that I still confronted the system of segregation every day. On the one hand, my mother taught me that I should feel a sense of somebody-ness.

• 34:29Jay Shetty?

  On the other hand, I had to go out and face a system which stabbed me in the face every day, saying you're less than, you're not equal to. So this was a real tension within. And what I love about this is that's where we get strengthened, right? Like, when you build your resolve in your mind and then you still go against whatever it is, and this is for all of us, right? This doesn't just apply to, please do not just apply this to to challenges with race and colour. Apply this to any area of your life where you feel you're making a resolve, but this is the difference. It's it's all about, it's the strength of your resolve against the strength of someone's criticism.

• 35:09Jay Shetty?

  Right? That's that's really what it is. If you've made a commitment to to have a resolution, right? What is your self-talk that allows you to persist when your environment isn't supportive? We all feel that at work. We all feel that with with our communities. We feel that, uh, mainly in the workplace, probably, where we know what we want to do and who we want to be, and people are always shutting us down. And at that point, it's not about the the, it's not about how loud you raise your voice. It's not about how how big you build your muscles. It's not about how much you shout. It's about the strength of your resolve.

• 35:47Jay Shetty?

  And how much you don't break. I would, I would love to add this because it was a, it's an important thing that some of your critics say you lack fire. Do you agree? I don't know if I lack fire. I do feel that at times I'm rather soft and maybe a little gentle, but on the other hand, I've strongly advocated direct action. I participated in sit-ins myself. I've been arrested as a result of my participating in sit-ins with the students at lunch counters. I served as one of the coordinators of the Freedom Rights, so that I don't think it is true to say that I'm not in accord with these particular methods. I believe in them and I've advocated them and participated in them. And, and what I like here is he recognizes the need

• 36:32Jay Shetty?

  to be both assertive and affectionate, to be soft and strong. And I think this is where embracing polarities is so important. I think so often we say, oh my God, do I need to be strong or do I need to be soft? Like if I'm kind, then can I be courageous? And it's like, yes, you can be both. Actually, the wisdom is to, is to reflect and become aware of which one to be. It is not about just being one of them. Sometimes you need to be kind, sometimes you need to be courageous, sometimes you need to be soft, sometimes you need to be strong. Sometimes you need to be a go-getter, sometimes you need to be generous. And wisdom is, is knowing which one to be and pausing before doing anything to be one of them first. That's what it's really, really about.

• 37:13Jay Shetty?

  So this is a great lesson for all of us that don't pressurize yourself to think that, oh, if I'm humble, then I can't be hungry. Or if I'm humble, I can't hustle. You can, you can do both. You have to choose to be the right thing before you do the action in any situation. Now, we're coming to the end of the episode and at this point, I'd love to share what Martin Luther King said at Barrett Junior High School, Philadelphia. And he gave advice for what should be in your life's blueprint. And the first one was a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're a nobody.

• 37:58Jay Shetty?

  Always feel that you count, always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance. Now that means you should not be ashamed of your color. Don't be ashamed of your biological features. That was principle number one, there's three. Number two, have as a basic principle, the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. Sometimes, and this is me adding this, sometimes we work hard, but not for excellence, we should pursue excellence. He says, doors of opportunity are opening to each of you that were not open to your mothers and your fathers. And the great challenge facing you is to be ready to enter these doors as they open.

• 38:41Jay Shetty?

  When you discover what you are gonna be in life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular. Set out to do a good job and do that job so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn couldn't do it any better. And the third principle, a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Don't allow anybody to pull you so low as to make you hate them. Ah, so powerful, let me say that again. Don't, this is Martin Luther King's words, don't allow anybody to pull you so low as to make you hate them. Don't allow anybody to cause you to lose your self-respect to the point that you do not struggle for justice.

• 39:23Jay Shetty?

  However young you are, you have a responsibility to seek to make your nation a better nation in which to live. You have a responsibility to seek to make life better for everybody, and so you must be involved. And in his famous words, we must keep going. If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.

• 39:55Jay Shetty?

  So the question I would have asked him for that answer is, what's in your life's blueprint? Martin Luther King was the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in nineteen sixty-four. And I'm so grateful that we got to sit down and have this conversation to unearth some of the gems and priceless wisdom and insights in his words. I hope this has been a really fulfilling podcast for you. It's been a huge experience for me. Like, I feel like this. I genuinely feel like this incredible experience reading his words because they're so powerful, so powerful. They're not just words. They're so powerful and just this process of just sitting with you all for just over thirty minutes and reading through his work and feeling like I'm asking these questions. There's such a powerful experience there and I really hope that it

• 40:39Jay Shetty?

  resonated and connected with each and every one of you as well. And I'd just like to thank you all. I really hope you enjoyed this episode. Please, please, please share it. Please, please, please recommend it to as many people as you can. I think it's gonna help a lot of people understand what's happening in the world and to gain perspective and for us to realize that we can be the change. I'm just so grateful that I get to share these messages with you. Thank you so much for being a subscriber and listener on purpose. And make sure you come back next week. I'm genuinely so deeply grateful to each and every single one of you. Thank you so, so, so much.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked three hundred fifty thousand Virginians' healthcare to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the House Majority PAC dot com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.