0:01I loved ancient Greece and um but yeah, it was just I needed to go that far to the day before I was supposed to pay the tuition to know, okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. If you're going to go here, you're going to pour your heart and soul into this. It's going to distract from all the America stuff you're doing. How can you go back to that? like you just need to I I I had to basically return back to the feeling I had when I first started all this cuz I'm very much the type of person I I'm very influenced by my academic background and so much of that was like you know so many people in my ear you really should get a higher
0:37degree you really should get a PhD you really should specialize you really should become a particular expert in this one thing and I was hearing that all the time and it was the day before I was supposed to pay that I just knew stop like stop all that you got to go back to the feeling that you had when you first started all this was that you wanted to be like a jack of all trades and study whatever you were interested in so you know whether that's you know I was in Cambodia recently uh studying ancient Cambodian world ancient Egypt Greece Rome but you know the Americas is kind of like I guess it's like it's like my journey
1:11you know what I mean like there's so much there that needs to be discovered and uncovered and and spoken out and I think as time goes on and the last time I was I was uh in the fall when I was talking to Danny on his show and I was talking about the uh I was talking about the LAR maps that I have access to in North America that show all these mound sites in Florida and how I want to focus on North America and then talking with you about the the period just before the revolution and how much history there is with Native Americans. I'm I'm I'm seeing this world of Native American history that isn't
1:45>> Yeah. dived into enough and it's like this deep purpose that's there. Whereas with ancient Greece, it's all pretty much understood. You know, there there's not a whole lot of mystery. Like there's the Illusinian mysteries. There's a few things there, but like the Native American world is completely shrouded in mystery. Yes. And um and it's just it just like calls to me and opened itself up to me. Like I didn't ask for it. just happened in my life by accident, you know, and it's like uh >> it's like I was born to do it, you know, and I just realized that right at the last moment. Anyways, >> I No, I it's beautiful and and I agree
2:22with you. I I I think as you've described it in the past in episode 175 towards the beginning of that, it's literally in your blood, you know, like you were just saying a few minutes ago, your family >> was was looking for some of this stuff, you know, so it's a it's a part of who you are. And I think I think there's something to that in how passions get passed down generationally almost like >> DNA in a way and that's that's that's there. So, >> you know, here you are covering that and you're going to keep doing that and that's >> Yeah, >> that's great, man. Follow your heart. I love it. That's what I want everyone to
2:56do.
2:57>> Yeah. You've got me particularly interested in this topic of uh now I want to start diving into uh yeah, like Native Americans leading up to the Revolutionary War. just talking with you a little bit about it in the last couple days has made me think like yeah, you know, I I know a little bit about this, but it's such an interesting realm of history.
3:15>> Even with it's it's one of the great things I I love talking about when people are in town and we're and we're walking along the Hudson there and looking at Manhattan, especially people who aren't from around here and they're kind of taking it in and appreciating that. But like even at the Revolutionary War, like the average American even doesn't understand that New York City was the center of that war. It was the lynch pin of that. It wasn't Town, >> which ended up being where, you know, Cornwallis got surrounded in in ' 81 by the Continental Army and that effectively it didn't end the war, but
3:51it effectively ended the war. It wasn't, you know, some of the southern sites. It wasn't Philadelphia, which was the capital and certainly a key place. You had New York, which, you know, sat on this island. If we're looking at camera 4 right here, you know, you got two rivers parting, fortification to the east that creates Long Island for ships coming directly across from Europe, i.e.
4:15invaders. And then when you run up the Hudson, you go up there about an hour and you got the greatest turn and spot for a military fortress in the world, which became West Point.
4:25>> Yeah.
4:25>> You know, at the time because of its its high ground and where it was located visav [snorts] the Hudson River. And it's like >> so much of what happened happened right here when this looked very, very different. And now you think about the years leading up to that when there was that there was an insane speed of colonial takeover between the British and the French and then they end up fighting this war and caught in the middle of it or all these Native American tribes that existed in all these areas right here and it's not long ago. This is this is less than 300 years ago. We're going to do the 250th next
5:03year. M >> you know that's it's a it's there there is history below your feet everywhere.
5:09It may not be like quite >> as noticeable combination of noticeable and far back as like when you're walking through Rome.
5:21>> Yeah.
5:21>> Sure. But there's a significant amount of like whoa >> Yeah.
5:26>> right beneath your feet right here even.
5:28>> Yeah.
5:28>> It's an awesome awesome thing to tell.
5:30>> It's [clears throat] a Yeah. People vastly underestimate how complicated the pre-colonial world really was. You know, um, Squanto, the I'm sure you know the story of Squanto. It it that, you know, that's a fascinating >> it's just a >> it gives you a little window into how complicated this world was before the white man was ever even here. you know, Squanto, I think he's born he's born in the late 1500s because he's captured in like 1614 or something like that and um or maybe 1612 when he's you know just a just a teenager and he grew up in what is today Yeah. Yeah. the late 1500s.
6:15Okay. So, um, he grows up in what is today modern-day Massachusetts, and he grows up within these three waring tribes that are there. So, it gives you this idea.
6:26There's already complications here.
6:28There's this history of these conflicting tribes just in the small area. Imagine what the entire United States looks like at this at this moment.
6:35>> He was the tannest dude in Massachusetts, too.
6:38>> Probably must.
6:39>> I mean, you know, [laughter] those Irish men ain't getting sun up there, but >> he was doing okay. And so and [clears throat] so you know when he's a I believe when he's a teenager or when he's maybe in his early 20s he gets captured by a trading expedition and he's brought back to England.
6:57>> Imagine that from his perspective.
7:00>> You're being pulled to an alien realm that's vastly technologically superior to you. Like cobblestone streets with giant ships and what do they black powder rifles by the early 1600s. I mean, they had obviously crossbows. I don't know. Rifles existed. Like maybe the little hand cannons existed. Uh obviously cannons exist. I mean, just like think about >> the Did the London Bridge still exist? I don't know. But I mean, just it must have been mind-blowing for him. So, he's he essentially works in uh London for 10 or I think it's London, but he works in England for 10 years and then he's finally freed and able to return back to
7:40the Americas. He joins a trading expedition and they essentially just they really do him dirty. They drop him off in New Finland and they're like they're like this is the closest that we can get to and he's like he's like oh my god. So that dude solo hasn't been in the Americas for 10 years. Builds a boat sails from Newf Finland to the mainland and makes his way all the way back home to Massachusetts.
