Season 2 – Episode 13: Becoming the Channel: Leading Through Presence, Not Pressure
I’m joined by Dr. Ron Stotts, a three-time bestselling author, PhD in psychology, long-time meditation teacher, and guide for conscious leaders. We dive into Ron’s extraordinary journey from a near-death experience in the mountains to helping high-level entrepreneurs and executives lead from deep inner alignment. With over 45 years of spiritual practice, Ron brings a grounded, transformative lens to leadership in today’s rapidly shifting world.
We explore:
How Ron’s spiritual awakening redirected his life and revealed his soul’s deeper purpose
Why healing the past is essential for accessing your fullest leadership potential
Whole brain thinking and how to activate your “inner CEO” through presence and breath
The myth of “not being enough” and how to reclaim your inherent power
What it truly means to lead from being and how to take aligned action in today’s world
If you're ready to join a community of like-minded people that is focused on living their purpose, you can follow Cameron and Ron:
Cameron’s Website: yourpathandpurpose.com
Ron’s Website: ronstotts.com
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Discover the path to your soul's purpose at https://www.yourpathandpurpose.com
Episode Transcript:
Cameron:
Welcome to the Path and Purpose Podcast, where we explore the journey of living and leading from your soul's purpose. I'm your host, Doctor Cameron Martin. As a spiritual coach and leader, I've dedicated my life to helping changemakers, creatives and conscious leaders align with their souls calling. In each episode, we dive deep into the stories of those who are paving the way for a more conscious and compassionate world.
My purpose is to explore the intersection of spirituality and leadership, offering you practical insights and inspiration to live and lead with authenticity. Join me as we discover how to embrace our soul gifts, overcome barriers and learn to lead from being. This podcast will inspire you to live in alignment with your soul's purpose and create a lasting impact one conversation at a time.
On this episode of the show I'm here with Ron Stotts. Ron is a three time bestselling author with a PhD in psychology and a doctor of chiropractic. He's been teaching meditation for over 45 years. He's explored the depths of ancient wisdom and the latest in psychological and neurological studies and leadership as he guides entrepreneurs and executives into the highest levels of conscious leadership.
I'm very excited to have this conversation with Ron today. Ron, welcome.
Ron:
Oh, thanks for having me on the show, Cameron. Appreciate it.
Cameron:
Absolutely. And actually, your profile ended up in my inbox and I went, “Oh my gosh”, all the things that this show is about. So I totally want to talk to him. So I'm appreciative of our time.
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to begin, by saying a couple of things about your birth chart, and I'll let you respond to it. And then we'll get into our conversation here. Don't worry. I won't spill all of your secrets out to the world.
When I look at your birth chart. So your son is in Pisces moon in cancer ascendant in Capricorn. You are someone who is, pretty tapped in spiritually. There are many spiritual gifts, and you know this about yourself. You are intuitive. And you've learned over time to rely on those intuitive abilities, to connect with yourself, of course, but with others as well.
You are someone who is empathetic and is certainly aware of other people's emotions, underlying belief systems, motivations, etc. and in particular, you bring that to your work. You're able to totally understand the motivations of others and what's happening below the surface, which definitely helps. You also have a very professional, we'll say exterior, you're someone who is very attractive to many people.
Friendly for sure. But many people are attracted to you, and you present a professionalism, which I'm sure helps quite a bit, because what you're inclined to share has a lot to do with what's happening below the surface emotions, obviously spirituality. We're going to talk about this. But you are certainly perceived as someone who is competent and your career is a place in your life where you've actually been able to express a lot of the, I'm going to say, spiritual gifts that you have.
And that part of your life has been very expensive. You mentioned a couple things to me before we started about the career you've had. And it's been, I would say a very full one, it's been an area of life where you've learned a lot about yourself personally. And when it comes to making money, it's sharing your voice and your thoughts and your ideas, obviously you’ve written books.
So there's that.
But learning to truly express yourself and some of the less, tangible aspects of ‘being’, right? So the conversation we're about to have about consciousness itself, is a way that you have a lot of value to share there. I know it, and it's a way that you're able to serve. So with that said, how do we do?
Ron:
It sounds like I'm perfectly designed to be me and do what I do.
Cameron:
That's exactly right. So for the audience, if you want to share, what exactly is it that you do? And then we'll back up the conversation a little bit into how you got there.
Ron:
A ways back, maybe ten years ago, I was working with all different types of clients. I didn't have a target audience, per se, and I certainly had worked with some incredible entrepreneurs and executives, you know, owners of NFL football teams and owners of national hotel chains and, you know, variations of these things.
But I never thought of myself as a leadership coach or anything like that. It was just everybody coming in with their stuff for me, helping them through it. But, yeah, it really began to develop. My publisher actually pointed out to me that I have an exceptional ability to support people in moving into higher levels of consciousness. That, you know, I was a spiritual teacher with centers in Switzerland and America for many years when I was younger, and that was the game.
