Monk Coleman

Jim Moore 0:05

This is a bloody beacons production radar Hello, my name is Jim, this is my podcast the bloody vegans. You're very welcome to it. Each week I'll be travelling ever deeper into the world of veganism, discovering along the way, a multitude of viewpoints from the political and ethical to the practical. Are we doing this are a series of conversations, each aiming to further illuminate my understanding, and hopefully yours, of all things plant centric, and this week is no different. I hope you're all well. And everything is good in your worlds. Thank you so much for listening, I do appreciate it. If you are a regular listener of the body vegans podcast, you will know that there's about to be a piece of admin before we get into the episode. If you're not a regular listener, that is about to happen. So the peace of admin. If you would like to support this podcast, either financially or not, there are a few ways to help. Firstly, the non financial way is to head over to your podcast provider of choice and leave a five star review. Go ahead and do that it really does help the show gain visibility, and so on and so forth. So it would be very much appreciated. If you would take a moment of your day when you are in your podcast provider of choice. There is a financial way to support as well, there's a couple actually, first is if you're an apple podcast user, you can head to the Apple podcasts app, and there is a subscription service now built into Apple podcasts. Obviously, the podcast is generally speaking free, and it will remain so however, if you were to pay the 99 pence a month that is associated with hitting the additional subscribe button in Apple podcasts, you can gain access to episodes ahead of time, so usually about seven days ahead. And they'll also be some other content, maybe some subscriber only content as we move forward. So if you enjoy the show, and you'd like to support for just 99 pence a month you can do on Apple podcasts. The other way to support via the Patreon app or the Patreon website is to head over there and type in bloody vegans podcast. And there are a variety of subscription levels and a variety of prices too. Should you wish to make a small contribution in exchange for goods and services. I think that's all the admin. Thank you so much for listening to that or skipping it, or whatever you did a couple of weeks back now I was delighted to have been joined by monk Coleman the author of Love over fear a guide to peace and purpose. Monk is an exceptional individual incredibly wise, been through all kinds of trials and tribulations in his life discovered veganism through a unique story as everyone says, but I think in amongst was particularly fascinating to me, I won't steal any amongst thunder, you explain it far better than me. He's also a coach, public speaker, all kinds of different things. Just just a truly genuine, authentic chap with an amazing story and lots of like I say lots of wisdom to add, I think to any conversation, I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with monk. So without further ado, let's get into the episode, shall we? This is a conversation between me and monk Coleman.

So, Mark, it would be awesome to get started with a little bit of your personal journey into the world of veganism. What What brought you here?

Monk Coleman 4:05

Well, my story's a little bit different. I think most people they get the information and then make a decision based on information. But for me, it was through meditation, making a connection. That way, I didn't know that's what I was doing. But for three years I was meditating. And then one day, I was at a restaurant and it was a meat based restaurant. I didn't Nothing seemed good to me at the time. So I ordered a vegetarian omelette, no meat no just you know veggies and eggs. I didn't know what a vegan was at the time. And my friend that I was with said Are you a vegetarian? And I was like yes. And from that day forward, I haven't had any meat. So I it kind of blew my mind because I knew you ever had that knowing you just know you're not going to do something. I knew I wasn't gonna eat meat anymore and I did didn't know why. So I had to look up, you know, meditation and vegetarian and, and come to find out there's a big connection there. Because when you start to connect to to something higher within yourself and you start to connect to, you start to connect to all life. So there's the story that you're told, and the programming that you're running with starts to collapse. And now you start to realise that all animals deserve to live and not to suffer. So these programmes are running with through meditation, and we're starting to fall. So now I'm looking at animals, like all animals, like dogs, right? You know, dogs, they lay up in the bed with us, they have emotions, they love their families, they want to start reading and it was very interesting, because most of us can't kill our food, even if if we had to do it. Because we see the pain and we see the suffering, but we pay someone else to do it. So I asked myself the question, if I don't want to see it done, why am I going to be a part of it? So obviously, to me, there was something inside that said, it's not right. So from that point forward, I'm like, Okay, I know, I'm not going to eat meat anymore. I didn't know what veganism was still, I didn't know and involved a bunch of other stuff, right? I just wasn't eating meat anymore. I didn't know there was, the dairy had any type of violence attached to it. I didn't know the egg process was like that. So I just continued to eat egg whites. And I didn't look for milk and anything. I wasn't a big milk drinker. But it didn't concern me because of course, cows just have milk, and they just take the milk from women, and we drink it right. There's no harm done there. And then I seen a video about the milk process in a process, because they're so overlooked, especially by vegetarians, we think, Oh, we're not doing any harm, when there's probably more harm done in dairy in the egg industry. So once I realised that I was like, this whole thing is crazy. And I stopped doing that. And then I even took it a step further, because now I realise that we are harming them almost in everything that we do. So my clothing now now I'm feeling like I'm wearing somebody's skin, right, I can't do that anymore, either. So I'm really starting to get connected and starting to see things I wasn't aware of prior to this, waking or dropping the old programme. So I take about 30 or 40 pairs of shoes, I have leather shoes, jackets, hats, everything that has anything to do with an animal and I put them in my trunk. My wife says, well, let's get some bananas and oranges to put those in the trunk went down to my own neighbourhood and Oakland, popped the trunk and just gave it all the way. It wasn't feeling right to me even to me anymore, even though I bought them prior to this happening. So for me, veganism was is is about unconditional love for all beings. It doesn't matter if they're animal or human. So even with that the programme started to crumble, like I said, and even with people that I looked at a certain way, that started to crumble as well. And I started to realise we all move, way we move because of their conditioning and the programming that we were raised with. So we're all walking around here, you know, living in this automatic reaction and response to everything, thinking that this is us, when really is the programme you're working with. And a lot of times the programme has a lot of dysfunction in it, and a lot of hate, and a lot of divisive things that come with it. So if I believe I'm this, like that, and I always give the example about