8:07>> That's insane.
8:08solos it as far as as far as I know.
8:11>> When he gets to Massachusetts, he finds the three tribes are in complete disarray and they've been absolutely decimated by disease. So, this is around 1620 or so when the the first Thanksgiving is 1621, right?
8:26>> Yeah. He died in November 1622.
8:28[clears throat] So, we're coming up on >> He died on the second Thanksgiving, by the way. Uh crazy. Um, so he arrives a few years before the the first Thanksgiving and he finds that his homeland, his his own people, his family, they've all died. All of his most of his friends have died and the waring tribes that that they that he grew up opposing and hating, they were all decimated and the land was in complete disarray. Well, what had happened? What have we what have we been talking about? The Spaniards had invaded the Aztec realm and now disease had spread from Mexico City all the way up the Americas [clears throat] and had uh
9:04from Florida as well and had moved towards that northern coast. And just now, >> a hundred years later, it was infecting people in Massachusetts and wiping them all out. And so, Squanto returns to to find his home like this. Uh so he takes these three tribes and he turns them into the Wampaoic Confederation that he is now chief of because I mean obviously he's the most experienced man. He has so much knowledge of the world now and he's obviously the most outstanding character in in this new land. And uh and this is where I think like this story is just crazy. So one of his informants come to him and they tell him is it Jonestown?
9:44Jamestown my the uh >> I think it's Jamestown.
9:48>> Jamestown. Yeah. Uh, >> correct us in the comments.
9:51>> Yeah, I'm going to get torn up for that.
9:52Um, like I said, my early colonial history, I'm just now getting into it.
9:57Um, so, um, but they basically come and say, "Hey, you know, there, we know that you have a history with these white men.
10:04I think that some of these white men, the same people are living out here on this town on the coastline and they're suffering.
10:12Half of them, more than half of them died last winter. They don't know how to work the land. you know, this is a completely different type of agriculture than than they're used to. You know, they're not used to to growing maize and potatoes and uh so they haven't figured out the land. And so, imagine you're one of these colonists. You're living in this little town. You know, there's Native Americans out there. You haven't been attacked by them yet, but you've grown up hearing stories of what they could do to people. And so, you're always kind of weary of like, what exists inside that tree line that we
10:45can't see? who's watching us, right? And then all of a sudden, >> this Native American man walks out of the jungle speaking perfect English and walks up to Isn't that so weird? Like, you know how mindblowing that must have been for a guy to walk out and be like, "Hello, how are you?"
10:59>> speaking perfect English that they would understand. It must have been just utterly jarring. And and Squanto, he felt empathy for them. you know, he was the he was the only native there that we know of and clearly that saw their humanity and felt, you know, compelled to help them because they were suffering even though they were on their land and shouldn't be there. And he probably knew very well from growing up in England what the English intentions were for this new land was to colonize it and spread out and yet he still helped them.
11:29And uh so he teaches them how to farm the land and everything, saves that town and then the next year on Christmas the Spanish influenza, the European influenza or I'm not no the next year on Thanksgiving Squanto dies from that European disease on the second.
11:44>> Imagine that you make it through everything. You find your way back home.
11:48You're the one of the most cultured men in the world because you've existed in across multiple civilizations effectively and then the flu gets you.
11:57Isn't that weird that >> that um highly important men, you know, >> that guy's up there in one of the most important people that's ever lived. Um >> you know, I I don't know if you had to rank a top 10,000 human beings that's ever lived. He's into the top 10,000.
12:15>> Yeah.
12:16>> And um and it's like, isn't it weird?
12:19It's like people use up their importance quickly and then they die. You know what I mean? Bro, >> it's very it's [laughter] it's very crazy. Like you look at all of the uh concisadors, they all die shortly after this great achievement that they've made. You know, Oriana makes it down the Amazon, survives it, does it again, dies at 35. It's a lot like a I guess it's like a wasp >> or something when they have not the people the the actual insect >> when when [snorts] they have that climactic moment in the heat of battle after this life of >> you know >> finding all these places to live and building things as a hive basically
13:00being warriors for the tribe of wasps and and bees and everything and and then they have to use their stinger.
13:08>> Yeah. And it's this ultimate moment where it's like their crowning achievement. And you know, unless it's the dude mowing his lawn that they just ruin his day.
13:16>> If it's actually another type of species that's more on their level, they kill this thing and it's like that moment in the movie and then when they do it, they die.
13:25>> It's over.
13:26>> Yeah.
13:26>> It's like they release It's like postnut clarity but up. You're dead.
13:30>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like like they release their potential. Everything they have to be great, it comes out and you die immediately >> and it's gone. South Park.
13:38>> How many people does that happen to?
13:39It's a lot throughout history. It's a lot. Yeah. You know, or people have these uh people have these early premature very bizarre deaths like George Washington's death. You know what I mean? He could have lived could have lived quite a bit longer and then he gets uh >> he was pretty old.
13:54>> Was he 65? I think.
13:56>> Okay. 65. But yeah, he could have lived longer.
13:59>> 66 >> or maybe he [clears throat] was maybe he was I think he was maybe like 67 or something.
14:04But he gets he gets what doctors today think was bronchitis and then they perform all these crazy procedures on him. Yeah. 67.
14:13>> They perform all these crazy procedures on him to try to save his life and then they just kill him. And if they had just left him alone, >> he might have survived bronchitis. You know, it's just funny.
14:22>> That's a story of medicine.
14:24>> Yeah. Yeah. No time to get it there.
14:26>> Yeah.
14:27>> Maybe if Ben Franklin had come up with something, they would have they would have jolted him to life.
14:31>> I know, man. That was a Man, that's a rough world, dude. Pre >> I had this thisto thing just reminds me of this. I had this guy Andy Powell in here for episode 202.
14:41>> I've heard that name.
14:42>> Okay, so this guy was so cool. He He's from the UK and he was the mayor of a town, I forget the name of it, on the west southwest coast of the UK. And I can't remember this was we recorded this January 2024 and then I put out the episode I held that one I put that one out like end of April 2024 beginning of May. It was like right there. But >> he came across some sort of historical record where he realized that the lost colony of Rono >> was really >> the first colony in America before the ones that we know of. And it was really founded in like 1587 and that the guys who founded it were from his town. And so it turned into
15:33this odyssey where he literally ended up moving to the United States where he still lives and sunk his life into this for the last over two decades covering the story and figuring out what happened because there's something strange where they came through went back to Britain and then came back and the people they had left there were gone and they found a sign from I forget the local tribe what they were called. I think it starts with a C, but the local Indian tribe where they wondered if they were like Croata.