But it was also the same capability of taking people into conscious levels of leadership. And I saw very clearly doing all the research that if you're really going to create a more conscious and caring world, the people who can have the greatest impact, not only on an organizational level, but on a societal level and a lasting impact, it's really high level of conscious leaders who can do that better than any. And since I have the opportunity, the ability to take people into those highest levels, I figured, well, I'll use that. And, you know, support for it. My goal is to create a more conscious and caring world going through that, you know, it's kind of if you're familiar with The Hundredth Monkey Theory, where you're getting enough people doing it, then it becomes the norm. And so that's, that's my quest.
Cameron:
A beautiful quest. And mine do. So that's a beautiful thing that we're connecting about here. So I guess I want to go back to maybe an earlier part of your journey, more of the spiritual connection for you. You mentioned a few things here about being a spiritual teacher. And so what was your spiritual journey like for you? Maybe bring us to your awakening or when you started to really, understand these aspects of yourself that were coming through in your work now,
Ron:
It's a long story. I'm trying to figure out how to abbreviate it for you. I started as a young child that was very interested. You know, I was going to Christian church. My mom was a Sunday school teacher, and I was very, you know, first to learn the 23rd Psalm in my class and got a red ribbon, that kind of thing, you know? But by age 12, I was also looking at, well, what else is out there? The kids next door were Catholic, and, you know, I wanted to go to the synagogue.
I wanted to go to all these different churches and, and just see what they were doing, because I wanted to see the commonalities, what the focus was, what the intentions were. And I began after, you know, quite a bit of, you know, 12, 13, 14 really recognizing the similarities and appreciating all that they were doing. But it felt like, well, that's not quite enough.
I mean, there's something behind all of this that I want to explore. And that's really when nature became my church and I started meditating, in nature and, just really connecting with the universe in that way. And, somehow at 19, I joined the Marine Corps thinking that that was the best thing for me to do to help my country, not realizing that Vietnam was a complete, you know, failure over there.
And by the time I got out and I got down in it in a year from a medical discharge. But, it was a mess. I was a mess, and that whole thing was a mess, and I didn't know how to handle it, because all my images of what America was were really torn apart. And all that I'd learned from my parents and things that I trusted, that got me into that situation where I'd be killed or killing, and mistrusted.
And so I really let go of it all and, and, floundered for a couple of years and really became suicidal and hiked into the mountains one day and with the decision that it was time to end my life. And after three days of really contemplating that, I decided “Yes, it was.” And as I was thrusting a large hunting knife into my heart one morning, I suddenly was dissolved in a white ball of light and, you know, not having a clue what that was about, but experiencing the oneness and the perfection of the universe.
And so I saw that regardless of my understanding of my purpose, that there was a deep purpose and important purpose in my life, and that really launched me into a deeper exploration. You know, I probably meditated for 35,000 hours at least. And, you know, and now, you know, it's like, how do I get back to that place of feeling, being connected with knowing that perfection, that oneness, and that level of self-acceptance and love, universal love of you will and and that's that's where I live now.
That's a breath away at any moment. And so that went well. And people started getting interested in, you know, I was a psychologist, but, people started getting interested in what I was doing. And so I started teaching meditation in my mid 20s. And, people started having all sorts of experiences while they were meditating with me.
And so I started taking them into nature and going into higher states of consciousness where they could experience seeing, how the different cities, the different powers could be played out in relationship to the universe, which my intention at that time was really like to show them that if you're really connected to the universe, then it's all your playground.
But of course, people got attached to, “Oh, Ron does a special thing with them, so let's go hang out with him.” And it just turned into, you know, putting him, putting somebody on a pedestal so you can knock him down later. But you know, I've just stayed with that journey. I mean I probably if somebody were to really twist my arm, I'd probably have to acknowledge that the work that I do really comes out of my Buddhist studies.
And you know, not necessarily traditional Buddhism, but what Buddha said and where he came from. I've really been able to connect directly with that level of consciousness, and come from that place. And that's what I do, is I teach people how to quiet their minds, and they can discover themself and fall in love with themself and become their authentic whole self so they can have compassion and care for themself.
And oddly enough, when they find that, they also recognize that that relationship with themself is mirrored in their relationship with others, and they become these incredible leaders that create really, you know, to me, and I'm blown away by how cooperative and collaborative their organizations are and how successful and financially and productively they become in a very, very short time, within months, within a year of the longest.
Cameron:
Yeah, it's interesting when we start to align ourselves personally and otherwise with universal law that things just seem to work. I liked what you were saying about the playground because it's true. When you do start to understand Truth with a capital T, right? The universe, how things are working, understanding your own truth and everything is your playground. Truly. Because we are co-creators with the universe. And so recognizing that we're not a victim, we're not separate, that it's that separation consciousness that creates, I believe, a lot of the leadership paradigm that is present on the planet, which is this paradigm of control and manipulation. And I need this from you in order to do that. And if not, I'll just throw you out like garbage and all of this, which in my opinion is not true leadership.