how we get on China about the dog festival, right? Oh, that's terrible. How can you do that to these animals? That's horrible. It's only because of our programme, that we think these dogs are on a pedestal. It's only because of our programme. To them. That's just another animal, which is the truth. It's just another animal. So we get on our high. We get on our high horse about this, but then in Hindu religion, they think cows are sacred. Do we care about their sacred animal? No, we do not. We care when not one bit about their favourite animal. And that just goes to show you how programming works. Whatever is true for you, is true for you. But when you in other cultures, it's not okay because you weren't raised that way. And same religion is same with anything that causes division is a programme because beyond the programme we are one beyond the programme we are all connected at the deepest level, beyond the programme, there is no racism. Right beyond the programme, there's no speciesism. Beyond the programme, we're brothers and sisters alos is the elimination of the programme, it's going to bring people together and to live a more compassionate and understanding life. Now, also, when I see people live in a certain way, I know it's unconscious. It's unconscious living. So I did almost 40 years of that. So I don't judge those people, I know that they have transformation, I know they can transform their lives, and they can change their life just like I did. So to hold space for them, and still love them the same, you would love me the same way you would love anybody else is key to helping them and their transformation. And I think even within the vegan community, there's so much judgement and so much vision within the vegan community. That's a turn off to a lot of people. I think if we were just to be like, okay, 80% vegan, where people throw him under the bus, if we just say you're doing great, just keep on coming, you know, I'm saying able to do a lot more than the judge these people, as most of us, most of us ate meat at one point in time. And if we were going to get judged at that time, we probably didn't know what a vegan was. But if I would get judged at that point, who knows, I might have went back the other way. Like, I don't want nothing to do with this. So like I said, veganism, to me is unconditional love is not basically really about the animals is about love in general, and compassion and kindness to beings that have the ability to suffer like we do. And that's all animals

Jim Moore 11:45

that are completely on the same page as you. And there's a point I wanted to sort of ask your opinion on really based on what you just said. And I absolutely see it myself this division within the vegan community. And I often think the same thing we've kind of come. So far, we've seen this kind of programming up to a point, you know, to make to make this kind of big decision to become vegan, but then don't necessarily see that the way that we enact that the way we discuss that can actually cause a different type of division. Where do you think that kind of comes from? We're given the fact that people have kind of gone that that far down the journey?

Monk Coleman 12:27

Well, it's interesting, because in within the vegan community used to have people that don't have compassion for other humans, right, they don't have, they can't see the struggle and other people outside of their own social construct. They somehow made a connection to animals, whatever, however, that went, whether they seen a video or whatever, but at the same time, they're not expressing that unconditional love towards any other beings. So you can love these animals, you made that connection, but you still can't love these people that maybe don't look like you, they have a different type of experience. So that for me, it was encompassed everyone in all species, right. So for me, when I was making my transformation, I was down with the homeless camps, feeding people vegan food, and doing that stuff, I started to have so much compassion for everyone, and not to judge them by the situation they're in currently. So I believe if in the vegan community, if you just make the entire connection and not just make a connection with the animals, now you're going to move in a space of love. Now you're going to go, okay, this person, they don't believe the same way I do. But I'm still going to show them love, because I understand that's where they are, and the experiences they had in their life might have made them this way, and most likely be. So what's the best way to help people to look at something different not to judge them, but to love them? There's the only way you can do if you'd love them, you're going to see something they're going to receive whatever you're saying in a different way. If I come up to you, and I always use this example as well, if you know the guy that stands outside of the sporting events with the sign that says you're going to go to hell repent that guy. Yeah. Right. So that guy versus someone out there that says, you handing out pamphlets or whatever that says, I would love for you to stop by our church. If you get a chance. And it's very kind to you. You're more likely to go, wow, he was really nice. I think I might go try that out. I like that by with the guy that's judging you and telling you what you're going to do. If you don't change your ways. You're going to get the finger that guy is going to get the finger. Nobody wants to be judged and ridiculed for how they're living. No one and no one's perfect on top of that if we want to take the perfect vegans. You go to that person's house, or their car, or whatever you're going to find something is not vegan, veganism is about doing the best you can. That is, as long as you're the best you can, when it comes to what you're aware of, you can't change something if you're not aware of it. So you do the best you can, you know, eating meat is no, dairy is no, you know, the testing on animals know that, but you're still nobody's 100% vegan, you can try as much as you want to try. But even the public transportation, if you write on that, I mean, so, so much is out there. So we just got to do the best we can. And if everybody did the best they can, then everything would start to change. But you know, there's the basic stuff of you know, that, you know, the animal agri culture, and that that whole industry is is killing the planet off, you know, we know this is causing all type of harm and damage and, and even the environmentalists, they don't want to change their ways, because the programme is so strong, they won't even speak on this. How are you gonna be an environmentalist and not speak on what's causing the most damage? And taking up the most resources? On the planet? How do you not speak of that? Yeah, we're so comfortable. And what we were raised to believe that we don't want to step out of that box. That box is solid to us is real, too. So more born from like birth to seven years old, we're, we're being created. When we come in, we already know who we are. And then we're starting. And then we get created. And depending on your circumstances, how you what environment you were raised in. You can you can have a very dysfunctional life like I did, you're going to grow up believing a certain way about the world and life and marriage and relationships and coping mechanisms. And then when you grow up, this is what you do. Because this is your true belief about yourself in how to move in life. So if they're really dysfunctional and negative, when things come into your life, you're going to react to those things in a negative way. Look, it's very simple to see in in very poor neighbourhoods, the actions and reactions of people in poor neighbourhoods, it's because the story and the on purpose

