0:01

Hello, friends. Welcome to

0:04

the Robcast. This is episode 362 and

0:07

it's called, Thank You for Pointing.

0:10

And in this episode, I'm speaking to

0:12

a number of you very specifically and

0:14

literally, thank you for pointing. But

0:17

all of you, really. And you

0:20

know, at some point, you'll see what's going on in

0:22

this episode because it's, yeah,

0:25

it's like I've been carrying this around

0:27

and having this experience the past two

0:29

months and I kept thinking, I should,

0:33

oh, that would be really fun to tell the

0:35

Robcast people about this experience I'm having. So that's

0:37

what we're doing here. But before we do that,

0:40

let's talk about the Where'd You Park Your

0:42

Store? Because those of you, my

0:45

new book is called Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? And

0:48

those of you who have read it, and

0:50

you've met Heen Gruber's and Diltud and Noonyea

0:52

and found out what a series five is,

0:55

and you spend some time on Furtis, it

0:57

just feels like there should be a coffee

1:00

mug that says piddle, piddle, piddle on it,

1:02

right? And there probably should be

1:04

a t-shirt that says Heen Who Grows Bears. And

1:07

there probably should be a t-shirt

1:09

that says, you just got Bobby

1:11

Freelanced. Are you with me? Now, if you

1:13

haven't read the book, you're like, what is he talking about? There's

1:15

some inside baseball. If you have read the book, a

1:18

tote bag that says I love

1:21

Diltud would just be about perfect,

1:23

right? Just in time for

1:25

the holidays. Or

1:29

you know how the book opens. Obviously, if

1:31

you had a print of the brown ball

1:33

for your wall, that would be something. So

1:37

my beloved longtime friend, Brent

1:39

French from WANU company,

1:41

he and I have been, and his

1:43

partner in design and life, Rachel, we've

1:45

been talking about opening a

1:47

store on my site that would just

1:49

be all these random things from the

1:52

book. And I've

1:54

always wanted to do this.

