Gary Sheng & Ien Chi: Spiritual Formation and Cultural Critique

Date: 2025-07-25 Participants: Gary Sheng, Ien Chi Location: Gary calling from Miami Duration: Extended conversation Type: Personal check-in, spiritual accountability, life direction discernment

Summary

A profound conversation between Gary Sheng and Ien Chi exploring spiritual formation, cultural critique of entertainment industries, business transition decisions, and the challenges of living faithfully in a secular world. The discussion covered Gary's evolving understanding of Christian ontology, his business decisions regarding Alpha Schools and Lael Alexander, struggles with lust and dating in modern culture, and both men's experiences with divine timing versus personal planning.

Key Themes

Spiritual Leadership and Biblical Foundations

Gary's Opening Reflection on Leadership:

"I'm just about to do a little reflection on how the Bible is important to follow if you want to be a good leader, in my view... Sexual blackmail, for example, right? That's been a way to kind of control politicians for a long, long time. Powerful people for a long, long time. And so if you want to be like a leader of men, you have to get your lust under control, for example."

Gary's Struggle with Lust:

"Before I talk about one of them, I'm trying to get back on top of is lust. It's not easy. It's the culture. I was realizing that hip-hop culture is like really not good. It's all about lust and flexing."

Cultural Critique and Entertainment Industry Analysis

Hip-Hop as Anti-Christ Religion:

"I can't say that hip-hop is basically an anti-Christ religion if I encourage people to listen to it. In good conscience, I can't unhypocritically criticize K-pop if I continue to listen to K-pop."

Gary's Analysis of Hip-Hop's Cultural Impact:

"The default black culture is not a holy culture right now. Hip-hop won, right? Hip-hop won... Hip-hop culture is a culture of infidelity. It's a culture of flexing. It's a culture of all the vices all in one."

K-Pop Industry Critique: Gary: "I feel like Korea's... At least some powerful people in South Korea sold out Korea for a shit-ton of money... The consequences are hyper-westernized culture where birthright's fucked and self-image and depression is up."

Ien Chi's Behind-the-Scenes Experience:

"Dude, my behind-the-scenes experience on these shoots and stuff. It is so intensely, highly curated by tons and tons of people. It's like armies whose sole job is to create a god-like image of these idols, man... It's an illusion."

"Be the Change" Philosophy

Ien Chi's Core Message:

"Dude, you know the quote that's really been coming up over and over for me these days? And it's been said so many times as kind of a cliche, but it's actually incredibly profound. Be the change you wish to see in the world... Being the change. That's like such a... Like to truly do that. And to stick to one's values."

Gary's Powerful Metaphor:

"They're trying to become royalty in a demonic kingdom."

Ien Chi's Response:

"Ooh, that's a mic drop."

Spiritual Formation and Divine Timing

Ien Chi's Surrender Journey:

"The past three years I feel like I've been asked to surrender more and more and more of my own self-will... I went from planning the next year of my life to the next, like, couple months to then the next, like, week... now I think I'm getting to, like... Dude, I don't even know, like, what I'm going to do, like, two hours from now I just, like, follow my gut, basically."

Divine Communication Method:

"It's just a feeling of, like... My gut... feels like whenever I, like, plan too much or, like, I'm, like, trying to strategize something for the future or some plan, it feels like the gears are getting clogged up."

Evidence of Divine Flow:

"I've gotten evidence the past, like, several months where the more I let go, the more shit happens. Dude, I just came back from the Czech Republic interacting with some incredible people... I interacted with one dude. Afterwards, I found out he was a billionaire... Meeting the president of Czech Republic. It's like, I didn't do any of this. It only happened because I did less."

Business Transition and Career Discernment

Gary's Alpha Schools Pivot:

"I'm exploring what it might look like to reframe a role at Alpha to be... relationships with faith communities. Because I think faith-based schools are going to be important... if he doesn't want to work with me on that, it's not a good fit, because I'm not going to be writing software for him."

Lael Alexander Assessment:

"I've been in talks with Lael about helping him get his stuff together... That dude is so human, in ways that we could talk about another time... there's a lot that would need to happen for him to not be a disappointing almost story, honestly."

Ien Chi's Validation of Gary's Spiritual Maturity:

"Dude, do you know how happy I am to hear that, bro? Dude, I was like... Man, even the last call, I'll be real with you, man. I was still worried about you... I don't know if Gary's in a good grounded place. But you feel much more grounded now, dude."

Dating and Relationships in Modern Culture

Gary's Dating Reality Check:

"I went two-stepping in Austin the other day. But I just don't feel like going out ever, in general. I just feel like the default activities that young people have been doing over the last couple decades, at least, have felt so empty. It's almost like you're going to fail to find the right people just by default, based on the nature of the setup."

Example of Cultural Deception:

"I was trying to get with this girl who was friends with this other girl... She's like, oh, my birthday's coming up... I find out that it wasn't her birthday... I just blocked both of them right away. I was like, oh, I cannot... I cannot deal with this."

