The Millennials Pod by Meeks @theyoung_pilgrim

Who gets to hold power in relationships or in society? In the pod, Meeks considers the intersection of power, safety and Judas vs. Jesus spirit as it relates to personal and professional relationships and geopolitics. The question of where power lies can best be answered by the Person who created the rules of engagement - of Who, therefore, allegiance is due. Earthly power should likewise be held by the purveyor who plays by the same rules and who uses it to foster safety for a companion, child or society. Sadly this is not the case because most people want power to control rather than to influence. And that is the Judas spirit over the Jesus Spirit.All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2025

In this pod, Meeks gets into the four new love languages for the modern age as experienced in his recent trip to the Motherland. In Kenya, Meeks met friends and suitors that enlightened him on some fundamental cues of romantic relationships with women. These are validation, emotion, containment and challenges. These are new love languages of modernity. While he's not the first to use these terms, his personal witness to the value of applying these actions reveal the love language of femininity. In this episode, Meeks encourages the male listeners - as well as female listeners - to engage in self-introspection then see women for who they are -- i.e., as mutual beings with the same relational goals as men but with different modes of expressing those needs. Enjoy!Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

In this new episode of season 6, Meeks takes a circuitous route from an MIT Entrepreneurship event led by Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at MIT, to the current and dire state of medical and financial freedom in the globe, and drops in on the old Roman Republic rights of the people, to tease this idea of our reason for existence. Building on previous episodes that explored "purpose" and "identity," this podcast places the French term "raison d'être" in the school of epistemological thought. In other words, "why are you here?" to quote the movie Gladiator. Do you live to be entertained or for pleasure or is there a Kantian morality, nay a Christian imperative, or reason for being? While this pod doesn't have all the answers, it hopes to inspire you with some.All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2025

This episode is of an adult nature. Proceed with caution.An Alpha widow is a colloquially used modern term connoting a woman who has lost or divorced or broken up with an Alpha man and, as a result, has difficulty moving on and forward with future companions because of the damage she's incurred. By the way, men also go through this. In this episode, Meeks applies the movie Vicky, Christina, Barcelona to demonstrate how this dynamic works out with two seemingly different women, who nonetheless fall for the Alpha man and end up being widowed. Though some women bounce back, the effects of being an Alpha widow are often longstanding. So the lesson here is to avoid the pain altogether or at the very least, embrace the dictum: once bitten, twice shy.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

Putting yourself in the other person's Reebok's and being close to them to learn more about their humanity, is what relationship - personal and professional - is fundamentally about. In this pod, Meeks explores how those two concepts - including competence and warmth - should show up in the workplace and in romantic relationships. This idea is actually not new, since Biblical scripture says: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself" (Phil 2:3). Need we say more? No, so let's strive to apply what we know to be true. Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

In this pod, Meeks reviews his first trip to the West coast of Africa, Ghana, specifically, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of nations and people in light of pride. At the heart of failed democracies in nation-states that had a bright future, like Ghana -- which was the first independent country on the Continent, is pride. Meeks relates this motif of pride from a national as well as a personal perspective and traces the Biblical roots of its dark genesis, thereby attempting to answer the "big why" about how we as a people (individuals) and nation - in Ghana, the Americas, and beyond - can insulate ourselves from the eternal consequences of a prideful heart.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

In this pod, Meeks breaks down and projects nascent current affairs from a religious, political, health, and preparedness perspective. The change of the guard at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue requires a reflection of 2024 in light of 2025. This is part one of a two-segment series that paints a broad picture of the left and the right ideologies coming to a point of symmetry. Therefore with that impending intel, this episode proposes how to situate your life based on biblical lessons as a bulwark against the dark forces of this world. So it's a call to be aware and ready for what's soon to take place in the world rather than a fear-mongering talk. Hopefully you learn how to best prepare for a time such as this.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

