Episode 63: Navigating The Waters Of Identity In This Day And Age With Sameer Abdel-Khalek
The world is moving at such a rapid pace all thanks to technology. Add to that the AI revolution, it has become so easy to lose ourselves in the midst of all the changes and chaos of the world. Now more than ever, we need to hold on to our identities and fortify it to navigate through the disruptions. Diving deep into this discussion, host Anand J Sukhadia talks with Sameer Abdel-Khalek. Sameer is a multi-talented artist and tech entrepreneur who is at the forefront of the creative application of 3D and VR technology. Together, they talk about navigating the waters of identity in such a diverse background and the importance of grounding into one’s spiritual connection. Sameer then shares his love for photography, reflecting on creativity and how AI is transforming our lives and future. Follow along to this great conversation to learn more about our identity in this day and age.
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Navigating The Waters Of Identity In This Day And Age With Sameer Abdel-Khalek
How does one create their identity? Often, it takes years. For some, it perpetually changes. While for others, one's true identity, beyond the physical and into the spiritual is eternal. Welcome to the show. In this episode, I had an amazing conversation with my new friend, Sameer A.K. We discussed identity, creativity, the AI revolution, and the importance of grounding into one's own spiritual connection in the midst of all this chaos in the world.
Sameer Abdel-Khalek is a multi-talented artist and tech entrepreneur who is at the forefront of the creative application of 3D and VR technology. With roots in New York City and Raleigh, North Carolina, and Egyptian Salvadoran descent, Sameer's diverse background informs his approach to art, philosophy, and spirituality. As Cofounder of RowiLAB, a cutting 3D creative agency, Sameer is not only pushing the boundaries of 3D and VR, but also exploring how AI, NFTs, and Web3 can further the next era of storytelling.
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Welcome to the show, Sameer Abdel-Khalek.
Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
It's amazing to have you on. So the audience knows, we met at a local co-working facility and had an amazing conversation. I was there doing a wellness event. I learned so much about you. You were supposed to only be there for ten minutes, and we ended up talking a while more. I met your lovely wife, and it was great to talk to people with such great energy who are living beautiful life. I wanted to have you on and learn about your story. Let's jump into it. What does living a limitless life mean to you?
It's a great question. I want to also thank you for having me on this before I dive right in. I equally appreciate the energy that you bring forth. It shows in everything that you do from your work path and even meeting that day. I truly feel like there are reasons why individuals meet each other, and I'm grateful for that interaction that we had. It also plays into this question that you're asking of the limitless life. If I were to answer it, it's coming back to the core of who we are and remembering and recognizing that we're spiritual beings.
A lot of times, as we navigate this consciousness that we experience in this life, we get lost in the experience itself. The only way to truly be limitless in what you do is to remember your roots, your origin, and your essence. That is that we're spiritual beings. One thing that I try to remind myself of as we navigate this temporary time in this reality that we have is that we're spiritual beings before we are physical beings. Once we tap into that, it starts the progress of being in that limitless life state. That's probably the start of it.
I love that answer. The key word I derive from that is temporary. This life is an experience, and we're here for a short amount of time. I truly believe that we decided to come here at this time and in this place in this chaotic world for a reason. If we just were meditating on some mountaintop somewhere, life would be a lot easier, and there would be no growth as well.
It's to navigate your spirituality in a situation in which we live, where there's so much chaos and turmoil, but also so much beauty, growth, and advancement going on. I would say this is the best time to be alive from a spiritual and 3D reality perspective, where there are so many things that are changing so quickly and how we adapt to all that living this life being entrepreneurs, having relationships, having family, and all this stuff, but also as a spiritual being. I truly believe we're limitless in our spiritual nature and we could create anything. It's walking both lines one foot in the spiritual realm and one foot in the 3D reality.
That's quite deep. One thing that I want to chime in on that you said there is we could choose to be reclusive and be in a state of comfort, but there's beauty in navigating the chaos. It gives us an opportunity for us to prove who we can be as these flawed and imperfect beings but has the potential to do something with beauty and virtue. It can only happen when there is turmoil and chaos.
There's true wisdom in why the world plays out the way it does, whether it's this very moment right here, right now, in this era that we're living, or if it was thousands of years ago. There are always going to be these challenges that are being faced. How we respond to those challenges gives us the opportunity to prove our worth. There's beauty in that.
I love that perspective. It's easy if you get too deep into that rabbit hole and see how much darkness there could be in this world. It could really affect us. If we understand that this contrast and duality is always going to be there, light, dark, whichever way you want to see it, it's how we navigate in that place. Where is the darkness within us? How can we reflect upon it and transmute that into light?
Consciousness is always evolving and moving. It's a beautiful experience. I think about it all the time. How lucky I am to have this mindset, this perspective, the experiences, and the ability to have the experiences that I want in life. So much knowledge is being unveiled to me every single day. What you mentioned earlier is synchronicity.
That's how I know that I'm on the right path. It's because I continuously meet the people that I want to attract in terms of who I can learn from, how I can expand myself, and who can challenge me. I'm very lucky in that way. Synchronicities will always show you that these are clues from the universe. Leaving the breadcrumbs. You're on the right path here.
That's really beautiful to hear because I resonate with that. I feel like in many ways, I see the world in that light. What comes to me, or what is made apparent to me in what I identify, whether it's in my peripheral or my vantage point, why is that somehow brought forth? Why is that made interesting to me? Why are these things being brought and highlighted for me? It takes the intuitive self to piece that together. That takes effort. That takes consciousness of your surroundings. That's something truly, we are constantly looking to work on and improve upon. Seeing and hearing that from you is quite powerful. Thank you for sharing that.
Let's get into your background. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became the Sameer that stands before us now.
I come from an interesting background. I come from a multicultural household. We'll start with the inception. My father is Egyptian. My mother is Salvadoran. Two different cultures, and two different religions across the world. That was the household that I was brought up in, multicultural and multi-religion, my father being Muslim, and my mother being Catholic.
