Mik: (00:01)
Catch.
Christel: (00:02)
Service to life.
Christian: (00:15)
Live in the moment! It is right now and it’s the best moment to feel alive.
Christian and Mik:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you say nice? Nice-nice. Nice!
Mik: (00:25)
For almost two decades now I’ve had this quote by Steve Jobs on the top of my Facebook page: Don’t live in an illusion that you’ve got something to lose. You are already naked, Steve Jobs said. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t follow your heart.
Christian: (00:45)
Exploring new things, getting new knowledge, sharing new knowledge. That’s what it’s all about.
You know what? Australia is often described as one of the friendliest countries in the world. And in many ways it truly is. Kindness isn’t just something a country owns, it is something every generation chooses.
Mik: (01:16)
Really, to be in service to life is to seize the day, seize the moment. And and find some sort of deep happiness in being part of something that is bigger than yourself.
Christian: (01:29)
I have a toolbox in the toolbox that is full of tools which bring me happiness. One of them is a quote which is: ‘There is always an experience hidden in the unexpected.’
Mik: (01:42)
A quote by a famous tour guide – a Danish tour guide – in Australia. His name is Christian Nicolajsen.
Mik: (02:02)
‘The old gentleman was recognised by his status. The new gentle man is recognised by his service. He rises into responsibility.’
Christian:
And all of these quotes come from the book ‘Man of Earth’ written by the famous author, my friend and the co-host of this podcast, Mik Aidt.
Mik: (02:15)
So anyway, Christian, let’s get started and say welcome to our new listeners who can now be part of this journey. Welcome to the Service to Life podcast Number 1.
Christian: (02:27)
…on the charts in the world
SONG:
There’s always an experience hidden in the unexpected
Every conversation, every step, every life
connected Service to life, that’s the road we’re walking on
Two voices asking honest questions
We all belong
Mik: (03:00)
New listeners can begin here. And I say that because we are not starting from scratch. Even though this is episode Number 1 of Service to Life, we do have a history.
Christian: (03:12)
For sure, which was the Danish-spoken podcast was called Grib Dagen, that’s the name of it, but it means ‘Seize the day’ or ‘Carpe Diem’, as many people actually say it – being in the moment.
Mik: (03:24)
Hm. And I remember we were standing at a riverside before we started episode number 1, looking at the nature near your house and talking about our ambitions with Seize the Day – that podcast which has now been running for three years and 17 episodes. And one of them, I think for me, was that I felt this has to be a place where I can be honest with myself and maybe talk about, you know, the topics that we don’t normally talk about elsewhere.
Christian: (03:55.278)
It’s true, I have had the same thought about that. And then in hindsight we can see lots of the Danish episodes of the podcast – the topics have been everything between nature, science, AI, music, relationships, men and women, creativity. Yeah, and it’s been… everything was happening… – even when we take a bite of something, what’s happening in within our own body, we were talking about hormones. And I actually think that that was a good scene, we have already done that, and now we’re going to do it in English with new topics as well, so…
Mik: (04:30.152)
Yes, and we can just as well explain why we are switching over to English, because we live in Australia, and that’s an English speaking country, and it’s been a bit sad sometimes, you know, with our best friends – some of them are English-speaking people, and we are excited about ‘We’ve made a new episode of this podcast! But sorry, you can’t hear it because you don’t speak Danish.’ So the idea is to actually continue doing the same kind of topics, being the same people that we are, but now to open it up so we can actually be more inclusive.
Christian: (05:04)
Yeah, and I would say: be more inclusive in terms of the world population. I see if you think about it: we only included about six million people because of the Danish language. But now we have a possibility of… I don’t know… one billion people? How how many people who speak English? So… I would I really say…
Mik: (05:21)
Yeah, yeah. It’s like the global language.
Christian:
Yeah, definitely. And so, to our new audience – there’s a lot of them. There could be a lot of them. Who knows?
Mik: (05:44)
So, I think also to me what the Danish podcast has meant – it’s almost like writing a diary. You know, some people have a book where they write how the day went before they go to bed. Or they put little poems in sometimes or a drawing. And that’s exactly what we have been doing over these last three years: we’ve been keeping a diary and we have been telling ourselves and the listeners what we really are concerned about at this point in time. So that’s very much the content. It comes from the heart.
