TRANSCRIPT
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Gissele: [00:00:00]
was Martin Luther King Jr. Right? Does love have the power to turn an enemy into a friend? Does it have the power to heal? We’re creating an inspiring documentary called Courage to Love The Power of Compassion, which explores extraordinary stories of those who have chosen to do the unthinkable, love and forgive even those who have caused deep harm Through their journeys, we will uncover the profound impact of forgiveness and love, not only on those offering it, but also on those receiving it.
In addition, we’ll hear from experts who will explore whether love and compassion are part of our human nature and how we can bridge divides with those we disagree with. If you’d like to support our film, please donate at http://www.maitricentre.com/documentary.
Hello and [00:01:00] welcome to the Love and Compassion Podcast with Gissele.
We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. Today we’re talking about getting beyond division. My guest today is Scott Grace.Scott’s gifts are many. He’s a highly sought after author.
Singer speaker, workshop leader, life coach, and standup comedian who used to open for legends such as Robin Williams and Dana Carvey. He rose to prominence opening for rockstar authors and personal growth celebrities. He went on to start as this spiritual Dr. Seuss Combining entertainment, wisdom and comedy, becoming the headliner at new thought churches around the world.
Scott’s current project Beyond red and blue, staying human in Divisive times is planned for release. In the coming months, [00:02:00] Scott Blends humor, spiritual Dr. Seuss Rhimes music story and spiritual insight to help people feel less polarized, rise above outrage, and reconnect with themselves.
People with different viewpoints and yes, even the people who voted differently in beyond red and blue, Scott does not get political. Instead, he teaches and models how to become a part of the solution instead of contributing to the rising sense of polarization happening worldwide by depolarizing your mind no matter where you stand on the political spectrum.
Scott’s previous book. Is mindful masculinity, a book for men and the women who love them. Please join me in welcoming Scott. Hi,
Scott: Scott. Hi, Gissele.
Gissele: yes. I’m so excited to be chatting with you. I mean, I think this topic is so, so essential right now in a time where it seems very divisive.
[00:03:00] I’m in Canada right now, and I’m telling you, I would’ve never thought that our neighbors in the US would not be. We would not have that strong relationship we used to have. Are you out of the states?
Scott: Well, yeah. I spend most of my time in a little village in, in Mexico Yeah.
Gissele: Nice. so I was wondering if you could tell the audience a little bit about how you got on this journey?
Scott: When, Donald Trump first got elected, he stirred the pot for many people and including me. And so I wrote a book called How to Evolve During the Trump Experience, whether Humanity Joins You or Not. And it was written mainly for liberals who were having a lot of trouble.
And I came across as, as one of them. Uh, so I revisited that book about a year ago and I realized that I no longer [00:04:00] want to promote divisiveness of any kind. So I’m rewriting the book so that it’s for everyone no matter what, political persuasion and it that it’s more about how do we, stay human in these kinds of times where, where extremes are the norm. Mm-hmm.
Gissele: First, I’d like to acknowledge how insightful that is. The fact that you’re able to go back and say, Hey, even though my intention might have been good in terms of like helping support people during difficult time, the fact that you were able to see, hey, I’m just breeding divisiveness by looking at like us or them, right?
And so the fact that you are now able to see how How can I be a support. Towards greater unity. And I think that’s really fundamental. What helped you get there? Like what helped you understand that? By still seeing that division, we were [00:05:00] still sort of propagating the polarization.
Scott: Mm-hmm. Oh, I live in a spiritual community called Namaste Village.
Mm-hmm.
Scott: And we practice, Non-duality and radical acceptance, of everyone and everything. So, you know many people have been very opinionated about the politics and, gradually as a community we’ve realized that,
That giving our opinions dominion contributes to the sense of separation, and that’s not what we’re about. So, yeah, I used to watch Stephen Colbert and John Stewart, and Trevor Noah and, and all of these late night comedians who would make me laugh, about these things, but I can’t watch them anymore.
they’re breeding the same, you know, us versus them type of consciousness that I don’t [00:06:00] support anymore.
Gissele: Yeah. And I, and I appreciate you saying that. I’ve had to become very conscious about what I consume, My perspective is more around, you know.
