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#0100_ STORY INSPIRE: Why You Can’t Get What You Really Want — The Hidden Psychology Holding You Back · INSPIRE STORY

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the seventh of my release tour
0:04
Speaker 1: lectures from We Who Wrestle With God. A little update
0:08
Speaker 1: for the week. Well, the biggest news is that I
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Speaker 1: have a new grandson, Francis Fuller, eight pounds, one ounce,
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Speaker 1: born at 11.14 p.m. on July 29th. So that's number seven.
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Speaker 1: It's so good to have kids around. My son released
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Speaker 1: an album this week called Overcome. It's available on Spotify.
0:38
Speaker 1: It details the various things that him and his family
0:41
Speaker 1: have gone through in the last few years. He opened
0:45
Speaker 1: for my tour. That was exciting. I enjoyed that a lot.
0:49
Speaker 1: So give that a listen. We released the climate piece.
0:55
Speaker 1: We released a piece detailing out I would say the
0:59
Speaker 1: big climate lie, the failure of the modelers to take
1:03
Speaker 1: into account the effect of carbon dioxide on plant growth,
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Speaker 1: which has been phenomenal. So you can check that out
1:10
Speaker 1: on X or at the Telegraph, because the Telegraph published
1:14
Speaker 1: it in its entirety. Anyways, on with the show. I
1:17
Speaker 1: hope you find it useful, challenging, provocative, compelling, all those
1:22
Speaker 1: things a lecture should be. The question of belief currently
1:37
Speaker 1: plagues the world. And that's true culturally and politically. Say,
1:47
Speaker 1: with regards to so-called identity politics. Identity isn't politics, by
1:53
Speaker 1: the way. Identity is something much more fundamental than politics.
1:58
Speaker 1: And so, When we have identity politics, we have the
2:03
Speaker 1: collapse of the sacred into the political. And that's a
2:08
Speaker 1: reflection of the death of God. And that is not
2:10
Speaker 1: a good thing. That is failure to keep those things
2:14
Speaker 1: that should be rendered unto Caesar separate from those things
2:18
Speaker 1: that should be rendered unto God. Tonight, we're going to
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Speaker 1: investigate and what it means to believe, I would say.
2:31
Speaker 1: And we're going to do that in relationship to the
2:35
Speaker 1: biblical stories, which is what this book that the tour
2:39
Speaker 1: is based on is about. Is the Bible true? Well,
2:48
Speaker 1: the first issue you have to wrestle with if you're
2:52
Speaker 1: going to pose that question is, Well, what's the Bible about?
3:01
Speaker 1: And you have to understand the argument that it's dramatizing
3:09
Speaker 1: in order to address that issue squarely. And you might ask,
3:15
Speaker 1: why bother? And I suppose the simplest answer to that is,
3:22
Speaker 1: whether you're an atheist or a believer, a Christian, let's say,
3:27
Speaker 1: or a Jew, you can't escape the fact that the
3:33
Speaker 1: civilization that dominates the world, for better or worse, Western civilization,
3:38
Speaker 1: is a product of the biblical text. And so, wrestling
3:45
Speaker 1: with it is inescapable. What are we wrestling with? What's
3:54
Speaker 1: the Bible about? The Bible presents a characterization of God.
4:05
Speaker 1: It presents multiple specific characterizations of God in a manner
4:10
Speaker 1: that integrate into a unity. The unity is the monotheistic
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Speaker 1: God of the biblical corpus. The Bible is a characterization
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Speaker 1: of God. It's also a characterization of man and woman
4:30
Speaker 1: and society and a portrayal of the relationship or the
4:35
Speaker 1: covenant between man, woman, society, and God. And so, is
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Speaker 1: that characterization valid? That's the same question as whether or
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Speaker 1: not the Bible is true. Well, What's the characterization? So
4:58
Speaker 1: that's the question we'll investigate tonight. Now, this is the
5:02
Speaker 1: last lecture for me of a 60-city tour. I'll be
5:09
Speaker 1: hitting the road again with Tammy and my crew in
5:12
Speaker 1: November when my book comes out. But this is the
5:16
Speaker 1: end of the first run of the public events that
5:21
Speaker 1: are associated with We Who Wrestle With God. And it's
5:25
Speaker 1: a very good time for me to take stock because
5:28
Speaker 1: I've had 60 lectures to practice and all the time
5:35
Speaker 1: that I was touring, I was also writing. And so
5:40
Speaker 1: tonight I'm going to try to integrate. Richard Dawkins said
5:49
Speaker 1: something about the Bible You know Dawkins, he's perhaps the
5:54
Speaker 1: most famous of the four horsemen of the atheist movement,
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Speaker 1: the new atheist movement. A movement that's looking a little
6:01
Speaker 1: shaky at the moment, by the way, not least because
6:05
Speaker 1: of Dawkins' recent announcement that he was a cultural Christian,
6:10
Speaker 1: which of course begs the question, if Richard Dawkins, the
6:14
Speaker 1: world's most famous atheist, is a cultural Christian, just exactly
6:19
Speaker 1: what did the Christians get right? Because it's obviously something.
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Speaker 1: And it's obviously something significant enough so that even the
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Speaker 1: world's most famous atheist, when push comes to shove, which
6:33
Speaker 1: is what's happening, is forced, despite himself, perhaps, although I
6:40
Speaker 1: believe he is a man who in many ways is
6:42
Speaker 1: pursuing the truth, to publicly proclaim that we better not
6:48
Speaker 1: throw the baby out with the bathwater. Especially if it
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Speaker 1: happens to be the divine child that we're disposing of,
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Speaker 1: so to speak. Dawkins said once, I believe it was Dawkins,
7:04
Speaker 1: that if the biblical stories were true, then why was
7:08
Speaker 1: there no scientific discovery, so to speak, of note in
7:14
Speaker 1: the entire text? One answer to that is that the
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Speaker 1: truth that's contained in the biblical library is literary truth
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Speaker 1: or moral truth rather than scientific truth and that's a
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Speaker 1: reasonable objection because there's a difference between the moral truth
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Speaker 1: that lays out a structure of perception and a pathway
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Speaker 1: of action and the scientific truth that describes the world.
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Speaker 1: Those are not the same thing. We don't know how
7:47
Speaker 1: to bridge the gap between what is and what ought
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Speaker 1: to be, as Hume, the philosopher, David Hume, so famously
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Speaker 1: pointed out. But I would also take objection to Dawkins'
8:00
Speaker 1: claim that there's nothing of scientific merit in the biblical text,
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Speaker 1: because I don't believe that's true. I think that the
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Speaker 1: deepest findings of evolutionary psychology, biology, and the morality that
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Speaker 1: is portrayed in the biblical text actually dovetail. And I
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Speaker 1: also think that has to be the case insofar as
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Speaker 1: both are true. That's the conclusion you would draw if
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Speaker 1: you assumed or observed that the truth is in the
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Speaker 1: final analysis a unity. What's one of the fundamental truths
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Speaker 1: of the biblical library? that might be regarded as acceptable
8:43
Speaker 1: and novel, brilliant even, on the scientific front. The truth
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Speaker 1: that psychological stability and maturity and social integrity and community
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Speaker 1: itself are predicated on sacrifice. So what does that mean?