1:56

So yeah, it's open. I think

1:58

the day that this episode comes out. the data

2:00

store is up and you can find

2:02

all sorts of it's just

2:05

it's so absurd and ridiculous

2:08

that it just feels like we're

2:10

right on track so

2:13

for that special someone who you're wondering what would I

2:15

get that person but they have read the book or

2:18

maybe even not just give them a random shirt that

2:20

says you messed with the wrong series

2:22

5 and see what happens but uh

2:25

there's tons of where'd you park your spaceship I

2:28

don't know merch stuff things totems

2:31

artifacts at my

2:33

new where did you park

2:35

your spaceship merch store which I can't stop

2:37

calling where'd you park your store so

2:41

it's a world and you're invited into it

2:43

and then god look

2:45

at this double header announcement

2:48

episode in addition

2:50

to the opening the great I

2:52

can't even say it the grand opening of the word

2:54

you park your store the

2:58

rob bell art show is now the

3:00

rob bell art store if you've seen

3:02

some of the stuff I've been doing

3:04

on Instagram the paintings we've

3:08

now opened a store on my site so

3:11

pretty much all of the paintings that

3:13

you've seen on Instagram are

3:16

on the store the rob bell

3:18

art store and you'll

3:21

see there's like prices and shipping and such and

3:23

then if you purchase one of the pieces literally

3:25

here in at this table that I'm

3:27

working out in the garage I'll wrap it up and

3:30

ship it to you mm-hmm mm-hmm

3:32

that's how this is gonna work that's where we're at so

3:35

a number of you have inquired

3:37

about collecting these pieces

3:39

and it's now possible through the

3:41

interwebs and seriously

3:44

I cannot tell you about

3:46

that with another absurd laugh

3:49

that we're doing this but we are doing this and

3:52

also of course

3:54

if there are pieces you've seen on Instagram that aren't

3:56

in the store yet just email the site and all

3:58

that info will be out my site and

4:01

we'll see if we can sort something out and US

4:04

shipping domestic shipping is on there

4:07

but if you are all this is on the

4:09

site but if you're international email

4:11

us and we'll see if we can figure out how to get this

4:14

to you because some of the pieces aren't

4:16

even really shippable they're kind of heavy you

4:18

know a 1940s kitchen

4:20

cabinet door would

4:23

be a bit primitive to try and ship unless

4:25

you're really into it but anyway so

4:27

some of the pieces you'll need to pick up

4:29

here in Ohio somewhere but oh

4:33

god it's so fun to talk about

4:35

and there's

4:37

a painting a pink painting that just says

4:39

in big letters this is why we have

4:41

retrograde new

4:52

my goodness my goodness so that

4:54

stuff is all happening and

4:58

oh yeah and then what is today today is Sunday

5:00

tomorrow a number of you are gonna

5:02

are here in Ojai I assume you got here tonight

5:04

for the next two days and tickets

5:07

spots are open for January February March April if

5:09

you want to come sit under the trees so

5:13

there there's that there was that double

5:15

header announcement fever but now I need to

5:17

tell you about what's happening to me because

5:19

it involves you and a

5:23

number of you have been what is

5:26

how'd I say it there's like a like

5:29

an opening up of my heart that has been

5:31

happening for a couple of years now in

5:36

some sort of new way and a number of

5:38

you have just jumped in and we're like we

5:40

see you Rob Bell let's just take this farther

5:42

and I want to tell

5:44

you about it because it is really

5:46

really moved me because I uh where'd

5:50

you park your spaceship came out in

5:52

August and then

5:54

I told you all about it and

5:57

I I love this is honestly the

5:59

first thing I've ever made

6:01

that I was like I could just talk about

6:03

this these characters and this story because

6:06

I keep seeing it in new ways and

6:08

understanding it in new ways and I

6:12

was like I could just talk about this and

6:14

talk about this for years. I'd never had an

6:16

experience of making something like

6:18

this and so

6:20

I Told you all

6:23

hey if you got a blog which makes me laugh if you're

6:25

doing the blog thing which a number of you are it turns

6:27

out or YouTube channel or magazine

6:29

or Podcast

6:33

I love talking about these characters and I

6:35

love hearing what you see in the story

6:38

So a number of you have taken me

6:40

up on this so for two months now

6:42

six weeks ish I Have

6:45

been doing interviews with you all which

6:47

turn into conversations which turn into encounters

6:49

which turn into Sharing

6:51

our lives with each other as we connect

6:53

over the old zoom machine. I mean it

6:55

is It has

6:57

been so just to give you an idea

7:00

who you who who's taking me up on

7:02

this musicians and

7:05

birth doulas and yoga

7:07

teachers and comedians and

7:10

coffee roasters and biologists

7:13

and mental health activists and entrepreneurs

7:16

and paracard readers and intuitive

7:19

healers and sound engineers and Australian

7:21

life coaches and Shout

7:24

out to Priscilla Velez whose partner

7:26

Oscar Gomez baked as far as

7:28

I in my life the first

7:30

loaf of Sourdough with rosemary

7:32

I've ever seen which is a thing that happens

7:35

in the book and she held up the loaf to

7:37

the camera on her computer and what

7:39

a moment for this

7:41

fella here and then

7:43

therapists and psychologists and psychoanalysts, do

7:45

you notice like to have a

7:48

psychoanalyst from Illinois

7:52

read your 550 page

7:54

novel that happens on other planets and then

7:56

tell you what he sees in the novel

7:59

Oh my god science teachers and people

8:01

who run art schools at universities

8:03

and poets and I'm

8:08

telling you, you people, uh, so

8:11

I've been talking with you all

8:13

and engaging and around the story,

8:15

but inevitably two minutes

8:18

in we're into it.

8:20

We're into our lives and who you are and

8:22

who I am and how we, how

8:24

we meet in these living

8:26

rooms in the sky called zoom. And

8:28

so I, uh, you've been pointing

8:30

things out to me now for a couple of

8:32

months and it

8:36

like how much I've

8:38

learned, how much I've been stretched,

8:41

how much I've expanded, how much

8:43

I've grown from you all you

8:45

teachers, uh, showing me

8:48

all kinds of things. So, uh, first off, a number

8:50

of you, the moment, you know, like

8:52

there's this zoom where the each person comes up

8:54

and you see what space the other person's in

8:56

a number of you, as soon as we, uh,

8:59

pop up and can see each other, a number

9:01

of you are like, are you in

9:03

your garage? So

9:07

a number of conversations have begun with that. Wait, is

9:09

that the garage? Um, yeah, yeah,

9:12

it is. Yeah. It's the corner of

9:14

the garage. It's the corner of garage. Cause I, uh,

9:17

and then instantly we get into all sorts of

9:19

interesting things because you want to talk about the

9:21

book, but a number of you, you

9:24

want to talk about the writing of the

9:26

book and how a person, how

9:30

do we orient our lives around

9:35

what grabs us, what

9:37

arises, what gets

9:40

a hold of our heart? How do, how do

9:42

you, cause there's always the bills, uh,

9:44

right? We all have that. Like, how

9:47

do you stay true to who

9:49

you are and follow this sense that sometimes you

9:52

don't even know what it is. You just know

9:54

you're following something. It's very hard to articulate and

9:56

yet it's stronger than anything that you can adequately

9:59

describe. And so you

10:02

like tilt your life around this and it

10:04

can get really wobbly It

10:06

can get really dodgy like are

10:09

we are we gonna make it? Is this gonna work and a

10:11

number of you when you point out that I'm in the garage

10:14

Yeah, I'm in the I'm in

10:16

the garage because I can't afford an office because

10:19

yeah, that's that's why I'm in the

10:21

garage because We not

10:23

able to do anything more than work out

10:25

of the garage right now and what's

10:27

so Helpful of

10:30

you is a number of you are like, oh, that's so

10:32

badass Yeah, there's

10:34

something punk rock. There's something There's

10:37

something about and this is a this is a cycle.

10:39

This is a pattern in my life and a number

10:41

of you are like Oh, yeah, I know that where

10:44

Yeah you like there's

10:48

like a how bad do you want it and

10:50

then you rearrange your life and you Scale

10:53

down you get things skinnier

10:55

leaner so that you

10:57

can be true To the

10:59

thing that you're doing next Yeah,

11:02

and it's not like it stops.

11:05

It's not like that process

11:07

ends and so many of you you point

11:10

out that I'm in the garage and then

11:12

instantly we're connecting about how This

11:16

listening and then following and

11:18

then creating our lives and

11:20

then that Feeling you're

11:22

wide awake in the middle of the night going is this

11:25

just gonna work or you'll be able

11:27

to pull this off and yet something within you is

11:29

like so alive and

11:33

That's question this

11:35

frustration this angst of

11:38

Don't you just reach a point where it's all sorted? Don't

11:41

you reach a point where you can kind of glide in coast?