Leadership is an expression of being, an expression of your being. I want to know for you how you understand this connection of self and leadership to maybe leaders who are like, “I don't know about that spiritual thing”. So how is it that you help to sort of open people's minds we'll say to you what you know, to be true, about leadership. So let's say you're working with someone who isn't really experienced in this realm in which you play. How do you approach that?
Ron:
Well, people come to me, unfortunately, when they're in trouble. You know, I'd love to have them recognize if I can create an inspiring life and the joy of that. But that doesn't motivate people to take action very much. And so they come to me when they're struggling, when they're having difficulty in their life, and that, you know, they're vulnerable and that vulnerability gets them curious.
And they begin to listen. And I create a very safe, supportive, trusting environment. And I fortunately convey that in my languaging and, and whatnot. And, I really help them recognize that everything they've done to this point in their life has been perfect and perfectly designed to support them in getting through their childhood and getting to where they are so they've been taking care of themselves. You know, they were born in a world where they're looking outside themselves for love and acceptance, and their survival depends on it, and they've continued to look outside themselves for acceptance. And who should I be? What should I feel? What do I do with my life? And you know, that's coming from a fear based place and those descriptions of leadership that you were referring to earlier.
You know, those are all just fear oriented that come from a disconnection with us. And that disconnection creates a very noisy mind. And that noisy mind supports us being afraid unreasonably so, because we don't have access to the best of who and what we are. So, you know, oftentimes the first thing that catches their attention is I ask them to breathe because I notice usually they're not, they're up in their head and not doing not taking care of themselves.
And they’re big into breathing. They begin to slow down. They get curious. They become more present. And as they become more present, then we can begin to guide them into recognizing beliefs and limitations that they otherwise didn't realize they had. And as they really go on, that self-discovery, that self development of self awareness journey, that's exciting, it's rewarding.
They understand why they created those limitations, why they were important, why the protection they put over their heart as a child was necessary, but also why removing that the armor around our hearts and open up our heart and mind is now critical for them to be able to step into the level of play at the level of leadership that they're ready for. And so, you know, a lot of times we hear the thing about, well, I don't feel like I'm enough or I'm not living up to my full potential, that sort of language.
And the truth is, you're not enough. And, you know, that's incorrect. Very confronting for people. But you know, the follow up, which comes very quickly, is, you know, you need to learn to look within and access more of who and what you are. And in doing so, you're going to recognize that you're more than enough. You're more than enough to do and be anything you want to be. And so people get excited and they see possibility. They understand and appreciate what they've done so far it's been perfect. But now they're at a point where they're ready to evolve
and that the challenges are nothing but indicators that there's a part of them that's ready to be healed so that they can access those vital parts and evolve into who they're ready to be.
You know that, you know, I have a two month program, and that's really more of the healing in the past and really reconnecting and becoming more whole and, accessing higher and higher, more, you know, what I call whole brain thinking abilities. And, you know, as you do that, you begin to go, “Oh, well, now I understand who I am more fully. And oh, gee, I'm beginning to recognize what's important to me in my life, what's my highest intention, even perhaps what's my greatest aspiration? What is it that I would really like to do, and how would I need to grow and develop to be able to do that?”
And so also in their life has a sense of direction. And with that sense of direction, they develop a passion for looking deeper. And that depth initially is about them as it's appropriate and as it becomes more about them, that inner connection, that compassion for themselves, that empathy for themself, that love for themself really is reflected in their relationships with others. You know, not recognizing that the relationship they had with others before was a reflection of themself, too, you know, now this new, you know, more empowered and kinder place has been reflected.
And so they see it in their partners. They see it in their kids, they see it in their workplace. They see it throughout their life and they're just in a whole new day. They do see everything. It is a rigged game. Everything coming into their life is rigged and it's rigged in their favor. It's rigged because it's an indicator.
Whatever it is, the struggle, the feeling, the emotions are nothing but indicators of what is ready to be looked at and healed. What do you now breathe into? And then to be able to access more of who and what you are, you know, and so that that self-discovery on that level, especially with the intentionality of really becoming a leader or being a better leader and developing an organization that not only empowers the individuals within it, but who you buy from, who you sell to, how you affect the planet. And those levels of consciousness are what come through with those levels of healing, and really take people through.
AD: Hey there. If you're enjoying what we're diving into here on the podcast and want to go deeper, I want to invite you to check out the Soul Purpose Collective. The Soul Purpose Collective is my online community. Where minded changemakers, creatives and leaders come together to explore what it takes to align and lead from their soul’s purpose. Head over to yourpathandpurpose.com/spc for more details. We'd love to have you join us!
