Ep. 103 - Chocolate or Peanut Butter?

Exploring Religion vs Spirituality: A Deep Dive - Mormon to Medium Podcast

Welcome to the Mormon to Medium podcast! Join Brad and Nan as they talk about the differences between religion and spirituality. In this episode, they delve into Nan's journey transitioning from Mormonism to a spiritual medium and explore how spirituality can exist independently of organized religion. They share personal anecdotes, including peaceful experiences in nature, meditative practices, and even a humorous reading from the Book of Mormon. Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button to stay tuned for more enlightening and entertaining discussions!

Transcript

Nannette 0:00

3, 2, 1.

Brad 0:02

Three, two, one, three, two, one. All right. Hello and welcome. This is the Mormon to medium podcast. We're so glad you joined us today. We're going to have a lot of fun. I've got a special surprise for Nan.

Nannette 0:22

Oh, gosh.

Brad 0:23

Oh yeah, you're going to love this one.

Nannette 0:25

I don't know. I'm scared.

Brad 0:27

And, uh, it should be a lot of fun. So, uh, if you're joining us brand new, I'm Brad.

Nannette 0:32

I'm Nan. And welcome. We're so happy that you took your time to listen to us.

Brad 0:38

Yeah, thanks for jumping on. But make sure you hit that like and subscribe button. That really does help us out. And let's talk religion today.

Nannette 0:48

Oh boy.

Brad 0:49

Because, you know, as you know, we like to talk spirituality, religion, and Nan's journey in becoming A Mormon.

Nannette 0:56

Mormon to medium, right? You know, um, religion is a big part, you know, of a lot of people's lives. And trying to navigate religion and spirituality is kind of a tough thing, because they kind of don't go together.

Brad 1:10

go together. What do you mean by religion and spirituality don't go together? Because that seems like, that seems like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. That's peanut butter and chocolate, right? That, that's

Nannette 1:19

Oh, now you're making me hungry.

Brad 1:20

right? Sounds good. But that should go together. So Chocolate and peanut butter Tell me more. Make me hungry, Nan. You

Nannette 1:32

to have religion. You can have religion. It's a man made thing. Um, you can show up, you can go to church, you can read your scriptures, you can pay your tithing, you can attend the temple, whatever. You don't have to have spirituality, especially if you count on the prophet, um, who's leading the church to give you the revelation you're supposed to have, right? You don't have to have it.

Brad 1:53

But,

Nannette 1:53

You don't have to have religion to have the spirituality. You can have spirituality all by itself. And that's who you are. You are a spirit having a human experience.

Brad 2:04

I don't need to have a building to have spirituality.

Nannette 2:07

are the building. But wait a minute.

Brad 2:09

I feel so spiritual in the temple, right? That you hear that all the time, like, right, like I've got this great piece, this spirituality in the temple. Every time I go, I try to go every week because I feel such peace inside.

Nannette 2:22

But don't you feel the same kind of peace if you were to go and sit among the redwoods or go to and sit at the edge of the water of a lake or go to the ocean or hike a mountain and sit there in silence? Um, don't you feel the exact same way? The exact same reverence and silence and it, it's just getting the mind quiet. That's all it is. And that's all you do in the temple, is you let go of all the outside world. And you get quiet. And if we would do that in our world, we're among the most beautiful things ever.

Brad 2:59

And that's a really good point because you go in there, you leave your cell phone in a locker, you leave all of your street clothes in a locker, uh, you change into your, your little baker's uniform and you go in there with a complete different mindset. So which you could literally do anywhere, but they've made it so that you have to do it in this opulent setting in order to. Exactly.

Nannette 3:25

it's because it's manmade and it's religion. It's all about, you know, control and money and, you know, keeping you going. But when, remember when a couple of weeks ago we were with our kids and we went up, um, to Zion's national park and we got out of the car and we walked down into a wash and we were walking in the sand where the water would normally run. We love to look for rocks and different kinds of things in the, Sand. Do you remember how quiet it was and how peaceful it was and how we just sat there for probably an hour and a half or two hours, just silent. And even our puppy

Brad 4:01

all four of us in voodoo.

