Professional Documents
Culture Documents
4 [Music]
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8 thank you so I look today and these
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12 lectures have now been watched by
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16 they've been viewed a million times so
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20 that's pretty amazing freely or they've
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24 been they've been glanced at a million
26 0:39
28 times that's right that's also possible
30 0:43
32 all right so well let's get right into
34 0:45
36 it so last week I think was mostly
38 0:50
40 remarkable for the absolute dearth of
42 0:53
44 content that was actually biblically
46 0:55
48 related so that was I'll just recap what
50 1:00
52 I laid out and so that it sets the frame
54 1:05
56 properly for what we're going to discuss
58 1:07
60 tonight and I presented you with an
62 1:14
64 elaborated description of of this
66 1:18
68 diagram essentially which I spent quite
70 1:19
72 a lot of time formulating probably about
74 1:22
76 25 years ago I guess which kind of
78 1:25
80 accounts for its graphic primitiveness I
82 1:27
84 suppose I was really pushing the limits
86 1:31
88 of my 486 computer to produce that I can
90 1:33
92 tell you so and it's it's it's a it's a
94 1:38
96 description representation of the
98 1:40
100 archetypal circumstances of life and and
102 1:43
104 the archetypical circumstances are the
106 1:46
108 circumstances that are true under all
110 1:48
112 conditions for all time and so you can
114 1:53
116 think about them as descriptively
118 1:55
120 characteristic of the nature of human
122 1:57
124 experience that's not exactly the same
126 1:59
128 as the nature of reality but because you
130 2:04
132 can you can divide reality into its
134 2:08
136 subject of an object of elements and and
138 2:10
140 there's utility in doing that but
142 2:12
144 these sorts of representations don't
146 2:14
148 play that game that they consider human
150 2:15
152 experience as constituted constitutive
154 2:22
156 of reality and that's how we experience
158 2:25
160 it and so we'll just go with that the
162 2:27
164 idea basically is is that we always
166 2:30
168 exist inside a damaged structure and
170 2:33
172 that structure is partly biological and
174 2:38
176 it's it's partly socio-cultural it's
178 2:40
180 partly what's been handed to us by our
182 2:41
184 by our ancestors both practically in
186 2:46
188 terms of infrastructure but also
190 2:48
192 psychologically in terms of the active
194 2:51
196 learned content of our of our psyches
198 2:55
200 and so that would include for example
202 2:57
204 our ability to utilize language and the
206 3:01
208 words that we use and the phrases that
210 3:03
212 we use and the mutual understanding that
214 3:04
216 we develop as a consequence of
218 3:06
220 interacting with each other architect
222 3:10
224 Lee speaking that structures always it's
226 3:13
228 always dead and corrupt and the reason
230 3:17
232 it's dead is because it was made by
234 3:18
236 people who are dead and the reason it's
238 3:20
240 corrupt is because things fall apart of
242 3:23
244 their own accord and the fact that
246 3:26
248 people don't aim properly let's say
250 3:28
252 speeds along that process of
254 3:30
256 degeneration and so what that means and
258 3:33
260 I think this is something worth knowing
262 3:37
264 maybe I'll try standing back here and
266 3:39
268 see if that problem goes away what that
270 3:43
272 means is that young people always have a
274 3:47
276 reason to be upset and cynical about the
278 3:51
280 current state of affairs and and it's
282 3:54
284 that way forever and so it's useful I
286 3:57
288 think to consider such considerations
290 3:59
292 sort of such conceptualizations of the
294 4:00
296 pair of the as the patriarchy in that
298 4:02
300 light because it's an archetypal truth
302 4:04
304 that the social structure is corrupt and
306 4:07
308 incomplete and and what that means is
310 4:10
312 that it's something that you have to
314 4:11
316 contend with every moment in some sense
318 4:15
320 of your life it's a it's a permanent
322 4:18
324 fact of existence and to be upset that
326 4:21
328 the
330 4:25
332 structures of social structures or even
334 4:27
336 the biological structures within which
338 4:29
340 we live are incomplete and imperfect is
342 4:33
344 to and to take that personally that
346 4:35
348 that's the worst part of it to take that
350 4:36
352 person out personally is a misreading of
354 4:39
356 the existential condition of humankind
358 4:41
360 because it's always the case that what
362 4:44
364 you have been given and what you live in
366 4:46
368 is degenerate and corrupt and in need of
370 4:50
372 repair and it's easier just to accept
374 4:54
376 that because there's also a positive
378 4:57
380 development and the pause development as
382 4:59
384 well you've been granted something
386 5:02
388 rather than nothing and maybe you
390 5:06
392 haven't been granted pure hell because
394 5:07
396 especially in a culture like ours where
398 5:10
400 many things actually function quite well
402 5:12
404 so there's room for gratitude there even
406 5:14
408 if it's a broken machine it's not one
410 5:16
412 that's completely devastated and it's
414 5:17
416 not absolutely hell-bent at every second
418 5:20
420 on your misery and destruction and it
422 5:22
424 easily could be because many societies
426 5:24
428 are like that and so the fact that we
430 5:26
432 happen to live in one that isn't corrupt
434 5:29
436 beyond imagining is something to be
438 5:32
440 eternally grateful for well so we live
442 5:37
444 inside a damaged structure and we also
446 5:40
448 bear responsibility for that damage
450 5:41
452 because we don't do everything we can to
454 5:45
456 constantly repair it and you might say
458 5:49
460 well that's actually one of the
462 5:50
464 fundamental you know people say well
466 5:52
468 what's the meaning of life what they
470 5:54
472 really mean is what's the positive
474 5:55
476 meaning of life because as we've already
478 5:57
480 discussed the negative meanings of life
482 5:58
484 are more or less self-evident well the
486 6:00
488 positive meaning of life is to be found
490 6:02
492 in noting the state of lack of repair of
494 6:05
496 the of the walled city that you inhabit
498 6:08
500 and then sallying forth to do something
502 6:12
504 about that to repair the breaches and to
506 6:14
508 fix up the walls and to make the
510 6:17
512 structure that you inhabit as secure and
514 6:21
516 as productive as it possibly can be and
518 6:26
520 there's no shortage of opportunities to
522 6:29
524 do that
526 6:30
528 you can do that in your own mind you can
530 6:33
532 do that in your own room you can do that
534 6:35
536 in your own household in your local
538 6:37
540 community
542 6:37
544 you and maybe if you get good at doing
546 6:40
548 it at all those levels then you can
550 6:42
552 start to look beyond that and so there's
554 6:44
556 challenges that's the thing that's kind
558 6:46
560 of interesting about this insufficient
562 6:48
564 structure is that it has a set of
566 6:49
568 challenges built into it because of its
570 6:52
572 insufficiency and perhaps even because
574 6:54
576 of its corrupt nature that calls forth
578 6:57
580 the potential response from you of
582 7:00
584 heroic adventure and the heroic
586 7:02
588 adventure is to man the barricades and
590 7:04
592 repair the city and you can always do
594 7:09
596 that it doesn't matter what's what your
598 7:11
600 personal circumstances are there's
602 7:13
604 always something that isn't right
606 7:15
608 near you isn't correct isn't laid out
610 7:18
612 properly that you could just fix if you
614 7:20
616 wanted to and one of the things that
618 7:22
620 we're going to talk about tonight is the
622 7:25
624 idea that if you adopt the attitude an
626 7:30
628 attitude that's like that that the rule
630 7:32
632 that you should play is to make things
634 7:35
636 better wherever you are however you can
638 7:37
640 that what would actually happen would be
642 7:40
644 that things would get better wherever
646 7:42
648 you are in all sorts of ways and that
650 7:44
652 we've really as a species you might say
654 7:47
656 or maybe even as singular individuals we
658 7:50
660 we've explored that rarely it isn't
662 7:53
664 something that's put forth as a
666 7:55
668 proposition that often and it's quite
670 7:57
672 surprising to me and you know I had an
674 7:59
676 interesting experience the other day I
678 8:01
680 went to the keg I go there because I
682 8:04
684 have food allergies and they're very
686 8:05
688 careful with people who have food
690 8:06
692 allergies and the waiter took me to the
694 8:09
696 table and he said that he had been
698 8:11
700 watching my lectures and that's a very
702 8:14
704 common experience and he was happy about
706 8:17
708 that and he said that he had two
710 8:19
712 promotions at the keg in the last four
714 8:21
716 months because he'd been watching my
718 8:23
720 lectures and like I really found that an
722 8:25
724 affecting experience because you know
726 8:28
728 you might say well he's working as a
730 8:29
732 waiter at the keg and there's nothing
734 8:31
736 particularly heroic about that and and I
738 8:34
740 disagree with that actually because I
742 8:36
744 don't care where you're located you can
746 8:38
748 do a hell of a job and I mean that
750 8:40
752 literally at whatever job you have you
754 8:42
756 can you can take whatever job you have
758 8:44
760 and you can make it a real nice little
762 8:45
764 piece of absolute misery or you can do
766 8:49
768 you can act like a civilized human being
770 8:51
772 and notice that no matter where you are
774 8:54
776 there's a there's a richness and a
778 8:56
780 complexity that's completely
782 8:57
784 inexhaustible right at hand and then you
786 9:01
788 can take that seriously and you can say
790 9:02
792 well I happen to be a waiter at the keg
794 9:06
796 and perhaps that's not what I expected
798 9:08
800 and he's a young guy and perhaps that
802 9:10
804 isn't where I want to end up but it's
806 9:12
808 not nothing that's a rich environment
810 9:14
812 and I can make it a lot better if I want
814 9:17
816 to I can get along properly with my
818 9:18
820 co-workers and not gossip behind their
822 9:20
824 back and I can treat my customers
826 9:22
828 properly and if an opportunity comes my
830 9:24
832 way I can take it and I can see what
834 9:27
836 happens and so he said that's what he
838 9:30
840 had started doing and that things were
842 9:31
844 working out much better for him he was
846 9:33
848 in a much better job than he was three
850 9:35
852 months ago in three months that's
854 9:37
856 nothing right I mean that's a nice
858 9:39
860 trajectory it's an uphill trajectory and
862 9:41
864 that's what you want really an uphill
866 9:43
868 trajectory is actually even better than
870 9:45
872 being somewhere good as far as I'm
874 9:47
876 concerned because one of the things that
878 9:49
880 really makes your life meaningful is the
882 9:50
884 clear realization that you're headed
886 9:52
888 somewhere better than you are now and
890 9:54
892 then it's even better if you also
894 9:56
896 understand that there's a direct causal
898 9:58
900 relationship between the things that
902 9:59
904 you're doing and the steepness of that
906 10:01
908 incline and so I get a lot of letters
910 10:04
912 from people like that and they're Marse
914 10:05
916 most frequently young men although not
918 10:08
920 always and they say well you know I've
922 10:10
924 been listening to these lectures and I
926 10:12
928 decided that I'm going to try to take
930 10:13
932 responsibility for my life and so I'm
934 10:16
936 I've started to stop doing all the
938 10:19
940 stupid things that I know that that are
942 10:21
944 stupid that I know I shouldn't be doing
946 10:22
948 and I've started doing some of the
950 10:24
952 things that aren't stupid that I know I
954 10:25
956 should be doing which seems pretty
958 10:27
960 obvious really if you think about it but
962 10:29
964 it's obvious though it may be that isn't
966 10:32
968 necessarily what people do and then they
970 10:33
972 write and say you can't believe what
974 10:35
976 difference that makes and they're
978 10:37
980 thrilled about it and so I'm thrilled
982 10:39
984 about it when I get letters like that
986 10:40
988 because I really don't experience
990 10:42
992 anything as better than a letter like
994 10:45
996 that or a message like that because it's
998 10:48
1000 so good to see things that aren't so
1002 10:51
1004 good replaced by something better and I
1006 10:54
1008 really do think it's an open question I
1010 10:55
1012 truly believe it's an open question to
1014 10:57
1016 what degree we could make things better
1018 11:00
1020 if that's what we actually aimed at
1022 11:02
1024 doing you know in some of the stories
1026 11:04
1028 that we've we've come
1030 11:05
1032 already the story of Cain and Abel in
1034 11:07
1036 particular is really an analysis of that
1038 11:09
1040 problem which so remarkable it occurs so
1042 11:11
1044 so early in this document it's such a
1046 11:14
1048 such a foundational story and it
1050 11:18
1052 basically says well there's two modes of
1054 11:20
1056 being in the world right there's one
1058 11:21
1060 where you adopt the responsibility for
1062 11:25
1064 living properly for being properly and
1066 11:29
1068 you make the sacrifices necessary for
1070 11:31
1072 doing that and then everything will
1074 11:33
1076 flourish properly and the other one is a
1078 11:35
1080 pathway of resentment and bitterness and
1082 11:38
1084 rejection and murder and genocide and
1086 11:41
1088 that just seems exactly right to me and
1090 11:43
1092 so if the positive path beckons if you
1094 11:48
1096 can actually see what it is if you can
1098 11:49
1100 if you can lower yourself enough to see
1102 11:52
1104 what it is
1106 11:53
1108 young Carl Jung said once that modern
1110 11:55
1112 people didn't see God because they
1114 11:56
1116 didn't look low enough so phrase I
1118 11:58
1120 really really like because people
1122 12:00
1124 denigrate the opportunities that are
1126 12:02
1128 right in front of them and there's no
1130 12:04
1132 reason to do that because what's right
1134 12:06
1136 in front of you is the majesty of being
1138 12:09
1140 that's what's right in front of you it's
1142 12:10
1144 inexhaustibly complex and full of
1146 12:12
1148 potential and there's no reason to
1150 12:14
1152 assume that wherever you happen to be
1154 12:16
1156 isn't as good a starting place as
1158 12:19
1160 anywhere else now you know I know some
1162 12:21
1164 people have terrible terrible lives in
1166 12:23
1168 situations that are absolutely
1170 12:25
1172 unbearable and but I also do know that
1174 12:27
1176 even situations like that can be made a
1178 12:29
1180 hell of a lot worse by the bad by by the
1182 12:32
1184 worst kind of attitude that's for sure
1186 12:34
1188 so so anyway so that's where you are
1190 12:37
1192 you're in a damaged structure you're a
1194 12:38
1196 damaged structure you're in a damaged
1198 12:40
1200 structure but you know at least it's got
1202 12:43
1204 some walls you know you're not being fed
1206 12:45
1208 to the Lions on a regular basis so
1210 12:47
1212 that's a good thing and you can you can
1214 12:49
1216 emerge forward you know heroically
1218 12:53
1220 magically to confront the chaos that
1222 12:55
1224 constantly threatens the structure
1226 12:57
1228 within which you live and you can free
1230 12:59
1232 something as a consequence of that you
1234 13:01
1236 can learn something you can strengthen
1238 13:03
1240 yourself that's the other thing because
1242 13:04
1244 the way what you're actually made of in
1246 13:08
1248 many ways that what informs you what
1250 13:10
1252 you're made of is what you encounter
1254 13:12
1256 when you voluntarily encounter the
1258 13:14
1260 unknown and so the more you voluntarily
1262 13:16
1264 encounter the unknown the more you get
1266 13:18
1268 may
1270 13:18
1272 and the more you get made of the more
1274 13:20
1276 there is to you and then the more you're
1278 13:21
1280 good at encountering the unknown and
1282 13:24
1284 restructuring order and and calling
1286 13:26
1288 forth proper order out of the potential
1290 13:29
1292 of being and God you got to think why
1294 13:32
1296 wouldn't you do that since you can do
1298 13:34
1300 that and it's an endless mystery you
1302 13:36
1304 know I think part of it is that people
1306 13:38
1308 well it's also encapsulated to stump
1310 13:41
1312 some degree in the story of Adam and Eve
1314 13:42
1316 because what happens to Adam is when he
1318 13:44
1320 becomes self conscious right
1322 13:46
1324 he becomes ashamed of himself and
1326 13:49
1328 regards himself as a lowly sort of
1330 13:50
1332 creature and there's endless reasons why
1334 13:52
1336 people would do that because of course
1338 13:54
1340 we're rife with imperfection and so he
1342 13:56
1344 hides from God and I think that's
1346 13:58
1348 actually the answer to the conundrum
1350 13:59
1352 which is that people don't aspire to the
1354 14:03
1356 highest good because they're deeply
1358 14:06
1360 ashamed of themselves and their
1362 14:09
1364 weaknesses and their insufficiencies and
1366 14:11
1368 and so it's it's that's not the only
1370 14:13
1372 reason I mean there's the desire to
1374 14:15
1376 avoid responsibility and there's all the
1378 14:17
1380 negative motivations as well like
1382 14:20
1384 resentment and and and hatred and the
1386 14:23
1388 desire to make things worse I don't want
1390 14:25
1392 to you know give us a give us too much
1394 14:27
1396 of a break but but it's something like
1398 14:29
1400 that but it's okay then to not be in a
1402 14:34
1404 very good place if what you're trying to
1406 14:35
1408 do with that not very good place is make
1410 14:37
1412 it better and one of the things I really
1414 14:38
1416 have learned as a clinical psychologist
1418 14:40
1420 is that you just cannot believe how
1422 14:43
1424 powerful incremental progress is you
1426 14:45
1428 could you can do the calculations like
1430 14:46
1432 it's like compound interest you know if
1434 14:48
1436 you make your life a tenth of a percent
1438 14:50
1440 better a week man in two or three years
1442 14:53
1444 you're in such a better place than you
1446 14:55
1448 were that it isn't even like the same
1450 14:58
1452 domain and if you keep that up for ten
1454 15:00
1456 years or twenty years you know
1458 15:02
1460 especially if you're young and you start
1462 15:03
1464 early you start to straighten yourself
1466 15:05
1468 out and and fix the things that you can
1470 15:07
1472 fix you can transform your lives in ways
1474 15:10
1476 that are completely unimaginable and god
1478 15:12
1480 only knows what the upper limit of that
1482 15:15
1484 is in terms of human possibility because
1486 15:17
1488 we are amazing creatures you know when
1490 15:19
1492 we really get our act together and stop
1494 15:21
1496 running at 10% of our capacity you know
1498 15:24
1500 so so so that's what you do you've got
1502 15:27
1504 you know the fact that things aren't
1506 15:29
1508 exactly the way they should be at least
1510 15:30
1512 gives you something to do
1514 15:32
1516 ooh you know and that's that's and and
1518 15:34
1520 and maybe something great to do because
1522 15:36
1524 there's no shortage of suffering in
1526 15:38
1528 trouble that'd be sets the world that
1530 15:40
1532 you could conceivably ameliorate in some
1534 15:43
1536 way and the utility and meaning the
1538 15:46
1540 utility of that and the intrinsic
1542 15:48
1544 meaning of that is self-evident so it
1546 15:51
1548 also makes me curious about nihilism for
1550 15:54
1552 example and despair because I mean I
1554 15:56
1556 understand those emotions I understand
1558 15:58
1560 them deeply and the intellectual mindset
1562 16:00
1564 that goes along with it but they just
1566 16:02
1568 seem beside the point to me in some
1570 16:04
1572 sense because there are so many things
1574 16:06
1576 that need doing that all you really have
1578 16:08
1580 to do is open your eyes and look at them
1582 16:10
1584 and then decide that you're actually
1586 16:11
1588 going to do something about them and you
1590 16:13
1592 might think well what's within my scope
1594 16:15
1596 of influence is so trivial that it's not
1598 16:19
1600 worth doing it's like it won't stay
1602 16:21
1604 trivial for long if you do it
1606 16:22
1608 not at all and I don't think it's
1610 16:24
1612 trivial to begin with I don't think that
1614 16:26
1616 any I really don't believe that anything
1618 16:27
1620 done right is trivial and my experience
1622 16:30
1624 in my life has been that anything I
1626 16:33
1628 actually did paid off it didn't pay off
1630 16:37
1632 necessarily in the way that I expected
1634 16:39
1636 it to pay off that's a whole different
1638 16:40
1640 story but if it was genuine commitment
1642 16:43
1644 to do something even if it went sideways
1646 16:45
1648 and the outcome was really something
1650 16:46
1652 other than what I expected
1654 16:48
1656 the net consequence over time was
1658 16:50
1660 nothing but good so every new frontier
1662 16:54
1664 that can be conquered is an advance
1666 16:56
1668 forward and there's no shortage of
1670 16:58
1672 frontier because we're surrounded by the
1674 17:00
1676 unknown we're surrounded by our own
1678 17:02
1680 ignorance and we can continually move
1682 17:05
1684 into that domain into the domain of
1686 17:07
1688 chaos or we can restructure pathological
1690 17:10
1692 order and that's that's the secret to
1694 17:13
1696 proper being and so then you encounter
1698 17:15
1700 chaos that way you know and then you can
1702 17:17
1704 regard yourself as the sort of entity
1706 17:19
1708 that despite its insufficiency has the
1710 17:22
1712 capability to conquer chaos despite the
1714 17:25
1716 danger of that that's the other thing
1718 17:26
1720 because the fact that you're fragile is
1722 17:29
1724 actually a precondition for your heroism
1726 17:31
1728 because if you weren't fragile then
1730 17:32
1732 there'd be nothing heroic about doing
1734 17:34
1736 something difficult right because if you
1738 17:35
1740 couldn't be hurt or damaged or defeated
1742 17:37
1744 or or end up in failure then where's the
1746 17:41
1748 where's the moral courage in the
1750 17:43
1752 endeavor it has to be that the
1754 17:46
1756 agility is built into the courage and so
1758 17:48
1760 it's not it's not a reason not to engage
1762 17:50
1764 in it at all in fact quite the contrary
1766 17:53
1768 and so well and so then you know what do
1770 17:58
1772 you do well you put the city back
1774 18:00
1776 together and maybe the way you want it
1778 18:02
1780 so that it's functional and efficient
1782 18:04
1784 and beautiful and so the people can
1786 18:07
1788 flourish there and and and flourish in a
1790 18:10
1792 manner that makes them like it makes
1794 18:13
1796 them what would you say that makes them
1798 18:16
1800 feel that the unbearable catastrophe of
1802 18:19
1804 being is worth it for the experience
1806 18:22
1808 that's what you're aiming at and it's
1810 18:24
1812 not an impossibility it's not an
1814 18:26
1816 impossibility and then not only that not
1818 18:29
1820 only do you repair the city when you do
1822 18:31
1824 that but you make yourself the sort of
1826 18:33
1828 thing that continually repairs the city
1830 18:35
1832 and that's even better that's the end
1834 18:38
1836 goal because it's not the repair of the
1838 18:40
1840 city that's the goal it's the
1842 18:41
1844 transformation of yourself into the
1846 18:43
1848 thing that continually repairs the city
1850 18:45
1852 and so there's just no reason for that
1854 18:50
1856 not to happen and the more it can happen
1858 18:53
1860 the better well there's a there's an
1862 18:58
1864 undercurrent to this story and that is
1866 19:01
1868 also the story of the flood and that's
1870 19:03
1872 the fact that you know the city can
1874 19:05
1876 become corrupt because people don't
1878 19:07
1880 engage in heroic endeavor or perhaps
1882 19:09
1884 because they engage in precisely the
1886 19:11
1888 opposite of that which is outright
1890 19:13
1892 destructive behavior and this is also
1894 19:15
1896 something that's worth considering too
1898 19:17
1900 because if you if you if you consider
1902 19:20
1904 your your own manner of being you know
1906 19:25
1908 you can say things to people like tell
1910 19:28
1912 tell the truth and be good and those
1914 19:30
1916 aren't those are cliches obviously and
1918 19:34
1920 so they lack power because they're
1922 19:36
1924 cliches but you can take them apart and
1926 19:38
1928 utilize them in a manner that stops
1930 19:40
1932 being a cliche and you do that by being
1934 19:44
1936 more humble about them I would say
1938 19:46
1940 because maybe you can't tell the truth
1942 19:48
1944 because you don't know what the truth is
1946 19:49
1948 but one thing you can do is you can stop
1950 19:51
1952 saying things that you know to be untrue
1954 19:53
1956 and you might say well how do I know
1958 19:55
1960 that they're untrue and the answer to
1962 19:57
1964 that is well you need a whole philosophy
1966 19:59
1968 of truth
1970 19:59
1972 the elaboration of an entire philosophy
1974 20:01
1976 of truth to answer that question and so
1978 20:03
1980 we're not going to bother answering that
1982 20:04
1984 question because in some sense at the
1986 20:06
1988 moment it's beside the point that isn't
1990 20:08
1992 the issue the issue is there are times
1994 20:10
1996 in your life where you know that the
1998 20:11
2000 thing that you're saying is not true
2002 20:13
2004 it's a deception it's a lie of some sort
2006 20:16
2008 and you're using it to manipulate
2010 20:17
2012 yourself or another person or the world
2014 20:19
2016 and you're also possessed fully
2018 20:21
2020 possessed of the idea that you can get
2022 20:23
2024 away with it and there's a satanic
2026 20:25
2028 arrogance about that in fact that is the
2030 20:27
2032 archetypal arrogance that's portrayed in
2034 20:30
2036 the mythological character of Satan
2038 20:31
2040 because Satan is precisely the archetype
2042 20:34
2044 of the element of the mind that believes
2046 20:37
2048 that it can twist and and bend the
2050 20:41
2052 structure reality without paying the
2054 20:43
2056 price for that and you can't imagine
2058 20:45
2060 anything that's more arrogant than not
2062 20:46