ghettos that are created, and the poverty this there, how do you deal with that? Right. So if you're seeing this your whole life, in your CNP, people cope to whatever the situation is, this is going to be your coping mechanism as well. It's not about the people, the race of the people, it's about the circumstances that people are put in. If you grab anybody, any group of people, and you put them in a very hard situation, full of poverty, and violence and stigma in that situation, chances are, and that's why it's so amazing when someone makes it out. Because the chances are, you're going to be a part of this whole thing. Whatever it is survival. I mean, a lot of times, it's just about survival, how am I going to eat? How am I going to live? You know, am I going to get shot going to school? What's going to happen to me. So just like if, if you were thrown into prison, when you get out of prison, you're going to be a different person. Because you have to survive this situation, by any means necessary. You got to do what you got to do. So as a child, and you have this mind, it's still taking everything in. This is what you're taking in. Right? The liquor stores on every corner, the fast food that the I say this all the time, and it rubs people the wrong way. But the churches, you know, if there's churches all through the hood, but there's still the most highest, you know, violence in the same neighbourhood, why is that? It's not helping, you know, I'm saying, so you got to the crime that's taking place right in front of you as a child. So you normalise it, you become numb to it. So you just think that's the way of life. But if you were to take a kid out of that tough situation, you would give them support and a support system, when they were born, that kid would turn out completely different. So it's really about how we were shaped in made. Look right now. If we were conscious enough, we wouldn't need laws or rules. We wouldn't need them. We would understand the oneness of everything and we take care of each other and we love each other and we support each other. The only reason why we have rules and the reason why rules are kind of important is because we're not conscious enough not to hurt our fellow beings. We're not conscious enough to treat people the way they they they should be treated. So we have to say here this is what you do. Don't kill people. Here this is what you do. It's like how do we how are we not conscious enough to understand that this is not okay. How as a as a world how are we not conscious enough to know that the terrible things that we're doing each other? It's not okay. We are not conscious enough just for the bait. We have our children when it comes to that. You know all the things in the Bible and all these religious texts and stuff, love your neighbour, we can't even get that. We don't even understand that. Because we don't know who we are. And if we don't know who we are, how do we know how to treat people? Right, we believe we're something that we're not. And we believe that our fellow beings are something that they're not. Just like in veganism, we think our fellow beings, some of them should be eaten and in some should be loved. How is that? Why is that? What what what is the determining factor that says, kill this cat? This pig that's smarter than a dog? Or kill the dog? How does that decision? How is that decision even May? Well, I'ma tell you how it's me. Ever since day one, when you were born, the dog was a family pet. It's outrageous, you understand that that pet can show love. And give love? You understand that? Some people like their pets more than like their kids. So if that animal has that capacity, and the ability to do that, how can we can't see the other and other animals have the same. And that's what I'm saying. It's a story that's told to us. The reason why everything is crazy right now is because there's a story that's told to us. Some people believe this story. Some people believe our story. This causes division. So even when people start making jokes and things like that, I understand the unconsciousness of it all, I don't let it make me angry. I understand where they're coming from, is funny, is a joke. You see what I'm saying? And I probably would have thought it was a joke back in the day too, before I understood

what it really was. And what really happens, you know, I think a lot of people don't even know the process. Because they try to keep that from us. Right? They don't want us to see those videos, they don't want us to go, you don't take kids on a field trip to the slaughterhouse, you don't do that. There's no windows or stuffs you can see the process is going on here. There's no we don't talk to the people that are basically forced to work into these in these places, how depressed and in how the addiction runs in these families, because of what they have to see and experience every day, we don't see that we see cows happy on a in the sunshine on, you know, one or two here. And there, we see chickens running around having their best life. Because that's what they want us to see. That's what they want us to believe.

Jim Moore 22:32

When these I mean, and I'm totally with you that there is a there is a deliberate design to this, you know that these these, these boxes that we're all kind of put in are designed that way, there are power structures that are sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, that, that put their thumb on the scales, if you like to tip them in certain directions for certain groups, etc. I'm just I'm very aware, like when you when you sort of, through this process of meditation became aware of some of these things started to think perhaps quite differently. And, and more openly, really critically thinking about that first kind of food and so on and beyond, obviously beyond. What was the reaction like from your kind of friends and family who, who perhaps weren't in the same? That same space? You know, have you had much or have generally you've been lucky enough to be around people who've kind of gone on the same journey with you?

