S5E8: The Gift of Darkness - Misconceptions and Truths
If I reminded you that you are perfect, would you argue me down or step into your perfection? Welcome to perfect. Welcome to perfect. Where there are no excuses, no Perfect. Everything.
JClay:Anything. Anything. Anything. Anything. Anything.
JClay:Anything. Anything. Anything. Perfect. Everything.
JClay:Anything. Anything. Anything. Anything. Perfect.
JClay:Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
Troy Washington:What up? What up? What up? Welcome to perfect mode. And first, let me start by telling y'all that we love y'all.
Troy Washington:We're grateful for the opportunity to be anywhere sharing our thoughts, hopefully, in helping you realize that you are perfect. And the reason why I can say that unapologetically is because I know that you are 1 of 1, Numero uno. You cannot be duplicated, replicated. And the only reason, and I mean the only reason you think otherwise, is if you're looking at this person next to you and saying, I'm not him. But guess what?
Troy Washington:You are you, and that's all you need. And, of course, it's yours truly, Troy Washington, your friendly neighborhood realtor. And I have my boy, J Clay, spiritual rapper and teacher. And we about to jump on here and talk about the gift of darkness, misconceptions, and truths. Man, we gotta get it right.
Troy Washington:And, you know, let me tell you something about darkness. It's the craziest thing that my screen is dark right now, and you would think that. You would think that, Jay, that it's not gonna be nothing for real coming from this dark screen, but guess what? I'm still here, baby. Let's go.
JClay:Yeah. That's great. Like, that's crazy. Like, we we this wasn't a planned thing that his screen is is darkness, and my screen is light. But then but, man, it it this actually is perfect for this conversation because there are a lot of misconceptions and and truths about darkness.
JClay:Like, darkness, it gets a bad rep. Like, a lot of people fear darkness. It's it's rooted in craziness. It's rooted, like, at nighttime, they say freaks come out at night, and just all this crazy stuff happens in in darkness. And that's not entirely true.
JClay:And I and I I really wanna flesh it out and talk about
Troy Washington:it. Yeah. And, the funny thing is, again, just to kinda reiterate, the whole point. This is not planned. We really I really am having technical difficulties, but the reality of it is, generally, these type of things that we would dictate as darkness or blackness or where we are right now will stop us or stop the momentum from us moving forward and being as great as we know that we can be.
Troy Washington:But, you know, I I I love the fact that it's going on. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try to fix this screen while we're doing this, but just I had to go ahead and hit that. But, Jay, where were you at when you first came up with this topic?
JClay:Yeah. So it kinda came when I was I I was walking. You know, when I walk, I just kinda just get ideas and stuff. I flesh stuff out in my mind. And the first thing I was thinking about was the statement, I am.
JClay:Statement, I am. Like, it's a powerful statement. I think even biblically, like, God said I am or I am that I am. And just I am in itself is a very powerful say statement, but I was thinking about it. To say I am is to not really be that amnest that you're saying that you are.
JClay:And I let let me explain because I know this might get a little philosophical. So to say I am, you're saying I am this state of being, this this state where I'm just being of of beingness. I'm aware. But then the question becomes, what's the I that you're saying that you are? So it's like, okay.
JClay:Again, am I my body? No. My body always changes. It's constantly changing. Losing sales, producing new sales, but I'm still me.
JClay:And my my thoughts and feelings, now they come and go. I might think this one day, might change my whole belief the next day, yet I'm still me. I'm I'm still this me that I've always been. Then you might think, oh, okay. Is it my experiences?
JClay:Nah. Because sometimes you see your experiences through a new light, and they take on a whole different meaning. So it's like, okay. What what's what's this I am that I am? And, really, the the I am that that is being is you're observing your state of being.
JClay:You're observing yourself that has always been throughout all of this. So you're no longer the beer. You're the observer. And so I I I started thinking about the connection between the 2 of, like, the light and the darkness or the conscious and the unconscious, and how they're one and the same. Like, the like, the light is responsible for bringing out what's in the dark, or the conscious is responsible for bringing out the unconscious, which is always there waiting to be discovered in a sense.
JClay:And so this this kinda takes on a new light when you think about what darkness really is and the purpose of it. But go ahead.
Troy Washington:It's fun it's funny, though. You know? I know, no pun intended, but it brings on a new light. I like that phraseology anyway. But that that's the funny thing that, you know, for me, we subconsciously look at unknown as darkness.
Troy Washington:We subconsciously feel like things that we don't know. We can we can kinda give it a negative, outlook without having a true understanding or full understanding of what it could be. And, again, I I just think about all the things that I try to take on in life that I've never experienced before. You know, it it's been plenty times when I was going after a new accomplishment or a new, task, And the first thing that came to my mind was something that was in opposition of me or something negative or what resistance I was gonna be met with. And that was all because the darkness or the unknown is unknownness of it it's been programmed in me to believe that there is something there that's going to stop me.
Troy Washington:And, you know, when I when I think about it, even again, I hate to use the obvious as an example, but how this show was going to go with my screen being the way that it is. Shout out to Kamari. I appreciate you joining us today. But, you know, I'm I'm definitely with you on that, Jay. Go ahead.
JClay:Yeah. And and and you touched on it when you said the the unknown. Like, we are to embrace the unknown because that's where creation happens. It's like you're you're bringing it to the light. You're bringing that which is almost minuscule, but it it it's just waiting to be discovered.
JClay:And you get to kinda pluck it out and and pull it out, so to speak. So with it, in a way, you are to embrace darkness because that that's the new way of doing things. Like, a a lot of times, people like to do what's familiar familiar. Like, oh, yeah. I've done this.