2064 because really do you really think that
2066 20:48
2068 you can twist the structure of a reality
2070 20:50
2072 and that that's going to work out for
2074 20:52
2076 you without it snapping back it's so
2078 20:54
2080 obvious that that can't work that that
2082 20:56
2084 everyone knows it but anyways back to
2086 20:59
2088 the initial point is that you know by
2090 21:02
2092 the rules of the game that you yourself
2094 21:04
2096 are playing that some of the times
2098 21:07
2100 you're violating the rules of the game
2102 21:09
2104 that you're playing and the first issue
2106 21:12
2108 with regards to say stating the truth or
2110 21:15
2112 behaving in a responsible manner would
2114 21:18
2116 be merely stopped cheating at whatever
2118 21:21
2120 game it is that you've chosen to play
2122 21:23
2124 that's a good start and that'll
2126 21:26
2128 straighten that will straighten out your
2130 21:27
2132 life it'll start in the straight and
2134 21:29
2136 start to straighten out your life and so
2138 21:33
2140 well the flood what the hell does the
2142 21:36
2144 flood tie into this well you know we
2146 21:38
2148 live in a corrupt structure we're
2150 21:39
2152 corrupt as individuals we live in a
2154 21:41
2156 corrupt structure and part of that
2158 21:42
2160 corruption has just happenstance it's
2162 21:44
2164 the way things fall apart but the other
2166 21:45
2168 part of it is that not only are we not
2170 21:48
2172 aiming up we're actually aiming down and
2174 21:50
2176 the flood story is a warning and it's a
2178 21:53
2180 very clear warning and the warning is if
2182 21:55
2184 you aim down enough and then if enough
2186 21:59
2188 of you aim down at the same time
2190 22:02
2192 everything will degenerate into
2194 22:04
2196 something that's indistinguishable from
2198 22:07
2200 the chaos from which things emerged at
2202 22:10
2204 the beginning of time it's something
2206 22:11
2208 like that because the
2210 22:13
2212 the cosmos that's presented in
2214 22:15
2216 mythological representations is chaos
2218 22:17
2220 versus order right the order is on top
2222 22:19
2224 you might say and the chaos is always
2226 22:21
2228 underneath and the chaos can break
2230 22:23
2232 through or the order can crumble and you
2234 22:24
2236 can fall into the chaos and that chaos
2238 22:26
2240 is intermingle intermingled potential
2242 22:28
2244 and the way that you destroy the order
2246 22:32
2248 and let the chaos rise back up which is
2250 22:34
2252 exactly how its portrayed in the flood
2254 22:36
2256 story is by well by inhabiting the
2258 22:40
2260 corpse of your father that's one
2262 22:42
2264 mythological motif and feeding on the
2266 22:44
2268 remains and with no gratitude and no
2270 22:47
2272 attempt to replenish what it is that
2274 22:50
2276 you're taking from and the warning in
2278 22:53
2280 the flood story is don't do that for
2282 22:56
2284 very long because things will happen
2286 22:58
2288 that are so awful you cannot possibly
2290 22:59
2292 imagine it and that will happen to you
2294 23:02
2296 personally and it'll happen to your
2298 23:03
2300 family and it will happen to your
2302 23:04
2304 community and it's happened to people
2306 23:05
2308 over and over throughout history and
2310 23:07
2312 it's quite interesting you know it's
2314 23:09
2316 very soon after the story of Cain and
2318 23:11
2320 Abel when you see evil enter the world
2322 23:14
2324 in the story of Adam and Eve
2326 23:15
2328 along with self-consciousness and evil
2330 23:18
2332 there is the ability that's the
2334 23:20
2336 knowledge of good and evil that's the
2338 23:21
2340 ability to hurt other people
2342 23:23
2344 self-consciously to know what you're
2346 23:25
2348 doing and then of course instantly Cain
2350 23:27
2352 takes that to the absolute extreme and
2354 23:29
2356 he uses that capacity to to destroy
2358 23:31
2360 really what he loves best he gets as
2362 23:34
2364 close as a human being can to destroying
2366 23:37
2368 the divine ideal because of course his
2370 23:39
2372 brother is able and Abel is favored by
2374 23:41
2376 God and Cain destroys them which Cain
2378 23:43
2380 tells God at the end of that episode
2382 23:45
2384 that his punishment is more than he can
2386 23:47
2388 bear and I think the reason for that is
2390 23:49
2392 where are you once you destroy your own
2394 23:51
2396 ideal what's left for you there's
2398 23:55
2400 nowhere to go there's no up and when
2402 23:58
2404 there's no up there's a lot of down and
2406 24:00:00
2408 you know there's an idea that was put
2410 24:02:00
2412 forth very nicely in Milton's Paradise
2414 24:05:00
2416 Lost when he was describing from a
2418 24:07:00
2420 psychological perspective essentially
2422 24:10:00
2424 what hell is and hell is you're in hell
2426 24:14:00
2428 to the degree that you're distant from
2430 24:16:00
2432 the good that that might be a good way
2434 24:18:00
2436 of thinking about it and if you destroy
2438 24:20:00
2440 your own ideal which you do with
2442 24:22:00
2444 jealousy and resentment and and the
2446 24:24:00
2448 desire to pull down people who you would
2450 24:27:00
2452 like to be let's say then you end up in
2454 24:29:00
2456 a situation that's indistinguishable
2458 24:31:00
2460 from hell and the way the story the
2462 24:33:00
2464 biblical story unfolds as well it's it's
2466 24:36:00
2468 it's Cain and then it's the flood and so
2470 24:39:00
2472 Cain adopts this mode of being that's
2474 24:41:00
2476 antithetical to being itself at least a
2478 24:44:00
2480 positive being itself he does it
2482 24:45:00
2484 voluntarily does it knowing full well
2486 24:47:00
2488 what he's doing and the net consequence
2490 24:50:00
2492 of this that as it ripples through the
2494 24:52:00
2496 entire social structure is that God
2498 24:55:00
2500 stands back and says this whole thing is
2502 24:57:00
2504 God so bad the only thing we can do is
2506 24:58:00
2508 is wipe it to the ground and that is
2510 25:01:00
2512 that is no joke
2514 25:03:00
2516 that's exactly how things work and one
2518 25:06:00
2520 of the things that's extraordinarily
2522 25:07:00
2524 terrifying about that sequence of
2526 25:08:00
2528 stories and I believe this to be true I
2530 25:10:00
2532 think I realized this independently of
2534 25:13:00
2536 any of the analysis that I was doing of
2538 25:16:00
2540 mythological stories because I looked at
2542 25:18:00
2544 what happened in places like the Soviet
2546 25:20:00
2548 Union and Mao's China and in Nazi
2550 25:22:00
2552 Germany and the most penetrating
2554 25:24:00
2556 observers of those societies the people
2558 25:27:00
2560 who were most interested in how it was
2562 25:29:00
2564 that those absolute catastrophes came
2566 25:31:00
2568 about all said the same thing it was
2570 25:35:00
2572 rooted in the degeneration of the
2574 25:36:00
2576 individuals who made up the society you
2578 25:39:00
2580 know you hear what people will thought
2582 25:40:00
2584 were following orders it's like no that
2586 25:42:00
2588 that explanation doesn't hold water or
2590 25:44:00
2592 that you'd be punished if you resisted
2594 25:46:00
2596 well there is some truth in that but
2598 25:47:00
2600 nowhere near as much as people might
2602 25:49:00
2604 think especially at the beginnings of
2606 25:50:00
2608 the process more it was that people
2610 25:53:00
2612 decided each and every one of them to
2614 25:55:00
2616 turn a blind eye to the catastrophes and
2618 25:57:00
2620 to participate in the lies and that
2622 25:59:00
2624 warped the entire societies and they
2626 26:01:00
2628 went as you know they they feared their
2630 26:03:00
2632 way downward to something as closely
2634 26:05:00
2636 approximating hell as you could hope to
2638 26:08:00
2640 manage especially in places like Nazi
2642 26:10:00
2644 Germany and well in all three of those
2646 26:11:00
2648 places and in Mao is China and in the
2650 26:14:00
2652 Soviet Union and so the thing that's so
2654 26:16:00
2656 frightening about one of the things
2658 26:18:00
2660 that's so frightening about the stories
2662 26:19:00
2664 in Genesis is they say something very
2666 26:21:00
2668 clear which is that your moral
2670 26:24:00
2672 degeneration contributes in no small way
2674 26:27:00
2676 to the degeneration of the entire cosmos
2678 26:30:00
2680 you say well I would like my life to be
2682 26:34:00
2684 meaningful
2686 26:35:00
2688 people say that really would you really
2690 26:37:00
2692 you really would like your life to be
2694 26:39:00
2696 meaningful you think maybe people would
2698 26:40:00
2700 made a little nihilism to not have to
2702 26:42:00
2704 face that particular realization and I
2706 26:44:00
2708 think people do that all the time it's a
2710 26:46:00
2712 terrible way to to to realize but we are
2714 26:50:00
2716 networked together in that that's the
2718 26:54:00
2720 price of or let's say that's the
2722 26:56:00
2724 vulnerability that's associated with our
2726 26:58:00
2728 intense capacity to communicate and it
2730 27:01:00
2732 is certainly possible that the ripples
2734 27:05:00
2736 of our individual actions have
2738 27:07:00
2740 consequences that are far beyond the
2742 27:10:00
2744 limits of our immediate consciousness
2746 27:12:00
2748 and I also think people know that too
2750 27:14:00
2752 they know that in the way that people
2754 27:16:00
2756 know things when they don't want to know
2758 27:18:00
2760 them which means they know them embodied
2762 27:21:00
2764 they can feel them they can sense them
2766 27:22:00
2768 they have an emotional response to them
2770 27:24:00
2772 but there's no damn way they're going to
2774 27:25:00
2776 let them become articulate because they
2778 27:27:00
2780 don't want to know and when you're
2782 27:29:00
2784 feeling guilty and ashamed about the
2786 27:31:00
2788 things you've done or not done and I
2790 27:33:00
2792 know that can get out of hand as well
2794 27:34:00
2796 it's often because there is a crooked
2798 27:37:00
2800 little part of you that's aiming at the
2802 27:39:00
2804 worst possible outcome you know one of
2806 27:41:00
2808 the things you said about the shadow you
2810 27:43:00
2812 know that young famous idea that
2814 27:45:00
2816 everyone has a dark side and that that
2818 27:47:00
2820 dark side needs to be incorporated and
2822 27:49:00
2824 made conscious young said the shadow of
2826 27:53:00
2828 the human being
2830 27:54:00
2832 reaches all the way to hell and he
2834 27:56:00
2836 actually that's the thing that's so
2838 27:58:00
2840 interesting about interesting about
2842 28:00:00
2844 reading Carl Jung is he actually means
2846 28:02:00
2848 what he says it's not a metaphor it's
2850 28:04:00
2852 like the part of you that's twisted
2854 28:07:00
2856 against being is aligned with the part
2858 28:11:00
2860 of the cosmos let's say the conscious
2862 28:13:00
2864 cosmos that's aiming at making
2866 28:15:00
2868 everything as terrible as it can
2870 28:17:00
2872 possibly be and you know it's a terrible
2874 28:20:00
2876 shock to realize that it's partly why
2878 28:22:00
2880 people don't realize that it's it's
2882 28:23:00
2884 something that people keep at an arm's
2886 28:25:00
2888 length it's it's the same as recognizing
2890 28:28:00
2892 yourself as a Nazi concentration camp
2894 28:30:00
2896 camp guard which is a very useful
2898 28:31:00
2900 exercise because there's absolutely no
2902 28:34:00
2904 reason why you couldn't have been or
2906 28:36:00
2908 still could be one so and if you think
2910 28:40:00
2912 otherwise then all the more reason for
2914 28:43:00
2916 assuming that you would be unable to
2918 28:45:00
2920 resist the temptation if it was in fact
2922 28:47:00
2924 offered to you and if you don't think
2926 28:48:00
2928 it's a temptation then the then there's
2930 28:52:00
2932 so much that you don't know about human
2934 28:53:00
2936 beings that
2938 28:54:00
2940 you're not even in the game because if
2942 28:56:00
2944 it wasn't a temptation then people
2946 28:57:00
2948 bloody well wouldn't have done it and
2950 28:59:00
2952 plenty of people did it and it's no
2954 29:01:00
2956 wonder so so things get serious in
2958 29:09:00
2960 Genesis very very rapidly and and the
2962 29:12:00
2964 depth of the seriousness is ultimate
2966 29:15:00
2968 archetypal that's it gets as serious as
2970 29:17:00
2972 it can get the story of Noah and the
2974 29:25:00
2976 flood opens in a fragmentary manner and
2978 29:28:00
2980 I believe that these passages are part
2982 29:30:00
2984 of a longer story that we only have bits
2986 29:33:00
2988 and pieces of and an also one that's
2990 29:35:00
2992 fragmented in its in its it its parts of
2994 29:40:00
2996 more than one story and it starts like
2998 29:43:00
3000 this it came to pass when men began to
3002 29:45:00
3004 multiply on the face of the earth and
3006 29:47:00
3008 and and daughters were born unto them
3010 29:49:00
3012 that the sons of God saw the daughters
3014 29:51:00
3016 of men that they were fair and they took
3018 29:54:00
3020 them wives of all which they chose now
3022 29:56:00
3024 there's an idea there there's two ways
3026 29:59:00
3028 of looking at the past and you can kind
3030 30:03:00
3032 of see that in the political landscape
3034 30:05:00
3036 that we inhabit now on the more
3038 30:07:00
3040 conservative end of the spectrum people
3042 30:09:00
3044 regard the past as the land of giants
3046 30:11:00
3048 right there were the heroes of the past
3050 30:14:00
3052 who established the current conditions
3054 30:15:00
3056 that we exist in and then the people on
3058 30:18:00
3060 the left are more concerned perhaps with
3062 30:22:00
3064 the what would you call it with a
3066 30:23:00
3068 lineage of corruption that's come down
3070 30:25:00
3072 through the centuries and both of those
3074 30:27:00
3076 perspectives are accurate you can say
3078 30:29:00
3080 well there were there there were the
3082 30:32:00
3084 great heroes of the past who established
3086 30:34:00
3088 our modes of being you can think of them
3090 30:36:00
3092 as composite beings if you want that's
3094 30:37:00
3096 fine that's a perfectly reasonable way
3098 30:39:00
3100 of thinking about it and you can also
3102 30:41:00
3104 think of the of the accumulation of
3106 30:44:00
3108 corruption and evil that's come along
3110 30:45:00
3112 the centuries as well and so you see
3114 30:48:00
3116 both of those reflected in these initial
3118 30:49:00
3120 few lines that the sons of gods so those
3122 30:52:00
3124 are the hero's saw the daughters of men
3126 30:54:00
3128 that they were fair and they took them
3130 30:55:00
3132 wives of all of which they chose then
3134 30:59:00
3136 this statement comes in
3138 31:04:00
3140 and somewhat of a non sequitur and the
3142 31:06:00
3144 Lord said my spirit shall not always
3146 31:07:00
3148 strive with man for that he is also
3150 31:09:00
3152 flesh yet his days shall be a hundred
3154 31:11:00
3156 and twenty years and I looked at a
3158 31:14:00
3160 variety of interpretations of that line
3162 31:16:00
3164 because it doesn't seem to follow so
3166 31:17:00
3168 clearly from the previous line and
3170 31:19:00
3172 exactly what it means isn't obvious but
3174 31:22:00
3176 it seems to be the first line talks
3178 31:26:00
3180 about the heroes of the past and and the
3182 31:29:00
3184 second line says wait a second there's
3186 31:32:00
3188 something corrupt about the human mode
3190 31:33:00
3192 of being and one of the consequences of
3194 31:36:00
3196 that as far as God is concerned is that
3198 31:39:00
3200 there are conditions under which the
3202 31:42:00
3204 divine Spirit will not strive with man
3206 31:45:00
3208 what that means is there are conditions
3210 31:48:00
3212 under which let's say the I don't think
3214 31:52:00
3216 there's any other way of putting it is
3218 31:54:00
3220 the divine impulse towards the good will
3222 31:56:00
3224 abandon you because of things that
3226 31:58:00
3228 you've done and then the secondary
3230 32:01:00
3232 consideration here is that perhaps
3234 32:04:00
3236 because of the degeneration of people
3238 32:06:00
3240 it's not so obvious here that our life
3242 32:08:00
3244 spans are limited that the spirit that
3246 32:11:00
3248 inhabits us will only do so for a
3250 32:13:00
3252 limited amount of time and that's
3254 32:15:00
3256 tangled in a strange way in with the
3258 32:17:00
3260 idea of human moral culpability and
3262 32:19:00
3264 that's posed against the notion of the
3266 32:21:00
3268 Giants of the past and then it returns
3270 32:24:00
3272 to the giant idea the narrative returns
3274 32:26:00
3276 to the giant idea and reads there were
3278 32:28:00
3280 giants in the earth in those days and
3282 32:30:00
3284 also after that when the sons of men
3286 32:32:00
3288 came in unto the daughters of men and
3290 32:34:00
3292 they bare children to them and the same
3294 32:36:00
3296 became mighty men which were of old men
3298 32:38:00
3300 of renown and that's the end of that
3302 32:42:00
3304 sequence of fragments it's it's very
3306 32:45:00
3308 broken but you can see a dual narrative
3310 32:49:00
3312 underneath it and and one of the
3314 32:52:00
3316 narratives is that there's the kind of
3318 32:55:00
3320 corruption despite the joy the nature of
3322 32:58:00
3324 the Giants of the past there's the kind
3326 33:00:00
3328 of corruption lurking that would cause
3330 33:04:00
3332 God to with hold his grace and allow men
3334 33:07:00
3336 to deteriorate and and that sets the
3338 33:11:00
3340 stage for Noah and the flood and God saw
3342 33:15:00
3344 that the wickedness of man was great in
3346 33:16:00
3348 the earth and that the
3350 33:18:00
3352 and that every imagination of the
3354 33:19:00
3356 thoughts of his heart was only evil
3358 33:21:00
3360 continually you know one of the things I
3362 33:27:00
3364 really didn't like about going to church
3366 33:28:00
3368 when I was a kid I went to a pretty
3370 33:30:00
3372 moderate church it was the United Church
3374 33:32:00
3376 which has hardly even become a church
3378 33:33:00
3380 now it's so moderate so to speak one of
3382 33:39:00
3384 the things I didn't like was the
3386 33:40:00
3388 constant harping by the Ministry on the
3390 33:44:00
3392 sinful nature of human beings like it
3394 33:47:00
3396 didn't speak to me properly partly
3398 33:49:00
3400 because I really didn't understand what
3402 33:50:00
3404 it meant and partly because it seemed
3406 33:55:00
3408 well sort of what would you say was
3410 33:59:00
3412 self-flagellating in an unattractive way
3414 34:02:00
3416 I don't know if there is an attractive
3418 34:04:00
3420 way to be self-flagellating but it was
3422 34:06:00
3424 it was and there was something about it
3426 34:09:00
3428 there was also wrote and and faked that
3430 34:12:00
3432 I didn't like but you know in later
3434 34:14:00
3436 years I thought about that more and I
3438 34:16:00
3440 started to understand that there was
3442 34:18:00
3444 some real utility in asking people to
3446 34:21:00
3448 keep the evil that they're doing clear
3450 34:26:00
3452 and conscious in the forefront of their
3454 34:28:00
3456 imagination I think I mentioned to you
3458 34:31:00
3460 guys last week this little episode from
3462 34:34:00
3464 what we know of Mesopotamian culture
3466 34:37:00
3468 surrounding the emperor the new year's
3470 34:39:00
3472 festival they would take the emperor
3474 34:41:00
3476 outside of the walled city and strip him
3478 34:43:00
3480 of his garb so that he was reduced to
3482 34:47:00
3484 just an ordinary man and then humiliate
3486 34:50:00
3488 him richly and then ask him how it was
3490 34:53:00
3492 over the last year that he wasn't a
3494 34:56:00
3496 spectacular embodiment of Marduk and
3498 34:59:00
3500 Marduk was the Mesopotamian deity who
3502 35:00:00
3504 made order out of chaos essentially and
3506 35:03:00
3508 the emperor was supposed to sit and
3510 35:04:00
3512 think okay well you know I'm Emperor and
3514 35:07:00
3516 everything I should be doing a good job
3518 35:08:00
3520 maybe I should even be doing a great job
3522 35:10:00
3524 and probably I'm coming up short in a
3526 35:12:00
3528 bunch of ways and that actually happens
3530 35:14:00
3532 to be important since I'm running the
3534 35:15:00
3536 entire show I should be very very
3538 35:18:00
3540 cognizant of how I'm failing to live up
3542 35:22:00
3544 to the ideal and that is what that call
3546 35:24:00
3548 that constant clarion call that's
3550 35:27:00
3552 degenerated I would say an institutional
3554 35:29:00
3556 Christianity that was actually the idea
3558 35:31:00
3560 was
3562 35:31:00
3564 look there's a bunch of ways that you're
3566 35:33:00
3568 not being everything you could be and it
3570 35:36:00
3572 is not supposed to be a whip to knock
3574 35:38:00
3576 you down although maybe it's a whip to
3578 35:40:00
3580 knock down your pride the pride that
3582 35:42:00
3584 stops you from being aware of your
3586 35:44:00
3588 insufficiencies it's more like a call to
3590 35:46:00
3592 the opposite it's like well you should
3594 35:49:00
3596 stop doing those things because you
3598 35:50:00
3600 could be so much more than you are and
3602 35:52:00
3604 that would be so much better for you and
3606 35:54:00
3608 everyone else that it's just it's just
3610 35:56:00
3612 not good that you continue doing these
3614 35:58:00
3616 things continue breaking your own rules
3618 36:00:00
3620 let's say because we could certainly as
3622 36:04:00
3624 I said we can start this game by
3626 36:05:00
3628 assuming that you should at least play
3630 36:07:00
3632 the game that you're playing straight
3634 36:08:00
3636 and so and it is the case that if you
3638 36:11:00
3640 watch yourself it's a terrifying thing
3642 36:15:00
3644 to do but if you watch yourself you'll
3646 36:18:00
3648 see you lie a lot like when I learned
3650 36:21:00
3652 this to begin with I was in my 20s and I
3654 36:24:00
3656 was I'm a smart person and I was very
3658 36:26:00
3660 proud of that because I was also a small
3662 36:29:00
3664 person I was moved ahead one year in
3666 36:32:00
3668 school and I was a small person to begin
3670 36:35:00
3672 with and so I was a very small person in
3674 36:37:00
3676 my classes and also very mouthy which
3678 36:40:00
3680 might not come as much of a surprise and
3682 36:42:00
3684 somewhat provocative and so you know and
3686 36:45:00
3688 I got pushed around a fair bit because P
3690 36:47:00
3692 everybody gets pushed around and my
3694 36:49:00
3696 weapon was to be mouthy and it was a
3698 36:50:00
3700 fairly effective weapon although it
3702 36:52:00
3704 tended to backfire because you know if
3706 36:54:00
3708 you're really effectively mouthy with
3710 36:56:00
3712 large obnoxious people then they tend to
3714 36:59:00
3716 respond in a relatively negative
3718 37:00:00
3720 physical way and so that sort of thing
3722 37:03:00
3724 was happening to me a fair bit and but I
3726 37:05:00
3728 was quite I was quite proud of the fact
3730 37:07:00
3732 that I was that I I was I had some
3734 37:11:00
3736 intellectual power and that it was then
3738 37:17:00
3740 in my 20s when I learned about some of
3742 37:19:00
3744 the danger of that because I started to
3746 37:21:00
3748 read partly Milton's Paradise Lost and I
3750 37:24:00
3752 started to understand the the danger of
3754 37:27:00
3756 the intellect and the danger of the
3758 37:29:00
3760 intellect as far as I can tell is that
3762 37:31:00
3764 it tends towards pride and arrogance and
3766 37:33:00
3768 it also tends to fall in love with its
3770 37:35:00
3772 own productions and so that's actually
3774 37:37:00
3776 Lucifer in Paradise Lost absolu suffer
3778 37:39:00
3780 Lucifer is the intellect that falls in
3782 37:41:00
3784 love with its own productions and then
3786 37:43:00
3788 assumes that there's not
3790 37:44:00
3792 outside of what it thinks that's the
3794 37:47:00
3796 totalitarian mentality right it's like
3798 37:49:00
3800 we have a total system and we know how
3802 37:51:00
3804 everything works and we're going to
3806 37:53:00
3808 implement it and that'll bring about
3810 37:54:00
3812 heaven on earth right that's that's a
3814 37:56:00
3816 that that's the totalitarian mindset and
3818 37:59:00
3820 that's associated with intellectual
3822 38:01:00
3824 arrogance and another at the same time
3826 38:06:00
3828 another thing what was happening to me
3830 38:08:00
3832 so I was noticing that I started to
3834 38:10:00
3836 understand what that meant and I also
3838 38:13:00
3840 started to understand that there was
3842 38:14:00
3844 more to life than the intellect much
3846 38:17:00
3848 more if I smoke too much and I drank too
3850 38:19:00
3852 much and I weighed like 130 pounds I
3854 38:21:00
3856 wasn't in good physical shape and like I
3858 38:23:00
3860 had a lot of things to do when I went to
3862 38:25:00
3864 graduate school to put myself together
3866 38:27:00
3868 and at the same time I was trying to
3870 38:28:00
3872 understand why things had gone so
3874 38:31:00
3876 crazily wrong with the world its
3878 38:33:00
3880 encapsulation in the Cold War and what
3882 38:35:00
3884 role I might be playing in that if any
3886 38:37:00
3888 or what role any of us were playing in
3890 38:39:00
3892 that at the same time I was working out
3894 38:46:00
3896 of prison only a little bit I worked
3898 38:49:00
3900 with this crazy psychologist he he is to
3902 38:53:00
3904 put jokes on his multiple-choice tests
3906 38:55:00
3908 he was a really eccentric guy but I
3910 38:58:00
3912 really liked his courses he and he
3914 39:01:00
3916 taught a course on creativity and he was
3918 39:03:00
3920 also a prison psychologist and he was an
3922 39:05:00
3924 eccentric guy and he for some reason
3926 39:07:00
3928 like me and maybe because I was
3930 39:08:00
3932 eccentric too and he invited me to go
3934 39:10:00
3936 out to the Edmonton maximum-security
3938 39:11:00
3940 prison with him a couple of times which
3942 39:13:00
3944 I did and that was a very interesting
3946 39:15:00
3948 experience because I was trying to
3950 39:17:00
3952 figure out what role each individual's
3954 39:23:00
3956 behavior bore to the pathology of the
3958 39:26:00
3960 group was something like that and I went
3962 39:29:00
3964 out there and I met a little guy smaller
3966 39:33:00
3968 than me I was a little bigger by then
3970 39:35:00
3972 and he was a pretty innocuous guy and
3974 39:38:00
3976 what had happened was I was out in this
3978 39:41:00
3980 gymnasium it looks like a high school
3982 39:43:00
3984 the prison which is really quite telling
3986 39:45:00
3988 in my estimation but and there were all
3990 39:47:00
3992 these like monsters in there
3994 39:49:00
3996 weightlifting and like they were
3998 39:50:00
