Say, if you lost everything, how would you react?
Would you crack under your fear?
Would you become so angry that you just can't even think straight?
Would you find something or even someone to blame to vent out your frustrations?
And honestly, all of these are very normal reactions when something bad happens to us.
Like when we lose everything, everything that we worked so hard for, just seems to come
crashing down around us.
But what if you chose none of these answers?
What if instead you decided to move forward with what you do have in order to begin rebuilding?
And that's exactly what today's character did when he woke up in the stone world.
And of course, that character is no other than the main star of Dr. Stone, Senku Ishigami.
Hey, what's going on guys?
My name is Nate and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation, a show where we help you
break the chains that are holding you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles
with themes from your favorite anime.
And before we get into it, just a quick reminder that if you've gotten any value out of my
episode so far, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
Because again, I love reading guys comments and it helps me improve each and every episode.
All right.
That's enough wasting time with sales pitch.
Time to get into it.
So you can like like how we cover last last week about Dr. Stone as a whole and what this
whole season is going to be about is the concept of going back to the basics, right?
And in Dr. Stone is literally this literally what it is.
You can't get more basic than going back to the stone world, right?
And just like with the questions I posed earlier with, you know, how would how would you react
if you suddenly found yourself, you know, with no, you know, no technology, no, no other
people, you know, no only you see a wild animals in trees and just no signs of civilization
as we know it today.
I mean, how would you react?
I mean, I probably probably freak out and honestly, if all of a sudden just woke up one day in
just the middle of nowhere, no friends, no family, you don't even know how you got there,
what even happened to you.
And it's just it's a interesting, it's an interesting premise of the story.
I think it's part of the reason why I like Dr. Stone so much, because the premise itself
is very interesting.
And it kind of got me into that mind that hit space like, OK, man, that pretty is it
is pretty crazy.
Right.
And but that's not that's not the case for Senku.
Right.
Because like I said, when he first wakes up, he he just gets to work immediately.
And he takes the take stock of his surroundings and what is around him.
And then he immediately goes into action.
Right.
There's none of this, you know, wasting time, none of this panic.
There's nothing like that.
And that demeanor kind of brought me to this verse, which is kind of ties in the whole
thing with Senku is it's Ecclesiastes, Chapter eight, verse one.
And it says, Who is like the wise person and who knows the interpretation of a matter?
A person's wisdom brightens his face and the sternness of his face is changed and essentially
is going to take into account Senku's vast knowledge and subsequently his his wisdom
of science in the modern world.
And it really shows how he how he uses it, not just for his own benefit, but for for
those we're going to cover in subsequent episodes of the season, you know, how he uses his knowledge
of science to essentially bring it back more or less.
But before I get too far ahead, let me kind of go back to to really understand who Senku
is and just how crazy this man is.
So again, the people in Dr. Stone, the modern day people, they have been petrified for 3700
years.
And Senku was the first one to wake up, right?
He's the first one out of all of humanity, at least as far as we know, right?
To wake up.
And the thing is, he he kept an active mind the entirety of that.
He Senku literally counted each second after he was petrified.
Now, I want you to think about that.
This 3700 years and he counted every second, not minute, not hour days.
He literally counted every second.
And because of that, he knew exactly what day it was, what month it was and what year
it was after he woke up.
Now, you know, that's that's not impressive.
Then I don't I don't know what is.
But the significance behind that is it really displays Senku's mental fortitude because
Senku like like a lot of us real life nerds, right, at least especially the ones that they
portray in, you know, movies and TV shows.
Senku is not very physically strong at all.
It's actually a running gag in the series that he's he's actually very weak, even compared
to other people around his similar build.
But more than makes up for it by having a very strong mind, I can get him out of pretty
much more than any situation, to be fair.
And the significance behind it as it applies to us is that being mentally and spiritually
tough is something that is needed to thrive in this world.
And basically what that means is it's one thing to, you know, to be to be physically
strong, to be physically able and things like that.
That's very, very important.
Not diminishing that in any type of way.
But people tend to get caught up in just that aspect of it and neglect their mind and their
spiritual health.
And you know, for us here, our lives here, it takes it takes all three, the mental, physical
and spiritual, where all three had to be in alignment.
All three needs to be need to be strengthened and worked on and taken care of in order to
really, like I said, just to thrive in life, not just survive it.
And in I know, and here, let's say lately, in the last couple of years, I have seen a
bigger push for, you know, mental health awareness.
People just just be more open and aware of all those type of things.
I know for a long time, it wasn't necessarily taboo, but it was more misunderstood.