This episode takes stock of serious issues surrounding the modern man and how he has in many ways been compromised to be less of the actualized, Christian, and fully human man he was intended to be from antiquity. Today, many men have been compromised by their willful acquiescence to those things that appear to make life enjoyable - from work to relationships and technology.A few good men are needed to turn things around. This pod explores a few models for action but challenges men to take the high road, even if it's a difficult one, for the sake of our democracy, posterity, and overall way of life, which is currently in serious jeopardy. Your action doesn't have to be a monumental undertaking, but it must be organized and meaningful to your family, community, and/or society. We cannot compromise anymore, men. Resist the urge today.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2025

Is identity a fact or a social construct? In this episode, Meeks attempts to define identity as knowledge of oneself - i.e., an individual, sentient, created being that has a purpose. From that definition, he invites the listener to develop their own identity paradigm from a religious, personal, and professional perspective - preferably in that order - to help them find fulfillment.To begin the journey of fulfillment and legacy building, Meeks encourages the audience to ask 3 questions: How do I identify myself now? How would I like to identity in future? How do I truly (or other people) identify myself? Hopefully, this pod and exercise will get you to ask more questions that round up your identity.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this pod, Meeks dissects how the Black revolutionaries and activists of 1960s and 70s the were suppressed, infiltrated, expunged and replaced by leaders of the new school made up of sundry gangsta rappers, questionable politicians, a few would-be-billionaires, prosperity gospel pastors and masons. Altogether they are called the Boulé. This evolution of the unified Black Christian tradition left the majority of Blacks in urban settings vulnerable to the wiles of urban renewal and blight. Fast forward to today, the so-called presidents and vice presidents that were supposed to heal and make us whole, often worked against the community they claimed to represent. This episode goes through the history of this decades long process and finally posits but one conjoined solution - personal salvation in Christ and Black Christian communalism.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

This episode gets into looking into Ivy League schools and how they influence political and social theory, religion, and often culture. Meeks evaluates his visit to Princeton and Harvard and considers how elite schools have evolved over 300 years to become institutions that increasingly stifle free thought at the best of corporations. Hence, the need to contextualize higher education in the framework of neoliberal capitalism much to the chagrin of students today. Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this episode, Meeks discusses the implications of the 2024 US elections and goes back in time to delineate the history of democracy and the ideologies that run both parties. Here we delve into the origins of democracy and build up a case for the partisanship we see today and project where the could lead in 2025.

This episode reviews Meeks' short trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In it, he uses Vancouver as A motif to describe the urban sprawl endemic in major cities today. But the story of today is rooted in the colonial beginnings of independent or imagined communities, according to Benedict Anderson, which became societies and nation-states that lost their meaning and cohesion, or in 14th century Muslim philosopher Ibn Khaldun's understanding, Asabiyya.So through many conversations, self-guided tours, interactions and site visits, Meeks considers the thesis that the "End of Cities" - formerly with a commonwealth purpose - is nigh; indeed, is here. As a result, young people, led by Gen-Zs, are the last best hope for many cities. The blood of the indigenous peoples of Vancouver, the Five Nations, and all the native Americans that were lost in pillage on the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery, call for justice. Meeks finally shares ways young people can make strides in this direction after being inspired by a number of them in Vancouver.Dedicated to XaroushFair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this new season pod, Meeks reviews Compliance as a barometer for a good life, particularly in the context of relationships, education, race, health, common law, environment and religion. Compliance as the act of obeying rules and regulations - from government or your boyfriend or God - for better or worse, is a normative modern societal practice. But the delicate dance between the extremes of obeying common laws versus arbitrary ones, or virtuous commandments instead of Kesha hedonics, is critical to establish early one.We hope this show helps you identify your boundaries and precommitments so when the going gets tough, so do you.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this final season episode, Meeks interrogates authenticity, a practice worth applying in your everyday interactions. Part of the personal and professional challenges people face is because they fail to consistently balance and employ authenticity, honesty, truthfulness in their daily life. Using Alex Hormozi as a template for saying what you feel without being dismissive, though it could sting a tad bit, is an important practice in romantic and platonic relationships. For it settles for both parties the state of affairs and lessens being misunderstood. Millennials and particularly Gen-Zs don't take kindly to being told the truth but after reflecting upon it, they usually come around and find value in authenticity. So try telling people what you think in a way that they can receive if, even if they don't agree or accept it. It's too easy to ghost someone, so in the same way you won't ignore or blatantly lie to your boss, don't do that to other people and, importantly, yourself. Just be authentic.