Monk Coleman 23:36

Well, first, like my dad was diagnosed about three and a half. And there were seven of us kids. And never had a father figure or anything like that. So it's very, it was my mom was amazing. Just because we all we got to eat, we had food. And she had to do this all on our own. But it was still very dysfunctional. You know, not very educated. Always on the system. Welfare. I don't know if you know what that is. But you know, you don't have any money. They give you money to survive, basically. Yeah, oh, when I got older, and I was doing my own thing, and I got into the you know, drinking and selling drugs and living that type of lifestyle. I was I was really I didn't really have much contact with my family. And the way we were raised, I love them all. Don't get me wrong, but I was never really close to them. And I just moved out of the area. And even if I was it wouldn't really matter because I always have done my own thing. Like, I don't care what anybody says, I don't care if it's a family member. I hear people going, Oh, my family is gonna do this and my family is gonna do that. I'm like, wow, you have a close family. I don't care. You know what I'm saying? I don't it's not even that way. I mean, you can Can't tell you can't tell me anything. I don't care who you are. So it didn't impact my decision at all. The only one that I had kind of not a problem with but was like, I go, yes, you ain't gonna be vegan was my wife. Right? When I came when I had the realisation, right, I came home, I said, I'm not eating meat anymore. She was like, good, like, basically good for you. Good for you. I'm gonna keep eating right? I was crazy. But he's a vegan. I've been vegan for like, four years now. A year, five years. But when I when I came to a realisation, I was just like, like I said, I knew when I got home. Also, I told her immediately I'm not like, I'm not eating, eating. Okay. Right. So she started fixing me food and stuff and leaving this meat out. And then she just kind of got used to that. And all of a sudden, she was vegetarian. And then she was vegan. And then the daughter, she was six she was she went vegan on her own. And, yeah, so the family didn't have any impact on what, what? What I had going on.

Jim Moore 26:08

Fair enough. Yeah, that just just sort of moving moving forward thinking about the the book and the inspiration for the book, when did when did kind of the the idea, start to enter your mind that, you know, I need to get some of these thoughts that I have. down onto onto paper?

Monk Coleman 26:30

Well, it kind of just happened. So I believe when you make yourself available, and you do the things, like I do my meditation practice my spiritual practice every day. And when you allow yourself to be open to receive. And that's what meditation leaves you open to receive, then you receive things. So I was at doing my reading I read every day, I go to the, to the coffee shop and read every day. And for some reason, I watched this video and it was about speakers. Because you know, I do speaking and it was like, What are you giving your audience when you speak to them. And I was thinking to myself, like, okay, my message, I give them my love. And you know, a lot of times when you speak is great for them at the moment. But when they go back and go into the regular lives, it just kind of, okay, the message is lost, because like I said, we are programmes, and that programme is strong. And even though we get new information, we will quickly remove that new information and go back to the programme. So he said, What are you going to give your audience and then there's 10 things that I have written down, to speak on, and I usually don't write things down to speak on anything, I just actually run my mouth. So I shelved it. I didn't even use it. It was 10 things. And then when he said that, what are you giving your audience? Boom, those 10 things. I said, I gotta go find them. Because they were all in a notebook somewhere. I said, I'm gonna go find those 10 things and I'm gonna break them down. And I'm gonna speak on I mean, I'm write a book about it. And that's how that happened. And I just started writing, I was so inspired. I'm like, Yeah, this is gonna help a lot of people. And I just, that's how it happened. Within a year and a half, I think book was published.

Jim Moore 28:25

Wow, incredible. And what's the what's the reaction been like, from?

Monk Coleman 28:28

Oh, it's been so good. I even had someone tell me it's like, it's like all the self help books wrapped into one. Wow, that that was a real, yeah, great compliment. Because you know, this person reads, self help books. And it's super short. There's no fluff. It's just right to the point. Because I'm, I was never, I'm not a writer, why I am now. I mean, I'm not an author, right? But so I don't know how it's supposed to look, I don't know, if you're supposed to try to make the big book bigger by putting stuff that's not really important in there or whatever. But I'm just like, This is what's important to me. This is what I'm gonna put in it. And when a book came back, and it looks so small, I'm like, dang, that book looks small. But then I started getting people going, that don't read going. It's small enough where I can read this, like, I can actually read this because it's not a huge book. And it's like a, it's a, it's a guide, so it's something you can always go back to and reference. If you're having a hard day, you can open it up, you're gonna get what you're gonna get something out of it, whatever you're looking for. So, I've had a very, very good response to it. And I'm getting it into the school systems into the prison systems, getting into places where people have really lost their way. Need to look in a different direction. You know, this book basically is a blueprint on how I came out of alcoholism and transformed my life.

Jim Moore 29:58

I'm really interested in it The title, the title, it intrigued me. Because, you know, like you say, a blueprint for how you got over some of the most challenging things in your life and hopefully be an inspiration and a practical help to others. But it's interesting that love over fear specifically that you targeted fear is that what what is often the cause of some of these some of these problems that we go through in life, I'd love to get you kind of your take on that. And that sort of the genesis of that title?