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Speaker 1: The Bible characterizes God. It characterizes man, woman, and society.
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Speaker 1: And it characterizes the relationship between man, woman, society, and God.
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Speaker 1: And it portrays that relationship as sacrificial. And understanding that is...
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Speaker 1: There's nothing more important than understanding what that means. And
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Speaker 1: I don't mean the understanding that's the belief in a creed.
9:41
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
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Speaker 1: For example. That begs the question. What do you mean believe?
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Speaker 1: I mean. Understanding. What the biblical description of sacrifice means.
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Speaker 1: So deeply that. it becomes comprehensible and I would say
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Speaker 1: unchallengeable philosophically and simultaneously something of immense continuous and immediate
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Speaker 1: practical significance. So to understand it, you have to understand
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Speaker 1: it in the highest possible manner, at the highest level
10:20
Speaker 1: of abstraction. But you have to be able to have
10:26
Speaker 1: incorporated it, that understanding, thoroughly enough so that it guides
10:32
Speaker 1: every decision you make to speak or move your eyes.
10:38
Speaker 1: Imagine your favorite lecture. Dial that up on Macs, put
10:42
Speaker 1: that on steroids, and then add some cinematic elements to it.
10:46
Speaker 1: That's the best way I could describe a Peterson Academy lecture.
10:51
Speaker 1: I went to college because I had to. I go
10:53
Speaker 1: to Peterson Academy because I want to. I'm still paying
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Speaker 1: off college from 10 years ago, and I'm also still
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Speaker 1: questioning the value that I got out of college.
11:00
Speaker 2: In traditional universities, a lot of times it's just pretty dry.
11:04
Speaker 1: They don't bring the same energy as the professors at
11:07
Speaker 1: Peterson Academy. It is a completely different experience to learn
11:10
Speaker 1: from somebody who actually wants to teach you. If you've
11:12
Speaker 1: been on that events about this, this is the time.
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Speaker 1: That thing that's calling to you, you won't have an
11:17
Speaker 1: answer for it unless you enroll and see for yourself.
11:20
Speaker 1: You have the opportunity to investigate that calling. All right.
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Speaker 1: We'll start the examination of the characterization and the sacrificial
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Speaker 1: motif with the story of Cain and Abel. It's a
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Speaker 1: very short story. It's a miraculously short story. It's only
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Speaker 1: about two paragraphs long. It's unbelievably condensed and dense. And
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Speaker 1: it really lays out the battleground between two different sacrificial
12:10
Speaker 1: approaches to life. Not only two different sacrificial approaches to life,
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Speaker 1: but the two different sacrificial approaches to life that characterize
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Speaker 1: the conflict in the human soul, the eternal political battle,
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Speaker 1: and the struggle between good and evil at the level
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Speaker 1: of the cosmos itself. What does sacrifice mean? This is
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Speaker 1: the rub. When modern people read the story of Cain
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Speaker 1: and Abel, the archaic dramatization constitutes an impediment to understanding.
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Speaker 1: Abel makes an altar. And on that altar, he immolates, burns,
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Speaker 1: The choicest cuts of the finest animals of his flock.
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Speaker 1: And he offers that to God. Now that's a hard
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Speaker 1: thing for modern people to wrap their heads around. We
13:23
Speaker 1: don't really understand the purpose of the altar. We don't
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Speaker 1: understand why these archaic people would immolate an offering. We
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Speaker 1: don't understand what the offering means. And we don't understand
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Speaker 1: why what's offered is what's offered. And that's a major problem.
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Speaker 1: Especially given that the story of Cain and Abel sets
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Speaker 1: the framework for understanding the entire pattern of narrative that
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Speaker 1: characterizes the Bible after that story as it unfolds. The
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Speaker 1: first question, therefore, is what does it mean to sacrifice?
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Speaker 1: It means to give something up. Why do you have
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Speaker 1: to give something up? Well, let's imagine that you want
14:35
Speaker 1: to establish a relationship with A woman or a man
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Speaker 1: in your marriage. Is it all about you? Well, try
14:49
Speaker 1: that out and see how it works. My suspicions is
14:53
Speaker 1: your wife will object. Whatever it's all about, it's not
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Speaker 1: all about you. And there's a further question there. Even
15:02
Speaker 1: if it was all about you, exactly, what do you mean?
15:08
Speaker 1: That it's all about you. Do you mean that it's
15:10
Speaker 1: all about what the most immature part of you wants
15:13
Speaker 1: right now and to hell with everything else? Because generally,
15:19
Speaker 1: even if you're a small child and it's all about you,
15:23
Speaker 1: what it actually means is that it's all about whatever whim,
15:27
Speaker 1: whatever narrow and immature whim happens to possess you at
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Speaker 1: the moment. So even if it's all about you, the
15:35
Speaker 1: you that it's all about Is not an integrated and
15:40
Speaker 1: unitary you. It's some instinctual drive. That's possessing you at
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Speaker 1: the moment. That demands immediate gratification. Regardless of the cost.
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Speaker 1: Sacrifice is necessary because things have a cost. So even
16:05
Speaker 1: if it's all about you. In a marriage which won't work.
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Speaker 1: The you that it's all about isn't even you. It's
16:12
Speaker 1: some fragment of you. That has got you in its control.
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Speaker 1: That you're. Essentially. Worshipping in a. Staggeringly immature and counterproductive manner.
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Speaker 1: When you say I want. What you're really saying. If.
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Speaker 1: the pronouncement is immature, is that something in you that
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Speaker 1: you've allowed to possess you wants. The child who only
16:48
Speaker 1: wants to play the game his way has no friends. Why? Well,
16:55
Speaker 1: because to have friends, everybody else gets a turn, not
17:01
Speaker 1: only to play, In the confines of a given game.
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Speaker 1: But to pick which game is going to be played.
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Speaker 1: And so if you want to have friends. Then you sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: Your own. Omnipotence. So that you can have a community.
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Speaker 1: And that's what you do. In a marriage. You. Sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: The necessity. For the immediate gratification. Of your. immature drives
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Speaker 1: to to what? Exactly. To the maintenance of the relationship.
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Speaker 1: Your wife, your husband needs to be aligned with you now.
17:58
Speaker 1: And that means that there are strictures on how You
18:06
Speaker 1: interact with your partner. Not only do they have to
18:14
Speaker 1: be aligned with you now. They have to be aligned
18:16
Speaker 1: with you tomorrow. And they have to be aligned with
18:20
Speaker 1: you next week. And next month. And next year. And
18:22
Speaker 1: a decade from now. And 20 years from now. And
18:25
Speaker 1: 50 years from now. And so what that means is
18:27
Speaker 1: that as you interact with every gesture and word. If
18:35
Speaker 1: you're interacting properly. You're interacting in a manner that ensures.