11:46

In my experience know something better

11:48

happens you learn to

11:50

stop fighting it Yeah,

11:53

you embrace it because

11:55

you're learning you're

11:57

trusting you like even more of your It's

12:00

like sinking down even farther into your body that

12:03

you can trust this you can trust this seal

12:05

You'll figure it out. You'll figure it out. And

12:07

so that wobbly achy

12:10

Tenuous those fears what

12:12

am I doing here? I mean I remember two

12:14

years ago None of you were

12:16

asking for a book from me about spaceships and

12:19

I knew like if I I

12:21

knew if I went to a publisher and Was

12:24

like hey, this is a new book. It's called word your Parker spaceship.

12:26

I knew it'd be like uh

12:29

Yeah, well, where's the Rob Bell book? I'm

12:33

like, that's me and this is the Rob

12:35

Bell. I knew that that discussion just wasn't

12:37

gonna work and I remember thinking oh

12:41

We're gonna like this is new territory.

12:43

We're just gonna figure out

12:45

how to make this and release it

12:47

and kind of do

12:49

it ourselves and well, this is new and Yeah,

12:53

and all those old And

12:55

some ways they're like primal or existential. Are we

12:58

gonna be okay? Are we gonna have what we

13:00

need all that stuff and what's so? Wow,

13:04

what is the word? Solidarity

13:07

the I don't use a word like comfort, but that is

13:09

the word of Talking

13:12

about all of this with you all

13:15

something about the corner of the garage You

13:18

see it and we start talking about it

13:20

and and Yeah,

13:24

yeah Yeah, and we connect

13:27

Over that Yeah, yeah,

13:30

we're I thought we're all doing well pretty

13:32

much doing the same thing We're

13:34

listening to our lives. And if you listen to

13:36

your life and you get still enough speaks

13:39

and you get You

13:42

get ideas you get visions you get images

13:44

you get pull you get desire you get

13:46

a next step you get You get a

13:48

little plan going You get

13:50

just enough to take the next step and it's shaky

13:53

and Yeah,

13:55

yeah, and you all now for a couple months

13:57

have been pointing that out like wait You

14:01

sort of rearranged your whole life.

14:03

Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah,

14:06

that's what we've been doing for a long time, but this

14:08

one was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

14:11

There's the what a person did, but

14:15

then there's the how the person did it. And

14:20

in my experience, when I would meet up with people

14:22

who had

14:24

done or made something that I had noticed or admired,

14:26

I was always, yeah, yeah, the thing that they did,

14:29

but how, like what

14:31

they have for breakfast, that kind of thing. Those

14:33

are the things that, these are like the granular

14:36

details. And I love how a

14:38

number of you have said, okay, this question seems kind

14:40

of trivial or almost like

14:42

a detail question, but it's actually, and I

14:44

always, always am like, hold on, I

14:47

know that this question is gonna be great because this

14:50

is where we meet each

14:52

other in the how you

14:54

actually arrange your life. Yeah,

14:58

that's where all the big stuff, that's

15:00

where you find

15:03

all the big stuff. Yeah, so we're

15:05

here in the garage because this is

15:07

what we got to work with right

15:09

now. Oh. Yeah,

15:13

and of course I have in my head, I

15:15

can picture this like barn

15:18

and it's got skylights

15:21

and it's got all these

15:24

open doors that open so that the

15:26

whole thing is like sort of an indoor, outdoor

15:28

space so I can write. Like,

15:30

you know, we always have, often we have in our

15:32

head like this ideal, like, and there's like a section

15:34

where the, for writing, could

15:36

I write on this old computer that can't, doesn't

15:38

get internet so that I can't

15:41

be distracted. And then there's like another, then

15:43

there's all the art painting supplies and there's

15:45

like the surfboard rack and the mountain, but

15:47

like, right, are you like this? You have

15:49

like this space in your head and

15:52

of like, ooh, this is now this, now I

15:54

could really do some stuff here. And

15:56

then there's where you are right now, which is, you

15:59

know, cold in the winter. hot in the summer space.

16:04

That's how it works. You make do.

16:07

You embrace. That's there. You go. We

16:10

embrace the limitations. Yeah.

16:13

They're like a filter. They sort out

16:15

how serious we are about

16:18

doing what we're here to do. Yeah. So

16:21

thank you. Thank you for

16:23

pointing out in the garage

16:26

and reminding me of the story I'm in, which

16:28

is the story that you're in, which is the

16:30

story we're all in about how

16:33

it works, figuring it out and how you may

16:35

arrive for a minute and then you

16:38

get a new, and then you keep

16:40

going. Okay. Second thing I

16:42

love is you all point out the details.

16:44

Here's an example. Every,

16:48

uh, every

16:51

book I had come out, I would say

16:53

to the publisher, can

16:55

we please have a, can it have

16:57

a huge font? I want to have

17:00

like a bigger font, like a big

17:02

font, because then people who like

17:04

an open it and you're like, Oh, I could read this

17:06

book. That's how I am a bigger font. It's like, Oh,

17:08

I could read this. Especially people who don't read might open

17:10

the book and go, Oh, I could read this. Um, cause

17:13

when you write a book, you want people to read it. And

17:16

every publisher, as you can imagine is like, yeah,

17:18

but a bigger font means more pages, which means

17:20

more paper, which means more weight, which means more

17:22

printing, which means more costs. So, uh, thank you,

17:24

Rob Bell for the suggestion, but no,

17:28

but this for

17:30

the first time I got to pick

17:32

a big font and cause this

17:34

stuff matters to me. And I love

17:38

how many of you pointed out a number of you hold

17:40

up the book and you're like, Oh,

17:42

big font. Thank you. You

17:45

noticed you people noticed.

17:48

And the reason why I point out

17:50

you pointing out, Oh, look at that.