It exposed me to different ways of thinking. It exposed me to different understandings of culture. At the same time, I was born and raised in New York, in the states. A big part of my genesis story has to do with identity and understanding what identity is. Navigating the waters of identity, I believe, has brought me to where I am now. It's having these multiple options of who you are.
Ways of thinking and ways of thought really challenge one to see multiple different vantages. That truly shaped a lot of who I was from a young age, and it sticks with me even now. It helps me empathize and see different ways of thinking and processing things in other people's shoes. These are things that are near and dear to the way that I navigate the world.
I wouldn't have had that to the degree of what I've had if it wasn't for this very polar upbringing in some ways. I come from a loving household. I'm very grateful for that. My parents are still together. Another challenging thing that also developed me was my parents came straight from their countries. In circumstances that were quite interesting, my mother was forced to stay after visiting the states because her family was fleeing El Salvador because of the civil war that was happening there.
Her first leisure travel ended up being a permanent stay for her. My father was also coming to this country looking for an opportunity in life. Those circumstances brought my parents together. What I'm trying to highlight here is that it brought them together where the language was very lackluster. In terms of the common language, English. They both have Arabic and Spanish.
Through that limited language, they were able to fall in love, and until this day stay in love. It's a testament to sometimes love transcending language. A lot of times, marriage has more to do than love. I truly believe that has a lot to do with work, morality, and values in general aligning. What's interesting to me is, although they come from vastly different parts of the world, a lot of it aligns.
A lot of times, marriage has more to do than love. It has a lot to do with work, morality, and values aligning.
That's the genesis of myself. I'm a byproduct of that. It's quite interesting. We use this word in Islam. It's like it's meant to be. It was like, that meeting was meant to happen. I truly believe that that's part of my story and my background. From there, to share even a little bit more, I moved from New York down to North Carolina. North Carolina is what I call home.
That's also a big part of my background. What makes me who I am in that community is what shaped me. North Carolina, Raleigh specifically, has a very interesting dynamic with the Muslim community that's there, as well as the general community. It has one of the highest densities of higher education in terms of secondary degrees or PhDs in a concentrated area.
That plays a lot into the dynamic of the culture there with the way people act and think. Southern hospitality has a lot to do with that. All of this has shaped my background and who I am now. I'm very grateful for it because, without these dynamics and these, sometimes, struggles and challenges, it wouldn't allow me to prove who I am now. In a general sense, that's a little bit about my background. I could go in more, but that's a good baseline.
With the story of how your parents met, if you look statistically what are the odds of two people from two different very parts of the world, two different backgrounds, and two upbringings, both come to the country at similar times, to end up meeting, to fall in love, and then for you to be the byproduct. Here we are decades later, and you are this amazing person that has gone through so much.
Through cultural diversity and trying to figure out your way through the world. If you look at the string of these timelines, it could only be that way. It was meant to be essentially, otherwise, you would not be here. It's amazing to see that perspective. Everyone that we meet, these stories had to happen for every single person to show up as they are.
Whenever we meet somebody and see them, whether we like them, whether we're like, "I want to stay away from this person." They all have that origin story. It's important to look at people from the perspective of where they came from. I resonate a lot with that in terms of identity. You actually had three identities to understand, the American identity, El Salvador, Egyptian, and then the different religions.
I grew up with two parents, who came from India, and then I had to navigate being Indian and being American, not fully feeling a part of any of these cultures. I felt shunned, to an extent, a little bit by each of them because I wasn't fully one way or the other way. Do you feel like you had a hard time understanding your identity or that you didn't fit in anywhere? Did you move towards one particular identity where you felt more comfortable?
I'll say yes and no. In some instances, yes. Early on, I don't think I really felt it. I've been privileged enough that somehow, some way physically I look like something that maybe I'm not. I can look like I'm Puerto Rican or Italian. People have said different things to me in different stages of my life. Now with a beard, I look one way. Growing up, I kid you not, maybe every five years, I look like a new person. It's weird, but you look at these pictures. People say to me as well that I was blessed with some kind of camouflage that allowed me to be accepted at the onset when people see me.
As I grew older, I stuck with my identity. Whether it was being Egyptian or Salvadoran, I held onto those things, and I'm very proud of them. As well as being Muslim. I was brought up Muslim. My mother comes from a Christian Catholic background. I interacted with my family in that regard, but I was brought up Muslim, and I've always held that identity of being Muslim. I've also come through times as I grew older to question beliefs. It's so important to question beliefs and put your beliefs to the test.
I had to go through that process as well. That's transformative in and of itself. To come back to your initial question, yes and no. The no is that, in some instances, I was able to be accepted. In other instances, I was also trying to figure out how to be American, how to be Muslim, and how to still hold onto my roots. Not just Arab and Muslim, but also understand my Hispanic side to the whole identity.
Identity: It's so important to question beliefs and put your beliefs to test. That's transformative in and of itself.
I resonate with what you said so much that you're not accepted by both sides to a degree. You're not American. For myself, you're a Muslim. That sometimes seems like other. Sometimes when you go back to your countries, you're very American. You're Americanized. You've been washed from some of your cultures, and so they see you as not being accepted.
I had that experience when I go back to Egypt. I totally empathize with you in that regard. It's not easy for us, first-generation kids, coming from immigrant households to fit in with our identity. That's something that's so unique to us. That is a challenge in and of itself that forces us to dig deep introspectively because we want to be accepted by the community. You look for a community. When you're living in the society, what is American society? It's like a mishmash of cultures. We've had to come together on these holidays, whether it's the Super Bowl or these types of things that bind us together that make us American. It comes from a mishmash of everything else. It's like, you come in here trying to be American.
