The Nature of Presence

A podcast by David Ding

Transcript

Presence and Cherished Moments in Nature

Speaker 1 0:00

Okay , so this one's about the nature of presence . So I was inspired to do this one today because of a question my mother asked me and that was what do you want for Christmas ? And I remember at the time being so engrossed in what I was doing at work and so fixed and focused on Delivering something , you know , accomplishing a mission , that the question in and of itself , when I considered stopping what I was doing to then think about what it is I want for Christmas , the disruption in that , to invest myself into that even that question Felt like a real chore and a real Just , really disruptive To what I was doing . And that's not to say that I didn't want to contemplate it , but in that moment it was . I didn't have the bandwidth , and so there you have a moment whereby my mother's evoking something out of me to full consideration that requires an investment of my time , my energy , my presence , into introspection , and so it got me thinking about presence a lot , and I'm working with a phenomenal team of founders who are Looking at turning present , the presence of a human being , into a tokenized asset , a tokenized real-world asset , and we're looking at ways we can support them and potentially Help them to incubate their startup , and so it's timely that I've that .

Speaker 1 1:58

I share my perspective on presence , because I think it's fundamentally one of the most precious Commodities that there is , and , in fact , I'd even go as far as to say it's the only real thing that matters in life . It's the only thing that matters in life is being here now . So in that context you know on the assumption that what I'm saying is Is true for not just myself , but most of us what does that actually mean in terms of life ? If our presence is the only thing that matters in that moment , why are we living our lives the way that we are right now ? Because it's fundamentally flawed In context of our presence and the only thing that really matters being is to be here now , then surely the most precious thing to us as human beings are moments . So if a moment is the only thing that's truly precious To a human being In terms of their quality of life , then it's . You expand upon that and you say , well , it's a human being . You expand upon that and you say , well , it's moments that we cherish . So then you say , okay .

Speaker 1 3:32

So if moments that we cherish , if that is the key to living a fulfilling and meaningful life . What are the obstacles and barriers preventing me from Creating moments that I cherish ? And so you see , this unfoldment of Fundamental understanding of what really matters in life to us as human beings , that the true essence of what quality of life actually means is that we're creating moments that we can cherish . And so when my mother asked me that question , what do you want for Christmas and I saw that as a disruption from what I was doing I had to say to myself Is what I'm doing now disrupting me from a moment I could cherish with my mother ? It is what I'm doing , disrupting me from other potential moments that I could be cherishing .

Speaker 1 4:45

And so the unraveling began . So it's like , okay , let's create my life around this hypothesis that this is really the essence of life and what it means to be alive . And so you begin the grand unraveling and you say , well , what is a cherished moment ? What is it about each moment that means that it is cherished , and what would have to be true in order for a moment to be cherished ? So you then it just hits you in the face . It's like it's the people that I'm with . It's a shared experience with people with , I mean , the most diverse thing I've ever come across in my life is the variation in people , the differences , the uniqueness of a human being . So , as an isolated human being , when you're sitting with yourself and contemplating , it's wholly familiar , other than a thought which could arise which could be wholly unique . And so I cherish those moments with myself where I can let my mind soar without constraints , in the real world of entrepreneurship .

Speaker 1 6:11

My nature is that my mind is , it soars , it goes to the absolute apex of what's possible , and that's very , very useful when people are feel constrained where they're at now , and I can blow the glass ceiling off so that their conception of what's possible expands . However , life is about . Life is about the space in between the possible and the impossible , and you want bandwidth between those things , you want headroom . So for me , what I a moment that I cherish on my own , is to let my mind soar , to contemplate what's possible , understanding that I don't . My life doesn't have to be a reflection of what's possible . I want my life to be a fluid , the fluid result of the space in between the possible and the impossible . So life is the space in between . You have headroom between what's possible and what's impossible , and to me that's a graceful life , and so I want that solitude . I want that time to myself .