JClay:I've always done it this way. My mom did it. Her mom her mom did it. You know, my dad did it. His dad did it, and so on for generations, and we get stuck in this mindset because that's what was known.
JClay:But before that, it was unknown. Somebody brought it out of their imagination. Somebody kinda just pulled it out of that that seemingly nothingness. Now, similar to the darkness, nothingness takes on where you're like, it's nothing. It doesn't exist.
JClay:No. No. No. No. It's just saying that it's it's no thing.
JClay:Like, it it it's not physical in nature, so it's so it takes on a a light of nothing, but it is really, like, at our core, we are no thing. We can't be defined. We can't be quantified in in any logical way. We are that which gets to be experienced if we tune into that and draw it out. Like, even education means to draw out from within.
JClay:If if we educate ourselves on ourselves, we get to bring out that that aspect of the nothingness that's just waiting to be just ours and serve us so that we can reflect that to the world.
Troy Washington:Okay. So just to kind of, you know, align with the purpose of our show, it's easier said than done is the saying that we would normally go with. But when you talk about aligning yourself, where does that start from? How do you get to the point where again, you know, I always, you know, we always draw back to meditation. We always, you know, I always talk about self talk.
Troy Washington:I always talk about these things that, you know, to kinda reinforce what I want. But at the same time, whenever that dark screen first presents itself, the inside of me automatically goes to where I don't want it to be. And so, I guess, what are some initial steps that we can get into in order to start to build upon the self awareness and understanding and hearing what you're saying and overcoming it?
JClay:Yeah. That that's a great question. And and one of the things is acceptance. We speak on this a lot, but it's true. It it's it's accepting that, you know, for whatever reason, your camera doesn't work right now.
JClay:So just accepting that and what we're doing, we're going on with the show. But not only that, accepting that you see the world uniquely. Like, you you see the world in a certain way that nobody else can ever see it. You can explain your piece as many times as you want, but people still might not see it. But that doesn't mean that they can't be overjoyed by it, that they can't learn something about themselves by it.
JClay:Because you're showing an aspect of themselves of that you of that united no thingness that they don't get to see, and we get to be that mirror to each other. We we get to to show that to each other. So by you not accepting who you are, you're not really drawing out all the things that make you. And on the contrary, you're how do I say? You're being someone you're trying to be your interpretation of someone else.
JClay:Not even someone else, but your interpretation of someone else by not accepting who you are and the things that you bring to this this world.
Troy Washington:Yeah. So and, I I know you probably picked up, I I can hear it myself. Let me let if you could mute your boy over there real quick.
JClay:Alright. Here we go. Oh, wait. Wait. Hold on.
JClay:We can't hear you now. Unmute yourself. Give me a second. This so this this screen is on, but the camera isn't. So let me bring you back in.
JClay:Hold on. Alright. Say something.
Troy Washington:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
JClay:Okay.
Troy Washington:Okay. So so cool. Yeah. I just need to turn this, these down over here. But yeah.
Troy Washington:That works.
JClay:So yeah. That's for that. Has your audio, and this one has your video. Let's do it.
Troy Washington:Hey. We make it work, have we make it work? You know what I'm saying? But, I I I love I love what you were saying, and I I love the fact of it. And the reality for me is, you know, like I said, it's like subconscious in nature.
Troy Washington:You know, again, because I've been practicing it for so long my entire life where it's it was it it's almost automatic that whenever I'm approaching a a new street, I I I feel like, okay. Well, maybe that street's gonna have too many pie holes on it. Let me let me, see if there's another route that I can take. But the times when I've been able to overcome and I've been able to turn on that street and realize, well, hey. It wasn't as rough or or it wasn't as, bumpy as I thought it was gonna be.
Troy Washington:It's been way more gratifying to just not even just going down the street, just to overcome that resistance that I had within myself in order just to see past the darkness that I was, you know, I guess, presenting. But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. And and one thing I I did want to say at the beginning too is, just about that nothingness or no cleanness and even akin to the darkness. So, like, you we always say that we're abundant. Right? You know, we come from an abundant father.
JClay:There's nothing but abundance here for everyone. And so I was I was thinking I was contemplating, like, what's the thing that there was there's more of than anything? Like, what's something you can put into a cup that no matter how much of it you put in, you still have more room to put an infinite amount in it? Like, what can you put in your hand infinitely? And the thing that I came up with again is nothing.
JClay:But but, again, it's not nothing. It's no thing. Like, no like, think about think about space. Space is a vast amount of no thing, but it's still there. Like, that and when we bring things to the light, when we bring out elements of ourselves, there's enough of that unconscious stuff.
JClay:There's enough of that dark stuff that it's enough for for everybody to live the life that they want to to be without competing with others in other spaces. And I I I'm not sure how to how to explain it in such a way where, like because it's hard when you see when you don't see nothing, it's something. But it is that it is that something that you get to pull out of thin air. It's almost like okay. I I'll say this.
Troy Washington:When I make a
JClay:song when I choose to make a song, the song didn't exist before that. Well, no. No. No. That that's not safe to say.
JClay:The song existed before that, but in an unconscious state. And all I did was align with the consciousness of it to bring it out, to bring it to the world. Now I get the credit as the one who created the song, but it's like, no. Everything already exists. Everything is already there.
JClay:So your job is just to tune in to what you want and believe that it will be drawn out and brought to the light for you to experience.
Troy Washington:Man. And so the reason why I dropped off too, just in the spirit of your words and in the in the spirit of what we're talking about, is me trying to be resistant to what is. And, you know, it's just it's it's funny how you can get these lessons, in real time, but not even pay attention to them. And, you know, I think this is a a a part of, you know, the reason why, you know, we're we experience what we experience on a daily basis. It it it gives us our opportunity to grow.