We’re all part of the Divine God source universe, and we’re all made of the same juice. And so what I’m aiming to do in this lifetime is to be able to see the divine in everyone, even those who are most hurtful. And that can be very challenging. But if you look at everything we’ve tried, we’ve tried punishment, we’ve tried war, we’ve tried polarization, us versus them, and it’s gotten us exactly where we are right now.
As Einstein says, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and so we have to try something else. And I look on the wisdom of those who, may be, deemed, our spiritual masters that talk about love being the way and trying to understand how it can transform it. And I do think, Scott, that the [00:07:00] perspective of
non-duality is the path to love. What are your thoughts?
Scott: Well, the, the coldest places on earth are the North and the South Pole, so, uh,
I love that.
Scott: Yeah. And, it’s all fear. The more. We let fear run, things behind the scenes, the more we are attracted to wild extremes.
Gissele: Yeah.
Scott: That’s actually be one of the lines in my poem, which I wrote about this whole, this whole thing. I’d love to read it.
Yeah, of course. Go ahead.
Scott: Okay, so this little poem begins with some rhyming. Consult Dr. Seuss for a lesson in timing, but this ain’t no Sweet Dreams poem for kids getting tucked in.
It’s a [00:08:00] wake up adult’s tale for the nightmares. We’re stuck in a talk without answers, but full of good questions. Ones to choose slowly for mindful digestion. Like, why do most people see just red and blue? Could there be more than just one valid view? Our opinion synonymous with what is true. Is this what our founders envisioned we do.
Oh, honest Abe now he was the man, a house this divided cannot long stand. He was Republican President Lincoln. And I’d like to see more of the ways he was thinking. Why are opinions becoming more rigid? Why is this Cold War becoming more frigid? Could fear be what’s lurking behind the scenes, pulling our strings towards these wild.
[00:09:00] Extremes. Please take this in and don’t knee jerk react. This blame game we’re playing is a soul sucking act. If you’re as baffled as I am admitting here is a question, my hurt is emitting. Why God on us are you shitting and quitting? And God might just say, kids fear. Not that I’m ghosting you, what you’re calling shit is my way of composting.
You stop calling it crap and start smelling potential. ’cause what seems like a mess might be spiritually essential. You are one of my gardeners born for these times. Let’s get back to the soil. And heed these new rhymes. My love’s been in drought and you are here for some raining, but you dry up when focused [00:10:00] on fear and complaining.
You are here to plant something new in the dirt seeds that might sprout after you’ve left the earth. But that did not stop. Reverend Martin Luther King from tilling the soil with his angel wings in time, his dream and yours. Will be granted, but for now, hush my children and bloom where you’re planted
now. That’s part A.
Gissele: I love it. Oh, is there a part B?
Scott: Thanks God for the cameo. So helpful and clear. And with your permission, I’ll take it from here. Because I’ve cooked up a theory that could use more cooking that points to the glasses through which we’ve been looking, a dark pair of lenses that block out the light till all that we see is just black and white.
[00:11:00] No room for discussion. You are wrong and I’m right. Blood pressure rises, adrenaline spikes, and I’m left with two options, just fight or flight. And when I’m choosing between those two Fs, it brings out my worst traits and hides all the best no thinking things through. It’s time to go tribal to stick with my own and steer clear of my rivals.
My rivals are totally up to no good. They simply cannot be the least understood. I learned this from news shows that always agree. With my worldview and the ways that I see, whether it’s FOX or M-S-N-B-C, I make sure they all wear the same glasses as me, their glasses that ensure they obscure self-reflection.
So I claim the [00:12:00] high ground and moral direction. Now it’s easy to spot those sunglasses on Putin, but in my own mirror that I’m disputing, I’d rather stay blind to my mind’s battle front so I can cast blame on those liberals or Trump. Could it be? Most of us are now wearing dark glasses, letting the media blow smoke up our asses using the internet for amplifying the reasons the other side needs demonizing our differences seemingly so polarizing, we can spend half the day back and forth anal-izing.
And through algorithms we see only our tribe. Think the whole world is applauding our side. The trespassings, always those other dumb asses, and never the [00:13:00] fault of our own faulty glasses. May these words help us take off those glasses and see what we all have in common our humanity.
Gissele: Mm.
Love it. Absolutely love it. just a few thoughts. The first one was, as you were talking about Martin Luther King, it reminded me, ’cause King was actually a student of Thich Nhat Hahn. Right. And when Martin Luther King passed away, Thich said, you know, like one of his quotes was. we’ve killed him.