18:39
Speaker 1: The integration of your relationship. Now. So that you're pleased
18:44
Speaker 1: to be in each other's company. And playing properly together.
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Speaker 1: In a manner that makes you want to continue the game.
18:52
Speaker 1: In a manner that makes the game playable. Tomorrow and
18:55
Speaker 1: next week and next month and next year. And. 10
18:58
Speaker 1: years from now and 50 years from now. And so. You're.
19:04
Speaker 1: mode of operation in the present requires that you sacrifice
19:11
Speaker 1: whatever it is that something in you wants right now
19:16
Speaker 1: to the necessity of the approval and love of your partner,
19:21
Speaker 1: but not only that approval and love now, but that
19:25
Speaker 1: love and approval as it unfolds reciprocally along the longest
19:32
Speaker 1: possible temporal axis. And that's not all because it isn't
19:38
Speaker 1: just you and it's also not just you and your wife.
19:42
Speaker 1: It's going to be, let's say, you and your wife
19:46
Speaker 1: and your children and you and your wife and her
19:49
Speaker 1: parents and your parents and your siblings and your friends
19:57
Speaker 1: and your community. And so what that means is that
20:00
Speaker 1: you have to regulate and integrate your desires for the
20:08
Speaker 1: moment with the future in terms of the unfolding of
20:15
Speaker 1: your multiple relationships and the community. And you can imagine
20:22
Speaker 1: that there's a manner in which that might be conducted
20:27
Speaker 1: optimally so that everyone wants to play along, so that
20:34
Speaker 1: there's no requirement to use Compulsion or force. When you
20:41
Speaker 1: could use. Invitation to the game. And you could imagine that.
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Speaker 1: The ultimate game that everyone wants to play. That works
20:55
Speaker 1: for the largest number of people. Across the. Longest possible
21:00
Speaker 1: span of time. Is the. Game that. All proximal desire
21:10
Speaker 1: has to be subjugated to. And there's no difference between
21:18
Speaker 1: that and offering up your idiot whims to the Spirit
21:24
Speaker 1: of God. It's the same thing. The Spirit of God
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Speaker 1: being the ultimate unity that beckons at the pinnacle of
21:33
Speaker 1: the hierarchy of values that Brings everything together in the
21:39
Speaker 1: most harmonious possible way. What does Abel do? Well, he
21:50
Speaker 1: immolates his sacrifice on the altar. Okay, so let's take
21:53
Speaker 1: that apart a little bit. You burn something on an altar.
22:02
Speaker 1: And you convert it into smoke. You convert it into spirit,
22:08
Speaker 1: let's say, an aerial spirit that rises. And you do
22:13
Speaker 1: that so that the spirit that's in heaven, the ultimate up,
22:22
Speaker 1: the spirit that's transcendent and subordinate, the spirit that lives
22:27
Speaker 1: in heaven or the sky can detect the essence of
22:32
Speaker 1: your offering. What's the hypothesis? The unity that he exists
22:38
Speaker 1: at the pinnacle of being evaluates the quality of your sacrifice. Now,
22:46
Speaker 1: if you believe that you're more likely to be rewarded
22:50
Speaker 1: when you do well and less likely to be rewarded
22:54
Speaker 1: when you make a second-rate offering or offer something in
23:00
Speaker 1: the spirit of malevolence, then you believe that there's a
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Speaker 1: transcendent spirit that sees all, that evaluates the quality of
23:11
Speaker 1: your offerings. Do you believe that? Does your conscience call
23:17
Speaker 1: you to task when you offer less than your best?
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Speaker 1: That's the same question. Abel is a shepherd and he
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Speaker 1: offers the best he has. Why is he a shepherd?
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Speaker 1: Because a shepherd Protects the flock. Takes care of the vulnerable.
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Speaker 1: Keeps the predators, the wolves and the lions, at bay.
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Speaker 1: And occupies his lowly and ordinary position with dignity in service.
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Speaker 1: Abel's a shepherd, like David. Like Moses. Like Christ. He's
24:06
Speaker 1: an archetypal representation of what's best about masculinity. That capacity
24:13
Speaker 1: to keep the true predators at bay and to protect
24:19
Speaker 1: the most vulnerable. Abel is furthermore the masculine spirit that
24:28
Speaker 1: sacrifices diligently. That's his care of the flocks. And that
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Speaker 1: then takes the best of what he has to offer.
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Speaker 1: And offers it upward to the highest conceivable aim. Which
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Speaker 1: means that Abel is he who does his best. Cain,
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Speaker 1: by consequence, holds something in reserve. His sacrifices are bloodless sacrifices.
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Speaker 1: They have no cost. They are second rate. And in consequence,
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Speaker 1: Cain fails. Abel's sacrifices are met with acceptance and admiration
25:24
Speaker 1: by the community and by God. Abel is popular. With
25:30
Speaker 1: his compatriots, he's attractive to women and God himself smiles
25:38
Speaker 1: on Abel's offerings because they're of the highest quality. Cain
25:46
Speaker 1: plays a deceptive game that's lazy and arrogant. Lazy because
25:57
Speaker 1: he doesn't offer his best. Deceptive because he believes that
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Speaker 1: in his failure to offer his best, he can deceive himself,
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Speaker 1: his fellow men, the community as such, and God. And
26:15
Speaker 1: so Cain is the spirit of arrogance that presumes that
26:20
Speaker 1: God himself will be satisfied with whatever you offer that's
26:25
Speaker 1: not the best. And that's a Foolish and presumptuous presupposition.
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Speaker 1: Foolish because anyone with eyes open knows that life is
26:43
Speaker 1: so difficult and so challenging that the probability that you
26:49
Speaker 1: will get away with anything other than your absolute best
26:54
Speaker 1: is zero. Presumptuous because Cain believes that his own soul,
27:03
Speaker 1: his fellow man, and God are so foolish that they'll
27:07
Speaker 1: be fooled into accepting his false offering as if it's valid.
27:13
Speaker 1: And so Cain places himself higher in the heavenly hierarchy
27:21
Speaker 1: in terms of authority than God himself. And that's an
27:26
Speaker 1: unwise move. What's the consequence? Well, what's the consequence in
27:33
Speaker 1: your own life of your failure to offer what's best? Failure.
27:44
Speaker 1: The failure that makes your countenance fall. That's what happens
27:49
Speaker 1: to Cain. His countenance falls. Why? He's unhappy, bitter, miserable, resentful,
27:59
Speaker 1: and angry. Why? Because his second-rate sacrifices aren't accepted. Why else?
28:09
Speaker 1: Because he's forced to live with Abel, who's doing his best,
28:14
Speaker 1: and upon whom the sun constantly shines. Cain... whose countenance falls,
28:24
Speaker 1: becomes bitter and resentful and determines that he's in a
28:30
Speaker 1: position to call God to judgment. That's what we do
28:37
Speaker 1: when we observe our failures and make the presumption that
28:42
Speaker 1: there's something wrong with the cosmic order Such that we're
28:46
Speaker 1: failing rather than presuming if what we're offering is not
28:51
Speaker 1: being accepted. That that's a consequence of our own inadequacy.