Monk Coleman 30:31

Well, I believe fear is the root of everything that we don't want. Every emotion, all hate, all anger, it's all fear is the umbrella. It all comes from, if you if you look at jealousy, if you look at hate, why would you hate somebody because there's something that you fear about that person. Right? If you're jealous, you you're fearing that you might lose your partner. Right? Anger, why are you angry, because you fear something might be taken away from me. So it's all fear. And all fear is our love is is the absence of fear. So if you love and fear cannot coexist, you're either living under the love umbrella, or you're living under the fear and the love umbrella is going to feel different than the fear umbrella. So if you ever have this overwhelming negative feeling, there's some fear going on. So people think, the love and the hate, but it's really loving the fear. Because the hate comes from the fear. You're only hating something or someone because you're afraid of something, or someone. That's the only reason you're fearful, if you look at the root of anything that you're going through this uncomfortable is fear behind. So that's why use there.

Jim Moore 31:56

Yes, is certainly an incredible kind of observation, and very astute one. And thinking about that, you know, for folks who, who wants to kind of get started on this journey, perhaps have recognised some negative behaviours in themselves some some things that they that that can be categorised under this this kind of coping mechanism coping with fear umbrella, where where would they start for you, you know, like meditation has been incredibly powerful for you, I'd like to get your kind of view on, you know, the opening steps to developing that level of, you know, a stupid thinking critical thinking.

Monk Coleman 32:34

Yeah, so awareness is key awareness, if you're not aware of something, how are you going to be able to get through that? Right. So they have studies now where trauma, they know that trauma can be passed down through generations, right can be passed down from your mom, your dad, your grandparents, so on and so forth. It can be passed down. So they went through, they studied some people that were in the concentration camps. And their kids weren't even part of the Trump concentration camps, but their child was suffering from the trauma that they experienced in the concentration camps. Right? So it can be passed down through you. So say, you come in with a bunch of trauma that's already there. And then you got added trauma on to it. So the reason why we don't like are we a lot of people say why can't meditate, I can't, when you start to get still, all these things start to come up and it's uncomfortable. But we distract ourselves. For me. I used alcohol.

We didn't have all the social media when I started doing my thing. No, I didn't have all this stuff, these distractions I can use to get me out of my fearful thinking. So I use the alcohol. What alcohol did was, it got me to a false sense of presence. It kind of lowered that fear that I had in me, suppressed it and allowed the high to be there. So when I was drunk or drinking, I wasn't worried about the future or the past. Right? There was no anxiety, there was no depression, I was there. But then you have to deal with the repercussions of what alcohol is doing to you. Even on an emotional level. When you have your hangovers and your body is hurting, you're hurting, you know, your everything is hurting body mind spirit is hurting. So to get out of that, you got to do it again. And this is how addictions start. And it started in is they don't it's not all at once. It just gradually turns into something. So we can't be afraid of what's there. We have to get steel and it doesn't have to be meditation. Go out in the woods. Go sit on the beach. If you're close to one. Go be by yourself. See what comes up for you Unless you do that you're always going to be suppressing. And what happens when you when you suppress is, is going to always express itself one way or the other sooner or later. So the more you push it down, and the more you push it down, the more the pressure builds, and then all of a sudden, you're exploding on your partner, your ad, your, your co worker, whatever it is, because it has to come out in a stored in the body, or it comes out in disease or some other way, because it's not being taken care of. So whatever you do, you have to get out of the noise and get still. And that's what I did. I just got out of the noise. And I got to do I said, What do I need to deal with internally, until you do that, I don't care, what you do is nothing's gonna happen until you heal yourself, and allow these traumas to be released. But the healing has to take place first. And that's why so many people have their dream life, but they're still depressed. They haven't taken care of what they need to take care of, on an emotional level, on a spiritual level, on any on the levels that really matter. They haven't take care of that, okay, they're great with their finances. Right? They have this picture perfect life. But why are they still killing themselves? Why are they so depressed? Why are they using drugs now, when they have the perfect life, it because they don't have the perfect life, the material things will never give you a perfect life, they can add to your life, but the internal work is where it where the work needs to be taken place on the inside, not the outside. So when you do that, right, you take care of whatever you need to take care of the traumas that healing, all the emotional stuff. Now, when you get stuff, you have a different relationship with it. It doesn't validate your life. That's why there's people that they have hardly anything, but they're so peaceful, and they in their life is they have so much joy in their life. So how can you be in this situation to have so much joy in your life, because they understand what it's all about. They understand what, what happiness is all about what joy is all about what healing is all about. And they don't need anything outside of them to feel this way. I think the problem with our society is we think when we get something, it's going to change something on the inside. Like if I get a million dollars, I'll be good, I'll be happy. If I get the right wife or husband, I'll be happy. If I get the right job, I'll be happy, you'll be happy for about two weeks. And then it's back to the same old feelings that you haven't dealt with. So we got to understand that happiness is an inside job. Joy is an inside job. So where do you where do you gotta go? Well, if it's an inside job where you got to go, don't go inside, nothing outside is going to do that for you. And like I said, alcohol gave me a false sense of that. And I think that's what people you know, alcohol and drugs. It's just, it's just a response to trauma. Not knowing how to work through it not be like we didn't like, we don't want to feel this uncomfortable feeling that we're feeling so we tried to get rid of it instead of dealing with it. So anybody that's dealing with, with any type of addition, that's just a response to trauma. It's just, there's, there's healing that needs to take place. And we don't know how to do it. And then that comes back to the programming. How did you see it taking care of when you were growing up? Well, this is what