4000 monsters I remember one guy who was
4002 39:52:00
4004 tattooed everywhere and he had like a
4006 39:53:00
4008 huge scar running down the middle of his
4010 39:54:00
4012 chest it looked like someone had to hit
4014 39:56:00
4016 him with an axe and
4018 39:57:00
4020 you know and and I was in there I had
4022 39:59:00
4024 this weird cape that I used to wear that
4026 40:01:00
4028 I bought in Portugal and some boots that
4030 40:03:00
4032 went along with it and yeah I was like
4034 40:07:00
4036 an 1890s Sherlock Holmes cape and it was
4038 40:10:00
4040 really like it was from the 1890s
4042 40:11:00
4044 because this little village was up on a
4046 40:13:00
4048 hill it was a walled city on a hill and
4050 40:15:00
4052 they sold these things and I don't think
4054 40:17:00
4056 they changed the style since 1890 and so
4058 40:19:00
4060 I thought they were really cool and so I
4062 40:20:00
4064 was wearing that which wasn't perhaps
4066 40:22:00
4068 the most conservative garb to dawn if
4070 40:29:00
4072 you're going to wear if you're going to
4074 40:31:00
4076 go to a maximum-security prison so
4078 40:32:00
4080 anyways I was in the gymnasium and the
4082 40:35:00
4084 car the psychologist left and god only
4086 40:38:00
4088 knows I mean that's what he was like and
4090 40:40:00
4092 all these guys came or all these guys
4094 40:42:00
4096 came around me you know and they were
4098 40:44:00
4100 offering to trade their prison clothes
4102 40:46:00
4104 for my tape and was it was like I was
4106 40:52:00
4108 being made an offer I couldn't refuse
4110 40:53:00
4112 you know and so I didn't I didn't really
4114 40:55:00
4116 know what to do and then this little guy
4118 40:56:00
4120 said something like that the
4122 40:58:00
4124 psychologist sent me to come and take
4126 41:01:00
4128 you away or something like that and so I
4130 41:03:00
4132 thought well better this little guy
4134 41:06:00
4136 banned all these monsters so we went
4138 41:09:00
4140 outside the gym through some doors like
4142 41:13:00
4144 school doors went outside the gym into
4146 41:14:00
4148 the exercise yard I guess and we were
4150 41:17:00
4152 wandering along and he was talking to me
4154 41:18:00
4156 and he seemed like a kind of an
4158 41:19:00
4160 innocuous guy and then the psychologist
4162 41:22:00
4164 showed up at the door and motioned us
4166 41:23:00
4168 back and so which was kind of a relief
4170 41:26:00
4172 and so I went into his office and he
4174 41:28:00
4176 said you know that guy that you walked
4178 41:30:00
4180 out in the yard with and I said yeah he
4182 41:31:00
4184 said he he took two cops one night and
4186 41:35:00
4188 he had them kneel down and while they
4190 41:37:00
4192 were begging for their lives he shot
4194 41:39:00
4196 them both in the back of the head and I
4198 41:41:00
4200 thought hmm
4202 41:43:00
4204 that's see the thing that was so
4206 41:48:00
4208 interesting was that he was so innocuous
4210 41:50:00
4212 right because what you'd hope is that
4214 41:52:00
4216 someone like that would be very much
4218 41:53:00
4220 unlike you let's say and certainly
4222 41:56:00
4224 wouldn't be like someone innocuous that
4226 41:58:00
4228 you'd met what you'd want is that the
4230 42:00:00
4232 guy would be like you know half were
4234 42:01:00
4236 wolf and half vampire so you could just
4238 42:03:00
4240 tell right away that he was a
4242 42:05:00
4244 cold-blooded killer but no he was this
4246 42:07:00
4248 sort of ineffectual little guy who
4250 42:10:00
4252 was certainly not ineffectual if you
4254 42:12:00
4256 gave him a revolver in the upper hand
4258 42:13:00
4260 and so so that made me think that made
4262 42:17:00
4264 me think a lot about the relationship
4266 42:19:00
4268 between being innocuous and and being
4270 42:22:00
4272 dangerous and then another thing
4274 42:23:00
4276 happened I met another guy out there and
4278 42:25:00
4280 then a week or two later I heard that he
4282 42:28:00
4284 and a friend of his had held another guy
4286 42:30:00
4288 down and pulverized his left leg with a
4290 42:34:00
4292 lead pipe like just pulverized it and
4294 42:37:00
4296 the reason for that was that they
4298 42:39:00
4300 thought that he was a snitch and maybe
4302 42:41:00
4304 he was and at that time I did something
4306 42:44:00
4308 different instead of being shocked and
4310 42:46:00
4312 horrified by that although I certainly
4314 42:47:00
4316 was I thought how in the world could you
4318 42:51:00
4320 do that because I didn't think I could
4322 42:52:00
4324 do that I didn't think that I thought
4326 42:54:00
4328 that there was a qualitative distinction
4330 42:56:00
4332 between me and those people and so I
4334 43:00:00
4336 spent about two weeks trying to see if I
4338 43:02:00
4340 could figure out under what conditions I
4342 43:05:00
4344 could do that like what kind of
4346 43:07:00
4348 psychological transformation I would
4350 43:09:00
4352 have to undergo to be able to do that
4354 43:11:00
4356 and so that was a meditative exercise
4358 43:13:00
4360 let's say and it only took about ten
4362 43:15:00
4364 days for me to realize that not only
4366 43:18:00
4368 could I do that it would be a hell of a
4370 43:20:00
4372 lot easier than I thought it would be
4374 43:21:00
4376 and that's sort of where that wall
4378 43:23:00
4380 between me and what being described as
4382 43:25:00
4384 the shadow started to fall apart and
4386 43:27:00
4388 that also was very useful because I
4390 43:30:00
4392 started to wreck I started to treat
4394 43:32:00
4396 myself as somewhat different entity
4398 43:34:00
4400 because I hadn't been aware up to that
4402 43:36:00
4404 point you know because I thought I was a
4406 43:37:00
4408 good guy and there's no reason for me to
4410 43:39:00
4412 think that because you're not a good guy
4414 43:41:00
4416 unless you've really made a bloody
4418 43:42:00
4420 effort to be a good guy
4422 43:44:00
4424 you're just not it's not easy and so
4426 43:46:00
4428 you're probably a moderately bad guy and
4430 43:48:00
4432 that's a long ways from being an
4434 43:51:00
4436 absolutely horrible guy but it's also a
4438 43:53:00
4440 long ways from being a good guy and so
4442 43:55:00
4444 but I had a little more respect for
4446 43:57:00
4448 myself after that because I also
4450 43:58:00
4452 understood that there was a monstrous
4454 44:02:00
4456 element to the human psyche that that
4458 44:05:00
4460 you needed to respect and that was part
4462 44:08:00
4464 of you that you should regard yourself
4466 44:10:00
4468 in some sense as a loaded weapon it's
4470 44:12:00
4472 very useful around children to regard
4474 44:14:00
4476 yourself as a loaded weapon because
4478 44:16:00
4480 around children you are a loaded weapon
4482 44:17:00
4484 and the terrible experiences that many
4486 44:20:00
4488 children have with their parents are
4490 44:22:00
4492 testament to that
4494 44:25:00
4496 anyways about the same time and and I
4498 44:30:00
4500 don't exactly know how these things were
4502 44:31:00
4504 causally related I guess it was because
4506 44:34:00
4508 I was trying to figure out who I was and
4510 44:38:00
4512 how that could be fixed something like
4514 44:40:00
4516 that I started to pay very careful
4518 44:42:00
4520 attention to what I was saying I don't
4522 44:46:00
4524 know if that happened voluntarily or
4526 44:47:00
4528 involuntarily but I could feel a sort of
4530 44:49:00
4532 split developing in my psyche and the
4534 44:51:00
4536 split and I've actually had students
4538 44:53:00
4540 tell me the same thing that has happened
4542 44:54:00
4544 to them after they've listened to some
4546 44:57:00
4548 of the material that that I've been
4550 44:59:00
4552 describing to all of you but it's split
4554 45:03:00
4556 into two let's say and one part was the
4558 45:07:00
4560 let's say the old me that was talking a
4562 45:10:00
4564 lot and that liked to argue and that
4566 45:14:00
4568 liked ideas and there was another part
4570 45:16:00
4572 that was watching that part like just
4574 45:19:00
4576 with its eyes open and neutrally judging
4578 45:22:00
4580 and the part that was neutrally judging
4582 45:25:00
4584 was watching the part that was talking
4586 45:27:00
4588 and going that isn't your idea you don't
4590 45:31:00
4592 really believe that you don't really
4594 45:33:00
4596 know what you're talking about that
4598 45:35:00
4600 isn't true and I thought that's really
4602 45:38:00
4604 interesting so now and that was
4606 45:39:00
4608 happening to like 95% of what I was
4610 45:41:00
4612 saying and so then I didn't really know
4614 45:42:00
4616 what to do I thought okay this is
4618 45:44:00
4620 strange so maybe I've fragmented and
4622 45:47:00
4624 that's just not a good thing at all I
4626 45:48:00
4628 mean it wasn't like I was hearing voices
4630 45:50:00
4632 or anything like that I mean it wasn't
4634 45:52:00
4636 like that it was it was well people have
4638 45:56:00
4640 multiple parts so then I had this weird
4642 45:59:00
4644 conundrum is like well which of those
4646 46:01:00
4648 two things are me is it the part that's
4650 46:04:00
4652 listening and saying no that's rubbish
4654 46:07:00
4656 that's a lie that's you're doing that to
4658 46:10:00
4660 impress people you're just trying to win
4662 46:12:00
4664 the argument you know without me or was
4666 46:15:00
4668 the part that was going about my normal
4670 46:17:00
4672 verbal business me and I didn't know but
4674 46:20:00
4676 I decided I would go with the critic and
4678 46:22:00
4680 then what I'd tried to do what I learned
4682 46:25:00
4684 to do I think was to stop saying things
4686 46:28:00
4688 that made me weak and now that I mean
4690 46:32:00
4692 I'm still trying to do that because I'm
4694 46:33:00
4696 always feeling when I talk
4698 46:36:00
4700 whether or not the words that I'm saying
4702 46:38:00
4704 are either making me align or making me
4706 46:41:00
4708 come apart and I think the alignment I
4710 46:43:00
4712 really do think the alignment is I think
4714 46:46:00
4716 alignment is the right way of
4718 46:47:00
4720 conceptualizing it because I think if
4722 46:48:00
4724 you say things that are as true as you
4726 46:51:00
4728 can say them let's say then they come up
4730 46:55:00
4732 they come out of the depths inside of
4734 46:57:00
4736 you because we don't know where thoughts
4738 46:59:00
4740 come from we don't know how far down
4742 47:01:00
4744 into your sub structure the thoughts
4746 47:03:00
4748 emerge we don't know what processes of
4750 47:05:00
4752 physiological alignment are necessary
4754 47:07:00
4756 for you to speak from the core of your
4758 47:09:00
4760 being we don't understand any of that we
4762 47:11:00
4764 don't even conceptualize that but I
4766 47:13:00
4768 believe that you can feel that and I
4770 47:14:00
4772 learned some of that from reading Carl
4774 47:16:00
4776 Rogers by the way who's a great
4778 47:17:00
4780 clinician because he talked about mental
4782 47:20:00
4784 health in part as a coherence between
4786 47:22:00
4788 the spiritual or the or the abstract and
4790 47:26:00
4792 the physical that the two things were
4794 47:27:00
4796 aligned and and there's a lot of idea of
4798 47:30:00
4800 alignment in psychoanalytic and clinical
4802 47:32:00
4804 thinking but anyways I decided that I
4806 47:35:00
4808 would start practicing not saying things
4810 47:38:00
4812 that would make me weak and what
4814 47:40:00
4816 happened was that I had to stop saying
4818 47:42:00
4820 almost everything that I was saying I
4822 47:44:00
4824 would say 95% of it as a hell of a shark
4826 47:48:00
4828 to wake up and I mean this was over a
4830 47:50:00
4832 few months but the hell of a shark to
4834 47:52:00
4836 wake up and realize that you're mostly
4838 47:54:00
4840 dead would it's a shock you know and you
4842 47:58:00
4844 might think well do you really want all
4846 47:59:00
4848 of that to burn off well there's nothing
4850 48:01:00
4852 left but a little ha sleight of you it's
4854 48:03:00
4856 like well if that 5% is solid then maybe
4858 48:09:00
4860 that's exactly what you want to have
4862 48:10:00
4864 happened also I told you that story is
4866 48:14:00
4868 an elaboration of this line and God saw
4870 48:16:00
4872 that the wickedness of man was great in
4874 48:17:00
4876 the earth and that every imagination of
4878 48:20:00
4880 the thoughts of his heart was only evil
4882 48:21:00
4884 continually
4886 48:22:00
4888 to question worth asking just exactly
4890 48:26:00
4892 what are your motives well you know
4894 48:29:00
4896 maybe they're purer than mine were and
4898 48:31:00
4900 it's certainly possible I don't think
4902 48:33:00
4904 that I'm naturally a particularly good
4906 48:35:00
4908 person I think I have to work at it very
4910 48:37:00
4912 very hard and I don't necessarily think
4914 48:40:00
4916 that everyone is like that but some
4918 48:44:00
4920 people are worse than that
4922 48:46:00
4924 and everyone's like that to some degree
4926 48:49:00
4928 so it's worth thinking about just how
4930 48:52:00
4932 much trouble are you trying to cause you
4934 48:54:00
4936 know and the other thing you might think
4938 48:56:00
4940 about is that if you're not doing
4942 48:57:00
4944 something important with your life by
4946 48:59:00
4948 your own definition because that's the
4950 49:01:00
4952 game that we're playing you get to
4954 49:03:00
4956 define the terms at least initially
4958 49:05:00
4960 maybe you're prone to cause trouble just
4962 49:07:00
4964 because you don't have anything better
4966 49:08:00
4968 to do because at least its trouble is
4970 49:11:00
4972 more interesting than boring you know
4974 49:14:00
4976 that's something you learn if you read
4978 49:15:00
4980 Dostoyevsky does he ask you knew that
4982 49:16:00
4984 extraordinarily well and so if you're
4986 49:19:00
4988 not doing something if you're not
4990 49:20:00
4992 pushing yourself to the limits of your
4994 49:21:00
4996 capacity then you have plenty of left
4998 49:24:00
5000 over what would you say willpower
5002 49:27:00
5004 energy and resources to devote to
5006 49:30:00
5008 causing interesting trouble and so also
5010 49:34:00
5012 I would say this is also an archetypal
5014 49:36:00
5016 scenario God saw that the wickedness of
5018 49:38:00
5020 man was great in the earth and that
5022 49:39:00
5024 every imagination of the thoughts of his
5026 49:41:00
5028 heart was only evil continually that's
5030 49:44:00
5032 something to meditate on and it's not
5034 49:48:00
5036 self-destructive because what it is is
5038 49:50:00
5040 an attempt to it's like the diagnosis of
5042 49:52:00
5044 an illness it's like if that does happen
5046 49:53:00
5048 to be the case for you or to some degree
5050 49:56:00
5052 maybe it's only 10% of you or something
5054 49:58:00
5056 or maybe it's 90% well then coming to
5058 50:01:00
5060 terms of that is excellent because then
5062 50:02:00
5064 maybe you can stop doing it and what
5066 50:05:00
5068 would be the downside to that you'd have
5070 50:08:00
5072 to give up your resentment obviously in
5074 50:10:00
5076 your hatred and all of that and that's
5078 50:11:00
5080 really annoying because those emotions
5082 50:13:00
5084 are very they're easy to engage in and
5086 50:15:00
5088 they're and they're engaging and they
5090 50:18:00
5092 have this feeling of self-righteousness
5094 50:19:00
5096 with them and that goes along with them
5098 50:22:00
5100 but you're not doing this in order to
5102 50:25:00
5104 put yourself down you're doing this in
5106 50:27:00
5108 order to separate the wheat from the
5110 50:28:00
5112 chaff and to leave everything that you
5114 50:30:00
5116 don't have to be behind
5118 50:39:00
5120 and it repented the Lord that he had
5122 50:41:00
5124 made man on the earth and it grieved him
5126 50:43:00
5128 at his heart and the Lord said I will
5130 50:45:00
5132 destroy man whom I have created from the
5134 50:47:00
5136 face of the earth both man and beast and
5138 50:49:00
5140 the creeping thing and the fowls of the
5142 50:50:00
5144 air for it repentance me that I've made
5146 50:53:00
5148 them
5150 50:53:00
5152 what's the idea well the idea is that
5154 50:56:00
5156 the cosmos that God created had become
5158 50:58:00
5160 corrupt and that's a funny thing because
5162 51:01:00
5164 you know this is the other thing about
5166 51:03:00
5168 Genesis that always hits me is that
5170 51:05:00
5172 that's also true I told you that the
5174 51:08:00
5176 Mesopotamians believe that human beings
5178 51:09:00
5180 were made out of the blood of King knew
5182 51:12:00
5184 who was the worst monster monster that
5186 51:15:00
5188 the dragon of chaos could imagine that's
5190 51:17:00
5192 a pretty harsh diagnosis but but the
5194 51:20:00
5196 reason the Mesopotamians believe that is
5198 51:21:00
5200 because they knew as did the authors of
5202 51:24:00
5204 genesis that human beings are the only
5206 51:27:00
5208 creatures in the cosmos let's say the
5210 51:30:00
5212 cosmos of being who are actually capable
5214 51:33:00
5216 of deceit conscious deceit and
5218 51:36:00
5220 malevolence and the question is to what
5222 51:39:00
5224 degree does the expression of that
5226 51:41:00
5228 conscious deceit and malevolence corrupt
5230 51:44:00
5232 things so badly that it would be better
5234 51:46:00
5236 that they didn't exist at all well you
5238 51:50:00
5240 see stories there's a story associated
5242 51:54:00
5244 with this in the epic of gilgamesh
5246 51:56:00
5248 associated with the flood that has
5250 51:57:00
5252 exactly the same underlying narrative
5254 52:00:00
5256 structure in fact some people think the
5258 52:01:00
5260 story of Noah was derived from it where
5262 52:02:00
5264 the gods who created repented of their
5266 52:06:00
5268 creation and determined that erasing it
5270 52:10:00
5272 would be better than allowing it to
5274 52:11:00
5276 propagate and you see the same thing in
5278 52:13:00
5280 the Mesopotamian creation myth you knew
5282 52:15:00
5284 mulisch because the early gods so
5286 52:18:00
5288 they're representatives of the Giants of
5290 52:21:00
5292 humanity I would say make so much noise
5294 52:24:00
5296 and are so careless that the original
5298 52:27:00
5300 creator God timeout and and her consort
5302 52:29:00
5304 time app decides to wipe them from the
5306 52:32:00
5308 face of the earth and so when you read
5310 52:39:00
5312 something like this if you read it from
5314 52:41:00
5316 an informed historical perspective it
5318 52:44:00
5320 starts to have a depth that makes it
5322 52:47:00
5324 transcend this sort of archaic and fairy
5326 52:50:00
5328 tale like
5330 52:52:00
5332 element of the story it's like I've read
5334 52:55:00
5336 some very terrible things about what
5338 52:57:00
5340 happened in Nazi Germany and and what
5342 52:59:00
5344 happened when the Japanese invaded China
5346 53:01:00
5348 and just what happened generally in the
5350 53:04:00
5352 history of mankind and things can get so
5354 53:08:00
5356 bad that it takes the imagination of a
5358 53:11:00
5360 very bad person to conceptualize them
5362 53:13:00
5364 and when they get that bad this is the
5366 53:18:00
5368 only kind of language that works to
5370 53:19:00
5372 describe them you know that's another
5374 53:21:00
5376 thing that I've discovered working with
5378 53:23:00
5380 my clinical clients is that when their
5382 53:26:00
5384 lives are really not going well you know
5386 53:30:00
5388 when they're close to suicide or when
5390 53:33:00
5392 they're close to homicide or when there
5394 53:35:00
5396 are things going on in the family that
5398 53:37:00
5400 are so corrupt and terrible that they
5402 53:39:00
5404 reach back generations and they're aimed
5406 53:40:00
5408 at nothing but misery and destruction
5410 53:42:00
5412 the only language that suffices
5414 53:45:00
5416 has a religious tone because there's
5418 53:48:00
5420 nothing else that's available to
5422 53:49:00
5424 describe what's happening with the
5426 53:51:00
5428 proper level of seriousness and it might
5430 53:53:00
5432 be that you've never encountered a
5434 53:55:00
5436 situation that required that level of
5438 53:57:00
5440 seriousness but that doesn't mean that
5442 53:59:00
5444 those situations don't exist they exist
5446 54:02:00
5448 you generally do everything you can to
5450 54:05:00
5452 avoid being ensconced in them but they
5454 54:08:00
5456 certainly do exist and the probability
5458 54:10:00
5460 that you'll encounter a situation like
5462 54:11:00
5464 that or two at some point in your life
5466 54:13:00
5468 is extraordinarily high you'll tangle
5470 54:16:00
5472 with someone who's malevolent right to
5474 54:18:00
5476 the core and maybe it'll be you that is
5478 54:21:00
5480 and that'll be a big shock and then
5482 54:24:00
5484 these sorts of things these sorts of
5486 54:25:00
5488 poetic descriptors start to become much
5490 54:28:00
5492 more real but Noah found grace in the
5494 54:31:00
5496 eyes of the Lord these are the
5498 54:34:00
5500 generations of Noah Noah was a just man
5502 54:37:00
5504 and perfect in his generations and Noah
5506 54:40:00
5508 walked with God that's an interesting
5510 54:42:00
5512 line because if you remember back in the
5514 54:44:00
5516 story of Adam and Eve what happens to
5518 54:47:00
5520 Adam once he eats the fruit of the tree
5522 54:50:00
5524 of the knowledge of good and evil and
5526 54:51:00
5528 wakes up the scales fall from his eyes
5530 54:54:00
5532 become self-conscious develops the
5534 54:55:00
5536 knowledge of good and evil is he won't
5538 54:57:00
5540 walk with God when God calls him in the
5542 54:59:00
5544 garden and so Noah is Adam without the
5546 55:03:00
5548 fall essentially and there's something
5550 55:05:00
5552 that knows
5554 55:05:00
5556 right that motivates God to spare him or
5558 55:12:00
5560 maybe to show him a pathway through the
5562 55:14:00
5564 emergent chaos something like that and
5566 55:16:00
5568 that's worth thinking about a lot
5570 55:18:00
5572 because there will be situations in your
5574 55:21:00
5576 life where what you face is the emergent
5578 55:23:00
5580 chaos and maybe that'll be some terrible
5582 55:26:00
5584 catastrophe inside your family or maybe
5586 55:28:00
5588 it'll be something that's occurring on a
5590 55:30:00
5592 much broader social level but the chaos
5594 55:34:00
5596 is coming and what you're going to want
5598 55:36:00
5600 to know unless you want to be a denizen
5602 55:37:00
5604 of the chaos or even a contributor to it
5606 55:39:00
5608 and perhaps that is what you want
5610 55:41:00
5612 because many people under those
5614 55:42:00
5616 circumstances choose that what you want
5618 55:47:00
5620 is to know how you build an ark and get
5622 55:52:00
5624 through it that's what you if you're if
5626 55:57:00
5628 you're interested in life if you're
5630 55:59:00
5632 interested in proper being and you're
5634 56:02:00
5636 disinclined to produce any more
5638 56:05:00
5640 suffering than necessary then you want
5642 56:07:00
5644 to know how to conduct yourself when the
5646 56:09:00
5648 catastrophe comes so that you have a
5650 56:11:00
5652 reasonable possibility of of moving
5654 56:14:00
5656 through it and starting anew so when
5658 56:18:00
5660 when this old story says well God's not
5662 56:23:00
5664 happy he's going to wipe everything out
5666 56:25:00
5668 it's like well you might want to take
5670 56:27:00
5672 that seriously and then when it says but
5674 56:33:00
5676 there's one person who had a mode of
5678 56:34:00
5680 being that protected him from that
5682 56:36:00
5684 that's also something you might want to
5686 56:38:00
5688 take seriously because you might want to
5690 56:39:00
5692 know what that mode of being is because
5694 56:41:00
5696 you might need to use it and so these
5698 56:43:00
5700 sorts of things are practical in the
5702 56:45:00
5704 deepest possible sense they're real in
5706 56:47:00
5708 the deepest possible sense and practical
5710 56:49:00
5712 in the deepest possible sense so Noah
5714 56:53:00
5716 walked with God now I'm going to switch
5718 56:56:00
5720 way ahead here because
5722 57:00:00
5724 you know they said at the beginning of
5726 57:02:00
5728 the lecture series that the Bible is a
5730 57:06:00
5732 hyperlinked text and everything refers
5734 57:08:00
5736 to everything else and so there's
5738 57:11:00
5740 utility in reading it in linear order
5742 57:13:00
5744 but it's not a linear document it's a
5746 57:15:00
5748 document that that you can move through
5750 57:18:00
5752 in an infinite number of there's an
5754 57:21:00
5756 infinite number of pathways that you can
5758 57:24:00
5760 use to walk through it and all of the
5762 57:26:00
5764 document expands upon and refers to all
5766 57:29:00
5768 of the rest of the document and so I'm
5770 57:33:00
5772 going to switch to the sermon on the
5774 57:34:00
5776 mount which i think is probably the key
5778 57:36:00
5780 document in the New Testament and I'm
5782 57:39:00
5784 going to switch to it because I think
5786 57:40:00
5788 it's the closest thing we have to a
5790 57:44:00
5792 fully articulated description of what it
5794 57:47:00
5796 would mean to walk with God so that
5798 57:50:00
5800 you're in the ark when the flood comes
5802 57:52:00
5804 it's the it's the most fully articulated
5806 57:56:00
5808 realization of that idea that that leaps
5810 57:59:00
5812 out of the metaphorical because if I say
5814 58:01:00
5816 well you should conduct yourself like
5818 58:03:00
5820 Noah and walk with God and build an ark
5822 58:05:00
5824 obviously those are poetic and
5826 58:08:00
5828 metaphorical suggestions and it's not
5830 58:11:00
5832 that easy to bring them into practice
5834 58:12:00
5836 right it's the distance there's a big
5838 58:15:00
5840 distance between you and the archetype
5842 58:17:00
5844 it isn't obvious how to manifest it in
5846 58:18:00
5848 your own life and what has to happen is
5850 58:21:00
5852 the archetype has to be differentiated
5854 58:22:00
5856 and articulated so that it becomes
5858 58:25:00
5860 sufficiently practical and personal so
5862 58:28:00
5864 that you can actually implement it so
5866 58:29:00
5868 I'm going to take apart some of the
5870 58:31:00
5872 Sermon on the Mount
5874 58:32:00
5876 it starts in Matthew five and I'm not
5878 58:34:00
5880 going to talk about Matthew five I'm
5882 58:36:00
5884 going to talk about the end of Matthew
5886 58:38:00
5888 six and most of Matthew seven consider
5890 58:42:00
5892 the lilies of the field how they grow
5894 58:43:00
5896 they toil not neither do they spin and
5898 58:47:00
5900 yet I say unto you that even Solomon in
5902 58:51:00
5904 all his glory was not arrayed like one
5906 58:53:00
5908 of these wherefore if God so clothes the