In this pod, Meeks considers the topic of celibacy and proposes that men need to take a chill pill and abstain from knocking boots with women for the betterment of society. The increased sexuality in society - surprisingly led by women with the advent of social media - has propagated the demise of successful relationships. Indeed, the obsession with sexual content and toys among men and women has cheapened the meaning of making love, and made moot the need for marriage. Because Millennial men are usually the pursuers and instigators of sexual activity, it is incumbent on them to change the narrative by choosing celibacy, if they hope to find the right type of companion that would bring them joy based on religious - Biblical - morality. Jill Scott's "celibacy blues" record demonstrates the struggle to be abstinent, but hopefully this pod will lay ways in which you can live it. All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2024

In this episode, Meeks references and expounds upon a newly released song called Residuals by Chris Brown. The nostalgic record hearkens back to a moment in time when you were with someone and it seemed like time slowed in their presence, and then just like that, it was over. Was it God's plan or your indolence? That's the question this pod tries to answer and help young adults understand that the demise of a relationship is not pre-determined, but it may be a sign that you and that person are not aligned emotionally, physically, ideologically, or spiritually. And that is okay. It doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on you, though if there were some lessons to be learned - that negative feedback should be humbly received and applied in future relationships. Chris Brown's remembrance of past relationships is bitter-sweet, but he is not bitter, nor was Christ when he gave up the ghost for humanity. In like manner, we should forgive and move on from our past, failed intimate relationships. So, toast to the memories.All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2024

In this episode, the notion of the "sunk cost fallacy", which is a term generally used in economics meaning a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered, is applied to dating and relationships. Another similar aphorism is "doing the same thing and expecting different results."So in this pod, we explore how, for instance, many women who were generally thought to be more mature than men are indeed not as emotionally developed as we thought, particularly if you consider that over 80% of divorces in America are initiated by women. Certainly, all those men cannot be that horrible? In any event, renowned Sista Shahrazad Ali, of the 1980s and 90s Nation of Islam fame and author of The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman, proposes a thought provoking framework of dealing with women that requires the application of the sunk cost fallacy theorem when all else fails in romantic relationships. Fix It or Get Out ASAP is the clarion call of this show, because "she ain't for everybody."

In this pod, Meeks delves into the meaning of truth within the context of relationships and the its greater implication in society. He references the Nas lyrical quote "how can I trust you when I can't trust me?" as a starting point. We should only expect the truth in a loving relationship, if we are willing to also be truthful. Next he gets into how nice, good, and evil people view and apply truth. This distinction is important because we need to be able to discern that some people are vaguely truthful, while others highly transparent, and others still, are abject liars and cannot be trusted. Knowing whom you can trust and be open with builds real relationships, develops communities, and sustains societies.

Is the market always right when it comes to dating? If so, should we accept its signals carte blanche or balance them with other indicators such as past experiences? In the pod, Meeks revisits his grueling three weeks of traveling through France during the Olympics and meeting diverse younger women. His run-ins with mostly Gen-Z women is the basis of this podcast, insofar as the market is indicating that he should date ladies in their mid-20s rather than millennial women in their late-30s. In this discussion, he analyses what the economist Adam Smith termed the "invisible hand" of capitalism where supply and demand - or the market forces - reaches equilibrium. Is there an ideal age group of women slightly older men should consider to date? Listen to find out.