Troy Washington:And and, you know, it's funny. The the the the topic is the gift of darkness. And yet and still, even in the words that I speak, even in the, you know, even in the belief that I have, I will still fight it. And, you know, I think that's I think that's a big part of who we are. It's it's not who we have to be, and and I I like the fact that when you when you talk about when you try to fill your hand up with something that's infinite and it's nothing.
Troy Washington:But yet it's still when you when you really just think about it, you're there's resistance in you saying that there's there's still nothing in my hand, like nothing is nothing. And I know that sounds crazy, and I know you know what I'm saying, but, we have to stop being resistant. There there has to be a a level of gratitude. There has to be a level of acceptance. There has to be a level of understanding that just because I've trained myself that I have to see something or I have to feel something that it has to if it's not if if it's not what I'm accustomed to, then it's not good or it's not there.
Troy Washington:And, you know, that's a big challenge. You go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. And I wanna read what what Sis said. No thing is something because you cannot quantify the reality of your existence, but we know we have value because we are somebody adding to the quality of life. Yes. Definitely.
JClay:And with with so okay. This is the reason we have competition. Reason we have competition is because we think we may think in terms of of limits. Like, there's only a finite number of this, so I have to try to be the best within these parameters. But even even within that even within fixed limits, there's still an infinite amount of nothingness, which is why, like, in sports, you know, we always talk about basketball.
JClay:The some of the sports giants are people who've done it in a way that has never been done before so much so that even when people try to emulate, it's still no competition to them because they're already ahead in their own lane. Like like Steph Curry, for example. Nobody thought about just shooting threes all the time. Or or I'll say, nobody thought about it enough where that it compelled them to to bring it out. It compelled them to practice this as part of the game.
JClay:It compelled them to do it in the actual game. And now, you know, so many people are emulating it. And we we see it we see it throughout in just every industry where somebody is a disruptor, but, really, they're just bringing out the infiniteness that's within them, which we all have the power to do. And they did it in such a way that everybody said, okay. I'm not gonna do what they what they did from within.
JClay:I'm gonna do what they did from without, and they try to beat them instead of being themselves.
Troy Washington:And and, again, the proof is always in the pudding, bro. You know, I know you tried not to go biblical, but everything came from no thing or from nothing. Right? And, you know, we always think about things from a grand scale, but we don't realize that taking the bible out of the picture, taking God out of the picture, everything great that we love came from within of someone, from nothing. And I'm a shout my dad out real quick.
Troy Washington:You know, One day I don't I don't know if you remember this. He he was we was talking about sales or something. And he said, you know, you're doing something when you can sell something from you can sell something from nothing. Right? Like, you don't have to it there hasn't there doesn't have to be a physical thing for you to necessarily sell it.
Troy Washington:And that's the one of the reasons why I've always loved music because it's been a true testament to us where we've made something that only I can provide or only you can provide, walked on the street, and made money from it just like an artist. But, I mean, it's the same thing when you use Steph Curry as an example. I mean, you know, people have shot the ball for for from the time of the inception of basketball, but he's only done it his way. And, you know, that's that's the beautiful thing about it, but go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. Yeah. And if if we could just trust ourselves more, if we could just go out and make friends with the unknown and I know it's when when you start to do it, it's gonna seem scary, just like the darkness always seems scary, until you turn on the light. And you're like, oh, that's just the pile of clothes over there. It's nothing to be afraid of.
JClay:And and that's what it feels like when you step into the unknown and and embrace it. You start to see that, oh, this is nothing to be afraid of. This has everything within it that I've ever wanted to experience, even even from the standpoint of at night when we go to sleep. In the darkness, it allows us to dream. It allows us to fill up those empty spaces with things that that are within.
JClay:Like, oh, this is how I would like my world to be. I can imagine myself doing this. I can imagine the world where I experienced this and that. And it it's easier to cultivate while in the dark. And in the light, you get to experience your creations.
JClay:And so it it's a perfect balance, but we have to make sure we are acknowledging the other half of that as well.
Troy Washington:And, I wanna shout out to him loud real quick. Shout out to him loud. And then I also wanna go back to Kamari. She said, I guess we can ask why we do what we do. What is our intention?
Troy Washington:And something else that I I want to mention as well, Jay, is, we can't we can't always trust what we see. We can't always trust what we see. Like and I and I wanna give you the prime example, man. And I and I was just telling you about this. I was I went back and I was, uploading videos from years ago, from 2019 of my son, and it's a video of him playing basketball when he's about to turn 8 years old.
Troy Washington:Now I wanna tell you before I uploaded or relooked at this video, my mind's eye told me something completely different. Like, I I couldn't even have imagined what I saw on the video, and that's only because I had something new to compare it to. And so what happens is I I look at this video, and I see TJ playing basketball. Now mind you, when this was actually happening real time, I swore this is the like, no. This is the coldest 8 year old that I could ever see playing basketball, and I also remembered it that way.
Troy Washington:The most important key here is I remembered it that way. And so when I saw the video back and I compared him to my 6 year old kid, I realized that I projected something that I wanted it to be, and it wasn't necessarily the truth. That the same thing can apply to Brody now with me imagining what I've seen of him. But the reality of it is, there's always a new path to be created. There's also always a new nothingness to to become something in a sense if you allow that to be the truth.
Troy Washington:Go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. Yeah. And and the way I see it, again, it's like 1,000,000,000 upon 1,000,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 little nothings just waiting to to be brought out. It's like a seed almost. It's like the seed of something that's that's waiting to be cultivated and and grown.
