I remember going way back into yesteryear there used to be a nightclub in my city that mostly spun alternative rock and some metal on the weekends. I was by no means a regular but I had a lot of fun times there with various different groups of people. Like any other club there were some songs that would become staples. One of them was ‘Killing In The Name Of’ by Rage Against The Machine. Several cuts could have been played from their classic debut album but this one was always a crowd-pleaser that the DJ would mix in at just the right moment. The reason it was so popular? Aside from being a good song with a danceable beat the outdo (crescendo) featured (singer) Zack constantly repeating the phrase ‘F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!’ for about the last ninety seconds of the song. This is when the energy of the club would reach a new level and it was one song that was always saved until later in the night. This phrase is something at one time or another in our lives is probably one we would like to say more of but can’t, for obvious reasons. So when that verse comes on the intensity of this vibration is astounding because every person on that dance floor (myself included) is channelling everything that’s bothered them during their week (or life) and letting it all out. But if you read deeper between the lines aligning with this lyric is a statement on how we all want to live our lives. Sometimes it seems like everything and everyone has an agenda for us and how we should experience the world for ourselves. Dear reader, you are going to see examples very shortly of how certain forces have recently tried to throw me off my path and why with this writing I am deciding to take a stand! I have received such positive, warm and grateful reception to my Path To Purpose blog series from last month. It meant the world to me but I had to stop and ponder with a common phrase many individuals would say to me. It was along the lines of a congratulations on my journey and how it’s helped me make it this far. It has been quite a journey (and a strange one at times) however I don’t interpret this time as a finish line. Quite the opposite ,as I feel the journey in those pillars was only set to lay down the foundation so that I can construct the cathedral of my dreams. Satisfied as I am at the present moment there is still a lot of work to be done. One example being that I was able to get back into realignment with my yoga practice last weekend. It was the first time I had practiced outside of my home since March and it felt amazing. Yes, the hamstrings were a little tight (nothing new for me) but being in a room with that energy was something I had been dearly missing these past few months. It hit me when I laid down for Shavasana (final resting pose) and I came up with the idea for this writing. The basis being that I want to share what I will not be doing on my journey moving forward. It is just as important as laying down the foundation of the pillars. But before I get into those specifics I want to share a synchronicity that happened this past week that connects to how I ended up beginning the previous blog series in the first place. After my sudden stroke of inspiration I had initially had a similar experience at a class way back in February that helped me lay down the foundation for The Path To Purpose. It is pretty amazing as to what kind of clarity you can get after doing these classes and you just hit the pause button. I originally wanted to do a blog on people who were strong ‘influencers’ in their community or something along those lines. It was going to be interview based and again the pandemic put that on hold. In the coming months the more I toiled with the idea the more I realized that it didn’t really align with what I was trying to do overall. Then I received inspiration from a very unexpected source… Back when I could only go out to work and grab essentials I took some time to re-watch some older movies to see if they stood the test of time. Once in a while I’d veg in front of the television after work and just see what was on and one night I found something that I hadn’t seen in years….Batman Begins. I had forgotten how well done this movie was and it connected with me alongside all the craziness going on in the outside world. So then I decided to re-watch the entire Dark Knight trilogy and it hit me really hard. What sets this trilogy apart from other superhero movies is the layers upon layers of character development and storytelling within the overall story. In an act of divine timing I watched the right series at the right time. I could break that story all down in a whole other blog piece but the aspect of the story that affected me the most was in the aforementioned Batman Begins. I love Christopher Nolan’s daring approach to go deep into the evolution of Bruce Wayne and not even have him in his full bat-suit until about one hour into the film! This slow burn in the development of the caped-crusader is arguably the best ever done and Nolan masterfully weaves synchronicities together in the film. My personal favourite is in this clip below…Bruce is trying to design an ‘outfit’ for his new crime-fighting persona and ends up on a path to confront his fears…before proceeding I highly recommend you watch the two minute clip here….