What is American? It's basically a mix of identities. There's no real American identity. I have this conversation with my wife because she comes from the UK. She sees from the outset individuals who come here as the first generation. Within that first generation, you start losing your identity to be accepted. That's something that if you're not cognizant of can be stripped away from you.
The introspection part is so important because, throughout my childhood, I had to look inwards and truly keep asking myself the question, "Who am I?" Over time, through a lot of self-development and self-reflection, I learned that I'm this individual with a beautiful divine soul. Going back to that spiritual part, I can't be identified as, "He's an Indian kid. Originally from India, and now he lives in New York."
You start understanding that all of us around the world are all the same. We all want to live happy lives and do the best that we can. That spiritual aspect has been a big part of my life in how I got here. A lot of the people I speak to that are first-generation have done a lot of this self-work. A lot of propaganda that's has been put on us over the last few years, telling us what is truth and what is not truth.
A lot of these things don't really affect us. We're not falling for these spells because it took us so much effort and energy to become who we are. We realize how fortified we are in our minds, bodies, and experience. We realize that a lot of this other stuff doesn't resonate the truth with us, so we just blindly accept it. Whereas a lot of people who didn't have to do that inward journey are succumbing to these peer pressures or government pressures, whatever it is.
It's these external stimuli. We're human, so whatever we see and we repeatedly see will affect us to a degree. It's hard to navigate those waters if you don't have some foundation to stand upon. The only way you have a foundation is to be introspective, to understand what your core beliefs are and what holds you up.
Identity: It's hard to navigate those waters if you don't have some foundation to stand upon. The only way you have a foundation is to really be introspective to understand your core beliefs and what holds you up.
I see that in you. I see that it takes effort to understand what your core values are. Unfortunately, a lot of us in the West have failed to do that, whether by design or because of the environment that we live in. On a third point, a lot of us inherit our beliefs. That is a very dangerous cycle to be in. We need to be introspective about what our beliefs are, not just continue the cycle of what's been passed down to us. That's what all of us try to do, especially when people talk about generational trauma, or if they come from a household that has certain elements in it, whether it's alcoholism or domestic abuse.
Those individuals, a lot of times, do that introspection to not allow these things to further down into the next generation of their lineage when they're being intentional. In that same light, we need to be very cognizant of our core beliefs, like what we inherit. We should hold them up to stringency to make sure that they're not just beneficial but rooted in truth. Seeking truth is the real journey. What is the absolute real truth?
This is one thing that I ask of myself and my creator. It's like, "Show me this world as it is, not as it appears," moving from that paradigm, and having that understanding that what we see isn't necessarily what it is. Reminding yourself that is so important, because otherwise, you get lost in what is being fed to you, whether it's on social media, through the news, or the general population sharing their beliefs. We got to be very discerning about what we take to the core and the heart because that affects the heart and the true soul. That's our being.
It's the question of external knowledge if we're accepting it versus internal knowledge going inwards to see what the truth is. A lot of people will blindly accept external content in terms of this knowledge or what's told them versus going inwards and saying, "Does it resonate with my core values?" Once people or groups start putting all of their wishes, propaganda, and the way that they want to shape the world onto others, even if the first couple of times, they do it, "It's not so bad. I align with this political party or whatnot," and then they constantly do it over and over. At some point, your soul gives up and says, "I'm just going to take whatever they tell me to be true versus what I believe to be the truth." That's where we have so much political divide and emotional divide in this country.
Everybody's so charged up because they're not thinking about internalizing that there are altruistic perspectives and motives for each side of the argument. When it comes down to execution, it could be very dark and dangerous slopes that we go down. I believe what you were saying is going inwards and seeking that truth. It's having that direct connection with whatever you believe to be your source, your higher self, God, however you want to call it. It's having that strong relationship, rather than going through a medium, whether it's government, a church, or something like that because a lot of people have their own agendas when it comes to telling you what you should and shouldn't believe.
I will also say there's a balance. You can't just operate from a spiritual perspective because we are living in a physical reality. We must take in the events that happen. Sometimes it's difficult to understand what is really happening when there are narratives at play, to put it in simplistic terms. It's a weird time we're living in because it's so hard to know what is true and what is not.
There's so much confusion, and I'm cognizant of that. I've even recognized there are times when you see something and think it to be one thing but then realize it's something else. That happens so often these days. All of us are falling victim to it. None of us are free from that. It's so potentially dangerous in this age that we're living in. That's one thing that maybe in the last five years specifically, is alarming to me. It's the amount of confusion across the board. Everybody thinks everybody has got it wrong. That's quite interesting to me.
That's the bad side.
It's going to continue to compound and catalyze more. Bringing it back to how we started this off, those challenges bring the opportunity for some beautiful things to happen as a byproduct. I'm never cynical about it. I'm just cognizant of the way things look.
Also, having a good filter in terms of what you take in. There's so much information out there and so much confusion on all sides. Even sides that we think are credible news sources sometimes get it wrong as well. It's the same with us. A lot of times, we'll make mistakes, but it's having that filter to understand, "Did I act accordingly? Did I act correctly? Are there things that I can improve upon?"
Being honest with ourselves and not thinking everything that we do is good, every thought that we have is the best thought, and everybody else is wrong. It's very important to have that filter. What I always try to envision is myself in the eye of the storm. In the middle of a hurricane, that's the safest place to be. It's when you're surrounded by all this chaos. If you can be cool and collected inside of that, then you can protect yourself energetically, spiritually, and physically. It's to be right in there, but then not sway one way or the other, or not get swept up in the chaos. That's just a little visualization.
That brings two points. I was hoping that we might touch upon this, and you hit them right now. The two of them are extreme accountability and ownership, and responsibility for whatever it is that happens. In every situation, there's always the ability to point and say, "That's because this happened. Maybe I reacted this way." It's shifting blame.
One thing that I hold for myself is valuable for all of us to do. I'm constantly working on it. It's to hold myself most accountable in every situation. Even in something that seems like there's nothing you could have done, there's always something that you could do. My MO or Modus Operandi is the only thing you have control over is yourself.
