Episode 135 - Reversing the Victim Mentality A New Perspective on Wealth

Embracing Spirituality in a Materialistic World: Insights for Business Leaders

Discover how to balance material success with spiritual growth. Learn why investing in your spiritual health is crucial for long-term happiness and fulfillment.

In today's fast-paced, success-driven society, many individuals find themselves caught in the relentless pursuit of material wealth, often neglecting their spiritual well-being. This episode explores the importance of nurturing your soul alongside your professional ambitions, especially for entrepreneurs and business leaders. Through insights shared by Jessy Revivo, we'll uncover how a deeper understanding of spirituality can lead to a more fulfilling, balanced life.

## The Spiritual Toll of Materialism

The modern world often equates success with wealth, leading many to chase financial gain at the expense of their spiritual health.

**Why This Matters**: Ignoring our spiritual needs can lead to a cycle of anxiety and dissatisfaction. By acknowledging this connection, we can take steps to cultivate both our material and spiritual lives.

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Transcript

Why Wealth Can Be A Trap

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We want to be billionaires. And if I made you a billionaire or even a millionaire, that would get you in trouble. You'd end up doing something that would end up having you divorced from your spouse. Your children would disown you. They would stop speaking to you. Everything would fall apart around you. Why do I want to ruin your life by giving you millions or billions of dollars? I don't. I want you to be happy. So I'm going to withhold that. If you don't know that, if you think you're being punished by not having been given millions or billions of dollars, you've got it backwards, and all you do is end up becoming the victim. That's what we've said. When you stop to learn, you recognize that not only are you not a victim, but you've won the lottery.

Trust As A Ticket To Peace

SPEAKER_00 0:37

The trust factor is a ticket to a better life. The trust factor shows you how to get through the night. We're going to continue to give you some divine wisdom that you can take into the weekend and share at your Shabbat table. Talk about it. Contemplate it with your family, guys. Time is ticking. Life goes by quickly. Before you know it, it's gone. It's over. You only get one crack at it that you can remember. So you might as well make it worthwhile, my friends. Step out of your comfort zone. Talk to people about the important things, the things that we're talking about, the information that we're sharing, which is Torah values, that unfortunately has been lost on the world for hundreds of years. We're bringing it back and we're doing it in a big way. We're changing the world. We're making the world great again through divine wisdom. So let's get back

Faith, Business, And Divine Involvement

SPEAKER_00 1:39

into it. We're talking about people and their finances. We're kind of specifying that we're talking about entrepreneurs, business people. If you run a business, if you are a higher up at a corporation, but really it could be applied anywhere. Doesn't matter if you work for somebody else, and it's not just in finances. These principles all come back to testing where you are in a relationship with your creator. Do you know that there is a God that runs this world, that created this world? Are you aware that he wants to be involved in your life and whether you like it or not, he's going to be involved in your life? Are you aware of the basic principles of divine providence that is shown that God, your creator, is manipulating your life, putting you in situations to be able to succeed and to move you forward? Are you aware of those precepts? Because if not, then you're missing out on life. And that unfortunately is the vast majority of the human population is running around thinking that it's all about them. It starts and stops with them. They are the makers of their own destiny. And it's unfortunate because it doesn't end well for most of those people. It really doesn't. That's why, as people start to age, just look. Just look at all of the anti-anxiety medications that are being dispensed. Look at all the antidepressants that are being dispensed. Everybody is on at least one or two different forms of medication for some type of mental illness. What does that tell you? We've talked about it so many times. Where does the soul reside? Kabbalah tells us that the soul resides in the head, in the brain. You think that's a coincidence that the soul resides in the brain? The entirety of human population, probably the vast majority, I would wager to say probably over 90%, do not invest regularly in their spiritual health, meaning they don't learn Torah, they don't learn about godliness, they aren't out actively doing the commandments, the mitzvahs, the deeds that help them to become a better person, to help nourish their soul. And well, all of a sudden, wait a second, how did I get so depressed? How is it that I'm so anxious? Why is it that I can't make things work out? Why is it that everybody's got ADD or ADHD? It's all connected. Whether you have or haven't seen that up until now is a different story. But I've laid out for you over two seasons now exactly how there is a connection between mental and emotional health and your spiritual growth. They are very much connected, my friends. We need to learn how this world really works and understand the back office in order to be content with the things that happen. Why are we not content? Because they're not playing out the way we want. We want to be billionaires. Well, he says it's not for you. Not right now, maybe later on, but right now you need to focus on other things. And if I made you a billionaire or even a millionaire, that would get you in trouble. You'd end up doing something that would end up having you divorced from your spouse. Your children would disown you, they would stop speaking to you. Everything would fall apart around you. Why do I want to ruin your life by giving you millions or billions of dollars? I don't. I want you to be happy, so I'm going to withhold that. If you don't know that, if you think you're being punished by not having been given millions or billions of dollars, you've got it backwards, and all you do is end up becoming the victim. That's what we've said. When you stop to learn, you recognize that not only are you not a victim, but you've won the lottery.