What’s really amazing about this scene is the story being told through body language and musical score. The only line is uttered by Alfred but the scene as a whole is pivotal and tells the story of a thousand words. The gist of it is Bruce Wayne is finally able to move past his grief and fear by outright confronting it head on. He can now fulfill his purpose and not let the shadows of the past stand in his way. This is the moment he truly descends into the persona of Batman. When I started the Path To Purpose series I couldn’t get that scene out of my head. It helped me realize that instead of starting a random blog series that I should find a way to connect it to Unexplained Inc. my podcast. That is essentially how this website was born. It was to be an extension of the podcast focusing on things that wouldn’t necessarily fit the frame of the show. Back to the other ‘happening’ of this past week. In Pillar No. 4 I talked about my relationship with my spirit animal…the mourning dove. Since that blog series ended I got moved to a much earlier shift at my job. I’m on the road before sunrise usually and I don’t usually see them at that time of day. However on a random morning around 5:50am this past week I parked my car and walked past the visitors entrance to the employee one behind several others. Something unusual caught my peripheral vision and I look up at the concrete awning of the visitors entrance and I see…..a bat! Frantically flying around in a condensed area…kind of like the way Bruce saw one flying around the ceiling of his study….right I away I stop walking and just stare at it…after it made its presence known it just kind of flew away and I don’t think anyone else heading that way from their cars even noticed it…I knew this was highly unusual and no accident, I just don’t see bats flying around in my day-to-day life…no matter what hour of the day. So after my shift ended I just had to look up the spirit animal meaning of a bat…here are the two main meanings (paraphrased): 1) If you see a bat you are being put on significant notice for a major change in your life….you are possibly headed for a rebirth 2) You really have nothing to fear except ‘fear’ itself WOW!!! What an amazing message from the Universe. Like I have said previously it is all connected if you are willing to pay attention and receive the signs. So between the bat sighting and gaining clarity in Shavasana I have arrived at this moment. I will be sharing with you what I will be avoiding on the journey moving forward. These are my views and opinions only and may not be in alignment with yours, dear reader. That is okay and just remember it is a small degree with how I choose to look at the world and how I can better my own life from it. I’m no superhero, just an ordinary man. But I can’t help but shake that I reconnected with Bruce Wayne becoming Batman only to have Philip Andrew Warder become Phantom Phil through the construction of this website. It is all an extension of my personality and what I feel I can offer to those who are willing to listen…these expressions are no different so join me on this part of the journey….
“I will not take a side” The two-party government system is broken. It has been for a long time and I don’t understand why we all keep falling for it. Not a whole lot of significant change takes place regardless of who’s in the driver’s seat. It makes me wonder if each party and its ideologies are two heads of the same snake. The point I am trying to make is that the last several elections I have cast a vote independent of these two parties. My hope is that is gives said party traction to get another horse in the race. It may not happen, but one can dream. There are too many people identifying themselves through their political ideology. I’ve heard of personal and professional relationships fall apart because one person won’t vote ‘the same candidate’ as the other. Utter madness. If someone asks me if I’m on the left or the right. I gladly respond that I am not affiliated with either, but on Team Humanity. I want what’s best for us collectively and frankly both sides have some ideals that work and some that don’t. We can always meet in the middle and this whole ‘one side or the other’ nonsense is a trick I will not fall for any longer. If you honestly believe America can be fixed by the equation Biden-In…Trump-Out….you really need to do some digging and realize this may not be the solution you’re hoping for. With that being said I won’t get caught up any further in this discussion as I’ll be too busy having a latte with my friend on the left and an ice cold beer with my buddy on the right…it’ll be more fun that way “I will not stop questioning the official narrative” A lot of us growing up were conditioned to believe in Santa Claus. Hey, it was fun for a while but then came the day when you found out the truth. Luckily for me I figured it out by then but yet I wondered why go through all that? I mean it seems a little bit sick and twisted that parents would do this to their kids….no less with the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy…I could go on and on. But the more I dwell on this lesson it makes sense later in life. That lesson being that you can’t always believe what you’re told at face value. I am very close to having this discussion with my own child but I have a feeling she already knows so that’ll make it a little bit smoother. Still, I strongly believe this is a necessary right of passage because in day-to-day life if nobody questions the official narrative of big government, big media, big pharma and big business (which are all in bed with one another) then we run the risk of letting them have their way with us. I felt this way before the pandemic but as of right now I am completely DONE with articles and news headlines with the preface or suffix ‘experts say’….people, we need to start calling this kind of thing out…we are in an age where disinformation is everywhere and it isn’t always coming from where you think. A lot of ‘trusted’ officials and experts have constantly back peddled or delivered information that just didn’t add up to any rational sense. It is more important to question the source of all material than ever before for the sake of our sanity and safety. This apparently doesn’t resonate with a man that has a PHD who recently did an interview with Forbes magazine. In the interview he stated that people should stop doing their own research and leave it all to the ‘experts’….pardon me? In a cesspool of lies and corruption that has been exposed in years past by the aforementioned institutions above…we should all just get in line and take you at your word? Sounds like a potential kamikaze mission to me... the full article can be found here. I do not believe people should be taking certain matters into their own hands. That could potentially be dangerous however digital backlash and censorship is really getting out of control. For the past few months I watched a program on Youtube once a week that gave viewers a chance to look at things differently…especially during the pandemic. This past week I had time to catch up on the show because I missed the previous two episodes….I was shocked and mortified to learned that Youtube completely wiped the show off its platform with no warning and shadow-banned its website from Google searches on July 30th. The program was controversial to some and gained over 100,000 subscribers. But I don’t feel it did anything to deserve this extent of digital extermination. With digital censorship being at an all time high to those who challenge the ‘official narrative’ we need more people doing their own research. Despite what the gentleman interviewed by Forbes may think. Like the article says we need to keep questioning to keep those in power accountable for their actions and I will add to promote a ‘growth’ mindset in ones life and not be stuck in a ‘fixed’ one. “I will not be medically dependent” The cold hard fact is that medicine at the end of the day is a business. It is a behemoth of a business actually, and it doesn’t make money if people are healthy or dead. By no means is everyone in this line of work corrupt or ‘on the take’ but I feel that a significant portion just might be. In 2017 and early 2018 I was in and out of doctors appointments and taking various medications that nobody in their 30’s should have to take. I was in a chaotic schedule at school and stopped taking care of myself. I brought it all on by my own doing. I took the responsibility to snap out of it and mostly recover. But I found something interesting in this process as the only ailment that has remained is my sleep apnea. I needed a CPAP machine early on…quite badly…however once I got a lot of things back in order I wondered if I would still need it…turns out that I do because when I’ve gotten off the mask some of the older symptoms came back.