Nannette 4:03

yeah, we were just silent and it was, it was the best church because you can be quiet with your own thoughts, with your own heart. You can get, there's no one telling you what to do or what to feel or what to think. You're one with your source and that's the best church.

Brad 4:19

Well, and Yuki and Britton were so, you know, just enamored with the rocks and they, I think they had so much fun. They're little rock hounds.

Nannette 4:27

out in nature, we're part of nature. We're made of the same things that beautiful nature is made of. And so we're just

Brad 4:36

that beautiful nature is made of. And so we're just

Nannette 4:39

at one where. We're one with our creator. And I think that that's even more important to realize that we don't have to go to a temple or a building because we are the temple. We are the building. And that's much more important. Um, when we can turn that freeway off in our brains and let our phones go, um, and calm the energy around us and just be at one with creation, um, you get a lot of downloads, a lot of beautiful things can come through from the other side.

Brad 5:09

Yeah, after somebody listens to the podcast, they should totally put their phone away. But not until after they consume this show. Once that's done, then yeah, put your phone away and go

Nannette 5:20

with your friends.

Brad 5:22

Share it with your friends, like them, subscribe, all the things. Um, but no, on a very serious note.

Nannette 5:27

what

Brad 5:28

What does it take to get in that meditative state? I know that I've heard you talk about helping clients before, you know, who were like, I don't know where to start. How do you start?

Nannette 5:41

Um, you could start by lots of different things. I think, I think the big thing is to get quiet in your mind, you know, whether you're journaling your thoughts down. Um, that's what I like to do when I'm super stressed and I feel overwhelmed. Um, I like to write my thoughts down and then kind of. Mold them over, read over them just so it's a mind dump and I'm not walking around with all these crazy thoughts in my head, you know, stressing me out. Then I can look at it from a different perspective, a more calm perspective because it's not all jumbled in my head. But I mean, you could, you could journal. Um, I personally, I love, love, love. I love to meditate. I love at night before I go to bed. I love to fill my bath full of super hot water and I love to get in there with sea salt in there and vinegar in there and change the pH so it removes all negative energy and I, I connect with the other side. Ask my team questions. I ask them to guide me. Um, I will pray in that spot. Um, when I miss Corey, I'll ask him to come to me and I've even had the honor and the privilege of, sorry,

Brad 6:51

You're okay.

Nannette 6:52

I got to see my new little grand baby girl. And I got to meet her and she's so fun. And, um, when my beautiful daughter was just here, I got to feel her kick my hand. So, um, super cool, super cool. Um, meditation is the very best and you can't, you can't just start meditating. You have, you have to take little bits at a time, you know,

Brad 7:15

Um, well, I think you can start meditating. You just can't go. I'm gonna sit there for an

Nannette 7:19

an hour. Yeah. So do you like three minutes? Um, there is a speaker set that I always use. They're called now speakers and they do Tibetan bowls and they vibrate in your hands. And, um, so it's kind of, it's a, it's a touch experience and a sound experience, but they, they, yeah,

Brad 7:39

go ahead and just turn them on.

Nannette 7:42

they're amazing. It's kind of like yoga for the brain. And, um, these will go for three minutes. But you just concentrate on the bowl and the vibration in the hand.

Brad 8:00

And they'll bounce back and forth between each other. It's almost like what EMDR focuses on. It's like a little home EMDR set, almost. It's very cool. Um, but we both use these things all the time. They're awesome.

Nannette 8:15

Well, and I've had people that have come into my office and have just laid on the table and I put this on each side of their ears and they just lay there and it calms them right down. It takes them from super, super stressed to a zero like, Oh my gosh, I could almost fall asleep right now. But. Learning to calm that freeway in our brain because we were so inundated with electronics and, you know, all of the news and all of the things and all the people's energy were feeling each other so much more these days, um, to be able to shut that off and just be one. With the other side and with the elements. Um, it's just such a beautiful, beautiful place to be. But it takes practice. It takes doing it every single day.