We’ve, we’ve killed them. We could attract, and I’m rephrasing it probably correctly, we could attract King, right? Like the consciousness could attract king, but it couldn’t hold on to king. So people wanted that consciousness of love. But when faced to it with the faced with the hard [00:14:00] work they had to do.
They couldn’t hold it. they couldn’t make the courageous decision to love and to forgive and to do all those difficult things. And let’s go back to the concept of fear, because when people are in survival, it’s really hard for them to be compassionate, to, to think about other people.
Like they’re very self-focused and not self-loving, self-focused, which is different. What helped you shift out of that? Perspective on fear that most of us have been conditioned to believe and follow.
Scott: Hmm. First by admitting it mm-hmm. And being able to just report about it. Yeah. I’m feeling tense in my belly.
My shoulders are tightened. I’m having to remind myself to breathe.
Mm-hmm.
Scott: So just to report about it so it’s out of denial.
Yeah.
Scott: And you know, fear doesn’t come [00:15:00] alone. it comes with grief and anger and and sometimes guilt. So, so when I’m, when I’m exploring fear, I’m shining light upon you, you know, the sadness that’s underneath the fear.
Or on top of the fear or whatever, and maybe I’m angry, an angry at myself for being afraid or for letting fear hold me back. So I explore all my feelings, and to me that’s kind of the forgiveness process is just acknowledging feeling and uh, and making room for every aspect of my pain. And then you know, at some point it’s like you just gotta act as if.
You gotta act as if fear wasn’t your God. And that may involve trembling, getting on stage and doing something scary or, you know, participating in a march or, some movie where you don’t know where you’re gonna get the money. How are you gonna get all the [00:16:00] money needed, you know, to have a vision and not a clear pathway.
Uh, that’s courage, which is not the absence of fear, it’s it’s fear plus. Courage. Passion. Yeah. Willingness.
Gissele: Yeah, for sure. so one of the most essential parts, well, there are many, many key parts in your poems.
One of the most important things that I think people really struggle with, and I know I had struggled with in the past is, is the ability to look at yourself in the process and how you’re contributing to the problem. You know, there’s that saying like, when you 0.1 finger out there, there’s three pointing back at you, or four pointing back, right?
Mm-hmm. And so it’s, it’s our unwillingness. To look at ourselves and see how we’ve contributed to this world of duality and world of difference. I mean, when you think about, like, think about something as [00:17:00] challenging as the Holocaust. 10 million people followed Hitler. Everybody blames Hitler, but 10 million people followed Hitler.
Why? What was happening for them? Why, like, so that, those are the questions that we struggled to answer. We want an A scapegoat. We wanna name one person. We don’t wanna look at ourselves, and I think that’s what your poem is inviting us to do. What was the most challenging aspect of you looking inward and looking at yourself
Scott: I would say for me it’s, I still find myself making people wrong who voted for Trump. Uh, feeling a sense of, you know, judgment, you know, and, and, uh, I’ve been, as I’ve been writing this book, I’ve been. I’ve been interviewing people who voted for Trump and, and, and Kamala and people who’ve stepped away from politics.
I’ve been just, just [00:18:00] talking to people. Um, and I would just say I’m, I’m baffled by my own, uh, victimhood by how attached I feel sometimes to the righteous part of myself, um, that that’s the hardest part. I would say, you know, being a critic putting my energy into criticizing what’s wrong with people, what’s wrong with, you know, the world, what’s wrong with God, what’s wrong with me?
the spiritual Dr. Seuss. Says this about the critic and this is a short one. The critic will travel with you on this earth and be your companion for worser or worse, it pretends it’s your coach, your fiercest amigo, and it pours on the guilt. That’s the beverage of ego.
It’s there to protect you, to help you be strong. So it has to remind you, you’ve done it [00:19:00] all wrong, you’re weak and you’re lazy, and you don’t have a clue. That’s your drill sergeant critic trying to motivate you. Your critic wants you to be all you can be. So it gives you these pep talks all day and for free.
Oh, the places you’ll go and the guilt trips, you’ll travel as the critic plays judge, and bangs down on its gavel. But you always can get some relief from your shame by projecting it onto the others. You’ll blame for that Is the critic at its beastiest best IT nurses, its grievances close to its chest.