people I grew up with. This is how they dealt with it. Right? So this is how I'm gonna deal with and I don't know any other way. Counsellor therapist, what does that meditation? What does that I don't have no clue about these things. I we didn't, we didn't have the tools to heal. We didn't have the tools, we didn't have the options, like, what can I do? If I'm going through this, it was just like drugs or alcohol, or, you know, sex or whatever it is that takes your mind off the feeling or the emotions that you don't want to deal with. And that's what we did. So we we have to, most people can't sit in the room five minutes without feeling uncomfortable. And I think that's where we're at right now. Like, turn off everything for five minutes and sit there and see how you feel. How does that feel for you? Most people start starting to fidget or, like look for their phones or, you know, if it's really uncomfortable, we don't want to hear what's going on inside. We don't want to hear the chatter. You got to understand those voices. That's not you. The voices are not you. The inner dialogue is not you and you have the power to change that inner dialogue. There's always things that are gonna come up. And the key is how are you going to respond to those things that come up? Are you going to attach to them Let it get you emotional, or are you going to look at them, and just let them go, just let them pass on by, all thoughts are neutral until you attach something to them. Period, all thoughts are neutral until you give them power. And that's why they say when you focus on something it grows. So people say, Oh, you are your thoughts? No, you are not your thoughts. If you put your thoughts, who's watching those thoughts? You're, you're seeing the thoughts, seeing the thoughts. That's you, the thoughts are coming. If I tell you not to think about a pink elephant, guess what you're gonna do? You're gonna think about a pink elephant. Right? It just comes, that's just come. Now, what meditation did for me was it changed my relationship to my thoughts. So when that thoughts came, I go, Okay, I see. I see. Instead of drinking and try to push them down, I'll go get into meditation, and deal with it, whatever it is at that time. And don't get me wrong, things still come up, I still do deal with fear. That I'm not all the way to the point where I don't deal with fear. But I have a different relationship with it. Now. When it comes, I have different coping mechanisms, I have different things that I can do to bring me back to the present. Which where there is no fee. So I think is key for anybody that's starting to get to a place where, even if it's for short periods, just go somewhere and be with you. Because we always we have all the answers. We have the answers within us. But we think the answers outside of us, and I think this is the issue. We're looking for others to help us when we can help ourselves as we've always had it in this way. You know, when you see a baby that's not programmed yet. You can see God in that baby's eyes. There is pure, conscious awareness, no labels, no nothing just like, Oh, what is going on. And I don't care if their parents are racist, I don't care if their parents are horrible people, that young baby sees you as God too. You see what I'm saying? Until they are programmed, that baby will love you unconditionally. Until the parents say, Don't love that person, or this person's like that, or don't do this or don't do that. Don't live your dreams, you know, they shut you down and give you a something to live by. Because they think it's gonna be the best for you. But most of the time, all you're doing is taking away from that kid's dreams because I believe I truly believe we all came here to do something that only we can do it the way we can do it. And it could be artists, it could be an entertainer, but you have these parents that want you to be a doctor or lawyer. And you're taking away that kids Spark, you've taken away that fire, the inspiration. And you're a lot of times you're you're guiding them to

something they hate, just to please you. So I believe we now I believe, I mean, I believe that now but be prior to that. I really didn't think about it too much. But with my youngest daughter, I'm just like, Yeah, whatever, whatever lots of your soul, you do that, you know, I'm gonna tell you not to walk out on the train tracks or an in traffic and the basic don't touch the iron type of stuff. But man, whatever you want to do. whatever light you have you do that because that's what you're here to do. Whatever that is, it doesn't matter what you know, many people that are so successful right now, they went against what their parents wanted, because they knew they knew deep down that they were going to do this. They were going to make it happen, this work will lit them up. And if anything that lights you up. You're that passionate about it. It's gonna happen because you're doing it with all your heart. You're doing it with all your soul. You can't stop that. I mean, look at some of the things going on. I mean, people are doing now so successful. Like, how did you even start that? Yeah, right. But they did. And they knew it was gonna work because it was something inside of them. They said, This is it. This is what I'm gonna do. And they did it. They know that no one tell them they could. I think that's the way we need to be with our kids except for the basic state of harm type things. Let them shine, let them do what they came here to do. I believe you came here for some specific I came here for some specific and everybody else they had to we don't have to settle for just falling in line and doing what others want us to do. We got to shine. We're not here to be regular. How I mean we're miracles already Why aren't we doing miraculous things? This what we're supposed to be doing? I think my message is for one, to run my mouth as much as possible. And, but to do it with love. That's what I do here. Right? I talk a lot. My wife always has to drag me away from conversations all the time. But I talk a lot now I'm on the radio. And it's called Conversations with MCC. So just like we're having conversations right now. Well, I talk a lot. That's my thing. Why not be on a radio, you got to go where your strengths are. This is what I love doing because I love sharing love. I love sharing new information that I come across, right? And I'm always open for new information. If there's new information that comes to me, that seems better to me, I'm going with that new information. I'm never going to be like I'm not going to pigeonhole myself. There's always new truths are truths. There's, you know, laws and things that can't be untrue. But there's always new truths as far as our subjective points of view. Right, that better truth for us. So as we evolve, our truth might change. Our truths might change, not truth, but our truths, right, we're all subjective in one way or the other. And that's because of, like I said, going back, it's how we were raised. It's our programme. So anytime I come up with new information that's delivered to me, and I think you can only get new stuff when you're ready to receive it. So as you elevate yourself in from new information is available for you. As you go higher in your consciousness and your awareness, things will be given to you. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Because the thing is the stuff I believe now, if you would have told me these things, 10 years ago, I just said, You're crazy. But now look at who's crazy. It's me. That's why That's why I say, Never say that something or someone is crazy, because all crazy is is a lack of understanding. So when you you don't know how to understand something? What do you call it by default? Oh, that's crazy. That's crazy. As crazy. No, you just don't understand. If you were to tell a child, like the laws of physics or something, they think you were crazy, they will know what you're talking about. No, you just don't understand. So we can't write things off is crazy. Let's investigate with whatever that is. And you might not find it so crazy.