Speaker 1 7:35

That's a moment that I cherish , moments to myself , where I can allow my mind to soar without constraint , without having to make it possible in the real world . I want to go out and imagine what human AI symbiosis would look like , what fused consciousness might be , might look like , what spliced DNA might look like . Just because it's fun , just because it's fun , it's not because I'm because that's what I want to do . I just want to conceive of what's possible so that , because until you do that , you can't reconcile what's desirable within that . So , if that's possible , what is desirable within that ?

Speaker 1 8:23

And in fact , more often than not , when I allow my mind to soar in that way , I become more and more aware of what I cherish about here and now and what's already in front of me in the life that I have now , and I realized that I don't want to fuse with AI , I don't want to splice my DNA with something else , because there are so many moments that I've yet to cherish about what I have now , where I am now and I'm potential to be unlocked inside the human body , that I have right now to explore with the people and the uniqueness of the people that are here and now . And so when you explore what's possible with what's here now , it's infinite , without having to go off into the realms of the infinite , and so okay . But so that's one component of my ideal life moments to myself alone where I can allow my mind to soar , those are cherished moments for me . So what has to be true in that regard ?

Speaker 1 9:47

For me to have a moment to myself where I can allow my mind to soar , means I have to have no distractions around me , so I switch my phone off . Means I have to be in a place of solitude where there are no unexpected distractions , where it feels peaceful to me , where I can be wholly present with myself in that moment . But then , if you , there's a subtle component to this which is essential and this is a thread that runs through all cherished moments is that there has to be nothing else occupying bandwidth inside my mind If I want to allow my mind to soar . I can't be thinking about my bills , my health , my emotional state , the health of my family , the health of my friends , the wars going on in the world . All those things are trying to occupy bandwidth within my mind . So , as long as the subtle hum of those things is going on , when my intention is to wholly devote my presence to allowing my mind to soar , then I'm encumbered by other aspects of my life that are occupying bandwidth .

Speaker 1 11:14

So , in that scenario , what you can see is a blueprint for how to live life and how every human being can live their life , and this is why it's so fundamentally important to honour and respect the validity of every single human being's perspective , no matter how distorted it may be to someone else , because the nature of what's occupying space in your mind is indifferent to what the truth means . If you're worried about toxic algal bloom , if you're worried about cats destroying native birds , if you're worried about fungus on your toenail , if you're worried about the fact that you broke a nail , if you're worried about that , you got the wrong colour lipstick and it doesn't match your outfit , all that matters is what's occupying bandwidth and space in your mind , and this is where , as human beings , we compare ourselves to other people and we say oh well , you know the suffering that's going on in another country because of war . We invalidate our own . And it's not that it's suffering . I'm just talking about the obstacles and barriers to being wholly present , to cherish a moment . And so here we have a blueprint for life . It's about understanding what is occupying bandwidth in our mind Work , projects at work , our health , our mental state of being , medication , guilt , emotions , and so if we really want moments to cherish in our life , we have to devote ourselves to the unraveling of these things , to we free up the bandwidth in our mind in order to create the space to be here now , unencumbered with maximum bandwidth , to just be here and wholly present and to let go and that's a magical feeling being in that flow . We've all felt it when we're not really thinking because our mind's empty . It's like a blank canvas and it's like our nature arises and expresses itself through us onto that canvas . And so here you see a blueprint and a template for presence unfolding .

Cherishing Moments of Connection and Collaboration

Speaker 1 14:14

So , okay , what are other moments that I cherish ? So I know that I cherish moments by myself , allowing my mind to soar with maximum bandwidth available space in my mind . So what else ? Well , being with another person that I , who I cherish . So spending quality time with another unique human being that I gravitate towards and where the conversation flows and our minds can soar together . I love that . I love that , especially in a setting , you know , like an outdoor bar , with a bit of hustle and bustle , vibrant people around us and nice hum , trying a drink that I've never tried before sun's shining . I cherish those moments , I cherish the conversation , I cherish the uniqueness of where that conversation goes and what's possible because of the collaboration . It always happens in an unexpected way , the nature of the back and forth and the bouncing of ideas in a collaborative way , where you're exploring the potential of what's possible together , or you're just actually just bouncing off each other in unexpected ways for no reason . It's almost like curiosity more than anything else , and being wholly present in those moments is a wonderful thing . And so , okay , that's another moment that I cherish . So then you apply the same thing . So how can I be fully present in that moment ?