The only thing you have control over is yourself.
Hold that accountability with, "What can I do better in these situations?" I don't like to play hypothetical theory of, "What if? If I would've done this," and play this game of being in the past, but just understanding, "This happened to me. I didn't like it. How can I improve the next time something like that happens to me again?" or if you do something to somebody else and you're taking charge in an act, or you've done something, "How can I be better in those situations moving forward?"
The second that you've referenced is this stillness when affliction strikes or when life hits you because that's inevitable. In this game of life that we're all playing, it's inevitable that you're going to have challenges, struggles, and strife as you navigate this world. How do we position ourselves when that happens? I was thinking about it.
I was in the sauna having a conversation with a friend of mine who was there with me. I have the sauna way up, and I'm just putting it. I really love to be hot and steamy. The funny thing is, there's supposed to be a thermometer in there. The thermometer is in there, but it doesn't work. It's got to be 220 degrees almost. I try to stay and push my time and duration in there.
This friend of mine that was there with me, he's getting into doing the sauna, showing them how to do it. I'm reminding him through the process that, "Focus on breathing and have stillness even though you're having this external stimulus that is aggravating you physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever it is." It's in these moments that you train yourself when you're navigating life, that it then is fortified, and that you can feel still. I truly believe that that also translates not just in pressured situations, but also if you do your form of meditation, or for myself, five daily prayers, they both can be extracted from both of those experiences. You're sitting with yourself. You're going through some process of being still in mind.
That doesn't mean that to have a successful session, meditation, or whatever it is that you're doing to be still means you're blanking the mind. That is great, but it's how you keep yourself still when your mind is working. You recognize, "My mind is wandering." You check it, bring it back, and try still. How long can you last that? It's a process. That's the whole process of then when you're navigating life when things are comfortable or chaotic, you're able to be still. That is when you're rooted in your essence and your best decisions can come forward. If heightened emotions are there, it's so difficult to make a clear and concise decision. I wanted to touch up on those two points. You brought them both in, and it's really profound. Thank you.
I love that example, jumping into the fire. A lot of successful people put themselves in controlled chaos or controlled areas where they're basically outside of their comfort zone, whether it's saunas, ice baths, disciplines, actions, meditations, or things like that. When you build that muscle and you're doing this thing every single day, knowing sometimes you don't want to go to the gym or get into the sauna but do it anyways, you're building your character every single day. You're building your strength. You're building your immunity in so many ways when you do a sauna, ice bath, or something like that.
Putting yourself out of your comfort zone every single day is a great way to build yourself up mentally, physically, and spiritually. When the chaos of life happens, the uncontrolled stuff comes to you that you were not expecting because it inevitably will. There's polarity in life. There are the good times and there are going to be the challenging times.
We're always going to be moving through these things. Who are you as a person? What are your values? What are your cores? You're bringing yourself into that situation on every part of the journey, so the highs and the lows. When you get highs, you get too cocky or too overconfident, or are you measured and cool, and be like, "I appreciate this. I'm grateful for this. I'm going to be very mindful of this." As you start sinking down, going into a challenging area, "I got this because I know who I am at the core."
These tool sets will always be with you in every stage of the journey. When we're over-emotionally charged, don't have control over our own minds or thoughts, and we don't take self-responsibility, that's when we start looking to push the blame on the external, versus looking at the internal, "What can I do better?" Also, one other thing is, "How can I think better about this? What is my perspective? How can it change? How can it be more empowering?" These are the questions that we should always be asking ourselves.
It's a great outlook on it. You also referenced something, if I may segue, that is beautiful. I want to highlight that. You speak about duality. This concept of duality also is very profound for me in my artistic and creative background. That's probably the main motif that I reference when it comes to my creative pursuits.
To share a little bit more background on me and segue into it, I come from a creative background. I do photography. I've done video production. I've even had a stint back in my younger days of doing street art, graffiti, and murals. I love this creative pursuit in different mediums. Photography has always been a rooted passion that I've had.
That motif of duality, whenever I'm capturing images or putting out any creative content, hinges on this idea of duality, the light and the darkness, even what you were saying, the measures in between as well, because the lack of light is what creates that shadow effect. There are always these measured degrees between those two polar opposites.
I believe that life is that way. There's duality in all aspects of our life. In almost everything in this world, there's some kind of the polar opposite. To me, that is so fascinating. That's why I play and hinge upon this motif. I try to bring it forth in my imagery because that's one of the mysteries of the world. Everything has some kind of counterpart. I love that you can't have that love without whether evil or hate. You can't have compassion without these evil sentiments. There's oxygen and CO2. There's hot and cold. There's everything. The only thing that's one I feel is the source, the creator. To me, that is what gives it that much more power. I remind myself of all the duality in this world, and I try to reference it in my image.
It shows that that's the essence of what this experience is. What we're seeing right now is a mix of this shadow and light. That's beautiful to be able to capture in photography. Otherwise, if it was just one, it would be all black or all brightness, but we don't have that. I'm interested to see how this also will carry over as we speak into our changing technological world of 3D, AR, VR, AI, machine learning, and all of these new concepts that are going to add a new way of looking at this world to a degree. We hadn't tapped into what that will look like and how that might augment our perception of duality. We're living in a 3D space. As we add in different elements, does it give us the ability to tap into unforeseen dimensions that maybe we haven't been able to before?
Identity: What we're seeing right through this camera is just a mix of this shadow and light. That's beautiful to be able to capture in photography.
The polarity part of it is you need both sides of polarity to do any creation. You need a man and a woman to get together to create life, and then you have a child. In every aspect of reality, in order to evolve or to be created, you need both sides. You need the light and the dark. In order to create a beautiful picture, like you said, you need light and dark.