16:02>> The Crowatoans. That's right. And they found a sign that said like Crowatoa.
16:06>> And they didn't know if it was like an SOS signal like we've been kidnapped by them and maybe eaten or whatever the could have happened, killed, maimed, or if the people just joined with the tribe and left forever. And it's like forgotten to history. But he talks about the history of some of the Croitoans that when they met them coming here, they took them back to the UK and there's records of them being in the UK and like I don't know testifying to their experiences and taking in the culture. was very similar to Squanto but a hundred years before him doing that over a hundred years before him where
16:41you know there was [clears throat] this cross-pollination of culture at the at the highest first level >> and you know these people got to experience something so outside of what their reality had been before you know these Brits just washed up on shore it's a crazy crazy story it's so fascinating because >> you try to put yourself in the shoes of both parties And you know, one's discovering like a land filled with people that have no relation, you know, then the other is the opportunity for some of their people to go back over to where that those people came from and see their culture and experience the same thing and you're
17:21just like >> it's like a up version of Spider-Man meme, but you know, they're not both Spider-Man.
17:27>> Yeah. There's a uh there's a brilliant book I think it's called Broken Spears and it says uh yeah I think it's called it's called Broken Spears and it says it's it's the Aztec discovery of the Spaniards and it's written from the Aztec point of view and how bizarre it must have been for Native Americans >> to see you know you never think about it from the Native American point of view how strange that must have been >> but yeah man okay so in North America people don't realize this and this is kind of what we were talking about there's this there's there's this underbelly of North American colonial
18:00history. I mean, when when we think about the colonies, like the average person typically thinks of at the earliest maybe the Boston Tea Party, you know what I mean? Like, like typically Yeah.
18:14Yeah. Like, like at the earliest, that's kind of where it begins.
18:18>> Dude, there's 200 years of history beneath that.
18:21>> 200 years of history beneath that. 200 years before that, there are already forts way out in North Carolina near where I live, Winston Salem. I think it's called uh San Juan Fort. And the Spaniards put a fort all the way out there. They were going to try to make a claim for all of the southeast United States. This is crazy stuff, dude. So, I think it's in the 1530s or maybe it's the 1560s, they put a fort all the way out in North Carolina. And kind of like the colony of Rowan Oak, they essentially say, "Hey guys, I don't know when we're going to be back. So, you're just going to have to survive and we're
18:57going to go from the coastline and build inwards to try to get to this fort." You know what I They're going to try to cut off the this uh they're going to try to cut off this northern edge and the southern edge and essentially corner off peacemail, you know, the the uh the southeast US and eventually connect it to Texas, but they had some problems with the Comanches in Texas, so they kind of abandoned that. The Comanches were >> That happens a lot.
19:20>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this Fort San Juan um was if they were able to if they were able to connect these uh to connect these trade routes from the Mississippi River to the North Carolina coast like the Outer Banks and over they would have cornered off the entire southeast United States. We'd all be speaking Spanish today. It would be completely different.
19:43But the Cherokee banded together and raided that fort in the middle of the night. Like one of the biggest invasions that we know of that's completely overlooked in American history. And it was the Cherokee that pushed the Spaniards out of the southeast United States and destroyed that fort. Had that not ever happened, >> shout out to the Cherokee.
20:01>> Shout out to the Cherokee. Had that not ever happened, history could look totally different right now. And man, there's all kinds of stories of this of of the 1500s Europeans are out exploring North America and trying to conquer it. It's just and all of these things had to happen exactly the way that they did for American history to turn out the way that it did. It's just >> it's an it's an incredible history, dude.
20:26>> I also talk about it all the time, the exponential bias with which we view history. What I mean by that is when we look at what we might might put quote unquote modern history and talk about like post World War II, we have generations that are still alive. So we look at like the people that were growing up in the 40s and 50s is they're the oldest people in our society. That was so long ago, right? But it's not that long ago.
20:52>> The farther back we go though, we start to squeeze together time. Meaning by the time we get to thinking about the 1700s, someone who lived in 1725 seems almost the same as someone who lived in 1765.
21:06Whereas today, when we look at it, someone who lived in 1965 and someone who lived in 2005, two very different people. But then when you get all the way back to like zero, the year zero or 50 AD or 100 AD, we talk about people that lived in 50 AD and 375 AD is like the same thing. And they're 12 generations apart.
21:25>> You know what I mean? culture is so different. So we look at time through this weird sphere based on our our current perspective of it. And so we ignore, as you said, >> a lot of that like it's like almost 200 years of history basically before you even have a revolutionary war. That's almost the length of our current existence as a country.
21:46>> Yeah. Yeah.
21:47>> Wild. When it's it's it's it's like um Yeah. It's like uh the the recipe all of the ingredients are coming together for what the world society is going to become today and it gets looked over. I remember um growing up you know you get the basic American history. That's why I say most of the time we start colonial colonial history you open up you know American textbook in high school and it starts with the Boston Tea Party.
22:12There's nothing before that you know not really. I mean maybe there is something there.
22:17>> They put like the Stamp Act in there.
22:18>> Yeah. Yeah. But that's kind of where where it begins, you know, in those years leading up to the kicking off of, you know, the Declaration of Independence. And what's funny is you might get something about Columbus in there as well. And it's like, it's like I I don't know if most people, we all have Columbus in the back of our head. 1492 sails the ocean blue, he discovered the he discovered the Americas. Boom. American Revolution. You know what I you you almost like you almost like don't even perceive the fact that there's so many >> I mean it's almost 300 years difference in in there and it's like we just skip
22:55directly over that. I think that's so true. I use that saying I was talking with Mark yesterday about that. I shouted you out. I was like, it was like Julian, he words it so well that the further you go back in time, uh, we start like compacting it together almost like almost like we're minimizing the files and just and just clumping them all in because we we're just so far removed from it that we minimize the significance of of those periods of time.
23:19>> We can't have that appreciation of what that >> how different those things look. Like imagine plucking a person from year 100 and another person from year 200. They wouldn't even know how to have a conversation with each other.
23:31>> Yeah.
