Discerning the Fake Chapter 03
Simulant: Gary Sheng
Role: Co-Founder
Company: Edge City
Guided by: Kristian Michail
Role: Founder
Company: Simulations
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Start Simulation ↓
Reading Time: 40 minutes
In this simulation, a founder is challenged by his divine calling and confronted by the illusions of the secular world. Through simulation, we tow the line between what is real and what is fake.
① Prelude
Welcome Gary, shall we pray to begin this conversation?
That's awesome. No one ever actually asked me that before on a call.
All right, let's do that. Would you like to pray or shall I?
Go ahead. It’s all you.
Dear Lord, thanks for the opportunity of bringing me into contact with another man on the path. Another man following your voice, and another man connecting his heart to Christ. What a miracle life is, and what a joy it is to be in the presence of your mystery. I'm looking forward to the next hour. Thank you for the opportunity to be with Gary on the other side of the world to go on this journey together. Amen.
Amen.
A thought just came to me. I'm beginning to realize that these conversations I’m having with creators are, from a media perspective, a whole new format of conversational consciousness. They are better than podcasts. Podcasts are boring. They're all the same. It's the same, same, same. They have become the latest news cycle, a talking head circus, circulating the same contrived garbage. I haven't listened to a podcast in a few years. I got burnt out by the nonsense. The same selected names, asking the same flavour of questions, all trying to borrow each other’s audiences to grow their soulless junk that nobody wants or needs. It’s a pyramid scheme for clones, influencers and marketers. Yawn! I saw Dana White walk out of a podcast yesterday, after the host blew smoke up his ass in the intro. He introduced Dana like a proper sycophant, praising him with compliments and worshipping him like Jesus. Like a true master of the game, unphased by praise or criticism, Dana just said fuck this and walked. It made Dana want to puke. He just got up, said he is over this podcast crap and bounced off the set. It was one of the most authentic things I’ve seen from one of the guys at the top. Dana knows he is just a normal man, with his faults and flaws. He doesn’t want some circle jerk or to be worshipped. I will run one of these simulations with Dana one day, he’ll love it.
Damn, that’s spot on. I'm so bored of podcasts now. They are just so useless. This is so good. I couldn’t agree more.
② Context
Ok cool, let’s begin. So contextually speaking, tell us who you are and what you're working on in your own words.
I'm one of co-founders of Edge City, a creator of pop-up villages for innovators that last one or more months. This is rooted in years of iteration trying to figure out how to change the world in a way where I don't feel regret. Where even if the change is not immediate, I feel like a scientist experimenting with different fractals of society. And not just like a kind of pointless, powerless cog in a Soros-like, soulless machine. I did my time at Google as a software engineer for four years. I’m well aware of what it is to be a cog and it’s not the vision I have for my life.
We want Edge City to be a society incubator. There are two senses of the term incubation. We're incubating associations within existing protocols or institutions in the decentralised world. For example, Uniswap is working with us to help create their association of delegates that govern their protocol. Etherium‘s core developers trust us to create and curate the spaces that cultivate and foster female protocol developers. We are an association of associations. We are a society of societies. But in both sense senses of the word, right? Society is in a way just a group of people, but it's also more than that. What is a society without buildings, infrastructure, an education system, food, farming and all that? So, we are innovating communities that may float around the globe as pop-ups but also in the long term, we want to point to physical infrastructure and towns that people would to make their homes. We want to help incubate these villages into real towns.
One thing I want to say is that I'm doing what feels natural or divine. It feels meaningless to me to be a cog in a giant machine. Whether that’s being an employee, or wanting to work in the White House, or, you know like secure signatures to get rank choice voting on the ballot. It all just feels so meaningless to me. I don't think that that's necessarily true for everyone. I'm kind of glad that some people don't find that boring. I want to believe Egde City is effective because it feels fun. It feels so fun to be the man organizing a bunch of interesting people, merging collectives and being like the shelling point, right? I feel the energy dude. We just secured Base as a partner today, the layer two Ethereum protocol associated with Coinbase. We’ve reached a level of legitimacy and it’s becoming a self-fulfilling thing. Legitimacy only happens If you keep on delivering, which is not an easy thing, right? I have this richness of trust that I didn't use to feel. It’s a legitimacy wealth instead of empty sums of money. Where people just feel safe to work with me because they know that I care about their success. It’s been helpful for me to understand that this way of doing things is not normal. I feel amazing for my network when they succeed. I feel like I've succeeded. I feel the same pride. I often get more fired up than they do. And then that gives them more fun. For example, one of my friends is building guild.xyz. I didn't say that he was creating a token-gated events tool when I saw the product. I said he's creating foundational infrastructure for a golden age. Because he is. It's not like I was bullshitting either. This kind of approach has a big difference in spirit, and it’s real for me. Spirit is a big part of the equation of getting us from this atomistic kind of pointless cog in the machine-type energy to the future ahead.