JClay:And what you said about, like, how you remember things is reality is too late. Like, you know, whatever we see right now is too late. It's done. Not like it's it's like a it's almost like painting. It's a finished painting.
JClay:And if we if we keep going back to that blank canvas, we can always create a new like, it doesn't even matter the paintings we painted before. We can always create a new one. We go back to that blank canvas. So which is why, you know, in meditation, a lot of people close their eyes because you get to truly see. Like, you're not seeing what's already been here.
JClay:You get to see what what lies within that you get to bring out and and and be the embodiment of.
Troy Washington:I gotta bring it back one more time for you, baby. This boy said reality is too late. Reality is the finished canvas, bro. Like, bro, that is that's a fire line for the week. You know what I'm saying?
Troy Washington:But that that is the truth, though. And, again, the the the the craziest thought the craziest thought of it for me is reality is taking away all the darkness. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's taking away, like, every imaginatory thought that you could have if you were only looking at the finished artwork is gone. And it bro, you hit the fire fire.
Troy Washington:Go ahead, bro.
JClay:Yeah. But yeah. And and it's so true, though. Like and and we get we get so caught up in the in what's too late and making it real. We say, man, this is this is like this.
JClay:This means that. This means that. And, again, we're we're we're reversing the cause and effect. They're 1, but, again, we're making the effect the new cause instead of allowing the cause to be the cause, which is us. We are the cause.
JClay:We get to paint reality in every moment. And I know that sounds like a big task. Like, wait wait. How? I don't know how to do that.
JClay:Even though you don't know how to do it, you're already doing it with your thoughts. You're already doing it with your beliefs and the actions that you take, which shows the faith that you have in your beliefs. And so, like, that that's why it's important again to to mind your thoughts, watch your thoughts, and then you get to dictate your own thoughts instead of just taking what's handed to you. But you also get to tune in to that higher consciousness, that higher state of being that exists in the seemingly dark that you get to bring to the light.
Troy Washington:I wanna, read what sis Kamaria said, as well. She said, seeing is not always believing because in the word believe is lie. This is why we must think for ourselves, for your heart and the word heart is the word hear. I listen to the reality, and that's real. The spinning spinning fire hot fire on the show today.
Troy Washington:We we definitely appreciate you. And, man, you don't even know how, taking back I am. And, again, these are all principles. This is all understanding that I have, but also the reinforcing of it and and and being able to see it real time is always a great, great thing. Or realize it real time is a great, great thing.
Troy Washington:Go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. Like, I'm always amazed when I'm falling asleep and because I I dream every time I sleep. And I dream the instant I fall asleep. And sometimes, I can hear something so clear and see something so clear that it wakes myself up. And I'm like, wait.
JClay:Is this real? Was this in reality or not? And it it it how do I say this? We don't acknowledge that power. Like, we don't acknowledge our power of creation when it comes to our dreams.
JClay:But really, in a in a sense, that's a practice realm of reality. It's it's almost like reality is the shared dream, But it's not it's not technically shared because we don't see reality the same. I mean, like, we may agree on certain things like the color blue is the color blue because we're referencing the same image from our standpoint. But how do you see blue could be how I see rocks. You know what I mean?
JClay:Like, it is we see how we see, but we get to imprint our vision on reality, our stamp on reality. We get to project it like instead of a blank canvas, a projection screen.
Troy Washington:And, but, see and that's the thing that most of us don't realize or most people don't realize is that, we are the strongest believers, you know, regardless of how you want to interpret that or not because everything that you have, you believe that you can have and should have. And you reinforce that over and over again when you choose not to look outside of yourself. And, I want to shout out to sis again. She says, I love the chemistry. You both have it.
Troy Washington:It's the yielding it's the yielding for me.
JClay:Appreciate it.
Troy Washington:No. I appreciate that for real for real. It's, trust me. It's a lot of, it's it's something that I like to call the hybrid, and they know what I'm talking about.
JClay:Yeah.
Troy Washington:But, again, that's another beautiful thing in a relationship. There's so much darkness that I know that I can't realize unless I allow him to shine the light on it for me, and I think it's the same thing vice versa. And, I mean, I think that's also another tip in when we talk about the gift of dark darkness and the misconceptions of it. Like, I understand that you could look at someone and not feel like they have light or knowledge to give you, because of circumstances, because of history. But if you open yourself and I'm not saying that I it's the same for me and Jay.
Troy Washington:Me and Jay didn't even start out as friends. We started out as rivals, you know, good rivals at that. But the reality of it was we both were open to the vision of another person so that way, that darkness can look different to us, different than what we perceived initially. But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. There's this exercise I've done before, and, yeah, y'all probably may have done it or something similar, where they tell you to bend over and and touch your toes or touch as far as you can touch. Because I know some people can touch their toes, some can't, or or extend far on the ground. And then they said, okay. Now get back up.
JClay:Now and close your eyes and see yourself going farther than you went the previous time. And I did it, and I went way farther than I went the previous time. And they said, now do it again. Because you might think, well, okay. Now you're loose.
JClay:You're stressed. Go farther this time. And then I saw it in my mind's eye, and I did it again. I went even farther, in reality. Because, again, it's already done in my imagination.
JClay:And if I believe in myself, like like, literally, if I believe in myself, it doesn't matter what the world is doing because they're gonna concede to your image because that's all it is anyway. It's a it's a mirror of what you're projecting or extending to the world.