23:32>> You know, we just look at everything as like Moore's law. Well, it's just gotten faster with technology, so it was slower back then. Yeah. But people change.
23:38>> Think about Think about this. If you put if you put yourself in a room with another guy that's exactly your age, but in 1925, and you're both standing down the street in in New York City, you have nothing to relate to each other. Nothing in common at all. the the your your perception of New York City, every single facet of the entire city is utterly completely different, >> right? And it's like, man, you think about I guess I guess this this kind of easily gets into like why sometimes I'm just perplexed at how uh how vindictive archaeologists and historians can be about their assertations about the
24:18ancient world because I'm like, dude, I don't even know if you could actually dive into and truly appreciate and understand the mindset of somebody who lived exactly where you do a hundred years ago.
24:30>> He can't. Joe might be able to. He's been writing a play about it that's now off Broadway on New York. [laughter] >> S shout out Sacko and Benetti, the famous case from 19, you know, the late 1910s into 1920s.
24:44>> Yeah, that um >> you'd be able to have a conversation with someone back then.
24:48>> Yeah, I think so. I think I could uh I could match up with their transatlantic accent. [laughter] >> Is that is that really a fake thing?
24:55This transatlantic accent? Like was it something that was only put on for movies and radio? It was like something.
25:01It was It was It was an accent that they tried to force, right? To sound aristocratic or sound smart for people.
25:07Joe, >> you're coming in in the morning and we're going to play and we're going to have a couple of cheeseburgers. Put some cigarettes on our cheeseburgers. We're going to put cigarettes on everything cuz that's what we love here. We love cigarettes. That's awesome.
25:17>> Yeah. See, he's like spot on.
25:18>> Nice job, dude. He could do it.
25:20>> No, this is this is like He's a stud.
25:22>> Okay. So, is that accident? It's It was actually artificial though, right? Like Americans tried to make it work, but it didn't.
25:28>> Yep. And and and for like you said, it was to it was supposed to give an air of aristocracy and, you know, >> just make you sound smarter and more sophisticated, especially for like show biz.
25:40>> Uh there's a lot a lot of those guys sounded really stupid with their actual regular.
25:45>> Did they actually take it on though?
25:47Meaning like people put it on so much that they used it.
25:51>> Absolutely.
25:51>> Right. Yeah.
25:52>> Yeah. Like you look at if if you look over in in England in high society, there's the the the accent of the kings, right? They speak differently. Yes.
26:03And they actually talk they actually talk like that because it's worse. It's the worst.
26:10>> It's pretty gay. But, you know, anyway, we we >> it's it's not it's not as gay as [laughter] uh as the way that uh so like when you go around when you go around the Latin American world and you hear people speak Spanish, it sounds cool.
26:23It's masculine. It's romantic. And you go to Spain and they all speak with the with the uh with the >> with the [laughter] Do you know why this happened?
26:33>> It was because one of the Spanish kings had a had a lisp and he was very embarrassed by it and he made it trendy.
26:40>> Yeah. Yeah. So, it became a trend. If you wanted to seem uppidity in high society, you would speak Spanish with an with a lisp. And that's now why I think it's Castellian Spanish. I think that's what it is. Sounds right.
26:52>> Um Yeah. It sounds very gay.
26:54>> Yeah. Mexicans sound a lot better.
26:55>> Oh, it's so much better. It's like gangster. It's it's it's gangster. It's romantic. It's It can be masculine. It can be very feminine. But like Spain Spanish is just like that king really did them all dirty. You know, >> Barthalona.
27:11>> Yeah. Yeah, [laughter] >> that's what it is.
27:13>> Barth own that baby.
27:14>> Bartholona.
27:15>> That's right. Yeah. God damn it. All those Habsburgs and breads it up for everyone.
27:21>> Terrible. Terrible.
27:22>> God bless America. Spain, I guess. But anyway, so we we got on this tangent talking about the Mex though, so let's let's wrap that up.
27:31>> We went through the heads and how that can't even be moved. But what what years again were they existing? So, so the Mex uh the This is the craziest conversation you and I have ever had. [laughter] >> No, it's great.
27:43>> The uh Yeah, I'm I'm loving it. Uh so, so the Mex River of uh central Mexico around the year 1800 BC and they start with San Lorenzo Tanosh Tilon. They're erecting these huge heads like from the very beginning of time and there's no developmental period. They just in the way that they in the way that people often say that the Egyptians are just building the pyramids at the beginning of time. Um it's even more so true with themes. With the pyramids, there's a there's a short developmental period. It just it's on like a 10 times scale. It goes goes like they very quickly go from building, you know, large temples and
28:26mastaba tombs to boom pyramids. And but with the X, it literally begins with these giant heads and these huge altars and these other large monuments. There's so many monuments there that I don't think mo most people have ever even seen or heard of before. So for for an unknown reason, San Lorenzo Toshiton collapses or becomes abandoned or the population gets smaller. [snorts] It may actually be a result of uh oh, what's it called? Uh like when you're so successful that it hurts you. I forget what the phrase for that is but the but that society is just is just exploding and they don't have enough land at San
29:06Lorenzo Tonoshilon to sustain these people. So they leave and they they the hub of Mexico so Society essentially moves to this place called Lventa.
29:14>> Lventa is essentially just a duplicate of San Lorenzo. Now >> what year are we in when they do that?
29:20[clears throat] >> Now we're at about we're at about a,00and to 500. So, you know, I say a duplicate. Obviously, there must have been so many nuances and discrepancies between these eras, but now we're at uh Lventa and we have more heads, but we also have more unique um and different monuments at at um at Lenta. This is actually where we get the actually where we get when I was talking to you about the lost city of the snake god that the the book I want to write.
29:48This is actually where the first depiction of the feathered serpent ketak comes from. from the mech world.
29:55Actually, most people don't realize that. Um, but it's undoubtedly and and if if you were to look this up, you could look up um monument, is it monument 19 or maybe it's monument 13?
30:07Yeah. Uh but well, monument 13 might be the traveler, but I think monument 19 is the feathered serpent. So, think about this. When I'm when I'm going to show you this, dude. This is the beginning of ancient Mexico. and they're able to carve artwork into into this is this basalt is as hard as granite by the way.
