Let me be clear, the Devil did not appear in the flesh. I have never met him and I don't have any intentions of spending eternity with him. Hell? I don't even know if he is a he-devil or a she-devil. What I can tell you is that I know a lot more about him (or her) after a series of events that led to the podcast interview actually happening.
It's Mind Numbering
I've known that episode 666 was coming up in my podcast sequence for a while. There have been many suggestions on how to deal with this. Some people just said skip it and treat it like the 13th-floor of a building. My gut and my heart said that I did not want a hole in my podcast numbering or do something silly like put out 10 minutes of silence in protest. After all, not everyone agrees what 666 means.
666 is often referred to as the “number of the beast” (in chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation of the New Testament). So that may explain the 13th floor and Friday the 13th obsession. 666 is also the sum of the first 36 natural numbers and the sum of the squares of the first seven prime numbers. (I know… math is hard). There is even a word for the fear of the number 666. This is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia
Most of us only think of the devil as the gatekeeper to Hell, and the tempter of Jesus during his 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. Christianity similarly uses forty to designate important time periods.
Origin Stories
Those of you who are fans (or casual listeners) of the Bacon Podcast, know that I start out my interviews asking for the origin story of my first-time guests. It usually goes like this, “How did you go from being a traveling mad-scientist-magician to helping people create magic in their sales?”. It's fun and helps both you and I get a perspective of the journey people took to get where they are today.
That same concept was used to convince me that the devil would be the perfect guest for episode 666. Now, I did try to find a REAL guest (like CEO & Co-Founder at Liquid Death), but alas, he never responded. And seriously, I am not sure anyone really wanted to be guest 666. So I chose a mythical figure, and just ran with it. But there is an interesting story of how and why I decided to have the Devil as my guest.
History (And Not Sympathy) for the Devil
The Roling Stones had a hit that started out “Please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and taste.” The title of the song is “Sympathy for the Devil“. This story really starts out on Blinkist. Blinkist is a program that you subscribe to that gives you Cliff's Notes on books called Blinks. These are 7-10 summaries of the core concepts of books. Most of the over 140 books I have listened to in the last few months are books I probably would have never bought, listened to, or read from authors I never heard of.
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I often start by relistening to a book I bought before as an audiobook. I will relisten to “The Emyth Revisited”, “The 4-Hour Workweek”, or “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. Most of those full-length audiobooks last 3-8 hours and can take a month or more to finish on my dog walks. The cool thing about Blinkist is when you start a book on finding your purpose in life, you're fed a new book (maybe about Zen, or Meditation, or Religion) right after finishing the last one. I am amazed at how it weaves a thread of story and consciousness from one book to another.
Dewd… That's Deep
I recently started down a path of Mythology, which led to Philosophy, which wraps around Religion. Now, don't think that I understand your thoughts or beliefs or that I want to influence how you feel. I am just letting you in on my journey.
In history, the devil existed long before the bible was written. In the 400's BC, Greek mythology talks about the devil as Apollyon—Greek synonym for Satan, the archfiend. I started listening to books on Mythology that included a mix of gods like Apollo, Poseidon, and Zeus, and philosophers like Plato and Socrates. Philosophy tends to create meaning in life and order to society. Religion brings us to a point where we no longer fear our death and the death of loved ones through faith.
The Devil is fear of light and living in darkness or Hell. I was taught as a child that you want to avoid Hell (and purgatory). You want to be and do good in your life to get to heaven and be reunited with your past loved ones (even your dogs).
Beelzebub (Call me Bubba)
My decision to do episode 666 and invite the Devil to guest host was met with some hesitation from Kim (my wife) and some of my friends. They said to skip it, or don't associate your business with the Devil. But in the end, they could not squelch my creative juices. So I decided to write a script for Lucifer to give some business advice on 6 myths (with a bonus 7th) that follow the 7 Deadly Sins.
I recorded it, added a pitch shift (to deepen my voice) added a little reverb, and voila… I had Episode 666 of the Bacon Podcast in the books! It's part business lesson and part tongue-in-cheek humor.
Final Thoughts
I suggest you listen to the podcast and make up your mind for yourself as to whether you think it was a good idea or not. It was meant to be thought-provoking, entertaining, and a bit silly (I hope I achieved that). But the lesson here is that by expanding your horizons by getting outside your comfort zone, and learning some new things or revisiting concepts of long-forgotten lessons, you can expand your knowledge and worldview to better understand the world and your fellow men and women.
By the way, did you know that there are two planets that get their name from the devil? And one of them was a victim of Cancel Culture before that was even a thing! But… you have to listen to the podcast to find out more (what a Devilish tease).
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about getting out of your comfort zone. Have you had to overcome any of the presented concepts? What worked and what did not live up to expectations? Do you have any ideas or advice you could share?
To learn more about this and other topics on Internet Marketing, visit our podcast website at http://www.baconpodcast.com/podcasts/
