Spirit X
Step into a conversation for our global and digital age. Guided by Nikola Ristic, Spirit X explores the 69 Principles—a spiritual framework that draws wisdom from East, West, North, and South. It weaves together ancient traditions, rational thought, culture, science, and technology into a path toward greater unity, peace, freedom, love, and fulfillment.
In times of crisis, Spirit X is both a vision and a call: reminding us that genuine spirituality is no longer just a personal choice but a cultural and evolutionary necessity. Each episode invites listeners to engage with teachings that aim to nurture inner balance and collective awakening.
May Spirit X inspire the sanity, happiness, and awakening of all.
Spirit X
Claiming Your Spiritual Birthright To Freedom And Happiness
What if freedom and happiness aren’t goals at the end of a long road, but a built‑in endowment you can claim right now? We dive into the idea of spiritual birthrights and why recognizing them changes how we relate to work, family, culture, and our own minds. Drawing from East and West—from the Buddha’s insight to Stoic resilience—we explore the “inner fortress” that doesn’t depend on conditions, and how to strengthen it with simple daily practices.
I share how to spot the difference between civil rights and spiritual birthrights, and why that distinction matters when life feels chaotic. We look at practical ways to claim freedom on the inside through breath, posture, and attention, then take that stability into the world with clear boundaries, better agreements, and elegant pressure for healthier teams and relationships. You’ll hear how this shift dissolves the endless chase for approval and control, turning feedback into information rather than a verdict on your worth.
To make it concrete, we close with a short guided practice to sense the quiet space beneath thought and the “bliss of being” that doesn’t hinge on outcomes. From there, everyday choices become cleaner, courage grows in small acts, and contribution feels natural instead of draining. If you’re ready to stop outsourcing your peace and start living from your inner endowment, this conversation offers a grounded, hopeful path you can use today.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone who needs a steadier center, and leave a review telling us how you claim your freedom and happiness.
Hello everyone, welcome to the episode eight of Spirit X podcast. I'm excited to be with you today. I appreciate this opportunity to reach a wider audience this way and discuss together with you modern-day spirituality or what does it mean to be spiritual in this crazy world. So we are slightly using my book, Spirit X, Spirituality for the Global and Digital Age, as a guide. From time to time we discuss some important topics, from time to time we discuss some chapters here. Today I do want to focus on another chapter in my book, which I think is important, not only for spiritual practitioners, but also for human beings in general. It's the chapter number five in the book, or it's a principle number five in the book. The book has 69 principles for spiritual life and life is general in the modern day or fast paced world. And the title of the principle is Freedom and Happiness Are Your Birthright. Freedom and happiness are your birthright. This notion of birthright is interesting. I bumped to it into several spiritual traditions and we will unpack today what it means. Let me just read the opening paragraph of the principle and then we can dive a little bit deeper. In the human condition, we are born with certain rights human, civil, ethical, legal, etc. And as we mature, grow and become more responsible, we earn more rights. If our rights are violated, we claim them and we expect others and society to protect our rights. There is quite a human wisdom in that. There are, however, spiritual rights too, or even better put spiritual birthrights. One of the tricks at the beginning of your spiritual journey is to claim your spiritual birthright to freedom and happiness. So this notion of birthright is interesting here, and we can draw some parallels with the notion of rights. So from a legal, social, cultural standpoint, human life human life is an interpretation of rights and responsibilities. So as we grow up, as we mature, we have more responsibilities. As we are born into this world, we are born with certain rights, legal rights, moral rights, ethical rights, etc. What that means if I'm walking here in Santa Cruz on the main avenue and somebody attacks me, I have the right to be protected. So some folks are going to call police, and police is going to come to protect me from somebody attacking me. So that's my kind of civil right and legal right to be free. But the notion of spiritual birthright is a little bit different. What I mean by that, and what is meant by that in spiritual tradition, is that you are born with that right. You just need to see it and you need to claim it. And uh it's like being bored with certain spiritual endowment, but not knowing. Imagine you're born into human condition and you're 18, and somebody tells you, hey, actually, your parents left you one million dollars, you just didn't know. So spiritual endowment is like that. Uh we have this inherent happiness and freedom and peace within us. We overlook it, we we get really, really busy with our lives, we get caught up into money and fame and sex and drugs and rock and roll, and we lose it and we don't know what to do. And then spirituality is a reminder that actually, if we go within, we can rediscover it. So that's