Troy Washington:I like to think of, people that that's working out that have or or trying to get in shape, man, myself being included. And, you know, again, I'm I'm glad you brought up the stretching and exercise, stretching exercise example because I think about, you know, running. And, you know, I I always think about before I ran for certain lengths or certain amounts of time. And on the other side of that run, I thought I was gonna die. Right?
Troy Washington:And in that run, I I mean, that's what my thought was. That's the darkness that I was like, is no if I run that long, I'm going to die. And then in that, you know, I I I would tell myself, well, let's just get over the hill and just see where we go. Just one more minute. You can make it one more minute.
Troy Washington:Just just 2 more minutes. You can make it 2 more minutes. Just just 3 more minutes. Like, if you can get to this next 4 minutes, man, you really got, like, 30 minutes. And, again, you know, if I go back to the beginning of it, the darkness, the the the the misconception of me dying or me not being able to make it or me being, is super exhausted.
Troy Washington:The funniest part is going through that darkness, I'm never tired. My mind is occupied by getting to the next step because I made the decision that that was not the darkness that I was gonna live in. And then again, getting to the end, so gratifying, so much love for myself. And I think that goes back to what you're saying by the the identifying who you are getting back to the self and the nothingness within you because now I was able to feel that with belief or feel that with, joy or feel that with, accomplishment, and it turned the tide of what was going on. But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Right. And in both in both instances of your example, you painted a picture over the the so called darkness. At first, you you painted a picture of of dying. Like Man. Impossible.
JClay:Can't nobody do that. And you're painting that picture, and you're believing it. You're living it. You're embodying that because that's what you chose to bring with from within. But then you said, you know what?
JClay:No. No. No. That's not what I want my reality to be. I can make it.
JClay:I'm gonna focus on me making it. I'm gonna see myself taking those steps being happily trotting or running as fast as I can to make it to this this next checkpoint, and I'm gonna like it. And and again, you're painting that that picture over and over again. Neither way is right or wrong. It's just that you have a choice and you're aware of this choice.
JClay:So since you're aware, you're like, well, why not have the reality that I really want? Why am I settling for for thing for giving up my power of creation, which is still creating. And yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.
Troy Washington:No. No. No. No. Super tight.
Troy Washington:And that's the question. So we're going back to, you know, Kamaria's question earlier. She said, what is our intention? And so I will rephrase that with what are you feeling your darkness with? What are you feeling that darkness with?
Troy Washington:What are you saying? And, again, we we we've we've been talking about painting a picture all day, but sometimes you don't know what that picture is supposed to look like. Even in my example, I painted a picture because I didn't know what the picture was supposed to look like. And along the journey, I kept changing the picture. I kept painting over what I thought that was supposed to be.
Troy Washington:And the, you know, for you and for everybody, the question is, what am I going to fill this with? And how do you get to filling it with what you actually want versus the things that you don't? Go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. So Well, okay. Before I try to answer that, because because that I think that's a question everybody has to answer for themselves. I was thinking about, like, we we've all seen seen the yin yang symbol. Right?
Troy Washington:Yeah.
JClay:One part is is white. One part is black. But then even in the white part, there's a black circle. And even in the black part, it's a white circle. And I was thinking about how it it's all connected.
JClay:So think think about the dark world and the light world. Right? You would think the dark world is filled with turmoil and all this just angst and other stuff, but, no, there's a deep peace, a deep calm, just like state of being. Like, it's just so relaxed. It's it's nice, comfortable dark.
JClay:So then you experience the light, and you say, oh, I wanna step out into it. I wanna step out into this light world. And you start, I guess, pulling yourself away from the darkness into the light. Now when you're in the space in between, so to speak, you get to fill your your world with lights and shadows and and things. And so you can see grotesque figures if that's the painting you choose to pick to to paint.
JClay:But when you get to a space of light where everything is light, your light, you can't distinguish your light from the others. That's where it shares the same properties as the dark. Because if everything is dark and you share your properties with others, you can't distinguish yourself. Like, there's oneness in all of it, and we don't realize that the part that both plays in our lives. And it and it's not it's not the dark it's not dark as in evil or anything.
JClay:It's just it's it's a peaceful dark, and then, like, the light is more of a a joyful light. But it's it's still the same peace that exists in both.
Troy Washington:No. So what's funny, what that makes me think of, it made me think of, my perception or how I feel or how I paint my picture of rain. And and the only reason I I bring this up is because I've heard many people say this to me before. I don't like the rain. It it's depressing.
Troy Washington:It it makes me feel it gets my mood now. And, you know, in my own mind's eye, I you heard me say this. I love the rain. Rain relaxes me. Rain makes me feel good.
Troy Washington:Rain make gives me the best sleep. And, you know, if you put me next to one of these people, in in in that given time or that given moment, you can literally see the different dynamic in our being being in that in in in that in that moment. Right? And, again, bringing it back to every moment mattering, not the reality of it, but knowing that you can change any given moment, any given time, and make it be exactly what you want. Because in those moments, I I I'm like let me give you an example.
Troy Washington:I used to sit next to before I meet before me and my wife got married, we worked together. And we worked at at at Chase Bank, and I was, you know, people would say that you what what what they what they call it? Teacher's pet. I mean, I wasn't a there's no teacher there, but I I was a good guy at work. Like, I did everything right.
Troy Washington:I followed all the rules, and I didn't care about none of the the negative stuff that was going on. Right? So I get on the phone. When I get off the phone, we get the 10 minute break. I'm off, and I'm back on in 10 minutes.
Troy Washington:No matter what, I'm not gonna miss it. And I remember, my wife and all the other people that we were cool with, be like, man, they'd be tripping up here. This is what this is crazy. You know? And I would always hear it, but it never registered for me.