28:56
Speaker 1: And so Cain has a chat with God. And makes
29:04
Speaker 1: his displeasure known. How is it, he says to God,
29:12
Speaker 1: that you've created a world so corrupt. that everything my
29:17
Speaker 1: brother Abel does turns to gold and everything I do fails.
29:26
Speaker 1: And God says, if you did well, would you not
29:30
Speaker 1: be accepted? And that's the fundamental question of conscience. If
29:39
Speaker 1: you are not allowed back into the paradisal garden, perhaps
29:45
Speaker 1: you're carrying something with you that doesn't deserve admission. The
29:54
Speaker 1: alternative to conceptualizing your miserable failure as a consequence of
30:00
Speaker 1: your own inadequacy in sacrifice is the presumption that there's
30:06
Speaker 1: something wrong, not only with the cosmic order, but with
30:10
Speaker 1: the nature of the spirit that established that order. There
30:14
Speaker 1: is no difference between resentment in relationship to God and
30:22
Speaker 1: Luciferian usurpation. They are the same thing. And God tells
30:27
Speaker 1: Cain two things. Number one, if you did well, you
30:32
Speaker 1: would be accepted. And second, don't be thinking that your
30:39
Speaker 1: resentment and bitterness and misery is a consequence of your failure.
30:45
Speaker 1: Modern materialist, left-wing, social theorists assume that That bitter criminality
30:55
Speaker 1: is a consequence of poverty. For example. But most people
31:01
Speaker 1: who are poor aren't criminal. So the causal relationship between
31:07
Speaker 1: low socioeconomic status or even failure. And outright bitter resentful
31:14
Speaker 1: criminality is not deterministic. And that's what God tells Cain.
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Speaker 1: He says... Your countenance has fallen. And you believe that
31:27
Speaker 1: your angry, painful bitterness is a consequence of your failure.
31:34
Speaker 1: And you believe that that failure is a reflection of
31:39
Speaker 1: the inadequacy of creation itself. But in truth, this is
31:44
Speaker 1: what you've done. The spirit of sin itself crouched at
31:51
Speaker 1: your door. And in your bitterness and resentment. And failure
31:57
Speaker 1: to take responsibility. You invited it in. To have its
32:03
Speaker 1: way with you. If you make a mistake. You could
32:11
Speaker 1: admit to the error. Which is to confess. You could
32:16
Speaker 1: reconstitute your aim. And you could atone. Or. You could
32:23
Speaker 1: observe the bitter consequences of your failure. Double down like
32:28
Speaker 1: the pharaonic tyrant. Accuse God and stay miserable. That's what
32:36
Speaker 1: Cain chooses to do. God says to him, sin crouched
32:41
Speaker 1: at your door like a sexually aroused predatory animal. And
32:47
Speaker 1: you invited it in to have its way with you.
32:52
Speaker 1: What does that mean? It doesn't merely mean that the
32:57
Speaker 1: spirit of sin tempted and possessed Cain. It means that
33:06
Speaker 1: the spirit of sin could not have possessed or tempted
33:11
Speaker 1: Cain had he not voluntarily invited it in and entered
33:16
Speaker 1: into a creative relationship with it. Brooding Upon his failure
33:29
Speaker 1: and the pain that has been generated in consequence. Imagining
33:38
Speaker 1: how the world would be if only he had the
33:43
Speaker 1: success and the control that he wants. Dreaming of the
33:48
Speaker 1: revenge that he could take on those that opposed him.
33:53
Speaker 1: Imagining what it would be like if Abel failed despite
33:56
Speaker 1: his appropriate sacrifices and Cain prevailed. Luxuriating in his fantasies
34:03
Speaker 1: of revenge. You ask yourself, perhaps, how the people who
34:10
Speaker 1: commit the cruelest and vilest of acts can come to
34:16
Speaker 1: that end. And the answer is a thousand hours of
34:21
Speaker 1: bitter fantasizing. A thousand hours of creative consort with the
34:27
Speaker 1: spirit of darkness itself. Which they invited in to have
34:35
Speaker 1: its way with them. As a means of obtaining revenge
34:43
Speaker 1: against themselves for their failure. Society for rejecting them. And
34:48
Speaker 1: God for having the temerity to create the world. In
34:52
Speaker 1: the first place. And so that's what God tells Cain.
34:57
Speaker 1: And he is. Seriously. Unhappy. With that response. As we
35:04
Speaker 1: all are. When. We. Discuss our situation with our conscience. And.
35:18
Speaker 1: Are informed in consequence that. The failures that made us
35:22
Speaker 1: bitter and resentful. Are a property to be laid at
35:26
Speaker 1: our own feet. And so Cain leaves. The discussion with God.
35:35
Speaker 1: And his countenance falls further. He's angrier. He's bitterer. He's
35:41
Speaker 1: more bitter. He's more resentful. He's actively vengeful. He's plotting.
35:49
Speaker 1: He goes to Abel. Who he admires and wants to be.
35:55
Speaker 1: And says. Perhaps we could work together in the field.
36:00
Speaker 1: An invitation to play. And Abel. Who's always hoping for the.
36:07
Speaker 1: Reclamation of his wayward brother. Agrees. And Cain takes him.
36:12
Speaker 1: To the field and. Beats him to death with a rock.
36:21
Speaker 1: And God shows up again in the form of Cain's conscience.
36:28
Speaker 1: And Cain says, am I my brother's keeper? And the
36:31
Speaker 1: answer to that is yes. And God says, the earth
36:37
Speaker 1: itself cries out to me in consequence of the blood
36:41
Speaker 1: that's been spilled. And Cain says, my punishment is more
36:46
Speaker 1: than I can bear. And what does that mean? There's
36:50
Speaker 1: no one so doomed as the person who's destroyed his
36:53
Speaker 1: own ideal. And that's what Cain does. No ideal, no aim.
36:59
Speaker 1: No ideal, no upward progress. No aim and upward progress.
37:07
Speaker 1: No hope. And so now Cain is destined to wander
37:15
Speaker 1: forever in the land of no hope, alone. And that's
37:22
Speaker 1: the land of Nod. The land of Nod is the
37:26
Speaker 1: place that children go when they sleep. It's the land
37:30
Speaker 1: of unconsciousness and alienation from self, man, and God that
37:39
Speaker 1: is the inevitable wandering place of the individual who makes
37:45
Speaker 1: poor sacrifices wreaks vengeance on his fellow, shakes his fist
37:53
Speaker 1: at God, and violates the social and divine contract. And
38:01
Speaker 1: that's the fate of Cain. But that's not all. Cain's
38:12
Speaker 1: descendants are the engineers who build cities and make tools
38:16
Speaker 1: and worship technology. As an alternative to aligning their spirits
38:23
Speaker 1: properly with God. Cain's descendants are the Canaanites. Who are
38:30
Speaker 1: from thenceforth on the enemy of the chosen people of God.