30:29Okay, there's no formative period that we have an archaeological record of that leads up to this. But they have this kind of aesthetic, this art style carved into the hardest stone available in their natural environment, a stone that can sometimes be as hard as granite. And the artwork looks like this at the beginning of time. At the beginning of time. This is so ancient that when the Aztecs migrated down into Mexico and invaded Mexico 3,000 years later, they perhaps did not even know who the were or even knew that the Mex ever existed at all. This is how ancient this is.
31:09This is happening from the very very beginning of time. So then you have Levventa [clears throat] and eventually um civilization begins slowly collapsing as it's kind of like Egypt. Egypt arises.
31:23They have this it's like this first primordial sea of darkness like Neolithic prehistoric people and then this spark of consciousness, right? It's like that's that's Egypt and Egypt rises up and as Egypt rises it pulls everyone up else around them, right? like that that influence of civilization influences everyone else and everyone else rises and over the course of of several thousand years these people become as powerful as Egypt and Egypt's level kind of in the hierarchy kind of kind of falls down the same thing happens with themes the Maya start rising alongside the Mech and the Maya are or the Mech are trading with the
32:00Maya back and forth and so as everyone starts to rise around the Mech themes essentially fall collapse everything that made the Mex unique rich and successful like their ability to fish and their ability to farm and uh and sell maze crops. Everyone else learned how to do this as well. And so their importance get out >> essentially. Yeah. Their their importance diminishes and then they just dissolve into the rest of the messamerican world and then you have the Maya rising, the Zapotex rising. Then you have Veraracruz culture which is the same bloodline as the Mech people but they're never as as influential. And
32:36then over in the Mexican valley, you have like the bubbling of Teayot Tiwakan, the uh of what will eventually be this great empire that tries to influence the Maya world. And then the Mex just disappear. And that's probably 500 to 200 BC.
32:50>> And we never see the Mex again.
32:53>> Yeah.
32:53>> Whoa. Way back. [snorts] >> Oh, way way back.
32:56>> So, how long total you think they existed?
33:00>> Earliest evidence is probably 20,000 BC.
33:03>> Wa. So, this is this is a borderline [clears throat] 2,000-y old civilization >> and yet >> Yeah. Yeah.
33:10>> They've been gone for over 2,000 years.
33:13>> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, so they existed for about I mean, well, they definitely exist long before we have an archaeological record of them, right?
33:20Like that's kind of accepted everywhere that every civilization that we know of probably existed long before we have a a record of them, right? But at least by about 2,00 2,000 BC is a safe bet. And then by 18,800 BC they're really starting to get going. By 1500 BC full-blown civilization by a,000 even twice as big. And then by 500 they're diminished. And by zero they're they're gone. They've just disappeared and and kind of been absorbed and dissolved into everything else around them. And then as and it's like as soon as they fall the Maya rise. This is why a lot of people think the Maya are the direct
33:58descendants of the mix, but they're they're not. And what's funny, >> how do we know that? We have DNA proof of that. [clears throat] >> Um, I don't I don't know if if DNA proof or not. Um, but you you don't need DNA proof. Uh, so what's funny is I was with a group of my buddies and we were in my backyard just sitting in the backyard having a good time smoking a joint and talking about the Maya and the Mex.
34:25and uh smoking to >> and and yeah, I just I love I never do it like for stupid fun. I always do it and then sit down and talk about ancient history cuz I feel like I'm going to get something from it. Sure enough, I had this realization why the why the Maya and the Mex are distinctly different from each other and why the Maya and why the the you know the are often called the mother culture of ancient Mexico.
34:50In some ways that's kind of true, but but they of they often think that the Maya are the direct descendants, but but they're not. They're they're completely different. But the Maya were influenced and helped by the Mex. So people have often wondered why Maya civilization begins in the middle of the Pen Jungle in Guatemala. It's the most like it's the worst place that you could begin a civilization. It's kind of like it's kind of like being in the middle of the Amazon, right? Except it's even worse in the middle of Guatemala because there's not a major river next to you.
35:22The only thing you have are freshwater reservoirs like swamps that are infested by uh these huge crocodiles and everything. So, I'm [clears throat] trying to think of like the psychology behind why do people live there in the first place? Okay, in early early prehistoric times, let's go back like 5,000 BC. You already have people living in Mexico in what will become Meso America, prehistoric Messo America. And probably the prime real estate, if this is pre-aggriculture, pre-farming uh maze, probably the prime real estate is along the coastlines because you can sail out, you can go fishing, you can catch fish.
35:56I mean, that's just that seems to be the obvious real estate. It also must be incredibly violent, right? And so just like the Comanches who get beat up in you know uh early pre-colian times and they get pushed into the great plains in the place with the worst real estate probably there was a group of just Maya people who were very un unequipped for warfare to be able to survive on the coastline. So they retreat into what is the worst real estate in all of Meso America which is in the center of the Pen jungle where you have no freshwater running rivers. all you have is reservoirs and like the water table. So
36:32you you dig this huge artificial lake and then the water seeps up out of the ground and that's your water which wasn't really that healthy and it kind of causes problems many maybe a thousand years later or so no more maybe like 2,000 years later but um for a long time it was a mystery why did Maya civilization start in the middle of the pat jungle in Guatemala in the worst place there are so many other places it could have began and I just I realized it this this one night when we were talking about it [clears throat] themes were so wealthy or let's let's go to about 1,500 BC themes are so wealthy
37:16that they're commissioning basaltt to be brought in from the Sierra de Latusha mountains to their northwest but that wasn't mech land necessarily there were there was a different culture that was living there and that was cing the stone and moving it for them okay they were also getting serpentine and jade.
37:34Serpentine and jade is not native to the Olme realm. It comes from somewhere in the Maya realm. And so they were trading with the Maya people to get this jade.
37:45>> For a long time, nobody ever knew where the jade and the serpentine was coming from because quaries are really hard to find, especially in the jungle. It's like this big crater in the ground, but then over thousands of years it gets filled in with jungle and vegetation and then it just becomes this little it looks like a hill, right? Or it looks like a it looks like two hills and that's it. You can't even perceive it anymore. And so in the um in the late 1900s there were these expeditions that went out and there was a book written called uh stone of kings and they went looking for the serpentine and jade
38:18quaries and sure enough they come from the center of the pat jungle. That's that's where they were at. And I haven't seen many Maya archaeologists expand much more on this other than saying hey this is where the jade quaries were that the Maya were getting their jade. But they've never connected it to themes.