Troy Washington:I would just keep doing what I'm doing. Right? And then one day, I said, they do be tripping up here. And it changed the whole dynamic of what I thought about work. It became dark.
Troy Washington:It became, a a different place for me, and I had to navigate within, the so so now this is when that darkness turned into something completely different, and you start to feed it. You start to build upon it. So, again, if you give darkness that negative connotation or that that negative feel, it it will multiply just like the light can, but go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yes. So how I think of it too is like, okay. A lot of us start off in a in a family. Well, Well, I mean, whether it's our our biological family or not. Just e even if you're wherever you are, you start off with with people around you and, a way of seeing light life.
JClay:And you all are kinda united in that way of seeing life. So you can say that y'all are all dark or all light. It doesn't matter. You're all one What's the most important thing? But then someone gets enlightened.
JClay:They get inspired, and they start to do things a little bit differently. And they're like, oh, I I can do it like this. I this is the way I wanna express myself. And so what happens is there's a separation that that is visible, but it's not a real separation. It's just an imagined separation of of light and darkness that people are choosing to stay with what they already know or if they're if they're choosing to embrace the unknown.
JClay:So the one that's now in the light, you can say in a way they're surrounded by darkness because they're they're painting their own picture. But and it but in reality, it's the opposite even from the point of the of the family that's still together, that's not doing those crazy things. You can say that they're in the light, but in some sense, they're in the dark as well. So it is it's just a funny dichotomy how how the the illusion of separation happens, but how it's still all the same and everyone just experiencing the things that they're inspired to do or as the channel of things to bring light to.
Troy Washington:I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up because that is a real, real good point. And, man, okay, so to each his own is what we're talking about here. That's how I took it to each his own. And the reality of it is it was darkness for me. Right?
Troy Washington:And but that was only based off of what I'm wanting for my life, so that's why I wanna bring it back to to each individual person. And the again, it's easy to look at others and perceive that to be the light. It's easy to look at others and perceive that's the way to go, but the reality of it is it may not be for you. That can lead you into darkness, a darkness that you don't want. And, again, whether dark or light doesn't really matter in this instance, but when I when I think about darkness, when I think about approaching the place that I've never been, that's I'm gonna be swayed be dissuaded from moving forward with whatever I'm trying to accomplish, it doesn't necessarily it doesn't necessarily apply to each individual person.
Troy Washington:Because you're right. When I when I think back about that scenario that I gave you earlier, me sitting next to my wife and all my friends, they were having a time of their life. They were they were exuberant. They were happy. They were joyous.
Troy Washington:They didn't have a a they couldn't have thought before. And, again, I don't know this. Man, if we don't listen to the rule or if we don't do this, these are the things that are gonna happen to me. But the reality was they went ahead and lived the way that they wanted to live and was able to be, in a space of joy because I know that they were full of joy. They were not miserable like me when I accepted what was not of me.
Troy Washington:And, I wanna read what Kamari said as well. There are people who look light and there are people who there are people who look light and live in the dark. Seeing is not always believing. Look for the light within you. And and that's the point that I'm making too.
Troy Washington:They are in a light based off of what they're wanting. You know what I mean? And I I think go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. And and I don't know if people remember, like, just the conversations you had as a kid with other kids. Like, we were aware of others' differences, but it didn't matter. Like, it wasn't we didn't we didn't take it personal that someone was different and we were interacting with them. Like, like, that's so and so.
JClay:She's this type of person or this so and so. He's this type of person. But it didn't matter because, you know, they were just your friends and you could just share these differences, but they were always all exciting. Like, even the the movies we watch right now is they might be centered around these these characters that is something strange about them. Like, they're super strange, but that's why we like it.
JClay:That's why we were tuned in because they're unapologetically being themselves or or they're portraying that in the movie or or the story. And we don't always do that in our own story. We we concede. We say, oh, I gotta be more like this person. I gotta hide who I am because this person might be offended or or that instead of just staying true to who we are.
JClay:I mean and and I'm not saying offend people, on purpose. Like, be who you are and and try not to, but be who you are. And like like, like sis said, trust the light within you.
Troy Washington:Yeah. And and say again, that's it's I'm glad of the path that we've taken on this journey. And, again, the darkness is only within you. That's it. And and and that's part of the point that you are making when we talk about the other people.
Troy Washington:See, again, the relationship that you and I have, you were able to bring light to me that I would not have witnessed had I not accepted you for who you are. But that still has nothing to do with the darkness or the light within myself, and that's the point. And that and that's the reason why, again, I even I I like the still the story that I talk about me sitting next to my wife and my friends is that there was a maybe in my own mind, I wanted to be what I felt like as free as them. What I what I felt like was as joyous as them. And, again, now I dimmed the light that I had because I felt like I wasn't okay already.
Troy Washington:I didn't have any problems at first. I didn't have any I was shining like a light doing exactly what I was doing. And I looked at somebody else and dimmed my own because of whatever reason. Right? And so, again, I I I bring it back to you.
Troy Washington:Like, the darkness is only in you, and you not allowing yourself to explore and see how you all feel about anything, but also have a bit of acceptance with it, have a a bit of love in those things. Of course, if it's of you, is is is an egregious act, but go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. And what what's cool about it is no matter what light we're in, a lot of stuff we're in the dark about a lot of stuff. There there's a lot of unknown no matter what light that we're in. And once we switch to become awareness of this, which was previously unknown and it may get known, we're in a new reality. Now some people might say you're woke now, but they're only saying that you're woke to the light that they're living, that they've chosen to live.