Christian: (06:21)
Yeah, but I would say it it’s not only concern, it’s also the joy of life, I would say. We have little recipes here and there about how we can actually approach the day every day, in a more positive way I would say.
Christel: (06:35)
Service to life – in service to you.
Christian: (06:45)
You know what, Mik? I just wanna tell you that I’m so happy about we have started this hiking club where we walk around different places here in Victoria. And last weekend we went into the Brisbane Ranges and did a walk next to the Anakie Gorge.
Mik: (07:02)
…[Danish language]… hvor man ku’ se månen i forgrunden og så ku’ man…
Christian: (07:04)
And while we were on this walk, I suddenly noticed something next to one of the gum trees, which is eucalyptus trees, and I saw this thing, and I thought, my god, that’s a good photograph here. Good opportunity for a Kodak moment. And what it was? It was just a single drop of deep red kino, which is oozing from the trunk of a eucalyptus tree. Kino is like a resin which is coming from the gum tree – a eucalyptus tree. And I took the photo and I showed it to you and you smiled and you said, ‘Well spotted, Christian!’. And then I remember thinking: we were walking the same path, but we weren’t seeing the same world. And that made me wonder, can we actually train ourselves to notice more of the world around us?
And by coincidence the the day after I actually read an article about a group of researchers who asked exactly that question. They have invited older adults to go for one 15 minute walk every week for eight weeks. Then they have they have two groups. Half of them simply went just for the walk, and the other half were giving one simple instruction. And the instruction was: Look for things that fill you with wonder. Look with fresh childlike eyes. Notice things that make the world feel bigger than your everyday concerns. And then there was one other requirement because during every walk they had to take a selfie. So the researchers wanted to know whether the people’s relationship with the world would change.
Instead of in relying on their own impressions, they asked independent facial expression experts to rate the smiles from the selfies. And those experts had no idea what the study was about or actually which participants belonged to which group. And then the computers measured how much of each photograph was occupied by the person and how much there was about the surrounding landscape that was taking the selfie in.
So this wasn’t just a feeling from the researchers, it was something they could actually measure. And something remarkable happened, Mik. Because week after week, you know the people from the group on the awe walks, they gradually became smaller in their own selfies. There was more sky, more trees and more landscape. There was more world inside the frame of the photos. And not only that.
Their smiles became more genuine. Isn’t that we fantastic? And then the researchers called this the small self. Because for a little while they stopped feeling like the center of everything. They literally started seeing themselves as part of the world around them. So both groups walked. But where we place our attention determines how much of the world actually reaches us.
What I love about this study is that it reminds me I don’t need to stand on top of a mountain or travel to the other side of the world to experience awe. It might be waiting in the texture of the eucalyptus bark. It could be the light shining through a single leaf or as in my case a single drop of deep red kino on the side of a eucalyptus tree. That’s what service to life is really about. Not always searching for a bigger life but learning to notice more of the life that’s already here.
So the next time you go for a walk, whether it’s it’s through a forest or it’s along a beach or simply down your own street, don’t just go for a walk. No. Look. Really look. Notice something that you’d never noticed before. You might come home with a photograph, or you might come home seeing the world just a little differently.
Harrison Ford, How We Care For Our Planet: (11:33)
Our lives are but a finger snap in the three point five billion year history of life on our planet. Any individual life, mine or yours, is nothing but a wisp of thread in the miles long rope of life. The most meaningful thing we can do in our time on Earth is to ensure that the rope isn’t too frayed for the next generation.
Christian: (12:04)
Service to life for me means that I’m not alone in this world. I’m a part of all the living in this world. Millions of different species, each with their own role, their own strength, their own way of contributing. Together we create something far greater than ourselves. And it’s essential for me that service to life that we actually have to be there for each other. Not only us human beings, but all species on this planet we call Earth. And in in that way I can feel by doing that I help life flourish within myself, in other people, and in the living world around us.
Christel: (12:56)
Service to Life
Mik: (13:06)
You remember, Christian, when we started the Danish podcast, it didn’t take long before we made something like a manifesto.
Christian:
Yes.
Mik:
…which was a very simple one based on a an evening talk I had had with my oldest son, who at the time was eight years old, and he was about to give his first speech to his entire school because he had been nominated to become the school captain. And he was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to say and so and I gave him like three rules of thumb that would keep him feeling good and safe about his speech, whatever he said. And the rules were:
Number 1: be yourself,
number 2: be humble,
number 3: use humour.