17:53

Inception level rings of pointing out me pointing out

17:55

what you all have been pointing out to me

17:57

is And

18:00

I know some of you are gonna be like, oh my God, yes,

18:02

is we get within us a

18:04

way it has to be. So this is a shout out.

18:06

This little bit right here, this is like a hymn to

18:08

all of you who

18:10

you have this way that it has to be. And

18:15

you don't know why, you just know that it matters.

18:17

Certain things matter to you more than they appear

18:19

to matter to the people around you. And

18:22

you've been apologizing and explaining and

18:24

defending and rationalizing for so long,

18:26

especially in areas of like, perhaps

18:28

for you, as aesthetics, like

18:31

the bathroom needs to be a particular shade of green

18:33

or the office, the desks need

18:35

to be arranged in a particular way with

18:37

the windows here and it

18:39

matters. And everybody's like,

18:41

it's fine. Or perhaps for

18:43

you, there's like an order, things, there's

18:46

an order to things. And when it's

18:48

not done according to a certain order,

18:50

maybe it's like an accounting thing, it's

18:52

a numbers thing, it's a structural thing,

18:54

it's an execution thing. And

18:56

everybody else is just sort of like shirt untucked, you know what

18:58

I mean? Like, that's no, but for you,

19:00

there's like a, there's an honor

19:03

and dignity to things following a particular

19:05

procedure. And it's not because you're hung

19:07

up in your all red

19:09

tape about things, it's just because there's a

19:11

certain honor and dignity

19:13

to things being done and executed

19:15

well. And you have rationalized

19:18

it and apologized and defended.

19:21

And yet that's what your,

19:24

that's like, that's who

19:26

you are and it's the gift you

19:29

give. I mean, my mom tells stories about

19:31

me from a very young age needing the

19:33

hem on my pants a

19:36

certain length. And she had

19:38

a sewing machine and I would be like, I

19:40

need it exactly like this. I

19:42

need the hem a certain way. This comes way

19:44

back. This is not new to me. Yeah,

19:48

for all of you who it has to

19:50

be a certain way and

19:52

it's not because you're stubborn or upset, maybe you

19:55

are stubborn and obsessive and compulsive or

19:57

whatever, but. For

20:00

so many of us, it's

20:04

not a problem. It's our

20:06

contribution. Yeah, and it

20:08

takes a certain sort of resolve

20:11

and can feel like a form

20:13

of madness. Like when you get

20:15

a vision for how you want it, you're

20:18

like a, I was gonna say a

20:20

dog with a bone, a dog on an

20:22

ankle. What's the proper image there? But

20:25

you'll put up with all sorts of deprivation.

20:27

You'll put up with all sorts of whatever

20:29

to get it a certain way.

20:32

And especially when

20:34

there are people around you who are like, relax,

20:36

it's not that big of a deal. It doesn't matter

20:38

to me. I think we're fine. I think we can just go with

20:40

it like this. But to you, it is. Yeah,

20:45

so I'm telling you, thank you, those of you who

20:47

point out some of the details in this. Or the

20:51

audio book came out a couple

20:53

weeks ago where I read it

20:56

here in the garage. Like I wanted

20:58

it to be read. I'm just reading it to

21:00

you. Page turns mispronouncing

21:03

my own words. I was like, no, keep

21:05

that all in. Keep it like if I was just reading it

21:08

to you. If I was just reading it to you as my friend, can

21:11

I read you this scene from my

21:13

new book? I wouldn't stop and be like, okay, hold on. I

21:15

need to do a take two of that. I would just keep

21:18

reading it to you. And if I messed up, I would maybe

21:20

do the sentence over, but then I would just keep

21:22

reading because we would just be humans together in a

21:24

space. And I wanted the audio book to feel like

21:27

that. And a number of you have been like, yeah,

21:29

it feels like that, thank you. Feels

21:31

like you're actually just reading the book to me.

21:34

I've always been like, that should obviously be

21:36

how an audio book feels, but

21:39

the senses you

21:42

and I get that like, this

21:45

matters to me. This

21:48

matters to me in ways I

21:50

don't even understand. Yeah,

21:53

it's okay. It's like a

21:55

welcome to the club. Yeah,

21:58

yeah, welcome to the club. And

22:01

you all pointing out

22:03

these details, it

22:08

just means the world. It

22:10

just means the world. I think from when I

22:12

first started doing my work and there was a

22:14

public dimension to it and people

22:17

felt free to weigh in on

22:20

how well I was doing. I

22:23

can remember the first time I took like I

22:26

was 22. I

22:29

was 22 the first time somebody like

22:31

legit came after me criticizing

22:34

me and I was

22:36

so utterly devastated. I can see now,

22:38

what was that, 31 years ago. Yeah,

22:43

you have to figure out how to do that. You

22:46

have to figure out if you're going to create

22:49

and make things and move in the world.

22:52

You have to figure out how you're going

22:54

to deal with the critics. How

22:57

you're going to blow back. I

23:00

can see how part of the ways the armor

23:02

that I created was just to make it and

23:04

put it out. If

23:07

it's not for you, find here it is. For

23:11

some people it's not for others. Deal with it and I'm on to the

23:13

next thing. To talk

23:15

to you all and have you all point out the details

23:17

is like, oh God, honestly.

