Carnivore… and Beyond

“sometimes it’s not about being nice, it’s about destroying a few myths”

Contemporary Sufi speaker and teacher, Zahir Khan has a frank (and sometimes hilarious) conversation with Phil Escott about his journey to self-realisation. Questioning definitions along the way, he shares his opinions on the origin of Western ideas of Vegetarianism in spirituality, established teachers, his approach to the talks and workshops that he leads.

Zahir Khan, author of the book “Falling into the Mystery”, the story of the end of his seeking. He is seen as a contemporary mystic in the tradition of Sufism, having spent eight years studying at the feet of a master of the Qadriyya school of Sufism and then further studying and meeting teachers from the nondual, Advaita and Buddhist traditions. He now holds talks and meetings internationally to present his wisdom in a lightearted and unconventional way, avoiding much of the dogma and pitfalls of modern spirituality.

www.fallingintothemystery.com

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Bobby Risto is a bodybuilder, world traveller, psychedelic adventurer, ex-vegan turned carnivore YouTuber with an extraordinary story to tell.

Here are his own words...

I’m in my early 20s living in Germany, partying my ass of abusing/selling drugs and seeing multiple girls in the rave scene, living a “material lifestyle”. I hate that description because we all live a material life, but that’s a topic on it’s own. One day all of the fun comes to an end, and a mysterious accumulation of events leads to the total destruction of my health. I suffer from an unidentifiable autoimmune disorder basically overnight – inflammation, fever, lymph infection and if that isn’t enough I break my dick, totally coked out.

From there I fall into a deep depression. I go to all kinds of doctors. Western medicine fails, so I go to alternative healers, acupuncture, therapies of all kinds, and everything fails. My friend is telling me about Shamans in the jungle and how they heal people, but I laugh it off as mumbo jumbo, drug talk.

Fast forward to the moment that my health declined to such an extent that I’m partly parylsed and suicidally depressed, and I finally get the chance to experience mushrooms for the first time in my life. I overdose completely, take over 30 dried grams, die the ego death, experience total disorientation, die, get reborn, and miraculously, 90% of my physical symptoms are gone. This “bad trip” makes me appreciate life, and I decide to stick around for a bit longer. After that, I make it my mission to “HEAL”. I am here on “borrowed time,” I say, and I will never do anything that I don’t fully love again.

I dive into psychedelics heavily, and this is where I “learn” about the concepts of nondual realities, oneness, god consciousness etc. “Veganism” becomes interesting. I decide to “kill Bobby”, totally dissolve the ego, so equipped with KILOS of mushrooms, my friends and I rent a house in the Netherlands for two weeks. We trip EVERY day, multiple times, until there is no “Bobby” left.

I decide to leave my old life behind. I sell everything and leave to Australia, and the journey continues over the globe – Bali, Thailand, Malysia, New Zealand, South America... I further explore psychedelics and traditions. Ayahuasca in the Amazon, temples in Thailand, mushrooms in Bali etc, simultaneously exploring diet in a plant based context, from vegan, to raw to fruit to fasting etc. Then, after four years strict vegan, my health fails again, and I finally, reluctantly, find my way to carnivory and more spectacular healing and recovery from vegan health issues and brainwashing.

• https://www.youtube.com/user/BobbyThePrototype
• https://www.facebook.com/bobby.yesss
• https://www.instagram.com/bobbys.perspective/
• https://www.bobbysperspective.com/

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I am a restless soul with a penchant for adventure. Ever-curious for new experiences, I’ve worked many jobs, from carpentry and construction, to driving trucks and even crewing on commercial boats. My most satisfying jobs were as an Alaskan fishing guide and as a guide in the Florida Keys. One of my most rewarding jobs was being a counselor in a wilderness therapy program for at-risk youth and young adults, which appealed to my love of serving others and satisfied my passion for psychology and behaviorism. A lifetime of combating and coping with anxiety and depression myself, fuels my compassion for others and my curiosity to know more about the workings of the human mind. Along with a lifelong pursuit of knowledge through personal study, I went back to school in my mid 30’s and studied psychology at the University of Central Arkansas. Human behavior and the human mind are among the subjects most fascinating to me.