One Word That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_00 5:04

What a mind shift. And we said we can get there with one word, right? We said that the other day. Look at what God is doing to me versus look at what God is doing for me. I literally switched one word and became a lottery winner. I went from a victim who's being persecuted and beat down and withheld from, to suddenly I'm on top of the world. Look at how lucky I am. Look at how fortunate that I have a creator of the world who controls everything looking out for me. One word, my friends, it's all mindset. It's how you want to approach this life. So let's get into it because apparently there's room for confusion.

How Culture Trains Us To Forget God

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Clearly there is. Look at the vast majority of the world. They're walking around confused. A lot of people think that everything starts and stops with them. And it's not necessarily their fault. It's everywhere. The messaging around us is get out of this idea of spirituality. Don't think about this concept of God or divinity. They try and erase any semblance of God in Western cultures, and they've been doing that for a long time. We used to have prayer in school. We used to promote the idea of religiosity. Today, it's the furthest thing. They want separation here, separation there, take it completely out of the schools. And when do they bring it back? When you've hit rock bottom. When do they give you the Bible? When you're sitting in a prison cell somewhere. Where you've made so many bad choices because you've been corrupted by society, then that very same society comes to you and says, okay, you know what, it's not working out here. Try reading this, and they give you the Bible. What? Where were you 30, 40, 50 years ago? You were taking this information away from me. You left me in the lurch. Instead of giving me truth and goodness and purity and kindness and all these wonderful, godly ideas, not only did you hide them from me, but you gave me the opposite. You said, don't worry about everybody else, worry about yourself. Accumulate as much money as possible, pay as many taxes as possible. Strive to have the biggest house. Your house has to be bigger than your neighbor's. You've got to have the new version of iPhone. iPhone 254 just came out. You need to be the first person in line. You need to pull strings, in fact, to make sure that you get the first. Everybody sees that you've got it. You're going to be special. Everybody's going to envy you. Make sure everybody's jealous of you, right? That's what you're being taught. That you have to chase this holy grail. They're dangling carrots in front of you all day long. And we're busy chasing these carrots. So we end up obviously presenting as though there is a choice.

Why Bad Actors Still Make Money

SPEAKER_00 7:47

We see so many business people who are making money. So many people who are not necessarily the best representation of God out there making all kinds of money in business. Not the best people, right? They couldn't care less about a concept of a Muna. They don't want to even hear about it. That's going to slow them down. Furthermore, many of them are hard-hitting wheelers and dealers from whom you wouldn't want to buy a used car. Greasy, sneaky, snake oil salespeople. I wouldn't do business with this person for a second. Yet he's printing money. Yet he's got this big, beautiful house driving this fancy new car, right? What's going on? How's that possible? Doesn't that fly in the face of what we're talking about over here? Isn't that the obvious question? Because here I am telling you guys about how you don't have to break your heads. You don't have to chase money all day long. You don't have to be the best salesperson in the world. You don't have to work 14 hours and sleep in the office in order to get your livelihood or in order to be successful. But clearly, we see so many people who are behaving in those ways, doing the wrong thing, and coming up seemingly successful. So what's the answer? It says they succeed in selling ice to Eskimos or pulling off any number of legendary deals by virtue of their power of persuasion and talking. Sneaky, smooth salespeople. Where is the divine providence? Where do we see God in all of this? Doesn't this fly in the face of what we said? We all know that so-and-so made millions of dollars from crime, from a life of corruption, right? And that he's laughing all the way to the bank, and that he basks in Bermuda. He's always on vacation, he's got his own private island, right? And he's there right now. It doesn't make any sense. What's going on here? Where is this thing that I just told you called divine providence? So, how do we