But I went online and did my own research (I know…dangerous to my own health according to the ‘experts’) and realized that sleep apnea can be beaten without a CPAP machine. When I found this out I threw my hands up in frustration because the doctors and the people who sell the machines (on massive markup btw) convinced me this was the only way. I found out this wasn’t true and while everyone’s situation is different I still feel that by losing some more pounds and treatments like acupuncture and natural / herbal sleep aids that one day I will do this. The medical establishment never told me this…I heard it from video testimonials of people that were in my position and now no longer need that wretched machine to get a good night’s sleep. I am also suspicious that the mainstream media and government are constantly touting face masks and the hope for a vaccine against COVID. These measures may or may not work moving forward and time will be the judge of that. What is making me suspicious is that none of these talking heads seem to be telling people how to boost their own immune system and live a healthier lifestyle so that they won’t be as high of a risk to the disease. It may appear on the news but as a footnote…its no secret that certain foods and household products are in fact potentially harmful to us. Money is to be made in these industries too so if they are in fact bad for us….they obviously wouldn’t want us to know. I am currently mapping out ways to live and eat healthier. It’s not going to be easy but I feel like the change is right around the corner and it will be a necessity for longevity moving forward. I’m not fully against inoculation or the wearing of masks if it will in fact help us collectively….but I am suspicious of the sources and the enforcement of said policies…no matter what the outcome I will start performing hacks to make me as least dependent on the medical establishment as humanly possible….and it starts by continuing my steady doses of Vitamin D! “I will not stay in the vibration of fear” This is a tough one for me to write about because currently a lot of loved ones close to me are stuck here….seemingly to the point of no return. By no means am I ignoring the current sate of our planet or looking at it through ‘pollyanna’ lenses but I have made a conscious effort from the beginning to adjust my life to the current conditions and not be confined by them. Many in my circle are constantly adjusting their decision making based on how the virus can be transmitted. This is a fair assessment to think about (especially if you’re high risk) but you can’t let these thoughts consume your mind on a daily basis. In the last couple of months I’ve made my way back into the outside world and in some situations wasn’t able to ‘distance’ as much as a could have. But things have turned out fine for me and not once did I dwell on thoughts of how things could ‘likely’ go bad for me. The old saying goes something like this ‘energy grows….where attention flows’….or something along those lines…it means if you’re constantly afraid of what could go wrong….it will likely go wrong for you. I had a bit of a scare in early June as my workplace experienced a small outbreak. It came close to getting me but it luckily it never did. The situation was dealt with quickly and swiftly as possible and the virus never made its way back in. Once I got tested and understood the procedure I wasn’t so afraid. Especially since myself or those close to me never showed any symptoms. I strongly believe I had this narrow miss as a wake up call to say ‘stay alert….but stay strong’….this goes back to the bat symbolizing nothing to fear but ‘fear’ itself….it’s all in how you keep the state of your vibration With that being said it’s no wonder that people are severely afraid and anxious right now. The mainstream media has done a masterful job at making sure the people say in a vibratory state of fear and dependency. Remember, they are in the business of reporting things that go wrong, not right. Taking in too much of this media can distort your viewpoint on how things actually are, pandemic or not. Even some of the more ‘fringe’ alternative media I follow is guilty of this fear mongering as well. The truth lies somewhere in the middle and if you want an example of fear gone mad….read the attached article below….a band I like played a show in North Dakota the other weekend….it appears proper distancing and procedures were in place and as of this writing nobody involved has gotten sick…that didn’t stop Twitter from being Twitter though….I only post this an example of what the state of fear can do to people as some of these comments are truly appalling…someone had to step out and perform sooner than later…why not let it be this situation….the story is designed as clickbait both does examine it as a whole… it’s the first article listed on this webpage.