A kind way of describing me would be to say I’m a thinker, a dreamer, and a wanderer, compelled by wonder and curiosity and a thirst for adventure. One could also argue, rather effectively, that my variety of jobs and directions in life might simply describe me as unstable, unsettled, unfocused. There might be truth in that, but when circumstances seem tedious or life begins losing its luster, I yearn for new horizons to explore. I never tire of asking the next question or exploring the next curiosity. I’ve lived a sometimes challenging, but rewarding life. I’ve sought to use my own mistakes, errors, and lessons as an opportunity to learn and grow, and I try to share the wisdom gained to serve others.

As elusive as objective and rational thought may be, I’m driven to discover it wherever it hides. I don’t think I’m alone in this: I haven’t found “true happiness”, contentment, or enlightenment yet, but I know it’s out there. I’ll keep looking. I’ll never have “all” the answers, but that doesn’t stop me searching for the ones I can find. Daily, I remind myself, “I’m only human”, and I’m in this world completely surrounded by a bunch of other “only humans” who seem consistently unaware of that simple fact; they too are ONLY human. While we’re all “only human”, flawed and prone to error, and often victims of our own egos, hubris, and individual cognitive dissonance, I also remind myself daily, what a magnificent and blessed thing it is to be “human”; even if... only.

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Tim Shieff describes himself thus... “professional freerunner to professional vegan when I had my ‘awakening’ then became a truth and a health seeker, which eventually led me away from veganism with a ‘second awakening’.”

Tim Shieff won the 2009 Barclaycard World Freerun Championship and participated on the television programme MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he competed in three American Ninja Warrior tournaments from 3-5, and has appeared in the first three USA vs. The World tournaments, captaining Team Europe and representing his country of residence: Great Britain. He also competed in the first two Ninja Warrior UK tournaments, earning the title of Last Man Standing in the first.

Tim was featured in the vegan propaganda film, What the Health? But asked for his contribution to the latest vegan film, “Game Changers” to be omitted from the final cut. He even took part in the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in the role of a Death Eater (which, I thought, is kind of amusing for an ex-vegan). Tim also founded his own vegan clothing company, ETHCS, and he now speaks out bravely about his loss of faith in veganism despite attacks from vegans and having to bow out of ETHCS.

Tim’s links...
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/99timshi
Instagram: @humantimothy

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Imogen is a spiritual mentor, shaktipat giver and writer. She focuses on integrating, accepting and embracing all aspects of the human experience, bringing the lofty ideals and concepts of ‘spiritual attainment’ back down to a grounded experience of Self.

Imogen was raised as a TM meditator with the understanding that ‘everything is consciousness’. Even though she never self-identified as a spiritual seeker she spent most of her life living and working within the TM organisation. After the death of her closest friend she found herself reevaluating all aspects of her life. This inevitably turned into an earnest spiritual search, leaving the TM organisation and moving into the contemporary nondual type teachings.

She had a brief but profound spiritual awakening and went on to spend a year at Mooji’s ashram in Portugal, still searching for the peace and freedom that she was looking for. While this was a beautiful time for her it also brought to light the difficulties of spiritual organisations that she had already seen in her days with the TM organisation.

Upon leaving the ashram the fulfilment of her search finally came about through a single Shaktipat transmission that she skeptically received after seeing the undeniable and dramatic change in her husband six months prior, also from a Shaktipat transmission. Although this was the end of any searching, or searcher, she found this wasn’t the end of the work as she went through a period of intense integration, processing and healing both physically and emotionally.

Two years later she and her husband trained to be ‘givers’ of the same Shaktipat transmission that they had received. However not long after this they parted ways with the organisation having realised that while spiritual transmission is still a powerful tool, being a part of an organisation was not an option for them anymore.

Now finding herself the least ‘spiritual’ she’s ever been and intolerant to spiritual concepts and posturing, she has recognised the need for the down-to-earth spiritual exploration. She encourages fully the transgressing of the conditioning and concepts held up in spiritual organisations and authorities so that every individual can ultimately discover and stand in their own Truth. That alongside a healthy does of Grace in the form of Shaktipat – contradictory you might say, but such is life!
Website: http://beyondimogen.com

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