38:36
Speaker 1: And the evil inhabitants of the tyrannical and hedonistic states.
38:42
Speaker 1: And that's not all. The descendants of Cain are... the
38:47
Speaker 1: first makers of weapons of war, that's Tubal-Cain, and the
38:53
Speaker 1: first practitioners of the tit-for-tat revenge that spirals into genocidal murder. Lamech,
39:06
Speaker 1: who's Cain's descendants, kills seven of you if you offend him,
39:12
Speaker 1: and his sons kill 70 of you. And the message
39:16
Speaker 1: of that story is that Cain's failure to make the
39:21
Speaker 1: proper sacrifices, his developing anger and unhappiness, and bitterness and
39:31
Speaker 1: desire for vengeance is a spirit that can spread throughout
39:42
Speaker 1: the entire community and which results in the catastrophe of
39:48
Speaker 1: the genocidal impulse. And so if you're wondering what happened
39:54
Speaker 1: in Nazi Germany, or if you're wondering what happened in
39:57
Speaker 1: the Stalinist Soviet Union, or in Mao's China, all those
40:01
Speaker 1: places that were indistinguishable from hell, the fundamental causal element
40:08
Speaker 1: was the failure of the individual inhabitants of those states
40:14
Speaker 1: to make the proper sacrifices that would put them in
40:18
Speaker 1: harmony with the Eternal cosmic order the consequent bitterness that
40:24
Speaker 1: emerged the vengeance that that failure Tempted them toward the
40:34
Speaker 1: rebellion against God the emergence of the murderous spirit and
40:40
Speaker 1: this descent of that into the genocidal catastrophe and so
40:45
Speaker 1: that's what you're involved in whether you know it or
40:49
Speaker 1: not and When you fail to bring the best to
40:52
Speaker 1: the table. And that's true for absolutely everything you do.
40:59
Speaker 1: No matter how small. You're made in the image of God.
41:08
Speaker 1: Or so the story goes. Thus, nothing you do is small.
41:17
Speaker 1: When Adam and Eve... Fall prey to the sin of pride.
41:24
Speaker 1: And history begins in its fallen state. God bars the
41:31
Speaker 1: road back to the Garden of Eden with monstrous cherubs
41:38
Speaker 1: terrifying in their aspect and a sword that is on
41:43
Speaker 1: fire that turns every which way. What Are the monstrous cherubs.
41:52
Speaker 1: Everything that your prideful sin. Makes you terrified of. What
41:58
Speaker 1: is the sword that burns and turns. Every which way.
42:05
Speaker 1: That guards the pathway to paradise. The divine judgment that.
42:13
Speaker 1: Refuses to allow anything that isn't perfect. Into heaven. And.
42:19
Speaker 1: Why is that manifested as a sword that turns every
42:24
Speaker 1: which way that burns? A sword cuts. A sword that
42:28
Speaker 1: turns every which way cannot be escaped. A sword that
42:31
Speaker 1: turns every which way that's flaming burns. To move into
42:37
Speaker 1: the state of paradise, you have to allow everything that
42:43
Speaker 1: isn't perfect about you to be cut down. And burned away.
42:51
Speaker 1: That's a sacrifice. That's the sacrifice that's pleasing to God.
43:01
Speaker 1: That fact alone is part of the reason that the
43:04
Speaker 1: religious enterprise is not some self-serving, sanctimonious, immature defense against
43:12
Speaker 1: the terror of death. Or some hypothetical... creation of the
43:19
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father behind whose skirts cowards hide. There isn't anything
43:25
Speaker 1: more terrible to contemplate than the necessity of having everything
43:31
Speaker 1: that isn't acceptable about you judged and destroyed. Particularly if
43:39
Speaker 1: there's plenty about you that's not acceptable. The story of
43:52
Speaker 1: Cain and Abel establishes the sacrificial pattern. The pattern of work.
43:59
Speaker 1: The pattern of mature work upward. As the mode of
44:05
Speaker 1: human being and becoming. Human beings sacrifice. We work. We
44:13
Speaker 1: delay gratification. We save for the future. We sacrifice. Regulate
44:20
Speaker 1: our own impulses in relationship to our friends and our
44:25
Speaker 1: loved ones. And we don't do foolish things that are
44:30
Speaker 1: enjoyable in the present. Because that would compromise the future.
44:36
Speaker 1: We sacrifice immediacy for the community and the future. Our
44:42
Speaker 1: mature mode of being is sacrificial. Once you understand that.
44:50
Speaker 1: The only question that remains is. What's the sacrifice. That
44:55
Speaker 1: best pleases God. We alluded to that. In relationship to
45:00
Speaker 1: the sword. That turns every which way. And burns. And
45:05
Speaker 1: we alluded to that. In the analysis of the sacrifice.
45:10
Speaker 1: The competing sacrifices. Of Cain and Abel. And we can.
45:16
Speaker 1: Further our analysis. With the story of. Abraham. Abraham is
45:25
Speaker 1: the man who's called upon even to sacrifice his son
45:28
Speaker 1: to God. When the spirit that is God characterized comes
45:37
Speaker 1: to Abraham, it comes as the spirit of adventure. Abraham
45:46
Speaker 1: is an old man and not an admirable man. When
45:51
Speaker 1: the story begins. That's a relief. Because it means that
45:56
Speaker 1: the pathway to individual development is available even to those
46:01
Speaker 1: who are not admirable at the beginning. Abraham is an everyman.
46:07
Speaker 1: He's the beneficiary of undeserved privilege. His father and mother
46:17
Speaker 1: are rich. All of what he needs is at his fingertips.
46:25
Speaker 1: And he lives in his father's tent in infantile satiated
46:29
Speaker 1: comfort for seven decades. Never having to lift a finger.
46:36
Speaker 1: And you might conclude from that, if you were a
46:41
Speaker 1: utopian materialist, that heaven itself had arrived for Abraham. as
46:50
Speaker 1: all his needs were met. If all your needs are met,
47:00
Speaker 1: you go to sleep. You have your Christmas dinner. You're
47:06
Speaker 1: around the people you love. There's no challenge that confronts you.
47:10
Speaker 1: There's no purpose for your consciousness. You fall asleep like
47:15
Speaker 1: a satiated infant after the breast. Is that the purpose
47:20
Speaker 1: of your life? That's not what God tells Abraham. God
47:26
Speaker 1: says to Abraham, sacrifice your comfort. Leave your security. Move
47:38
Speaker 1: away from your father's tent. Move away from the people
47:43
Speaker 1: that you know. Move away from what's familiar. And go out. voluntarily,
47:51
Speaker 1: in good faith, and with courage into the terrible world.
47:58
Speaker 1: What is the spirit that proclaims that destiny? Is that
48:03
Speaker 1: what you tell your son? Is that what you tell
48:06
Speaker 1: your daughter? Do you say, stay home dear for the
48:10
Speaker 1: rest of your life? We'll wrap you in styrofoam. We'll
48:15
Speaker 1: put you in a corner in the basement. We'll feed
48:18
Speaker 1: you with a tube. And you won't have to worry
48:20
Speaker 1: about anything. Or do you say and hope instead that
48:26
Speaker 1: your child determines to take on the challenge of maturity.