Yeah.
He did his speech and it was fantastic. And he actually, I think he listened to my advice. And then as we were talking about that in the podcast, we said, ‘Hey! We could use that as a manifesto for the podcast as well, because what does it mean?’
Be yourself. It means you know, speak honestly about how you really feel about something. Be yourself. And and number two, be humble. That’s something we Danes are pretty good at. I think we’re taught from when we grow up. You know, also in school we have this Jantelov, a special law in Denmark that don’t think you are anybody big or special. No-no, you’re just like the rest of us, kind of thing.
So we’re taught that through through school and our upbringing. to be humble. And I think it’s a good thing. Because it makes a lot of things more simple in a way and it’s a more gentle way to to step into the world.
And then thirdly, use humour. And that’s I think on your part, Christian, you’re good with that. I’m not so much a humorous person, but I admire people who are. So I’ll throw that one over to you.
Christian: (14:57.838)
Yes, so Danish heritage.
Mik: (15:02)
And this is exactly what the Service to Life podcast is going to be. It’s going to be very Danish, but it’s also going to be about Danes in Australia. It’s that lens that we have on life in Australia.
And and I think we can speak honestly about, you know, the culture that we meet here and the problems that we find here, but also maybe bring some positivity into that. What do we have with us in our rucksack as we come from another culture?
Christian: (15:30)
Yes, but I don’t think we should limit it to be the Danish heritage because we are immigrants to Australia and there’s a lot of different people for different countries who are immigrants in this… I can’t remember it’s more than a hundred different people from different countries that is living here in Australia. So I think lots of the things we’re gonna talk about is also from the perspective of being I would say born in another country and how everyday life is around here.
Mik: (16:01)
And I have a dog – and the dog is also Danish.
Christian: (16:04)
Yeah!
Mik:
Joey.
Christel: (16:10)
In service to Joey.
Mik: (16:16)
If you have a dog, I bet there’s been a moment where you and your dog looked into each other’s eyes and felt that sense of connection. That feeling, the deep feeling that you understand one another. That there is this deep feeling of love and respect. And it’s not something that needs to be spoken aloud, it’s simply something you feel.
There’s a sense of security being expressed without words. And in fact there’s something we can learn from that. If you’ve experienced having a dog or the cat, then you know that it’s deeply rooted within us that a large part of what life is about is our relationships. Knowing that we can rely on one another, we trust one another. And so there are the you know the familiar rituals. If you are Joey, which is the dog in my home,
Those ritual involve for instance going for a walk in the park, throwing a few balls, stopping by the rubbish bin because we’ve picked up some poo and also some plastic litter, things like that. And those regular rituals give life meaning. It feels good when we’ve done what we’re meant to do. There’s a deeper feeling underneath which is all warm and loving. That feeling of belonging, of friendship, safety.
I think there’s probably many dog owners out there and cat owners and pet owners who relate to what I’m talking about here. And my point here really is that exactly the same thing applies to what we call nature out there. The life that surrounds us. Because nature really is just another word for all the life that surrounds us. There is a deep underlying love there. And as soon as we begin to
Sense it and be conscious about it, hearing it in the bird song, or feeling it, even in the way the plants emerge and grow, expressing the power of life itself, designed to be part of all these greater cycles, the familiar rituals, the carbon dioxide being breathed out, taken up again by the plants, breathed out by us and our dogs, all these different processes that create balance on this planet.
And maybe it sounds strange, but I genuinely experienced that when you zoom out from that love you feel for your dog or your cat or your pet in your home and you extend that feeling to all the other living things, all the life happening outdoor in nature, in the garden, in the park, in the forest, in the ocean, wherever it may be, it’s all connected. It’s all part of the same story of connectedness, of trust, of how we need one another, and ultimately that we are in love with one another, in love with life on planet Earth. This little tiny blue dot in space, where we live, suspended in a vast darkness,
And firmly grounded in that feeling that life itself is the foundation of our entire human existence. And at the same time the reason that we’re here, of course, it really doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that. That’s what it’s all about. It’s why we’re here. We’re here in service to life on planet Earth.
Right?