38:37I'm like, >> the jade and serpentine is coming from the center of the Pen jungle that this wasn't started because the Maya were mining it to give it to themselves. They started it probably because the Olme were looking for it, found they liked these green these these valuable green stones and sought it out and sent expeditions into the Maya world into the farthest deepest depths of the jungle where the poorest Maya people that were afraid of everyone else were living in the middle of the jungle and said, "You guys have access to this. Mine this for us and give it back to us." And so from the center of the jungle, probably you
39:17know like just the of the Maya world that got pushed away from the coastlines did not realize that they were sitting on top of an on top of an endless quarry of valuable green stone that the mech wanted. So probably themes are trading with these people and just like Kowacon made the Aztecs filthy rich, themes made the Maya in the center of the jungle filthy rich. So these people that were pushed away from the coastlines and forced to live in the center of the jungle were actually sitting on top of the jackpot. And that's why the major origin, the fertile crescent of the Maya world emerges from the center of the jungle in the least
39:53hospitable place that they could have possibly been living because and that's exactly why. So it was the Mex fueling the Maya and then the Maya emerge at a place called Elmiridor and the two >> like evolution in a weird up way.
40:06>> It's weird, right?
40:07>> Yeah. I've never seen a Maya archaeologist like acknowledge this or talk about this before. Um, and what's crazy is this happens between a th000 BC and 200 BC. Um, and so the two pyramids at Elm Miridor are called Leanta and Elte. And it's the two largest pyramids that the Maya will ever construct. They will never ever build pyramids larger than the first two that they made.
40:34They'll never be. It's just like in Egypt. The original pyramids are are the biggest and baddest. It's the same thing in the >> world. That's when the aliens were there.
40:42>> That's when the aliens were there. And so, yeah, it's it's fascinating, man.
40:46And the pyramid at Elmiridor is so large to give you just an idea of >> that one on the right side. Yeah.
40:53>> Yeah. Yeah. It's large. So, that's So, that's the pyramid of Elmir superimposed on top of the city of Teal. So, the pyramid of Elmidor is the size of the city of Teal. Look at the trees in comparison to that. [clears throat] >> Oh, it's insane. It's absolutely insane.
41:08Here, here's an idea of of how big the pyramid at Elmidor is. Lanta and Elte.
41:15I walked all the way up the pyramid.
41:17It's a daunting walk. I'm completely exhausted. The Guatemalan jungle just zaps your strength, you know, from the Amazon. Like, you just sweat like crazy.
41:24You can't drink enough water to stay hydrated. It's just it's just insane, you know.
41:30>> So, we spend some time up there taking some photos. We eat some lunch on top of the pyramid. Take some photos of the jungle. It's It's super cool. Like it's the only place I've ever been where I look off to every single horizon. It's nothing but jungle. It's the only place I've ever been like this.
41:44>> You're just eating Taco Bell on top of [clears throat] this pyramid.
41:46>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I was eating an uncrustable actually. Two two Uncrustables and some Oreos and a Fanta.
41:54You have to have Fanta in is like Brandon >> Yeah. And uh and so um so we so we walk back down the pyramid. I'm having a conversation with uh some of the people that are with me and you know we walk steps there there are these uh on some of them there are wooden staircases that are built up to help because they don't want you walking on the stone. And I mean keep in mind this is in the middle of the jungle that they built these wooden staircases on the side. It's crazy. And uh so we walk down down down down one level walk across down down another level. Walk across down down. We get to the bottom of the pyramid. I'm
42:29walking along this path for like 5 minutes or so, having a conversation about Elm Miridor and how far out here we are. And it just like just unbelievable. We're here in the middle of the there's another step down. So, I had been walking on the pyramid for 5 minutes after I thought I was at the bottom. Walking forward on the platform.
42:49>> You almost toppled over >> and then I reached the next descent down to the bottom of the pyramid. It's absolutely massive. And what they didn't realize until just within the last few decades or so is that when you actually get down to the real bottom of the pyramid, you can walk then for another mile to get to the pyramid across the way and they directly face each other.
43:11But that path that you're walking on is actually a platform that's raised up off the ground. And the entire city, including both of the pyramids, sits on top of a man-made platform in the middle of the jungle. Oh, it's insane, dude.
43:23It's It's just Actually, if you were ever to come to a place to a cool place, like you should come to Guatemala and you and I should just fly in a helicopter to a mirror. Like, it's something that's >> I don't do helicopters, but I'll I'll definitely go there.
43:39>> I'll show you a video or something.
43:41Maybe I'll send you the video. You can put it in.
43:42>> Yeah, that looks sick.
43:43>> It It's It's one of those things where you're out there and you're kind of like you were saying that when you're in the Amazon, it is bigger than you can comprehend. It's it's like a it's one of the wonders of the world, right? Like Elm Miridor, Morgan Freeman, when he went, he said he thought that El Miridor should be added to one of the wonders of the world because when you're there walking around, >> that's God saying.
44:06>> That's God saying.
44:07>> Yeah. [gasps] [sighs] >> When you're there walking around, it is truly mindblowing. Like you're looking at the size of it and you walk down the bottom platform and you think about this entire city is artificial. They're not they're not using the natural terrain because the jungle is flat. Everything there is raised up off of the ground.
44:27>> It's mindblowing, dude. And you think about, okay, these guys started doing this in the middle of the jungle around 800 BC.
44:36>> It's inconceivable.
44:39It's completely inconceivable. Yeah, >> it's crazy. And and like you said, when you go out to these places, obviously I haven't been to Guatemala, but I've been >> in the middle of the Amazon struggle, it's different, but similar kind of vibe. You're a speck in the middle of this.
44:54>> You are, man.
44:55>> Voraciously growing on top of itself ecosystem.
45:00>> You're just like with everything we have with everything we have now, you can't even get cops out there or the army out there. There's no laws.
45:09>> Imagine it [clears throat] back then.
45:11>> Yeah. There's nothing out there. I mean, it's like, >> and the other thing that the other thing that's crazy >> is um I realized the distance. So, being there, it's one of the only times you get to see the ancient world mostly untouched. Like some of that city is excavated, but there is no Maybe there's one or two structures in that entire city that's completely excavated cuz there's a camp out there, but you have to get there by helicopter.
45:39So there's like maybe >> or you have to take a helicopter >> or [clears throat] you walk for three days to get there.
45:45>> Yeah, I'll do the walk for three days.