Cameron: I love what you were saying about not being enough, which of course is probably a limiting belief of most humans on the planet when we're identified with the ego, right? And when we're identified with separation consciousness because, yeah, me, Cameron, as an ego, this identity with, you know, these experiences of my life and these traumas. Yes, of course I'm limited, but in reality, I am an unlimited being of the divine Creator, and I have the capacity to tap into it, but only if I even know that's possible. And the only way you know that's possible, of course, is by going within and actually realizing it for yourself. Right? Spiritual teachers left, right and center can talk about how you're infinite. And we're always manifesting and co-creating and all of this. But until you actually know it within yourself by actually turning within it, does that even make any difference, right? But it's in knowing of really the greatness that you are, which you can access through meditation, through your breath, as you just mentioned, where things shift and you beautifully described it was very interesting. And you said in a beautiful way because you were describing in parallel, I believe, what a spiritual evolution looks like, and a leadership evolution looks like really all one in the same because it is that, right?
And so for those who are listening, who are, of course, leaders in positions of authority or own their businesses or whatever, you know, there is that. But whether or not you're in a position of authority, you are leading. You are leading through your energetic influence over others. So whether that's your self, first of all, leading self, leading your family, leading their friends and others around you, but that leadership is, is a natural expression of a spiritual evolution.
Ron:
And it's just that, I mean, in the past, there has been this kind of a ladder and a ladder to success, and then that ladder has broken down and been thrown out at this point because there isn't any ladder, because that's always about you pleasing others, about you doing and figuring out what they want and with with this new paradigm of really understanding and empowering yourself to be able to access levels of thinking, levels of perception and creativity that you never have before, but you are very capable of.
As you access those you begin to have perception. You begin to share ideas in the organization. You become a leader, as you say, you become a leader no matter what your position is, and I watch people literally within a year become CEO or whatever position is that they're looking for because they're contributing so much to the organization, or they're coming up with ideas and starting their own organization, oftentimes with the idea of creating this amazing place that supports everyone involved in growing and developing and learning. They're often called learning organizations as a matter of fact.
Cameron:
I'm interested, because with my clients, I've also seen this as well and with myself in the way in which I operate, with my business, is that it gets to be a place when you are truly able to access these deeper aspects of your being and universal consciousness, however, you want to call that that you recognize that you are a channel, a conduit for divine energy to move through you and really kind of what you were saying: You aren't good enough. You aren't making it happen. Little Cameron, “identity me”, doesn't it make a lot happen on my own from pushing and shoving and manipulating and controlling. But when I actually start to tap into the flow of universal consciousness and not just think about this, but know that the universe is working through me and I'm allowing that to happen. It's a very different experience of working, of leading. So I'm curious, I talk about this with some of my clients, too. It's like, What is it like to know yourself as a channel for the divine? To know yourself as, you can call it a servant leader if you want to. Although sometimes I think that term sounds a bit more egoic, like let me lower myself, when in reality I'm not doing that.
What I want to do is elevate my consciousness so that, you know, the overflow affects others around. But there is a space at which you realize you're not really the doer when you can actually get out of the way enough. The universe will do some really amazing things with you, but you're not the one doing that. You really, truly become a channel. I'm curious how maybe you see that, or how any of your clients, you've seen this sort of evolution similarly.
Ron:
Yeah, I'm in a place where I can't really talk about the universe doing something through me because I am the universe.
Cameron:
You are that? It's true. It's true.
Ron:
It’s like initially when people come to me, the mind is very noisy and it's repeating the same patterns and unsupported language that you're in, you’re out. That's research. And it shows that. And so as they begin to understand themselves, as they become more self-aware, they begin to heal the sources of those chatter, then their mind becomes quieter and as their mind becomes quieter, the left brain logical, linear, aspect and the right brain, the more whole, whole bigger picture perspective begins to enjoy and share and compassionately serve and support each other.
And so they're really developed what I call whole brain thinking. And, you know, they see a vision of what they want to be doing or over design or whatever it is. But the left brain also says, oh, and here's the optimal path to that. And you know, within that, all of a sudden your imagination, your creativity, your intuition develops considerably, along with many other things.
But it's also then the mind begins to arise and it's quiet. And it's that forebrain which is designed to be the conscious CEO of your life, begins to take over from that emotional center, the amygdala. The role, the leader of your mind, the conscious, the CEO of your mind. And that forebrain has a much bigger picture.
It's much more what's best for everybody, because that's what would be best for me also. And so all of a sudden you're literally accessing levels of frequencies and different aspects of the mind that, allow you to really think differently, respond differently, you're more conscious, and consciousness is really well, how aware of my of my thinking and my what I'm thinking, my feelings and my level of awareness.
So all of a sudden, whatever is coming into your life, you're seeing, you're responding, you're experiencing it completely differently than you ever have before because you're in a different, higher level of consciousness. But, you know, moving more in the direction that you're talking about, you know, I have a nine month journey. People are going to that place where they are integrated in everything that they've learned before into their leadership and developing their leadership.