Christian: (20:19)
When I’m looking in my toolbox, I have this one saying which is so helpful for me in every way, in all my choices in my everyday life, which is there is always an experience hidden in the unexpected. You you heard me saying this many times, and the reason why I’m saying this many, many times is because I really, really believe in this. When I have this mantra, it really gives me it’s a reminder for me that life itself often give us its greatest moments when things doesn’t go according to any plans at all. And that in a nutshell is for me helps me to stay present in the moment.
Mik: (21:00)
So what you’re saying, Christian, is that we are deliberately seeking surprises.
Christian: (21:07)
Yeah, every time, every day I actually do sometimes just what I did this morning, for instance. I went down to Bacchus Marsh where I live, and this morning I just had this feeling I’ll just turn right here. And and that I did that. And suddenly I saw something new, and in this case I saw some new birds which I haven’t seen for a very long time. And and and I’m very joyful about that. So and that was because I’m very conscious about there’s an experience right on this corner here, you know. That’s really nice. And the reason I want to give myself experiences like that is also because I want to feel happy in my life.
And I think if… you know, the comedian Jimmy Carr, he once said: ‘Happiness is your current situation minus your expectations.’ And I really find that that was really funny because he actually have a a quote from himself, which is leaning up what I’m doing. Because if you take that decision in your life, you actually really have opportunities in your life every day, which can give you new experiences. And because when you have new experiences, it’s not just about listening to a podcast of people talking about this and that. It’s also all the unexpected things which will give you a surprise, you know. And then the chemistry within our body suddenly hits me with dopamine and whatnot. Which by the way… We are also going to talk a lot about the biology in our own body.
Christel: (22:58)
The Cigar Parlour
Mik: (23:00)
Alright Christian, let’s go inside!
Christian: (23:03)
Yeah, let’s do it!
Alistair: (23:08)
Good evening, sirs. Welcome. It is my great honour to welcome you to the esteemed halls of our gentleman’s club, a sanctuary of refinement and tradition. Within these walls, history whispers through the very fabric of the armchairs and the echoes of conversation linger beneath the chandeliers. Here, amidst the warmth of mahogany and the glow of candlelight, you are invited to leave behind the clamour. My name is Alistair.
Mik: (23:57)
My name is Mik.
Christian: (23:58)
And my name is Christian.
Alistair: (24:00)
May your time here be marked by splendid conversation, exquisite flavours, and memories worthy of our cherished traditions. Once again, gentlemen, welcome to our sanctuary of elegance and grace. Enjoy your evening.
Christian: (24:17)
Thank you, Alistair!
Mik: (24:18)
Thank you very much. It sounds wonderful!
Christian: (24:21)
Yeah. I have looked forward to this for such a long time to actually experience this because you told me about this place, Mik.
Mik: (24:29)
Yes, I think, really, Christian, it’s quite interesting, isn’t it? It’s like flying back in time, 150 years or so. So could we order some drinks?
Alistair: (24:41)
Might I procure for you a glass of the finest port or a particularly distinguished whisky to commence the evening?
Christian: (24:49)
I would really like a single malt whisky.
Mik: (24:51)
I agree with you. Make it two.
Alistair: (24:53)
An impeccable selection, sir. I shall have it brought to you forthwith.
Mik: (24:57)
Thank you very much.
Christian: (25:03)
Every morning you wake up, it has been a nice rest and you can feel something somewhere on your body and we call it morning glory. I know it’s a bit taboo kind of thing, but it is actually very normal. And I had this thought about it which was wait a minute, i I can’t remember I thought about any sexual things about this. Why do I have this? And I… Not only why do I have this, I have it every morning for like forty-three years now. And I’m so curious, as you know I am. You know, I really needed to find out what is this about? What’s laying behind all this? And there is something actually which is not about sex, which is behind all this. That’s maintenance. So when we go to bed, yeah, somehow we go to sleep and then our body changes from fight and flight to rest and repair mode. And and that’s really what’s happening. And one of the things that’s really happening in the rest and repair is the maintenance of our blood system, including our genitals. And I say our because I’m actually including women as well. Because the blood is flowing and the blood is flowing in which I would say oxygen rich blood. Which is really what we need to flush our system. That’s really what’s occurring. And I can tell you for a fact I I wake up in the morning, I’m 57 years old, I’m stiff in my back, in my joints, in my knees, and sometimes in my neck. But I’m happy about I feel stiff that part, to be honest. That’s something. And then another thing I would say.