48:32
Speaker 1: To face the difficulties of the world. To leave your
48:37
Speaker 1: welcoming home. And to take their chances with their destiny. Well.
48:44
Speaker 1: Insofar as you are an incarnation of the Spirit of
48:50
Speaker 1: the Benevolent Father, you encourage the acceptance of the voluntary
48:56
Speaker 1: challenge that catalyzes characterological development upward. And that's what the
49:04
Speaker 1: voice of God is for Abraham. The voice that says,
49:08
Speaker 1: leave what's comfortable and take your place In the catastrophe
49:15
Speaker 1: of the world. And it is a catastrophe for Abraham.
49:19
Speaker 1: What does he face? Famine first. Tyranny second. Then he
49:24
Speaker 1: goes to war. The angels of God come to him
49:30
Speaker 1: and tell him that he's to be the prophet to
49:35
Speaker 1: the city threatened with destruction by God. Then he's called
49:41
Speaker 1: upon to sacrifice his only son. There's nothing about the
49:46
Speaker 1: adventure of Abraham. That's a burden any less than the
49:51
Speaker 1: hoisting of the crucified burden. But Abraham has the adventure
50:00
Speaker 1: of his life. And he makes the appropriate sacrifices with
50:05
Speaker 1: each adventure. And his character develops. So profoundly that it's
50:11
Speaker 1: as if he becomes a new person. And in fact,
50:14
Speaker 1: he starts as Abraham and ends as Abraham. And Abraham
50:19
Speaker 1: is the father of nations. When the spirit of adventure
50:24
Speaker 1: comes to Abraham, it offers him a covenant. The covenant
50:30
Speaker 1: is the relationship with the divine that characterizes the proper
50:37
Speaker 1: sacrificial mode of human existence. God tells Abraham, if you
50:44
Speaker 1: have the courage and the faith to leave the zone
50:49
Speaker 1: of comfort and pursue the adventure of your life, this
50:54
Speaker 1: will be your reward. Your life will be a blessing
50:58
Speaker 1: to you. You imagine for a moment that you're considering
51:03
Speaker 1: the circumstances of your own life. It's three in the
51:08
Speaker 1: morning and you're wrestling with your conscience. And maybe not victoriously.
51:14
Speaker 1: You're uprating yourself for your failures. You remember those times
51:18
Speaker 1: when you did offer your best. And you faced the
51:22
Speaker 1: challenges that were in front of you. And that you
51:25
Speaker 1: lived in service to God. The people you loved and
51:29
Speaker 1: to the higher good. And you at least momentarily prevailed.
51:34
Speaker 1: And you satisfy yourself. In relationship to the acceptability of
51:39
Speaker 1: your own being. With the memories of your. Occasional. Proper. Sacrificial. Triumph.
51:50
Speaker 1: God tells Abraham. If you did nothing. But abide by
51:55
Speaker 1: the calling of the spirit of adventure. Your life would
51:59
Speaker 1: be a blessing to you. If that wasn't true. Why
52:05
Speaker 1: would you be pleased. When you saw your son or
52:08
Speaker 1: your daughter. Face the challenges that. Mature them. In a
52:12
Speaker 1: voluntary manner. And take on the burden of their own maturity.
52:17
Speaker 1: You know. In your heart of hearts. In so far
52:20
Speaker 1: as you love your children. That. If they. Follow their
52:28
Speaker 1: deepest instinct upward. That they will turn into. The person
52:36
Speaker 1: that you love now. And the person you would most
52:38
Speaker 1: admire as an adult. And that's what God offers Abraham.
52:42
Speaker 1: And he. Establishes an identity. And the identity is. The
52:47
Speaker 1: equivalence of the call of the spirit of adventure. With
52:51
Speaker 1: the developmental pathway. That makes the adventurous. Sojourner. A blessing
52:56
Speaker 1: to himself. But that's not the only offer. God tells
53:03
Speaker 1: Abraham that if he has the adventure of his life.
53:08
Speaker 1: Instead of falling prey to the infantile temptations of satiation
53:16
Speaker 1: and wealth. That his name will become renowned among his peers.
53:22
Speaker 1: And for valid reasons. And so not only will he
53:25
Speaker 1: be a blessing to himself, the pattern of his life
53:28
Speaker 1: will be such that other people will turn to him
53:30
Speaker 1: as a model for emulation and as a figure of
53:36
Speaker 1: genuine and valid admiration. And so that's a harmonious conjunction
53:44
Speaker 1: of what's best for the individual and best for the
53:47
Speaker 1: social world. To live in a manner that's a blessing
53:50
Speaker 1: to you That is so starkly a blessing that other
53:54
Speaker 1: people recognize it too. In the absence of any manipulation
53:59
Speaker 1: or deception. And that's not the only offer. God tells
54:04
Speaker 1: Abraham that if he does those two things. He'll establish
54:09
Speaker 1: something permanent. And of lasting value. In Abraham's case, a
54:14
Speaker 1: dynasty that makes his descendants innumerable. And that makes him
54:20
Speaker 1: the father of nations. That Abraham, if he follows the
54:24
Speaker 1: pattern of adventure. Without reservation. And makes the appropriate sacrifices
54:30
Speaker 1: in consequence. That he'll establish a pattern of being. That
54:33
Speaker 1: best ensures that his children will thrive. And that their
54:37
Speaker 1: children will thrive. And that their children will thrive. And multiply.
54:42
Speaker 1: And grow. Until the people who wrestle with God. In
54:48
Speaker 1: the most adventurous manner. Inherit the earth. And that's not
54:54
Speaker 1: the only offer. God tells Abraham. If he does all
54:59
Speaker 1: three of those things. That he will also live his life.
55:02
Speaker 1: In a manner that's maximally beneficial. To everyone else. Indicating
55:06
Speaker 1: thereby that. The world is a place of adventure. That has.
55:12
Speaker 1: An infinite potential. That is. Whatever you might garner for
55:17
Speaker 1: yourself in the course of your truly adventurous and upward
55:21
Speaker 1: striving could be created and produced in a manner that
55:27
Speaker 1: did nothing but increase the probability that everyone else could
55:30
Speaker 1: have the same thing. That's the cornucopia of possibility that
55:38
Speaker 1: characterizes the potential That God broods upon at the beginning
55:44
Speaker 1: of time itself. And out of which he extracts the
55:48
Speaker 1: natural man and the social and natural order. And that's
55:54
Speaker 1: the possibility that's in front of you at every moment.
55:58
Speaker 1: As a reflection of the image of God. And it's
56:02
Speaker 1: the contending with that possibility. That's the dragon fight that
56:08
Speaker 1: reveals the most valuable hidden treasure. In the manner that's
56:12
Speaker 1: most adventurous. In the pursuit of what's most upward. In
56:17
Speaker 1: the establishment of a sacrificial relationship with what's most high.
