Podbit · On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Riz Ahmed went to Mecca as a spiritually sceptical Muslim. What he found was something beyond religion: tens of thousands of people from every country on earth, dressed identically, walking in a circle together — every mask stripped, a profound sense of oneness. He promised himself he'd bottle the feeling. He got back on his phone on the plane home.
Where this was said
At 1:24:15 · chapter starts 1:12:32
The episode closes with Jay's signature Final Five questions, brought to you by State Farm. Best advice ever received: Idris Elba's 'categorize yourself not' — stop internalising the limitations others place on you or you're doing their limiting work for them. [1] — Riz Ahmed "When Riz Ahmed hit a glass ceiling in the UK, Idris Elba told him simply: 'Categorize yourself not.' The point was devastating in its clari…" 1:16:15 Worst advice: a casting director who told the young Riz his wide, animated eyes made him look like a psychopath, leaving him stiff and self-conscious for years. Biggest lesson from his wife: devotion — to a path, a purpose, a creativity — as a form of prayer. Their love story began when she needed to borrow his laptop charger in a New York café; six years on, she still borrows it. What he prays for: health, the ability to provide with dignity (rozi roti), and for everyone he loves to be brought closer to their purpose. He also describes his first adult pilgrimage to Mecca as extraordinary — 50,000 people from every country on earth, masks stripped, walking in a circle together, a sense of oneness unlike anything he has experienced. [2] — Riz Ahmed "Riz Ahmed went to Mecca as a spiritually sceptical Muslim. What he found was something beyond religion: tens of thousands of people from ev…" 1:24:15 His one law for the world: everyone goes back to dumb phones, or at minimum, everyone agrees to put them away for stretches of the day. [3] — Riz Ahmed "Met his wife because she lost her laptop charger: Riz Ahmed met his wife (novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza) in a New York café when she needed…" 1:23:10 Time feels different without the phone. Ideas bubble up. He is a little bit closer to being obsessed with the Velcro on the shoe.
When Riz Ahmed hit a glass ceiling in the UK, Idris Elba told him simply: 'Categorize yourself not.' The point was devastating in its clarity — by pigeonholing yourself, you're doing other people's limiting work for them. Riz took the advice. He went to America.
Idris Elba told Riz Ahmed 'categorize yourself not' when Riz felt stuck in the UK — advice that unlocked his path to Hollywood.
Riz Ahmed told people from marginalised backgrounds that the very thing creating resistance in their lives is also the key that unlocks something no one else can offer. He felt like an alien at Oxford. He's grateful now he stuck it out. The obstacle is the way.
We tell ourselves: when I'm successful, I'll finally be myself. Riz Ahmed flips it. The people who become most successful are the ones who were most unapologetically themselves first. Specificity and authenticity are what people are actually attracted to — not the polished, diluted version.
Riz Ahmed met his wife (novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza) in a New York café when she needed to borrow his laptop charger — and she still borrows it 6 years into their marriage.
On a solo desert hike, Dr. Vieten asked the universe what the world needs to know about imagination. The immediate answer: 'It's the place where we can most easily talk to them.' Imagination isn't escapism — it's the channel through which your deepest inner wisdom arrives.
Jhana meditation is radically different from vipassana: instead of dismissing thoughts, you invite them in and treat them with compassion. After a week of 2-hour sits alongside displaced OpenAI engineers, Chris emerged with four life-changing insights about goals, forgiveness, decision-making, and emotional wounds.
Vipassana notices thoughts and releases them. Jhana invites them in, wraps them in warmth, and says, 'Come here, you're valid.' When you feel shame about being distracted during meditation, jhana asks you to celebrate the part of you that cares so deeply about doing it right.
Before 1966, Rastafarians were seen as fringe weirdos in Jamaica. Then Haile Selassie made a state visit, awarded medals to Rastafarian preachers, and overnight the movement gained legitimacy. Rita Marley converted on the spot — and her influence wired Rastafari directly into the Wailers' music.
Christianity gives people a fixed moral value to move toward. Progressive secular ideology revises its moral canon based on whoever is most radical and charismatic at the time. Without a fixed foundation, you get micro-cults and moral relativism — and no pathway to redemption for anyone who falls out of favor.
The caller afraid of idolizing money is the last person who would. Wealth amplifies character — if you're already generous and thoughtful, more money makes you more of that. There's no scripture that says making a profit is evil.
Camila went from proudly reading Richard Dawkins in her teens to finding a form of spirituality she could finally get behind — not religion, but a deep connection to her highest self. Therapy had given her awareness; Hoffman gave her something to actually believe in.
The first awakening is realizing you create your own reality. The second awakening is realizing the ego can only visualize up to its known ceiling — but above that ceiling is where God, the divine, and the truly unimaginable live. Letting go of the ego's agenda is the portal.
Before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, in the 20 quiet minutes before the national anthem, Towns felt his late mother's presence so powerfully that it surpassed the feeling of winning the championship itself. The music sounded perfect, the ball felt youthful, and he just kept smiling.
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