5910 58:57:00
5912 grass of the field which today is and
5914 58:59:00
5916 tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he
5918 59:01:00
5920 not much more clothe you O ye of little
5922 59:04:00
5924 faith therefore take no Thought saying
5926 59:06:00
5928 what shall we eat or what shall we drink
5930 59:08:00
5932 or wherewithal shall we be clothed those
5934 59:12:00
5936 are famous lines and that's our
5938 59:13:00
5940 Christ the hippie right it's like hey
5942 59:18:00
5944 let it all hang out
5946 59:20:00
5948 that's an old phrase do your thing and
5950 59:23:00
5952 everything will come to you and these
5954 59:26:00
5956 lines have been interpreted in that
5958 59:28:00
5960 manner many times but that's seriously
5962 59:32:00
5964 not the proper interpretation because
5966 59:36:00
5968 there's a kicker with this injunction
5970 59:39:00
5972 and the kicker is this for your heavenly
5974 59:45:00
5976 Father knows that you have need of all
5978 59:47:00
5980 these things but seek ye first the
5982 59:50:00
5984 kingdom of God and His righteousness and
5986 59:51:00
5988 all these things shall be added unto you
5990 59:53:00
5992 that's a lot different than the hippie
5994 59:55:00
5996 thing right because there's a very very
5998 59:58:00
6000 very interesting idea here it's it's
6002 60:01:00
6004 certainly one of the most profound ideas
6006 60:02:00
6008 that I've ever encountered and the idea
6010 60:06:00
6012 is this is that if you configure your
6014 60:09:00
6016 life so that what you are genuinely
6018 60:12:00
6020 doing is aiming at the highest possible
6022 60:15:00
6024 good then the things that you need to to
6026 60:20:00
6028 survive and to thrive on a day to day
6030 60:24:00
6032 basis will deliver themselves to you
6034 60:27:00
6036 that's a hypothesis and it's not some
6038 60:30:00
6040 simple hypothesis right because it what
6042 60:32:00
6044 it basically says is if you dare to do
6046 60:34:00
6048 the most difficult thing that you can
6050 60:36:00
6052 conceptualize your life will work out
6054 60:38:00
6056 better than it will if you do anything
6058 60:40:00
6060 else well how are you going to find out
6062 60:42:00
6064 if that's true well it's a Kierkegaard
6066 60:44:00
6068 ian's leap of faith there's no way
6070 60:46:00
6072 you're going to find out whether or not
6074 60:47:00
6076 that's true unless you do it so no one
6078 60:49:00
6080 no one can tell you either because just
6082 60:52:00
6084 because it works for someone else I mean
6086 60:54:00
6088 that's interesting and all that but it's
6090 60:56:00
6092 no proof that it'll work for you you
6094 60:58:00
6096 have to be all-in in this game and so
6098 61:00:00
6100 the idea is seek ye first the kingdom of
6102 61:03:00
6104 God and His righteousness it's like
6106 61:05:00
6108 that's actually a fairly important
6110 61:08:00
6112 caution when you're talking about not
6114 61:11:00
6116 having to pay attention to what you're
6118 61:13:00
6120 going to eat or what you're going to
6122 61:14:00
6124 wear it's like what it's essentially
6126 61:16:00
6128 saying is that those problems are
6130 61:18:00
6132 trivial in comparison and the
6134 61:20:00
6136 probability is that if you manifest
6138 61:22:00
6140 yourself properly in the world that
6142 61:24:00
6144 those things will come your way
6146 61:26:00
6148 is extraordinarily high and I believe I
6150 61:28:00
6152 believe that that's exactly right
6154 61:30:00
6156 I mean I've watched people operate in
6158 61:33:00
6160 the world and I would say that there is
6162 61:37:00
6164 no more effective way of operating in
6166 61:39:00
6168 the world than to conceptualize the
6170 61:41:00
6172 highest good that you can and then
6174 61:43:00
6176 strive to attain it there's no more
6178 61:47:00
6180 practical pathway to the kind of success
6182 61:51:00
6184 that you could have if you actually knew
6186 61:53:00
6188 what success was and so that's what this
6190 61:57:00
6192 that's what this sermon is attempting to
6194 62:01:00
6196 to posit it's like in in the story of
6198 62:06:00
6200 Pinocchio you know what happens at the
6202 62:08:00
6204 beginning of the story of Pinocchio is
6206 62:10:00
6208 that Geppetto wishes on a star we talked
6210 62:13:00
6212 about that a little bit and so what you
6214 62:14:00
6216 pedo does is align himself with the
6218 62:17:00
6220 metaphorical manifestation of the
6222 62:19:00
6224 highest good he can conceptualize and
6226 62:21:00
6228 say he says he makes he makes a
6230 62:25:00
6232 commitment let's say he aims at the star
6234 62:29:00
6236 and for him the star is the possibility
6238 62:31:00
6240 that he can take his creation a puppet
6242 62:34:00
6244 right whose strings are being pulled by
6246 62:36:00
6248 unseen forces and have it transformed
6250 62:39:00
6252 into something that's economist and real
6254 62:42:00
6256 well that's a hell of an ambition you
6258 62:46:00
6260 know and we're wise enough to put that
6262 62:47:00
6264 in the children's movie but too foolish
6266 62:50:00
6268 to understand what it means it's such an
6270 62:52:00
6272 interesting juxtaposition that that we
6274 62:54:00
6276 can both know that and not know it at
6278 62:56:00
6280 the same time you can go to the movie
6282 62:58:00
6284 you can watch it and it makes sense but
6286 63:00:00
6288 that doesn't mean that you can go home
6290 63:01:00
6292 and think well I know what that meant
6294 63:03:00
6296 well people are complicated right we
6298 63:05:00
6300 exist at different levels and all the
6302 63:07:00
6304 levels don't communicate with one
6306 63:08:00
6308 another but but the movie is a
6310 63:11:00
6312 hypothesis and the hypothesis is there's
6314 63:14:00
6316 no better pathway to self-realization
6318 63:16:00
6320 and the annulment of being than to posit
6322 63:20:00
6324 the highest good that you can conceive
6326 63:22:00
6328 of and commit yourself to it and then
6330 63:24:00
6332 you might also ask yourself and this is
6334 63:26:00
6336 definitely worth asking is do you really
6338 63:29:00
6340 have anything better to do and if you
6342 63:31:00
6344 don't well why would you do anything
6346 63:33:00
6348 else therefore take no thought for the
6350 63:37:00
6352 morrow for the morrow shall take thought
6354 63:39:00
6356 for the things of itself sufficient
6358 63:40:00
6360 unto the day is the evil thereof I spend
6362 63:44:00
6364 a long time trying to figure out without
6366 63:45:00
6368 man to because it's another one of those
6370 63:47:00
6372 lines that can easily be read as program
6374 63:54:00
6376 offer and anti amped you know you
6378 63:56:00
6380 remember the old fable of the
6382 63:58:00
6384 grasshopper in the end maybe not I'm not
6386 64:00:00
6388 going to tell it but that works in the
6390 64:04:00
6392 grasshopper fiddles and the ant has a
6394 64:07:00
6396 pretty good time in the winter and the
6398 64:08:00
6400 grasshopper dies and so this is like a
6402 64:10:00
6404 pro grasshopper line but it's not
6406 64:12:00
6408 because it says something else it says
6410 64:14:00
6412 that if you orient yourself properly and
6414 64:19:00
6416 then pay attention to what you do every
6418 64:21:00
6420 day that works and I actually think that
6422 64:25:00
6424 that's in accordance with what we have
6426 64:27:00
6428 come to understand about human
6430 64:28:00
6432 perception because what happens is that
6434 64:30:00
6436 the world shifts itself around your aim
6438 64:34:00
6440 is you're a creature that has a name you
6442 64:37:00
6444 have to have a name in order to do
6446 64:39:00
6448 something you're an aiming creature you
6450 64:41:00
6452 look at a point and you move towards it
6454 64:43:00
6456 it's built right into you and so you
6458 64:46:00
6460 have a name well let's say your aim is
6462 64:48:00
6464 the highest possible aim well then so
6466 64:50:00
6468 that sets up the world around you it
6470 64:53:00
6472 organizes all of your perceptions it
6474 64:55:00
6476 organizes what you see and you don't see
6478 64:57:00
6480 it organizes your emotions and your
6482 64:58:00
6484 motivations so you organize yourself
6486 65:01:00
6488 around that aim and then what happens is
6490 65:03:00
6492 the day manifests itself as a set of
6494 65:05:00
6496 challenges and problems and if you solve
6498 65:08:00
6500 them properly then you stay on the
6502 65:10:00
6504 pathway towards that ape and you can
6506 65:12:00
6508 concentrate on the on the ate on the day
6510 65:14:00
6512 and so that way you get to have your
6514 65:16:00
6516 cake and eat it too because you can you
6518 65:18:00
6520 can point into the distance the far
6522 65:20:00
6524 distance and you can live in the day and
6526 65:24:00
6528 it seems to me that that's that makes
6530 65:28:00
6532 every moment of the day super charged
6534 65:30:00
6536 with meaning that that's how because if
6538 65:31:00
6540 everything that you're doing every day
6542 65:33:00
6544 is related to the highest possible aim
6546 65:35:00
6548 that you can conceptualize well that's
6550 65:38:00
6552 the very definition of the meaning that
6554 65:39:00
6556 would sustain you in your life well then
6558 65:42:00
6560 the issue is well back to Noah well all
6562 65:44:00
6564 hell is about to break loose and chaos
6566 65:46:00
6568 is coming it's like when that's
6570 65:47:00
6572 happening in your life you might want to
6574 65:49:00
6576 be doing something that you regard is
6578 65:50:00
6580 truly worthwhile because that's what
6582 65:53:00
6584 will keep you afloat
6586 65:54:00
6588 when when everything is flooded and you
6590 65:58:00
6592 don't want to wait until the flood comes
6594 66:01:00
6596 to start doing that because if your arks
6598 66:04:00
6600 half built and you don't know how to
6602 66:06:00
6604 captain it the probability is very high
6606 66:09:00
6608 that that you'll drown take therefore no
6610 66:17:00
6612 thought for the morale but for the
6614 66:19:00
6616 morale shall take thought for the things
6618 66:20:00
6620 of itself sufficient unto the day is the
6622 66:23:00
6624 evil thereof that's not a particularly
6626 66:27:00
6628 optimistic formulation judge not that ye
6630 66:34:00
6632 be not judged for with what judgment you
6634 66:36:00
6636 judge you shall be judged and with what
6638 66:38:00
6640 measure you mete it shall be measured to
6642 66:40:00
6644 you again it's a sensible piece of it's
6646 66:47:00
6648 a sensible description I wouldn't call
6650 66:48:00
6652 it a piece of advice because I don't
6654 66:50:00
6656 think that any of this is advice it's a
6658 66:51:00
6660 description of the structure of reality
6662 66:53:00
6664 that's not the same as advice and it
6666 66:55:00
6668 basically says that you'll be held
6670 66:58:00
6672 accountable by the rules of the game
6674 67:00:00
6676 that you choose to play and that I also
6678 67:04:00
6680 think is perfectly in keeping with what
6682 67:06:00
6684 we understand about human psychology
6686 67:07:00
6688 because you you are playing you have to
6690 67:11:00
6692 play a game that other people will allow
6694 67:13:00
6696 you to play and that will cooperate with
6698 67:14:00
6700 you while you're playing and it will
6702 67:15:00
6704 compete with you while you're playing it
6706 67:17:00
6708 but you have a fair bit of flexibility
6710 67:19:00
6712 in setting up the parameters of the game
6714 67:21:00
6716 but you don't have any choice about
6718 67:22:00
6720 whether or not you're going to be in a
6722 67:24:00
6724 game you're in a game and you're going
6726 67:27:00
6728 to be held accountable by the rules of
6730 67:29:00
6732 the game because that's how the game
6734 67:30:00
6736 works and so you might want to pick a
6738 67:34:00
6740 game by whose rules you would be willing
6742 67:38:00
6744 to be held accountable and why beholdest
6746 67:42:00
6748 thou the mote that is in thy brother's
6750 67:43:00
6752 eye but considerest not the beam that is
6754 67:46:00
6756 in thine own eye or how will you say to
6758 67:49:00
6760 thy brother let me pull out the mote out
6762 67:51:00
6764 of thine eye and behold a beam is in
6766 67:53:00
6768 thine own eye well you might be
6770 67:55:00
6772 wondering what a beam is and a mote is a
6774 67:58:00
6776 dust speck and a beam is a very large
6778 68:02:00
6780 piece of lumber
6782 68:04:00
6784 and so the issue is not so much the
6786 68:07:00
6788 blindness of others even though there's
6790 68:10:00
6792 as much blindness among others as there
6794 68:13:00
6796 is as there is for you but that issue
6798 68:18:00
6800 here the advice here the description
6802 68:20:00
6804 here is you should be concerned about
6806 68:23:00
6808 what's interfering with your own vision
6810 68:24:00
6812 first and you should leave other people
6814 68:27:00
6816 the hell alone in relationship to that
6818 68:29:00
6820 and so if your mode of being in the
6822 68:31:00
6824 world is if you would just act better
6826 68:33:00
6828 things would improve for me or if you
6830 68:38:00
6832 identify the evil and the catastrophe is
6834 68:40:00
6836 something that's outside that someone
6838 68:42:00
6840 else needs to fix or that someone's
6842 68:44:00
6844 response someone else is responsible for
6846 68:46:00
6848 then then you're not going to fix that
6850 68:56:00
6852 and you're going to remain blind to the
6854 68:59:00
6856 things that you're doing and not doing
6858 69:00:00
6860 that make things not go well and so it's
6862 69:03:00
6864 just better to think all right I'm
6866 69:05:00
6868 probably blind in many many ways
6870 69:07:00
6872 and maybe there are some ways that I
6874 69:10:00
6876 could rectify that because it's highly
6878 69:12:00
6880 probable that you're blind in all sorts
6882 69:13:00
6884 of ways I mean it's in fact it's
6886 69:15:00
6888 virtually certain and so it's just more
6890 69:19:00
6892 useful to think how is it that I'm wrong
6894 69:22:00
6896 in this situation I'll tell you
6898 69:24:00
6900 something that I learned to do when I
6902 69:26:00
6904 was arguing with my wife which happened
6906 69:28:00
6908 quite frequently because when you
6910 69:31:00
6912 actually communicate with people you
6914 69:33:00
6916 find out that there's many things that
6918 69:34:00
6920 you don't agree on and that's because
6922 69:36:00
6924 you're actually different creatures and
6926 69:38:00
6928 so if you're actually going to have a
6930 69:40:00
6932 truthful conversation then you're going
6934 69:41:00
6936 to find out that you don't see things
6938 69:44:00
6940 the same way and then you can either
6942 69:46:00
6944 pretend that that's not the case and
6946 69:48:00
6948 gloss over it and then end up in a 30
6950 69:50:00
6952 year silent war or you can or you can
6954 69:55:00
6956 have the damn fight when you need to
6958 69:56:00
6960 have it and see if you could straighten
6962 69:58:00
6964 it out so now and then we'd get in a
6966 70:01:00
6968 situation where we were at loggerheads
6970 70:03:00
6972 we couldn't move and you know it would
6974 70:06:00
6976 spiral up into hate speech let's say cuz
6978 70:09:00
6980 yeah everyone laughs because they know
6982 70:11:00
6984 they manifest plenty of hate speech
6986 70:13:00
6988 towards those they loved so one of the
6990 70:16:00
6992 things we learned to do was when we
6994 70:18:00
6996 hit an impasse was to separate and to go
6998 70:22:00
7000 our own ways and to go sit and think
7002 70:24:00
7004 okay look we're at this unpleasant
7006 70:28:00
7008 situation can't figure out how to move
7010 70:30:00
7012 forward I'd always think of course it's
7014 70:33:00
7016 her fault obviously it's her fault least
7018 70:37:00
7020 95 percent but maybe there was something
7022 70:41:00
7024 I did that contributed like five percent
7026 70:44:00
7028 to it and so I would sit and think and
7030 70:47:00
7032 ask myself a question which was is there
7034 70:51:00
7036 anything I did in the last six months
7038 70:53:00
7040 that increased the probability that this
7042 70:55:00
7044 impasse would manifest itself and I'll
7046 70:58:00
7048 tell you you have no idea how fast your
7050 71:00:00
7052 mind will generate an answer to a
7054 71:01:00
7056 question like that because there's
7058 71:04:00
7060 undoubtedly some idiotic thing that you
7062 71:05:00
7064 did that you know that you remember that
7066 71:08:00
7068 increase the probability that you're
7070 71:09:00
7072 going to have your hands around the
7074 71:11:00
7076 throat of the person that you love and
7078 71:12:00
7080 then you can go tell them that and then
7082 71:15:00
7084 you can have a conversation especially
7086 71:17:00
7088 if they do the same thing say look you
7090 71:19:00
7092 know here's how I'm an idiot in this
7094 71:22:00
7096 situation now the person says well yeah
7098 71:25:00
7100 here's how I'm an idiot and then you're
7102 71:27:00
7104 two idiots and then maybe you can have a
7106 71:28:00
7108 conversation so thou hypocrite first
7110 71:32:00
7112 cast out the beam of light out of thine
7114 71:34:00
7116 own eye and then shalt thou see clearly
7118 71:36:00
7120 to cast out the mote of thy brother's
7122 71:38:00
7124 eye that's a hard argue with that ask
7126 71:43:00
7128 and it shall be given you seek and ye
7130 71:45:00
7132 shall find knock and it shall be opened
7134 71:46:00
7136 unto you for every one that asketh
7138 71:48:00
7140 receiveth and he that seeketh findeth
7142 71:50:00
7144 and to him that knocketh it shall be
7146 71:52:00
7148 opened have some pretty optimistic again
7150 71:55:00
7152 but but again I think it's a description
7154 71:59:00
7156 of the structure of the existential
7158 72:00:00
7160 reality and and but by by which I mean
7162 72:06:00
7164 when I'm in my clinical practice and I
7166 72:08:00
7168 observe and this is also the case with
7170 72:10:00
7172 my students is let's say people's lives
7174 72:13:00
7176 aren't what they would like them to be
7178 72:15:00
7180 and so then you ask why well forget
7182 72:18:00
7184 about tragedy in catastrophe because
7186 72:21:00
7188 that's self-evident and we're not going
7190 72:23:00
7192 to discuss that although the degree to
7194 72:25:00
7196 which you bring about your own tragedy
7198 72:27:00
7200 is always indeterminate but I would
7202 72:30:00
7204 never say that every terror
7206 72:32:00
7208 thing that is visited on a person is
7210 72:34:00
7212 something they deserved I think that
7214 72:37:00
7216 that's a very dangerous presupposition
7218 72:39:00
7220 especially because everyone gets sick
7222 72:41:00
7224 and everyone dies but one of the main
7226 72:48:00
7228 reasons that people don't get what they
7230 72:49:00
7232 want is because they don't actually
7234 72:50:00
7236 figure out what it is and the
7238 72:54:00
7240 probability that you're going to get
7242 72:55:00
7244 what would be good for you let's say
7246 72:57:00
7248 which would even be better than what you
7250 72:58:00
7252 want right because you know you might be
7254 73:00:00
7256 what wrong about what you want easily
7258 73:03:00
7260 but maybe you could get what would
7262 73:04:00
7264 really be good for you well why don't
7266 73:08:00
7268 you well because you don't try you don't
7270 73:12:00
7272 think okay here's what I would like if I
7274 73:16:00
7276 could have it and I don't mean I don't
7278 73:18:00
7280 mean in a way that you manipulate the
7282 73:21:00
7284 world to force it to deliver you goods
7286 73:23:00
7288 for status or something like that that
7290 73:25:00
7292 isn't what I mean I mean something like
7294 73:27:00
7296 imagine that you are taking care of
7298 73:29:00
7300 yourself like you were someone you
7302 73:31:00
7304 actually cared for and then you thought
7306 73:33:00
7308 okay I'm caring for this person I would
7310 73:35:00
7312 like things to go as well for them as
7314 73:37:00
7316 possible
7318 73:38:00
7320 what would their life have to be like in
7322 73:40:00
7324 order for that to be the case what
7326 73:43:00
7328 people don't do that they don't sit down
7330 73:44:00
7332 and think all right you know let's let's
7334 73:46:00
7336 figure it out you've got a life that's
7338 73:47:00
7340 hard obviously it's like three years
7342 73:50:00
7344 from now you can have what you need
7346 73:53:00
7348 you've got to be careful about it you
7350 73:55:00
7352 can't have everything you can have what
7354 73:57:00
7356 would be good for you but you have to
7358 73:59:00
7360 figure out what it is and then you have
7362 74:01:00
7364 to aim at it well my experience with
7366 74:04:00
7368 people as being is if they figure out
7370 74:06:00
7372 what it is that would be good for them
7374 74:08:00
7376 and then they aim at it then they get it
7378 74:10:00
7380 and it's strange because they don't
7382 74:12:00
7384 necessarily an idea about what would be
7386 74:18:00
7388 good for you and then you take ten steps
7390 74:20:00
7392 towards that and you find out that your
7394 74:22:00
7396 formulation was a bit off and so you
7398 74:23:00
7400 have to reformulate your goal you know
7402 74:25:00
7404 you're kind of going like this as you
7406 74:27:00
7408 move towards the goal but a huge part of
7410 74:30:00
7412 the reason that people fail is because
7414 74:32:00
7416 they don't ever set up the criteria for
7418 74:35:00
7420 success and so since success is a very
7422 74:37:00
7424 narrow line and very unlikely the
7426 74:39:00
7428 probability that you're going to stumble
7430 74:41:00
7432 on it randomly is zero and so there's a
7434 74:45:00
7436 proposition here in
7438 74:45:00
7440 proposition is if you actually want
7442 74:48:00
7444 something you can have it now the
7446 74:53:00
7448 question then would be well what do you
7450 74:55:00
7452 mean by actually want an answer is that
7454 74:59:00
7456 you reorient your life in every possible
7458 75:02:00
7460 way to make the probability that that
7462 75:05:00
7464 will occur as certain as possible and
7466 75:08:00
7468 that's a sacrificial idea right it's
7470 75:10:00
7472 like you don't get everything obviously
7474 75:13:00
7476 you obviously but maybe you can have
7478 75:16:00
7480 what you need and maybe all you have to
7482 75:19:00
7484 do to get it is ask but asking isn't a
7486 75:23:00
7488 whim or today's wish it's like you have
7490 75:28:00
7492 to be deadly serious about it you have
7494 75:30:00
7496 to think okay like I'm taking stock of
7498 75:32:00
7500 myself and if I was going to live
7502 75:34:00
7504 properly in the world and I was going to
7506 75:36:00
7508 set myself up such that being would
7510 75:39:00
7512 justify itself in my estimation and I
7514 75:42:00
7516 don't mean as a harsh judge exactly what
7518 75:45:00
7520 is it that I would aim at well one of
7522 75:48:00
7524 the things I found is that in in tests
7526 75:51:00
7528 of this theory let's say you could try
7530 75:56:00
7532 this this is a form of Prayer knocking
7534 76:00:00
7536 sit on your bed one day and ask yourself
7538 76:02:00
7540 ah what's what remarkably stupid things
7542 76:07:00
7544 am i doing on a regular basis to
7546 76:09:00
7548 absolutely screw up my life and if you
7550 76:12:00
7552 actually asked that question but you
7554 76:14:00
7556 have to want to know the answer right
7558 76:15:00
7560 because that's actually what asking the
7562 76:17:00
7564 question means it doesn't mean just
7566 76:18:00
7568 mouthing the words it means you have to
7570 76:20:00
7572 decide that you want to know you'll
7574 76:23:00
7576 figure that's out so fast it'll make
7578 76:24:00
7580 your hair curl you'll you it's as if you
7582 76:29:00
7584 thought about this he thought you know
7586 76:31:00
7588 he thought that people had two poles of
7590 76:33:00
7592 consciousness and one was the individual
7594 76:34:00
7596 consciousness that we each identify with
7598 76:37:00
7600 in the other was something he called the
7602 76:38:00
7604 self and the self is the you might think
7606 76:40:00
7608 about it as the divine within that's
7610 76:42:00
7612 close enough approximation and to the
7614 76:45:00
7616 universal part of your consciousness
7618 76:46:00
7620 it's your conscience that's another way
7622 76:49:00
7624 of thinking about it whatever your
7626 76:51:00
7628 conscience is but it's something that
7630 76:53:00
7632 you can consult it's like the Socratic
7634 76:55:00
7636 Damon Socrates said that the thing that
7638 76:57:00
7640 made him different than every
7642 76:59:00
7644 in Greece was that he consulted his
7646 77:01:00
7648 Damon his genius he asked himself how it
7650 77:05:00
7652 was that he should conduct himself in
7654 77:07:00
7656 the world and then he did that
7658 77:08:00
7660 whatever it was he didn't try to force a
7662 77:11:00
7664 solution you know he didn't try to force
7666 77:13:00
7668 a solution selfishly he asked I'm going
7670 77:16:00
7672 to manifest myself in the best possible
7674 77:18:00
7676 manner in the world I would like to do
7678 77:20:00
7680 that what would that be well you're
7682 77:23:00
7684 perfectly capable of thinking god only
7686 77:26:00
7688 knows how you're perfectly capable of
7690 77:29:00
7692 men speeds of imagination and and dream
7694 77:32:00
7696 and fantasies god only knows how you do
7698 77:34:00
7700 all of that what would happen if you
7702 77:36:00
7704 consulted yourself about the best
7706 77:37:00
7708 possible outcome for you you might get
7710 77:40:00
7712 an answer well that's what this
7714 77:42:00
7716 proposition is or what man is there of
7718 77:50:00
7720 you whom if his son asks for bread we'll
7722 77:52:00
7724 give him a stone or if he asks for a
7726 77:54:00
7728 fish will give him a serpent if ye then
7730 77:57:00
7732 being evil know how to give good gifts
7734 77:59:00
7736 unto your children how much more shall
7738 78:01:00
7740 your father which is in heaven give good
7742 78:03:00
7744 things to them that ask him well this is
7746 78:06:00
7748 a question about the fundamental nature
7750 78:08:00
7752 of being I suppose and one of the
7754 78:12:00
7756 hypotheses in the New Testament which is
7758 78:15:00
7760 different to different hypotheses in
7762 78:19:00
7764 some sense than the one that structures
7766 78:20:00
7768 the Old Testament is that faith makes
7770 78:26:00
7772 being good it's a very interesting
7774 78:29:00
7776 proposition and so the notion would be
7778 78:31:00
7780 and it's an action-oriented issue as
7782 78:34:00
7784 well you act out the proposition that if
7786 78:37:00
7788 you act properly in the world that being
7790 78:39:00
7792 will reveal itself to you as benevolent
7794 78:41:00
7796 but you will not know you'll never know
7798 78:44:00
7800 unless you do it so this is a call to
7802 78:47:00
7804 that act out the proposition that if you
7806 78:50:00
7808 act properly that being itself is