It reminds me of the symbol of yin and yang. You have the circle, and then there's that squiggly line in the middle. Basically, the goal is to walk that line as you're in both fields, the spiritual and the 3D. Inside the yin and yang, you have the black section as half of it, and you have a little white circle inside that. It means that inside of one, there's always going to be the other and vice versa.
Even in the darkness, you'll find a little bit of light. In the light, you'll find darkness. It just shows you that this world needs that polarity. This universe needs it in order to keep evolving. Otherwise, if you have the same thing, there's nothing in this world or this universe that's static and non-changing. This is something that you have to understand.
The universe will always evolve. Your life is always going to change. How do you walk that line with grace? That's where it comes down to that inner perspective. A lot of things we talk about is when you do a lot of inner perspectives and self-development like you and I talk about and what you've done, it could get to a point where you're being too hard on yourself, but you're always trying to do better and not allowing the success or the happiness to flow in. One of the topics we talked about is perfectionism. Can you tell us a little bit about dealing with that on a daily basis?
That's good. Being very honest with yourself, you have the propensity to also be gentle or you could be rough. It comes down to how somebody is primed maybe. It has a lot to do with both nature and nurture, upbringing all these things on what works best for you. For me, being very clear, firm, speaking to yourself with utmost realism, and not sugarcoating has always been what allowed me to push forward.
On the other side it, it brings up sometimes having to have high expectations or trying to put yourself to the highest degree in standard. I do that for myself because I want to achieve, and I want to be the best version of myself. I want to produce the best type of content. What I've struggled with at times is balancing, not talking to myself better, but being okay with things not having to be at that standard. It's by falling short, being okay with yourself to fail. This was always something that, as a creative, we're always trying to put out the best body of work and the best thing. You're curating your visual output. You're creating what it is that you're sharing with the world, whether it's musical artists. You talk about painters. There's a body of work that doesn't get put out or things that don't see the light of day.
As I'm navigating this perfectionist and reevaluating perfectionism, sometimes I see that in myself to come to the endpoint. There's a balance in navigating perfectionism, but there's beauty in having that high expectation or that high standard. I'm also learning now that there's a lot of beauty in putting things out, allowing yourself to be imperfect, and allowing authentic rawness to come out.
There's a lot of beauty in just putting things out and allowing yourself to be imperfect and allowing the authentic rawness to come out.
If I may, I'll even say, and this is a conversation I've been having with myself, as we live in this hyper-curated, hyper-perfectionism and superficial reality that we live in when it comes to social media and portrayal of who we are, what we are, and what we do, trying to be seen as having perfect lives or having a perfect face, it's driving us to do very interesting things, like the amount of plastic surgery or whatever it is. We're trying to show ourselves up perfectly. This is what I was saying, if I may, the next real goldmine of what people are going to appreciate is going to shift to imperfectionism and rawness. Having something that is so vulnerable and real is going to be so beautified.
We're hitting the stride of everybody's starting to look the same. People are putting things out and having a standard of, "This is what it should be." That is becoming lackluster. It's going to even be more so. Being authentic and putting things out, it's going to have so much value in the next 5 to 10 years because everybody has tried to make things so perfect.
It's this balance that I'm evaluating with myself. For a long time, I tried to put out a body of work, whether it was creative pursuit or photography that stifled me. I had to evaluate that in myself. That's one of the few things in my life that was something that I was struggling with. It's putting something out creatively and not letting this idea of what is ideal because that is subjective.
I need to be true to myself, put it out, put effort into it, and let it be. That's what I think is going to have a lot of value. That's where I'm leading my creative pursuits now to find that middle ground between putting in a good effort, having a good standard, not letting it hold you back in putting out content or putting out any artistic pursuit, and having this dialogue with the world. That's essentially what it is. If it doesn't go about, then it's not going to be there.
It's all about balance. If the pendulum swings way too far on one side, it's always going to swing back the other way. As we see all that superficiality, everybody's showing the best version of themselves, and now, it's going to start swinging back towards authenticity, being raw, and being okay. That's not the true reflection of what people go through on a daily basis.
Everyone has highs and lows. Let's get back to the other way where people are sharing their fullest and truest selves. Every art piece or every work of our labor is going to be the most amazing thing we've ever done. You look back on all the years that you've been around, and you see this beauty of work and have compassion and love for it.
Every part of it was you trying to self-realize yourself through your art, music, or whatever field that you go to. Sometimes I have good days in business. Sometimes I have bad days. Sometimes you make mistakes, but it's okay because you're constantly trying new things and trying to evolve. Even if something works, it's not going to work forever.
We're always going to be evolving. As technology changes, it's going to be really important how we ride this new wave because we're at the precipice of a whole new world as we look at AI. I know we talked about it a little bit, but we're beckoning right on this edge, and life will never be the same again. You look at a company like OpenAI with their ChatGPT. They just had a $26 billion valuation. Microsoft is investing so much money at that level. They got 1 million users in about 5 days. You look at DALL-E, or some of these other things. What is the other art AI that we talked about?
Look at the amount of users on there. I got on there myself. I'm not an artist, but I wrote some stuff and created some amazing, beautiful art. As a creative person, what do you see AI as? Do you feel any threat by it? Do you see it as empowering to artists or the world in general?
Let me first say that this AI interjection into our reality is one of the greatest additions to our existence. When I say great, it doesn't necessarily mean it's beautiful, good, or anything, but it's going to have one of the biggest impacts on most of us being on this earth. Maybe the last one was the creation of the internet and us being interconnected. That could have had it.
This AI’s interjection into our reality is one of the greatest additions to our existence.
The implications of AI are going to be so much more impactful in the long run. It's going to catalyze everything that we know and understand. I don't think a lot of the population understands the potential impact that this is going to have. Starting from there, do I think that it's either dangerous to the art specifically?
This conversation has been hashed and rehashed many times when it comes to new innovations in how things are done. This conversation was even done with cameras and photography. A lot of people were very reactive. The art world was very reactive to photography, what that was, and what it meant for creating images.