This pod addresses the recent CrowdStrike computer cyber bug which had lasting effects in the global financial, airline, and digital industries. As a result, Meeks considers the urgent need to develop contingency plans for the inevitable events brought about by an increasing interconnected and complex telecommunications and political world. Here he encourages the listener to develop a strategic plan for themselves, their family, and community. In the event, the grid goes down, do you have a country home, an international bank account, precious metals, an RV, crypto currencies, and so on? Regardless, thinking about a plan and acting upon it now is better than doing so in the moment of crisis.

This episode draws from Meeks recent vacay/workday in the Bahamas, where he found it challenging to understand the local culture until it was time for him to return. In the waning days of his trip, his providential encounter - not chance - with a lovely young lady of brown complexion with good values compelled him to seriously consider the need for having a predetermined standard for all seasons and Island girls. In this instance, Meeks explores the value of having a Godly, manly frame because it not only establishes how women perceive and connect with you, but also conversely, how you demonstrate their need for security, safety, and containment. In other words, men must develop good parental skills from their fathers for the benefit of their sons and daughters so they too can find suitable companions based on the veritable standard of traits and values they were raised upon.

In this pod, Meeks tries to understand Terrence Howard's novel mathematical project. His new light on understanding the nano physical nature of the universe breaks away from the gravitational and string theories we've been accustomed to. More importantly, Meeks makes the point that even if Terrence is entirely wrong, fear and tarnished belief systems handicap our ability to even discern what could be a novel idea or theory. As a result, a lot of what we believe to be scientific fact is actually theoretical and requires probably more faith than one needs to be a Christian. Lastly, many of the things we believe to be false are actually true for those who are in the know, except for most of us through a process of fear mongering, those truths are hidden in plain sight.All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2024

In this pod, Meeks opens up about his deep experience with the woman that got away. Or did she? He investigates if there is a "one" that God has purposed for each of us. In trying to answer the question, Meeks provides a values-based framework to determine if you are compatible with the person who could be the "one." Drawing from African marital tradition and Biblical practice juxtaposed to Cultural Marxism and Romanticism, he ultimately settles on religious best-practices to find, date, relate, and marry the one,

In this new season debut podcast, we look into pain as a derivative of love. Hence to love is to accept that pain is inevitable, though wallowing in it is unhealthy. Meeks here, inspired by the early 2000s Ja Rule album with the same name, Pain is Love, is curious about how the two emotions and actions - pain being a feeling and love an active verb - not only influence each other in personal and societal life, but are influenced by external and internal stimuli such as social media, relationships, mental pathologies like fear and avoidance, epigenetics, facile parenting, transcendental spirituality, Christianity, and the like. Ultimately, we should strive to get to a place where pain is not a factor of love, but in order to do so we may have to deal with the greatest issue of the heart: sin.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this pod, Meeks bakes up a S.W.O.T - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - Analysis framework for the summer. In doing so, he recalls how Microsoft Bill Gates envisioned leveraging his co-founder's strengths because he understood his weaknesses. Attention being the new social currency, it may be prudent to outsource those interpersonal skills if their lacking, as did Bill with Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer (his respective no. 2 and 30 Microsoft hires). The point is that we must be humble enough to evaluate where we bring the most value and also hedge our blind spots through faith, books, mentors, the great reformers, and the like. This thoughtful solo approach to the SWOT Analysis will prove to be the wise move for the summer as it particularly relates to relationships and business.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this episode, we explore the notion of giving unto Caesar what is due him and to God what is required Him. This dual, mutually exclusive allegiance to temporal and spiritual things has its roots in the historic financial system beginning in the days of Moses when the tithing system was instituted, up until the current fiat and digital economy built on taxes, securitization, and blockchain technology, where "you shall own nothing and be happy." Meeks tries to briefly but carefully demonstrate that the love of money found in the geopolitical, dollar-denominated financial system is the root of evil. Yet as the global citizen knowingly or ignorantly abdicates their sovereignty to corporate governments and financial institutions, then it follows that they should indeed pay the piper a.k.a fill Caesar's coffers, despite how onerously and violently that money and debt is expended. But if they instead choose common law practice and personal responsibility in building God's house, then theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