Jim Moore 47:28

100% 100% But monk, there's, there's a point I want to pick up on in there about stillness, and the importance of it. And you know, getting back in touch with nature or meditating, whatever your method is, but finding is stillness. And I'm thinking about the last kind of 18 months, two years now appreciate for many, it hasn't been a nice moment of reflection for them. But for others, there has been a pause, you know, that an enforced pause on all of the systems and there's kind of treadmill that we might have been on of going to work and so on and so forth. And, you know, we've been forced to work from home and these kind of things, do you think there is ultimately a potential shift in consciousness, if you like, that has been evoked by this kind of last 18 months, two years, and, and almost almost there is also a backlash from this, the programme the system to try and quell that, you know, I'd love to get your view on it.

Monk Coleman 48:30

100% 100%, there was a shift, there's a shift going on right now. Like there's people that are paying the systems, you don't even want me to talk about the systems put in place. So the systems is what keeps everybody divided. I mean, even with this, these little mandates and things that are going on, you got people, they're just going at each other's necks. And it's made is it was intended to do this. We, we got to understand whether you do one thing or you do the other thing, we're not meant to be going at each other like that. It's like we are we do want to say the word victims, we're not victims, but we are the ones that are receiving what the government is given us as far as what we should do or how we should act. When it comes to certain things. And it's pushed, is push, push, push, push, this narrative is pushed out there, you're wrong, you're this you're that you're this, anything that causes this type of division, you got to know his intention. So I Yes, I see a shift in consciousness. And this is the only way that that we're going to get this is this world to change in consciousness, right? Because if you start to raise your awareness, then you're going to see things you previously didn't see. I was watching politics of interest. Oh, maybe I don't know how long it's been. But it wasn't that long ago. But I was in there going, fallen right in line, like, Oh, these is just that story that they're giving you is this a story. And once you realise it's a story in both of them are talking about the same thing, and they're just targeting different groups of people, you get out of that story. Because the story is a lie. It's always been set up to, to, to have a certain outcome. And some people are waking up and seeing it, and then some people are falling or falling deeper into it. And those people you will know is because they're very, their speech is very hateful. Right? They're really identifying with whatever this message is. And it's on both sides of, of in politics, right? It's on both sides, you got groups of people that are just would keel over their beliefs. And they're really not even their beliefs. There's someone else's beliefs that they have identified with, I tell people this, when they try to say, you know, if you ask a person, who are they, most people will have a hard time answering that. And then some people will start naming off their name, their race, their religion, so on and so forth. Right? There, there are a whole persona, their whole identity, they will start naming off all these things. Some people were like, I you know, that's a tough question, who, who? Who am I? But at the people that start naming off all these things, it could be their career, what they do. It's like, first of all, you didn't know your name. When you were born. You had no clue who you were, you had no, you take that back, you knew exactly who you were, you had no clue who you were on, on on this planet at this time. Right? You didn't know that your name was this. Your first meal, other than mother's meal was probably what was given to you by your parents, right? Your first real meal, probably in included meat. So at a very young age, you're eating meat, what two years old when they started giving kids regular food, you're still developing. You're seeing everything your parents do. What they talk about you taking all that in, first of all, you when you finally realise who what your name was, I don't know what age that is. But think about this, they're calling you a sound that you have no clue what the sound is, but they're trying to get your attention when they say this sound. So say your name is Paul, they keep you Paul, and then they get your attention. Get your attention, Paul, get your attention, get your attention, get your attention, department finally you go when they say that they want me. And that's why a lot of times when people the kids are not identified with their name fully yet. They also speak in the third person, Paul is hungry, they don't know that that's actually them.