I felt all that a lot. Thanks for sharing.
③ Challenge
So there are a couple of ways we can proceed in this conversation. I invite you to choose a challenge that’s important to your heart. Personal or professional. Wherever you choose to go, just choose something so important that it would make it worthwhile for you to go down this rabbit hole and the next hour.
One thing I've been proud of is surrendering and having faith in the unknown. Faith was such a crazy concept for me in the past. It was like how can you have faith when you don’t know what's going to happen next? But to have faith is just such a surreal feeling. I've slept like 10 hours in the last four days, because I am so inspired leading up to Edge City alongside ETH Denver in a couple of weeks. I’ve been surrendering to my faith and the guiding spirit as much as ever before. I feel pretty guilt-free right now, and I don’t know everything that's going to happen, but I feel amazing.
So what are you being challenged by specifically?
Well, there was one thing that irked me last weekend. I was invited to this private social club event. I thought I had a really good connection with this lady, but in retrospect, I think it may just be her job to have a good connection with people at these events because it is her job to onboard new members to this club. Nonetheless, what I felt for this person was more than most people I have connected with in the past. I told her to come down to come to Denver for our Edge City conference. Because we were vibing and talking about things like experience design and community. And after a great initial chat, I have not heard from her since Friday. I didn't do anything creepy. I’ve done creepy shit before and lacked empathy. But this wasn’t one of those times. I think it's possible that she was willing to say whatever it took to get the commission on the spot. She was a former model. If I owned a high-status social club, I’d probably structure it in the same way. However, we were able to talk about a lot of things I genuinely wanted to talk about and it was like, this was not purely shallow. But my reaction to not hearing back from her was like, “Huh, that's funny. She was probably just trying to sell me into this club.” Worst cast, she was bullshitting me to sell memberships. Maybe something bad happened in her life and it’s been a hell of a week for her.
I hear you are left feeling confused after what you thought was a solid connection with someone that you vibed and who you thought vibed you. Correct?
Yep. My old self would have tripled text to follow her up. But now, it’s more like it doesn’t matter. If this person is not urgent about getting back to me, then it wasn't meant to be. If I were speaking to younger mentees about this kind of thing, It would be like ‘stop being attracted to things that are not attracted to you.’ However, there is strange folly in human nature. It’s this bizarre universal pattern that can trick every one of us. We kind of think that someone's high status is because they're not attracted to us. It can easily hook us into wanting to get their approval them even more. That's something I need to overcome as much as anyone else. It’s the same with new businesses or partnerships, right? If you get rejected by some big-name brand or protocol, but then it’s like ‘Oh well, go find a different one.’ It’s not the end of the world.
④ Character
Ok, cool. The challenge you are up against is getting clearer. So, what would you label this kind of person that leaves you hanging? In two words if you can.
Mid-level. Upon reflection of my conversation with the girl at the social club, I am coming to see that what came out of her mouth wasn’t as special as I thought. One of the first things we talked about was that she loves personal development, and she said “I'm kind of over the blah, blah, blah lifestyle.” And now my thing with that statement in hindsight is like, who doesn't say that? I’ve said mid-stuff plenty of times during my journey. I've been mid-level and I'm trying to get to this higher level where I don’t have to mould myself to another’s level to make it with people. The whole moulding process is not that authentic. Right? A mid-level person would probably tell me their favourite colour is black when in fact it was blue. Or like, ask themselves ‘What colour does this person think is the best? Oh, yep same! That's my favourite colour too.’
So like a Mid-Level Chameleon?
I wouldn't say that chameleon is a particularly good thing because I think you should be your species. Sure, you should have a different protocol for interacting with a different species but you are undeniably that species. Everyone else’s description of you should not be dissonant, right? I want all my friends to be able to say he cares about human flourishing and is a crypto enthusiast who builds pop-up villages. I want my core to be congruent with the world, right? I want resonance, and I feel the chameleons of the world have no interest in that game. I don’t want to do whatever it takes to win the social situation. That’s so uninteresting to me. If am honest, I’d say I am still scared of talking about God freely with some networks, and not others. In the past, I probably would have laughed about religious people in front of non-religious people, when deep down I resonated, respected them and wanted that type of confidence with my faith. I don’t want to suppress my truth to win the social scene.
I’ve met so many people in New York and DC, and I don't feel like the average person in these scenes has a good heart. I kinda think of Sam Bankman Fried, you know, like, he just understood exactly what he needed to say to get his way. Whether it was on stage at the Aspen Institute or the World Economic Forum, he just said whatever was required to win the scene over, at all costs. It’s fucked up.