Spiritual Partnership Vision:

"until someone presents me great evidence that this is not the case, I'm just trusting that... my partner will unfold in front of me... when I'm ready"

Addiction Recovery and Cultural Disease

Ien Chi's Porn Addiction Testimony:

"I was caught in the trap of porn addiction for over a decade, like, since starting in high school. Like, I couldn't control myself... when you're in the cycle of addiction, it's, like, I think an accurate word for that state is that it's a disease."

Gary's Cultural Analysis:

"So if that's the case, what do we call cultures that spread diseases? I mean, it's... like, demonic pandemics of culture, right? Like, these are these cultures are demonic pandemics, essentially, that can spread all across the world instantly and be reinforced every day hundreds and hundreds of times through, like, the TikTok scrolling."

Christian Ontology and Educational Vision

Gary's Educational Philosophy:

"I think faith-based schools of different kinds are going to just be so huge because I just think that if you teach kids how the world works without teaching them how the world works, man, you're just setting them up to fail. You're setting them up to burnout."

Writing Project Vision:

"I want to, like, almost, like, write a children's book for children and adults that just explains, like, Christian ontology in a way that's, like, rockable... actionable. Not just understandable, actionable. Because if you don't deeply believe that doing the right thing pays off, that God will pay that off"

Universal Spiritual Principles

Gary's Interfaith Perspective:

"I'm like... I'm a Buddhist Hindu Christian."

Gandhi and MLK Discussion: Ien Chi on Gandhi's Assassination:

"It is reported that when Gandhi was assassinated and shot in the chest multiple times, that he fell to the ground saying Ram, which is God... he actually didn't have ill will towards his assassin when he was shot and he was dying."

Warrior Mode Definition:

"Warrior mode is... facing the dog's assassination, being spit on, and facing it with an invincible force field of calm... And being able to forge on anyways without ill will. That's very high level leadership."

Divine Connections and Synchronicity

Jesus Immersive Experience Synchronicity:

"Alex Park is working on a Jesus experience. Immersive experience... almost nothing that becomes strong in my heart creatively is solely put on my heart, let's say, right? And God will continue continue to surprise me by connecting me with the people that have had the same thing on their heart."

Ien Chi's Mirror Principle:

"my state of mind attracts people of a similar state of mind and so it's like a mirror because if I meet someone and there's something a little bit off about them usually that thing that's off about them was the thing that was off about me"

Final Wisdom on Opposition vs. Alternatives

Gary's Concluding Philosophy:

"You don't need to be opposition to people... Because there's infinite things to be opposed to. I'm not going to go out of my way to be like Hip-hop sucks. I have other things I'd rather promote a positive here's a direction alternative to that."

Ien Chi's Final Teaching:

"I use this word very intentionally. It is a skill to not be the enemy of anyone. And it's a very important skill today. While at the same time being able to stand for the universal unifying love that is divine in a way that's not like we're not trying to bring our own opinion to the table."

Strategic Insights

Spiritual Accountability Partnership

• Ien Chi demonstrated courage in providing honest feedback about Gary's previous state
• Both men committed to "being the change" rather than just critiquing existing systems
• Mutual support for romantic partnership manifestation through spiritual alignment

Cultural Analysis Framework

• Recognition of entertainment industries as spiritual warfare battlegrounds
• Understanding of cultural programming through music and media consumption
• Development of alternative cultural narratives based on Christian ontology

Business Integration with Spiritual Principles

• Gary's transition from purely technical roles to faith-community relationships
• Ien Chi's experience of divine flow producing superior business outcomes
• Integration of spiritual discernment with practical career decisions

Educational Transformation Vision

• Faith-based education as response to secular worldview limitations
• Christian ontology as practical framework for life success
• Alternative cultural programming through conscious content creation

Personal Development Themes

Gary's Growth Areas

• Moving from analytical planning to spiritual flow
• Addressing lust and dating challenges through faith alignment
• Transitioning from cultural consumption to conscious creation
• Developing patience for divine timing in partnerships and career

Ien Chi's Maturation

• Years of addiction recovery demonstrating transformation possibility
• Mastery of divine timing over personal willpower
• Success through surrender rather than force
• Skill in providing spiritual accountability without judgment

Future Collaboration Potential

Content Creation

• Christian ontology children's book project
• Alternative cultural programming to counter mainstream entertainment
• Faith-based educational curriculum development

Media Strategy

• Conscious entertainment production
• Spiritual formation content for young adults
• Bridge-building between faith and technology communities

Community Building

• Faith-based business networks
• Spiritual accountability partnerships
• Alternative social structures for young believers

Notes

This conversation represents a significant maturation in both men's spiritual journeys, with Gary moving from anxiety-driven planning to faith-based flow, and Ien Chi demonstrating the fruits of years of spiritual discipline. Their mutual accountability and shared vision for cultural transformation through "being the change" positions them as potential leaders in the emerging Christian futurist movement.

The discussion reveals sophisticated integration of spiritual principles with practical life decisions, demonstrating how faith-based ontology can provide superior frameworks for business, relationships, and cultural influence compared to secular approaches.