Right.
And I think the understanding that, you know, hey, this is a this is an actual problem.
Right.
This is people are going through something each and every day that we may not even know
about until it's too late.
Right.
For those who aren't strong enough or those who think they're not strong enough to get
through it, you know, they end up doing something that they can never take back.
Right.
And now they're gone and their loved ones are left thinking about, you know, asking
the woulda coulda shoulda's what could I have done?
What should I have done?
You know, could have done anything to help them out, even though they were going through
this.
Right.
And what it's heartbreaking and extremely sad to really think about, but that's the
reality of it.
Right.
And for those of you listening out there who who are either a going through something that
you feel like you can't share or whatever the case may be.
And for those who may not be going through something, but you maybe you know someone
who is or, you know, even if you don't.
Right.
I want I want all of us to get to a place, even if it's just one person.
Right.
That we just feel comfortable confiding in and just really being real with, you know,
you know, just lay it all out, pour it all out.
I mean, someone who, if anything, just to listen, it doesn't have to be a person at
that point.
You can be your family pet.
Right.
You can be a dog or a cat or a bird.
But then but now, seriously, it's all about expressing yourself, your real self and your
full in fullness and just just be vulnerable.
Right.
I mean, that's how God wants us.
He wants us to come to him with all of our mess that we're going through.
Right.
And to not carry that burden alone.
Right.
So, of course, go to God, go to God first and foremost in all things.
But also go to your fellow man here, too, because again, we're the ones here on earth
dealing with that.
Right.
And honestly, you never know.
Some lifelong friendships may just start and grow from that.
You know, or they may just think you're weird.
I mean, come on, let's be honest.
All of us are a little weird in some form or fashion.
I mean, we watch anime, but and back to back to Senku.
But yes, so again, Senku really exemplifies what it means to have a extremely sharp, strong
and resilient mind.
And of course, translate to his willpower, because again, that counting is the second
every second for thirty seven hundred years is that's not easy.
Right.
That's not easy.
I can't I can't even count to a hundred without messing up at some point or getting distracted
or, you know, other things like that.
But that just shows how capable of a person Senku really is with what he has.
And so that kind of brings us to the next point.
So Senku Senku's whole motive and mission throughout the story is essentially to bring
modern society back to the Stone Age.
Right.
Or bring it bring the Stone Age out of the Stone Age.
Words escape me right now.
But essentially, essentially to bring everything that was lost back, you know, it's just nice
and nice and simple.
Right.
And part of the key to that is Senku's vast knowledge of science.
Right.
Because he's because the thing that for me that gets me with this series is that it's
not so much that he just has the knowledge.
He knows how to apply it.
Right.
He knows how to create modern things like a cell phone, you know, a car.
The other thing like telescopes and there's all types of refrigerator things that we have
nowadays.
And you think, OK, how can he possibly make these things in the Stone Age?
My answer to that is go watch the anime.
But but now I just go show you how just knowing a lot of stuff isn't enough.
You actually have to apply it.
Right.
You have to apply.
You have to keep applying even when it's wrong, even when you're not sure if it's going to
work out, you have to at least try and do it.
And in this one thing I really love about this whole, you know, this kind of idea about
going back to the basics.
Right.
And if for each of each of the characters I'm going to cover in in this season, they
all exemplify that that idea of going back to the basics in different ways.
And Senku's way is essentially using your previous knowledge, your previous experiences
that you've already gone through in order to essentially rebuild from the ground up.
Right.
Again, I think I think I said in last episode, you're you see YouTube videos of people all
the time who are like, if if I were to, you know, learn how to trade stocks again in 2023,
if I were to learn how to do real estate, if I were to learn how to create YouTube videos
in 2023, and these are people who are already at the top of your fields or, you know, even
if they're mid level in their fields, essentially they're not novices anymore.
Right.
They've they've been in it for a while.
They know they found what works for them and they've they've been successful at it.
But they make these videos for a reason to one help new people.
And two, I truly believe is to help, you know, create new ideas for them.
Right.
And I think I've been in that mind space again of, OK, when I was, you know, just starting
out on my career, what was what were the things that are available to me then and what can
I replace with the things that are available to me now and see, you know, and see what
I can use and pretty much what all Senku does.
Right.
He sees what was available to him and he recalls what you know what things were available back
3700 years ago in modern times, and he sees what he can make out of it.
And in also he just relies on his basic understanding on the world and what makes the world tick
in order to improve himself, like his own living conditions and things like that and
those around him.