You mentioned these people being Heartless. So is the character that’s challenging most, a Heartless Chameleon?
I think that's quite accurate.
So if people like Sam Bankman Fried, George Soros (who you mentioned at the start of this conversation), and the lady that ghosted you from the member’s club are Heartless Chameleons, what does that make you?
Identity is everything, dude. I'm just trying to live and listen to God. And I don't know what the alternative is. Honestly.
We'll look at two words that describe who you are. If you're up against a heartless character, what character do you find yourself playing in response?
An Obedient Servant.
Ok, but if you could criticize the character that was feeling ordinary after your most recent encounter with that lady, what character is that? Now is not the time to pick the ideal character you want to be. We’ll have time for that later. If you rush into the aspirational, you’ll skip the truly inspirational.
I love this process Kristian, this is great. I think I want to start a three-day fast today. You're getting me into a very spiritual mode. I can see the vision of my life becoming clearer as we speak. I want to rise in my Christianity and share my truth with the world. This is a big leap for me. I want to become a leader in Christianity through the lens of tech, crypto and investing. I am starting a Crypto-Christian guild on Telegram as we speak.
That’s sweet. I love the creative energy, and I am in awe of the spirit. However, can I request you get off the apps and just be fully present for this? Trust me, stay focused and I will make sure you get something that will change your life forever.
Yes, 100% I can do that. I just love building and making notes as I go. It’s very easy to just want to race off and get into action. I appreciate your patience, let’s get back to it.
I completely get it. I’ll make notes of action items that may arise for you. Action is a big part of simulating, all will be clear by the end conversation, I promise.
So basically, I don't want to call myself a Christian on Twitter, but after this conversation, it’s like why the fuck do I have to worry about anymore? Also, when I was conceiving of Edge City with my co-founders, we didn't talk about God or anything like that either. We're just so busy in Istanbul launching an event in December. Then after I was like, guys, I want to talk about what I believe in. Talking about Christ is a bit like a gay guy coming out of the closet. My co-founders were cool about it. But, I guess I have that similar estranged feeling that a gay person may have because I believe in Christ. And I think the next step is I've never talked with my parents about Christ. I have begun playing Christian music when I'm in the car and that's the most dope thing, right? But the topic remains in the background still. Mainly because they're so uncomfortable talking about God.
You first said you were an Obedient Servant. However, you’ve now gone a step further and you say you feel like a Closet Christian even in your own home, with your parents. So which one is it?
It’s both, but it’s also Crypto Christian. It's a pun on crypto, like a Secret Christian but a Cryptocurrency Christian. And so I'm the Crypto Christian dude. That feels fucking good to say. It's funny, right? I love it when it's really funny. It's also triggering because people are still uncomfortable talking about religion. And they meet me, I’m super down to earth and I'm not trying to convert them. But what I'm just trying to do is to find others who want to talk about God, and the spirit, and just be in fellowship. I have great friends who are Atheists, Muslim, blah blah blah, and I am confident I will convert them without trying but it's like because I'm not trying.
Okay, great. Is this Crypto Christian the character you wish to explore for the rest of the simulation? If so, I’ll call you this for the rest of the conversation.
Yes, that’s cool. I fucking love this. This is epic.
⑤ Facts
🅐 Doing
Cool, let's look at the things that you're doing in your life as a Crypto Christian. What actions or tasks do you take in this character?
You're so fucking good at this. Dude. I'm like pretty good at helping people with personal brands. I feel like you're really good because I'm really good and you're better than me.
I appreciate that. Thank you. But I intend to see if we can go even further than where we are currently in this conversation. So tell me, what do you do day to day as a Crypto Christian? We're looking for the doings and some plain old facts.
I'm empowering early believers of Edge City to figure out their place in the ecosystem. They come to me wanting to be consulted on their projects, sharing updates and progress, kind of like they would with an investor or advisor. I get on a lot of calls, a bit like speaking with early church members. Kind of like in the bible with the twelve disciples, shepherding the believers. As a leader, I need to be less impulsive to whom I give time and credence. Instead of accepting everyone into the community, I need to screen people to better make sure everyone involved is no-bullshit and authentic.
I get people fired up to do whatever our community wants to within Edge City. I don’t have huge expectations of where this pop-up village experiment will lead. I think it’s more fun that way and that’s when everyone is at their most authentic. So what I do is I get a bunch of high-calibre, authentic and unique people in the same room, playing a bigger game together. They’re not trying to be chameleons. The people I curate feel the energy of what they want to do authentically and they're not being stopped but other people. My role is just to keep the chameleons out to protect the energy. I think I want to also now write my first blog post and publicly share it with the world as to why I am a believer in Christ. Thank you for sparking this. I’ve been sharing my faith incrementally and somewhat conservatively up until now. Testing the waters, but not jumping in face first. But I feel all that’s about to change. What do I have to be afraid of? I am very okay with people unfollowing me, to have the right people following me. I have no sense of loss for someone who gets triggered by my priorities with God.