56:23
Speaker 1: And that's the covenant with God. By definition. That's the story.
56:40
Speaker 1: What's the sacrifice that's represented by Christ? There's a story
56:50
Speaker 1: in Exodus. This is a miraculous story. It's the conjunction
56:56
Speaker 1: of these two stories that's miraculous. The Israelites are out
57:01
Speaker 1: in the desert. They've sojourned for days. Decades. They're tired
57:07
Speaker 1: and exhausted. They're pining for the tyranny. They're still miserable slaves.
57:12
Speaker 1: They whine and complain bitterly about their fate. They're lost.
57:20
Speaker 1: They cease abiding by the dictates of Moses. They turn
57:26
Speaker 1: to the worship of false idols. And they break their
57:32
Speaker 1: covenant with God. Who's displeased as a consequence. And who
57:38
Speaker 1: sends his miserable and faithless people poisonous snakes to bite them. Why?
57:50
Speaker 1: Because no matter how bad things are for you, there's
57:55
Speaker 1: something stupid you could still do to make it worse.
58:02
Speaker 1: And so you could blame God for sending the snakes.
58:04
Speaker 1: Or you could say. If you misbehave badly enough. The
58:10
Speaker 1: snakes are certain to come. And that's what happens to
58:14
Speaker 1: the Israelites. And so they're all being bitten by the
58:18
Speaker 1: poisonous snakes. And that makes them desperate enough. To turn
58:24
Speaker 1: back to Moses. And to ask him to intervene with God.
58:30
Speaker 1: They send a representative. to Moses and say, we know
58:35
Speaker 1: you have a pipeline to the divine. We're having a
58:39
Speaker 1: lot of trouble with these snakes that God appears to
58:43
Speaker 1: have sent. Maybe you could put in a good word
58:46
Speaker 1: for the chosen people and get God to call off
58:50
Speaker 1: the snakes. And so Moses, who's also not very happy
58:55
Speaker 1: with the Israelites, agrees yet again to intercede on their behalf.
59:01
Speaker 1: And says to God, your people are groaning under their
59:05
Speaker 1: burden of their own sin and the punishment that you
59:08
Speaker 1: have so rightly sent for them is there something that
59:13
Speaker 1: could be done about the snakes and God says yes
59:20
Speaker 1: and then you might think that the simple solution would
59:24
Speaker 1: be to eliminate All the snakes. But then you might
59:29
Speaker 1: ask yourself. If you were doing the best for your son.
59:33
Speaker 1: As he was developing. Would you chase away all the snakes?
59:38
Speaker 1: And make him safe? Or would you teach him to.
59:42
Speaker 1: Handle whatever snake came his way. And so God says
59:46
Speaker 1: to Moses. Have the Israelites gather up their bronze. And
59:52
Speaker 1: make of the bronze a. Statue. And make the statue.
59:56
Speaker 1: A statue. The staff of tradition and authority. And put
1:00:02
Speaker 1: a serpent on the staff. And so the Israelites can
1:00:10
Speaker 1: gaze on that which would otherwise poison them. And become immune.
1:00:20
Speaker 1: The symbol of healing. The staff of Asclepius. Is the
1:00:27
Speaker 1: serpent and the staff. The pharmacon is a little of
1:00:32
Speaker 1: the poison that bit you as the cure. The serpent
1:00:38
Speaker 1: on the staff is the stark fact that if you're
1:00:44
Speaker 1: willing to voluntarily confront that which is most poisonous, you
1:00:51
Speaker 1: can become immune to its bite. That's what God tells
1:00:57
Speaker 1: the Israelites. Look upon that which threatens and poisons you
1:01:03
Speaker 1: most deeply and prevail. Thousands of years later, Christ tells
1:01:14
Speaker 1: his followers that for the world to be redeemed, he
1:01:20
Speaker 1: has to be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness,
1:01:25
Speaker 1: like the brazen beast Serpent in the wilderness. Now that's
1:01:30
Speaker 1: a very strange story. Why would Christ assimilate himself to
1:01:37
Speaker 1: the poisonous serpent in the desert? Why indeed? Carl Jung
1:01:44
Speaker 1: described the passion story as the archetypal tragedy. What did
1:01:50
Speaker 1: he mean? Well, you know that there's a difference between
1:01:53
Speaker 1: a story that's comedic, that has a happy ending, And
1:01:57
Speaker 1: a story that's tragic. A tragic story is something terrible
1:02:02
Speaker 1: happening to a villain? No. Something terrible that happens to
1:02:09
Speaker 1: a villain, that's a story of justice. A tragedy is
1:02:12
Speaker 1: a story of something terrible happening to someone who's innocent.
1:02:17
Speaker 1: So what's the most intense possible tragedy? What tragedy would
1:02:25
Speaker 1: you present... If you took all the tragedy of the
1:02:29
Speaker 1: world and distilled it into the ultimate tragedy, the ultimate
1:02:36
Speaker 1: tragedy would be the worst possible suffering of the most
1:02:43
Speaker 1: innocent possible person. And that's the passion story. What's the
1:02:49
Speaker 1: worst possible suffering? Death? Death when young. The worst imaginable
1:03:03
Speaker 1: painful death invented by the tyrant to torture you into submission.
1:03:10
Speaker 1: Culminating in your death with when young. In front of
1:03:14
Speaker 1: the mother who loves you deeply. In consequence of the
1:03:18
Speaker 1: betrayal by your best friend. While you're abandoned by the
1:03:23
Speaker 1: disciples that have seen you do miraculous things. Well, being
1:03:28
Speaker 1: pursued by the mob of your own people, who choose
1:03:32
Speaker 1: your painful death over the punishment of a criminal, who
1:03:38
Speaker 1: they know to be a criminal, even when they know
1:03:41
Speaker 1: you're innocent, and not only innocent, but someone who's done
1:03:44
Speaker 1: nothing but good. Well, that mob is dominated by a
1:03:50
Speaker 1: foreign tyranny that worships power. The worst possible fate for
1:03:59
Speaker 1: the least possibly deserving person. And that's not all. Because death.
1:04:05
Speaker 1: No matter how painful and unjust. Is not the worst
1:04:09
Speaker 1: thing that human beings have to face. After Christ's crucifixion.
1:04:16
Speaker 1: He descends into hell. Like Jonah. And confronts malevolence itself.
1:04:25
Speaker 1: And death. emerges victorious. What does it mean? The pathway
1:04:30
Speaker 1: to redemption is the voluntary confrontation with the worst possible
1:04:36
Speaker 1: death and the spirit of evil itself. Why? Well, how
1:04:43
Speaker 1: else could it possibly work? How are you going to
1:04:46
Speaker 1: get through life? Productively, happily, as a benefit to other people.
1:04:54
Speaker 1: As a man or a woman who could establish something permanent.
1:04:57
Speaker 1: If you are too afraid to face the reality of
1:05:01
Speaker 1: your own suffering and death. If you run from that.