And my encouragement is to Yes, you're very smart. That's what got you into the right schools and got to the right job. Yes, you’re now becoming more emotional, intelligent and aware and more supportive of yourself and others. But in this rapidly changing, ever more complex business world and world in general that we're in, you can't be thinking through everything.
You have to be more present. You have to come from a place of present curiosity to be able to keep up. And so I train them into what I call is in Big Mind. Big Mind is really when they need, you know, they need to design, then want to put something together and they need to solve a problem instead of thinking, instead of using that left brain logical, they begin to just quiet their mind and they go into that quiet place and put out to, you would say, the universe. I would say to their higher self, to the oneness that they are an aspect of. You know, they put out there, oh, I need this design or I need this image, or I need the solution and they watch it come in and that can take place just very quickly. That doesn't have to take any time. Initially it might take a while before they trust enough to let go and let that information come in. But you know, you get good at it and it becomes a way of being.
You know, when I'm speaking with somebody, I'm oftentimes there's no thought in between. Might be better if there was, I don't know. But yeah, you know, I mean, I design, Japanese Garden Museum, you know, I remember I was asked by one of my clients, a CEO in San Francisco, whether they found out I did the Japanese gardens, and he wanted me to create one for his wife.
Well, I didn't have any time. I was working with all these clients and stuff. And I just sat in my backyard and quieted my mind, put out the image of what I wanted, the effect I wanted to have on their lives and within, you know, an hour and a half I watched this beautiful design come together.
Within three months it was done. Won national international awards for design and technology and they were thrilled, you know, so it's just there's so many things I get more done in my clients who get into that level of thinking and being. I get more done within an hour than most people would in a day or two. And so it gives them that ability to to really be that surfer on that perfect wave, that they navigate it and use it in an enjoyable way.
And that's where they come from. They're literally able to run their organization because they're supporting the leadership and everyone who is involved. So they end up doing less and less and less. They’re kind of more just bigger picture people that you know are making sure any little things that are getting are handled or taken care of, and oftentimes they end up running multiple organizations because they have the time, they have the insight and ability.
I have one guy who's got five, nine-figure organizations, businesses and all that is after the work, several doubled their value. But as he, you know, he was sending me his C-suites and they became the CEOs of the different organizations and handling all of that sort of thing. He is now working on one part of one of his organizations, and that is now that one small part of one organization is going to be making more money than all of his organizations together had before.
And so that's where this can go. As your life gets better, you're much more productive and profitable. Your organization becomes the same. And, you know, it's just all because you're accessing all of who and what you are. You're not holding back. You're opening your mind. You're opening your heart, you're opening to what you're really capable of. And I'll tell you I could have retired some time ago, but I can't imagine wanting to retire and not have that experience. The joy of guiding people into those places so that they can have that life,
It’s wonderful.
Cameron:
It is wonderful. You spoke about a theme that I think is really important that underlies a lot of this. You said something to the effect of you know, what is good for me is good for all of us. And truly, this is an Aquarian theme, and we're moving into this Aquarian Age and many things are shifting in the world. Technology, our thinking, of course, that this principle of, honoring myself and doing what's right for me because it's good for the whole is extremely Aquarian, and it's that consciousness that's actually coming through many things in the world.
And so this principle, as it underlies leadership, understanding that, yeah, well, I'm in service and really we're all connected. There is oneness in all things. Yeah. Sources that moving through me I am source. I got it. But anyway these Aquarian ideas and I think when we, I was also seeing as you were speaking of consciousness itself and accessing consciousness in different ways and downloading it, I think there's a really interesting lesson for all of us if we want to look to the external as a mirror. Right now, we see a lot in the development of artificial intelligence. Now one can argue AI, artificial, it's fake, whatever, or it's not full intelligence, but it is a form of consciousness. It is. We created it. We humans created it as a form of consciousness expressing in some way. But I do think it is really interesting. You were essentially describing the manifestation process. You talked about your garden and other things where we can focus our attention and energy and download and see what comes through.
I don't know how much you've used different artificial intelligence tools, but I use ChatGPT every now and, well no, pretty often these days. And because it's great and I used the tool the other day that was like an image generator and it was wild. But I'm having two levels of experience here. One, I remember when I first used ChatGPT, I felt like my brain was on fire, but I had been shifting into some other dimension of consciousness itself because I was like, “Wow, oh my goodness.” Look, I wasn't just impressed that a computer could do it. It was like, “Oh, there's some sort of channeling of the universe of consciousness in some way through this”. And the other day when I was sitting designing a I mean, I didn't even end up using it, but it didn't matter. I was playing with a tool to design an image, and it was like, here I am, I input my image.
