Life Source: Why the Things You're Leaning On Can't Hold You | Ep. 34

There's a version of doing everything right and still feeling off — not broken, not lazy, just quietly aware that whatever you've been drawing from isn't quite holding.

Rahul Pillay traces the root of that gap to something older than self-help: the idea that there is an original source — one that doesn't shift with your circumstances, your relationships, or your résumé. Van Pillay brings the mental health perspective, naming why anxiety and emptiness tend to trace back not to what's happening around us, but to what we've quietly come to believe about ourselves.

The moment that stops the conversation is Rahul's description of the word as something that doesn't just create — it sustains. That the same force that put the world together also knows the exact structure of your thoughts, your fears, and the places where you feel most undone. It's a different framework than most people have been handed.

If you've ever suspected that the real issue isn't a lack of effort — this conversation is worth your time.

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Transcript

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You know, I remember being like a first-time mom. You have this baby, and this moment of like, oh my goodness, I am the source of this life. I used to read a lot of self-help books. I did not taste the fruit until I actually understood that God was the source. So you have a pass of some drug use. Yeah. Right? You were probably seeking identity, belonging, connection. It was all in the wrong places. A good source that's founded on the truth is unshakable. We become unshakable. The moment that I did that, I didn't even I didn't even know who God was. But all I said was, I just want to know the truth. And if I am looking for the source of truth, you'll be amazed to see who shows up. Hi guys, welcome back to the Palay Place podcast where we talk about faith, family, and finance. Our podcast is to simply share our journey together in faith, in family and finance. And um, we hope to provide you the practical tools that you that we think can totally help you transform your life. And today we're actually talking about something that's related to all three of that. We're talking about the source. Um and you know, I remember being like a first-time mom, and you had you you have this baby and this moment of like, oh my goodness, I am the source of this life to keep him alive, keep him fed, and like keep him safe. Right. Right? Like that was that's a big responsibility. Well, even even when the baby was in the womb, right? It's um it's what you eat that the baby gets the nutrients from, right? Like all these things that are so so um analogous to what we're gonna talk about today, life source. So um why is it important to know the source of something? Um well, I think it is very important because we're looking at is the source reliable? Yeah, is the source trustworthy? I mean, check your sources, right? Right? Like we want to, is it um is it true? Right. Like we want to know if that source is strong enough, right, is good enough to carry us through. Yeah, I mean, my you know, for me it's um it the a story actually helps frame this. But when I was um younger, I used to read all these get uh get rich quick books, right? And self-help books, I should say, not get rich quick, self-help books. I used to read a lot of self-help books, and some of them, some of them were based on faith um quite a bit, but I would ignore the faith aspects of it and try to just do what they're saying to do, right? And there were results, like it was okay results, but reality is um it did not click until I got to know God, okay, until I realized that God is the source of every all these good things that I'm trying to do, or all these good things that I'm actually trying to achieve and have, I did not um get to experience any of those things, or what the Bible says, I did not taste the fruit until I actually understood that God was the source. He was the origin origination point, right? So Yeah. Um where did you where did you seek your answers from when you were younger? So so one of the things, like for example, I'll t just take a small example, right? Like I wouldn't I wanted to be better at sales when I was younger. And I had a hard time, I had a lot of insecurity, so I had even had a hard time looking at people in the eye and talking to them. It's hard to sell things if you can't even look at somebody in the eye, right? So I would read these books about selling, and they're like, okay, do this, do that. And it was very much action-oriented. Like, I gotta go do this, right? And and figure it out. Um, the the reality is I don't think I'm that great at sales, but I got much better at sales as I got to know who I am. And you don't know who you are unless you know who God is who created you. Right? Or at least don't know yourself as well until you get to know God. What do you mean by that? What I mean by that is, um, well, God's God's the creator, he's the father, right? And one of the things about um knowing God is that as you know God, you get to know aspects and traits of yourself that comes from Him. The Bible says that He created everyone, right, in their unique selves that is a reflection of who God is. So when God creates us, He creates us with our