Mik: (26:54)
Except Christian that it’s sometimes a bit awkward when you get to the toilet ’cause the toilets are not designed for that. You know, what do you do? sometimes you need to go out in the garden instead or or you use the sink.
Christian: (27:08)
No, in my case I actually because I’m sitting down when I’m peeing, I’m I don’t have no no okay, maybe a bit optimistic about the size of my privates, but I can sit down, I can squeeze myself back to the seats and I can bend it underneath it and by nature it fades out that stiffness when the pee is flowing. But
Mik: (27:12)
Or even that’s not enough. Unless you stand upside down.
Christian: (27:35)
If I can just go back to what I… You know, my curiosity. And thank God for this, automatically, we have maintenance going on while we’re dreaming, you know. So because that erection is for men and for women it’s it’s it it’s going on the same it’s not visible and not as into your face, so to speak. But it’s actually the blood flowings into the private parts when we have what we call rapid eye movement time, which is REM time. Which we have about three to five in average. We actually wake up and we can see it. It’s it’s right there. So we know about it, we are conscious about it.
A lot of GPs use it as a guidance, as a warning system, or you can say as the canary in the coal mine, about… What’s going around in my body? There was actually one GP who asked me, Do you have the morning glory? And you know it’s a bit taboo kind of thing. And I say yes, because it gives a hint to the GP. Because the arteries, the vessels in our private parts is very much smaller than the arteries which go into the heart, etc. So if it already starts to affect in that area. It’s really saying, we need to look at something here in your body. You might get a stroke.
Mik: (29:09)
You might get a stroke!
Christian: (29:15)
It could be definitely there’s something the you know, the morning glory is unconsciously we just talked about this. It’s an unconsciously thing. It’s your body maintaining your health. Whereas a sexual act could be a lot of things occurring. You you really you are awake, the fight and flight mode, you can be worried, you could be stressed, you could be all kinds of things and the the thing is not working. But if you take that out of the equation, we go back to a simple thing which is the body reaction. And if if you don’t have the morning glory, there could be some health issues you need to attend to.
Mik: (29:55)
Hm. I’ve heard, you know, within the tantric circles that that and I think also in some Indian traditions that some men and women, you know, couples actually make use of this morning glory as a moment to you know to actually lie together and get inside each other and just have those five minutes without having any sexual thoughts. It’s it’s not going to end in a in a you know climax. It’s just that feeling of being close together. Connected. There’s some there’s something special there where you make use of your anatomy and and the nature of, you know, having this ‘morning glory’ as you call it.
Christian: (30:36)
Yeah yeah but and the fantastic thing about this besides just being inside her is that you are actually skin to skin. So both of you without any movements is exchanging the hormone oxytocin. And oxytocin is the love hormone or feel togetherness hormone which is very important. There’s actually a lot of studies where you are not around other people to exchange that. And they can actually measure the cortisol is going up, you are more stressed, and we all know about when you’re more stressed, the hormone in your body, and that’s make you more unhealthy in many ways, not only mentally but also physically. So oxytocin is essential for everybody. That is a reason why babies when they are born and they’re breastfeeding is not just the milk from the mother, it’s also the contact with the mother’s skin that gives the oxytocin injection I would say to both happiness to both the mum and the baby.
Mik: (31:49)
So what you’re saying, Christian, is that we shouldn’t just, you know, be beating about the bush and feel all embarrassed, like, “Oh no, now that thing happened to me again this morning.” No, we should actually see it as a sign that our body is working exactly as it should, and just feel good about it! My blood vessels had another good clean-out this morning. How good is that?
Christian: (32:06)
Yeah, Mik, I really love discoveries like this because they remind me that the human body isn’t just a collection of organs. It is actually an incredible intelligent system that constantly looking after us, even while we are asleep. So back to my morning glory, so to speak, and back to my
Mik: (32:37)
Well, you know, there’s a song for that. There’s a song…
Christian: (32:42)
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah…
[Door to the Cigar Parlour closes]
[Magpie]
Clip from Poldark tv-series, S1 E5 at 56:20 (33:09)
Ross:
You were right. The world is a harder place now, thanks to Julia. The stakes are higher. Losses more painful. Yet I would not change places with him. My life is more precious for being less certain, and richer for being poorer.
