Episode 15 · January 18, 2024
Do You Have An Honest Conscience?
with Preston Rutherford
Tyzen sits with artist Preston Rutherford (Honest Conscience) on how creative expression moves what is dark and what is light. They trace Preston's path from college depression through freestyle and self-talk, and why constraints make value possible.
Chapters
No constraint, no value. No constraint, no restraint. No restraint, no priorities. No priorities, no values. And if you're not operating from values then you're not appreciating yourself and reality to the degree that you really can.
Show Notes
- Preston’s all-in / all-out childhood and the early existential crisis of not feeling real
- Depression in college and the climb back through jazz-hip-hop freestyle, writing, and giving the dark away through art
- The edge of expression: Dave Chappelle, comedy, and why you only know where the line is once you cross it
- Ideas as co-creation, ‘this is the limited edition’ of consciousness, and how constraints enable restraint, priorities, and values
- Preston’s surgical self-talk practice (affirmations, binaural beats, his own recorded voice) and the birth of the Honest Conscience studio
Key Takeaways
- Express the full spectrum, not just the high-vibe parts. Preston names that if he does not express the anger and darkness through his craft, he depresses. Giving it a place to live outside of him is what kept it from eating him alive.
- You do not know where your edge is until you cross it. The conversation uses comedy and Dave Chappelle to show that going to the edge of your love, your negativity, or your truth is felt, not seen, and that leaders raise the bar by being willing to trigger.
- Constraints create value. Because human life is the ‘limited edition,’ constraints force restraint, restraint reveals priorities, and priorities reveal values. Choosing presence in each now is the one constraint everyone shares.