unique abilities, perceptions, and all these other things, right? And some of that is environmental, but reality is at the root of it, as the source of it. God creates us with very unique elements. Even our DNA is extremely unique, right? And that that aspect of yourself, you don't get to know it unless you actually get to know God. You know, I think of us when we were younger. Yeah. Okay. I mean, we're not that old either, but when we were younger, um there you were seeking like comfort, safety, you were seeking answers. Right. And very likely we were seeking it in other areas that are not a good source. Right. Right. So you have a pass of some drug use. Yeah. Right. You were probably seeking comfort. And by and by some she means a lot. Um and but like you were seeking maybe connection with that crowd. Yeah. You were probably seeking comfort. And um what else? What were you seeking at that time that was all in the wrong places? Um uh identity, right? Like a little bit of who I am, who I thought I was, uh belonging. Belonging was a big one. Connection. Right. Connection, that's right. Rule of it is connection, yeah. Yeah. And so when we're seeking that comfort and seek advice, we can look for it in different sources. Right. Right. But I think now how as we are kind of maturing, right, the ultimate source that we know is God. That's right. And so when I know that my source is no longer in you or in my friends, or in whatever, you know, if that's partying, if that's maybe even education, if that's my source of identity is in my work. Right. Um, my source of identity is in how much money I make. Like that is not the source, because that is not reliable. Right. Um, like a a good source, a strong source is unshakable. Right. And you know, and let me just pause you right there because that's so important. Because a good source that's founded on the truth is unshakable, we become unshakable. Right? Because reality is your circumstances can change, your environment can change, you know, we could lose our jobs, we could be unhealthy at certain point, right? We could have these things that happen. Life happens, right? But reality is if you know the source and you know where you're grounded, then none of these things can actually hurt you. It won't harm you. It's true, and it's a change, right? I mean, I I love you, I respect you, and I know you're very capable. But when I know that, like, you know, I think of a time we're like in our early 20s and we just met, and I just go, Oh my goodness, like you're my source of happiness, you're my source of joy, you're my source of you know confidence. Yes. And I'm all bubbly all over you. But you're not you're definitely, I mean, God is definitely more reliable than you, right? Yes. So that's right. I think it just makes sense that I just like even the source of our marriage is on God's principles. He's also more consistent. He is. He's also he doesn't change. That's what the Bible says, right? Um, so let's just make it a little bit more practical, and uh, I would like to make it more technical, okay? Okay. So if God is the source, how do we get to the source? And the answer is his word, because the Bible is the manuscript by which we can get to know God. Okay. So that's the that's the technical aspect. And then if we're talking about source and and if wait, wait, wait, can you can you hold on? Um how is it that his words have power to give us life? Yeah, that's literally what I was trying to get to. And health. And all areas of our life. Like, how is it possible? What Van is saying is I'm going to point to an address in the Bible, Prov Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, chapter 4, verse 22. Um God is talking about his word, and he says that um, my word, if you pay attention to it and you submit to its sayings, for their life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. In other words, his word has the ability to give you life and healing in all areas of your life. Okay? So technically, how is that even possible, right? In the book of John, um there's there's this um scripture right in the beginning, it says that God in the beginning was in the form of word. Okay. He was a collection, like so. If you think about words itself, he he spoke earth into existence. He used a word to make it. That same word, we know him as Jesus. There's a name for him. Book of John says that the word became flesh, and his name is Jesus. He came on earth to take on humanity. Now, this is some very deep stuff, right? But one of the things that Jesus says is that I, everything that I speak, has life in it, okay, and it has spirit, his spirit. So what is he really saying? And this is what I believe he's saying. He's saying that I created everything. If words created everything, right? And if words created everything, then it also has, like, think about if if I created a container using this recipe called the word, the ward not only has the ability to put the container together, it also has the ability to put the container back together if it's broken. It has the ability to know all the DNA, all the components of that container, right? That's what the ward is. So that is why when he gives us a word or speaks to us, it not only has the ability to create that thing because he created us, but he also has the ability to keep us together, right? Because when he spoke things, he