I see it in my mind's eye. Here's what I want it to look like, and then to watch it sort of manifest in that way. I mean, I was tickled by it. It was like, what? This is wild. And in essence, if we look at those tools not as things outside of us, if we recognize that actually those are just reflecting things within us, that we're at a period right now where it's showing us that this is how we create quite literally, we imagine, we think, we feel it right? And things come into our, into our experience.
And as we learn to actually use or not even use so much as connect with consciousness itself, it's like these AI tools in our productivity, but not it's within us. I just think it's very interesting that for me, obviously, I'm spiritually inclined. I'm experiencing these things in these tools, seeing it as a reflection of consciousness itself, showing us actually what we do at some level.
And then, as you say, when you learn to use that within yourself, because your own being as a human is a quantum computer in many ways, then the result is just as you said, you can run five companies, you can download inspiration from all sorts of things in consciousness. So I just think this period that we're moving through is really beautiful.
I think technology is mirroring what's happening, or at least what's possible in our own consciousness. And I guess that's a thing I'd love to maybe hear a little bit from you, because you've been in this space for a while in your career, and you spoke about how things have shifted in that consciousness. And like, now, obviously this is more mainstream. We're having this conversation, but that wasn't always the case. So I'm curious what you want to share around how you've seen the consciousness of leadership and the way in which we conceive of leading, shifting over the last however long you want to share?
Ron:
Well, I do have a, you know, a large perspective of time or otherwise. But, yeah. You know, you watch this socially, you know, personal development rises of interest, you know, in the 60s, maybe even early 70s, and then it declines and then it rises up. And we're definitely at a time where we're all of a sudden it's of key interest again, key interest because of the practicalities. More than just the fascinations. You know, there is a reward if you want to make more money and be more successful. Yeah, you want to learn more about yourself and begin to develop. And you know, so I mean, using AI, for example, I mean, I'm working with a company right now and we're, we're looking at using AI to do what I do.
Cameron:
I don't personally believe that that's really going to ever get there because I believe there's things about human consciousness that we still need that I don't think a machine can afford or can do.
Ron:
How many people can I see on a monthly, yearly basis? Right. It allows us an outreach where we begin to get people thinking differently about themself, about life, about the world, and get some looking at taking better care of themselves, being kinder to themself and others, recognizing, you know, so any level of healing that will get them to a certain level of self-acceptance and love, is going to benefit everyone. Because then all of a sudden the conversation changes, the outlook on personal development changes, and it becomes acceptable. It becomes exciting, it becomes the norm.
Cameron:
Yeah, it's true. And I appreciate what you were sharing about the practicality because, it's interesting when maybe you go back to the 70s or before this idea of spirituality could look like a real woowoo.I mean, what an astrologer looked like way back then? Who knows. And today I think those perceptions are changing, but I think it's this recognition that it's practical. I mean, when I speak to people and share obviously on the show or with my clients or wherever, or I'm speaking, I practice astrology because it's extremely practical. I practice it because it has tremendous value in my life and in the lives of others to understand what's happening energetically and also to understand who we are as a soul, a blueprint, right? What is our blueprint? How do we engage in this plan that we set up for ourselves, called our life? It's extremely practical. The same thing is true of healing your trauma of the past and looking at your shadows and all of that. It's extremely practical because everything that follows is impacted by that. And so, I mean, you said it really beautifully. I know my listeners hear it this way too. But for some of their like, “Spirituality, woowoo”. Well, it really isn't that it's actually wildly practical, right? If you want to shift your experience of life, this is how you do it, right? And we can't be looking outside of ourselves all the time to try to find those answers, because they're just sitting within us. I mean, I think that's one of the most beautiful things about the time we live in, which is ultimately an inflection point in evolution, the evolution of consciousness and the universe and our planet, and of course, and humanity is this recognition that, wow, we really didn't know who we were or our connections to anything and recognize that there were so many things dormant within us that have always been there, and other things that are awakening within us because of what's happening evolutionarily, that it makes it for a very exciting time, to be living on the planet.
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Cameron:
So I'm curious how you really understand the trajectory of a spiritual journey and purpose and also maybe how all of this we're talking about and living our souls' purpose. What would you like to say on that?
Ron:
It reminds me of an old story where I think 5 or 6 blind guys are groping their way through the jungle, and they run into something, and they're all touching a different part of it.
And one's describing the flatness and the heat and the flexibility in the movement of this rough texture. And another is describing more of a tree trunk. And one, kind of like it's just this wall, but it's moving. And another is this, you know, this thing with hair on the end of it, and another, this long, turbulent thing that has wind coming out of it.
And of course they've discovered an elephant in the middle of the jungle and they're all touching a different part of it, and they're all describing the elephant from the parts that they're aware of and connected to. And that's what we did with religion when we would touch the part of the elephant and we went out in the world and said, “This is what the elephant looks like, this is what the elephant's all about”.
