My friends, this is how I hacked reality to get everything I've wanted in my life, and I think you're going to love finding out exactly what's worked for me. First, if I were you, I'd be asking: do you really have everything? What do you have? I have my health, and to me that's the most important thing. I was very sick 10 years ago. I was dying. My mental health and my physical health were both a disaster. Since then I've eliminated alcoholism and all kinds of behavioral addictions from my life, and I eliminated many physical problems, like losing 80-plus pounds.
Next, you're probably wondering what I do for work. I'm a YouTuber, and I haven't worked for money for a very long time. I'm here doing this because I want to. Many of you think these things are impossible, but I'm going to tell you exactly how I believe you do it, right here. First, you need to know that I've already done it. I'm very happy. I love my life. I'm excited to wake up. I have a beautiful wife, two kids, and a life full of very supportive relationships.
My whole mission now is to help build a world full of wealthy people, and to help you. I don't even need any money out of this. I don't need any more views or reputation. I want you to have a better life because you're my neighbor. You're a part of this world, and there's so much sickness and suffering. The whole purpose of my life now is to serve others and enjoy my experience. But there's one key idea that makes all of this happen.
The one idea I'd take with me
If this body were to die, the only idea I'd care to take with me is this one. This, to me, is how you hack the whole matrix: I am God. I am the creator. All things are my creation. This entire universe, and everything and everyone in it, is mine. I have created all of it. And whether you use the singular, or you say "we," we are God, this is our universe, we have created all of this, whichever one feels more comfortable to you, the most critical idea to hacking this whole matrix is taking absolute, total responsibility for your own reality.
This is the most essential thing. Notice the people around you who are not doing very well. What do they not do? They don't take responsibility for their reality. They're just stuck in someone else's reality. When you realize this is mine, that I've created every single thing, it changes everything. If there's something good in the world, I created it. If there's something bad in the world, I created it too.
Another idea that goes right along with this is simulation theory, that this entire reality is kind of a video game, a holographic projection. And if there's another reality beyond that, it's still not the ultimate reality. The ultimate reality, the way I hold it, is that God is everything and nothing. Nothing in particular, no specific form, but all forms are created out of that oneness. This is the most important idea, because once you have it, everything else flows from that single idea. If you feel you're a victim, that you're out of control, that life is just being done to you, then you're stuck in the matrix. The key to exit the matrix, for me, is knowing: I am God, I am in control, I am the creator. I am, and anything you say after "I am," that's how you then manifest and shape this simulation. This is how you take from the formless and put it into form.
"I am" is how I create my reality
For example, I've used a lot of affirmations: I am happy, I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am wise, I am safe, I am love, I am God. In my experience, these affirmations all then manifest. And if you want what feels to me like proof this works, watch how other people do it backwards. They'll go around saying, I am weak, I am poor, I am stupid, I am so dumb. Or they'll project it out onto other people: they're so stupid, this world is so messed up, people are so mean, nobody understands. I believe the words you use are creating your reality.
And sure, there are people who behave foolishly in the world, because they make you appreciate wise people, and because you made the world to be interesting. If everyone had the exact same level of intelligence, you as the creator would be bored, and so you would change it. So I've hacked the matrix with just this single idea. This is the same place I'm coming from when I talk about the affirmations and guided meditations I practice day to day.
If the idea is hard, take it in a thousand forms
Now, if this idea is difficult for you, what you need to do is take in this same idea in a thousand different forms, over and over and over again, because that's how we learn. Many of you will feel massive resistance to me saying "I am God." You're like, no, you're not God. He's God, she's God, it's God. It's not you. I go to Alcoholics Anonymous five days a week to help others and carry the same message, and I see people cringe. They grimace when I say "I am God." They're like, the only thing I know for sure is that I'm not God.
And I understand that. Yes, this body and this mind by itself is just one body among many bodies. But who am I after the body and the mind are gone? Who am I after the soul and the ego are completely gone? God's all that's left. And that's me, and that's all of us.
So if this idea is hard, what I did is read hundreds of books and listen to thousands of hours of audiobooks with the same basic idea explained thousands of different ways. Some of the people who were really helpful include Eckhart Tolle with The Power of Now, and Wayne Dyer. I listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of Wayne Dyer talks. If you boil it all down, that's the basic idea: I am God, and I am what I say I am. Wayne Dyer's books really helped me get out of this thinking that there's something wrong with me and that I'm separated from God. From that point, you also choose to take in that which aligns with what you want to be.
Be choosy about what you take in
The matrix has all this programming in it, and you've set this up to make it interesting for yourself. It's a little game you're playing, and a lot of the music, popular culture, news, and entertainment is designed to pull you a certain way. My kids, I told them no tablets last night, because it appeared they wanted to manifest something different. They said, well, can we watch the news? And I said, the news is created as a trick to fool you into thinking you're getting something interesting. What it's really giving you is the matrix mindset: this disempowered, "the world is just happening to you, you have no say in it, you are not God, other people are in power over you" mindset. Much of the reality around us is intended to trick you into accepting what you don't want. So it's very important to be choosy about exactly what you take in.