Demelza:
What does it mean – ‘Resurgam’?
Ross:
‘I shall rise again’.
Demelza:
Shall we?
Ross:
I hope so.
Christian: (34:01)
Each and every morning when I wake up, it’s so essential for me to feel happiness this specific day. And that happiness is not coming by itself. I have to do something for other than myself. All the living things, my neighbour, my wife, people I don’t know, the animals, the plants. I call this service to life. I’m there for the rest of the world and the rest of the world automatically is there for me.
Mik: (34:31)
I think in the expression to be ‘in service’, there’s something there about the humility that we talked about before, but there’s also something more which is a feeling that you are a part of something that’s bigger than yourself. Yeah. And that that’s a great thing. You know, you’re connecting yourself to something bigger. And in this case the bigger could be what we call nature or what we call life on planet Earth. It could even be the universe, it could be many things.
But that feeling of that you are at service instead of trying to you know dominate and be in charge of things, you’re just saying, No, I’m here, I’m at service, can I help? Can I be there for you? Can I… you know, that sort of gentle way of moving into the world, I think that is something we all benefit from. Our surroundings benefit from it, but we also benefit from it ourselves. We have a better life. There’s a lot less frustrations, a lot more smiles. And it’s actually a very beautiful thing that connects with this feeling of you know, I think this experience that we often hear about that people who give are actually a lot richer than people who take.
Christian: (35:33)
Yeah.
US President Trump: (35:45)
Making America rich again.
Christian: (35:48)
Being that gentle person in the world, it’s also about being curious, curious about all the things we don’t know anything about. Because everything we learn every day about new stuff, whatever it is, it helps us to navigate in this life and to actually radiate that new knowledge to other people for mutual benefits. And with that said, Mik, I think it’s… I’m ready. Are you ready?
Mik:
Yes.
Christian:
So let’s go for it. Episode number 1, Service to Life. Welcome.
SONG: (36:27)
‘Service to Life’
Verse 1
Sometimes a moment lasts only a while,
Sometimes it quietly changes your life.
I knocked on a stranger’s door one afternoon,
Never imagining where that path would lead us to.
We spoke of music, stories and light,
Curiosity carried us into the night.
Two different lives, one shared point of view:
The world grows bigger when we keep looking a new.
Chorus
There’s always an experience
hidden in the unexpected.
Every conversation, every step,
every life connected.
Service to Life…
that’s the road we’re walking on.
Two voices asking honest questions,
finding where we all belong.
Verse 2
It started with laughter, cameras and sound,
Wonder is funny the way it gets found.
One question became another again,
Until conversations became more than friends.
Now every sunrise, every winding trail,
Every quiet forest has another tale.
Not searching for answers carved into stone,
Just learning together we’ve never walked alone.
Chorus
There’s always an experience
hidden in the unexpected.
Every conversation, every step,
every life connected.
Service to Life…
that’s the road we’re walking on.
Two voices asking honest questions,
finding where we all belong.
Bridge
Life isn’t waiting at the end of the road,
It’s hidden inside every story we hold.
The more we notice, the more we can see,
That serving life begins with you and me.
Final Chorus
There’s always an experience
hidden in the unexpected.
Every conversation, every step,
every life connected.
Service to Life…
a world that’s growing wide.
When we look beyond ourselves,
life opens from the inside.
Mik: (39:44)
So one thing about my life at the moment, Christian, is that work has sort of slowed down. You know, the the jobs that I used to get, the people who would call me to need my services, stopped calling. And I think it has to do with the general movement in society at the moment. Everything seems to slow down. You know, the economy is slowing down. And that I have felt that very much in in our little company, Geelong Media. So when the phone stopped ringing and the email box slowed down, there was a moment where I had a… I was waking up one morning and there was nothing in the calendar. That’s very unusual. Yeah. And I thought: ‘Wow, this is great! This is an opening. I can do something with this time.’
And we had just had a long talk in our podcast. You remember that time when we were talking about gender and women as usual, but where I felt there was something more to say about this. And I had some more discussions on the phone with someone, and then I got this idea, ‘I could write a book about this topic! There’s really a lot to say here.’
And quickly, one step took the other, and bang! Three months later, I had actually written the book, but I had not anticipated that I would be spending so much time on sitting there every day, sometimes ten hours a day, working hard. It was inspirational, it was joyful, but sometimes it was hard work. Because I wanted the research to be right, I wanted the language to be right. You know, English is not my first language, and so on.