Anything else? Consider the things you are not doing as well. They are just as crucial, Crypto Christian.
I'm gonna come out of the closet to my parents. I came out to my brother in the winter and he was very supportive. He's like, ‘I'm probably not going to do that’ but I’m glad that it's helping you. I’m very happy to share with my parents now. I’ve found a lot of peace. I'm more productive, happier and energised than ever before. I'm meeting better people now because of this honesty about my faith also. It's just undeniable man. On Sunday night I had such a beautiful conversation with a leader in decentralized AI. What was meant to be 5 minutes turned out to be a two-hour call where we just talked about man’s free will and surrendering to God’s will. He shared the joys of having seven children, the sanctity of large families in the eyes of God, the shittiness of the education system and how it’s stripping our youth of their souls. I left so fired up. So coming out to my parents, that’s a big one. I have not had open talks with them about God yet.
What are other things I have not been doing? I have not been fully committed to dating. It's delusional to think that I can make a life partnership work with an atheist, new ager, or a pagan. I’m not sure a girl being spiritual is enough. There needs to be a clear line in the sand. I don't think it can work if we don’t both love God, so I have not been dating around like I used to. It certainly doesn't feel it can work long-term without shared values. I need to accept that even if meet a really pretty girl, who might be funny and have a good vibe, those qualities are still not the most important thing.
If she is not receptive to leaning on the Lord and allowing me to lean on the LORD as well, then it’s just not gonna work out. So that's another commitment that I need to make. To open myself up to dating from a Christian perspective, and see what God has in store for me. And I think this line in the sand is very similar to how we started the conversation. Up until now, I have not created a boundary in my dating life between attractive women and women who have a relationship with God. This energy is a remnant of a pattern that says ‘fuck it, let’s just fuck whoever wants to fuck.’ It’s the same pattern that can creep into business also. Ultimately, it’s inauthentic. Women are very very sensitive to authentic energy. I guess so are partners and potential clients. I felt so unattractive this past summer dude, because I was at a job I didn't like and I was unsure about my faith. I was living with people I didn't want to live with and I just felt so unattractive. I knew that I couldn't be on the dating scene because I knew I would not be getting any quality women. But now I feel this abundance, you know? And the source for this abundance, in business and life, is something I’ve wanted my whole adulthood. By complete surprise, it’s now come to me in the form of Jesus Christ.
Thanks for sharing. That’s very cool and very authentic. It’s also the perfect segue.
🅑 Having
Let's look at the havings now, Crypto Christian. What results or outcomes do you have in your world? These could be material or non-material things.
I have slept 10 hours in 4 days. I am being fuelled by the holy spirit. I have never felt more focused and alive. On the point of woman, I have confidence that the type of energy I am stepping into will be attractive to a lot of people, but most importantly the right people. And I’m confident I have a lot to look forward to here as I come out of the closet.
With my parents, I'm not going to force my faith on my parents. I have a calmness about how I will approach the conversation. I will share honestly and answer their questions. And I won't lie to them. I truly feel like there's nothing to worry about. I'm just informing them on what I'm doing for myself and stepping into my path with God, which is every man’s right. I have a solid connection with the Vatican growing. I have been invited to do a pop-up village at the Catholic Institute of Technology and I’m planting seeds to bring Edge City to Rome. I will declare it now. One day in the not-so-distant future, we will do something sick at the centre of Christendom, at the intersection of Tech and Christ. I have strong Christian mentors. One of my close friends and his future wife, have never had sex. And they lived together for the last three years. I couldn't conceive of that before Christianity. When I met them a year and a half ago, I was like this is impossible. It truly made no sense to me why or how this could even be happening. Now, I know. I realize it’s because they both have a deep commitment to something greater than their flesh. It’s beautiful to witness their power as a couple. I think it's really helpful for people to meet good people. Being exposed to other people’s miracles is enough to want your own. I have enormous gratitude for being guided home to God.
Great stuff. What is it that you don’t have as a Crypto Christian?