Because Senku goes on to found what they call the kingdom of science, whereas, you know,
he goes and he finds the survivors or the descendants of the survivors of the world
petrification.
And he essentially brings science to them and shows them all the wondrous, wonderful
things that they can do for people.
And honestly, it's just it's really amazing how they how they take to it.
Because at first, you know, he's just random outsider, spitting nonsense about, you know,
the science stuff, and then he shows him what he can do and how it can benefit all of humanity.
And now, you know, they're his best supporters and it's honestly pretty cool.
And and again, so I'm going to kind of go kind of backtrack just a little bit.
Please forgive me.
They're kind of going over the idea of, you know, using what you have.
Right.
And because each of each of us have different gifts, have different things available to
us, different circumstances, different gifts, different experiences, all these things that
who that make us unique, that make us who who we are, essentially.
These are all valuable things that we can bring, not just in this post apocalyptic type scenario,
right.
But just in our everyday lives, right.
When we're whether you're working, you're working on a team project, when you're in
school, or you're at home with your family, and even when you're just by yourself, being
aware of these things and knowing how to apply your strengths to whatever you know, whatever
it is that you're working on.
And that's just a fundamental skill that isn't really taught.
Right.
And I think for a long time, I didn't believe it could be taught.
Because again, you're talking about your own experiences, your own passions, your own strengths
and things like that.
But there's a certain level.
Most of it is self work that you have to do that you have to discover for yourself and
just experiment with.
But I do believe that, again, if you find somebody who's further along in their journey
than you are, you know, who's, you know, more experienced in life, more experienced in what
it is that you're trying to do, who can kind of show you the do's and don'ts and kind of
give you some helpful tips and tricks that may or may not help you help you.
But hey, at least you know, they've already someone else has already tried this, you have
to reinvent the wheel.
And again, it's back to the whole thing of using what you have at your disposal.
And that doesn't just mean your own experiences, you can leverage the experience and talents
of other people.
That's why that's why sites like Fiverr exists.
People don't know what Fiverr is.
It's a freelance service where freelancers go and they just they post their skills more
or less.
Whatever it is, digital marketing, you know, graphic design, podcast creation, wink, things
like that.
And you just go you can pay them pay somebody else to do something that you can't do in
order to essentially make your idea come to life.
And so I just want to make sure people are aware of not just their own strength, but
the strength of those around them as well.
And the answer the biggest thing is, don't get caught up on what you don't know, or what
you can do.
Just do what you can with what you can and do it to the best of your ability.
Because at the end of the day, that's all any of us can do is just do our best.
Right?
I'm not asking you to do my best.
I'm not asking you to do your parents best, your siblings best, your boss's best, you
know, everyone from all the different levels, we're all at different stages of life of our
careers or journeys in this whole this this thing we call life, right.
And it's crazy to ask somebody to live up to somebody else's expectations.
And as crazy as that sounds, we tend to do that with ourselves anyway.
Right?
We tend to try to live to other people's expectations of us when they're not us.
But just think about that.
That's really, really crazy.
At least to me, maybe I'm alone in this.
I don't know.
Yeah, just let me know in the comments or something if that seems crazy to you, too.
But you know, if when you're only living for your own expectations, when you're only trying
to live up to your own expectations and you have realistic expectations about yourself,
you know, not not dealing with the perfectionist aspect of it.
And I'm speaking from personal experience because for the longest time and truthfully,
and sometimes now I have a perfectionist tendencies to, you know, I need to get everything just
right and perfect the first time every time.
And again, I'm human.
So that's never that never happens.
And before it used to hold me back, used to stop me from even starting something, even
attempting something new.
But now, now that I'm a little bit older and I've gone through that and do a lot of self
reflection and just just been in prayer about it.
And yes, God just said, he told me that, hey, you need to let let yourself off the hook.
Right.
That's essentially what it all perfectionism is.
You holding yourself on the hook for you to try to live up to this grand idea that you
have in your head.
That's never going to happen because you're not perfect.
Right.
But you expect yourself to be perfect.
And that's kind of where this whole thing starts and it goes.
And then you just think you're not good enough.
You know, I don't deserve this.
I'm like, I can't do that.
And that's when the negative self talk starts to really creep in.
But I'm just here to remind you just, hey, forget all that.
Throw all of that out of your mind, out the window.
You're going to you're going to suck at stuff.
You probably suck at stuff now.
I know I do.
And that's OK.
Really, it's OK.
I think the point of all this is just really to let you guys know that it's OK.
It's OK to suck.
It's OK to fail.
It's OK to give up.
Right.