So I can proudly say now that I’m an author for the first time in my life. It took me a long time because I guess I didn’t really feel the need to write a book. I’ve always just been writing articles and you know, short things. As a journalist you just do one thing, bang, get it out, next day another thing and so on. So I’ve written thousands of articles that could maybe be put together as a book, but I haven’t bothered to do that. Now I have a book and it feels really good. It’s like a platform that you can speak from when you go out and meet people and you can say, Well, if you want to know more you can buy my book and then there’s a a little profit for me. Because money now is the issue, isn’t it? Because after three months of not getting any income whatsoever, I can feel it on my bank account. The other day I was in a shop and she said, ‘It was declined.’ What? Declined? And then I had to go to you know my online mobile bank and I, yep, it was true. There was $10 on my account. My god! And I didn’t even know it. I hadn’t seen how fast money goes out of your account sometimes. Also, because you know, I’m paying all sorts of bills without seeing them. They’re just taken from my account. So, ooh, I had to then, you know, put that what I was thinking to buy back because there was no more money.
So that of course can be a terrible feeling. But in my world I’m a little bit like exploring what it means to be at the bottom at the moment. I’m not very serious about it. I probably will be if it continues, but I’ve lived most of my life, you know, on being on top of things. And I have a feeling this is like I’ve I made an investment, I have a book now, now I have something to build on. And it money is going to come back. It’s just this… As long as I’m not sick, there’ll there’s always a way forward. Yeah. So I find it very, very fascinating to… in a time where in politics there’s so much talk about cost of living. I certainly am trying out what it means to be together with all the people who are voting for One Nation because they’re angry about not having enough money on their bank account anymore. Well, I’m there with you folks, but I’m not voting for One Nation. I’m trying to find another way.
Christian: (43:42)
Thank you for that Mik. Haha! What is it, this monoculture she is talking about? That’s really weird! We are multicultural. But anyway, cost of living is a thing and that and that I would say service to life. Yeah, wake up in the morning and have a service to life feeling can be a bit hard when you are a struggle with the economy, etc. You have to service your own life at that point of time. So but I was thinking about maybe we’ve look like – I don’t know, five years into the future, AI has completely taken every jobs. We are all unemployed and we all have this UBI, universal basic income. Maybe you should have thought about that before you were writing the book and and you couldn’t have an UBI.
Mik: (44:25)
I actually write about… No no Christian, I actually write about it in the book and and to be honest, I see what we’re doing you and I and what we have been doing the last three years with our podcast, with our going out in nature, exploring, doing all the crazy things that we have been doing and will be doing in the future. That is a preparation for that future you talk about there. I think so. We are building a new platform where it feels good to be alive, regardless of where the money on your bank account came from. Or the money that’s missing on your bank.
Christian: (44:56)
So many unanswered questions in my head about universal basic income because how much that would that be and who will who would be in charge for that? And what about accommodation for…
Mik: (45:10)
I don’t think it’s so difficult to imagine because you remember COVID? We did have a big crisis with COVID, and then the businesses could start applying. If they were in trouble financially, they could apply and then they would get some support and so on. It will be no different. You know, you lose your job, and then it’s like, I don’t want to go for social security but then there will be a new thing you can apply for and bang, then you know you have some money.
Christian: (45:34)
Who is going to pay it?
Mik: (45:39)
Well, if the governments have an income from the whole AI world – if they have made sure that they get a tax from the people who are making the money.
Christian: (45:45)
I mean, at the moment we actually have a situation where the mining company is the one who’s getting all the income and not paying any taxes to the government. So they have to figure out… I mean, at the moment we are talking about well, a handful of men, I’m sorry to say, men in the world who’s actually behind the AI and who’s gonna benefit for this. They have to be convinced into paying to Australian government so they actually can pay an universal basic income to us. That’s going to be interesting to see how that’s gonna work, to be honest.
Mik: (46:16)
Absolutely! There will be some struggles. There will be some struggles for sure. But I do believe… and if you listen to Elon Musk – you can have your opinions about Elon Musk – but he’s very confident that there’s going to be a world of abundance ahead of us.