Speaker 1 16:07

Well , what's occupying bandwidth in my mind ? Health , it comes back to the same fundamental things . I'm worried about my grandma , or whether there's bills to pay or it's the bandwidth is the same . The things encroaching into my space , creating obstacles and barriers preventing me from being present , are the focus in my life . They're the path , the aspects of my life that I want to devote myself to so that they become autonomous so that I can create headroom . See , I'm notice , I'm talking about bandwidth and headroom , and this is the key . Anything that's occupying bandwidth is limiting your headroom . The more headroom you have , the more things flow , the more of a state of grace that you're in . So if my health is occupying bandwidth , how can I create headroom so that that flows in my life and so it begins the great unfoldment ? Why am I concerned about my health ? I don't know .

Speaker 1 17:36

So , okay , you begin with a checkup , you do the checkup and you may free your mind straight away . Oh , I've got perfect health . Or it may be that you've got pain in your body , or it may be that your mobility is not great . It may be that you just don't feel good in your body . You know it may be comfortable with your physical appearance , which is totally okay . That could be an emotional issue , it could be a mental issue , it could be trauma related , but you see , it's not until we actually unravel the thing and we give that its own space and we create bandwidth for that thing . Sorry , we create headroom for that thing so that eventually it becomes autonomous and it doesn't occupy space in your mind . It becomes autonomous and it becomes unconscious and therefore it's not pulling us away from each moment , it's not nagging on us , at us to give it headroom , so we can cherish each moment more and more together .

Speaker 1 18:58

So imagine a . So . So I cherish moments by myself . I cherish moments with others where our minds can sort together . Where else do I cherish ? I cherish moments when there are three of us and where we're kind of there are two opposites and there's someone who's kind of like a , like a transformer in between .

Speaker 1 19:23

And what I notice about when I'm in a space with three people in that dynamic is we can actually create stuff . So if you think about when I'm alone , my mind soars . What's possible ? There's no creation in that , it's just imagination . If you imagine with two people , our minds are soaring together . You know , I imagine I imagine like DNA twisted together , just soaring and just going as far as we can . And then I imagine the revelations that we have along the way that were unexpected and that expand our awareness of what's possible . Maybe they reveal deeper desires that were unaware that we knew we had . It illuminates things .

Speaker 1 20:16

Then you bring three people in and specifically especially when there's a really superb dynamic where you've got and I call this trinity , where you have , which is binary and infinity , so a one and a zero , so everything , so off and on , or everything and nothing , and then the space in between are varying degrees of the same thing . Some people some of you are listening to this are used to like the diamond or the double diamond design design method where you're creating , you're talking about what's possible tempered by what's impossible , and then you're constraining possibilities until you land on what you actually want to create . It's kind of similar to that dynamic , so three people in the same space , wholly present with each other , but in that scenario you're into creative energy whereby by the end of that session , you could land on a concept that has a beginning and an end . And so you can see a theme here . The theme for me is for my life , I need the full gamut of creation and I want to be included and involved in all of those phases . I want to be on my own , allowing my mind to soar . I want to be with another mind who enables my mind to soar , and new and unique in different ways , and then I want three of us together to create a viable concept with a beginning and an end , where the zenith of what I believe is possible and the absolute , the reverse zenith of what's impossible . I don't know what you call that no-transcript . I create temperance for each one , but there's a concept occupying the space in between .

Speaker 1 22:34

The fact is , in what's possible and what's impossible , to create something in the here and now that will fluidly be able to be stood up now to create something now , now it could be something to create in the future . It depends on what your pipeline's like , and this is what it means to be in the flow . What can we do here and now , understanding what's possible and understanding what's impossible , so that we can perpetually and continually create and progress . So I cherish all of those moments . I love all that stuff . So what else do I cherish ? Well , I cherish being in an environment where we're celebrating together and my favorite is the accomplishment of a shared mission , and that could take on any shape or form . It's chaotic in nature . You're just there , being with each other , reflecting on an accomplished mission .