spoke it for eternal. That is why Earth still exists today. He's he created Earth to sustain life in it. So Earth is life itself, right? Like Earth lives, rotates around the sun, does whatever it does. And, you know, I remember in my math class some of the math concepts, but literally it abides by all these laws, gravity, how far it is from the sun. If it was any closer to the sun, it would blow up. Like all these things that was done by the word. That same word created us. He also says that the same word knows exactly how many hairs we have on our head. So if that same word created us, that same word has the ability to help our mental health issues if there's an imbalance. The same word has an ab has the ability to help our financial situation if there's an imbalance. The same word is actually the source of everything we have hands, feet, mind, right? Cells in our body. So it has the ability to not only create it, but sustain it. That's what life means. Life doesn't just mean let's make it, it actually also means let's live it, let's sustain it, let's thrive in it. So good. And, you know, when I think about that, there's also, I mean, that's the source of life, and that's God, right? But then there are people that struggle, and the struggle is real, right? The struggle is real. And the source of those struggle is not in the word and not in God. The source from those, like when you are feeling distressed, anxiety, depression, the source of it is a belief. It's a negative self-talk. You are saying something negative to yourself or about yourself. Yeah, can I pause you real quick? Because that that's really important what you just said. And I'm glad you brought up struggles, because an argument could be made that if everything was created by God through his word, then did he create struggles? And and we know that's not true because Jesus said it in John chapter 10, verse 10, that I came to give you life, right? It's the devil that's lies. So how struggles come into existence only because there's a deception of the truth. Yes. And that's done by the evil one. Yeah. Um so if you are experiencing struggles, distress, you know, anxiety of some type, think about where that source, like where is it coming from, right? Because the source is the point of origin. It did it dictates where something begins. It's the root cause. It's the root cause. Right. It's the starting point of that anxiety. It's the starting point of that depression. Or the starting point of, you know, well, anyways, that that's another topic. But find out what that source is so that you can change your source. And some of the things that I think it's important when you're looking at you know, in college, when we're writing our paper, like a research paper, we want to check our sources. We want to reference where we got our sources, right? That's right. And so where are you, where are you finding that? And is it is it valid? Is it reliable? Is it you want to check if it's peer-reviewed, you know, um, if it's coming from a good source. And some of the things that you might want to consider is where is that source? Who is that source, and what is your source for wisdom, for comfort, needs to survive. Because without a good source, you you can't thrive. And we don't we we don't want to just survive here. We want we want to thrive, right? We want to do that. And if you're seeking comfort and your sources, things like addiction of a variety of things these days, right? And if your source is through toxic relationships for comfort, if you're so it's not a reliable source. Okay, even our phones. Yeah. Like how many times if you're in a social setting, I mean, I see it a lot, and given that it's people are on their phones more often now, right? It's the way of life. But the second something feels uncomfortable, we can easily take out our phone. Hide behind it. And hide behind it. Like, is that your source of comfort? Yeah. You know, that's not that's not reliable. It's easy. It's quick, it's accessible. Literally have my phone right here, right? But it's not, it's not a um, it's not sustainable. Right. You know, the only thing that I would point you to is um if God is the source and the ward is the best way to get to that source, then the question really is, yes, identify the sources of all these things, and and we guarantee you that struggles and evil and all these other things will not point to God. Right? That's like it doesn't point to God, but it also doesn't point to happiness and joy. That's what I'm saying. Like the the the truth comes from God. So word itself, right? Like, how how is it that I guess the the simplest way I can put it is this is that if you know or think that, yes, from this podcast, yeah, maybe word, the word is what I need, okay? My source. Okay. So what I would encourage you to do is simply close your eyes and ask God genuinely to give you a word and share with us what miracle happens in your life. Because reality is the moment that I did that, I didn't even, I didn't even know who God was. But all I said was, I just want to know the truth. And if I am looking for the source of truth, okay, you'll be amazed to see who shows up. Well, thank you for joining us today at the PillA Place podcast. Um, we hope you enjoyed um this uh chat about life source, and um please subscribe um and join our community, and we'll see you next week.