Before cameras, you were doing it by hand, and that's what also allowed artists to thrive. There was a real felt threat by artists of, "What does this new technology mean to my livelihood?" That is at the essence of what everybody has a pain point in general when it comes to artistry. "Is this going to take away my opportunities?"
As with any technology that has been developed and introduced to a degree that has truth to it, however, we've always managed, as a human race, to adapt to this new innovation and find new ways to apply ourselves, or introduce it into our process or the landscape and find avenues to continue doing what we do, maybe in a little bit of a different way or in the same way. It's going to change the way that you view the landscape.
Whether it's the internet, the internet is also seen as good or bad, and it definitely has its good and its bad. If we use it for its good, it has so many benefits for us. It's the same thing with AI, whether it's image-generated AI, ChatGPT, or any version of AI. It has so much potential for good. At the same time, as much potential for good, it has potential for bad.
Because it's so powerful and has so much potential in one way or another, people are concerned from an ethical standpoint, a creative standpoint, and for livelihood standpoint. What does this all mean? I think we will find a way to adapt, but we have to be really intentional and mindful of who's at the helm of this technological revolution essentially.
Not to get too off-topic, I'll just bring it back. We're going to figure out a way, as artists, to utilize this technology or not. If anything, it's going to highlight human-centered and human-created artwork more. As AI-generated content, like we were speaking about, this perfectionism and everybody looks like that, the more people start to see this AI-created content and understand that it's AI-created, the value of human-created art is going to have that much more value because it's going to be scarcer. That to me is what's going to be one of the silver linings maybe to the whole situation.
It will also help with iteration and ideation. It will help for putting some concepts on paper, and then executing them in the medium that you want. To me, the beautiful way that this might continue is that we use it as artists to inform our process, but not be the basis of our process. Unless somebody is using it to create quick images. Real art is going to be art that's human-created.
It's an interesting topic because it's a polarity in everything. When Uber first came, taxi cab drivers were so upset, but now they've adapted. When digital cameras came out, I remember there was an uproar. They're like, "Why are there digital cameras when these photographers are painstakingly sitting in dark rooms and processing their films?"
Every single time there's a new technology, it always gets pushback. There are always going to be early implementers. There are going to be people that add it to their existing businesses. There are going to be people who, as hobbyists, get into it, but there's no doubt about it. This is not going anywhere. It's only going to get stronger as a force. Thinking about what ChatGPT can do, I was reading, they gave every single question of a GMAT or LSAT, and it passed with 100% accuracy.
All of them passed. That's alarming, for sure.
It could write code. Websites will be created in minutes, whereas before, you had to wait a couple of weeks for a good developer to do something. Prior to that, it took months. It's just the way that technology is. Knowing that, it's even important more to stay grounded in your values and your core beliefs and incorporate that stuff to enhance your life but not to lose sight of we are these spiritual beings in this human form. That comes to the point of the next phase of AI, potentially technology implants into our own bodies like Neuralink and different things like that. There are so many companies out there in the background. Neuralink is one of the biggest ones.
There's so much money being funded towards that with man merging into the machine. The World Economic Forum is talking about this as their goal for 2030, so that becomes the next evolution. How do you feel about that? As we continue to progress in technology, then it becomes a lot of ethical and bioethical kind of questions. Personally, I have my own beliefs about biological beings. If you don't go into the technology merging, then you become at a disadvantage. Where do you see all this playing out?
It's real serious questions that we're having to ask ourselves individually and collectively as a human race. Where does this all stop? What are the needs? It has a lot to do with our hubris of wanting to be more comfortable. In our pursuit, the majority of us in the West, and especially the society that we live in here in the States, it's about having more, attaining more, being more, and being healthier.
I'm coming to realize, and this also plays into this perfectionist thing. We all have this element in us. As a human race, we push to create this perfect life. It's not meant to be perfect. It's meant to have challenges and struggles. It's meant to be difficult to an extent. The worry that I have with AI is, whether it's the technological advancements of Neuralink or using technology to solve problems for us, we become dependent on these tech technologies.
What happens when you become fully dependent? Let's take ChatGPT for example. For the next years, we start to use it to be the basis of almost everything we do, whether it's writing emails, creating formulas, or creating code. That's our start. When we get so used to it and reliant on it, what happens the moment it gets taken away? What happens the moment that it's used against us?
These are very real questions we need to ask ourselves. We need to have a balance. This comes down to the baseline of being comfortable with being uncomfortable, being comfortable with having a struggle, being comfortable wanting difficulty, and seeing value and beauty in difficulty, whether it's an emotional thing, mental thing, spiritual thing, or physical thing.
We need to want that because if we just want comfort, it's driving us into a way of hedonism. A lot of people, especially in the West, I hate to highlight this, but I do think that it has a lot to do with the reality that we live in is very hedonistic. It's all about chasing desire and happiness. What is happiness? It's as if happiness is an everlasting thing that you can ever attain. It's never going to happen.
A lot of people look at external things.
Absolutely. This advancement, although there are a benefit, beauty, and with the right type of society could be truly beneficial, but with the type of society we've become at large, it's scary. We're morally bankrupt, in my opinion, more than not. We are not doing the introspection about what our core beliefs are, what truth is, and what reality is, and want ease and comfort, and is very superficial.
Unfortunately, America has become that. For one reason or another, that's all conjecture, but the reality is that's the case, I believe. When you have that coupled with technology that's going to have ethical implications, there's a lot that could go wrong. That's the scary part that a lot of those who really understand how powerful it can be and will quickly become. That's the question at play.
It's such a fascinating conversation. If you look at something like money, it could be great. It could be used for great things. It could be used for bad things. It all has to do with who is leading whatever agenda it is. Let's take the example of vaccines. People have the decision to make their own. The pharmaceutical companies, are they making money from it? Do they have an agenda? Are they tied in with media, politics, and government officials? Are there kickbacks? Yes.