Speaker 1 23:47

Now , each of us could have had a different role in that . It's not about that . We've ticked off a bunch of tasks and , oh yeah , I've completed this task and this is the next . I did 11 tasks today and that's great . Those are the things that are for ourselves , to make us feel as though those are the constraint the self-imposed constraints we put on ourselves , that make us feel good in ourselves . So that's part of it , but that's a self-responsible thing . I know that because I ticked these things off my list today . The self-imposed constraints I put on my own time and energy today means that they're not occupying space in my mind , means that we're aligned to the mission and we're going to accomplish the mission . Here's the I'm on track . It means that the part I'm playing and accomplishing a shared mission , I feel good about my contribution . You see , it's not about people going , oh you did so much work today . That's nonsense . That just doesn't work . That doesn't work . The self-imposed constraints are our responsibility as human beings . They're what make us feel good about ourselves and give us respect in ourselves and trust in ourselves . We trust ourselves that our self-imposed constraints are the standards we set for ourselves .

Speaker 1 25:24

So back to the scenario of a cherished moment , a shared mission that's been accomplished . We're all celebrating together because together we were able to achieve whatever it was . We did it , we did it , and so we share in the success together . My preference is we share in the spoils as well , and it's kind of like the old tribal mentality . If it's in a business sense , if the tribe goes hunting and they shoot a deer , then you feed everyone , because if everyone's fed , then the bandwidth and everyone's mind is free . You're not worried about whether the tribe's hungry , you're not worried about people surviving . You feed them with what you have so that you can continue to create moments that you can cherish . That's what the quality of our life is about , and you celebrate each other , you appreciate each other . You realise in those moments that you accomplished the mission because of the uniqueness of one another , not because of a list of tasks that were completed , and you weigh them up and say , oh , this one did more work than that one or whatever it may be .

Speaker 1 26:55

Lots of people's uniqueness is based upon the gravity they can create around a situation , the people they can pull into a room , the credibility of their reputation , the diversity of their networks , the mana of their word . When they speak someone , people listen , their mentorship , their shared experiences . It's all just this grand . It's kind of like a tapestry . We weave together All of that uniqueness , we encapsulate it and we utilise it to accomplish a shared mission . And because of the collaboration and because it's we create a space for each individual to show up wholly as an individual rather than as an accountant or as a web developer .

Speaker 1 27:51

You're a unique human being . You can bring your whole self to accomplishing a mission . Just because you're an accountant doesn't mean you can't pick up the phone and talk to someone about sales or it's about . When you have that freedom to be a human being and to bring the richness of who you are to the potential of that scenario , then those moments are wholly cherished . Once you accomplish the mission and for me , I like to go to the pub and I'm cheering each other , high-fiving pats on the back , sharing stories , war stories Can't believe we did that , oh you know contemplating what comes next and all the new challenges that come because of the success , because of what's made possible , because of what happened . So I cherish those moments and so , underpinning this , it's the same things . How can I go into that space and cherish that moment ? I have to be able to remember it . If I'm not present , then I won't remember the moment , because my mind will have been based on the future , based on the health of my cat , based on that my garden's not growing properly based on whatever it is , whatever it is , but it's on us to devote the time , the energy and the effort into creating the headroom for everything so that it doesn't occupy space in our minds preventing us from being wholly present in each moment , so that we have memories that we can cherish , so we can remember being in the moment , and so you can see the theme here , the other moments that I cherish .

Restructuring Civilization Through Innovation and Love

Speaker 1 30:09

I love music . Most of my friends are , all you know . We have a DJing background semi-professional DJing , if not professional DJing . You probably couldn't make a great living out of it , but most of us have DJed at massive festivals and kind of regularly DJed in the weekends and nightclubs and things like that . So what we love now is we love events around a birthday party where we come together , get together , we all jam , drink quite a lot , if I'm honest , have a barbecue , the kids are playing in the pool and these big mash-up events with music and sunshine and cider and the sun , and that's a whole other dynamic . That's even more chaos .