Free Choice Requires A Hidden God

SPEAKER_00 9:43

answer this? It's very simple. It comes down to a concept that we all know very well called free choice. But again, I want to remind you there's no such thing as free choice. It's a fallacy. We have a choice, and yes, we're free to make it, but the consequences of our choices are not free. They come with certain weight to them, and that applies good or bad. You make good choices, you benefit from them in big ways. And you make bad choices, you end up losing from them. They harm you in big ways. So there is choice, but it's not free. How is that connect back to this concept? Let's read. The creator conceals his divine providence in order to give man choice to do good or evil, right? This world is a world where God is hidden. The world in Hebrew is called Olam from the worldly to alem, to disappear. God is not here in front of you, which is a big reason why I just finished telling you that so many of us are busy investing in our physicality, but not our spirituality. Why? Because our physicality is front and center, but our spirituality is hidden. That's what God tells us. He hides himself from us. Why? Because he wants to give us the ability to have free choice, to do good or bad. It's a test. Now, why would you reward somebody if there wasn't a free choice? Right? It doesn't make sense, Rabbi Mizrahi always says, it doesn't make sense to reward a robot. I program the robot. Oh, let me program the robot to go get me a uh a drink from the fridge. Yeah, and then I plug it all in. I train the robot. I do everything I need to do. I write all the code, and then I push play. And after all this time and attention and money and investment, it finally gets to the point where it can go to the fridge on its own, open it up, grab a drink, come over to me and give it to me. Now what? Now I'm going to pat it on its head and say, good robot? Look at how wonderful this robot is. No, it's got nothing to do with the robot. It's you. You're the one who programmed it. You're the one who set it on its path and guided it all the way there and did all the heavy lifting. And at the end, it did exactly what you programmed it to do. There's no reward that needs to go to a robot. If anybody, you get the reward. So Hashem says, I need to give them free choice. So I need to pull back. They can't see me standing there on guard. Because if they see me standing there on guard, then they're going to be forced to make certain choices. And again, my rabbi always says, if somebody lights a cigarette on Shabbat and that cigarette explodes in their face every time they light a cigarette on Shabbat, but every other day of the week they light a cigarette, it's perfectly fine. It doesn't take long to figure out that I shouldn't be lighting a cigarette on Shabbat. If it says over here, another example, if somebody who stole lost $10,000 on that day. Every time you steal, you lose $10,000. And every time you give a dollar to charity, you get $10,000. It appears in your account. $10,000, boom. Wasn't there yesterday, today it's there. Or an hour after you give charity. It doesn't take long. Rabbi Mizraki always says, even the biggest terrorists, Yasser Arafat, would sit by a charity box and give charity all day long. What do I have to work for? What do I need to do anything for? Just do his will and you will get rewarded immediately. You know what that does? It turns you into a robot. And that's why it doesn't happen. Does it mean that you don't get the reward? Obviously not. There's no way he would withhold it from you. But he doesn't connect it. Because if you made the connection, then you would be turned into a robot. You'll get the reward maybe in a week, in a month, in a year, in a different lifetime. But you will get that reward or the opposite. A system of reward and punishment doesn't make any sense outside of the context of free choice. The only way that it makes sense is if you have the choice to do good or bad. Then we can talk reward and punishment. Therefore, he conceals his divine providence. He doesn't show it to us. If it was that obvious, there wouldn't be free

Livelihood Through Emunah Without Cheating

SPEAKER_00 13:47

choice. When a person chooses the life of a Muna, their livelihood, the income that they're supposed to make, whether it's millions or billions or $50,000, will come to you effortlessly, honestly, and without knocking their brains out or flattering others. You don't have to run around telling everybody how good they are, chasing after wealthy people who aren't going to give you their money anyways because they're too much in love with it. But running around trying to placate and to flatter them so that you think you'll get something from them. You don't have to do any of that. You don't have to cheat lying steal. It will come to you easily and effortlessly. If you choose a path of arrogance and a lack of faith, then the creator will allow them to believe that they're controlling their own destinies. They feel that they are the ones who are making the dream deal by virtue of their fast talking and wheeling and dealing methods, which of course include high pressure tactics, lying and cheating, and often hurting people.

How To Pray For Income Properly

SPEAKER_00 14:43

That's why when we pray, it's not good enough for us to say, God, I need to make a living. Please send me my income. The right way to ask for it is to say, God, please send me my income. It should come easily, it should come in abundance, it should come in a way that is legal, that is legitimate, that runs according to the ways of the Torah precepts. All of those things are important. I don't just want an income at any expense. I want it to come in a pleasant and easy way. That is the correct way to ask for a parnasal. Do it, try it. If you haven't prayed yet this morning, when you pray for it, remember, don't just ask for money. Ask for it that it should come in the right way. Have an amazing day, have an amazing Shabbat, and we'll chat again on Sunday.

Share, Subscribe, And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.