The easiest way to do this is to start tapping into how you feel, and becoming sensitive to it. This is the kind of thing I keep talking through every day with the people in the Jerry Banfield Family.
You can't hack reality while sabotaging your body
In order to feel that clearly, for me, you've got to strip down what you do to the body and the mind into absolute health. If you want to hack the matrix, sure, sometimes alcohol and drugs in my past would briefly open the matrix up and let me see through it. But then you come down, you're in a depression, you collapse deeper, you're fully held into it, and it seems hopeless to ever get out. So first, if you want to really hack the matrix and get whatever you want, you've got to stop sabotaging the physical unit you decided to incarnate in.
I remember deciding to incarnate in this one. And I'm not special. I know other people who've remembered choosing to incarnate in their own body as well, so you can remember that if you'd like to. You don't have to. It's up to you. I remember choosing my parents. I remember what you could think of as a soul and a body bonding. I remember choosing to enter the matrix, and remembering that I always have power to create in this little game I'm playing. If you want your reality to go your way, you can't get in your own way, and alcohol, drugs, and many other things out there will get in your own way.
So for me, I'm sober. I'm clean. I don't drink at all, ever. I've been sober almost 10 years in Alcoholics Anonymous. Absolutely no smoking. Minimum on things like junk food. I eat mostly whole plant foods, because these are nourishing for my body, they're filled with water, they're filled with nutrients. I'm in bed an average of eight and a half hours every night.
It's unreasonable to think you're going to hack reality without taking care of your physical body. A lot of the way people go about trying to hack reality is "work harder, push further, get four hours of sleep, three hours of sleep, and you're going to manifest all this money." That stuff can work in the short term, but you're going to pay for it in the long term. If you really want to hack this reality, you need to think patient and long term. The way you do that is to look at this existence, and this body, as a marathon. So you want to rest and relax as much as possible. That means getting your sleep and cutting all non-essential activities. This is a big part of why I believe in facing harsh reality instead of hiding in a comfortable fantasy.
I only want money that comes through joy
I also refuse to do any work just for money. If it's not done for joy, because I want to, then keep your dirty money. I only want money to come to me through joy, through happiness. I'd rather be doing this than anything else in the universe right now.
Why bad things happen
If you want to hack the matrix, we're talking about getting reality completely your way. Here's the final real trick of it: a lot of the questions you have can be answered by remembering, I am God, this is my reality, and this body and this mind are very temporary. A lot of us struggle with, well, why do bad things happen? On a human level, they happen to give us a chance to help each other. If nothing "bad" ever happened to anybody, we'd have no use for each other. We need each other when bad things happen. We need each other in an election year, where we can all lift each other up and say, look, let's unite and create this reality together. We don't need any authority figures, and the goal of all this is to help you find your own power inside.
The polarity of reality, and just being
All the things you have a problem with are based on you feeling that you don't have power inside. Someone asked me yesterday, well, Jerry, how do we get rid of all the malice in the world? The first step is to realize you are creating it. If there's malice in the world, you, as the creator of this universe, are creating that. There's a polarity in this reality. There's good and bad, beautiful and ugly. I'm at yoga sometimes thinking, why are there so many pretty people here, and why are there ones who aren't? And it's like, well, so the pretty people look nice by comparison. If everybody is pretty, nobody's pretty. There's a certain polarity to this reality.
Once you can feel the wholeness, once you can feel that you are both old and young, both ugly and pretty, both smart and stupid, both love and hate, then you can stop trying to be a good person and just be. That has helped me massively as a parent. Yesterday my kids were being a pain on the way home from the park. Before I got deep into this, it would have been, well, I can't be a bad parent by telling my kids no tablet time. Now it's like, no, I'm just a bigger kid than they are, and I want them to do what I want them to do right now. They're not cooperating with the nice approach, so we're going to use a little force, a bit of a nastier approach. And that doesn't make me a nasty person, because I'm neither nice nor nasty. I am zero and I am everything. I am infinity. That eliminates all this guilt and shame and negative programming and self-criticism and judgment. It's just, I am that I am, I'm here, and I'm grateful for this reality.
Holding on to now, with no death to fear
Sometimes with this mindset, you'll find you don't want to let go of this reality. The idea of knowing that you'll be alive, and you were alive before, and you had no concept of this reality at all, to me that just makes me want to really hold on and enjoy everything that's here today. To both be here now, and to realize I'll be there later. There's no death I have to worry about. Every day is another death. It's just a little different than yesterday.
Follow someone who's been where you want to go
If you want to hack the matrix, the same thing is true as with anything else: follow someone who's already been where you want to go, who has done what you want to do and has what you want to have. That's the spirit I share these thoughts in, and it's the same place I'm coming from when I tell the story of how my dog healed herself of a terminal disease, which to me is one more example of what's possible when you take responsibility for your reality.
So let's co-create a beautiful, amazing world together. Let's make a world of people who are empowered and strong and smart and happy and fulfilled. If these are the kinds of conversations you want more of, you can keep up with my newest videos in my Life playlist, and you're always welcome to come pop your head up and join the Jerry Banfield Family so we can do this together. So much love. I really appreciate your time here.