Risk & The Open Heart: Sacrifice Comfort For Truth

What if the real freedom you seek isn’t found in comfort, but in sincerity? In this talk, Tiger explores how our obsession with happiness and safety often hides a deeper fear — the fear of living with an open heart. True freedom invites us to face that risk fully: the risk to our comfort, our image, and everything we think keeps us safe. Only by stepping into that vulnerability do we discover the peace that was never missing.

Please note: This track may include some explicit language.

Transcript

Gosh,

There's so much purpose in this.

Like for me,

It reflects,

Oh wow,

I really am an instrument here.

I really am here to surrender my own fantasy of a self-important idea and allow myself to be used by,

Let's say,

The deep spiritual insight and wisdom that comes from what's really true and allow it to move through me to touch the lives of others.

Do you see that the nature of living according to what's true inherently comes with a massive risk?

Just recognize that for a second.

In order for you to speak what's on your heart,

In order to express how you truly feel,

There's a massive risk.

And what is that risk?

In some ways,

It's to risk your life.

Your safety,

Your well-being,

Your comfortability,

The image other people have of you.

It is a massive risk.

And I think it's wise to see how inherent that is because so often we're trying to create a life to avoid risk.

And how do we do that?

We keep our mouth shut.

We keep our heart closed.

And then what happens to you on the inside?

You slowly start to die.

You're not letting life slash the truth move.

Furthermore,

This can be flipped around as it relates to allowing other people to speak what is sincere.

In the same way you don't allow them to have their experience,

You're cutting off that flow.

And what this brings me back to is a real core aspect of what I've been reflecting on,

Which is human beings have this silly idea that the point of life is to be happy.

Right?

That's even what we're striving for.

How do I create a happy life?

Are you kidding me?

Do you see the world that you live in?

The risks and the dangers around the corner?

If you have children,

Do you think the point of life is for you to be a happy mom?

Or from the perspective of a mother,

Do you think the point of life is to protect your children?

Do you think you're going to be happy doing that?

And for a man,

Same,

Taking care of his family,

Do you think his motivation is to be happy?

Or to do what he has to do to take care of his family?

And it's hard.

And so with that,

He's,

You know,

Constantly encountering risks.

He's scared,

Doesn't even know he's scared.

And maybe on the other end,

We're like,

Oh,

I wish they could just be happy.

Is that what it's about?

And even for myself,

Oh,

I wish I could just be happy.

Is that what life is really about?

Is that what I'm here for is to be happy?

Or am I here to face the risk?

Am I here to,

In essence,

Sacrifice my life for what I want to do?

What is deeply true and real?

In one way,

It's like asking,

You know,

What's better?

A short life that honors the sacredness of what's real and true.

Love,

The miracle of existence.

Or avoiding all risk and doing everything I can to get what I want.

So that I can be happy.

Sooner or later to realize that getting what I want doesn't make me happy.

It helps me hide.

And so it invites a radical reframe about what the hell I'm even doing here as a human being.

You know what it also speaks to,

And maybe this is a masculine thing,

But I think there's a principle to it,

Is honor.

Is to honor my life by sacrificing my life for the truth.

Surrendering my attempt to build on a separate sense of self-importance.

And give my life in service to what's true.

And what does that look like?

That is for the individual to find out.

But what will come with a lot of that is humility.

What will come with a lot of that is not overvaluing yourself.

And what will come with that is just doing whatever you can do.

Regardless of outcome,

Because that is the risk.

That you might not get the outcome.

But you're honoring what is true.

So now I wonder,

What does it mean to be a human being?

What is the undercurrent of this message?

How does it apply to where we have all expressed where we're at in our lives?

Well,

Let me just speak from my own experience.

On one level,

Yes,

I can find a lot of frustrations.

A lot of things that are not going my way.

A lot of things that seem like they're giving me the opposite of what I want.

And I just wish it would be easier.

And again,

For me personally,

When I look at the inspiration underneath that desire,

It's about my ego.

It's about protecting my life.

What I think to be my life,

Which is the image of myself.

Being important,

Being seen a certain way.

Making this life thing about me.

And then on the other end of that,

What I see is a sacred container that's challenging me.

And it's not always fun.

And sure,

Shit doesn't make me happy all the time.

But it begs me to surrender to a deeper call.

To come out of hiding.

To be more honest and do what I need to do.

To let's say,

Not only take care of myself,

Which is important,

But take care of those who I am the shepherd for.

And who I'm a shepherd for could be my fiance.

It could also be you.

It could be those who lend me their heart.

Entrust their heart.

You see what I'm saying?

There's a circle of influence.

There are lives that you touch.

And it literally matters not if it's one life or a million.

It's completely irrelevant.

What's relevant is to show up to the call.

And for me,

It's almost like saying to show up to my role.

The role I've been asked to play.

Obviously have been asked to play.

Maybe we can see that as some role of leadership.

And you know what?