Republicans, liberals, your parents, your ex. The world is just teaming with folks to correct. If only those fools could conform to your ways, you’d get on with life without further delays. [00:20:00]
Gissele: Yeah,
Scott: that’s,
Gissele: your poems are so incredible. That’s.
Scott: That’s about 20% of the poem.
Gissele: I think you’re saying so much just in the poem itself, right? I think you’re talking about how criticism is not a motivating force. It, it actually is the law of diminishing returns, and you’re talking about something which is so essential, which is. Shame and guilt. People do anything to avoid those difficult feelings and will project all of their issues out.
But the more you love yourself and are compassionate to yourself and use that as motivation, the less you need other people to act in particular ways. And I think that’s why your poem is so powerful. Um. Why we need sort of that understanding of how we are acting in, in how we are motivating ourselves.
did [00:21:00] you have any, understanding of the perception of self-love and self-compassion as a motivating force versus criticism?
Scott: Hmm. Yes, very much so. Yeah. I write books on it. Yeah. Uh, encouragement, you know, like, like encouragement versus discouragement, like discouraging self-talk.
I’ll never find a the right person. No. Never make discourage, removes us from our courage,
whereas
Scott: encouraging. Self-talk puts us right there into our inspiration and courage.
Yeah.
Scott: So I’ve always been aware that I can’t create and criticize at the same time. I, I have to either be creating or criticizing, but I can’t do both.
I’m not that kind of multitasker.
Gissele: Hmm. I love that. I wanted to go back to whole concept of people who voted for Trump. Because I actually did a [00:22:00] very similar thing for, just for my own personal interest and I ended up blogging about it. I’m Latino and I knew a lot of people who were Latino and voted for Trump.
And so the first time, I don’t know about the second time, but I know the first time. And so I decided to just have a conversation where I only listened to the reasons ’cause I really sought to understand like. I’m like, I’m trying to understand, because the rhetoric we hear here in Canada is very anti-immigrant, very anti-Latino, and yet you are from my community, and yet you’re voting for Trump.
And so the the two key things that I heard was number one. The fact that they didn’t want socialism, right? Like that the, the rhetoric of socialism was too frightening. ’cause, and I remember this growing up in Peru. I mean, I came when I was [00:23:00] 10, but I remember my parents talking about like what was sold as socialism.
Right was more like communism, which is like everybody lacks. Everybody lacks. Nobody has, you have to do long lineups for you to get anything. And there was like power outages and all these things, and people attribute that to socialism. So they’re definitely afraid of it when what we really want is like the democratic socialism, right?
Which is like we take care of our people and yes, we enable people to do their businesses, but not at the expense of other people. Right? And, uh, the other thing was around a lack of trust of government. So anybody that seemed credible, right? Like somebody that seemed anti-government or anti status quo.
But one of the things I noticed thinking back, and my husband actually pointed this out, was that Trump had been sort of, and again, neither here nor there, you could be for or against Trump. Trump had been weaving [00:24:00] himself into the culture. If you actually look at some of the major movies, he was in it. He was in home alone.
He was in WW. So he was a symbol of everyday man, right? He was in movie. I mean, even though he played himself and he played a millionaire, but he was in these movies as a character, as somebody who was part of the culture. And so you see this sort of like, from their perspective, it made sense. From their perspective, things make sense.
So if you take the time out to listen to people’s perspectives, but the feelings are real. The feelings of like, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how you could, from my perspective, make a choice that could be hurtful to another group of people. What have you learned about the [00:25:00] value of listening to others’ perspectives without judgment in terms of helping you understand their journey?
Scott: Wow, that’s a beautiful question. Well, everything I learned about this, I learned on an airplane on a four hour flight. The on the other side of the aisle I was in, I was in an aisle seat. And, uh, a couple sits down. They’re older than me. They have red hats on that say, make America great again. And this was during his first presidency and I put my headphones on.
I forgot they were there, but this little nagging voice said, this is an opportunity. And I took my headphones off. I heard them talking about their grandchildren and I said, oh, do you mind telling me how many grandchildren do you have? And that started a [00:26:00] conversation and, uh, pictures, phones, and stories.