In this episode, Meeks celebrates the class of 2024 with a few words of advice as they enter a dynamic workforce and a changing world in general. He reviews a recent talk with a few graduating students affiliated with a Christian club in a liberal arts college. He shares best practices for job searching, financial planning, personal relationships, and religious practice. He also explores the divergence of spiritual thought regarding values and goodness by asking, "Are all religions equal, insofar as they proffer temporal and eternal peace?" The answer is no, but you decide. In any event, please join me in congratulating the class of 2024!Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this pod, Meeks breaks down what constitutes a lie(s) and provides a reasonable model by which to judge a lie. In relationships, politics, business, religion, people lie but would one discern the gravity of that lie and when is an apology appropriate? There some lies that are pathological - those, one must dispense with - while some are as a result of willful ignorance. Though neither is excusable, understanding the spectrum of lies and context will ease the decision to make an apology or accept it. All Rights Reserved | Fair Use | 2024

In this pod, Meeks challenges himself and the listener to raise the bar in their business and personal endeavors. He provides insight into how to raise the bar when dating, but doing it with grace, and also how to judge a potential business deal that lacks a worthy standard of excellence. He gives examples in his personal life and career to overstate the idea that "perfection" is not an impossibility, but when we impose those standards on a flawed human beings and systems that aren't Spirit-led, then the outcome of heartbreaks, bankruptcies, and breakups due to envy, surmising, jealousy, greed, hubris, and so on, is inevitable. All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this episode, Meeks reviews his recent trip to Texas, particularly Austin for SXSW2024 and a brief visit to San Antonio. He shares experiences with people, places, and ideas during his weeklong stay in state. "Do all his ex's really live in Texas like George Strait? Should one consider moving to Texas? Is Southern hospitality a real thing? Does the socialist versus the capitalist model work in American cities? Is there a new breed of Gen-Z creatives that can upend the millennials developers of Facebook, Airbnb, and Twitter? These are some of the questions Meeks considers and asks you to join him in answering.

This episode gets into the Christian, evolutionary, and philosophical reasons why marriage is both important and necessary for survival and happiness. Meeks, here, explores how mutual values and duty versus specious influences, such as fleeting feelings - e.g., fear or hubris - social media, and other distractions are the bane of good relationships forming. As a result, fewer Millennials today get married, or, if they do, they marry for the wrong reasons. Listen, learn, and comment on how you can set yourself up for a marriage worth the name.

TRIGGER WARNING - In this episode, Meeks broaches a sensitive, personal topic about untimely death. Death in a most crude sense -- suicide. Based on the experience of someone that recently give up on life, this podcast goes into the social, relational, and religious concerns that could lead one down such a dark path. But the show also provides solutions. Those from within, beside and, importantly, Above. If you are contemplating self harm, please seek medical support and call emergency services if required. Rest in Peace and Power to Charles "Charli" Ouda and many of those that chose to end their own life. [Referenced Song: Enough by Fred again.., Brian Eno. Under the exclusive license to Text Records.]Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this podcast, Meeks revisits the recent life and times of Kanye West and explores his desperate cry for help as he attempts to expose what the New Age occultist Alice A. Bailey termed the "externalization of the hierarchy." Is Kanye an insider playing a Hegelian role or is he an insider trying to break away from his self-imposed Matrix or as Jaguar Wright coined it: "buyers remorse." Either way, it's important to try and overstand his recent cryptic messages and odd actions, and give him some grace.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

Could it be, the traditional wife is back? In this episode, Meeks reviews recent studies and social media trends that suggest that young women (Millennials and Gen Zers) are reverting to classical norms, philosophies, and practices in the household a.k.a. seeking to be a traditional housewife. The tepid economy and inflation could be part of the reason, though it could be young women are appreciating the ethical, if not moral, value of a heteronormative nuclear home. Forget the trends, what do you think and see around you? Leave a comment.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2024

In this new season debut, Meeks discusses reasons to create a strategic plan for 2024 to insulate young people from the inevitable technological, financial, and environmental crisis that is likely to unfold. What can you do now to prepare yourself and loved ones should the grid go down or if a cyber attack were to occur? This season premier, proposes ideas, philosophies, and strategies that could help the listener prepare for 2024.