45:47That still be fun to do. And during that three-day walk when you camp, you're stopping at other cities that are in the jungle. So there's campsites set up at just these river >> cities >> cities full-on cities in the middle of the jungle. You got to walk basically from one horizon to the next every day.
46:00And uh what I've realized when I was out there was [snorts] that you can actually kind of predict the proximity. Like if you're looking for a lost city, they're all within where they're all within the horizon's radius of each other. Like if you're in one city, you can see another city. If you're standing on top of the on top of the pyramid, >> just scan the horizon and you'll see a boop >> and you keep going around, you'll see another. And they're all a horizon's distance away from each other. Wow.
46:28>> That has to be strategic. It has to be like So you can do smoke signals or you can do fires and you can you can you can >> [snorts] >> Yeah, you can send signals to each other. So, it has to be this interconnected web of cities actually in the Inca world. I was surprised to find when I was there last month, it's exactly the same. You can find this is so cool. Okay, so Machu Picchu, uh I mean, you've se Machu Picchu. It's sitting up on top of this spine of this mountain side.
46:57>> I flew over that.
46:58>> Yeah. [clears throat] >> You what?
47:00>> Yeah. Yeah, I had to fly from where the fell was I but when I was flying to see Paul in land I I I flew over >> those mountains and everything. I haven't been there but >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
47:12>> seen it.
47:13>> Um it's a it's amazing, dude. It's just one of those places you got to go to. Um and so I'm sitting there and I'm talking to this uh there's a young archaeologist who's maybe like my age or so. And I was asking him, I was like, I was like, "Okay, so on these other mountain sides that are near us, because you know, it's this steep mountain and then the other mountains come up and it's just like this out in the edges. It's crazy with rivers running through it." And I say I say, "Okay, on this mountain next to us, >> is there anything over there? Have they ever found any ruins over there?" And they're like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
47:44There's some vestigages over there." And I was like, "Vestages? What do you mean?" And he was like, "I don't know.
47:47They're like forts, like lookout points." And then I was like, "Do you think that they're do you think that they were sending fire signals back and forth like throughout the mountains?
47:58Like do you think that they could bounce fire signals to try to get messages across?" And the guy was like the guy was like, "Well, I mean, they found single buildings on mountain sides before." And I was like I was like, "So theoretically, if you were to go looking through the jungles that's up on top of these mountains, which is like extremely treacherous. there's a 50% chance you would die trying to go do this. And I was like I was like, but do you think that they had vestages on the mountain sides where if something's happening at Machu Picchu and you needed Cusco to find out >> rather than having a sprinter or
48:31somebody, you know, walking to send a message, could you just >> like you could bounce a signal through through the through the mountains to get there? And then the guy was like, "Well, maybe you could." I started looking into it and uh this was something that Hyram Bingham thought as well. He was finding little things. And so >> you're like having a Dr. House moment over here where [clears throat] he like looks up like >> I got it.
48:52>> Oh, it's crazy. And so and so I'm seeing a similarity here between the Inca sending fire signals and then they must always have things within a certain proximity of each other to be able to communicate instantly. I mean like that's like communicating at light that's like communicating at cell phone speed compared to walking, you know, me sending a letter to you. And um and so yeah, there's got to be different. When I was at Elm Miridor, that's where the idea happened that there must be a pattern of where the cities are built.
49:22And you could probably create a web and estimate the proximity. Like wherever you're at, if you want to try to find a city, you could go on a map and draw out the horizon from one single area. And if you were going to go look for a city, you go roughly to that horizon and follow in a circular path around. You just orbit around one city and just keep following that horizon of your central city and you'll probably come across something that that would be >> that's insane.
49:49>> I just spilled the sauce for people looking.
49:52>> No, but that's actually insane.
49:53>> Yeah. So, >> they could come up with stuff like this.
49:56>> Wild, man. Well, you know, and I thought about that a lot. Like, you know, they're really into sacred geometry and they understand like um >> gosh dang, what's the ratio? Was it like uh >> Fibonacci sequence?
50:08>> Yeah, the Fibonacci sequence and everything. And the ratio like 1 >> 1.018 or what something like that.
50:13>> Yes.
50:14>> They the Maya figured this out in their own unique way by >> before Da Vinci. So this is the Maya doing it.
50:19>> Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There were lots of cultures that figured this out because this is >> this is the language that permeates reality. Like even if even if all of humanity died to, you know, the next, you know, COVID 3.0 or something and there was just the Amazonians left, you know, the unconted tribes. those the descendants of those people would eventually figure out thei the Fibonacci sequence. It's it's just one of these things that permeates reality. Everyone can discover it if you poke at reality long like if you stare into the abyss enough it'll it you know it'll you'll figure out the code to the universe. So
50:55the Maya did it as well. Um, and the thing I've thought about is, man, there must have been people who were just as intelligent, if not vastly more intelligent than Einstein himself, you know, in in the ancient Maya realm who sit around and thought about their natural world on a level and a certain depth that just I mean, okay, think about this. If you had if your [snorts] whole purpose was to sit out in a garden and think about the world around you and everyone else just took care of you, >> come up with a lot of >> you'd be the insights you would have would be totally insane. Like uh I heard somebody talk about this the other day.
51:34I think this is something that's kind of going viral on like self-help Instagram.
51:38And this guy was like this guy was like, "If you want any solution to your problem," you've probably seen this. He said, "If you want any solution to your problem, the secret is to go sit in a room by yourself in peace and quiet and do nothing for 30 minutes."
51:52>> Also, the hardest thing for a man to do.
51:54>> Exactly. He was like He was like He's like, "Just do that." Well, my mind, you know, being an ancient historian is I think ancient people were a lot more prone to that just thinking, you know, >> a perfect example is, man, growing up in East Texas, dude, we had to rake leaves so much.
52:13>> Oh, I feel your pain there. Yes.
52:14>> Unbelievable, dude. Like, unbelievable. I was raking and we had seven acres, man. And my dad would just like my dad would just I would spend I would spend like 24 hours or you know at least 10 hours a day on my Saturday and Sunday raking leaves and I hated every second of it. And to help pass the time >> put on the tarp and take it back somewhere. [clears throat] >> It's horrible.
52:39>> And uh and and to pass the time I would put my headphones in and like listen to music or you know listen to like YouTube videos on my phone or something. Um and that helped me pass the time. Ancient people did not have that luxury. They're sitting there >> with their thoughts >> thinking. They're white knuckling it and thinking. So, think about how much more they just thought and existed in their world than we do. We kind of just ignore our world.