Let's put it this way too.

There's a hierarchy of leadership.

Where like for me,

I'm the leader of a certain domain,

But above me is God that is the leader.

Right?

And so it kind of travels upward where my role is to be in service to the wholeness of my domain.

Like this isn't about what I want.

It's about the wholeness of the domain.

Everyone's benefit.

And then above me is the leader to keep me in check.

Right?

About what I think I want.

Because I'm in service to the leader,

Which is in essence in service to spiritual principle.

Right?

That reminds me that it's not about me.

Now,

As soon as you get a leader that is in service to himself,

Terrible leader,

Right?

Because now he's a tyrant.

He's trying to make it how he wants it,

But that's not what the leader is really doing.

The leader is getting guidance from above,

From that which has more wisdom and taking that wisdom and applying it to make the domain a greater service to the whole.

So again,

There's self-sacrifice all the way up.

And it's,

You know,

It's tricky and maybe it's fluid and all of this,

But there is a real order to it,

A real structure to it.

Right?

It reminds me of,

Of the leader that prays for guidance,

Right?

The leader isn't just saying,

Oh,

I know everything and everyone's just going to do what I need to do.

No,

The leader's praying for guidance to lead,

Getting out of his own way or her way.

And so in that is a really beautiful surrender that I think applies to just living your daily life.

Do you acknowledge the leader in your life?

And essentially what I'm saying is,

Are you praying for guidance?

Are you examining what it is you think you want?

Have you acknowledged that you're really here to be in service for the whole?

And again,

To be in service of the whole doesn't mean you give everybody else what they want,

But you're genuinely reflecting on what do I genuinely feel is a reflection of the love of God?

Let me just say it that way.

And for me,

Gosh,

There's so much purpose in this.

Like for me,

It reflects,

Oh wow,

I really am an instrument here.

I really am here to surrender my own fantasy of a self-important idea and allow myself to be used by,

Let's say,

The deep spiritual insight and wisdom that comes from what's really true and allow it to be moved through me to touch the lives of others.

And,

You know,

I think it's appropriate to call it a spiritual battle because it really can be a flavor of battle.

And that's okay.

But it's important to see where your strength actually lies.

Because I can promise you,

Your strength is not in your imaginary separate self.

You know,

It so obviously speaks to the original intent and nature of religious tradition.

To give you a flavor of container that points your heart in the direction of spiritual wisdom.

But of course,

Just like all organizations in all containers,

It's full of human beings.

So go figure.

Just like inside of ourselves,

Right?

It's like,

In one way,

It's just so clear and obvious.

But look at our human nature.

It fucks shit up.

So what,

Do you think it's going to be different in the world?

No.

The same thing that's happening inside of you is the same thing that's happening out there.

Which is just a beautiful forgiveness for it all.

Like it's just,

It's all perfectly placed.

Even if it looks like it's a mess,

Just like your humanness,

Right?

It might look like it's a mess,

But it's perfectly placed.

Because it's a mess,

Does that mean you're going to abandon your humanness?

No.

Just because the world is a mess,

Does it mean you're going to abandon the world?

No.

In the same way that even though you're a mess,

You're still in service to the heart of what you are.

Same with humanity.

Even though it's a mess,

You're still in service to humanity.

It's your family.

And I guess as a conclusion,

The only thing I'm saying is,

My goodness,

This is such an epic call to just show up and keep going.

And I can't even tell you,

Like inside of me is this screaming voice that says,

Don't you see how important this is?

Not just the things I'm saying,

But the opportunity to come back here and remember.

Like,

Oh shit,

Even though you get this radical dose of honesty that almost sounds aggressive,

It's like,

Oh shit,

But it's true.

It's like,

It's important.

And again,

From a religious context,

This is the purpose of church,

Right?

Where once a week,

You come back to church and just get told the truth,

And sometimes in an aggressive way.

And I can't necessarily say I agree with the way it's always delivered,

But I understand the intent.

That's why I think it's so important,

At least for those who have a sense of what I'm speaking to,

Is that they find a spiritual home that they can go to on a regular basis,

Where they somewhat trust that the intention is pure to communicate the truth.

It's super important.

And then you listen to the insight and wisdom,

And then you apply it in whatever way that you can,

And that's fine,

Right?

It's a messy human journey.

You just do the best that you can.

And if anything,

Remember that this is not about being happy.

This is not about trying to make it easier.

This is about doing what you can to honor what you see is deeply true,

And loving others to the best of your ability.

And if you feel like you're struggling,

My God,

How beautiful it is that you have a spiritual community that you can reach out to,

Who are at least somewhat aligned in the same direction.

This is what inspires me to,

In essence,

Get out of my own way and build a proper community of support,

Of people who understand this depth,

And they're not so much there to stroke your ego.

It's just kind of like,

Please just tell me what's true,

Right?

To the best of your ability.

Knock me out of my ego loop for a second so that I can show up in a more honest way.