Knowing all this stuff and where all the money is coming from, it was portrayed in society as something you have to take. You've got no choice, and you'll lose your job. That's one example. Every vertical can be great and can be good. For instance, Bill Gates was a big part of ChatGPT in the new funding that they got.
Now, is the ChatGPT going to go in the direction of how he wants to shape the world? He's also buying up a bunch of farmland in the middle of this thing. That's the direction that he wants to bring the world in when it comes to all different technologies. It really has to do with the centralization of power versus decentralization.
If there were an AI where everybody was able to add their own inputs, and people can choose, "I want this," and it's done from a very decentralized place where it belongs to everybody, versus one person running the directives of this particular algorithm. Look at TikTok, in the United States, what they're showing kids nowadays.
It's almost like cultural terraforming where they're showing society what they should be seeing, like the twerking videos, the ridiculous stunts, and the deep degradation of society. Morality is out the window. It's being all hedonistic, versus in China, they're talking about quantum physics and highlighting the best elements of society, martial arts, and all these kinds of things.
In this country, it's a completely different algorithm. It depends on who is pulling these strings. In Twitter, we realize it was being manipulated for so long, showing one side of the story, and keeping everybody else very limited in terms of their reach if they were speaking the truth about anything or speaking their own version.
Technology is amazing on its own, but who is pulling the strings on all these things? That's what really is a concern for me. It's the same thing with Neuralink. Elon opened up Twitter free speech, but I'm sure he's got his own agendas with it. I'm sure it's a huge aggregation of sentiment, knowledge, and data. That's something that he's collecting. I'm sure it's going to be used toward his other projects, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and all these things. For me, the best way and the best solution for all this stuff are to make sure that things are decentralized. That's why I'm a big fan of things like Bitcoin which empowers everybody, versus just a few.
I can't agree with you more on the concerns of who's in control of technology and the things that are being rolled out because that is, at the end of the day, what's shaping our reality in our world. We may want to believe that a lot of people are well-intended. I do believe, on the ground level, many are well intended.
Unfortunately, what dictates a lot of the high level of influence in the corporate realm is motivated a lot by money. Unfortunately, that's what's at stake there. Sometimes it may not be the case, but the majority of the time, it is. That is what's alarming because ethics and morality are lastly thought about, but first, it's about, "How are we going to make profits off of this and be profitable?"
At the end of the day, that's what matters for those in position because there are stakeholders, shareholders, and investors to appease to. A lot of those also influence the decision-making process. It's not just one individual as much as they might be in the limelight. This goes not just with corporations and enterprise businesses. It also goes with the government, media, etc.
You can apply this to anything. That is, to your point, what is alarming. The way to be optimistic is that, because all we have control over truly is ourselves, us being more aware, speaking about it, having conversations, and making ourselves more morally upright. It's about holding ourselves accountable and holding those in our close circles accountable.
It's what's going to build a basis of a society that wants and demands more from ourselves first and from the society that we live in. That will affect change. Relying upon technology and those in power to make moral decisions is naive at best or willfully ignorant and not wanting to see what's possible because we all are human beings. We're susceptible to being the worst version of ourselves. That's a real reality. A lot of times, money is what dictates decision-making at that level. This is a very pivotal time in so many different ways, but it's going to show, as it does always, what's real. Those selected few are going to see that. That's the benefit of living in this time.
Relying upon technology and those in power to make moral decisions is naive at best.
We have to be self-reflective, self-responsible, and try to do the best that we can, because a lot of these things we don't have control over. It's being very aware of the direction our lives are going and trying to uplift other people along the way, inspire them, and build communities of people that are also looking to create similar visions.
These little micro-communities, if we want to stay away from all the negativity and the control systems, we have to end up creating our own systems. That's where this time will allow us with AI, people can do so many more things where before, they didn't have the ability or the knowledge to create software, programs, code, or trading algorithms. Now, it can all be done.
It's a very interesting time. We're going to reflect back on this conversation in a couple of years and be like, "We had no idea what was coming, but so many more things have come down the line." I want to thank you so much for coming on. Here are a couple of questions to end. We got a chance to see deep into your soul. Thank you for opening up to us. Why do you think you came here to earth as Sameer, and what do you want to experience?
My paradigm before we even came on this earth is that all of us attested and affirmed our creator's existence. That is the reason why all of us are on this earth, to a degree. The real purpose of being here is to understand the source, creator, and truth, and then to reflect it in this world. I believe that I affirmed my creator's existence.
When we come onto this earth, it's a test of, "Do we remember that, do we find that and do we live on that?" All of us have a real purpose to play in this reality and this experience of life. To me, it is a test of what you do in these instances. Do you want to be that person that you see as virtuous? You're going to be challenged more to test your faith, will, beliefs, and morality.
How do we react in those situations? Even if we fail because we will fail, how do we come back from that? How do we keep moving forward? How do we do and sow good on this earth? I'm still navigating what the ultimate impact I will have on this time that I'm here. I at least hope that it benefits those I come in contact with, whether it's on a one-to-one, through the work that I do, or through the art that I do. I want to leave a legacy of remembering who you really are at your essence and not being lost in the reality which we perceive but in what is actually there. That is the essence of my purpose.
It's beautiful. I know faith is a big part of your life. What does God mean to you?
My last name, Abdel-Khalek in Arabic means and can be translated as a slave of the creator. Abd is slave, or also could be a servant, but I actually like the term slave. Some people think slave has a negative connotation, but in this, it's like a complete submission to your creator. Khalek is one of the Islamic names of God. It's an attribute of God.
There are 99 names that we have for God. Also, I hold that in high regard. God and Islam play an essential part in my paradigm of how I see this world and navigate it. I try to remind myself of putting trust in my creator. I believe that we're all created to be here, to navigate this world, to remember our Lord, to sow goodness in the world, and leave it for the next generation.