Brad 8:56

Yeah. Well, and so what I'm learning too from you is it's okay to have an aid, something to help you through it, whether it's an app on your phone that talks you through a meditation or something like the, these, you know, now speakers that, that do it with you. Um, it's okay to have a help. It's not something where you just have to jump into it and go, Oh my God, please mind

Nannette 9:16

be quiet. No. Because you're

Brad 9:18

going, okay, my mind, at least for me. I bounce to all these things that I have to do with work, with home, with, okay, I'm doing this remodel job here and oh my gosh, at work, I've got to travel here and here. And it's hard to keep quiet.

Nannette 9:33

And that's where the practice comes in because that's completely natural for your mind to bounce to different thoughts. But what you do is you recognize the thought and bring it back to the breath. You recognize the thought, bring it back to the breath. Um, or if you fall asleep. That's okay to fall asleep. That means you're tired. Your mind will, your subconscious mind will still take in the meditation and it's, it's really, really cool, but it's okay to not be perfect at it. And I still do guided meditations. I'm really good at doing my own meditation, especially before I go in with a client. But um, I will do a guided meditation. I did an awesome one a couple of weeks ago about abundance and um, the, the person taking me through it. Kind of described a morning where you're laying in your bed, and you're just waking up, and

Brad 10:22

the Sun

Nannette 10:23

are coming through the white curtains, and the sun's starting to shine, and like all the details you could see, and then all of a sudden you go to the window, and you open the window, and then it starts to rain. Little tiny gold coins. And then you go out into the rain and these gold coins start to, um, land on the ground all around you. So you open your hands and they start to land in your hands. And then as you start to walk, you look off in the distance and there is a green cloud coming towards you and it's full of money and like all these details of abundance and wealth and things coming and like.

Brad 10:57

why did my whole vision of that just go to Mario Brothers?

Nannette 11:00

I haven't seen it. You

Brad 11:02

dun dun dun

Nannette 11:03

see him

Brad 11:05

bouncing. Jump in and grabbing the coins. Oh my god. That, seriously, that's where my mind

Nannette 11:11

Of course it did. Of course it did.

Brad 11:13

did.

Nannette 11:13

14.

Brad 11:14

it did.

Nannette 11:15

a gamer though. I am not a gamer. But I do, I love playing Mario Kart though. It is fun. But yeah, I even do guided meditations. I did a guided meditation once or twice to find my spare animals, um, because I was curious. I kind of had an idea, but for them to show up in a meditation is really cool because you get to actually meet them and hear their thoughts, which is really, really cool. So I'm guided meditations, a plus do those. Absolutely. Do those. There's lots of apps out there that we can do free ones. YouTube has some, um, you can even do like binary, binaural, um, beats like drum beats or flute sounds or things like that, that will help you meditate as well. It just depends on what you're up for, but if you only have three minutes, do three minutes

Brad 12:02

Gotcha. Yeah. So it's three minutes a long time? Well, look, let me, let me surprise you with what I was talking about

Nannette 12:13

geez. I'm so nervous.

Brad 12:17

Bam.

Nannette 12:18

No, you did

Brad 12:19

Oh yeah, I did.

Nannette 12:21

He's getting serious. He's got his

Brad 12:22

I've got my readers on because I'm old

Nannette 12:25

Are you for real?

Brad 12:26

I am. This is the real deal. So in Mormonism, this is known as. The quad, and only the most spiritual people actually own a quad.

Nannette 12:37

Really? Cause there's a lot of 12 year olds that own quads.

Brad 12:40

here's the thing. This is a status symbol within the Mormon community. If you have to carry all of them. That's four books that you're carrying around, you know, you got, well, even more if you split it up, usually the Bible's, you know, one book, then you've got your book of Mormon, your pearl of great price and, uh, your doctrine and covenants. So you're carrying around all of these different books. If you're really cool and really spiritual, you have a quad. Um,

Nannette 13:10

Dude, though, you know, I got that in one of those for seminary in high school, and in seminary, you're only using like just the Book of Mormon part or just the Doctrine and Covenants part or just the Bible.