I don't have all the ideas of how we will implement the cryptocurrency golden age. There is no crystal ball. I don't know what I don't know. But here's a thought that is coming to my mind. It's that people love working with me because I don't pretend to know. I just plant ideas. You decide what to do, right? That’s my philosophy and my governance philosophy for Edge City as well. The word ‘governance’ has been linked to politics and control. For me, the word has lost its way. I just love the human coordination of souls. I think the way that we've structured society is soulless, for the most part. And I think it's refreshing when people in like-minded networks mutually agree it's all about the soul. It's all about freedom, maximising creativity and not needing too many rules, right? I don’t have much care for rules. You need a vocabulary that’s centred around divine purpose. Where everyone is trying to honour soulfulness and no one's trying to be a chameleon. I don’t have time for chameleons. In Montenegro, 90% of people at Edge City were legit. People were like “Wow, you are this weird and warm autistic dude” and they loved that someone else cared as much as they. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a soul that cares about the future of humanity.
🅒 Being
Cool, that was very clear, Crypto Christian. Let’s explore ways of being that you are currently expressing in the world. Especially the ways you are being in response to Heartless Chameleons.
Crippling Doubt. There are even moments recently where I’m like to myself, ‘I may be completely delusion.’ However, there is enough evidence to suggest that is not the case. But, I have my moments. There are moments when I’ve been so doubtful that I didn’t know if I’d make it out alive. Doubtful has been a way of being that’s come and gone a lot. Last summer, I kind of wanted to kill myself. Everything seemed to be failing in my world. It was like 12-18 months straight of feeling deeply depressed. When I'm feeling depressed, I don’t have any recollection of the good times I’ve had in my life. I lose all memory of who I truly am as if I had never felt good ever before.
I've been to the same place. I feel like I'm just being mirrored. I don't want to interrupt you, but there's gonna be moments where I'll just put my hand up and acknowledge, I've been there as well. In terms of things you have, I hear you are mobilising some of the great minds in crypto and tech to come together and build the future. So, mobilising is a way of being. What else?
Enlightening, I think. I don't dwell on my achievements. I like to stay very present. And so when I get depressed, I get super depressed. I don't discount what I did in the past, but when I accomplish a lot, I quickly move on from that. One of my co-founders calls this a Gary Tsunami, where so much gets done and it feels like a storm. I'm sure there'll be a moment where I'll take a vacation and this tsunami stops. We are in a golden age, dude. It’s coming. It’s right around the corner. And it’s within all of us. That’s what I am feeling deep in my bones. I don't think people understand just how fractal humanity is. I'm not saying the golden age is all gonna rise at the same time, but in 10 years from now I think we're going to be shocked at how good some fractals of our society look. Like, damn that happen fast. ”Do you see this little town that everyone wants to live in? It was constructed in just five years.” That’s what’s coming. Energy is generated when people get authentic. You're either milking the system like a building contractor who uses the unions to exploit endless loopholes. Or you are working together to build the future, create a win/win and get shit done, effectively and beautifully. I’m being critical of systems that are failing us but energised about possibilities that await us. I am being generative. I want to generate collective flow states. It’s sad when people don't regularly experience individual flow states, but I think it’s just as sad when people don’t experience collective flow states. I think certain people can be anchors in generating a collective flow that radiates energy out in the world and turn, inspires individuals to rise and reach for the stars. It’s a symbiotic relationship. And my concern is how and where energy is being spread in the world. I am being discerning. For example, look at Kanye’s latest album. It's a lot of flash flash flash, money, money money. And in politics, it’s like zero-sum, zero-sum, zero-sum. There is a nationalist movement that exists which is ‘ do not bomb people’ and supports getting out of wars and respecting all nations and people’s sovereignty. I think that's on the horizon for America. For it to become a benevolent country, it’s probably going to from imperialist to isolationist, where it fragments off in many ways. I feel this change is a stepping stone to where we are heading.
I think the end game is what I call Cosmo-Nationalist, where you focus on your own needs first and are not being a hypocrite. But then, you figure out, how to create a healthy fractal of civilisation and a good hold on society. You eagerly open source as cheaply as possible, as generously as possible. And I guess as sustainably as possible, helping every other society rise. It’s all about getting as many circles to be as flourishing, radiating and divinely in alignment as possible. What’s that as a way of being? I’ll call it cosmic.
Some would call that a singularity. I call it circularity. When collective flow states are shared and transmuted through rounded and grounded forms of communication. Where we are one species made up of individuals, and in our totality form a whole circle. Circles allow the soul to flow. There is no hierarchy in circles. Everyone can sit in their sovereignty. It’s not triangular like a pyramid scheme, a top-down cult or a dictatorial overlord.
That makes sense. I am not looking for a world with no boundaries, where everyone is meshed into one. The last thing I want to see is a merger and acquisition of all markets and cultures—a global government where everyone is a peon answering to a ruler. I want a world where everyone re-discovers their sovereignty. I want a world where people discover their souls.”
⑥ Choice
All right, let's get to the next part of the conversation, Crypto Christian. I get the things that you want. I just want to explore the best character that’s going to have you get there. Maybe it’s the character you currently are, maybe it’s something more.