I mean, I know on a lot of motivational kind of uplifting things, you know, don't give
up, don't quit and things like that.
I say it's OK as long as you don't stay there.
That's the key.
That is the key.
Because if you're doing something that's not giving you results, if it doesn't if it just
doesn't feel right, then by all means, stop and pivot.
Well, stop.
Pray about it.
Think about it and then pivot.
Right.
Because I mean, I've tried a lot of different things in my life that just they just didn't
feel right to me.
Right.
Just didn't feel like it wasn't me.
It wasn't what I wanted to do.
And instead of just being just a bull head and just running straight through it, keep
to keep going about something that I just didn't feel like it was me.
I just stopped, prayed about it, asked God to show me if if this was what he wanted me
to do, if it was if it was something else and then just kind of take it, take it from
that point and then do what you want with it.
And I mean, that's that's it.
These are these are just the building blocks that I want you guys to kind of get from this
is that, you know, it's OK to fail.
It's OK to try new things and fail.
And we're all going to suck right until we keep going, keep getting better, keep getting
consistent with it and just start building up that confidence.
And then you can get to your Senku level of knowledge and just complete dominance over
your field.
Right.
I mean, thank you has complete and other dominance.
I think for my understanding, he may be the smartest or maybe the second smartest person
in the entire series.
But I think I think he is a smart.
I can't readily recall right now.
But yeah, and that that just started from him experimenting.
Right.
I mean, I think that's part of the whole thing about, you know, science, engineering, things
like that.
And it feels like that.
I mean, even things like cooking and artwork and media, all these things come from experimentation
and experimentation means there's a possibility that you're going to fail, that this artwork
isn't going to resonate with people or this project is going to blow up in your face.
Right.
And if you stop there, then the the greatness that you have in you, that grand idea, the
purpose that God put you on this earth for is just going to fizzle out because you can
handle the pain.
You can handle the stress, the suffering.
And I'm just being honest, right.
Because I had to be honest with myself about this stuff, too.
It was like you can't you can't allow yourself to stop.
Right.
Because God put you here for a reason.
You still have breath in your lungs for a purpose.
Right.
I don't know what that purpose is.
That's between you and God that pray and ask and reflect on about and to really go about
it that way.
But once you do, and then it's up to you to work on it and refine it.
And that's not going to be easy.
It's not going to be quick, but it's going to be worth it.
It's going to be so much worth it.
And in the beginning of that is going back to the basics.
Right.
When I get every new venture that you start with new skill, new task, whatever, it always
starts from the ground up.
We go back.
We start with the basic building blocks.
And then we just build up from there and keep going, keep going, keep going.
The tower is going to fall over.
You have to start back over.
But now you can, you can build that tower back up faster because you already know how
the pieces line up.
Right.
And eventually you're going to get to the top and you're like, man, look at all the
work I did.
Look at all the stuff I put in, you know, and I didn't give up.
And now I'm at this level now.
And then you're going to look up and see, oh man, there's a whole bunch of other levels
that I can, I can still go up and reach.
And for me, that's awesome.
Right.
And I think that aspect because you get to continuously improve yourself, continue to
really push yourself, push yourself to really strive for a, just, just, just to better yourself.
Right.
I mean, I mean, again, like I always say at the end of every episode, you know, we are
the main characters of our, of our stories.
Right.
And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be some wimpy main character.
I don't want to be just someone who just gives up all the time and cries and complains.
I don't want to see that.
I don't want to see that on the shows that I watch.
So why would I want to be like that?
Right.
And again, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
It doesn't mean it's not going to be full with heartache and headache and all the other
aches.
But again, it's going to be worth it.
So again, in summary, it's a Senku story, you know, encourages us to essentially tap
into our own strengths and just to keep learning and adapting and just to make the most of
what we have in order to just to thrive in his life.
Right.
When adversity hits us in the face, we know that we are equipped to, to go through it,
you know, to hit it back, hit adversity back in the face.
Take that.
Anyway, I just want to thank you guys for tuning in today's episode.
And hopefully if you guys knew new listeners, I didn't scare you off.
Please come back because next week we're going to look at a character who's resourcefulness
pretty much rivals Senku's genius.
And that's the stone world's, you know, man of science himself, Chrome.
And like I say, again, just want to thank you all for tuning into today's episode and
I pray that you got what you needed out of it and hopefully you learn something new about
yourself.
And if you didn't, you know, take some time to just reflect on what you heard today and
see what you, what comes out of it.
And always remember you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't end until
he says so.
All right.
Thanks for watching.