And the time was going by, I was telling them about my daughter and at a certain point. We were like just buddies. We, we couldn’t stop talking. And I, I asked a risky question. I said, do you mind if I ask you a more personal question? And they said, no. And I said, what kind of world are you hoping President Trump leaves for your grandchildren?
And they painted a picture. That was so similar to what I want for this planet and for the future. And it just struck me that we have, we had radically different strategies and beliefs about how to get there, [00:27:00] but we all wanted the same thing. So when I listen, I wanna listen to that place in somebody’s heart where I know.
That they want every, if, if it’s possible, if they thought it would be possible, they would want everybody to be well fed and get their basic needs met and be happy. And so that’s where I try to take people as I’m listening to them and I’m asking questions, I try to take them to their deepest values rather than the surface reasons why, you know, they think Trump is the best president in the world or.
Gissele: Hmm, Hmm. I love that because in that moment, you got beyond borders, you got beyond nationality, you got beyond political agendas. You got beyond, and you went straight to humanity, which is the thing that binds us together, which is extraordinary. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think [00:28:00] that’s so beautiful. The other thing I was thinking about is, and I’m curious as to your thoughts, is because I go back to your poem.
We want people to save us. We want people to fix it. We have to fix it ourselves. Right? What you were talking about is we’re not looking inward. We’re not doing the work. We’re not looking at our shame, we’re not looking at our lens. And I think that’s the thing that, that, that’s the problem we’ve been having.
We keep looking for saviors. We keep looking for heroes, and those people are just human like us. So. I think the only way we’re gonna change the world is if we’re willing to change ourselves as difficult as that might be.
Scott: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think politicians are actually, uh, cut out to build a new world and, and lead us anywhere.
I don’t even think they’re leaders really. Um, they’re more followers.
Gissele: So what do you think can [00:29:00] help us change.
Scott: Who, who did you say? Who?
Gissele: Yeah. Who could lead us?
Scott: I think there’s, there are going to be plenty of, uh, of people down the pike. Bernie Sanders came awfully close. Mm-hmm. You know, he’s challenged by his age.
But
yeah, the
Scott: amount of people who voted for him, even though he had no corporate sponsors, no corporate money.
Yeah.
Scott: That was pretty impressive. And I think that’s a wave. And that the next wave is going to crash and get even closer or, you know, Mexico has a, has a wonderful female president now who’s just, you know Yeah.
Lovely and powerful
Gissele: Yeah.
Scott: Um,
Gissele: I mean, she sent all that support to Texas. Do you see that? I dunno if it’s true. I just saw it on social media. Yeah, no, it’s true. It is true on humanity, right? Yes. Like they’re willing to say, okay, I don’t like you. I’m not gonna follow whatever, and you and I may have beef, but [00:30:00] I’m still gonna see your humanity and I’m still gonna help your children, and I’m still gonna do the basic, basic human thing, which is to help.
Yeah.
Scott: Yeah. It’s beautiful. Yeah.
Gissele: The other thing I was thinking about too is that, what if the, and I’ve had conversations with both people that support Trump and don’t support Trump. What if this particular administration in particular, ’cause it seems like there is right now, this rising consciousness.
There does seem to be, I would say like having more conversations about love and compassion. We’re having more conversations about how old systems aren’t working. There seems to be also this collapse. All of these systems, What if this administration’s role is to like collapse everything so that new things can be born and also to be a mirror to us of who we’ve been, and that can be feeling [00:31:00] challenging.
So I’m just curious as to your thoughts.
Scott: Well, my thoughts are, I so agree with you. I don’t know if I can add to the, to what you said. You said it beautifully. It, you know, I, I believe there’s a higher purpose, a divine purpose for everything and, that, donald and his, tribe are unwittingly not necessarily consciously contributing to this speed up.
Things need to speed up evolutionary by helping things collapse. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, like an alcoholic that needs to hit bottom.
Gissele: Yeah. And I wanna bring it back to the whole concept of leadership and the kind of leadership that I see really dwindling off. You know, in your book, mindful Masculinity, you talk about different types of masculinity.
What is the role of toxic masculinity in terms of how we’re seeing the leadership [00:32:00] now and, and how could that masculinity shift to one where it could lead towards the, the world that we all sort of want, which is more equity, more love or compassion, more generosity.
Scott: Well what, what most of us are calling toxic masculinity, uh, is I believe dying rapidly.