Brad 13:24

SE seminary. Yeah, because I got the Bible and then I got a book of Mormon and a DNC and Pearl of Great Price, but I, I didn't get a quad. I had'em all separated.

Nannette 13:35

I

Brad 13:36

guess I didn't really go all the way through seminary. I really only just got the Bible because that's the seminary part. I did initially when I was in high school, I was like, this is a waste of time.

Nannette 13:48

Well, and I had my kids get the quad too for, um, for seminary, but I always hated that I had to carry around all the extra books when we were only studying this one, one book. It was like, it's such a pain in the butt. It's like trying to carry your English book and your math book and all of your other books all at the same time. It's like, Oh, come on.

Brad 14:08

a lot of people are like, well, I don't want to read the Book of Mormon, but I'm wondering what it says. And I, I was looking at it today and I am going to

Nannette 14:17

Is that a scripture mastery card?

Brad 14:19

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, these are great bookmarks cause you can use them to highlight things with. Um, But I am going to read the most read scripture in all of the book of Mormon.

Nannette 14:34

I bet I can quote it with you. I bet you can. It

Brad 14:39

goes like this.

Nannette 14:40

born of goodly parents.

Brad 14:42

Nan's got it right. Nan's got it right. I, Nephi. Some people pronounce it Nephi. That's how you can tell if somebody's from Utah or not. If they say Nephi, because there's a town called Nephi in Utah. If somebody calls it Nephi, they are not from Utah.

Nannette 15:00

If

Brad 15:01

true. If they're from Utah, they say Nephi. I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents. You are saying that. Oh yeah, goodly parents. What is a goodly parent? Seriously. Do we have, let's see if we have something down here. What does it say? Um, it refers us to Proverbs 22 one

Nannette 15:27

And you have a quad so you can go

Brad 15:28

talking about the birth, right? So I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father. And having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless,

Nannette 15:45

Yes. Nevertheless, having

Brad 15:51

been highly favored of the Lord in all my days. Yay. Having had a great knowledge of the goodness. And the mysteries of God. Therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. So this is Nephi. This is the guy who's like, Hey, I'm writing this shit because I am awesome. He starts it off, right? Nephi is the OG of the Mormon religion.

Nannette 16:18

It's true.

Brad 16:18

He is. He's the one everyone loves. Now. His dad was pretty cool, but not as cool as him

Nannette 16:24

It's true.

Brad 16:25

and so everyone's like, Oh, Nephi. Oh my God, Nephi. Yes, he did. That's actually an interesting story because murder is okay. It establishes it very well. Murder is okay in the light of religion.

Nannette 16:41

I mean, seriously, even Dexter has, like, a code. Dexter

Brad 16:45

a code. Nephi also had a code. So here's, here's a verse that I think was really interesting though. And I, I read this and I'm like, why did he have to say that? This seems like, okay, let me just read it and then we'll talk about it. Okay, first I'm going to read, I'm going to read two. So I read the first one, blah, blah, blah. Number two. Yay. I, and just the way they talk, right? It's like, it seems very contrived. Anyway. Yay. I make a record in the language of my father.

Nannette 17:23

My father.

Brad 17:28

I'm sorry guys, that's an inside joke that we just can't really explain, but it's hilarious to us.

Nannette 17:34

uh,

Brad 17:35

Which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians. So, he's teaching about the Jews in the language of the Egyptians. So, that was one of the things is, oh, this was reformed Egyptian, you know, that's being translated, right?

Nannette 17:52

Right. The book of Abraham is supposed to be reformed Egyptian. Yeah.

Brad 17:56

And this is the one that really gets me. And I know that the record which I make is true. And I make it with my own hand and I make it according to my knowledge. So,

Nannette 18:10

Oh, wow. Yeah,

Brad 18:12

this is true. You just believe this. This is true. So let me ask you this. Do you remember driving up Spanish Fork Canyon and around Covered Bridge, there was always a guy across the way selling the best beef jerky in the world.

Nannette 18:30

Yes, it was.

Brad 18:32

No, it wasn't. It was horrible. That's what the sign said. But was it the best? No, it was shit. Kind of.