23:21

It just, you know, it feels

23:24

so good. Okay

23:29

here we go. Third thing. You all have been

23:31

pointing out to me now for a couple of

23:33

months and I love it. You

23:38

read this book and then you point out all

23:41

these connections and

23:43

callbacks and Easter

23:46

eggs that I didn't know are in

23:50

the book. Because

23:53

yeah, my work for so long

23:55

has been knowing what I was

23:57

saying. it,

24:01

honing it, memorizing it, going out

24:03

on tour, doing a Robcast. This

24:05

is what I'm saying. This is what I'm trying to explain.

24:07

Here's what I just said. Here's another example of what I

24:09

just said. Here's a third attempt to try to explain it

24:11

with slightly different language. But

24:14

this, where'd you park

24:16

your spaceship? The

24:20

only way the story worked

24:22

and works is I had

24:24

to set aside all of

24:26

the way I'd ever done things. It was

24:28

like starting over again and

24:30

again with this beginner's mind of

24:32

this story. I

24:35

don't know what it means. I'm not trying to make any points.

24:38

If I did think,

24:41

well, this is my point here, or this is

24:43

what that means, or especially if

24:47

none of the characters, people are like, are

24:49

these characters influenced by real life people you

24:51

know? No, not that I know of. Because

24:54

if I all of a sudden did, if I would

24:56

think of somebody I actually know, then it was like

24:59

a trap door or a kill switch. The story would

25:01

just go dead inside me. Now,

25:03

obviously, it's all shaped by the life I've lived

25:05

and the people I've met and the places I've

25:07

been, I assume. But it's almost like the subconscious

25:09

took over and is like, Ravel, you're not going

25:11

to know where the spaceship gets parked, so just

25:13

follow the story. It

25:15

was like, just what happens next? And I

25:17

have no training. I don't know what a second act,

25:19

third act, I still don't understand that stuff. I

25:22

know there's a protagonist, an antagonist, and

25:25

there are arcs. Some of this I kind of understand,

25:27

but as a general rule, I haven't been to retreats

25:30

or workshops or screenwriting or how to write a novel

25:32

or how to write a multiple book

25:35

series of novels on other planets. I don't

25:37

have anything in my head about how it's

25:39

supposed to be done. I just only have

25:41

what happens next, who

25:44

do we meet, what

25:46

did they say, how did

25:49

the person near them respond? It's

25:52

like this very simple

25:55

step by step, which almost is like the

25:57

antidote to all those years of... I

26:01

know exactly what I'm trying to explain. So

26:05

here's why this is so fascinating, is

26:07

you all start pointing things

26:09

out to me in the book, and

26:12

I'm like, oh, that is fascinating.

26:14

That's in there. And I'm telling

26:16

you the stuff that you, the

26:20

things that you all have seen and

26:23

some of you have pointed out, I

26:26

mean, just like when

26:28

they get to the planet, you're talking about and they

26:30

go to tube one and they walk in and it's

26:32

filled with trampolines. It's the first thing they do on

26:34

planet. You're actually one of you is like, is that

26:36

interesting that when he leaves his home planet and he

26:39

goes to the first other planet

26:41

he's ever been to your chin, the first building that

26:43

he goes into is filled with trampolines. And the first

26:45

chapter, Rob, of your first book that you wrote in

26:47

2004, the first chapter is

26:49

about trampolines. Isn't that an interesting callback? It's

26:51

like, what the what? What?

26:56

Or how that scene where Bournes is

26:58

telling Heen Grubares about how

27:00

his mom once ate a potato in one

27:02

bite, but then she couldn't speak because she couldn't

27:04

chew it. So she had to let her

27:06

mouth, like her saliva break down the potato over

27:08

three days. So she had to invent a sign

27:11

language to communicate with her son. But then

27:13

it's Bournes son who when Heen,

27:16

spoiler alert, brings him back, then Heen can't

27:18

talk because he breaks his jaw. Those two

27:20

things are like speaking to each other. I

27:23

mean, you people themes of exile, themes of

27:26

disorientation, the number of

27:28

things you have seen.

27:30

It's so God, you

27:32

all I

27:34

would write a book just to listen to you all tell

27:37

me what the book is about for you. And

27:39

some of you are like, is this what this seems about? And it's like, I don't

27:41

know. Or I love it. One of

27:43

you said you were talking about something. You're like, you

27:45

held up the book and you said, now you say

27:47

on page 132. And I was like, wait, no, I

27:49

don't. No,

27:52

I don't. It's a story.

27:54

It's a story about these people who

27:56

are having these experiences. I didn't say anything. Who

27:59

in the story? It

28:01

gets so bendy and whatever. But the

28:03

same thing happened a couple

28:06

years ago. The first

28:08

time I did a two day like we

28:10

do them now where you show up

28:12

and bring your question because I

28:15

remember this was in Los Angeles

28:18

right before COVID walking

28:20

to the improv because we

28:22

lived in that neighborhood. And for

28:25

years I prepared. Tell

28:27

me if this sounds familiar. You had the

28:30

way that you stay safe is

28:32

you prepare. You know those things that you

28:34

do so that you'll make sure that in a situation you're

28:36

covered. For me for

28:38

years I prepared. So if

28:41

it was going to be two hours I prepared

28:43

three hours going to be two days I prepared

28:45

for three days like whatever you do don't get

28:47

stuck with dead space or run out

28:49

of things to say oh my god that's like

28:52

talk about nightmares for someone like me. But

28:55

then I remember the first time I was

28:57

like no don't prepare anything just

28:59

have people bring their questions and then just

29:01

be present and see what happens. Go

29:04

with the questions and follow them with them and see

29:06

what happens. And I remember just oh

29:09

god like me knocking nervous.

29:13

What if this doesn't work like this. A

29:15

lot of people came from long ways away to

29:17

have these two days with us together and if

29:19

it doesn't work it really doesn't work.