Mm-hmm. And we’re
Scott: watching it. We’re watching its death throws on the public arena. What’s gonna be left on the other side of that, of that funeral is people who value the earth, who value empathy and, uh, the birthing of life and the caring for life, the caring for our forests and trees. Um, you know, masculine energy does like to protect and serve.
That’s a cliche, but, and traditional ways that men [00:33:00] and women have dated where, uh, men, let’s say, will hold the door open for a woman or pay for the check. To me, the these are not just old traditions that you know, that we can be liberated from. They actually are metaphors symbology of.
How men, how masculine energy relates to feminine energy that, that masculine energy wants to protect, wants to serve, wants to praise, wants to appreciate feminine energy, which which could be the curves of a female form, the beauty of a flower the vulnerability of a child that’s crying. Feminine energy could be our creative intuition. The, things you’re doing, you know, with this movie is all I believe like the feminine conceives such a thing. And then the [00:34:00] masculine part of you and part and, and hopefully your, you support system is out there collecting donations.
Mm-hmm.
Gissele: Yeah. Yeah. What do you think? Where did we go wrong as a humanity that we moved away from that masculine perspective of the protector, the supporter, the appreciator, to one where there was very obvious use of force rather than true power and like coercion and suppression.
Scott: Well, I remember that day. I remember the time,
I think it’s a spiritual thing. it started when we started to believe that we were separate from each other and that it is possible for a man to to have success, pleasure, all the good things in life. [00:35:00] Just by his own power, just by his own will, just by, you know, his own castle that arose from from the belief that we are separate, uh, and it’s dying.
It’s dying very rapidly. That whole belief.
Gissele: And it’s interesting ’cause COVID showed us the interdependence of human beings, right? I mean we were all impacted by COVID, like the world shut down. We missed that connection with people and we’re seeing it now even from my perspective with the ice raids that are happening in the us.
You know, some people, especially people in the Latin community, voted for. For people to be deported, but then some of them are getting deported, so they didn’t connect the fact that, Hey, wait a minute, this is somehow also gonna impact me. It’s impacting other families and I’m being impacted. Same with farmers, right?
Farmers, they’re. The people that are working for them got [00:36:00] deported and now their businesses are going under. And so there is this interconnection that what we do for others, we do for ourselves and what we do for ourselves, we do for others, that we are starting to awaken now and realize.
What are some things that we can do to start moving away from red and blue and coming closer together?
Scott: Well you know, one heart, one mind at a time. It’s gonna be grassroots. Some people are moved to protest and you know, even design boycotts and days where all the immigrants stop working and all of those things are, are part of it.
But what comes to my mind is that the little things that we do every day, and some of them are, are much bigger. Like when Trump got elected the first time, an artist friend. Had an emergency meeting at her house the next night and she invited all, all of her artist [00:37:00] friends to come over and she, uh, gave us paper and magic markers and, and she said, write affirmative, appreciating angel type messages.
And have them be colorful and fun and do whatever you wanna do. Glitter. She had all kinds of things. And then we’re gonna go out in the neighborhood and we’re gonna put these on people’s windshield wipers, you know, so that they see them on their cars. So to me that’s, that’s revolution right there.
Stepping outside of the whole paradigm of we gotta fight back and, and just so no wait. You know, St. Francis said, where there is sadness, let me sow joy, you know, and where there is hatred, let me, so love and kindness.
Gissele: Yeah. I think what you just said is so, so powerful because I think people underestimate [00:38:00] these small instances that are so powerful that they dismiss as not as important, but.
We got to this world by a series of small decisions that we made in our everyday lives with people in our lives and with others, right? Like people want to be like, I wanna be the savior, or whatever but that’s just the same duality, right? Us versus them.
Scott: Every savior.
Once you, when you create a savior, you create its opposite. So, yeah, you know, you create an, an angel and a demon. It’s a world of duality. Nobody’s gonna rescue us and nobody’s going to not, you know, one person is not gonna take the human. Experience down with the ship.
Gissele: Yeah, and I love that you say that because we sort of live in the world of guruism, right?
I think we need to understand that, that we are more powerful than we think we are what [00:39:00] you were talking about, that’s the true revolution. To look at things that challenge us and say, where’s the joy? Where’s the opportunity? To come together and unite and
Put glitter on it.