Identity: We're all created to be here to navigate this world, to remember our Lord, to sow goodness in the world, and leave it for the next generation.
Having these conversations, it's amazing to me because we meet each other. We come from different backgrounds, but to some degree, we share so much overlap and similarity in the ways that we see the world. I believe we have an innate calling to oneness. We have an innate calling to realize that we came from something and our creator. It's baked into us from birth.
Our reality, environment, society, parents, families, and friends will feed us things that help us to remember that or bring us away from it. That's the journey that I'm having and I'm constantly reminding myself because truthfully, the only thing that we have as certain is death. If we move from that paradigm, that's one of the classics from the stoics. They always have this concept of fati mori, which is being comfortable with the concept of your impending end.
That's all there is. That's the only thing we can certainly say. You're going to experience what you're going to experience and then have death. We can only hypothesize what happens out there. I can't tell you for certain what's going to happen. You can think about it. You might have your positions. None of us will know until we meet that.
The same can be said about God. I can have my faith that there is a God. Somebody could put their position that there is no God, and neither of us will fully be able to satisfy one other's position. That certainty of death makes this reality so much more precious. We should put all of our time into it, come to comfort with what death is, and find that at the end of that, there's going to be something else for us.
This is a short period of time on a larger time scale of our journey, in my belief, what we're going to experience. This is where we figure out what that is and come back to that essence. That's why I started this off by reminding ourselves that we're spiritual beings. Once you think that I'm physical, this reality is what I'm supposed to enjoy, and I'm investing everything in my life here. That's why we also drive ourselves to have extreme comfort, desire, and hedonism because we're so inundated with this. That's why people are scared of that.
Once you remove from all of that, which is the antithesis of what society tells us, you start to understand the truth. You can only do that by seeking your source, your creator, the other realm, getting stillness, contemplating, and seeing the truth in the text that comes down and has so much validity. With the ancient practices, there are benefits across all religions. I, myself, believe that the ultimate truth is in Islam, but all religions have this ability to become good individuals and a person across all of them, whether it's Buddhism or Hinduism. There's the propensity to that, but we've lost that spiritual aspect.
First, it comes down to being spiritual and then finding that path, whatever it is. Every individual has to figure that out for themselves. All I'm saying is that we've lost that process in the majority scale. Unfortunately, it's because of what I think is hyper-capitalistic, hyper-hedonistic, hyper-social media, and it's by design. I appreciate these interactions because it reminds myself also of what is reality, and it's not this world.
Identity: It comes down to being spiritual and then finding that path, whatever it is. Every individual has to figure that out for themselves.
That's so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that. For those reading that maybe are just getting into spirituality or have not felt anything but want to get into it, once you start drinking from the fountain of it, even one taste, you realize that this physical reality is just a temporary thing. There's so much more depth, beauty, and love when you identify as a spiritual being and start going down that path.
You and I came from very different backgrounds and cultures, yet we somehow came to very similar ideas about the world, life, and spirituality. The more people that I talk to, it's the same thing. They come from all different places, yet this desire to create oneness, and love in the world, and help everybody meet their truest self.
I don't know how old you are, but there's so much more life to live. I'm sure that we're going to evolve more and have a deeper understanding of all of this. Understanding that when you meet people on a very similar path and you see that there's so much correspondence in the way that we think, it shows me that this is beautiful. I felt like I'm just imagining all this stuff. There are so many more people that are waking up to this reality. I honor you, and I thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you so much. I appreciate that last point. It doesn't matter of age thing, but the frequencies that we are operating at are amazing. I also want to say that this show is an amazing effort. I applaud you for it. This is inspirational in terms of what you're trying to do here. Highlighting different individuals and different ways of thought, specifically on deeper philosophical levels and existential levels, is so necessary. I applaud you for that. This is great. Thank you for having me. It was truly a pleasure. I look forward to the future for you and what you have.
How can our audience learn more about you?
You can find me on most of my socials. On my website, I put out photography-related content. I've also been doing some reflection series, which also helped us to appreciate each other's efforts in what we're doing right now and talk about these deeper topics. I'm continuing that series. This is inspiring for that as well.
On Instagram, I post those reflections and my photography. I also do some AI-related creative output and generated art. I'm constantly experimenting with these two mediums. Also, SameerAK.com. It's going to be my next phase of putting out the next journey of my artistic pursuits. That's the best place you can find me at.
Everybody, check him out. I've been listening to his reflections, and that's actually how this whole thing got started after seeing some of them. What I love is it's not easy sometimes to come out and start doing live with no preparation or anything like that. The more each of us shares our true authenticity, the more you're going to attract the people that need to hear it or that want to hear it.
I encourage everybody, put the content out, and talk about what you're going through in life, any of the challenges, any of the ups, any of the downs. Anytime you have authentic reflections or flows, people will resonate. The right people will find you. Personally, I open my business, and I pray that the people that need to find me will find me. That's my prayer every single day. So far, it's been amazing.
The more you can share yourself with the world, the world is going to be a better place. I hope this show with Sameer and the other episodes inspires everybody to go out and be limitless. It's not just about me interviewing limitless people. I want everybody to be limitless and add their beauty and their love into the world because it's so needed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Important Links
Instagram – Sameer Abdel-Khalek
About Sameer Abdel-Khalek
Sameer Abdel-Khalek is a multitalented artist and tech entrepreneur who is at the forefront of the creative application of 3D and VR technology. With roots in NYC and Raleigh, NC, and of Egyptian-Salvadoran descent, Sameer's diverse background informs his approach to art, philosophy, and spirituality. As Co-Founder of RowiLAB, a cutting-edge 3D creative agency, Sameer is not only pushing the boundaries of 3D/VR but also exploring how AI, NFTs, and Web3 can further the next era of storytelling.