Right. So then you go forward, you're listening to your parents talk about things could be racism, could be politics could be whatever, you soak in that, that's getting all soaked in the diets given to you now maybe they're religious. So you're going to church from day one, while your brain and everything is getting formed. So you got to religion there, you got the diet there, you got your name there, you may or may not have what, you know, your parents could be loving parents that love everybody, or they could be people that hate people. So you're getting off armed in these in this time. Now, this is your harddrive. So when you get about seven years old, now your boom is in there. So anything outside of that doesn't seem right to you. So you got all these things in your identity. And if I collect column boxes, and if those boxes go against another person's programme or boxes, now you have conflict. I'm a Christian, I'm a Muslim, it's like no, you were given that and you accepted it at one point and you were given that and you accepted it one point and whatever comes with that. Now you're bumping heads. So when you get to a certain place and you say I am is nice, make my own decisions, not. That's not true. Until you realise that you are a programme. You're going to stay in that programme your entire life. And that's why when it says in, they say it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It's because that programme has been reinforced 50 6070 years you don't argue about you argue with people on these things that aren't even true for 50 years. Of course, you're not going to say you're wrong now. That's your programme. This is your identity. And until you wake up and realise that that's not you, it's always going to be up to you. And that's what meditation did, it changed out the programme because in the programme, by default, you're always going to go back to certain behaviours. Right? So you're always in, it doesn't matter who your width is for you, if you go from relationship to relationship, you're always gonna have the same issue. Because your behaviour at the deepest level is going to be the same because of your progress. So why do I always do this when things get hard is because that's, that's your default, that's your default mode, you're always gonna go back to what you know, not what you want. We all want different things in our life, what we accept for ourselves and what we know that's different. I didn't want to be alcoholic. But guess what? That was my programme. when times got hard, even if I was like, Okay, I ain't gonna drink from I'm gonna stop one bad day or send you right back to that is because whatever got you to that place in the first place has not been taken care of. That's why people can go into rehab and come out and relapse because they didn't heal, and change whatever needs to be healed. is always there, all you're doing is forcing a stop. And when you force a stop, when the pressure gets enough, you're going to go back to your default, which will is whatever it is, right? It could be, it could be being infidelity, right? It could be shopping, it could be

just random sex, it could be alcohol, it could be drugs, it could be anything that's addicting. It could be food is the most overused. Drug there is. Why do you think obesity and America's is so great is because it's an addiction. And when people feel stressed, they want to say comfort food, they want to be comforted. So that food gives them that high, just like a drug or alcohol would give that high, except for it's not looked down, it doesn't have that negative connotation that drugs or alcohol does, even though it's killing people just the same. Although it's causing a lot of problems for a lot of people. But it's accepted, just like alcohol is more accepted than cocaine. Because there's a lot of people making money off alcohol, legally, and socially accepted. So when you know if I go to places like oh, you don't drink while you drink, it's like it's poison. I've been there done that. Right. So I'm not talking bad about people that drink, I'm just saying it's a drug and it's socially accepted. So in our minds, we don't have a problem, we really do have a problem. This is a very problem with alcoholism in this country. And I don't know about other countries, but I know it's, as they say, I think the last thing 656 out of 10 people have an issue with alcohol. And then during the pandemic, it even got worse, alcohol sales went up, you know, alcoholism went up, domestic violence went up, all these things went up, because people didn't know how to deal they had to really get put in a position to deal with what they haven't been dealing with. Right, some people's escape is going to work because they don't like the relationship. So that was their break from the relationship I need to get out of here. But now you're forced into this situation where it's either going to make you stronger, or you're going to grow or you're going to you're going to break up so some relationships they got a chance to really know each other better. And they got stronger and grew together and then some people were like, This is too much and you know, I wanted to go to work just to get away from you. And now I'm stuck with you and I don't know why we were in this relationship in the first place but it works out it doesn't work out you know I'm saying so it's really uh, this whole thing is really a chance to grow it's a chance to to really evolve but a lot of people it was too much for them and they had to jump into alcohol or drugs or whatever

Jim Moore 59:05

it certainly feels like this this period of time is on earth a lot in people you know what for some in the group in good ways point of reflection as we talked about for others you know is brought to the surface and trauma that's perhaps on dealt with and unspent so it's it's a really interesting time to to see how these kinds of things end up manifesting themselves. Monk it's been an absolute pleasure chatting with you times got away from us I could literally listen to you all night I honestly could is just pure pure wisdom. I'll be honest, just genuinely makes me want to pick up a copy of the book which I'm going to do straight after this chat and and I advise everybody else to as well. I'm going to put links in the show notes so that people can click that link and go straight over to their either US or UK based Point of Sale for the for the book, but we'll do that and obviously your website as well. But for folks who don't know, where can they go about finding out a little bit more and hearing more from you?

Monk Coleman 1:00:09

Well, I got a website, it's monk eternal.com. All my socials are there and we're going to start selling the book from there as well. We'll start doing that as well. You know, instead of going through Amazon, you can get it on Amazon, but it's monk, Mo nk eternal.com.

Jim Moore 1:00:31

Awesome. Like I say, we'll have links up in the show notes so you can't miss him. Thank you so much, man. It's been an absolute pleasure. I do feel enlightened, positive. I feel like I've got some good stuff to think about and reflect on and I thank you for that. So thank you and and have a good week you my brother.

Speak soon