7810 78:53:00
7812 benevolent
7814 79:01:00
7816 no reason to assume the contrary I mean
7818 79:03:00
7820 to assume the contrary would be to be as
7822 79:05:00
7824 cynical and bitter as possible and it's
7826 79:08:00
7828 not like we don't have reason for that
7830 79:09:00
7832 it's not like I don't understand why
7834 79:11:00
7836 that happens to people therefore all
7838 79:16:00
7840 things whatsoever you would that men
7842 79:18:00
7844 should do to you do you even so to them
7846 79:21:00
7848 for this is the law and the prophets
7850 79:23:00
7852 and that's a reciprocity issue right
7854 79:26:00
7856 it's like well imagine what would be
7858 79:29:00
7860 this is another thing I learned from
7862 79:30:00
7864 Jung because as Jung reversed this
7866 79:32:00
7868 because this is often read it's it's the
7870 79:34:00
7872 golden rule it's often read as be nice
7874 79:36:00
7876 to it be nice to other people it's like
7878 79:38:00
7880 that is not what this rule means it
7882 79:40:00
7884 doesn't mean that even a little bit it
7886 79:42:00
7888 means something like and we'll reverse
7890 79:46:00
7892 it so that will concentrate on you
7894 79:48:00
7896 rather than the other person to begin
7898 79:49:00
7900 with it means something like
7902 79:53:00
7904 conceptualize how things could be great
7906 79:56:00
7908 if they were great for you if you were
7910 79:59:00
7912 taking care of yourself and then work to
7914 80:01:00
7916 make that the case for everyone else you
7918 80:04:00
7920 know you see that in Buddhism because
7922 80:06:00
7924 Buddha reached Nirvana right that's the
7926 80:09:00
7928 theory and then he was tempted with the
7930 80:12:00
7932 offer to stay there and he rejected that
7934 80:15:00
7936 offer and came back to the profane world
7938 80:17:00
7940 because he felt that the attainment of
7942 80:20:00
7944 Nirvana was insufficient unless everyone
7946 80:23:00
7948 attained it simultaneously and so it's
7950 80:26:00
7952 something like that but it's treat
7954 80:30:00
7956 yourself properly that's a hard thing to
7958 80:32:00
7960 do because you're a fallen shameful
7962 80:36:00
7964 cowardly deceitful malevolent mortal
7966 80:42:00
7968 creature and so it's not easy and you
7970 80:45:00
7972 know it and it's not easy to treat
7974 80:46:00
7976 something like that properly and and it
7978 80:50:00
7980 isn't obvious that people treat
7982 80:52:00
7984 themselves better than they treat other
7986 80:53:00
7988 people I don't think that's obvious at
7990 80:55:00
7992 all but maybe you could start with
7994 80:56:00
7996 yourself and think okay I'm going to
7998 80:58:00
8000 take care of myself as if I have value
8002 81:00:00
8004 what would that look like and then I'm
8006 81:03:00
8008 going to work to extend that courtesy to
8010 81:04:00
8012 everyone else and that's well the
8014 81:08:00
8016 hypothesis here is that if you take all
8018 81:11:00
8020 of the moral wisdom that mankind has
8022 81:14:00
8024 generated over its millennia of struggle
8026 81:18:00
8028 evolved and then manifested metaphors
8030 81:21:00
8032 story and then codified into law
8034 81:25:00
8036 articulated law and you pick one
8038 81:27:00
8040 principle that dominated all of that
8042 81:30:00
8044 this would be the principle and it's
8046 81:36:00
8048 interesting too because it's the law and
8050 81:38:00
8052 the prophets and the law is the rules
8054 81:41:00
8056 but the prophets are the process by
8058 81:42:00
8060 which the rules are being updated right
8062 81:44:00
8064 and so the prophets are superordinate in
8066 81:46:00
8068 some sense to the law and the
8070 81:49:00
8072 proposition that's set forth in this
8074 81:50:00
8076 particular statement is that this maxim
8078 81:53:00
8080 which is optimize your own mode of being
8082 81:56:00
8084 and then work to do the same for
8086 81:58:00
8088 everyone around you is not only the
8090 82:01:00
8092 thing that's at the core of the law but
8094 82:02:00
8096 it's at the core of the process that
8098 82:04:00
8100 generates and updates the law to hell of
8102 82:09:00
8104 a thing for someone to say enter ye in
8106 82:13:00
8108 at the narrow gate because that's what
8110 82:15:00
8112 Strait means enter ye and at the
8114 82:16:00
8116 straight gate for wide is the gate and
8118 82:18:00
8120 broad is the way that leadeth to
8122 82:20:00
8124 destruction well who in the world could
8126 82:22:00
8128 possibly argue with that everyone in the
8130 82:24:00
8132 right mind knows that there's a million
8134 82:25:00
8136 ways of doing things wrong and one way
8138 82:27:00
8140 if you're lucky to do things right and
8142 82:29:00
8144 so the notion that it's a very very
8146 82:32:00
8148 narrow pathway that you tread upon if
8150 82:34:00
8152 you're doing things right that's that's
8154 82:36:00
8156 wisdom that's the line between chaos and
8158 82:40:00
8160 order that you're supposed to be on
8162 82:42:00
8164 constantly right it's a very very thin
8166 82:44:00
8168 line because if you're a little bit too
8170 82:45:00
8172 far in one direction then it's too much
8174 82:47:00
8176 chaos and if you're a little too far in
8178 82:49:00
8180 the other direction then it's too much
8182 82:50:00
8184 order and both of those aren't good it
8186 82:52:00
8188 has did the balance have to be exactly
8190 82:54:00
8192 right and you can feel that and I truly
8194 82:56:00
8196 believe you can feel that and I think
8198 82:58:00
8200 it's your deepest instinct it's your
8202 83:00:00
8204 deepest instinct and I mean that I mean
8206 83:02:00
8208 that biologically I don't mean that
8210 83:04:00
8212 metaphorically I think that your psyche
8214 83:06:00
8216 is arranged to exist in a cosmos that's
8218 83:09:00
8220 composed of chaos and order I think
8222 83:12:00
8224 that's why you have the hemispheric
8226 83:13:00
8228 structure that you have this is deeper
8230 83:15:00
8232 than metaphor and then when you feel as
8234 83:18:00
8236 if you're meaningfully engaged in the
8238 83:21:00
8240 world when the terror of your mortality
8242 83:23:00
8244 strips away and you're engaged and it's
8246 83:27:00
8248 timeless
8250 83:28:00
8252 that's the deepest instinct you have
8254 83:30:00
8256 telling you that you're in the right
8258 83:33:00
8260 place at the right time and then what
8262 83:35:00
8264 you do is practice being there practice
8266 83:37:00
8268 being there and that's that that narrow
8270 83:39:00
8272 spot is so difficult to find you wander
8274 83:42:00
8276 around it maybe if you're lucky you can
8278 83:43:00
8280 watch you can watch this as an
8282 83:45:00
8284 experiment
8286 83:46:00
8288 watch yourself for two weeks like you
8290 83:48:00
8292 don't know who you are because you don't
8294 83:50:00
8296 so watch yourself for two weeks and
8298 83:51:00
8300 notice there's going to be times when
8302 83:53:00
8304 things are proper their raid properly
8306 83:55:00
8308 for you yeah it's not easy to notice
8310 83:58:00
8312 because when they're arrayed like that
8314 83:59:00
8316 you're so engaged you don't exactly
8318 84:01:00
8320 notice you know but you'll see oh I'm in
8322 84:03:00
8324 the right place it's like okay how did I
8326 84:05:00
8328 get here what am i doing right you know
8330 84:08:00
8332 how is it that this could happen more
8334 84:10:00
8336 often I'd like this to happen more often
8338 84:12:00
8340 how would I have to conduct myself in
8342 84:13:00
8344 order for that to happen more often and
8346 84:15:00
8348 then you practice that and then maybe
8350 84:17:00
8352 instead of ten minutes a month or ten
8354 84:19:00
8356 minutes a week it's like 15 minutes a
8358 84:21:00
8360 day and then it's half an hour a day and
8362 84:23:00
8364 then it's an hour a day and then it's
8366 84:24:00
8368 four hours a day and maybe if you if
8370 84:26:00
8372 you're extraordinarily careful then you
8374 84:28:00
8376 get to a point where you're like that a
8378 84:30:00
8380 good proportion of the time because
8382 84:35:00
8384 Strait is the gate and narrow is the way
8386 84:37:00
8388 which leadeth unto life and few there be
8390 84:39:00
8392 that find it beware of false prophets
8394 84:44:00
8396 which come to you in sheep's clothing
8398 84:45:00
8400 but inwardly they are ravening wolves
8402 84:47:00
8404 that's particularly good advice for
8406 84:50:00
8408 today's political situation I can tell
8410 84:51:00
8412 you you shall know them by their fruits
8414 84:56:00
8416 do men gather grapes of thorns or figs
8418 84:58:00
8420 of thistles even so every good tree
8422 85:02:00
8424 bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt
8426 85:03:00
8428 tree bringeth forth evil fruit well
8430 85:08:00
8432 that's what I learned from studying the
8434 85:10:00
8436 history of totalitarianism in the 20th
8438 85:12:00
8440 century is that a corrupt tree brings
8442 85:14:00
8444 forth evil fruit and that's for sure and
8446 85:19:00
8448 so funny you know people who think when
8450 85:25:00
8452 they're thinking about the relationship
8454 85:26:00
8456 with divinity or the relationship with
8458 85:28:00
8460 God they think it's a primitive and
8462 85:31:00
8464 childish way of thinking what if a
8466 85:32:00
8468 miracle just manifests why can't a
8470 85:34:00
8472 miracle just manifest itself and I would
8474 85:36:00
8476 be convinced and the funny thing is is
8478 85:38:00
8480 first of all actually you wouldn't be if
8482 85:39:00
8484 a miracle actually happened you would
8486 85:41:00
8488 actually forget about
8490 85:42:00
8492 about six months that's I mean you'd
8494 85:44:00
8496 think that's not true but it's true you
8498 85:46:00
8500 would actually forget about it because
8502 85:47:00
8504 that's what people are like but there
8506 85:50:00
8508 are negative miracles that are happening
8510 85:51:00
8512 all the time which actually lend some
8514 85:53:00
8516 credence to my supposition and we don't
8518 85:55:00
8520 pay any attention to that if we can't
8522 85:57:00
8524 learn from what happened in the 20th
8526 85:58:00
8528 century then we are absolutely incapable
8530 86:00:00
8532 of learning because what happened in the
8534 86:03:00
8536 20th century was as bitter a set of
8538 86:05:00
8540 lessons as you could possibly imagine
8542 86:08:00
8544 and its associated precisely with this a
8546 86:11:00
8548 corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a
8550 86:13:00
8552 good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit
8554 86:15:00
8556 neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
8558 86:17:00
8560 good fruit every tree that bringeth
8562 86:23:00
8564 forth that bringeth not forth good few
8566 86:26:00
8568 fruit is hewn down and cast into the
8570 86:28:00
8572 fire well that's a flood motif right
8574 86:30:00
8576 there it's like we're constantly the
8578 86:34:00
8580 archetype of the tree that's the
8582 86:35:00
8584 archetype of being it's the archetype of
8586 86:38:00
8588 the self often what's the warning here
8590 86:44:00
8592 that if you're mostly deadwood you're
8594 86:47:00
8596 going to get you're going to burn up and
8598 86:49:00
8600 you can think about that metaphysically
8602 86:52:00
8604 you can you can project that into
8606 86:54:00
8608 eternity and you can think about that as
8610 86:55:00
8612 a form of Hell and the funny thing is is
8614 86:57:00
8616 that when that's happening to you in
8618 86:59:00
8620 real time it is like an eternity in hell
8622 87:03:00
8624 it's a perfectly reasonable way of
8626 87:05:00
8628 thinking about it but you can strip the
8630 87:06:00
8632 metaphysical elements off and you can
8634 87:08:00
8636 say well if you're mostly dead wood then
8638 87:11:00
8640 a spark will light you on fire and
8642 87:14:00
8644 that's also very much worth thinking
8646 87:16:00
8648 about wherefore by their fruits shall
8650 87:19:00
8652 you know them not everyone that saith
8654 87:21:00
8656 unto me Lord shall enter the kingdom of
8658 87:24:00
8660 heaven but he that doeth the will of my
8662 87:26:00
8664 father which is in heaven
8666 87:28:00
8668 that's an interesting line I think I
8670 87:32:00
8672 mean one of the proper critiques of
8674 87:35:00
8676 traditional Christianity maybe this is
8678 87:37:00
8680 the sort of critique that Nietzsche put
8682 87:38:00
8684 forth was that Christianity had
8686 87:42:00
8688 degenerated in its moral mission Jung
8690 87:44:00
8692 was a little bit more sympathetic and
8694 87:46:00
8696 I'll tell you why in a minute but
8698 87:47:00
8700 Nietzsche's idea was that Christianity
8702 87:50:00
8704 had lost its way when it generated the
8706 87:53:00
8708 presupposition that human
8710 87:55:00
8712 nnedi was saved in some final sense by
8714 87:59:00
8716 the sacrifice of Christ it meant that
8718 88:02:00
8720 the work was already done and that and
8722 88:05:00
8724 I'm I'm being I'm being harsh in my
8726 88:09:00
8728 judgment for the purpose of rhetorical
8730 88:12:00
8732 simplification but the idea was that if
8734 88:15:00
8736 you just professed faith that that had
8738 88:17:00
8740 already occurred then you were granted
8742 88:20:00
8744 eternal salvation it's like well it's
8746 88:23:00
8748 not so straightforward and I think that
8750 88:25:00
8752 that's what this line actually
8754 88:26:00
8756 represents it says how you enter into
8758 88:31:00
8760 the kingdom of heaven and and again you
8762 88:34:00
8764 can think about that under the aspect of
8766 88:37:00
8768 eternity or you can think about it as a
8770 88:38:00
8772 psychological statement and the answer
8774 88:40:00
8776 is quite straightforward is that you do
8778 88:46:00
8780 what Noah did to make him immune from
8782 88:48:00
8784 the flood and that's to walk with God
8786 88:51:00
8788 and that's what this sermon is about
8790 88:54:00
8792 it's laying out the practical elements
8794 88:56:00
8796 of that and the practical elements are
8798 89:01:00
8800 aimed at the highest possible good and
8802 89:04:00
8804 play that out in the world and then you
8806 89:08:00
8808 may have the opportunity to inhabit the
8810 89:11:00
8812 highest possible good that you're
8814 89:12:00
8816 positing into existence perhaps not but
8818 89:17:00
8820 you can't think of any more practical
8822 89:18:00
8824 way of going about that I mean if you
8826 89:20:00
8828 build a house then maybe you can live in
8830 89:22:00
8832 it if you don't build a house you're not
8834 89:23:00
8836 going to be able to live in it if you
8838 89:24:00
8840 build a good house then you'll be able
8842 89:26:00
8844 to live in a good house and if you build
8846 89:28:00
8848 a perfect house then maybe you can live
8850 89:29:00
8852 in a perfect house but if you just say
8854 89:31:00
8856 that the house has already been built
8858 89:33:00
8860 for you and that you can just say that
8862 89:36:00
8864 the house is being built for you well
8866 89:38:00
8868 then the probability that you're going
8870 89:40:00
8872 to be able to live where you need to
8874 89:42:00
8876 live is there's no probability that
8878 89:44:00
8880 you're going to be able to live where
8882 89:45:00
8884 you need to live many will say to me in
8886 89:47:00
8888 that day that's the Judgment Day Lord
8890 89:49:00
8892 have we not prophesied in thy name and
8894 89:51:00
8896 in thy name of cast out devils and in
8898 89:53:00
8900 thy name done many wonderful works and
8902 89:55:00
8904 then I will profess unto them I never
8906 89:57:00
8908 knew you depart from me you that work
8910 90:01:00
8912 iniquity
8914 90:03:00
8916 see that's Judgment Day you know that's
8918 90:08:00
8920 an archetypal idea
8922 90:09:00
8924 and partly it's archetypal because
8926 90:11:00
8928 everyday is Judgment Day and the part of
8930 90:14:00
8932 you that the part of you that's
8934 90:17:00
8936 equivalent to the logo say the part of
8938 90:19:00
8940 you that's your own ideal sits in
8942 90:22:00
8944 eternal judgment on your iniquity and
8946 90:26:00
8948 that's the con that's the source of
8950 90:28:00
8952 guilt and shame and and and withdrawal
8954 90:32:00
8956 and then resentment and then murderous
8958 90:36:00
8960 'no sand then genocide it's because you
8962 90:41:00
8964 can intuit the ideal and the problem
8966 90:44:00
8968 with intuiting the ideal is that an
8970 90:45:00
8972 ideal is always a judge there's no
8974 90:48:00
8976 difference between an ideal and the
8978 90:50:00
8980 judge and so you're eternally judged by
8982 90:52:00
8984 your own ideal if you have no idea well
8986 90:53:00
8988 then you've got no direction and no
8990 90:55:00
8992 meaning in your life and then of course
8994 90:57:00
8996 the more extremely ideal the harsher the
8998 91:00:00
9000 judge that's actually why young young
9002 91:02:00
9004 was very curious about why the book of
9006 91:04:00
9008 Revelation was tacked on to the Bible to
9010 91:06:00
9012 the book of Revelation that's a very
9014 91:08:00
9016 weird book and you know in in in the
9018 91:12:00
9020 Gospels Christ is I would say perhaps
9022 91:14:00
9024 primarily merciful there's a maybe a war
9026 91:18:00
9028 in his character between truth and mercy
9030 91:20:00
9032 but it's one of the two perhaps mercy
9034 91:22:00
9036 and Jung's observation was the gospel
9038 91:25:00
9040 Christ was too merciful and that's why
9042 91:27:00
9044 the book of Revelation was tapped on
9046 91:28:00
9048 tacked onto the New Testament because in
9050 91:31:00
9052 the book of Revelation Christ who's the
9054 91:33:00
9056 ideal who's above the pyramid right the
9058 91:36:00
9060 transcendent ideal is nothing but a
9062 91:38:00
9064 judge and everyone fails and of course
9066 91:41:00
9068 the ultimate ideal is the ultimate judge
9070 91:43:00
9072 and so that's the archetypal reality
9074 91:46:00
9076 there and you can say well I don't want
9078 91:47:00
9080 to be judged and so I'll dispense with
9082 91:48:00
9084 the ideal but then you're Cain because
9086 91:51:00
9088 Cain is exactly the person who dispenses
9090 91:53:00
9092 with the ideal and so there's no
9094 91:55:00
9096 escaping from it there's no escaping
9098 91:57:00
9100 from eternal judgment that's the
9102 91:59:00
9104 archetypal story you know people put a
9106 92:04:00
9108 lot of work into these representations
9110 92:05:00
9112 you know and there's thousands of them
9114 92:08:00
9116 they weren't messing around
9118 92:09:00
9120 these are serious pieces of work you
9122 92:13:00
9124 know we don't understand them but that
9126 92:14:00
9128 doesn't mean that the people who created
9130 92:16:00
9132 them didn't know what they were doing
9134 92:17:00
9136 these were geniuses who created these
9138 92:20:00
9140 pieces of work it's not like they
9142 92:21:00
9144 understood in an articulated manner
9146 92:23:00
9148 what they were trying to represent but
9150 92:26:00
9152 what they were representing were the the
9154 92:27:00
9156 metaphor is at the core of our culture
9158 92:29:00
9160 to the degree that our culture is
9162 92:31:00
9164 functional and good these are the
9166 92:33:00
9168 metaphors upon which it's founded and
9170 92:37:00
9172 they're not for the faint of heart you
9174 92:39:00
9176 know you say religion is the opiate of
9178 92:41:00
9180 the masses it's like yeah then how do
9182 92:43:00
9184 you explain this exactly you know
9186 92:46:00
9188 because if it was opiates you're after
9190 92:47:00
9192 you might just get rid of that panel
9194 92:53:00
9196 especially when the other thing that's
9198 92:56:00
9200 so interesting about the proposition if
9202 92:57:00
9204 you look at revelations in Revelation
9206 92:59:00
9208 and you look at the judgment almost
9210 93:02:00
9212 everyone ends up on the right side of
9214 93:05:00
9216 this panel so if you are just conjuring
9218 93:08:00
9220 up some sort of pathetic wish
9222 93:09:00
9224 fulfillment why in the world would you
9226 93:12:00
9228 tilt the scales in that manner you think
9230 93:16:00
9232 that's supposed to make people feel good
9234 93:17:00
9236 I don't think so
9238 93:19:00
9240 there's almost nothing about this
9242 93:20:00
9244 picture that should make people feel
9246 93:23:00
9248 good it should if you understand it
9250 93:25:00
9252 properly it should terrify you to the
9254 93:27:00
9256 depths of your soul that's what the
9258 93:29:00
9260 picture is for therefore whoever heareth
9262 93:33:00
9264 these sayings of mine and doeth them I
9266 93:35:00
9268 will liken him unto a wise man which
9270 93:37:00
9272 built his house upon a rock and the rain
9274 93:39:00
9276 descended and the winds blew and the
9278 93:41:00
9280 floods came and beat upon the house and
9282 93:43:00
9284 it fell not for it was founded upon a
9286 93:46:00
9288 rock and every one that heareth these
9290 93:50:00
9292 sayings of mine and doeth them not shall
9294 93:52:00
9296 be likened unto a foolish man which
9298 93:53:00
9300 built his house upon the sand and the
9302 93:55:00
9304 rain descended and the floods came and
9306 93:57:00
9308 the winds blew had beat upon that house
9310 94:00:00
9312 and it oh I made a mistake and it fell
9314 94:04:00
9316 for it was founded upon the sand and it
9318 94:09:00
9320 came to pass this is a very interesting
9322 94:11:00
9324 line I really I really you know now and
9326 94:14:00
9328 then you run across lines in this
9330 94:18:00
9332 particularly happens in biblical
9334 94:19:00
9336 settings you run across lines that you
9338 94:21:00
9340 cannot believe actually exist you cannot
9342 94:24:00
9344 imagine how someone could have imagined
9346 94:27:00
9348 up and conjured up the line and these
9350 94:29:00
9352 two lines are like that as far as I'm
9354 94:30:00
9356 concerned and it came to pass when Jesus
9358 94:32:00
9360 had ended these sayings that people were
9362 94:34:00
9364 astonished at his doctrine for he taught
9366 94:36:00
9368 them as one having a
9370 94:37:00
9372 authority and not as the scribes and
9374 94:39:00
9376 that's something so interesting you know
9378 94:41:00
9380 because that was another thing that
9382 94:42:00
9384 really I didn't really appreciate about
9386 94:44:00
9388 the churches that I attended to and that
9390 94:46:00
9392 would be that the lessons were taught by
9394 94:49:00
9396 scribes and the words were mouthed but
9398 94:52:00
9400 there was no power in them there was no
9402 94:55:00
9404 meaning in them it was it was as if well
9406 94:58:00
9408 it was like when I was 20 years old and
9410 95:00:00
9412 I was saying all these things I didn't
9414 95:01:00
9416 mean you know they were words that
9418 95:02:00
9420 sounded good they were like like gilded
9422 95:05:00
9424 cloth I suppose that you can that you
9426 95:07:00
9428 can wrap around yourself but there's no
9430 95:09:00
9432 substance to them and there's a big
9434 95:11:00
9436 difference between listening to
9438 95:13:00
9440 something that has substance and
9442 95:15:00
9444 listening to something that is spoken
9446 95:17:00
9448 because it sounds like it should sound
9450 95:19:00
9452 good and this line says that whoever
9454 95:22:00
9456 spoke the lines that we just described
9458 95:25:00
9460 was someone who sounded like he knew
9462 95:28:00
9464 what he was talking about and not
9466 95:30:00
9468 someone who was just repeating something
9470 95:32:00
9472 for the sake of sounding good and it
9474 95:35:00
9476 certainly seems to me that the lines
9478 95:37:00
9480 that we just reviewed have the awesome
9482 95:41:00
9484 impact of authority back to Noah but
9486 95:49:00
9488 Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord
9490 95:51:00
9492 these are the generations of Noah Noah
9494 95:54:00
9496 was a just man and perfect in his
9498 95:56:00
9500 generations and Noah walked with God and
9502 95:58:00
9504 Noah begat three sons Shem ham and
9506 96:00:00
9508 Japheth
9510 96:01:00
9512 the earth was also corrupt before God
9514 96:03:00
9516 and the earth was full of violence
9518 96:05:00
9520 filled with violence any of you see the
9522 96:09:00
9524 new NRA ad you might want to look that
9526 96:12:00
9528 up I would say that's the most shocking
9530 96:18:00
9532 manifestation of political polarization
9534 96:20:00
9536 in the United States that I've yet seen
9538 96:22:00
9540 most of it I've seen on the left/right
9542 96:24:00
9544 the real what shocked me mostly has been
9546 96:27:00
9548 on the left but the new NRA ad that's a
9550 96:30:00
9552 whole new thing so it's this attractive
9554 96:33:00
9556 woman and doing a voiceover she kind of
9558 96:35:00
9560 looks like Demi Moore well she's kind of
9562 96:37:00
9564 tough looking I guess Demi Moore could
9566 96:39:00
9568 look tough now and then and she has
9570 96:41:00
9572 contempt on her face and that's a
9574 96:46:00
9576 dangerous thing and in the background
9578 96:49:00
9580 there's nothing but images of
9582 96:51:00
9584 anteye far is and Berkeley riots and
9586 96:54:00
9588 fire and protest and she's describing
9590 97:00:00
9592 that as a conspiracy essentially a
9594 97:03:00
9596 conspiracy that involves the
9598 97:05:00
9600 intellectual elite including Hollywood
9602 97:06:00
9604 which is named by name the accusation is
9606 97:12:00
9608 is that there's a cabal of corrupt
9610 97:16:00
9612 intellectuals let's say who are bringing
9614 97:20:00
9616 the country to its knees
9618 97:21:00
9620 and that it's time to get your goddamn
9622 97:24:00
9624 guns and so look up that and see what
9626 97:28:00
9628 you think because there's lots of people
9630 97:33:00
9632 who would be perfectly happy if that was
9634 97:35:00
9636 the direction in which you were headed
9638 97:36:00
9640 and one of the things that I'm hoping is
9642 97:39:00
9644 that we might be able to talk our way
9646 97:40:00
9648 through it but we're in a situation
9650 97:43:00
9652 where every act of idiot individual
9654 97:47:00
9656 idiocy will push us one iota closer to
9658 97:52:00
9660 the brink and that'll make the 15
9662 97:55:00
9664 percent of the population or 30 percent
9666 97:57:00
9668 of the population who would love to see
9670 97:59:00
9672 everything degenerate into chaos
9674 98:01:00
9676 perfectly happy because that's their aim
9678 98:05:00
9680 the earth also was corrupt before God
9682 98:08:00
9684 and the earth was filled with violence
9686 98:09:00
9688 and God looked upon the earth and behold
9690 98:11:00
9692 it was corrupt for all flesh is
9694 98:13:00
9696 corrupted his way upon the earth and
9698 98:15:00
9700 Noah said and God said unto Noah the end
9702 98:17:00
9704 of all flesh has come before me for the
9706 98:19:00
9708 earth is filled with violence through
9710 98:20:00
9712 them and behold I will destroy them with
9714 98:22:00
9716 the earth make the an ark of gopher wood
9718 98:26:00
9720 rooms shalt thou make in the Ark from
9722 98:29:00