In this final episode of 2023, Meeks teases the idea of evaluating your moral code to determine how well you performed spiritually. We often consider profits and losses at the end of the fiscal year as a barometer for performance. Rarely, however, do we calculate our moral score and ask: "Was I righteous or sinful this year?" Here, Meeks shares his moral shortcomings but puts it into Christian perspective, which proffers both hope and a renewed purpose for 2024.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2023

Vladimir Lenin wrote about "What is to be Done" in the Bolshevik-Communist context but died before he could see its horrific demise. Still, the challenge is salient and worth considering in 2024. This episode, anticipates the tough times ahead and proposes some practical frameworks of life to drive through the storm. The goal isn't to escape but to overcome. Check it out and drop a thought or some more tips.Fair Use | All Rights Reserved | 2023

In this episode, we discover the value of parenthood and its implications on childhood development into adulthood. Kerry Washington's recently released memoir "Thicker than Water," is a beautifully written expose of her relationship with her father. She reveals inner thoughts and traumas that mainly stemmed from a tenuous, if not fractured, relationship with her dad. Many lessons to be learned here by women and men alike. I share some of mine.All Rights Reserved. Fair Use.

This episode delves into the idea of reinventing oneself and provides pop culture and financial guru practical examples as a way to switch things up. How do you mix things up in your personal or professional, even spiritual, life and produce a new iteration of yourself that you can be proud of? It's ultimately less about pursuing selfish or people-drive adulation and more about finding or rediscovering your intrinsic value.

What is the true purpose of your life? Does science provide a useful model or does Christianity demonstrate the right answer to that most important question. In this episode, explore how Silicon Valley, tech VCs, and scientists are thinking about purpose juxtaposed to what Christians have deemed a purpose driven life.

In this episode, Meeks explores the difference between failure and mistakes and evaluates the implications of them respectively in jobs, dating, marriages and, even, politics. He also considers the spiritual and geographic impact of both notions in American and across the pond.

I recently had the chance to visit 4 European cities in 6 days and I learned a great deal about human culture, architecture, religion, fashion, innovation, freedom, capitalism and life in general. While traveling can't teach you the meaning of life, it can certainly give you perspective to live it more intentionally. This should be a goal for young people. Hopefully this episode charts how to begin that journey,

In this episode, Meeks reviews his trip to London for a conference. He explores the cultural norms and misnomers of Londoners, including that of the Black and young residents of the City of London. He retells his experience at a Greenwich hotel, whose customer service left a lot to be desired, even though he was urged not lodge in South London because "Greenwich is all around better." Meeks also recaps the flailing transportation system, high standard of living, and sociopolitical differences between the Britain and America. Music by Big Pun f. Donell Jones (introduction), It's So Hard | Sault, Pray Up, Stay Up (background) | All Rights Reserved.

The rapid changes in the global economy require a multi-modal mental, physical, and emotional preparation for the impending crisis. Millennials, in this episode, will learn best-practices to thrive during this epoch from a political, financial, geographic, and spiritual perspective.

In this episode, Meeks shares some reasons why employing a long-term strategy in relationships or business is prudent. Often young people are tempted to pursue short-term gains in lieu of looking at the grand scheme and, thereby, missing out on big wins.

The late, great founder of Off-White and creative designer of Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh, during a 2017 talk at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), explored the idea of post-post-modernism as a theme in the flailing fashion industry. In this inaugural pod by Meeks a/k/a @theyoung_pilgrim, he dissects what he believes Virgil Abloh's modernist thesis of luxe and street fashion meant.