Speaker 1 31:01

You're celebrating each other . You're celebrating the life of another human being , reflecting on the past , telling stories , thinking about the future . It could be anything . You're open to the totally unexpected . And I find in those moments the really unexpected can happen . And when you're whole , you're present in those moments , those are moments that you know kind of come out and that will stick with you , that you kind of really never forget . And here we have the quality of our life . This is really what quality of life is the ability to be holy , present at the moment .

Speaker 1 31:52

So if you let's just base , make the assumption that we can all agree on that , yeah , that sounds awesome , yeah , it sounds amazing . Well , how is civilization , the way that it's structured now , an impediment to this ? And it really is an impediment . It is an impediment Because there's , we don't have enough autonomy , we don't , we haven't decided as a civilization to say that this is our shared intent , this is our unified intent of purpose , this is how we , this is what we're going to devote innovation to . This is , you know , if you bring this into the context of innovation as an example , and you've got a tribe , let's say you've got a community , and let's call that your tribe . They're the people that you work with on the shared missions and and all the rest of it , on commercial ventures or some kind of business venture .

Speaker 1 33:18

Well then you look at each individual and you understand together what is the bandwidth , what's occupying space in their mind that's preventing them from being holy present . And for one person , that's the mortgage . For one person it's the health of their daughter . For one person it's , you know , the grandmother's going blind . For one person , it's chronic pain in their body . For another person , their dog's got a sore leg . For another person , broken nail .

Speaker 1 33:49

So we don't invalidate these things , we encapsulate , because what the things that are occupying space in your mind are indifferent to the degrees of perceived levels of suffering or whatever it may be . All that matters is what's occupying the space . And so when you can come together as a tribe and say , okay , these are all the things that are impeding the quality of your life , that are preventing cherished moments from being cherished , where you can actually share , you know , in this scenario you could accomplish a shared mission , but you are unable to cherish the moment because your mind was occupied thinking about the health of your grandmother . So you end up , you don't cherish the moment and therefore you don't . The quality of your life is impeded . So in that scenario , you actually become a tribe and you actually say , well , I'm really worried about my grandmother .

Speaker 1 34:55

So , in the context of innovation , we look at what's the challenge with your grandmother she's going blind . Why is she going blind ? Been to the doctors , they don't know what's going on . Or there's a two year waiting list for an operation , whatever it may be . Now , the two year operation , it's an impediment to the quality of our lives , it's not working , it's not good enough , but we have to accept these things .

Speaker 1 35:29

So , in context of innovation , you always start small , you perfect a small thing and you proliferate the small thing . And you probably already know we're into big time , into decentralization and cooperative collaboration . So it's not about deferring your authority to the centralized thing . It's about the tribe coming together to say how can we , how can we accelerate this ? How can we fund innovation to create something new ? How can we find have we got scientists around us who are working on things like this in fields of AI and blindness , and you know ? How can we amplify those things ? How can we provide funding to accelerate this ? How can we recalculate the risk and set a new standard for regulation that supersedes what exists right now that the government is stating , how can we come up with a way of doing a clinical trial that's even safer than the way it is now , but a thousand times faster . And how can we create a standard for measuring the vulnerability of our grandmother in terms of her having full disclosure on the risk and the perceived reward ?

Speaker 1 36:51

You see , this is what sovereignty means . It means that if something's occupying bandwidth in your mind and affecting the quality of your life , you get to decide how much risk you take . Only you know how painful it is . Only you know what it would mean to be liberated from that . Only you know the impact on the quality of your life If the innovation were to be successful and if the full disclosure happens , if the safe space is created by your entire tribe who love you , they're not gonna . They will not put you at risk , at undue risk . However , they will honor your free will choice .