And in our own limited way, we felt like we were really sharing the truth. And and so, you know, nowadays we can really step back and embrace the elephant. We can step back and see the setting of the elephant, and we can step back and draw our consciousness and expand, you know, to any level that we want.
If you're going to learn to breathe and let go, breathe and become, if you will, you know, at first you're learning to breathe and then heal this, and then you begin to breathe and you leave this, and then you begin to breathe, and you feel you're connected with the universe. And then you begin to feel like, well, I'm actually being breathed by the universe. Oh, I'm actually part of the universe. And then as you continue letting go and merge into the infinite, you really move into the void where everything come from, returns to if you will. And, that's just the recycling center of existence. And so you know who and what we are is, you know, we aren't on one level. We don't exist on one level. We’re everything on another level. So the teachings are, you know, we're becoming more sophisticated in terms of of, you know, I keep hearing people argue about is there are a God or no God? Well, it's like you've you've blown you missed the entire discussion. You know, God is something we created when we just aware of the elephant.
It's like, well, God looks like this old man on the chair. And then, you know, then we became, okay, well, that's universal consciousness. And it's like, no, God is just consciousness. And consciousness is within and expressed by and creates everything that exists. So if you want to call that God, that's a good word for it. We can continue to use that word. But it's got nothing to do with our sense of separateness, that it created something. It is the creation. It is the expression.
And so, you know, what level do you want to play on is the question that I always ask, what level of consciousness do you want to live on? You know, your comfort zone is really you know, it's like, oh, I'm, I'm too unconscious here and I'm having trouble in my life. Oh, I just did a three week retreat and I'm blissed out, so I guess I can have ice cream every night this week. I mean, that's your level of consciousness. That's your level of comfort. Well, we're designed to evolve. The only constant is change. And the reason that change is so beautiful is because it's always bringing us exactly what we need to learn to accept and become and evolve with.
And you know, we're so beyond the point of getting out of a comfort zone. We just need to dissolve them completely and be in the sense of evolving all the time. We need to let go of our separateness of a religion that's only a fragment of truth, you know? Yes. It's like, well, we can rely on this, and we have buddies and friends who belong to that religion.
I get it, I understand it, but it's so limiting compared to what's available to each and all of us. And so our leadership is really, you know, it's getting to that point where a conscious leader not only is concerned about bringing out the best in everyone that works in the organization, they want to bring out the best in whoever they're buying from, whoever they sell into. They want to make sure the world is a better place because of their organization, the or what they do. So, you know, it's just, yeah, what level do they want to play on? That's what it comes down to. What level?
Cameron:
What level do you want to play on? I also love this story that you shared, about the elephant, because sitting on my desk in front of my computer, for those of you who can't see this, it's Ganesh, the Hindu god, the elephant god.
It's really about the remover of obstacles, which you also spoke about. So it's like, yeah, which part of this are we seeing? And maybe, perhaps more importantly, what can we call upon to help remove the obstacle of not seeing the whole thing?
Ron:
One eye on the rat.
Cameron:
Instead of the beauty that is an elephant. Right? Yeah, that's a beautiful. So there's a piece about all of this sort of kind of spiritual conversation that I know a lot of people have hesitancy with. It's like, okay, well, I get it. Go within myself, meditate, chill, receive guidance, all of that. But then don’t I still have to like, do something because if you're a leader, presumably you have decisions to make and you have actions to take. Right? And so no, sitting on your couch all day long is not going to make you a conscious leader. But I'm curious, what you'd like to share about what I call aligned action, which is about truly taking action that's only aligned with what's actually necessary. You know that because of the level of consciousness that you're playing at and you know, whatever, you're feeling inspired or downloaded and received.
So we're not acting out of unconsciousness, just reacting to everything, but rather taking aligned action. And this is how we kind of can explore this idea of being and doing, because I would argue that many leaders in the world, most people in the world, are doing way too much. And in reality, when we come back to our center, which can happen in a breath, right, we can recognize that maybe as I connect with my being, I become more aware of what actually needs to happen and all the other things that don't. So I'm curious how you think about this or share or teach with people around taking aligned action because of course, as leaders we do have to take action, but we don't need to do it unconsciously.
Ron:
Well, as you heal your past and empower your future, you begin to clearly see and vision of what your highest intention is. And as you see your highest intention, that gives you a compass heading for your life rather than holding back out of fear. And you become passionate and excited about what you're contributing to, a life and to the world. And you clearly see the value that you have to. It's like we're all pieces of a puzzle and we need all of those pieces to come together so that we can see what the puzzle is all about.
You know, it's it's it's like, you know, we'll all sit this one out, you know, that doesn't work anymore. You know, you get to participate, to really bring us all together. You know, we're not surviving. We're really aren't. You know, when you see what's happening on the planet, it would be silly to say, you know, it's like being in the middle of a traffic accident just because you haven't run into the building yet thinking, “Well, I'm fine.”