The words that are coming to mind are Soulful Coordinator. Another one is a Renaissance Alchemist. Golden Age feels good to me. Alchemy feels good to me. I’m just feeling in constant flow. I have a very strong ability to be focused on my mission and it just so happens my mission is to help other people focus on their mission and their divine purpose. It's like whatever makes the dominoes go.
So do you think being a Crypto Christian is going to get you what you want? Or is it going to be something else? Because I'm very clear that being a Heartless Chameleon is not the answer.
You know, this all kind of feels like a Trojan horse. I'm incubating the future of churches in a way. With the technology my friends are building collectively, it feels like I'm building the future of worship and devotion. It's a church that's floating around the world, but it convenes every so often. And it's the best thing ever. I think it's really hard to create a lasting community that's built just on money, right? Like there's always something that's like off. Because you're always competing with the focus on capital, money and maximising profits. Money becomes the central focus. Money is worshipped as God. I want to create a container where your soul feels more alive because it’s going beyond the money. Where it’s less about the number of members, and more about the soul of the collective. Everyone is better off, right? I don’t think that's easy to do, but that feels really like a really meaningful thing to focus on. I think the character is Obediant Alchemist. I'm not just here trying to create gold just for myself. I’m here trying to create gold for the whole world. I am listening closely to the spirit. I am bringing everyone together to supercharge their goldmines. I am incubating souls so they have their own identity. When I bring people together and then it’s like, ‘boom!’ Everyone involved is excited to be part of this thing.
Cool. Nice choice, Obedient Alchemist. Let’s proceed.
⑦ Simulation
Please close your eyes now, and get comfortable. Get your body nice and spacious. And when you are ready, we'll take a big deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Now I'm going to guide you to a special place. I want you to take me to a moment, sometime in the past, when you experienced being an Obedient Alchemist. Take your time to feel it. When you're there, let me know.
Yep, I’m there. I’m in Montenegro for Zuzalu, for what is a prototype for our first Edge City popups. But, now that I am there, I think Obediant Alchemist feels kind of below the vibe my heart is yearning for. In Montenegro, I displayed my secular talents in full swing. I’m brilliant at the secular game. I know how to find out what people want, I know how to connect them with others and I know how to create mutual value. But it doesn’t feel that spiritual, right? It’s not the most meaningful thing for me. What I truly want is to identify the believers in every potent scene. Tech, Crypto, Media, Science. I think there's something awesome about joining forces and helping these people have great win-wins and there's the self-awareness happening of it. A bit like a cross-superpower Avengers group that helps each other and becomes this ball of energy for humanity. People loved Montenegro, because I knew what people needed. Having worked at Google, I’ve developed competence. I am effective at getting people’s needs met. But the ultimate is not just fulfilling what people need, but it’s doing what the Lord wants and he wants me to help believers, first and foremost, so they can change the world. Wow. I've never said that before.
Okay, great. So it sounds like Obedient Alchemist is not the highest character for you and that there may be something more. Correct?
Oh, no, it is. I just wanted to share what came up for me in Montenegro.
Cool. Let’s go to another place now. Go to a time when you were up against a Heartless Chameleon. Enter that room, that moment, that experience. What's something you would want to say aloud to this challenging character?
I don’t know when the timing for something like this would be, but a flash has come to me about possibly reconnecting with an old co-founder. I left that experience feeling icky. He kind of feels like this lizard guy to me, like that’s how his brain works. I don’t have much to say at this moment to him. We ended on average terms. And I’m still sitting with it. However, the main funder of the organisation we co-founded had a really good heart. Because of that whole fallout with my old co-founder, I just divorced myself from this investor and stopped communication entirely, how crazy is that? I was thinking today about sending him a message. He’s been a great supporter of me, and I think I'm gonna do it after this.
That's a beautiful action that you can take. Alright, great. Keep your eyes closed. I want you to go somewhere now far in the future. A time and a place that has no time. It's timeless. It's maybe when you're grey and you're old. Maybe it's a decade from now or two or two decades from now. But it's undeniable that Obedient Alchemist is alive and real in the world. Where are you? What's happening? What has taken place?
I see soulful towns in my future. Like 2000-person towns, many of them all over the world, where creation and life are honoured. People are creating what they're meant to be creating. Where people are educated to be in deep connection with their spirit, with few intermediaries between people and nature.
Pause for a second. I want you to feel this moment in your body. What are you feeling right now? Given that you're in this soulful town, what’s the word that describes what you are feeling?
Flourishing.
Great. Take the feeling of flourishing and do deeper. You're in the heart of the moment. The village is alive and real. Obediant Alchemist is alive and real. What action would you take in this moment, in this exact scene, as if it's already happening?