Scott: Put glitter on it. Yeah, let’s,
Gissele: right. I think that’s amazing. I think that’s incredible. How has comedy helped you prepare for this sort of journey that you’re on? Because I think it’s very important.
Scott: Well
I do a lot of laughing and, and a lot of crying and the laughing balances out the crying, but they’re both very important. You know, I, I grieve for the madness that’s going on and I noticed that when, when I bring my playfulness and humor to difficult situations that it, it also helps people process just like tears can help lighten.[00:40:00]
The emotional climate. Laughter does the same thing as long as it’s not laughter at the expense. Sometimes laughter is just a bunch of attacks on people and it’s shaming and that’s not where I live when it comes to comedy.
Gissele: Yeah. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. ’cause I think that was one of the struggles that I had with a specific comedy show that made fun.
Of like even the president, I struggle with that because the, the person’s still a human being regardless of whether you think that they’re doing a good job or not doing a good job. The, mocking.
that shaming. For something to be truly funny, it can be joyful without it being at somebody’s expense, right?
Scott: Yes. That requires
Gissele: work. It’s easy. Isn’t it easier, like you as a comedian, isn’t it easier to just make fun of people?
Scott: Yeah, but it, it’s like venting get it outta my system and then, [00:41:00] you know, it doesn’t hit YouTube because it, it was for me to get the anger. But there was a song I wrote in his first term that I have, vowed not to sing again because it makes fun of him and it gives back the energy of shaming that I perceive he does when he, he wants to belittle people. He gives them, you know, nicknames and he just talks about them very derogatory. So here I had this wonderful song, it was really funny and people would crack up and, you know, it went viral on YouTube.
And this year I made a vow to not do it, to not sing it again. ’cause I don’t like, it’s like an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Yeah. It’s,
Scott: can we talk
Gissele: about how much awareness and consciousness that requires? I mean, think about it, things going viral that has an economic [00:42:00] impact or like.
The fact that you have that level of awareness and that you’re willing to say, this is not who I wanna be. I think takes extraordinary awareness because like most people, their goal on social media is to go viral, right? Like, oh, I want this to go viral, then, oh my God, I made it and whatever. And this is gonna mean more sponsorships and all of that stuff.
You got there and you’re like, you know what? This doesn’t feel like me. And your willingness to be authentically you, I think especially in a world where you’re not rewarded to be authentic, I think is wonderful and extraordinary. What helps you be more authentic? Like what helps you just sort of make those decisions in terms of like, no, I’m just gonna be myself and this doesn’t feel like me, so I’m not gonna do it anymore.
Scott: Uh uh. Feedback. Feedback is really helpful. Oh, okay. I live in [00:43:00] a community and and when I’m, when I’m tempted by the dark side of the force, like, oh, this is gonna be really viral. I’m gonna do this, you know, I have a team, I have a committee. I have people who, tell me when they think I’m coming from ego like.
I did a big show March 8th of this year, which was professionally videoed and it’s called Beyond Red and Blue. And I, I wanted to get all the comedy and all the songs, everything out there so I could start to promote this talk, lecture, workshop, whatever it’s gonna be. And, the first 30 minutes of the show were accidentally erased or something, so I had to do them again.
And several people said, this is a blessing, Scott, because there were things you said in the first 30 minutes that would’ve made Republicans walk out. [00:44:00] You were pretty, biased. And if you really wanna be, promoting this message. Take a good look at what you said in those first. Mm-hmm. And so I did the whole thing over again a week later and it was where I wanna be.
Yeah. Yeah.
Gissele: It’s good to surround yourself with people that. Help you stay in alignment with who you wanna be. And that’s also challenging. Um, so props to you, right? It’s hard to sometimes listen to feedback and say, oh gosh, like here I am promoting non-duality, but I’m also being non-dual.
And I’ve had the same experiences in my podcast as well when we, I’ve had conversations with people. This podcast is about love and compassion and there were times. Where my husband was editing and he would say, you know, this, you, you’re sounding a little bit dualistic here. It seems like you’re, you’re picking [00:45:00] aside, and the loving compassion is, is about non-duality.
It’s about seeing the divinity and all. And I’m like, yeah, you know what? So we think that’s really important to have that feedback and to acknowledge that sometimes we fall back into it without being consciously, like not on purpose.