9724 that shalt pitch it within and without
9726 98:31:00
9728 with pitch and this is the fashion which
9730 98:33:00
9732 thou shalt make of it the length of the
9734 98:35:00
9736 ark shall be 300 cubits the breadth of
9738 98:37:00
9740 it 50 cubits in the height of it 30
9742 98:38:00
9744 cubits a window shalt thou make to the
9746 98:41:00
9748 ark and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
9750 98:43:00
9752 above and the door of the ark shalt thou
9754 98:45:00
9756 set in the side thereof with lower
9758 98:46:00
9760 second and third stories shalt thou make
9762 98:48:00
9764 it and behold I even I do bring a flood
9766 98:53:00
9768 of waters upon the earth to destroy all
9770 98:54:00
9772 flesh wherein is the breath of life from
9774 98:57:00
9776 under heaven and everything that is in
9778 98:59:00
9780 the earth shall die but with thee I will
9782 99:02:00
9784 establish my covenant and thou shalt
9786 99:04:00
9788 come into the are
9790 99:05:00
9792 thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy
9794 99:06:00
9796 sons wives with thee that's a fairly
9798 99:09:00
9800 optimistic twist on the story because
9802 99:11:00
9804 not only is it Noah but he gets to save
9806 99:14:00
9808 his whole family and down a couple of
9810 99:15:00
9812 generations and so that's a good thing
9814 99:17:00
9816 to think about it's like as things know
9818 99:20:00
9820 I had this client and she had a very
9822 99:25:00
9824 hard upbringing I would say not a lot of
9826 99:29:00
9828 encouragement to say the least let's say
9830 99:31:00
9832 a fair bit of discouraged meant and she
9834 99:34:00
9836 had a son and what was really
9838 99:37:00
9840 interesting about her in relationship to
9842 99:40:00
9844 her son is that all the things that she
9846 99:42:00
9848 could have learned to do to him
9850 99:44:00
9852 given her extensive experience with
9854 99:47:00
9856 being made as miserable as possible by
9858 99:49:00
9860 someone who was hell-bent on bringing
9862 99:51:00
9864 her to her knees
9866 99:51:00
9868 she refused to do to her son right she
9870 99:54:00
9872 learned the opposite lesson from all her
9874 99:57:00
9876 misery and torment which was not to move
9878 99:59:00
9880 that forward down the generations and so
9882 100:01:00
9884 the idea here is that if you walk
9886 100:03:00
9888 properly a name properly and act
9890 100:05:00
9892 properly if you walk with God in this
9894 100:09:00
9896 manner that we've been discussing is
9898 100:11:00
9900 that perhaps that isn't only good for
9902 100:13:00
9904 you perhaps it's also the thing that
9906 100:14:00
9908 will save your family and then by
9910 100:17:00
9912 implication perhaps saves Society
9914 100:19:00
9916 because that's exactly what happens with
9918 100:20:00
9920 Noah right first it's him and then it's
9922 100:22:00
9924 his family but everything else goes and
9926 100:24:00
9928 so by saving himself by acting properly
9930 100:28:00
9932 and by saving his family he actually
9934 100:30:00
9936 saves the world it's interesting you
9938 100:33:00
9940 know it's like the most profound people
9942 100:35:00
9944 that I've read who've meditated deeply
9946 100:38:00
9948 on the problem say of totalitarian
9950 100:40:00
9952 catastrophe and I would put Alexander
9954 100:42:00
9956 Solzhenitsyn at the top of that list
9958 100:44:00
9960 you know the his entire corpus three
9962 100:48:00
9964 volumes 700 pages long each in tiny type
9966 100:52:00
9968 is a long scream about the absolute
9970 100:55:00
9972 necessity of individual the absolute
9974 101:01:00
9976 necessity of individual honesty and
9978 101:04:00
9980 ethical behavior as the only bulwark
9982 101:07:00
9984 against totalitarian catastrophe and
9986 101:10:00
9988 that and I've read many writers who've
9990 101:13:00
9992 attempted to diagnose the problems of
9994 101:16:00
9996 the 20th century and I think
9998 101:19:00
10000 elgyn Edson he came to the same
10002 101:22:00
10004 conclusions that Viktor Frankl came to
10006 101:24:00
10008 as a consequence of his experiences in
10010 101:27:00
10012 the Nazi concentration camps and Frankel
10014 101:29:00
10016 I am also an admirer of Franco but
10018 101:31:00
10020 Solzhenitsyn takes it to an entire
10022 101:33:00
10024 different level of profundity and makes
10026 101:36:00
10028 an extraordinarily strong case that not
10030 101:39:00
10032 only do societies deteriorate because
10034 101:41:00
10036 the people within the societies become
10038 101:44:00
10040 individually corrupt but that the only
10042 101:46:00
10044 way to stave that off is for the
10046 101:48:00
10048 individuals within that society to
10050 101:50:00
10052 reject that corruption in the in the
10054 101:52:00
10056 confines of their own personal lives and
10058 101:54:00
10060 he tells endless stories of people that
10062 101:56:00
10064 he met in the gulag and in the work
10066 101:59:00
10068 camps in the death camps in the Soviet
10070 102:01:00
10072 Union of people and this is what he
10074 102:02:00
10076 learned of people who were so incredibly
10078 102:04:00
10080 tough that even under conditions the
10082 102:08:00
10084 most possible extreme conditions there
10086 102:11:00
10088 wasn't a chance that they were going to
10090 102:13:00
10092 step off that straight and narrow line
10094 102:14:00
10096 there was nothing the authorities could
10098 102:16:00
10100 do to move them and just watching that
10102 102:21:00
10104 was enough to transform Solzhenitsyn
10106 102:23:00
10108 because of course one of the things he
10110 102:24:00
10112 wondered was after spending a good
10114 102:26:00
10116 amount of time in the work camps was
10118 102:29:00
10120 well just exactly how did I get here and
10122 102:32:00
10124 it wasn't well it was Hitler's fault and
10126 102:35:00
10128 it was Stalin's fault although it was
10130 102:36:00
10132 definitely the fault of both of them for
10134 102:38:00
10136 Solzhenitsyn it was well it was also his
10138 102:40:00
10140 fault because he was playing the same
10142 102:42:00
10144 game he just wasn't as good at it and of
10146 102:46:00
10148 every living thing of all flesh two of
10150 102:48:00
10152 every sort shall thou bring into the ark
10154 102:50:00
10156 to keep them alive with thee they shall
10158 102:51:00
10160 be male and female and so there's
10162 102:55:00
10164 another message in this story which is
10166 102:57:00
10168 that it isn't only Noah and his family
10170 103:01:00
10172 and human society that's dependent on
10174 103:03:00
10176 Noah's appropriate actions in the world
10178 103:07:00
10180 it's the entire living planet and in an
10182 103:12:00
10184 era of excessive and extreme and
10186 103:15:00
10188 genuinely disingenuous environmental
10190 103:19:00
10192 catastrophe Singh that's something to
10194 103:22:00
10196 consider very seriously think
10198 103:30:00
10200 perhaps there's nothing better that you
10202 103:32:00
10204 can do for everything all things
10206 103:35:00
10208 considered including those things that
10210 103:37:00
10212 are outside the confines of human
10214 103:38:00
10216 society than to get your act together
10218 103:41:00
10220 and align yourself properly along all of
10222 103:44:00
10224 the dimensions of your being from from
10226 103:47:00
10228 from the tiniest microcosm to the to the
10230 103:50:00
10232 ultimate macrocosm and that's the way
10234 103:52:00
10236 that all of being is redeemed that's
10238 103:56:00
10240 what the story suggests and we read it
10242 104:01:00
10244 you know a cynical modern people we read
10246 104:03:00
10248 it as if it was written by primitive
10250 104:05:00
10252 people who thought that it was really
10254 104:08:00
10256 the case that someone could build a boat
10258 104:09:00
10260 and put two of every kind into it and
10262 104:12:00
10264 thereby saved the world
10266 104:16:00
10268 it's embarrassing to see things
10270 104:18:00
10272 interpreted in a manner that shallow
10274 104:21:00
10276 especially by people who don't have
10278 104:23:00
10280 ignorant as a justification you know
10282 104:25:00
10284 these stories have to appeal to everyone
10286 104:27:00
10288 right and there's lots of people in the
10290 104:29:00
10292 world who aren't very bright and so they
10294 104:31:00
10296 tend to take things concretely like a
10298 104:33:00
10300 child would take things concretely if
10302 104:35:00
10304 you read them a story and this story can
10306 104:37:00
10308 be taken concretely but it has to be
10310 104:39:00
10312 because these stories have to be for
10314 104:40:00
10316 everyone but if you're sophisticated
10318 104:41:00
10320 that doesn't mean that you should
10322 104:43:00
10324 dismiss it as if it's written for a
10326 104:46:00
10328 child it's maybe you have the obligation
10330 104:48:00
10332 to look a bit deeper and think for a
10334 104:49:00
10336 moment that it wouldn't been conserved
10338 104:51:00
10340 for these many thousands of years if
10342 104:53:00
10344 there wasn't something more to it than a
10346 104:54:00
10348 casual intellectual dismissal would
10350 104:57:00
10352 indicate and take thou on to the of all
10354 105:00:00
10356 food that is eaten and thou shalt gather
10358 105:02:00
10360 it to thee and shall be food for the end
10362 105:04:00
10364 for them thus did Noah according to all
10366 105:07:00
10368 that God commanded him so did he and the
10370 105:12:00
10372 Lord said unto Noah come thou and all
10374 105:13:00
10376 thy house into the ark for the I have
10378 105:15:00
10380 seen righteous before me in this
10382 105:17:00
10384 generation of every clean beast thou
10386 105:19:00
10388 shalt take to thee by sevens the male
10390 105:22:00
10392 and his female and a beasts that are
10394 105:23:00
10396 clean but not clean by two the male and
10398 105:25:00
10400 his female of follows also of the air by
10402 105:28:00
10404 sevens the male and the female to keep
10406 105:29:00
10408 seed alive upon the face of all the
10410 105:31:00
10412 earth for yet seven days I will cause it
10414 105:34:00
10416 to rain upon the earth forty days and
10418 105:37:00
10420 forty nights and every living substance
10422 105:38:00
10424 that I've made will I destroy from off
10426 105:40:00
10428 the face of the earth and Noah did
10430 105:42:00
10432 according unto all depth
10434 105:43:00
10436 lord commanded him and though it was 600
10438 105:47:00
10440 years old when the flood of waters was
10442 105:49:00
10444 upon the earth
10446 105:50:00
10448 and Noah went in and his sons and his
10450 105:52:00
10452 wife and his sons wives with him into
10454 105:54:00
10456 the ark because of the waters of the
10458 105:55:00
10460 flood of clean beasts and the beasts
10462 105:57:00
10464 that are not clean enough follows and of
10466 105:59:00
10468 everything that creepeth upon the earth
10470 106:00:00
10472 they went in 2 and 2 unto Noah into the
10474 106:03:00
10476 ark the male and the female as God had
10478 106:05:00
10480 commanded Noah and it came to pass after
10482 106:07:00
10484 seven days that the waters of the flood
10486 106:09:00
10488 were upon the earth in the six hundredth
10490 106:12:00
10492 year of Noah's life in the second month
10494 106:14:00
10496 the seventeenth day of the month the
10498 106:16:00
10500 same day were all the Fountains of the
10502 106:18:00
10504 great deep broken up and the windows of
10506 106:20:00
10508 heaven were opened and the rain was upon
10510 106:22:00
10512 the earth forty days and forty nights
10514 106:24:00
10516 and the self-same day entered Noah and
10518 106:27:00
10520 Shem and ham and Japheth
10522 106:29:00
10524 sons of Noah and Noah's wife and 3 wives
10526 106:32:00
10528 of his sons with them into the ark today
10530 106:36:00
10532 and every beast after his kind and all
10534 106:37:00
10536 of the cattle after their kind and every
10538 106:39:00
10540 creeping thing that creepeth upon the
10542 106:40:00
10544 earth after his kind and every fowl
10546 106:42:00
10548 after his kind every bird of every sort
10550 106:44:00
10552 and they went into Noah unto Noah into
10554 106:46:00
10556 the ark two and two of all flesh wherein
10558 106:48:00
10560 is the breath of life that makes know
10562 106:55:00
10564 where they ultimate Shepherd right
10566 106:59:00
10568 Shepherd of all things tender of the
10570 107:05:00
10572 garden and Shepherd of all things that's
10574 107:10:00
10576 a hell of a roll and maybe that's the
10578 107:13:00
10580 one that keeps you afloat during the
10582 107:14:00
10584 flood and they that went in went in male
10586 107:18:00
10588 and female of all flesh as God had
10590 107:20:00
10592 commanded him and the Lord showed him in
10594 107:21:00
10596 and the flood was forty days upon the
10598 107:23:00
10600 earth and the waters increased and bear
10602 107:25:00
10604 up the ark and it was left up above the
10606 107:27:00
10608 earth and the waters prevailed and were
10610 107:29:00
10612 increased greatly upon the earth 15
10614 107:32:00
10616 cubits upward did the waters prevail and
10618 107:34:00
10620 the mountains were covered and all flesh
10622 107:40:00
10624 died that moved upon the earth both of
10626 107:42:00
10628 fallen of cattle and the beasts and of
10630 107:43:00
10632 every creeping thing that creepeth upon
10634 107:45:00
10636 the earth and every man and all in whose
10638 107:48:00
10640 nostrils was the breath of life of all
10642 107:50:00
10644 that was in the dry land died and every
10646 107:54:00
10648 living substance was destroyed which was
10650 107:56:00
10652 upon the face of the earth
10654 107:57:00
10656 both man and cattle and the creeping
10658 107:59:00
10660 things in the fall of the heaven and
10662 108:01:00
10664 they were destroyed from the earth and
10666 108:03:00
10668 Noah only remained alive and they that
10670 108:05:00
10672 were with him in the ark and the waters
10674 108:07:00
10676 prevailed upon the earth
10678 108:08:00
10680 one hundred and fifty days and God
10682 108:12:00
10684 remembered Noah every living thing and
10686 108:14:00
10688 all the cattle that was with him in the
10690 108:15:00
10692 ark and God made a wind to pass over the
10694 108:18:00
10696 earth and the waters receded the
10698 108:21:00
10700 Fountains also of the deep and the
10702 108:23:00
10704 windows of heaven were stopped in the
10706 108:24:00
10708 rain from heaven was restrained and the
10710 108:25:00
10712 waters returned from off the earth
10714 108:27:00
10716 continually and after the end of a
10718 108:29:00
10720 hundred and fifty days the waters were
10722 108:30:00
10724 abated and the ark rested in the seventh
10726 108:33:00
10728 month on the seventeenth day of the
10730 108:35:00
10732 month upon the mountains of Ararat and
10734 108:36:00
10736 the waters decreased continually until
10738 108:38:00
10740 the tenth month in the tenth month on
10742 108:41:00
10744 the first day of the month were the tops
10746 108:42:00
10748 of the mountains seen and it came to
10750 108:45:00
10752 pass at the end of 40 days that Noah
10754 108:47:00
10756 opened the window of the ark which he
10758 108:49:00
10760 had made and he sent forth a raven which
10762 108:51:00
10764 went to and fro until the waters were
10766 108:52:00
10768 dried up from off the earth and he also
10770 108:55:00
10772 sent forth a dove from him to see if the
10774 108:57:00
10776 water's were abated from off the face of
10778 108:59:00
10780 the ground but the devil found no rest
10782 109:00:00
10784 for the sole of her foot and she
10786 109:02:00
10788 returned unto him in the ark for the
10790 109:04:00
10792 waters were on the face of the whole
10794 109:05:00
10796 earth then he put forth his hand and
10798 109:07:00
10800 took her and pulled her in unto him into
10802 109:10:00
10804 the ark and he stayed yet another seven
10806 109:12:00
10808 days and again he sent forth the dove
10810 109:14:00
10812 out of the ark and the Dove came in to
10814 109:16:00
10816 him in the evening and lo in her mouth
10818 109:18:00
10820 was an olive leaf plucked off so Noah
10822 109:20:00
10824 knew that the waters were abated from
10826 109:22:00
10828 off the earth and he stayed there yet
10830 109:25:00
10832 another seven days and sent forth the
10834 109:26:00
10836 Dove which returned not again unto him
10838 109:28:00
10840 anymore
10842 109:28:00
10844 and it came to pass in the six hundredth
10846 109:30:00
10848 and first year in the first month the
10850 109:33:00
10852 first day of the month the waters were
10854 109:35:00
10856 dried up from off the earth and Noah
10858 109:36:00
10860 removed the covering of the ark had
10862 109:38:00
10864 looked up and behold the face of the
10866 109:41:00
10868 ground was dry and in the second month
10870 109:44:00
10872 on the seventh and twentieth day of the
10874 109:46:00
10876 month was the earth dried and God spake
10878 109:48:00
10880 unto Noah saying go forth of the ark
10882 109:50:00
10884 thou and thy wife and thy sons and thy
10886 109:53:00
10888 sons wives with thee bring forth with
10890 109:56:00
10892 the every living thing that is with thee
10894 109:58:00
10896 of all flesh both of fowl and of cattle
10898 110:00:00
10900 and of every creeping thing that
10902 110:02:00
10904 creepeth upon the earth that they may
10906 110:04:00
10908 breed abundantly in the earth and be
10910 110:06:00
10912 fruitful and multiply upon the earth and
10914 110:08:00
10916 Noah went forth and his sons and his
10918 110:09:00
10920 wife and his sons wives with them
10922 110:11:00
10924 beast creeping thing every fowl and
10926 110:13:00
10928 whatsoever creepeth upon the earth after
10930 110:15:00
10932 their kinds went forth out of the ark
10934 110:17:00
10936 and Noah builded an altar unto the Lord
10938 110:20:00
10940 and took of every clean beast and of
10942 110:22:00
10944 every clean fowl and offered burnt
10946 110:25:00
10948 offerings on the altar immediate returns
10950 110:28:00
10952 the sacrificial motif and the Lord
10954 110:34:00
10956 smelled a sweet savour and that's Noah's
10958 110:36:00
10960 proper sacrifice and the Lord said into
10962 110:39:00
10964 his heart I will not again curse the
10966 110:41:00
10968 ground any more for man's sake for the
10970 110:44:00
10972 imagination of man's heart is evil from
10974 110:46:00
10976 his youth neither will I again smite any
10978 110:49:00
10980 more every living thing as I have done
10982 110:51:00
10984 while the earth remaineth seedtime and
10986 110:53:00
10988 harvest and cold and heat and summer and
10990 110:55:00
10992 winter and day and night shall not cease
10994 110:59:00
10996 and God blessed Noah and his sons and
10998 111:01:00
11000 said unto them be fruitful and multiply
11002 111:03:00
11004 and replenish the earth and the fear of
11006 111:06:00
11008 you and the dread of you shall be upon
11010 111:07:00
11012 every beast of the earth and upon every
11014 111:09:00
11016 fowl of the air upon all that moveth
11018 111:12:00
11020 upon the earth upon all the fishes of
11022 111:14:00
11024 the sea into your hand are they
11026 111:16:00
11028 delivered
11030 111:24:00
11032 you know I've heard commentators David
11034 111:30:00
11036 Suzuki for example who claimed that the
11038 111:36:00
11040 substructure of Western culture in lines
11042 111:41:00
11044 such as this deliver the earth over to
11046 111:46:00
11048 human beings and and justify our
11050 111:48:00
11052 ravaging of the of being but I don't
11054 111:55:00
11056 think that that's a very careful reading
11058 111:57:00
11060 and it seems to me that given such
11062 112:01:00
11064 matters given the importance of such
11066 112:04:00
11068 matters that a very close reading is
11070 112:05:00
11072 actually necessary you know in the story
11074 112:09:00
11076 of Adam and Eve when Adam and Eve are
11078 112:11:00
11080 thrown out of the garden God tells Eve
11082 112:14:00
11084 that she's going to be subordinated to
11086 112:17:00
11088 her husband he doesn't say that that's
11090 112:19:00
11092 what should happened
11094 112:20:00
11096 he says that's what's going to happen
11098 112:23:00
11100 and the same thing as far as I'm
11102 112:25:00
11104 concerned is contained in lines like
11106 112:27:00
11108 this isn't necessarily that this is
11110 112:29:00
11112 something that should happen it's
11114 112:31:00
11116 something that did to happen it's quite
11118 112:33:00
11120 remarkable you know to think about how
11122 112:36:00
11124 long ago these lines were penned it
11126 112:39:00
11128 wasn't obvious until perhaps the 1960s
11130 112:42:00
11132 that we had dominated the earth so
11134 112:43:00
11136 completely that it's very future
11138 112:46:00
11140 existence within our hands and that's a
11142 112:49:00
11144 prophetic element of this tale and the
11146 112:55:00
11148 fear of you and the dread of you shall
11150 112:56:00
11152 be upon every beast of the earth and
11154 112:58:00
11156 upon every fowl of the air and upon all
11158 112:59:00
11160 that moveth upon the earth and upon all
11162 113:02:00
11164 the fishes of the sea into your hand are
11166 113:04:00
11168 they delivered like that's exactly right
11170 113:08:00
11172 every moving thing that liveth shall be
11174 113:10:00
11176 meat for you even as the green herb I've
11178 113:12:00
11180 given you all things have I given you
11182 113:15:00
11184 all things but flesh with the life
11186 113:16:00
11188 thereof which is the blood thereof shall
11190 113:18:00
11192 you not eat and surely your blood of
11194 113:23:00
11196 your lives will I require at the hand of
11198 113:25:00
11200 every beast will I require it at the
11202 113:27:00
11204 hand of man at the hand of every man's
11206 113:28:00
11208 brother will I require the life of man
11210 113:30:00
11212 this is a hard section to interpret but
11214 113:33:00
11216 what it means is something like this God
11218 113:37:00
11220 describes the dominion over the planet
11222 113:39:00
11224 that vilified humanity will have and
11226 113:44:00
11228 note the power that goes along with that
11230 113:47:00
11232 and then puts a limitation on it and the
11234 113:49:00
11236 limitation is maintain the sanctity of
11238 113:53:00
11240 life despite your power and although
11242 113:56:00
11244 it's not easy to extract from the manner
11246 114:00:00
11248 in which this is being translated what
11250 114:02:00
11252 God is telling Noah is that if you kill
11254 114:05:00
11256 yourself if you kill someone else and if
11258 114:08:00
11260 any animal kills a human being that
11262 114:10:00
11264 there will be a price to pay for that so
11266 114:13:00
11268 there's a an opportunity which is that
11270 114:17:00
11272 the descendants of Noah can dominate the
11274 114:20:00
11276 earth but there's a moral limitation
11278 114:22:00
11280 placed on that which is nonetheless life
11282 114:26:00
11284 itself is to be regarded as sanctified
11286 114:29:00
11288 and sacred whoever shared if man's blood
11290 114:35:00
11292 by man shall his blood be shed for in
11294 114:37:00
11296 the image of God made he mad and you be
11298 114:40:00
11300 you fruitful and multiply bring forth
11302 114:42:00
11304 abundantly in the earth and multiply
11306 114:44:00
11308 therein and God spake unto Noah and to
11310 114:48:00
11312 his sons with him saying and I behold I
11314 114:51:00
11316 establish my covenant with you and with
11318 114:53:00
11320 your seed after you and with every
11322 114:55:00
11324 living creature that is with you of the
11326 114:56:00
11328 fowl and the cattle and of every beast
11330 114:57:00
11332 of Earth that is with you for all that
11334 115:00:00
11336 go out of the ark to every beast of the
11338 115:02:00
11340 earth and I will establish my covenant
11342 115:05:00
11344 with you neither shall all flesh be cut
11346 115:10:00
11348 off anymore by the waters of a flood
11350 115:11:00
11352 neither shall there be anymore
11354 115:13:00
11356 a flood to destroy the earth and God
11358 115:17:00
11360 said this is the token of the Covenant
11362 115:18:00
11364 which I make between me and you and
11366 115:20:00
11368 every living creature that is with you
11370 115:21:00
11372 for perpetual generations I do set my
11374 115:23:00
11376 bow in the cloud and it shall be for a
11378 115:25:00
11380 token of a covenant between me and the
11382 115:27:00
11384 earth and shall come to pass when I
11386 115:29:00
11388 bring a cloud over the earth that the
11390 115:30:00
11392 bow shall be seen in the cloud and I
11394 115:32:00
11396 will remember my covenant which is
11398 115:35:00
11400 between me and you and every living
11402 115:36:00
11404 creature of all flesh and the waters
11406 115:38:00
11408 shall no more become a flood to destroy
11410 115:39:00
11412 all flesh there's a negotiated agreement
11414 115:42:00
11416 there of sorts and the negotiated
11418 115:45:00
11420 agreement is as far as I can tell
11422 115:50:00
11424 to the degree that humanity agrees to
11426 115:52:00
11428 act in the manner of Noah then the
11430 115:56:00
11432 threat of catastrophic destruction will
11434 116:00:00
11436 remain at bay and the bow shall be in
11438 116:10:00
11440 the cloud and I will look upon it that I
11442 116:12:00
11444 may remember the everlasting covenant
11446 116:13:00
11448 between God and every living creature of
11450 116:15:00
11452 all flesh that is upon the earth and God
11454 116:17:00
11456 said unto Noah this is the token of the
11458 116:20:00
11460 Covenant which I've established between
11462 116:21:00
11464 me and all flesh that is upon the earth
11466 116:28:00
11468 this is the token of the Covenant which
11470 116:31:00
11472 I've established between me and all
11474 116:32:00
11476 flesh that is upon the earth so that's a
11478 116:38:00
11480 good place to stop and there's no
11482 116:42:00
11484 lecture next week by the way because the
11486 116:44:00
11488 theater was booked so there'll be a
11490 116:46:00
11492 one-week break and then when we get back
11494 116:48:00
11496 we'll finish the story of Noah there's
11498 116:51:00
11500 not much left of it we'll talk about the
11502 116:53:00
11504 Tower of Babel which is a very short
11506 116:55:00
11508 story but a very very interesting one
11510 116:56:00
11512 and then we'll move on to the story of
11514 116:59:00
11516 Abraham and so thank you very much for
11518 117:02:00
11520 coming and we'll see you in two weeks
11522 117:04:00
11524 [Applause]
11526 117:22:00
11528 now is the person who has the
11530 117:25:00
11532 notification for the meetup after this
11534 117:27:00
11536 here and do they have the notification
11538 117:29:00
11540 okay because if you give that to me this
11542 117:31:00
11544 time I'll remember to read it before
11546 117:32:00
11548 everyone leaves so do you want to start