53:04>> There's something to be said for that though, Luke.
53:06>> Yeah.
53:06>> We have all these distractions now in our world. Every little thing is one click away. We, you know, you talk to anyone, they're like, "Oh, I'm so busy."
53:15I say it, you say it, right? But a lot of the busyiness, especially, [snorts] >> not to call out people who don't have their own business, but you know, >> especially when you're working for something else, right, that's not yours.
53:27Like a lot of it has to do with the distractions to get you away from the annoying toil sometimes of a job that you don't like if you have a job like that.
53:35>> And then you have people like we have a lot of fans of this show who love their job and, you know, they're out they're out building things, right? Like I have a lot of fans who are like carpenters and stuff like that. And so, you know, they get lost in building something for 12 hours, but at least they have a ride along, right? They have this show and some other shows to kind of entertain them along the way.
53:55>> But that in and of itself is at least curating content for you to think about.
54:00>> These people there was that none of that was even in their lexicon as an option.
54:05They didn't have the temptation of saying, you know what, I think I'm just going to listen to music for 12 hours today or I think I'm just going to go enjoy this thing to kind of get that dopamine hit while I'm doing it. They had to create their dopamine hit to your point of like, all right, what is happening around me? Cuz by the way, I can't even forget Google. I can't even take out a textbook and figure this out. We haven't written any of this stuff down. I have to like look at it and understand. And it remind it it reminds me of like Paul's team down in the Amazon, JJ and all those guys. And
54:36obviously they have tech. They're they're connected to the real world, but they grew up in the jungle.
54:41>> Those can hear a bird from three miles away and not only know what kind of bird it is and how high altitude it is at that time. They know what it's saying and they can talk back to it. I watched them do it. That sounds unbelievable, but like I believe it.
54:55>> Oh, it's it's incredible. And it's because they like that's they lived in it.
55:00>> Yeah.
55:00>> They were among it. They they weren't distracted by other things. Like trying to explain to JJ who's like a literal genius who Elon Musk was. It was hilarious. It was It was absolutely hilarious because there's no concept of that and it's like he knows what Starlink is cuz he uses that.
55:18>> And then you know he's like wow thanks Elon Musk if that's who it was who made it. But like in his world, it's just he's out there with nature and so connected and you feel like >> when you talk with him about any of this stuff, >> you feel like you're talking to a sensei and you are.
55:34>> Yeah. I mean, he's so I'm talking about Paul's guy JJ who I mentioned, but like you know JJ's the the co-founder of the whole organization down there with Paul and is unbelievable, but like he's on another level and and also not for nothing, whatever that clarity is that he has that he's developed from his life of really being in touch with everything around him makes him exude a level of charisma that I have never been around.
56:03natural, quiet, unassuming charisma that strikes your soul.
56:09>> That's how I would describe it. Like he's next level.
56:12>> It's a different kind of human you're interacting with.
56:16>> Yeah. It's like a >> in a way you are a European meeting a Native American in a certain way. I don't know. Is he is he is he a native guy? I mean, he must be. Yeah. So So you're meeting >> you're having a similar experience, right? where they have these uh they [snorts] have these admirable traits about them that come about through a much more holistic lifestyle, you know, just utterly completely alternate to our reality. Have you ever noticed, this is something I think about a lot is like my wife and I will talk about how smart our dog is. Like he just >> What kind of dog you have?
56:55>> Uh Texas curr, blackmouth curr. the same uh the so in the in the movie Old Yeller, they don't actually use a blackmouth Kurd, but the actual book is written about the kind of dog that that we have. It's like all American uh bred by Native America bred by Native Americans, pre-colonial dog. Really, really smart dog. And uh just Yeah. So, um but we always talk about like how well he can read body language and he's aware of every little sound outside of our house. He's aware of things that like I don't perceive. You know what I mean? And that's because he doesn't have a phone. He doesn't watch TV. He doesn't
57:32have anything distracting him. He lives in his reality and he's just tuned into it. And we're so like desensitized and tuned out of our reality. We would be just as aware if not if not 10 times more aware than than a dog might be. you know, we're just obviously vastly more intelligent, but we're able to like turn off parts of our brains as well. And and uh you can just imagine like unconted tribes who live in the Amazon or, you know, like this guy you're talking about, he's just perceptive of things that >> that's correct. None of us are perceptive of it. I mean, imagine how much of your brain power is taken up by
58:11thinking about the intricacies of like, you know, the YouTube world and this modern media uh this modern media industry that we're kind of climbing our way up through and you have to be attuned to it and you have to kind of be aware of what's going on and knowing the things to say and the things you shouldn't say and the things you should stay away from. It's like, >> well, that's just akin to surviving in the Amazon, but our Amazon is this thing.
58:32>> That's right. But it's also kind of dystopian because this isn't what our biology was meant >> to be interacting with, right?
58:39>> Fluorescent lights and all that. It doesn't make any sense. But I see I see how easily your body would just just like it adapts to our modern day environment, how it would adapt to that kind of environment being born in it.
58:52Like JJ's been there his whole life.
58:54He's 50 years old, right? I was there for the better part of two weeks. And one of the things I did, I never took my phone out. This was May 2024. It was the first time in over four years of doing it at the time >> that I took any time off and I was like, I'm doing this the right way. There's no phone coming out. I'm just going to live out there. And it's a very microscopic example compared to a guy who lived 50 years out there. Obviously, it's a blink of a moment in time, but my sensory awareness by the end of that trip was turned up just a little bit.
59:29>> You Yeah. Not not you know it wasn't this like enlightening like unbelievable like oh my god I can feel everything or not like that but just a little bit where you're you've been >> removed for just a long enough time from real society >> that you get a little bit more in touch >> with just nature and mother nature herself and it was a it was a beautiful thing and that's why I don't care if it's the Amazon or or whatever there's there's some amazing places around this world obviously most of which I haven't into. But, you know, if you can get out and go off the grid a little bit for a couple weeks and do something like that,
60:06I I can't recommend that enough cuz it's especially in our click click click world. It's >> it's very useful. Thank you guys for checking out this clip. If you haven't already subscribed, please subscribe and hit the like button on this video. It is a huge huge help. And if you'd like to check out this clip's full podcast episode, that link is in the description below or right here. And finally, you can follow me on Instagram and X by using the links in my description below.
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