“I will not chase status or a title” I’ll keep this one brief as it is pretty self explanatory. I am quite content in my current work situation and I could probably ‘climb the ladder’ if I choose to. I have the experience and they seem to like and trust what I do. However, at the moment I have no interest in pursuing the headaches that can come along with it. I don’t need a title to reinforce the value I feel I bring to the table. In my journey I’ve come across many who are obsessed with a ‘title’ or achieving certain status and will become a chameleon and step on any toes standing within their vicinity. If you want to become the senior executive vice president of operational finances or whatnot…good for you…all the best…just remember that while these titles may bring a pay raise and temporary prestige it is not worth it sacrificing the good of your heart or integrity to get one…you can’t take these status symbols with you when you die. Do what makes your heart sing and the money will follow…I heard a recent interview with Ice-T who has a very decorated career and says that ‘inner peace’ is what’s really at the top of the mountain.
“I will not live for the weekend” We’ve all run into these people at one point in life…TGIF. I’m just waiting for the weekend because Monday-Friday suck. I’m sorry to be blunt but the reason you think it sucks is because YOU make it suck. Yes you…the one who doesn’t see the magic or the silver lining of every single day. Don’t get me wrong Friday afternoon is pretty sweet. Part of that reason is not having to be up at 4:00am on Saturday & Sunday…it has its perks. But I gotta say I really don’t feel much different than the other days of the week. That is because I have a battle plan. When life itself isn’t getting in the way I attack a certain amount each day. When you are building long term goals its really all you can do and even if you’re not at the destination of your choice you can still feel like it’s within reach if you do a little bit every day. I feel bad for the people who don’t see things this way and have either given up or simply can’t figure out how to move it forward. The key to snapping out of it is to think and ink your goals as much as possible and climb the mountain one run at a time…and don’t be afraid to take breaks. When you get into alignment your weekend will extend to seven days a week! “The Fight”
If you are still with me at this point, thank you! I’ve thrown a lot at you but its something I really needed to get off of my chest. I listened to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich on a podcast recently and with all the fame, money and accolades him and his band have achieved he is still saying that his favourite Metallica record will be ‘the next one’. For a member of one of the biggest bands in the world can still have that hunger and enthusiasm after being in the game 40 years (they initially formed in 1979) its pretty amazing. This is the mindset I will be adopting moving forward but once again I want to share another piece of my past in conclusion. I did poetry during high school and every so often I get the itch to do some. This was written on a cold dreary day in December 2018. It was to usher in the upcoming year but somehow I feel it’s more relevant to where I am right now….I predicated it on a boxing theme because I had decided to start classes in January….I wanted to start at this time but I couldn’t go because I was fighting an injury I received at work….so I came up with this for the time being and it has stood the test of time in eyes…I hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading!!! The fight, the prize, The chase, the grind It’s about time I returned to this state of mind Tape my wrists to give me strength For when it’s time to clench my fists Rage-check, revenge-check, release, this is all it is… It’s now time to serve me, myself & I… Sweat-suit hood covers my eyes Foreseeing your demise, you’re Sith, I’m Jedi! But don’t call me Qai-Gon, Anakin or Obi Wan I’m New Republic bitch, old ideas are long gone The door of the past is slowly creaking shut, Time to move over and slam it fully, what? Don’t let those fingers get caught ‘cause I won’t be calling for help I’m free from your clutches for good I said before I have Skywalker-like vision under this hood… Now the gloves are on and the target is in sight… Hook, jab, poke or cheat to the win the fight Nah, that ain’t me…not the way of a Warder I’ll just wear you down like Snake and it’s late in the 4th quarter When the going gets tough I manage to get goin… Flowin’ like a butterfly…what? That’s not my style! I’m just more phenomenal than A.J. Styles As 8 turns to 9 the gap is filled by 1 One foot in front of the other and the work is never done Now that I’m on track with my purpose that won’t bother me… From the chains of the past I’ll finally be free… This fight won’t be stopped by a referee…it’s a TKO on the level of Tyson or Ali Offence gets the glory, but defense wins the game Year after year it’s all been the same and the excuses piling up are getting lame Time to court that fine looking dame…time to live in that gym to train… Time to fully remain against the grain….time to drive my demons insane… With focus, discipline & undying belief.. I’m a conspiracy theory you cannot debunk or debrief Like David Icke telling us it’s ‘all an illusion’… Make peace with that thought and it’ll clear all the confusion This round is up and my body is sore, I drink the water and my mind’s thirsty for more Put ‘em up & keep it clean, final round is upon us Win, lose or draw, the future is now in full focus!!!