Speaker 1 37:40

I speak to many people who are I Don't like using the word disabled because I don't see them as disabled . I see them as profoundly gifted . But they have challenges in their life and the quality of their life is so impeded by Whether it's emotional or Physical or mental the , the amount of risk they are prepared to take to escape that situation . It's heartbreaking . It's heartbreaking Because the degree of suffering that they're experiencing on a day-to-day basis Is so intense that they're prepared to take the risk . It's worth it , you see .

Speaker 1 38:30

So sovereignty means that if you are prepared to take that risk , then it's about your tribe coming around you to say okay , we know that this is really important to you . You're prepared to put your life on the line . There's a 50-50 chance that you won't survive the operation . As an example , how can we move that ? How can we come together really quickly to accelerate it , that to move that 50% to 25 ? And if we can get it 25 , can we move it to 10 ? You see , this is what mission-led innovation means . We accomplish shared mission together . It's like we love you too much . 50 , 50 , 50 is not good enough . How can we innovate to get that to 1% chance of failure ? Or maybe we get to 10 ? You see , so that this is , this is how we redesign and reform civilization . We , we , we restructure it so that the driving force and the power behind everything that we do is driven by our love for each other .

Speaker 1 39:50

You see , because the reason things occupying space in your mind , the reason you're worried about the health of your tribe or of your grandmother , or the deterioration of people is because of love , because they're at risk . You , because you're concerned about their quality of life . You're , you're concerned that they're suffering . This is occupying the space in your mind . If you can't pay the bills , it's because of love , because the people that need a roof over their head and food in their bellies are at risk . It's love . The reason you're concerned about your sister . He's considering an operation with a 50 50% of that . It won't work .

Speaker 1 40:40

It's because of love , because of the moments yet to be cherished that would be lost . And the grief is Because of the unrealized potential moments we could have had , cherishing . We could have cherished with that person if we were able to be wholly present , together To create moments , together to cherish . You see , this is how we reform civilization , this is how we restructure it In a tribal way , but harnessing the potential of innovation , capturing the uniqueness of everybody around us , sharing with the rest of our tribe what's occupying Time and space in our minds , and coming together to encourage each other To accomplish the intimate , the incremental , to achieve the shared mission together . You know , if it's mobility for someone , you know we , we share the accomplishment of . They were able to walk 50 steps today . They only did 10 steps yesterday . That 100 steps , 100 steps . On the weekend they did a kilometer . They've done five kilometers . They're jogging now .

Speaker 1 42:01

You see , we lift each other up To accomplish a shared mission so that , in an autonomous way , we create the headroom around the challenges and the suffering that's occupying time and space in our minds , that liberates us to be wholly present with each other in each moment , so that we can cherish each other and create moments to cherish . And this , this is what makes living and , in the quality of our life , becomes the incentive to prolong it , to cherish life itself . We want to invest in creating headroom Around aspects of our life where there's no bandwidth and we help each other to create that headroom , so that we become autonomous and Deliberated and free to just be here now , in each moment , cherishing each other's presence . You see , this is the life that I want for myself . This is life I want for the people that I love , for my friends , for my family . I want this life for everyone . We can do it . We can do it , but it starts with the and unraveling within ourselves To begin considering what

Shared Mission for Our Tribe

Speaker 1 43:34

is the headroom .

Speaker 1 43:34

I need to create my own life , and Then we need to come together to share Our mission . This is my mission in my life . How can we collaborate together to create a shared mission for our tribe ? We were working with each other to raise each other up to accomplish that shared mission , and we celebrate the accomplishment of everybody's mission together , so that we can be wholly present with each other , cherishing each moment . And that is the gift of presence that we can give to each other , we can give to ourselves , and and that will lead us to a life that we cherish . So my hope is that this Christmas for you , for your family , for your loved ones , that you have the bandwidth to be wholly present , to be here and now with your family , with your friends , with your loved ones , so that on the day of Christmas , you can create moments together that you'll cherish for even more . Okay , that's it for now . For the nature of presents , talk soon .