Christian: (46:32)
Yeah, yeah, I know I know what he’s saying. I know exactly what but I remember the first year he said, ‘Next year 80 per cent of all cars – what do you call it – will drive themselves. That was not true. But eventually, it will be true that that cars will drive themselves – that the majority will be doing that. But it has taken a longer time than he foresaw. And about, well, he’s actually saying money will have no value. It would not be necessary the money anymore.
Mik: (47:03)
And this is a big word, Christian: value! Because how do you value yourself? We when we have been taught, especially as men, that our jobs is how you know we show what we’re worth. And suddenly we have to find new value in life somewhere else. It’s going to be a struggle for many people. There’s going to be a lot of anger, a lot of rage, but also a lot of sadness and maybe you know suicides and so on. Because when you don’t have your job, who are you?
And I think this is what we’re talking about. This is the serious part of this, that the kind of stuff that you and I have been doing doesn’t feel like it’s a substitute for, you know, a pastime, something that we do because we you know, like you go and play golf or something. No, this actually feels much, much more important. Much more something that you really feel inclined to get deeper and deeper into every morning when you wake up. And this is the kind of material that will be gold in that future world. Gold!
Christian: (48:07)
I really think at at the moment everything is measured by actually success by money, status, followers positions and endless growth, so to speak. But there’s a lack of spiritual success in that equation, I would say. So definitely, there is an opening with the Universal Basic Income for a more spiritual approach to what you can do in the names of service to life so to speak. Because then you can be in the nature and then you can…
Mik: (48:39)
And also, Christian, you can be at service to your community. What’s wrong with actually going out and helping and cleaning up in the streets and doing things that make your place a better place?
Christian: (48:53)
Yep there’s nothing wrong with that! But it’s not happening at the moment because everything culture wise is that the high option is…
Mik: (48:59)
But maybe if we changed our values so that it was in that way you got respect, in that way that people recognised what a good person you are, then you know that that would change things. It’s all about values!
Christian: (49:16)
If I and my neighbour has the same income, you know, because we don’t work, and we can’t sell values because money’s not around anymore, then there is only one thing left: it’s how you behave towards other people and other beings on this world. Yeah, relationships.
Mik:
Yeah yeah.
Christian:
But still we are Homo sapiens, we are human beings, and we are the evolutions have made us to what we are, with all the the good and bad…
Mik: (49:35)
Relationships! True, Christian, but don’t forget the big survey that was done over 70-80 years trying to find out what makes a human being happy. The people who when they get the time when they’re dying, say that they have had a happy life – who are they? Which kind of life did they live? There’s a major study that was done on this. And the the conclusion from the scientists was the researchers that those people who had strong relationships, close friends, these were the people who were the healthiest, who lived the longest and said they had had good lives.
So relationship is a major meaning of life, honestly. And this is what we need to work on. And that’s why when we say service to life, it’s about having you know relationships. Relationship to nature, relationships to the planet we live on, and relationships to our neighbours, our family – and our dog.
Christian: (50:53)
Yeah, and you’re right, actually, there has been all this research when people are on their deathbeds and what are the regrets they’re having.
Nurse: (51:04)
I spent eight years looking after dying people. The most common regret was I wish I’d lived a life true to myself, not the life that other people expected of me. The second most common was I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. The third was I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. Then I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends. And the fifth one, I wish I’d allowed myself to be happier.
Christian: (51:31)
And that’s why I actually am here with you in this Service to Life podcast and living in accordance with actually that saying.
Mik: (51:41)
So, Christian, time is flying and there’s more podcasts coming, so I think we should put our foot down here and say thank you for today. You have to go in a few minutes and so do I. But it’s been really really good to start up, and I hope listeners will get used to that this is how we Danes we speak English.
Christian: (53:04)
But at least we’re not Finish.
Mik: (52:08)
At least! At least we know we have some good friends who will be happy that they can now finally understand what this podcast we’re doing is about. So hallelujah! It’s getting dark but it’s also starting to rain. I can hear the rain. I live in a kind of very old Australian house…
Christian: (52:26)
Two titles for songs: It’s getting dark, baby it’s g… You know, it’s getting dark outside and starting to rain. Let it rain, Let the Water Come Down High from the sky.
Mik: (52:37)
Let’s get out there and we’ll be back before you know it with the next episode. And in the meantime: Be well – and be at service.
[Magpie]
—-[ENDS]—-