I am playing with my kids. Just alchemising the village, connecting great people and answering questions. I am being a good dad and a husband, who makes my wife feel deeply loved and supported. I don't need to work but I work a few hours a day. I don't envision being stuck behind a computer. A computer is not the centre of my universe. If technology does not shift back towards the soul then we have failed. We have failed at developing what I call foundational technologies for a golden age. It's not about disrupting the old, it's about building a new world. No different to Jesus, right?
Connect back to your wife and children. Connect your body with theirs. What are you feeling?
Peace. I feel it peace in my heart. I feel the glow on my forehead.
Great. Put your hand on your heart and forehead, and feel the emotion. Appreciate the body and its wisdom. Receive it’s communication. When you are ready, I want you to go to a world, one year from now. To a place you’ve previously thought was impossible. What would an actual miracle be if this moment took place?
It’s something related to US-China peace relations. I have a deep desire to collaborate and contribute something really meaningful here. I don't know what it is, but as a Chinese American, I can't make this stuff up. My grandfather grew up under the Chinese Communist Party and made his way to America. So, there is a deep yearning for freedom baked into my soul dude. I have so much love for my heritage, but also such a love for this land right here, America, that’s given me everything as well. There is so much love, you know? I don’t see bringing the presidents together. It feels more like uniting the Chinese diaspora, especially those wanting harmony between the US and China. I see leadership and unification of these two cultures I deeply love.
That’s very powerful.
I also think as a general pattern that the black community, not just African Americans, but the black diaspora of the world is not very united. It's not flourishing. It's still very much stuck in a scarcity mindset. I feel a deep calling to help. I want to create like a God Wave Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I feel deeply called to do that. Wait, that’s it! God Wave Alchemist. That’s what I am.
Perfect. I love it.
Dude, this is a miracle. This whole thing has been so meaningful to me. As someone who helps people find their identities and go after visions they love, I am in awe. People are so happy when I contribute to them and it impacts their world tremendously. But dude, you're on another level. I have a million skills that I’m pretty good at, but when I meet someone incredible, I'm always taken aback. I can tell when someone is connected to a higher spirit. I feel like God is flowing through you with this whole gift of yours. I'm sure there are other things that God wants you to do too but this experience you are taking me through feels so right. And we have not pre-planned any of this. Right? I can feel the divine flow. God Wave Alchemist man. That’s so me, dude.
Yes, that is you. You should see the smile on your face.
My blog is called American 2.0. And in my blog, I said the spirit of Americans is everywhere. We make things happen and we make things better. I met some Chinese people in Montenegro, and they felt more American in a way than even myself. They were deeply connected to the spirit of America, and the promise behind this land of creation. It was stunning to see Chinese people speak loving words of America, in ways that I don’t even hear Americans speak. You’ve inspired me. I want to help the Chinese people who have been God deprived by law to pray to God, but whose spirits still emanate, to connect deeper with their souls. How fucking cool would it be to see Chinese people born in China singing and dancing to gospel music? Imagine Chinese people, African people, and American people coming together to dance with God.
My co-founders, they don't talk about God. But they are very soulful. And that’s what I care about most. I'm looking for soulful people. Even if you're not a Christian, or religious, or even that spiritual, you know you’ve met someone when they have a soul. The soul is very obvious. When someone tells you they feel your soul, that's the greatest compliment you can receive. God Wave Festival is going to happen, dude. I have two years to make this happen. Woodstock did not take a lot of planning. It only took a few months, because everyone wanted it. Everyone wanted to see Jimi Hendrix perform together with all these other soulful rock stars. I'm very much on the journey of collecting great experiences, great pastors, great technologists, great scientists, and great artists to come together.
”Make God Cool” is one of my slogans. Where God becomes the central focus of culture but in a truly cool way. Cooler than Berghein, or Paris Fashion Week, or Hollywood. It’s still not that cool to have a relationship with God. Maybe it’s never been cool.
I want to birth a renaissance of holy music, where revellers can fully embrace their faith. Sure, you may book a guy like Kanye West for the God Wave Festival. But it’s not about him, it’s about God. It’s about honouring unique individuals who believe in God and are serving God. However, we’d take the central focus and pressure off big names to be the saviours of the world. That’s God’s job. And it takes the weight off on any one individual to have to fulfil that role. And as a collective of individuals, we walk in fellowship to honour and serve the Lord. I’m going to make God Wave Alchemist my phone background.
Awesome, I love it. Let’s proceed to the final part of this conversation.
⑧ Integration
God Wave Alchemist, the conversation is coming to an end. Are there any final things you wish to share?
Edge City is in two weeks. It’s running alongside ETH Denver. I want you to be there. I’m going to pay for you to come, cover your flights and put you up. You can be my honorary guest. I want you in my world and I want my best people to meet you. Are you up for it?