JClay:But it it is again, there's no right or wrong in the light that you choose to live. Your light doesn't necessarily have to look like my light. Your dark doesn't have to look like my dark, but it it's all of the same stuff. It's all of the same making. We get to we get to choose the the amounts of light and darkness we accept or prevent or you know, in our in our lives, and we get to accept that for everyone else as well.
JClay:And so so the dark shouldn't be feared. The dark shouldn't be, looked down upon in any way. Like, it's it's as much of the light as the light is.
Troy Washington:And you hit that mug. The question is, are you woke to the light that you want to lead you? Like, it's that simple. Like, are you woke to the light that you say you want to lead you? And nobody can define that for you except for you.
Troy Washington:And I think, again, that's where we lose touch and we dwell in the darkness because we're not we're not seeking to to to try to dig deeper to see what that really looks like. Like, I don't, you know, I don't know what that's supposed to look like, and that's where I I I see most people end up lying at. And, you know, even even again, just to throw myself out there now, you know, I hated having a black screen today, still. You know? Still, I know I I mean, I hate it.
Troy Washington:I've been clicking on everything on my computer the whole time, and that's only because of what I thought about myself in it this entire time. And, again, I I I I can hear myself. I can see the green light beeping, showing that I'm talking. I I can see all these things, and I also can understand that my point is being, you know, put out across the airways like I would like it to. But yet and still, there's still
JClay:a
Troy Washington:darkness that that's haunting me in a sense in my own mind, to prevent me for to be, full of joy. And, again, when I when I bring that back home, think about yourself. Think about who you want to be in the way that you perceive that it has to be presented. But understand that just the because you feel like it has to be presented that way doesn't mean that it's going to be presented that way. Realize that your canvas might look completely different than the way that you imagined it, and learn to love it and adjust.
Troy Washington:Learn to affect the picture in a different way. You know what I mean? Like, learn to accept that you can still make your mark no matter because, again, my the point that I I'm trying to get to is I only feel the way that I feel because of what I think other people might think about it. Like, when you look at this show like, you get what I'm saying? I only feel the way that I feel because the way that I think that other people might think about it.
Troy Washington:And forgetting the point of the show, period. Forgetting what I'm trying to come get across, period. And when I realize the truth of the matter, it all comes home. Go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. Be your own color. I love that. I I also wanna read, sis said, children live in the darkness of adolescence until they become adults and realize that it was our parents shining the light on us. And, what what's cool about that statement is, like, it it shows how how, again, everything is both light and dark.
JClay:So, like, when a lot of people look at children, they see nothing but light, just pure joy. Yeah.
Troy Washington:Real true.
JClay:Light. But it's also true, like like, children are are very much in the dark about a number of things. And so, like, they're they're they're you said they're blinded in certain things, but depending on the the perception of it, of how you look at it, it's either light or dark, but it's still a good thing. And and and that that's that's one of the main things I I wanna stress just within this is that we don't have to feel the dark. We don't have to feel the unknown.
JClay:We could we can embrace it. We could, use it to our advantage because, again, within it, we're able to tap into the abundance of like like, again, I I don't know if people can understand the number of infinite or unlimited. I can't even understand. I can't even begin to understand it. But if we tap into that, there are so many ways to bring forth whatever we want.
JClay:So whatever problem we think we have, spend some time in the dark and and just sit quietly in the dark and let your imagination go to work. You can direct it if you want to or you can ask for guidance for it to be directed, because those unconscious pieces that that are within us, they want to be conscious. And so they're gonna bombard you with with every good idea based on your intention.
Troy Washington:And I and I'll go even go far as to say this, that they're not they're not unconscious. You're just oblivious to them. And the reason why I say that is because having a kid shows you that over and over again. Yeah. And just to kinda give you an example, you you are 100% right when you say when people see kids, all they see is light.
Troy Washington:When I see kids and most like, especially if you're the parent of the kid, every parent is always glowing of their kid except for the darkness that they see, not recognizing that it's the darkness that's within it. Because the kid is only displaying, like you said, what they've witnessed from the light that you or the darkness that you've given them. And the biggest lesson that I've been able to learn from having my kids is every single time they show me the darkness that I'm resistant to that I might get on them about, it's a check on myself to say, well, what is this in me, and how does it make sense? Like, how does it make sense, and why does it make sense, and why am I unconscious about it? Why do I not recognize it?
Troy Washington:Why am I shunning this and acting like it's not there? But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. So so check this out, which is a great representation just about all of this. So like I said before the show's when the show first started, I've been thinking about this. I've been contemplating this this topic for a while just trying to flesh it out because I'm I'm amazed by, again, by this whole concept, how I once saw the darkness and and just how I see it now. And the stuff that's coming out even from me within this episode, I had not known before.
JClay:And it's and, again, like so it's not like we're I I can't speak for you. I'll just speak for me. It's not that I'm sharing things that I know. I'm sharing what's within that's wanting to come out from the focal point of the gift of the darkness. So, again, like, what what's our attention?
JClay:What's our focus point? Whatever we focus on, that's what allows this unconscious to become conscious, this unknown to become known. And, again, embrace it. Don't be afraid to step out to the unknown. Don't be afraid to start speaking even though you don't really know what you wanna say, but you know your intentions of what you wanna say.
JClay:And it's amazing to to witness the it in real time as it's happening.
Troy Washington:Now, again, I I'm with you 100%. And that and, again, that's why I bring my kids into it because it's been plenty of times, bro, where the feeling is not always the best feeling. And, again, that's because of a lack of understanding, but I've learned so much for myself about myself and trying to understand my kids because I know they're only giving back to me what I've been able to give out. And, again, just walking around unconscious like that. And, again, we'd we we've practiced for our lives, for how long you've been alive, not recognizing things that we don't feel like is of us or we don't want to associate with or we want to disconnect from.