Nannette 18:40

shit.

Brad 18:41

Well, it was shit kind of like in elf when he goes, Oh, I found the best cup of coffee in the world. And he, he has Zoe taste it. And she's like, it tastes like a really crappy cup of coffee.

Nannette 18:53

If

Brad 18:54

you have to say this is the best one in the world, it's probably not true. And.

Nannette 19:00

That's a good point. Yeah.

Brad 19:01

when I'm reading that now, it's almost like, Hey, look at this. This is the truth. This, I swear to God, this is true. I'm writing this. It's true. And it's all of my experiences.

Nannette 19:12

Well, additionally, if you think about it, when you were 20 years old, what you knew is completely different at you at 50. Oh, yeah. Right? And so you may be like, I mean, I remember thinking that the church was completely true. Absolutely. And I'd stick my life on it. There was a point in my life where that was me. But, um, you take me at 58 and, um, yeah, no, no,

Brad 19:37

Yeah, different story,

Nannette 19:38

So I, I, I think you need to take into consideration his age and what has. He, he gone through in his life, probably not so much.

Brad 19:46

Or, or take into consideration that this was written by Joseph Smith and he's trying to make sure everyone believes that it's true. So how, how do I make it so people believe this is true? I know

Nannette 20:00

going to tell them it

Brad 20:01

I'll tell them it's true in the book and then they'll have to believe it. That's

Nannette 20:06

That's a good

Brad 20:07

Right? Yeah. So, that was just something. Gosh, I almost want to start another page where I just read the Book of Mormon. I would so. How about that

Nannette 20:14

How about that be a different podcast?

Brad 20:16

I mean. Just another podcast. We'll call it Mormon Readings. Right? Brad Reads. is there a book you would like to hear me read? Let me know other than the book of Mormon. I'm sure there's something out there. Um, no. So that's, I wanted to read that because it bothered me. I was thinking about it the other day and I'm like, wait a minute. Why would you have to tell somebody how true this was

Nannette 20:47

Right.

Brad 20:47

instead of just going, here's the story. Here's, here's what happened. This, this is what happened. I don't need to tell you it's true. Um, But essentially it goes on and, and yeah, there's a lot here. There's a lot. We could literally walk, talk about this for, for days and read this for days. But let me ask you, Nan, when it comes to that giant ass book, and obviously the book of Mormon is not that big and usually it's not that big. I just have the large font because. Why not, right? Eventually you'll need it, so get the large font. Um, What do you think of that big book? Is it the most correct book on earth, as once was proclaimed by a prophet?

Nannette 21:36

You know, um, P R O F I T, prophet,

Brad 21:41

More now than ever.

Nannette 21:42

Yeah. You know, I, I would absolutely 100 percent say no. Just because there's no historical, um, or archeological, um, evidence of, of this.

Brad 21:56

Yeah.

Nannette 21:57

And, um, I, I even remember us going to Mexico for the very first time and, and our guide was LDS and he was trying to make the Book of Mormon fit into these ruins that we were seeing and stuff. And it just didn't, it didn't go, it didn't, it didn't fit. It

Brad 22:14

all. Well, there were certain things that were similar, right? And so based on confirmation bias, you go, Oh my God, yeah, that is so accurate. That just goes right along with the temple and look, they're wearing an apron just like we would in the temple. Um, so you, you look at it and you go, yeah, that's definitely got to be true.

Nannette 22:35

Yeah, I think it's a stretch. I think it's a big stretch. I think that a lot of the quote unquote manmade religions, um, they, they talked, you know, people traveled, like, um. Yeah, but the fact that there isn't any historical evidence, there's no

Brad 22:54

Giant battlefields with millions of people who were murdered?

Nannette 22:57

No, no,

Brad 23:00

No

Nannette 23:00

not to mention the horses. And I mean, it's just, it's sad.

Brad 23:06

Iron.