Cameron:
Ph my God, the how many people say things like that? Yeah, I'm fine. No, I'm fine.
Ron:
Where we finally have this collision, it's time to wake up and time to find out who you are. It's time to really find out what your joy and your passions are all about. Why are you here? You know, granted, I don't think there's necessarily some higher person in person that you know. Well, I put your here, you know, run for this particular reason. I mean, the truth is, on one level, nothing matters. But of course, when you get to that place where you realize nothing matters, then everything matters. And once you realize everything matters, then you go, well, okay, so what am I going to focus on that's exciting to me?
What's my what's my comfort zone? Where am I? Where can I really contribute with what I passionately feel towards? What do I enjoy doing? And so you begin to go, okay, so this is what I want to do. This is what I'm going to make important in my life. This is what I'm going to spend my life doing, you know, making the world a better place.
You let go of retirement, you let go of not doing. You let go sitting on the couch because you're too excited about the opportunities you have to do, you know, it's like a child, you know, I remember, you know, maybe not now, do you? For me, the same. But I still see my grandkids.
You know, they want to get outside. They want to go outside and play. They want to go do something in nature. And and so that's who we are. We're designed to grow. We are designed to evolve. We're designed to contribute to this amazing place we are. Right now too many people are sitting on the couch and we're destroying it. And then we're ignoring what we're doing, and, and and it's really just a reflection of that disconnection within ourselves and our disconnection of, you know, wanting to take care of ourselves, be kind to ourselves. It's different now. It really has changed. CEOs recognize, you know, a few years ago, 30% of CEO said, yes, you have to go through a personal transformation to really create a new and successful organization. Now it's 90% of CEOs recognize that that's a must. And they recognize that you have to become self-aware and emotionally intelligent to do that. So this isn't just sort of one that'd be nice or this would be different. It's like if you don't step up, you're going to be left behind quite literally. And we've got generations coming in that are just really focused. I mean, I've got a granddaughter in her early 30s who is like, she's just on fire. I'm watching her empower young women in ways that I wouldn't have even imagined was capable or was possible back when I was that age. So, you know, it's like. You know, do you want to play or not?
Do you want to stay in your fear? Do you want to stay within your limitations? I understand that, but I certainly came out of that. I didn't, you know, I didn't come into the world going, all right, I'm on fire. I'm, I'm going to do everything I want. You know, I work through all my stuff.
But that's the joy of life. That's the joy of life is discovering who you are and how you can contribute. And just how you can relate with yourself and others throughout your life. You know, it's that connection that is vital to us. Then you have to have that connection. You have to open up your heart. You open up your heart.
You have to breathe, to open up your heart and breathe. You have to be present and mindful. You have to give a shit. You have to give a shit about yourself. And if you don't, that's okay. That just means there's something to heal from your past. That just means somebody made you feel like you weren't worthy, and that's just a matter of going in and healing those parts, rescuing that little boy, that little girl is in there and helping them to recognize the value they have to you, if nothing else, so that they come into and integrate into your life fully so that you can begin to express and know yourself on a level you never known before.
Cameron:
Beautiful. So do you think you're living your soul's purpose?
Ron:
Yeah.
Cameron:
I think so.
Ron:
I mean, I only flinch a little because my soul’s purpose is like every aspect of.
Cameron:
Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say something like that.
Ron:
For me now, it's like, a friend of mine asked me - he’s taught martial arts for 55 years, you know, a grand master kind of guy. A really conscious and capable being. But they asked me one day, said, so what is your reference for how you're doing in life? And I thought for a minute and I said, Well, it's really how many breaths do I have to take to quiet my mind?
And he said, well, what's your goals then? I said, one breath. So in other words, I can take a breath and quiet my mind. Then it means I really need to do some deeper work and breathe and heal and get back to center because I can't be serving and supporting others if I'm, you know, waving all over the place. You know, if it takes me seven breaths to get back to a quiet mind, that's okay. But I'm also gonna, you know, spend more time in nature, do some introspection, do some meditation, do some healing, do whatever it's going to take. Because it's not a bad thing. It's just an indicator that there's another part available to be healed and empowered and become even more whole, more connected.
Cameron:
Yeah, beautiful. Well, thank you Ron so much for spending this time with me today and for sharing your wisdom with my audience. I have very much appreciated this conversation.
Ron:
Hopefully I didn’t talk too much.
Cameron:
You had plenty of space to do it. It was wonderful. And if you're interested in connecting with Ron and learning more about his work, you can find out his information in the show notes.
Ron:
Thank you very much.
Cameron:
Thank you.
Outro:
A heartfelt thanks to you for tuning in to this episode. I'm Doctor Cameron Martin, and it's been an honor to support you on your path to self-discovery. As you reflect on today's conversation, remember that the journey toward living and leading from your soul's purpose is ongoing. You're never alone in it. Until next time.