Because in my life I have found that when I treat others like the whole, the Jesus thing, like when I treat others as myself. Number one, it always works out better for me. And I find people are like my mirrors, they’re mirroring back to me what I need to heal within myself. So when I, I’m having a struggle with someone, I now ask the question, okay, what’s within me that needs healing with respect to that topic?
Which can sometimes feel difficult because you’re like, oh, like Envy’s coming up. And where am I feeling envious? Where am I feeling lack? Where am I feeling? To be able to be truly honest with yourself. And that took a while for me [00:46:00] to figure out, because there’s times when I thought I was being honest with myself and I wasn’t, and then I’m like, oh, I was lying.
I was lying to myself about it. And so that’s, it’s a constant inner journey.
so just a few questions before we wrap up. I ask all of my guests what their definition of unconditional love is or love. Some people don’t like to use the word unconditional.
Scott: All of your guests get this question well, majority. Causes me indigestion. ’cause whatever love is, it’s beyond my thinking.
And all I can feel is the universe winking, saying, mm-hmm You’ll never have any idea on this earth what unconditional love is. But when you put it first, everything else falls into place. Unconditional love is a state of grace. You [00:47:00] don’t have to like someone to love them completely. They may trigger feelings, but you still can love them sweetly.
Mm, so unconditional
Scott: love. Mm-hmm. Comes above and makes the stars twinkle and little children play.
Beautiful. And it
Scott: happens each and every day.
Gissele: did you just make that up
Scott: Yeah, no, that’s, that’s impromptu.
Gissele: Oh, I love it. I love it. So where can people find you?
Where can they buy your books? Where can they work with you? What do you wanna promote?
Scott: Okay. So, uh, scott songs.com. S-C-O-T-T-S-O-N-G s.com.
1. Here are six Dr. Seuss Performances: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL91E19CF5BBE67770
2. making of the movie the trailer (three minutes long) of the show two links above, here’s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFSTjp8-edo&t=8s
And uh, I do a private. Healing sessions. I’m a psychic and a guide and intuitive. So, uh, what else? You can go to that website, sign up, and you’ll be informed of when the book comes out, the newest [00:48:00] one. But if you scroll down on the homepage, you’ll see my other books and there’s links to them. There’s the spiritual Dr. Seuss poems that are done live in front of an audience.
That’s a lot of fun. I think they’re, they’re on my website and they’re also on YouTube, so,
Gissele: uh, beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. I was wondering if you could share a poem just to close us off anything that you wanna share with the audience.
Scott: Sure. Yeah. So, Gissele,
Yes. Okay, so you give me the first line.
Gissele: Oh gosh, there’s so much pressure.
Scott: You want that to be the first line?
Gissele: Yeah, sure.
Scott: Oh god. It. So much pressure that Scott just put me on the spot and my mind’s a blank.
There’s nothing to take in and take out, so I’m just not gonna try to figure it out. But [00:49:00] I’m just gonna go into receptivity mode and just enjoy what Scott has to show. So we just did a show, a one hour podcast, and. I felt it was a blast. The one hour just so quickly passed, and my hope is that there’s a certain sentiment that will last in people who are listening or have been watching, that you take with you something that maybe doesn’t even have words, but if it did, maybe curiosity.
Curiosity. There are people on this planet who believe so many different things, and I wanna hear their soul sing. I want to find their angel wings because there ain’t nobody here on this great earth that if [00:50:00] they could, they would put love first, if they knew they were safe, if they knew they were. Mm-hmm.
Union. If they knew they weren’t separate, then it would all be a reunion and we’re gonna have that reunion sooner or later. So you and I don’t be a joy procrastinator. Don’t put off the joy that bubbles through your veins. ’cause being more happy is how we can change the world one heartbeat at a time.
Forget these big ideas and just turn your water into wine. Walk lightly on this earth. Put first things first, and I’ll see you on the other side of this great global rebirth. And Gissele as a midwife, and you and me we’re [00:51:00] all into this midwifery. We’re all. Bringing Forth a baby, being born. Some of us in movies, some of us in songs, some of us in poetry, some of us just by loving unconditionally.
So play your part, come from the heart and,
and never again can we part. Never.
Gissele: Oh, thank you, Scott. What a beautiful way to end. Oh, like a little verklempt there. Thank you. Thank you so much for being on this show, and thank you all for joining us for another episode of Love and Compassion with Gissele. See you soon.