Nannette 23:07

Yeah, I think, I think there's a reason why so many people have started first Nephi 35 times and not gotten through the first Nephi Or the Book of Mormon, because it's like, it's, they can feel that it's not true though. That's the

Brad 23:24

thing. And here's maybe how they should sell it initially. Go, look, this book's got some fun stories in it, you should read it. Oh, and when you get to that really boring chapter, don't worry about it, just skip it. Exactly. Well, what

Nannette 23:36

Well, what if it were movies? Oh my gosh, there would be some pretty raunchy ratings that a lot of Mormons couldn't watch. Yeah,

Brad 23:44

Mormons couldn't watch their own book,

Nannette 23:46

No!

Brad 23:46

they can read about it.

Nannette 23:47

Right?

Brad 23:48

But they can't read that, what is it, Court of Thorns? What is the,

Nannette 23:52

Thorns and Roses.

Brad 23:53

and Roses, yeah. Everyone thinks, oh look, my wife's reading fantasy novels. She loves the fairies. No, that's porn.

Nannette 24:02

is porn. Oh my gosh, you only read one love scene. Oh my

Brad 24:07

Um, yeah, one out of a whole book full of them. And it made me blush.

Nannette 24:12

blush. It did

Brad 24:13

I was like, Holy shit. Oh yes, it did.

Nannette 24:17

did not. It takes a lot to make

Brad 24:18

Exactly my point.

Nannette 24:20

were like, whoa.

Brad 24:21

Yeah, it made me blush. So when you see your wives reading that or your ladies reading that,

Nannette 24:26

ladies reading that, Mm hmm. Yeah. Nope.

Brad 24:30

not reading it for the fairies.

Nannette 24:32

my gosh!

Brad 24:35

Look,

Nannette 24:35

I didn't know, I didn't know it bothered you so much,

Brad 24:37

oh it doesn't bother me, I think it's funny. Nan's face is going red because she knows, she's like, oh yeah, I read that.

Nannette 24:43

I did. The funny part is my daughter read it with me. She's the one that told me to read it. It's a very good series. It really, really is.

Brad 24:53

Yeah, I believe you. Hey, and it's your story. You want to read softcore porn? I don't care.

Nannette 24:59

Whatever. Yeah, honey.

Brad 25:04

So, so that's what, that's what I've got for folks today. You know, my, maybe that's what we need to do on a regular basis. Now. We'll just read a, a verse from the Book of Mormon, each show.

Nannette 25:13

of Mormon

Brad 25:15

Are you sure? It would be fun. All right. We don't have to, but

Nannette 25:18

sure? Alright. I'll read

Brad 25:21

read a book, a Mormon verse and you can draw a

Nannette 25:23

You can draw

Brad 25:25

want to draw a tarot card right

Nannette 25:26

right now.

Brad 25:27

Oh, you're prepared as you need to be.

Nannette 25:29

you need to be. That's

Brad 25:32

That's alright. Pull it. Pull a card. Any card. Let's see what the month

Nannette 25:37

Month

Brad 25:40

Yep, let's pull a card for the month of March.

Nannette 25:43

March?

Brad 25:46

there to the camera. Oh, what does that mean?

Nannette 25:50

I don't know what it says. It's an eagle, I know that.

Brad 25:52

it around and

Nannette 25:55

Ha! Embrace spirit, bitches! Ha ha! Did we not just talk about this? Yeah. And actually, an eagle is my spirit animal as well, too.

Brad 26:07

is my spirit animal as well, too. Card for the week.

Nannette 26:14

Yes. Yeah. Get to know who you are as a spirit and step into your spiritual path. You guys, life is so much richer when you're able to do that and you're not reactive to the outside world. You're coming from a place of peace and calm. So highly recommend.

Brad 26:30

I love it. Thank you so much everyone for sticking around listening to us. Uh, sorry if I traumatized anybody or brought up old wounds by reading the Book

Nannette 26:39

I need a Xanax.

Brad 26:39

Yeah, especially you. Sorry now. Uh, but thanks again everybody. We sure appreciate it. Please remember, like and subscribe. Uh, we love you and we'll see you

Nannette 26:49

on the other side of the veil.

Brad 26:53

Hmm, hmm,