Troy Washington:But there is practice and taking a second and noticing yourself, digging deep within, and that uncomfortable, understanding why you feel uncomfortable with it, but it's still a part of you. It helps you to grow exponentially in so many different ways, bro. And I and I know that for a fact. But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. Yeah. And and this is why it's always said to live in the now moment. Because in the now, this is when you can tap into all of this. Because you're not trying to hold on to something that was there or something in the future that does not exist.
JClay:But whatever moment you're living in, the the future or reality will catch up to again. And again, that's why people also say to forgive because anything that happened is just within you anyway. So, like, you're not apart from anything. Like, the the image that you see or the experience is not apart from you in any way. And when you realize that in some ways, you brought this on yourself, not necessarily for malicious purpose, it could just be to to overcome a certain type of energy in this particular lifetime.
JClay:Like, it could be certain things. But once you recognize that it's a gift to yourself, no matter what happens, no matter how terrible it seems, of of circumstance that happened to you, if you realize that this is happening for your highest good, you get to tap into that that intention and see what that purpose was like. And and so that you won't have to experience it anymore because you already fulfilled that purpose. But, again, like, when when you forgive, you let go of that energy. You're not holding it on, making it a part of your your new all your new paintings.
Troy Washington:So I I would go as far as saying, and I noticed what we've been saying the whole show, now is the darkness, and we need to recognize that. Now is your blank canvas. You said the future would catch up to the now. It will it will become the present, but now is the darkness. And knowing that, it doesn't wipe away who you are, what you've been, or what you can accomplish, but it does give you the opportunity to create whatever it is that you want.
Troy Washington:And so accepting now as the darkness, now as the blank slate, now as the empty canvas, it opens up your doors to infinites infiniteness. And, you know, I I I just love the thought process process of that, not only for the people that's listening, but just for myself. Because, reinforcing, that, and I'm not talking about tomorrow. In this next moment, I can make whatever I want to as long as I let go of what was just now is is everything to me. But go ahead, Jay.
JClay:Yeah. And and I I'm just thinking of, like, all the new creations that happened from my younger years till now. Like, not even just the ones I made, but but the ones that are just made. Like, you know, you got flat screen TVs. That that wasn't even the thing to be conceptualized until you had 2 TVs.
JClay:You know what I mean? Like, every part of it is a process. And then you say, oh, okay. How can I enhance this? How can I enhance that?
JClay:And your life is the same way. Like, you you don't you might not know what your purpose is or the things that you love unless you take the steps to start loving the things that as that you have in your life now. And it becomes a process like, oh, how can I enhance this? Now let me go over here and try this. I would have never thought I could do this.
JClay:I would have never thought of of of being this type of person. But when you step out into that unknown where you can be someone you've never been, then you can be someone you've never been if you so choose.
Troy Washington:You know, it's funny. You made me think of one day, not too too long ago, we were in the car, and Brody was just going, so, dad, you know, somebody right now just had a baby right now. You know, somebody just created a new show, like, right now, daddy. You know? So he started naming all of these things, and he was saying, like, right now.
Troy Washington:It just happened, like, right now. It it just happened right now, and I was like, you know what, bro? It is all happening right now. And, you know, to that point, like, you are happening right now. We are happening right now.
Troy Washington:And whatever it is you want can happen right now, you just have to know it. And, I know we're at the end, man. I just had to say that because you made me think think about that. I wanna shout out to Kamaria too. You have been happening right now today.
Troy Washington:You have been, you know, helping guide us through realize our profession, and we hope that we do the same for you. And she said, we have to appreciate evolution. There lies the solution of your greatness. And, again, she just said there right now just so y'all know. And, I just wanna tell everybody that we're grateful for everybody that joins us every single time we do a show, because without y'all, we wouldn't be here.
Troy Washington:We'd be doing something. We probably wouldn't be here, but we, you know, definitely would be doing something. But just to remember that y'all are great, and the only reason you would think that you're not great is if you're looking at somebody else and, you know, saying that you're not them. But you need to look within. You know, that's what this show was about.
Troy Washington:And we are we do understand that within is unknown, and it might seem dark. But you are with you 100% of the time every single day, and you have the wherewithal and all the opportunity in the world to dig deep and look within yourself and learn yourself better than anybody else can learn you. So that way, it is no darkness. But as long as it's dark, you got something to grow on. And, Jay, you can go ahead and take get it and take us up out of here, baby.
JClay:Yeah. Real quick, I wanna shout out what Robert Clay says. Shout out to my my father. He said everything is
Troy Washington:first Shout out.
JClay:Everything is first worked out in the unseen ideal realm before it appears in tangible form. The realm of the unseen is the realm of cause. The realm of the seen is the realm of effect. Thoughts are causes and conditions are effect. Yes.
JClay:Indeed. And so yeah. So I I appreciate everybody again. I truly say it for for rocking with us. If you found this helpful, hit the share button, like, subscribe, do all that good stuff.
JClay:And just remember, you're a perfect creation made by a perfect creator. So you might as well accept your perfection and enter perfect mode. Perfect mode. You If I reminded you that you are perfect, would you argue me down or step into your perfection? Welcome to perfect, welcome to perfect, where there are no excuses, no expectations, and we explore the world without limitations.
JClay:I'm Jay Clay, rapper, and spiritual teacher. With my co host Troy Washington, your friendly neighborhood realtor, let's be real. So let's be perfect. Let's be perfect. Perfect.
JClay:Perfect. Perfect.