11550 117:37:00
11552 okay so see it let's see if the mic is
11554 117:42:00
11556 working because lots of people will
11558 117:43:00
11560 listen to this question and so okay okay
11562 117:47:00
11564 so you said on a recent livestream that
11566 117:50:00
11568 you were to you didn't have enough
11570 117:51:00
11572 energy to answer this question but you
11574 117:53:00
11576 said it was intriguing so I was
11578 117:55:00
11580 wondering if you had the energy to
11582 117:58:00
11584 answer how someone might help someone
11586 118:01:00
11588 that has borderline personality disorder
11590 118:05:00
11592 by example by example no no no I don't I
11594 118:16:00
11596 don't mean that precisely I mean that
11598 118:18:00
11600 the let's not take borderline
11602 118:21:00
11604 personality disorder precisely as the
11606 118:23:00
11608 example okay I understand the question
11610 118:26:00
11612 the question to some degree is how do
11614 118:28:00
11616 you help someone that's lost and answer
11618 118:31:00
11620 that is if they aren't willing to not be
11622 118:34:00
11624 lost you cannot help them and I would
11626 118:37:00
11628 also say that as a clinician you see I
11630 118:40:00
11632 mean it's an it's a statement that's
11634 118:43:00
11636 informed I would say by mythological
11638 118:45:00
11640 knowledge but also by straight clinical
11642 118:49:00
11644 wisdom not mine particularly I mean one
11646 118:53:00
11648 of the things that Carl Rogers pointed
11650 118:54:00
11652 out was that there were necessary
11654 118:55:00
11656 preconditions for entering into a
11658 118:57:00
11660 therapeutic relationship and that would
11662 118:59:00
11664 be really any relationship where the
11666 119:00:00
11668 mutual flourishing of the two people
11670 119:02:00
11672 involved was the Paramount goal and one
11674 119:05:00
11676 of the preconditions was that both
11678 119:07:00
11680 people had to want that to happen and
11682 119:09:00
11684 Rogers believed he didn't know how to
11686 119:13:00
11688 get the horse to drink when she had
11690 119:16:00
11692 brought it to the water and I thought
11694 119:17:00
11696 about that a lot because when people are
11698 119:20:00
11700 really lost sometimes they're so lost
11702 119:22:00
11704 that that they can't be found and I
11706 119:27:00
11708 think the only thing
11710 119:28:00
11712 that you can do in a situation like that
11714 119:29:00
11716 is get your life together and she and
11718 119:33:00
11720 manifest the reality of an alternative
11722 119:36:00
11724 mode of being that's what you've got and
11726 119:39:00
11728 so that's the only way I know of to
11730 119:42:00
11732 solve an intractable problem and I would
11734 119:46:00
11736 say the reason that I went down that
11738 119:49:00
11740 direction with regards to borderline
11742 119:51:00
11744 personality disorders because it's one
11746 119:52:00
11748 of the most serious of the personality
11750 119:54:00
11752 sort is very difficult to treat and so
11754 119:57:00
11756 I'll generalize from that to situations
11758 120:01:00
11760 that are very difficult to deal with and
11762 120:03:00
11764 you know there's a statement to and this
11766 120:06:00
11768 has nothing to do with borderline
11770 120:07:00
11772 personality disorder per se there's a
11774 120:09:00
11776 statement in the New Testament that's
11778 120:11:00
11780 really vicious in fact there's a number
11782 120:13:00
11784 of them but this is a particularly
11786 120:14:00
11788 vicious one and that is don't cast
11790 120:17:00
11792 pearls before swine and what that means
11794 120:20:00
11796 is if you're trying to help and it
11798 120:23:00
11800 doesn't work then stop helping it's not
11802 120:27:00
11804 helping right it may be just wasting
11806 120:29:00
11808 your time
11810 120:30:00
11812 it might be making things worse no if
11814 120:33:00
11816 you're if you're offering something and
11818 120:34:00
11820 it's not taken then perhaps you should
11822 120:37:00
11824 be offering it somewhere else and
11826 120:39:00
11828 sometimes if you offer hand and the
11830 120:43:00
11832 person won't take it you have to stop
11834 120:44:00
11836 offering the hand and then what you do
11838 120:47:00
11840 is you go off and you have your life and
11842 120:50:00
11844 sometimes that means in people's lives
11846 120:52:00
11848 for example that they have to leave
11850 120:53:00
11852 their family members behind there's a
11854 120:55:00
11856 scene in the New Testament this is
11858 120:56:00
11860 another very harsh scene where Christ is
11862 120:58:00
11864 walking down the road with his disciples
11866 121:00:00
11868 I hope I've got this story right but
11870 121:02:00
11872 I've got it essentially right and his
11874 121:04:00
11876 mother calls to him and says I believe
11878 121:07:00
11880 that he's supposed to come back to the
11882 121:10:00
11884 home because his uncle has died and that
11886 121:13:00
11888 there's going to be a funeral and he
11890 121:15:00
11892 turns to his mother and says something
11894 121:18:00
11896 like let the dead bury their dead I'm
11898 121:20:00
11900 about my father's business it's
11902 121:23:00
11904 something like that and you read that
11906 121:25:00
11908 you think huh that should have been
11910 121:27:00
11912 edited out no but it shouldn't have been
11914 121:30:00
11916 added it out because it's exactly right
11918 121:32:00
11920 because sometimes the thing you do is
11922 121:33:00
11924 walk away because there's no other
11926 121:37:00
11928 solution and if you are trapped in
11930 121:41:00
11932 pathologic
11934 121:41:00
11936 relationships and you see no way out of
11938 121:43:00
11940 them if you if someone who is thinking
11942 121:45:00
11944 has their hands around your neck and is
11946 121:47:00
11948 pulling you down you're not obligated to
11950 121:49:00
11952 drown with them now there's a rule too
11954 121:52:00
11956 if you're a lifeguard you know some of
11958 121:54:00
11960 you have had lifeguard training how do
11962 121:56:00
11964 you approach someone who's drowning and
11966 121:57:00
11968 panicking in the water feed out right
11970 122:01:00
11972 like this it's like I'll save you but
11974 122:04:00
11976 that doesn't mean you get to drown me
11978 122:05:00
11980 while I'm doing it and if it's you drown
11982 122:09:00
11984 or both of us drown it's you drown and
11986 122:12:00
11988 that's wisdom that's not cruelty right
11990 122:18:00
11992 so yeah a couple of questions about
11994 122:28:00
11996 dialog and engaging in dialogue with
11998 122:30:00
12000 people so the first issue that I face is
12002 122:33:00
12004 I have a very high need for intellectual
12006 122:36:00
12008 stimulation and I can't get that with
12010 122:39:00
12012 most people it's something like you can
12014 122:42:00
12016 you can have a dialogue for a time but
12018 122:44:00
12020 then titrate openness yeah and then I
12022 122:49:00
12024 would then they started run out of ideas
12026 122:50:00
12028 they can keep up and it sort of falls
12030 122:53:00
12032 apart
12034 122:53:00
12036 okay this is the problem that
12038 122:55:00
12040 intellectuals have quite frequently is
12042 122:58:00
12044 that they sort of once they start
12046 123:00:00
12048 reading difficult and rewarding stuff
12050 123:02:00
12052 yeah they stopped wanting to talk to
12054 123:04:00
12056 regular people and I think that
12058 123:06:00
12060 contributes to the disconnect that you
12062 123:08:00
12064 see between intellectuals and
12066 123:09:00
12068 working-class people and stuff like that
12070 123:12:00
12072 and the other question I had was about
12074 123:14:00
12076 okay wait I don't know if that's a
12078 123:16:00
12080 question I mean I believe there's a
12082 123:19:00
12084 question in there but I digress tchen is
12086 123:20:00
12088 how did we dress that how should I dress
12090 123:23:00
12092 it and is that something that can be
12094 123:27:00
12096 dressed well part of part of the answer
12098 123:28:00
12100 to that is that's what the universities
12102 123:30:00
12104 were for I mean you know not everybody
12106 123:33:00
12108 is equipped to or interested in engaging
12110 123:36:00
12112 in high-level discussion of abstract and
12114 123:38:00
12116 creative ideas you know you hear this
12118 123:40:00
12120 idea that everyone's creative that's a
12122 123:42:00
12124 lie it's as straightforward as that drew
12126 123:46:00
12128 creativity is very very rare and so and
12130 123:49:00
12132 if you happen to be a creative person or
12134 123:51:00
12136 if you happen to be someone who's
12138 123:52:00
12140 profoundly interested in ideas you are
12142 123:54:00
12144 in a
12146 123:55:00
12148 pronounced minority just as you are if
12150 123:57:00
12152 you happen to be extremely extroverted
12154 123:59:00
12156 or extremely agreeable or extremely
12158 124:01:00
12160 conscientious these are minority issues
12162 124:03:00
12164 and what you do is you find like-minded
12166 124:05:00
12168 people who are capable of engaging that
12170 124:08:00
12172 you know a heavy weight with heavy
12174 124:11:00
12176 weight weight lifters compete with heavy
12178 124:13:00
12180 weight weight lifters for a reason and
12182 124:15:00
12184 everyone thinks that's fine the same
12186 124:17:00
12188 thing applies to intellectual and
12190 124:19:00
12192 creative endeavors so what you do is you
12194 124:22:00
12196 try to find a community where that's
12198 124:25:00
12200 that's the nature of the community and
12202 124:28:00
12204 you likely have to find a relationship
12206 124:29:00
12208 like that as well you know so I don't
12210 124:33:00
12212 think so I think what contributes to the
12214 124:35:00
12216 siloing is the arrogance that goes along
12218 124:37:00
12220 with it because if you're you can be
12222 124:40:00
12224 interested in ideas and you can be
12226 124:42:00
12228 creative well that's the arrogance of
12230 124:45:00
12232 the intellect right that's the thing the
12234 124:46:00
12236 Catholic Church had warned about for
12238 124:48:00
12240 centuries is the arrogance of the
12242 124:49:00
12244 intellect so because if you're if you're
12246 124:52:00
12248 wise as well as smart and there is no
12250 124:54:00
12252 relationship between being smart and
12254 124:56:00
12256 being wise they are not the same thing
12258 124:58:00
12260 there's no quick pathway from smart to
12262 125:00:00
12264 wise and many of the people who I've
12266 125:02:00
12268 known who were very wise were what some
12270 125:05:00
12272 of them were intellectually impaired and
12274 125:07:00
12276 were still wise you know so it's the
12278 125:10:00
12280 arrogance that brings up the block and I
12282 125:12:00
12284 see this for example happening in the
12286 125:14:00
12288 United States in particular because the
12290 125:16:00
12292 last time I went down there for example
12294 125:17:00
12296 I was I had friends down there and and
12298 125:20:00
12300 some of those friends are very very
12302 125:21:00
12304 smart people and some of them were
12306 125:23:00
12308 talking about the Trump voters and they
12310 125:26:00
12312 were talking about the Trump voters with
12314 125:28:00
12316 contempt and I thought you better watch
12318 125:30:00
12320 that because that's 50% of the damn
12322 125:32:00
12324 population and it might be convenient to
12326 125:35:00
12328 think that they're stupid and beneath
12330 125:37:00
12332 you but it's not conducive to a civil
12334 125:39:00
12336 state and there's no evidence that it's
12338 125:41:00
12340 true because there isn't a straight line
12342 125:44:00
12344 between intelligent and wise and so I
12346 125:47:00
12348 think that if you're if your character
12350 125:50:00
12352 is developed and you're intelligent
12354 125:52:00
12356 you can have your siloed creative
12358 125:54:00
12360 community but you develop enough wisdom
12362 125:57:00
12364 so that you can see all the things that
12366 125:59:00
12368 people can do that are of high ethical
12370 126:01:00
12372 utility that are outside the
12374 126:03:00
12376 intellectual domain you know and I think
12378 126:05:00
12380 that's why in the New Testament I think
12382 126:07:00
12384 that's why Christ is a carpenter
12386 126:09:00
12388 right because well first of all
12390 126:13:00
12392 carpenter is one of those jobs that when
12394 126:17:00
12396 you're dishonest it manifests itself
12398 126:18:00
12400 immediately because what you build falls
12402 126:20:00
12404 down and so if you're an honest
12406 126:22:00
12408 carpenter you build a good house so that
12410 126:24:00
12412 there's a nice metaphor there but it's
12414 126:25:00
12416 also it's also a warning in some sense
12418 126:29:00
12420 against the the equation of intellectual
12422 126:33:00
12424 brilliance with moral superiority and so
12426 126:37:00
12428 if the intellects would drop their moral
12430 126:39:00
12432 superiority and fat chance there is of
12434 126:41:00
12436 that then that divide between the
12438 126:45:00
12440 working class say and the elite would
12442 126:48:00
12444 would resolve and there's every reason
12446 126:52:00
12448 to have respect for decent working class
12450 126:55:00
12452 people I mean it's on their labour as
12454 126:59:00
12456 the left wingers at least hypothetically
12458 127:02:00
12460 agree that the entire edifice of the
12462 127:05:00
12464 culture is is resting so you can have
12466 127:09:00
12468 your cake and eat it too but you have to
12470 127:11:00
12472 not assume that your niche makes you
12474 127:15:00
12476 superior and it's very difficult for
12478 127:18:00
12480 smart people especially smart there's a
12482 127:20:00
12484 scene in leeches it seems thus spake
12486 127:23:00
12488 Zarathustra wears arethusa the Prophet
12490 127:25:00
12492 comes down from the mountain and he
12494 127:26:00
12496 comes into a public square and there's
12498 127:28:00
12500 this crowd around this little midget
12502 127:31:00
12504 who's only about this high who have a
12506 127:32:00
12508 gigantic ear and everyone is marveling
12510 127:37:00
12512 at him well that's what the modern
12514 127:39:00
12516 intellect is like it's a midget with a
12518 127:41:00
12520 giant well mouth generally not an ear
12522 127:43:00
12524 and the the the being is underdeveloped
12526 127:46:00
12528 but the intellect is hyper activated and
12530 127:49:00
12532 and it makes the person extraordinarily
12534 127:51:00
12536 unbalanced and his part because they
12538 127:54:00
12540 they can't compete outside the
12542 127:56:00
12544 intellectual realm and that makes them
12546 127:57:00
12548 very bitter because they tend to think
12550 127:59:00
12552 well God I'm so smart everything should
12554 128:00:00
12556 just come to me it's like sorry that's
12558 128:02:00
12560 not how the world works and and it also
12562 128:06:00
12564 that that and that that that attitude is
12566 128:09:00
12568 immediately evident to people that
12570 128:11:00
12572 they're talking to when they talk in the
12574 128:13:00
12576 manner that they talk if they are
12578 128:15:00
12580 arrogant intellectuals of that sort
12582 128:16:00
12584 you see that in the Simpsons did a good
12586 128:18:00
12588 job of that with comic book guy right I
12590 128:21:00
12592 mean he
12594 128:22:00
12596 completely useless in every possible
12598 128:24:00
12600 dimension with an IQ of about 160 and
12602 128:27:00
12604 it's very annoying to people who have an
12606 128:28:00
12608 IQ of 160 that they can also be
12610 128:30:00
12612 completely useless but it happens a lot
12614 128:33:00
12616 so yeah hi dr. Peterson long time no see
12618 128:45:00
12620 how are you doing thanks so I was up
12622 128:48:00
12624 first going to ask about your thoughts
12626 128:50:00
12628 on a very popular TV show Rick and Marty
12630 128:52:00
12632 you know someone just recommended that
12634 128:54:00
12636 to me and they said they thought I would
12638 128:56:00
12640 find it funny and that makes me nervous
12642 128:58:00
12644 because I like the Simpsons and I like
12646 129:00:00
12648 the Trailer Park Boys for actually like
12650 129:02:00
12652 the trailer I really liked the Trailer
12654 129:04:00
12656 Park Boys and so someone said I know
12658 129:06:00
12660 it's so sad you know but they said that
12662 129:11:00
12664 I would like Rick and Morty so I'm kind
12666 129:13:00
12668 of afraid to even watch it it does have
12670 129:16:00
12672 a nihilistic theme to it no I would say
12674 129:18:00
12676 so that which is quite telling of the
12678 129:20:00
12680 young population which they flee they
12682 129:22:00
12684 fall in love with it everyone's talking
12686 129:24:00
12688 about it so uh-huh okay well I'll
12690 129:26:00
12692 definitely watch it because I've been
12694 129:27:00
12696 looking for something to watch when I'm
12698 129:29:00
12700 brain dead at night so but I decide to
12702 129:32:00
12704 tell them my question from a different
12706 129:34:00
12708 angle if I may and it's about the case
12710 129:39:00
12712 that governments let's say such as
12714 129:41:00
12716 Russia and Iran they have any more
12718 129:45:00
12720 extreme cases like Isis they do not want
12722 129:47:00
12724 to conform to the nihilistic aspects of
12726 129:49:00
12728 the West as a result they've taken an
12730 129:52:00
12732 anti-western approach as someone with a
12734 129:54:00
12736 Middle Eastern background I've been
12738 129:56:00
12740 trying to figure out where the origins
12742 129:58:00
12744 of this hostility more precisely comes
12746 130:02:00
12748 from and why things are the way they are
12750 130:04:00
12752 I recently found out that certain key
12754 130:08:00
12756 Iranian philosophers and political
12758 130:10:00
12760 activists were partially intuitively
12762 130:12:00
12764 responsible for the 1979 Iranian
12766 130:14:00
12768 Revolution were highly influenced by the
12770 130:18:00
12772 anti Western high daguerreian philosophy
12774 130:20:00
12776 and this is partially why they believed
12778 130:23:00
12780 that an Islamic state would and it'd be
12782 130:26:00
12784 messy and necessary counter position to
12786 130:29:00
12788 the ninth nihilistic Western thought you
12790 130:32:00
12792 I know that you also come there with
12794 130:34:00
12796 Alexander
12798 130:35:00
12800 dooking putting those liza yes except
12802 130:39:00
12804 Dugan doesn't really seem to have a
12806 130:40:00
12808 coherent answer he says that an answer
12810 130:43:00
12812 like that is necessary and that
12814 130:45:00
12816 hypothetically it's something that
12818 130:46:00
12820 Russia might be able to offer but the
12822 130:48:00
12824 details seem to me somewhat obscure I
12826 130:51:00
12828 mean the Russians maybe the Russians are
12830 130:53:00
12832 doing what Solzhenitsyn suggested and
12834 130:56:00
12836 returning to Orthodox Christianity
12838 130:57:00
12840 although Russia is corrupt enough so
12842 130:59:00
12844 that it's very difficult to tell from
12846 131:01:00
12848 the outside if that's mere collusion
12850 131:03:00
12852 between the corrupt church in a corrupt
12854 131:04:00
12856 state or if there's something genuine
12858 131:06:00
12860 going on there now you know the I would
12862 131:09:00
12864 say there's a question under your
12866 131:11:00
12868 question which is tyranny or nihilism
12870 131:14:00
12872 well that's a good question man that's a
12874 131:16:00
12876 good question well lots of people would
12878 131:19:00
12880 pick tyranny over nihilism and so if
12882 131:22:00
12884 that's the only choice that people are
12886 131:23:00
12888 offered then and I also think that
12890 131:25:00
12892 tyranny is stronger than nihilism
12894 131:27:00
12896 because what are you going to do
12898 131:28:00
12900 organize nihilists hardly well look at
12902 131:31:00
12904 look at what happened to what was that
12906 131:33:00
12908 thing in Central Park you know against
12910 131:35:00
12912 the 1% Jesus I mean what a dismal affair
12914 131:38:00
12916 that was we'd like things to be
12918 131:41:00
12920 different how well we don't know like so
12922 131:53:00
12924 you know you can just run over that if
12926 131:56:00
12928 you're tyrannical and organized you can
12930 131:58:00
12932 just run over that like there's nothing
12934 131:59:00
12936 there at all and that I think there is a
12938 132:02:00
12940 danger and I do think that we're
12942 132:04:00
12944 enticing the Islamofascists let's say by
12946 132:08:00
12948 our nihilistic weakness and I think more
12950 132:11:00
12952 than that I think that we're doing
12954 132:13:00
12956 something more than that because one of
12958 132:14:00
12960 the things that I've been curious about
12962 132:15:00
12964 and I'm going way out on a limb here is
12966 132:17:00
12968 I've been really interested in the
12970 132:19:00
12972 alliance between the neo-marxist
12974 132:21:00
12976 nihilistic are the neo-marxist
12978 132:23:00
12980 postmodernists especially the feminists
12982 132:25:00
12984 and the Islamofascists I just don't get
12986 132:27:00
12988 that it's like there's something very
12990 132:30:00
12992 very interesting going on there and I
12994 132:32:00
12996 think part of it is that when you when
12998 132:34:00
13000 you drift too far into the nihilistic
13002 132:37:00
13004 sub structure there's a huge call for
13006 132:40:00
13008 tyrannical order that manifests itself
13010 132:42:00
13012 unconsciously and so that's the dynamic
13014 132:45:00
13016 that I see playing out in that peculiar
13018 132:47:00
13020 relationship between the
13022 132:49:00
13024 modern neo-marxist feminists and
13026 132:52:00
13028 Islamofascists I don't I don't know
13030 132:58:00
13032 that's a very that's very interesting
13034 132:59:00
13036 that that's a very interesting idea that
13038 133:03:00
13040 you brought to mind I had no idea that
13042 133:05:00
13044 there was a relationship between
13046 133:06:00
13048 Heidegger and what happened in Iran in
13050 133:08:00
13052 the 1970s if you could send me a
13054 133:11:00
13056 citation about that or something to read
13058 133:13:00
13060 I'd be very interested in doing that so
13062 133:15:00
13064 okay yep yep
13066 133:17:00
13068 [Applause]
13070 133:26:00
13072 thank you that's that's that's the
13074 133:31:00
13076 closest thing I think I'll experienced
13078 133:32:00
13080 it out to arnold schwarzenegger actually
13082 133:34:00
13084 delivering that line yeah the purrito
13086 134:01:00
13088 distribution yeah yeah yeah not Ross but
13090 134:04:00
13092 yeah do you have to work oh it's a nasty
13094 134:16:00
13096 it's a nasty law yeah it was also known
13098 134:18:00
13100 as prices law yeah yeah yeah yeah great
13102 134:34:00
13104 yeah yeah yeah
13106 134:54:00
13108 hopefully there's fewer of them than
13110 134:56:00
13112 that okay two to two things the first is
13114 135:02:00
13116 it isn't obvious what the population
13118 135:06:00
13120 would be that you would compare this
13122 135:08:00
13124 population to
13126 135:09:00
13128 right because you could say well the
13130 135:11:00
13132 boundary is the four hundred people in
13134 135:13:00
13136 this room but it isn't necessarily the
13138 135:14:00
13140 case the four hundred people in this
13142 135:15:00
13144 room might be the square root of the
13146 135:18:00
13148 broader population we're interested in
13150 135:20:00
13152 this sort of thing but with the purrito
13154 135:21:00
13156 distribution what you also see is that
13158 135:23:00
13160 it's it's self similar and so let's say
13162 135:29:00
13164 there's four hundred people doing
13166 135:31:00
13168 something twenty of them are doing half
13170 135:32:00
13172 the work but if you take twenty four of
13174 135:35:00
13176 them are doing half the work of the
13178 135:37:00
13180 twenty and one of the four is doing half
13182 135:38:00
13184 the work of the four and so it's so why
13186 135:44:00
13188 am I telling you that it's it isn't it
13190 135:47:00
13192 well first of all it isn't that there
13194 135:49:00
13196 isn't useful work to be done at multiple
13198 135:52:00
13200 slices of the purrito distribution but
13202 135:54:00
13204 the other thing is it's also the case
13206 135:56:00
13208 that there's not only one purrito
13210 135:57:00
13212 distribution right because you might say
13214 136:00:00
13216 well if it's just the square root of the
13218 136:02:00
13220 number of people in a domain that are
13222 136:03:00
13224 doing half the work then you know what
13226 136:05:00
13228 do you do with the rest of the people
13230 136:06:00
13232 and the answer that might be well
13234 136:07:00
13236 they're in a prio different preeto
13238 136:09:00
13240 distribution as well where they're doing
13242 136:11:00
13244 something productive so
13246 136:21:00
13248 well I think it's a good question like
13250 136:24:00
13252 we don't exactly end so so the basic
13254 136:27:00
13256 rule is the look the basic rule is for
13258 136:29:00
13260 example if you take a hundred scientists
13262 136:31:00
13264 in a given domain ten of them will have
13266 136:33:00
13268 published half the papers and this works
13270 136:36:00
13272 with everything it works with with every
13274 136:38:00
13276 creative domain the rule applies so now
13278 136:41:00
13280 the question is why and I think the
13282 136:43:00
13284 choir the answer to that seems to be and
13286 136:44:00
13288 I've watched people who become
13290 136:46:00
13292 spectacular ly successful it what
13294 136:47:00
13296 happens is that zero is a really bad
13298 136:51:00
13300 place to be
13302 136:52:00
13304 right it's really hard to get out of
13306 136:55:00
13308 zero and that's often why people are
13310 136:57:00
13312 trapped in poverty because if you have
13314 136:59:00
13316 nothing getting to something is
13318 137:01:00
13320 virtually impossible once you have
13322 137:03:00
13324 something getting to a little more of
13326 137:05:00
13328 something is actually quite a bit easier
13330 137:06:00
13332 and so what seems to happen this is also
13334 137:11:00
13336 called the Mathieu principle right it's
13338 137:14:00
13340 the same principle so that's a New
13342 137:16:00
13344 Testament citation let's say the Mathieu
13346 137:19:00
13348 principle is to those who have
13350 137:22:00
13352 everything more will be given from those
13354 137:24:00
13356 who have nothing everything will be
13358 137:27:00
13360 taken that's another one of those lines
13362 137:28:00
13364 in the New Testament that you'd think
13366 137:30:00
13368 that a good editor would have just got
13370 137:31:00
13372 rid of so but but but I think what it is
13374 137:34:00
13376 is that every time you make a step
13378 137:36:00
13380 forward the probability that you'll be