why in this principle I think it's important to claim it before we fully recognize it, before we fully acknowledge it, and before before we fully kind of live it. So, how do you claim your birthright to freedom and happiness? And we can also add peace. First, uh, you know, it's important to know about it, uh, it's important to cognitively know about it and to remind ourselves. But claiming has the direct claiming has two basic dimensions. There is the inner dimension and there is outer dimension. So internally, you claim freedom and happiness by building the inner fortress of your inner life. To our life, there is outer dimension, there is inner dimension. Spirituality is mostly a rediscovery of that inner dimension and utilizing of that inner dimension. So somewhere deep there is happiness, there is fulfillment, there is peace, and that's our birthright, that's our endowment. So we go within and we build that inner fortress, and at some point on our spiritual journey, or at some point in our life we realize that that inner fortress does not depend on any outer circumstances. So we are not at the mercy of the world in that regard, in terms of happiness and freedom. And that's huge discovery, and that's an absolutely phenomenal place to live from. Buddha discovered that in the East, Stoics discovered that in the West. That's not a new discovery. What I discovered is that it's just not fully utilized. It's not present much in our education, it's not present in media, it's not present in culture, and us lucky ones who who rediscover that uh can live really, really great lives. So you claim it internally. How do you claim it externally, your birthright to freedom and happiness? Well, we know from human history that a lot of people died for freedom. There were wars, religious ones or world wars or whatever. So we know that freedom is a huge ideal, uh, but how do you do that practically in the modern world? Uh you expect the circumstances culturally and socially where there are containers for your freedom and happiness. If it's not like that, you you you change it elegantly and you claim it. You push for it. You're in the family and you have the right to be free and happy. You're at a company, you have the right to be free and happy, and you elegantly play that game, and you claim your right to be free and happy externally, but most importantly, you claim it externally because when you claim it internally, you don't depend on outside circumstances, and that's perhaps the best uh benefit of practicing spirituality. Spirituality is mostly an internal game, so you dive within and you rediscover some stuff, but some external adjustments are important. So I would say the most important thing here is to claim uh to claim this inner fortress of peace, happiness, and fulfillment and freedom. And uh like with all other videos, uh we will end with the kind of experiential part. So I'm going to invite you for a little reflection, little meditation, just to see what this birthright is. So if you're sitting, I invite you to uh erect your spine, straighten your spine to relax your shoulders, relax your forehead. It's probably if we do this with eyes closed, I'm going to close the eyes just to go deeper together with you.
SPEAKER_00:So we close the eyes together.
SPEAKER_01:We take a few deep breaths into the belly and out, into the belly and out, into the belly and out, and notice that once we close our eyes, we enter the inner world, and at the center of the inner world there is a sense of freedom, very tangible, very realizable, and that's the freedom from all the conditions of the body, of the mind, and of the world. So when we rediscover spirit and when we identify with the spirit within us, we are free from the turmoil of the body, the turmoil of the mind, and turmoil of the world, and that's a huge, huge, huge relief. So free from the body, free from the mind, free from the world because we are essentially spirit, and spirit embraces body, mind, the world, but simultaneously is free from all the three. So at the core of our being we are free already. And that's why this is our endowment, and that's why this is our birthright. Just one more thing here. So notice that another phase of that freedom, something inherent to that freedom is actually the bliss of being or happiness or fulfillment. So when we are free from the body, mind and the world, when we identify with the spirit, we are also happy for the heck of it. And that happiness does not depend on any outside circumstances, that's the happiness as such.
SPEAKER_00:In spirituality, we call it the bliss of being.
SPEAKER_01:So we are free and we are happy, and we just need to claim it first, we know about it, and then we get in touch with it, and then we live it.
SPEAKER_00:And we gently open our eyes. Thanks for practicing with me.
SPEAKER_01:So we are born with the birthright, we are born with the endowment. In our pocket, there is already a jewel, we just need to practice a little bit and turn our attention to it, and then we recognize it, we come back, we come back, we come back, we build our second nature, and then we live from that place, we live for ourselves and we share that with others. Spirituality is about sharing our gifts. That's been my discovery, and uh that's why I'm doing this podcast. I wanna share with you what I discover and I wanna bring you to that place. I hope this helps. Um, have any questions or comments? You can write below in the comments on various media, and I will see you in the next episode. And thank you so much for your attention. Bye bye.