29:23

And then the first person came up

29:25

and sat across from me and asked her question and asked

29:27

some questions about the questions and we were in and I

29:30

was like wait people are so much

29:32

more interesting than me. I'm

29:35

telling you that Rob Bell

29:38

spent years preparing

29:41

and then knowing what I was going to say. And

29:44

then all of a sudden a couple years ago when I first just

29:47

went in assuming that all of the things

29:49

that would happen were already in the room

29:52

in you people. And

29:54

it was like I don't know what's coming next. I don't know

29:56

what this person is going to want to talk about. I don't

29:58

even know what I'm going to say. in response to

30:00

it. Suddenly I was like, wait,

30:02

I have been talking for so many years when

30:05

the people are so, these people are so

30:07

much more, I would so much rather

30:10

listen to them. And even now, knowing that tomorrow morning

30:12

I'll go over to the art center and be with

30:14

a number of you for two days, I

30:16

can't wait to hear what you say.

30:18

Do you see the smashing of

30:22

Rob Bell assumptions about things that is

30:24

going on in this old

30:26

heart of mine, which is getting newer

30:29

by the day, the smashing of arrangements

30:32

and assumptions and even subtle,

30:35

how would you even say it, hierarchies. I

30:38

have stuff I know and you know, come on

30:40

in and I'll show up in your city

30:42

and tell you what I know. And even that's been just

30:46

velvet hammered into pieces because

30:49

of how interesting it

30:52

is for me to

30:54

hear you. Yeah.

30:58

And this goes for me, like I

31:02

was trying to decide whether to talk about this in this episode, but let's

31:04

just talk about it. When I was 27, the

31:07

tradition that I came from, the spiritual religious

31:09

tradition I came from, if you

31:11

were a pastor, a church

31:14

would what's called ordain you.

31:16

It's almost like a stamp

31:19

from the sky. It's almost

31:21

like a bless it. Like

31:23

a, Hey, this person's legit. They can be

31:25

there. I don't know what

31:27

allowed or we back them. It's

31:29

like in rap, when rappers cosign

31:32

for each other. Yeah. It's

31:34

like a, it's like a community cosign of somebody. Hey,

31:36

this is one of our pastors and we're going to

31:38

ordain them, which means I don't,

31:40

it's like a piece of paper. Honestly, honestly, with a lot

31:42

of things in religion, you start talking about them and you're

31:45

like, wait, that makes

31:47

no sense. But anyway, when I

31:49

was 27, 1200

31:51

people showed up in Grand Rapids, Michigan for

31:54

my ordination service where

31:57

I was ordained, which just,

31:59

God, does that feel like? like 23 Rob's ago, which

32:03

I would now describe ordination as

32:06

a public recognition of your specialness. But

32:08

now here's, and I'm laughing when I say

32:10

that because they didn't ordain any nurses that

32:13

night in that church. They

32:15

didn't ordain any firefighters or teachers

32:18

or people who clean, design and

32:21

build buildings. They

32:23

didn't ordain anybody who works at the sanitation

32:25

department. Yeah, and for

32:28

a number of reasons you've

32:30

done this sort of work. You know what

32:32

I'm talking about. Family of origin, lineage, trauma,

32:34

all those kinds of things. I

32:36

took to this. I was like, oh, okay,

32:39

got it. Yeah, give me a mic. I got

32:41

this. I took

32:43

to that. But

32:45

I can see now the ever so

32:48

subtle separation in

32:50

there. And

32:53

in pastor world, people talked about, when

32:55

were you called? But

32:58

I never met somebody who sells cars, who

33:01

was like, I felt called to cut

33:04

hair, right? I

33:07

felt called to teach

33:10

government, the local high school. But in this

33:12

one area that I happened to be drawn

33:15

to, there was this idea. Yeah,

33:18

and it creates ever so subtly. Some of you right now

33:20

are like twitching, like, oh my God, I know that. Yeah,

33:26

also subtly creates a separation. And

33:29

you love earlier means, you love the work, you

33:35

love people, you just wanna help, you just wanna

33:37

serve. But there's also, we're a mix. There's also

33:39

all these other things going on. And

33:41

we have to love all the earlier us's and all

33:43

of it. It was all how we got to where

33:46

we are. But something

33:48

about talking to you all about

33:52

this book, which

33:54

is also related to sitting under those trees with

33:56

you all, which is also related, it's

33:59

like, Yeah, I'm

34:01

telling you, it's healing.

34:04

It's healing in

34:06

some deep, deep,

34:08

deep way. I can feel it,

34:10

I can kind of name it like I'm trying to name it

34:13

for you now. And I say

34:15

all this to tell

34:17

you what it's like to talk to you, but I've

34:20

noticed a number of you are having very

34:22

similar experiences where you

34:25

played the game, the programming, the conditioning, how you

34:27

were taught the thing works. And

34:29

now you're like pulling it all apart and

34:32

you're understanding what was going on

34:34

and why you moved the way that you did

34:36

and why and like

34:40

cleaning things up and healing.

34:43

How would you call it healing? Yeah,

34:47

realignment. Yeah, and that's

34:49

happening to me sitting here in this garage

34:52

talking to you all, watching

34:55

you point out things in the

34:57

story that I wrote that I

34:59

never saw and having you like, uh,

35:02

there were two of you who'd have a podcast. I'm trying to

35:04

think which podcast it was. And

35:07

you had been discussing for days a particular

35:10

thread and then laid

35:12

out your theory to me about the

35:14

story that was so it was brilliant.