13382 137:38:00
13384 able to take the next step forward
13386 137:39:00
13388 increases and it seems to increase in a
13390 137:42:00
13392 nonlinear way so the the world that the
13394 137:46:00
13396 Mathieu principle describes is nonlinear
13398 137:48:00
13400 you know so you might say well what's
13402 137:50:00
13404 your trajectory if you're moving upward
13406 137:51:00
13408 well it's not this it's this what's your
13410 137:56:00
13412 trajectory if you're moving downward
13414 137:57:00
13416 it's not this it's this right you fall
13418 138:02:00
13420 you fall you plummet you rise you rise
13422 138:06:00
13424 you transcend it's something like that
13426 138:08:00
13428 and you might say well that's a hell of
13430 138:10:00
13432 a world but whatever it has to be run by
13434 138:12:00
13436 some principle and that's the principle
13438 138:14:00
13440 that it appears to be run by yes
13442 138:24:00
13444 no no no it doesn't mean that at all
13446 138:26:00
13448 what it means is that every truth claim
13450 138:30:00
13452 you make including those that are
13454 138:32:00
13456 implicit in your actions carries with it
13458 138:35:00
13460 an ethic that justifies or doesn't
13462 138:38:00
13464 justify the action so for example let's
13466 138:41:00
13468 say I have a tool and I say it's an axe
13470 138:43:00
13472 and I go to the forest and I cut down I
13474 138:46:00
13476 try to cut down a tree with it and it
13478 138:48:00
13480 doesn't work it's not an axe it's
13482 138:51:00
13484 something else and so what the what
13486 138:53:00
13488 there's a good book on pragmatism called
13490 138:56:00
13492 the metaphysical Club a history of
13494 138:58:00
13496 American ideas it's what I would really
13498 139:00:00
13500 recommend and what the pragmatists I
13502 139:02:00
13504 can't give you a full answer because
13506 139:03:00
13508 this is such a complicated issue but
13510 139:05:00
13512 what the pragmatists were wrestling with
13514 139:07:00
13516 back in the late 1800s the late 1800s
13518 139:11:00
13520 this was William James and his crew in
13522 139:13:00
13524 in Boston
13526 139:15:00
13528 including a philosopher named CS purse
13530 139:18:00
13532 who was perhaps America's greatest
13534 139:19:00
13536 philosopher they were wrestling with the
13538 139:22:00
13540 same issue that the postmodernist would
13542 139:24:00
13544 wrestle with 100 years later which is
13546 139:27:00
13548 things are indefinitely complex and
13550 139:30:00
13552 we're not very bright so how is it that
13554 139:32:00
13556 we can make claims to truth about
13558 139:34:00
13560 anything and what they were what their
13562 139:37:00
13564 their hypothesis essentially was is that
13566 139:39:00
13568 with every action and with every truth
13570 139:41:00
13572 claim you simultaneously demarcate a
13574 139:43:00
13576 territory within which that claim is
13578 139:45:00
13580 valid and you you determine whether the
13582 139:49:00
13584 claim is valid by noting whether your
13586 139:51:00
13588 prediction about the outcome of your
13590 139:53:00
13592 action or your or your belief is
13594 139:55:00
13596 commencer is is in keeping with if the
13598 139:59:00
13600 outcome is in keeping with the
13602 140:01:00
13604 prediction then what you've said or done
13606 140:04:00
13608 is true or good enough and that's as
13610 140:07:00
13612 good as you get and so that's the
13614 140:09:00
13616 pragmatic perspective and then when when
13618 140:11:00
13620 when the pragmatist encountered charles
13622 140:14:00
13624 dark charles darwin's works works they
13626 140:17:00
13628 immediately recognized that darwin had
13630 140:19:00
13632 generated a pragmatic solution to the
13634 140:21:00
13636 problem of the impossibility of being
13638 140:23:00
13640 the impossibility of being is this
13642 140:26:00
13644 there's way more cosmos than there is
13646 140:28:00
13648 you you are going to die you cannot
13650 140:31:00
13652 generate a sufficient solution
13654 140:34:00
13656 to the problem of your being no one can
13658 140:37:00
13660 nothing can it's like the environment is
13662 140:40:00
13664 a snake that moves unpredictably across
13666 140:42:00
13668 time and you're trying to stay on its
13670 140:43:00
13672 back well as how how does the Darwinian
13674 140:46:00
13676 process deal with that it produces
13678 140:48:00
13680 infinite variance roughly speaking
13682 140:50:00
13684 almost all of which die and that's how
13686 140:54:00
13688 it solves the problem across time and
13690 140:56:00
13692 the things that exist is the things that
13694 140:58:00
13696 stay alive are true enough and that's
13698 141:01:00
13700 the best you get that's the argument I
13702 141:03:00
13704 was trying to have with Sam Harris
13706 141:04:00
13708 because Harris doesn't take his
13710 141:05:00
13712 evolutionary cycle is a Volusia nary
13714 141:07:00
13716 theory seriously enough but we get to
13718 141:09:00
13720 kept getting bogged down anyways that's
13722 141:12:00
13724 that's the best answer oh I'd like to
13726 141:17:00
13728 agree with that but it's not true
13730 141:22:00
13732 yeah yep yep yep you really do like to
13734 141:41:00
13736 ask hard questions so you I think it
13738 141:44:00
13740 depends see this is also why like the pH
13742 141:47:00
13744 alien take let's say on on pragmatism
13746 141:49:00
13748 because I think that pragmatism as a
13750 141:52:00
13752 philosophy has the limitation that you
13754 141:55:00
13756 just described but only if you think
13758 141:57:00
13760 about the games as limited if you have
13762 142:00:00
13764 to play the game in an iterative way
13766 142:01:00
13768 then that issue resolves itself and the
13770 142:05:00
13772 game theorists have done a good job of
13774 142:06:00
13776 mapping that out it's like you could say
13778 142:09:00
13780 let's say pragmatically speaking there's
13782 142:11:00
13784 no reason I shouldn't deceive you once
13786 142:13:00
13788 if I can get what I want
13790 142:14:00
13792 it's yeah yeah except that I'm probably
13794 142:17:00
13796 not only going to interact with you once
13798 142:18:00
13800 I'm going to interact with you a lot and
13802 142:20:00
13804 even if it isn't you that I interact
13806 142:22:00
13808 with it's going to be a bunch of beings
13810 142:24:00
13812 that are so much like you that it might
13814 142:25:00
13816 as well be you might as well be you it's
13818 142:28:00
13820 going to be me if nothing else and so
13822 142:30:00
13824 the pragmatic game stretched across time
13826 142:34:00
13828 would include the necessity of
13830 142:36:00
13832 iterability in relationship to the
13834 142:39:00
13836 validations of the truth claims that's
13838 142:41:00
13840 that's how it looks to me
13842 142:45:00
13844 I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna stop you
13846 142:49:00
13848 if we have say that again yes yes thank
13850 142:59:00
13852 you yes but that's not all I am so this
13854 143:12:00
13856 is on behalf of somebody dr. Peterson
13858 143:14:00
13860 having listened to your expositions on
13862 143:16:00
13864 the mythological evolution and
13866 143:17:00
13868 amalgamation of religion and keeping in
13870 143:19:00
13872 mind your working definitions of belief
13874 143:21:00
13876 and truth and despite the obvious
13878 143:24:00
13880 reasons for somebody of your background
13882 143:25:00
13884 to identify most with Christianity my
13886 143:28:00
13888 understanding is that you believe
13890 143:29:00
13892 Christianity to be the most complete and
13894 143:31:00
13896 articulated form of many of the
13898 143:33:00
13900 metaphysical ideas that preceded it and
13902 143:35:00
13904 led up to that keeping that in mind
13906 143:37:00
13908 would it also be accurate to therefore
13910 143:38:00
13912 say that you're not only a believer in
13914 143:40:00
13916 Christianity but also if to a lesser
13918 143:43:00
13920 degree also believer in in Mourdock in
13922 143:46:00
13924 the ancient Egyptian gods and the
13926 143:48:00
13928 subsequent gods that you've spoken up
13930 143:49:00
13932 here that led up and contribute it to
13934 143:51:00
13936 the form of Christianity that you're
13938 143:53:00
13940 discussing and that you identify with
13942 143:56:00
13944 okay I'm going to take that one apart a
13946 143:58:00
13948 little bit I'm bounded in my judgment
13950 144:03:00
13952 with regards to Christianity by my
13954 144:04:00
13956 ignorance I'm no student of Hinduism so
13958 144:10:00
13960 I can't make the claim forthrightly that
13962 144:14:00
13964 there's something intrinsically superior
13966 144:16:00
13968 to the judeo-christian tradition because
13970 144:20:00
13972 I don't know enough to make that claim
13974 144:22:00
13976 the claim I can make is that there's
13978 144:24:00
13980 something that's dreadfully right about
13982 144:27:00
13984 this core elements of the
13986 144:28:00
13988 judeo-christian tradition and I've seen
13990 144:30:00
13992 analogues to that like one of the things
13994 144:32:00
13996 I'd like to do for example is to do a
13998 144:35:00
14000 short series on the Delta H Inc because
14002 144:38:00
14004 that is one remarkable document once you
14006 144:41:00
14008 know especially you might want to read
14010 144:43:00
14012 it you can go online and read it's very
14014 144:44:00
14016 short out etching ta o teh CH ing and
14018 144:50:00
14020 it's the fundamental text of Taoism and
14022 144:52:00
14024 once you know that the world of being is
14026 144:55:00
14028 made of chaos and order and you know
14030 144:58:00
14032 that that's represented
14034 144:59:00
14036 by the yin and the yang all of a sudden
14038 145:00:00
14040 you can understand the DAO de Jing and
14042 145:02:00
14044 it's just it's brilliantly simple and
14046 145:06:00
14048 straightforward in it's exposition but
14050 145:08:00
14052 it also seems to me to be entirely
14054 145:09:00
14056 commensurate with the line of of let's
14058 145:13:00
14060 call it logic it's more like a the the
14062 145:16:00
14064 mode of description of being that's
14066 145:17:00
14068 encapsulated in these stories now with
14070 145:20:00
14072 regards to being a believer people ask
14074 145:22:00
14076 me all the time two things say do you
14078 145:23:00
14080 believe in God and are you a Christian
14082 145:25:00
14084 and they answered without both of those
14086 145:27:00
14088 is actually there's two answers one is
14090 145:29:00
14092 what the hell makes you think it's any
14094 145:30:00
14096 of your business
14098 145:31:00
14100 that's the first answer and the second
14102 145:33:00
14104 is why do you think that you mean the
14106 145:36:00
14108 same thing with those questions that I
14110 145:38:00
14112 would mean with my answer so you know
14114 145:40:00
14116 what because it's such a funny thing
14118 145:43:00
14120 because I spent like three and this is
14122 145:45:00
14124 no accusation with regards to your
14126 145:47:00
14128 questions in the least you know I think
14130 145:48:00
14132 it's more about trying to detract the
14134 145:49:00
14136 development of these ideas and you know
14138 145:51:00
14140 the residual truth and so yeah
14142 145:53:00
14144 psychological significance of all these
14146 145:55:00
14148 other traditions I think well you know I
14150 145:57:00
14152 did I've been there
14154 145:59:00
14156 floored by other mythological structures
14158 146:03:00
14160 like when I first understood or thought
14162 146:06:00
14164 I understood the meaning of the
14166 146:08:00
14168 Mesopotamian creation method just I've
14170 146:10:00
14172 never recovered from that I would say
14174 146:13:00
14176 and the same thing is true of the
14178 146:15:00
14180 investigations I did into the Egyptian
14182 146:17:00
14184 myths of Horus and Isis and Osiris and
14186 146:20:00
14188 Seth it's just a and they're they're so
14190 146:24:00
14192 relevant I mean they're so unbelievably
14194 146:25:00
14196 relevant and how do how do see this is a
14198 146:30:00
14200 problem that none of us really know how
14202 146:31:00
14204 to solve it's like they're our sources
14206 146:34:00
14208 of wisdom all over the world let's say
14210 146:36:00
14212 and they need to be made commensurate
14214 146:39:00
14216 with one another which isn't to say that
14218 146:42:00
14220 they need to be turned into a fast-food
14222 146:44:00
14224 mall you know that's that's like
14226 146:46:00
14228 multiculturalism right it's like all the
14230 146:48:00
14232 food of the world served in the most
14234 146:51:00
14236 terrible possible manner all in one
14238 146:53:00
14240 place
14242 146:53:00
14244 and something like that and you don't
14246 146:55:00
14248 want to do that with comparative
14250 146:56:00
14252 religion it's just water everything down
14254 146:58:00
14256 and say well it's all nice it's like no
14258 147:00:00
14260 it is not nice yeah or that it's all the
14262 147:03:00
14264 same because it's not all the same so
14266 147:05:00
14268 the the job of communicating between
14270 147:09:00
14272 those domains of wisdom is really
14274 147:12:00
14276 continuing right it's been a problem
14278 147:14:00
14280 ever since the beginning of civilization
14282 147:15:00
14284 but it's continuing and I would say the
14286 147:18:00
14288 psychoanalyst Jung in particular was
14290 147:20:00
14292 took to huge huge steps in in the
14294 147:24:00
14296 direction of doing that an
14298 147:26:00
14300 extraordinarily positive way and not a
14302 147:28:00
14304 simple minded way at all and not just
14306 147:30:00
14308 hand waving that oh well it's everyone
14310 147:32:00
14312 has one and all shall have prizes not
14314 147:35:00
14316 that so yeah last question I choose it
14318 147:46:00
14320 kind of in the same vein but it's in
14322 147:47:00
14324 regards to another kind of mythology so
14326 147:49:00
14328 yeah in terms of I guess Carl Jung's own
14330 147:52:00
14332 with us sorry I'm extremely tall but a
14334 147:55:00
14336 lot of the I achieved I found some kind
14338 147:59:00
14340 of archetypes like for example in my own
14342 148:01:00
14344 life but also I've noticed in European
14346 148:03:00
14348 life so for example in regards to Odin
14350 148:06:00
14352 and Norse mythology yeah with Corleone
14354 148:09:00
14356 si I've only been able to actually skim
14358 148:12:00
14360 it because I've been like trying to find
14362 148:14:00
14364 something like because I felt like
14366 148:15:00
14368 there's always this kind of psyche that
14370 148:17:00
14372 was almost underneath I guess Western
14374 148:20:00
14376 civilization and we see it really like
14378 148:22:00
14380 embodied in this specific figure this
14382 148:25:00
14384 deity the wanderer the knowledge
14386 148:27:00
14388 gatherer the seeker but he's also a war
14390 148:30:00
14392 goddess these all these different
14394 148:32:00
14396 aspects that are an accumulation of what
14398 148:34:00
14400 seems to be something that's distinctly
14402 148:37:00
14404 Western mm-hm
14406 148:38:00
14408 and I feel this is like almost like this
14410 148:41:00
14412 symbol in a way of course it's not
14414 148:43:00
14416 always followed there seems to be
14418 148:45:00
14420 something maybe there seems to be
14422 148:48:00
14424 something I do think that the idea of
14426 148:50:00
14428 the individual has been articulated most
14430 148:53:00
14432 fully in the West I don't think that's
14434 148:55:00
14436 really a I don't think that's a
14438 148:58:00
14440 contentious claim actually that doesn't
14442 149:02:00
14444 mean that the latent structures from
14446 149:05:00
14448 which that idea might emerge weren't
14450 149:07:00
14452 also many other places simultaneously
14454 149:08:00
14456 and the other thing from let's say from
14458 149:11:00
14460 a biological perspective is that we're
14462 149:13:00
14464 only talking about differences of a few
14466 149:15:00
14468 hundred years in terms of the
14470 149:17:00
14472 manifestation of these ideas right from
14474 149:19:00
14476 from an evolutionary perspective that's
14478 149:21:00
14480 it's instantaneous
14482 149:22:00
14484 it's like well a new idea has to arise
14486 149:24:00
14488 somewhere so
14490 149:25:00
14492 is going to be somewhere first and but
14494 149:28:00
14496 it's spreading I mean Christianity for
14498 149:30:00
14500 example spread so rapidly that it's
14502 149:31:00
14504 absolutely beyond belief and it is
14506 149:33:00
14508 actually spreading more rapidly in China
14510 149:34:00
14512 now than it did in ancient Rome
14514 149:36:00
14516 so well in regards to that it's also
14518 149:39:00
14520 been seen like almost in the wake of a
14522 149:42:00
14524 dying Christianity I've noted that like
14526 149:43:00
14528 there's been a tendency to go towards I
14530 149:46:00
14532 guess paganism right yes I understand
14534 149:49:00
14536 the like some people laugh at all yes we
14538 149:51:00
14540 have Wicca which was mainly a
14542 149:53:00
14544 manifestation of Aleister Crowley in his
14546 149:55:00
14548 works which were then ended off to
14550 149:57:00
14552 whoever actually made the actual
14554 149:59:00
14556 ideology and then next thing you know
14558 150:02:00
14560 we're finding something almost more
14562 150:04:00
14564 stable in I guess Norse mythology and it
14566 150:07:00
14568 seems like it's acting almost as a
14570 150:08:00
14572 pendulum school swing from something
14574 150:11:00
14576 that well people are good like the thing
14578 150:14:00
14580 is is when one when one mythological
14582 150:16:00
14584 structure collapses it's going to
14586 150:18:00
14588 collapse into another mythological
14590 150:20:00
14592 structure or another set of mythological
14594 150:22:00
14596 structures and and because you can't get
14598 150:25:00
14600 out of the mythological structures
14602 150:27:00
14604 there's no possible way of doing that
14606 150:28:00
14608 what and so I wouldn't say necessarily
14610 150:31:00
14612 that the fact that other belief systems
14614 150:34:00
14616 emerge in the aftermath of the collapse
14618 150:36:00
14620 of the overarching belief system I don't
14622 150:38:00
14624 think that that's necessarily a bad idea
14626 150:39:00
14628 I think that it has its attendant
14630 150:42:00
14632 dangers and so I should stop because I'm
14634 150:46:00
14636 starting to get tired and I'm not going
14638 150:47:00
14640 to be able to formulate any clearer
14642 150:49:00
14644 answers than that and it's also 10
14646 150:51:00
14648 o'clock so we also do have to stop
14650 150:57:00
14652 oh yes there is an unofficial Meetup and
14654 151:03:00
14656 discussion group at Hemingway's
14658 151:05:00
14660 restaurant second floor 142 Cumberland
14662 151:08:00
14664 Street just say you're with the Jordan
14666 151:10:00
14668 Peterson discussion group yes everyone
14670 151:13:00
14672 is invited if you say you're with the
14674 151:15:00
14676 Jordan Peterson discussion group
14678 151:17:00
14680 please don't misbehave too badly
14682 151:23:00
14684 [Applause]
1 0:00
3 [Música]
5 0:17
7 obrigado, então eu olho hoje e estes
9 0:23
11 palestras já foram assistidas por
13 0:25
15 eles foram vistos um milhão de vezes, então
17 0:28
19 isso é incrível livremente ou eles
21 0:37
23 sido eles foram olhou para um milhão
25 0:39
27 vezes que é certo, isso também é possível
29 0:43
31 tudo bem tão bem, vamos direto para
33 0:45
então semana passada eu acho que era
35 principalmente
37 0:50
39 notável pela escassez absoluta de
41 0:53
43 conteúdo que era realmente biblicamente
45 0:55
relacionado de modo que eu vou apenas recapitular
47 o que
49 1:00
51 Eu expus e para que ele define o quadro
53 1:05
55 corretamente para o que vamos discutir
57 1:07
59 hoje à noite e eu lhe apresentei um
61 1:14
63 descrição elaborada deste
65 1:18
67 diagrama essencialmente que passei bastante
69 1:19
71 muito tempo formulando provavelmente sobre
73 1:22
75 25 anos atrás, eu acho que tipo de
77 1:25
79 é responsável por sua primitividade gráfica I
81 1:27
suponha que eu estava realmente ultrapassando os
83 limites
85 1:31
2143 laço de inundação para este bem, você sabe que nós
2145 21:38
2147 viver em uma estrutura corrupta estamos
2149 21:39
2151 corruptos como indivíduos em que vivemos
2153 21:41
2155 estrutura corrupta e parte disso
2157 21:42
2159 corrupção acaba de acontecer é
2161 21:44
4175 disse que você conhece aquele cara que você andou
4177 41:30:00
4179 no quintal com e eu disse sim, ele
4181 41:31:00
4183 disse que ele levou dois policiais uma noite e
4185 41:35:00
4187 ele os fez se ajoelhar e enquanto eles
4189 41:37:00
4191 estavam implorando por suas vidas, ele atirou
4193 41:39:00
4195 os dois na parte de trás da cabeça e eu
4197 41:41:00
4199 pensei hmm
4201 41:43:00
4203 isso é ver o que era tão
4205 41:48:00
4207 interessante era que ele era tão inócuo
4209 41:50:00
4211 certo, porque o que você esperaria é que
4213 41:52:00
4215 alguém assim seria muito
4217 41:53:00
4219 ao contrário de você, digamos e certamente
4221 41:56:00
4223 não seria como alguém inócuo que
4225 41:58:00
4227 você conheceu o que você quer é que o
4229 42:00:00
4231 cara seria como você sabe metade eram
4233 42:01:00
4235 lobo e meio vampiro para que você pudesse
4237 42:03:00
4239 diga imediatamente que ele era um
4241 42:05:00
4243 assassino de sangue frio, mas não, ele era esse
4245 42:07:00
4247 tipo de rapaz ineficaz que
4249 42:10:00
4251 certamente não era ineficaz se você
4253 42:12:00
4255 deu-lhe um revólver na mão superior
4257 42:13:00
4259 e assim que me fez pensar que fez
4261 42:17:00
4263 eu penso muito sobre o relacionamento
4265 42:19:00
4267 entre ser inócuo ee ser
4269 42:22:00
4271 perigoso e depois outra coisa
4273 42:23:00
4275 aconteceu eu conheci outro cara lá fora e
4277 42:25:00
4655 isso é uma mentira que você está fazendo isso para
4657 46:10:00
impressionar as pessoas que você está apenas
4659 tentando ganhar
4661 46:12:00
4663 o argumento que você conhece sem mim ou foi
4665 46:15:00
a parte que estava acontecendo sobre o meu
4667 normal
4669 46:17:00
4671 negócio verbal mim e eu não sabia, mas
4673 46:20:00
4675 Eu decidi que iria com o crítico e
4677 46:22:00
4679 então o que eu tentei fazer o que aprendi
4681 46:25:00
4683 fazer eu acho que foi parar de dizer coisas
4685 46:28:00
4687 que me deixou fraco e agora que eu quero dizer
4689 46:32:00
4723 você diz coisas que são tão verdadeiras quanto você
4725 46:51:00
4727 pode dizê-los, digamos, então eles surgem
4729 46:55:00
4731 eles saem das profundezas dentro de
4733 46:57:00
8319 observe que você sabe, mas você verá oh, eu estou
8321 84:03:00
8323 o lugar certo é como tudo bem, como eu
8325 84:05:00
9415 quer dizer que você sabia que eram palavras que
9417 95:02:00
9419 parecia bom eles eram como dourados
9421 95:05:00
9423 pano eu suponho que você pode que você
9425 95:07:00
9427 pode envolver-se, mas não há
9429 95:09:00
9431 substância para eles e há uma grande
9433 95:11:00
9435 diferença entre ouvir
9437 95:13:00
9439 algo que tem substância e
9441 95:15:00
9443 ouvindo algo que é falado
9445 95:17:00
9447 porque parece que deve soar
9449 95:19:00
9451 bom e esta linha diz que quem
9453 95:22:00
9455 falou as linhas que acabamos de descrever
9457 95:25:00
9459 era alguém que parecia que sabia
9461 95:28:00
9463 o que ele estava falando e não
9465 95:30:00
9467 alguém que estava apenas repetindo algo
9469 95:32:00
9471 por uma questão de soar bem e
9473 95:35:00
9475 certamente me parece que as linhas
9477 95:37:00
9479 que acabamos de revisar tem o incrível
9481 95:41:00
9483 impacto da autoridade de volta a Noé, mas
9485 95:49:00
9487 Noé encontrou graça aos olhos do Senhor
9489 95:51:00
9491 estas são as gerações de Noé Noé
9493 95:54:00
9495 era um homem justo e perfeito em sua
9497 95:56:00
9499 gerações e Noé andou com Deus e
9501 95:58:00
9503 Noé gerou três filhos, Sem, presunto e
9505 96:00:00
9507 Japheth
9509 96:01:00
12659 é tão triste que você sabe, mas eles disseram que
12661 129:11:00
12663 Eu gostaria de Rick e Morty, então eu sou gentil
12665 129:13:00
12667 de medo de assistir até ele tem
12669 129:16:00
12671 um tema niilista para isso, não, eu diria
12673 129:18:00
12675 de modo que o que é bastante revelador do
12677 129:20:00
12679 população jovem que eles fogem eles
12681 129:22:00
12683 se apaixonar por isso todo mundo está falando
12685 129:24:00
12687 sobre isso então uh-huh ok bem, eu vou
12689 129:26:00
12691 definitivamente assisti-lo porque eu estive
12693 129:27:00
12695 procurando algo para assistir quando estou
12697 129:29:00
12699 morte cerebral à noite, mas eu decido
12701 129:32:00
12703 diga-lhes a minha pergunta de um diferente
12705 129:34:00
12707 ângulo, se eu puder e é sobre o caso
12709 129:39:00
12711 que os governos digamos como
12713 129:41:00
12715 Rússia e Irã eles têm mais
12717 129:45:00
12719 casos extremos como Isis eles não querem
12721 129:47:00
12723 para se conformar aos aspectos niilistas de
12725 129:49:00
12727 o Ocidente, como resultado, eles tomaram uma
12729 129:52:00
13431 um mundo, mas seja o que for que seja dirigido por
13433 138:12:00
13435 algum princípio e esse é o princípio
13437 138:14:00
13439 que parece ser executado por sim
13441 138:24:00
13443 não não não, isso não significa que de todo
13445 138:26:00
13851 você sim, mas isso não é tudo o que sou, então isso
13853 143:12:00
13855 é em nome de alguém dr. Peterson
13857 143:14:00
13859 tendo ouvido suas exposições em
13861 143:16:00
13863 a evolução mitológica e
13865 143:17:00
13867 amálgama da religião e manutenção de
13869 143:19:00
preste atenção às suas definições de crença de
13871 trabalho
13873 143:21:00
13875 e verdade e apesar do óbvio
13877 143:24:00
13879 razões para alguém do seu passado
13881 143:25:00
13883 identificar-se mais com o cristianismo meu
13885 143:28:00
13887 entendimento é que você acredita
13889 143:29:00
13891 O cristianismo para ser o mais completo e
13893 143:31:00
13895 forma articulada de muitos dos
13897 143:33:00
13899 idéias metafísicas que o precederam e
13901 143:35:00
13903 levou a isso mantendo isso em mente
13905 143:37:00
13907 também seria preciso, portanto,
13909 143:38:00
13911 diga que você não é apenas um crente em
13913 143:40:00
13915 Cristianismo, mas também se a um menor
13917 143:43:00
13919 grau também crente em Mourdock em
13921 143:46:00
13923 os deuses egípcios antigos e o
13925 143:48:00
13927 deuses subsequentes que você falou
13929 143:49:00
13931 aqui que levou e contribuí-lo para
13933 143:51:00
13935 a forma do cristianismo que você é
13937 143:53:00
13939 discutindo e que você se identifica com
13941 143:56:00
13943 ok, eu vou desmontar esse
13945 143:58:00
13947 pouco eu estou limitado no meu julgamento
13949 144:03:00
13951 no que diz respeito ao cristianismo pela minha
13953 144:04:00