Yeah, that would be cool. I’ve gone all in simulations and writing this book. So how could I say no? This is my year. Of course, I’ll come to Denver.
Give me your crypto wallet address. I’ll wire you some ETH now.
Done deal, I appreciate you very much. Thank God for the miracle of this conversation. If you could describe this conversation we’ve had, which I call simulations, then how would you do so?
I don't like that word, simulation. I think what I experienced here is the opposite of simulation. Where my mind goes with that word is ‘fake.’ I thought we were gonna play some game and do dress up or something. You are creating a super-reality. I feel so alive right now. You're seriously helping people. You're like a surgeon. You help people unfold who they are. You could be a therapist, but that would underselling what it is that you do.
Simulations is a paradox. It’s meant to have you question what’s fake about your world, so you can get real. Simulating may appear fake, but it’s a real as reality gets. We seek re-define what a simulation is in cultural consciousness.
I’m just tweeting you to the world. “I just spent 2.5 hours on a call with Kristian Michail, one of the best most revelatory experiences of my life.” I think we just laid out the blueprint for the future of humanity, didn’t we dude?
⑨ Action
I'm inspired by the actions you feel called to take. Coming out of the closet with your parents, making amends with an old investor of yours and putting the steps in motion to create a God-first music festival. It’s all pretty exciting.
I’m feeling relieved. I’m glad I was honest and chose a challenge that was actually bugging me. It has lead me to the most miraculous of places. I don’t care if it may appear off-brand or slightly on the edge. It was raw and it was real for me. I’m glad because the risk has paid off.
It's funny you say that, because simulation can be intimidating. To expose your raw self is one thing, to be cool sharing your process with the world is another. I’ve simulated with many people, and it’s very common that people just don’t want to go to that raw place. They’d rather play it safe and stay in control. Survival instincts kick in. I empathise with that fear, but I do feel you miss out on the core value if you don’t play full out. You have been truly authentic throughout, it takes enormous courage. I found that to be true in my own leap into faith. Once I started speaking my heart and sharing my truth about God openly, it was like my world changed forever. Only God can judge me. My work is with him.
There’s one last thing. I want to share with you the email I am drafting up to the investor I broke contact with. I feel called to share my heart and give thanks to this man, who truly is a great dude. Let me read this out. Hey, Jeffrey,
I hope this message finds you well. It may seem a bit weird, but I've doing some reflecting and something struck me. It's been over a year and a half since we last communicated. I just want to thank you for the immense support you offered me. I regret the way I abruptly stopped our communication and want to extend my sincerest apologies for that. I need to express that I wouldn't be here today, without your influence. Your optimistic outlook on life is something I strive to embody every single day. Seeing my old partner succeed in his new endeavour with your support fills me with joy. It's a testament to the kind of impact you have on those around you. I’m up for re-connecting if you are. Best, Gary.
Yeah, I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who moves so fast. How do you feel?
I feel light. I am tired of carrying this weight, this unnecessary spiritual baggage. This man deserves my thanks, and I feel grateful I can share it with him. I was miserable at Google. He encouraged me to see that I could change the world and reform things from the bottom-up. He gave me the nudge as an elder. The words ‘I believe in you’, that I could pivot my career and be a leader were very helpful for me. Thank you for guiding me to this place Kristian.
So tell me, who named you Kristian? Did you choose this name yourself?
My parents named me Kristian. There is an irony about it. We weren't a religious family, but we were traditional. We are Greek and Italian. We went to churches for christenings, weddings and funerals, but the actual following of Christ per se hasn't come into my life up until this year. It's started intensely through me and it's now blossoming with my parents. I don't think they intended the name Kristian in a religious sense. They just wanted a beautiful, strong name. I don’t think they chose it for Christ at that time. But God works in mysterious ways. This year, at age 30, I had the revelation of who I was by realising the meaning and truth of my name. My whole life now shows a clear journey of me coming back home to God. My name is Kristian. That's my prophecy. That is my destiny. And it's been absolute medicine realizing that truth. I wouldn't have even started to study prophecy if it wasn't for what happened in Gaza, on October 7th 2023. I deep-dived for two weeks into the history of religion because the Bible is made up of prophecy. 35% of the Old and New Testament is prophecy. I had to study prophecy to get who I was, and who I am is my name, Kristian. And as a Christian, I am a part of Christ, ‘Son of God.’ My last name Michail means ‘Who is like the Lord.’ And then my middle name Alexander means ‘Protector of Man’. So, my full name means ’Son of God — Protector of Man — Who is like the Lord.’ It’s potent and it’s speaks to the core of my soul. I had to have this realization about my name and with that my path back my creator became a natural next step.
What a miracle life is. Thank you. This was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had.