35:16

It was funny. It was kind of

35:19

convoluted. It was quite insightful. I was

35:21

just like, my

35:23

God, people are astounding. And they

35:25

got that out of

35:27

a text, a story that I

35:29

made that I didn't even see.

35:31

I know nothing. Uh, you

35:34

guys are like, you see more about

35:36

me than me at some way. So

35:38

here's what, here's the thank you. Thank

35:40

you for showing me me and us.

35:43

What a gift.

35:47

Okay. Let's do two more. A

35:50

number of you have

35:53

pointed out the profound, deep,

35:57

abiding grief, sadness,

35:59

love, loss and disappointment in the

36:01

book. You're like, yeah, the book

36:03

is bizarrely hopeful and buoyant

36:05

and electrifying, and it's also sad,

36:10

and got

36:13

so much grief and loss and disappointment and numbness,

36:15

and especially the main character, Heen. If you go

36:17

on the journey with Heen, if you go on

36:19

this 500 page journey with this guy,

36:22

and as some things begin to happen, yeah.

36:26

Yeah, and here's how a number of you have said it.

36:28

You've said, Rob, you've been like this, what

36:30

are you, there's an Enneagram world of you people

36:32

out there. You're like, you're like the seven with

36:35

the seven wing. You've been like this positive, hopeful,

36:37

buoyant, but then this book is your

36:39

most personal book yet, to which I always respond,

36:41

how is a book about other planets and spaceships

36:43

in the future, my most personal book yet? It's like

36:45

all those earlier books, which were like me going, this

36:47

is what happened to me, this is what it meant

36:50

to me, this is how I felt about it, and

36:52

then I write a book about this whole cast

36:54

of other characters and this other time and place, and

36:56

you're like finally, literally a couple of you said, finally

36:58

we got a really personal book from you. Once

37:03

again, I have no idea how anything works, but

37:08

a number of you have said, this is the

37:10

first time when we

37:12

can feel your grief and sadness and loss

37:14

and disappointment, and my

37:18

God, thank you for pointing this out, because

37:21

it's true, and I could feel it in writing it. I

37:23

could feel it in writing it. To this day, there

37:26

are so many parts of it that if I start reading

37:28

them, I just get wrecked,

37:30

or you all bring up certain scenes, and we'll start talking

37:33

about them and I'll find it, like oh my God, I

37:35

think I'm about to like tear

37:37

up, because it still means, I don't even understand what's

37:39

happening in me, that that is, it's

37:41

like pre-rational, or it's way past and

37:44

deeper than the mind. Yeah, yeah,

37:47

I have not done episodes

37:50

about how difficult it is to be a dad. I,

37:54

for whatever reason, I talked

37:56

to before about even recently on the

37:59

Robcast. about ease just make

38:01

sure it looks easy being a form

38:04

of armor I developed yeah

38:06

being a dad has

38:09

taken me to the very very edge yeah

38:12

how do you play how do I what

38:14

do I say now how do I act now I

38:17

am bonkers about these humans

38:20

who have the same last name as me oh

38:22

my god I can't

38:25

even humans can make other humans and

38:27

then oh the

38:29

setup is just made

38:31

to just wreck

38:35

your heart and it's

38:37

also like the highest of highs

38:39

but the lows the moments

38:41

when you're like feeling

38:44

like especially if your kids hurting especially if your kids

38:47

struggling if you oh I

38:49

don't even yeah so if I just if

38:51

I even begin to go there I just whoo

38:54

or being a partner to somebody

38:56

long-term like walking

39:00

with someone through life like for

39:02

three decades and rediscovering

39:06

the person and having

39:10

all the stuff within you that you prefer not

39:12

to get dragged up to the surface

39:14

get dragged up to the surface just by simply sharing

39:16

your life with someone falling

39:18

in love again and again and again

39:21

but then falling in love

39:23

because yeah you

39:25

needed to fall back in love because

39:28

it got it was got

39:30

really rocky there like all

39:32

that that's that that

39:35

shit is rugged people's yeah

39:38

yeah that can like

39:40

yeah I get with the greatest thing ever and

39:43

can wreck a

39:45

person with at moments of like I

39:47

have no idea how to move forward I don't know what

39:50

to say I don't know what to do or just let's

39:52

just go back to the bills how

39:54

how do you stay tuned into your

39:56

life and not check out how do

39:59

you stay live and vital

40:01

and connected to your heart and

40:04

follow what feels like the

40:06

path that's opening up in front of you and bills

40:11

and all the unexpected expenses that you're like, how

40:13

are we going to do this one? Yeah,

40:16

that is like, oh

40:18

my God, please tell me if you

40:20

got that one cracked, that code cracked, like

40:23

figuring out how it works. And just when you

40:25

feel like you figured out how it works, right?

40:28

And you round the band and you're like,

40:30

oh great. Now I

40:34

got, now we got to do this? Yeah, yeah,

40:37

yeah. This

40:40

uh, yeah, and

40:42

the disappointments, the, the so

40:46

many disappointments and sadness.

40:49

Yeah. And letting it like pass through

40:51

me and seeing how much of it

40:53

was bottled up and literally writing this

40:55

book and feeling things

40:58

passing through me that I'd been

41:00

carrying around for years. And

41:02

then I get on a zoom interview with you

41:04

all and we meet

41:06

each other there at

41:09

the grief and sadness and loss and disappointment.

41:11

And I've been talking to you for one

41:13

minute and wow, here's another humanoid. Here's

41:16

another person who is singing

41:18

the same song. There's like a, whatever you call

41:21

it, let's call it a frequency of vibration, a

41:23

tone, a resonance. Like yes,

41:26

somebody else who's been down

41:28

this path, which is all of us, but what

41:32

an experience. Yeah. So thank

41:34

you. Thank you for pointing out. Some

41:36

of you just come in, you like, you

41:38

have lists of questions and you have them

41:40

highlighted, but some of you just from the

41:42

first question, you just go, you're like, okay,

41:44

let's talk about what's really happening in this

41:46

book. And what is it about your life

41:49

that you were ready to write this? Oh

41:51

my God, I love it. And the more you're like, I

41:53

can tell some of you, you have questions you really want to

41:55

ask and then you have, you know, where'd you first get

41:57

the idea for the book? But

42:00

whenever I'm like, no, no, ask the stuff you really want to

42:02

talk about. And I'm telling you, we just,

42:05

oh God, we just go there so

42:07

fast and God, it's

42:10

helping me and healing me and opening me

42:12

up and yeah, I love being

42:14

a civilian. That's

42:21

the word I use for it now. Just a

42:23

civilian, it's all just jacked up

42:25

like everybody else. Just a hairball

42:27

of loss and grief and joy

42:29

and desire and just all of

42:31

it. Just, just falling down the

42:33

stairs and the smile on my face and holding

42:36

my heart. Yeah.

42:46

And then here, one more thing you all pointed out and

42:51

every single one of you, I think

42:53

maybe a couple exceptions have pointed out,

42:56

Hey, and you have no problem

42:58

saying this, which I also love. You're like, Hey,

43:00

you seem like, like you turned a corner, like

43:02

there's some whole new life you're living, like you're

43:04

free and happy and creating like never before. Some

43:07

of you just say it that straightforward and

43:09

I love it. Cause you're right. Yeah.

43:13

Yeah. You're right. Yeah.

43:16

And it's even more, I don't know now.

43:18

It's funny, humbling, like

43:21

to go around the world for years, being like, here's

43:24

how to be free and happy and create. What is

43:26

it? How to be here and the

43:29

endless ongoing creation of the world and love

43:31

wins and all this stuff. And then to

43:34

like, Oh, wait, there were all new

43:36

rooms in the house. I didn't know about,

43:38

there are all kinds of new spaces to

43:40

move into of actual freedom and liberate, which

43:42

came through all sorts of

43:45

pain and acknowledging what I'd been carrying

43:47

around for years, like 2023. Uh,

43:52

boy, I it's December. So you know how, like, I just got

43:54

that thing from Spotify that tells you what

43:56

you listened to this year. People start talking, looking back on

43:58

the year. 23 stretched and

44:01

wrecked me like no other

44:03

year ever. It was it had

44:05

the lowest lows my

44:07

dad died this year I I

44:11

don't even know if that cracks the top five of Brutal

44:16

heartbreaking things That

44:19

I experienced this year Yeah,

44:21

I mean that was that

44:24

was surreal enough and and That

44:28

experience of sitting in the front row

44:30

at my dad's funeral me like wait. Am I at my dad's

44:32

funerals my dad not here Yeah

44:36

that that alone Was

44:38

I don't know that you know, that's just how

44:41

do you even put words to that? I don't even know that

44:43

might not even crack the top five of Yeah,

44:47

and I've been down the road. I'll perhaps be able to

44:50

talk about some of that. It's you know, it's

44:52

like you got to let it You

44:54

don't know what to say at some point it

44:57

sometimes when you go through things there's nothing to

44:59

say at the moment, but Yeah

45:02

Yeah, it's not fascinating how that works you

45:05

can find new

45:07

kind of even a sense

45:09

of authenticity like you're being truer to yourself

45:11

than ever and It

45:13

can also be at the same time you're going through

45:15

things. You never thought you'd ever go through Yeah,

45:19

and the heart doesn't need to pick the hearts

45:21

like yeah, these are the feels. Mm-hmm

45:23

That's what we're going through right now. The heart isn't like

45:26

well, is it this or is it this? The heart doesn't

45:28

even pick the hearts like it all just sits side by

45:30

side. Yeah, perhaps that's you right now You're

45:32

like Alice. I don't think I've ever felt better and

45:35

I am devastated limping along

45:38

And it's all I'm both I'm all of

45:41

it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep Yeah,

45:44

we are those multitudes Yeah, and

45:46

a number of you have pointed this out and My

45:50

god, does it mean something to me? So,

45:53

thank you. Thank you for pointing that out Yeah,

45:56

I'm realizing now this is an entire episode of me

45:58

pointing out what you've been pointing

46:01

out. Yeah,

46:03

not just that. That's

46:07

pretty fantastic. Yeah, so

46:10

thank you. Thank you.

46:13

Yeah, yeah, to those of you who I've

46:15

met just

46:17

recently, what a gift you've given me. What

46:21

a gift. So

46:23

the, where'd you park

46:25

your spaceship? Where'd you park your

46:27

store? Merch, t-shirts,

46:30

hoodies, a piddle, piddle, piddle hoodie. That's

46:32

all. We're opening that on the

46:34

day this episode comes out, which is tomorrow. The

46:38

art store is open, which I

46:40

can't even believe I'm saying that. Who saw

46:42

that coming? My God, what a

46:44

2023. And

46:49

yeah, boy oh boy. I

46:52

felt, what a wonderful thing to tell

46:54

you all these things. So

46:56

my friends, I'm sending you so

46:59

much peace and love. This

47:03

has been the Robcast and this is your friend, Rob.