1:05:06
Speaker 1: How are you going to cope with that if you
1:05:08
Speaker 1: run from it? You can't cope from anything by running
1:05:11
Speaker 1: from it. And then that's bad enough. But there's the
1:05:15
Speaker 1: reality of evil too. Which is, if anything, worse than death.
1:05:20
Speaker 1: If you could choose your own death... As an alternative
1:05:25
Speaker 1: to the suffering of the people you love. At the
1:05:27
Speaker 1: hands of the most evil person you could imagine. Which
1:05:30
Speaker 1: would you pick? Insofar as you have people you love.
1:05:34
Speaker 1: You'd pick your own death in a heartbeat. That's what
1:05:36
Speaker 1: it means to be a parent. What that means is that.
1:05:41
Speaker 1: There are worse evils than death. And what that means
1:05:45
Speaker 1: is that. There are worse things about life than suffering
1:05:48
Speaker 1: and death. And what that means is that. Not only
1:05:51
Speaker 1: do we have to confront death. Suffering a death. But
1:05:55
Speaker 1: we have to stand up against evil itself. And that's why.
1:05:59
Speaker 1: Christ is the sacrificial model. For western civilization. And there's no.
1:06:06
Speaker 1: Way around that. As far as I can tell. If the.
1:06:12
Speaker 1: Integrity of the psyche. Is dependent on maturation. And sacrifice.
1:06:16
Speaker 1: And the sanctity of the marriage. Is dependent on the
1:06:20
Speaker 1: mutual sacrifice. Of wife and husband. And the. Stability and
1:06:26
Speaker 1: productivity of the family is dependent on the sacrifice of
1:06:29
Speaker 1: the parents. And the community is dependent on the sacrifice
1:06:34
Speaker 1: of the families. And so on all the way up
1:06:37
Speaker 1: the hierarchy to the sacrifice that's most pleasing to God.
1:06:43
Speaker 1: Then it's the willingness to shoulder the burden of the
1:06:47
Speaker 1: ultimate sacrifice that reconciles what's highest and man. And that's
1:06:56
Speaker 1: The story of the crucifixion. And the call to. The
1:07:01
Speaker 1: followers of Christ to. Pick up their cross. And follow.
1:07:07
Speaker 1: The redeeming hero. Thereby. What? Becoming a leader. In the
1:07:14
Speaker 1: style of Moses. Becoming a king. In the style of David. Becoming.
1:07:21
Speaker 1: The Israelite in the desert. Who has the courage to.
1:07:25
Speaker 1: Gaze upon the form of the serpent that poisons him.
1:07:31
Speaker 1: What have we done in the West? I went to
1:07:35
Speaker 1: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The church
1:07:40
Speaker 1: that was founded by the Emperor Constantine's mother on the
1:07:45
Speaker 1: site of Christ's crucifixion. At the center of the cathedral.
1:07:51
Speaker 1: There's an altar. At the center of an altar, the altar,
1:07:54
Speaker 1: there's a cross. At the center of the cross is
1:07:57
Speaker 1: the individual who determines to face the worst that the
1:08:03
Speaker 1: world has to offer and who discovers in so doing
1:08:07
Speaker 1: that he's accompanied by God in consequence. The altar is
1:08:14
Speaker 1: the center of the church. The church is the center
1:08:18
Speaker 1: of the town. Civilization itself In its western form. Is
1:08:24
Speaker 1: predicated on. Our worship. Of the central sacrifice upon which.
1:08:31
Speaker 1: The integrity of the psyche. And the. Productive stability of
1:08:36
Speaker 1: the community. Is necessarily. Founded. There's no. What's the alternative
1:08:44
Speaker 1: to that? The idea that your second rate offerings. Are
1:08:49
Speaker 1: going to be accepted. And. The notion that you can
1:08:51
Speaker 1: pull the wool over your own eyes and the eyes
1:08:54
Speaker 1: of your fellow man and society and God himself. The
1:08:59
Speaker 1: notion that there's no up whatsoever. In which case you're
1:09:04
Speaker 1: in Cain's situation with no ideal and wandering unconsciously in
1:09:08
Speaker 1: the land of isolated eternal suffering. Or you're possessed by
1:09:13
Speaker 1: the spirit of Cain that's resentful and bitter, that shakes
1:09:16
Speaker 1: its fist at God, that becomes murderous and then genocidal.
1:09:22
Speaker 1: Those don't, those what? Those are the pathways to hell
1:09:26
Speaker 1: that are the alternative to the pathway to heaven. And
1:09:29
Speaker 1: what's the pathway to heaven? The straight and narrow path, right? Well,
1:09:33
Speaker 1: why straight? Because a lot has to go before you
1:09:39
Speaker 1: walk that pathway. Because a lot has to be offered
1:09:42
Speaker 1: up before you're an imitator of Christ. That's for sure.
1:09:48
Speaker 1: Is the possibility that God's will could be done on
1:09:54
Speaker 1: earth as it is in heaven dependent on your willingness
1:09:57
Speaker 1: to participate in that process of sacrifice? That's the story.
1:10:04
Speaker 1: That's why there's an insistence in Western culture that You're
1:10:09
Speaker 1: made in the image of God that you have the
1:10:11
Speaker 1: rights of someone who has an alliance with what's of
1:10:17
Speaker 1: highest value. That's why you have the responsibility to shoulder
1:10:21
Speaker 1: the burden of your own governance that's associated with the
1:10:26
Speaker 1: idea that sovereignty is inherent in each of us as individuals.
1:10:35
Speaker 1: Do we believe that each of us is a locale
1:10:37
Speaker 1: of divine worth? How do you want to be treated
1:10:40
Speaker 1: by your wife? How does she want to be treated
1:10:44
Speaker 1: by you? How do your children want to be treated
1:10:46
Speaker 1: by you? Do they want to be treated as if
1:10:49
Speaker 1: they're mortal loci of divine value? Will they be more
1:10:57
Speaker 1: than pleased to have to do with you if that's
1:11:00
Speaker 1: how you treat them? Will they turn away from you
1:11:03
Speaker 1: as if you're a tyrant? Or someone who's utterly useless
1:11:07
Speaker 1: in your hedonistic stupidity if you treat them in some
1:11:11
Speaker 1: alternate manner? How about with regard to how you treat yourself?
1:11:17
Speaker 1: Are you in concordance with your own conscience when you
1:11:23
Speaker 1: forthrightly bear the burden of your destiny and you do
1:11:27
Speaker 1: that voluntarily in good faith and with courage? Or do
1:11:32
Speaker 1: you admire yourself when you're whiny and bitter and resentful
1:11:36
Speaker 1: and murderous and genocidal? Is that true? Well, that's what
1:11:46
Speaker 1: the biblical stories indicate. Do we believe that? Well, the
1:11:52
Speaker 1: proof of that is in our action. What does Christ
1:11:57
Speaker 1: say at the end of time? The worst of all
1:12:02
Speaker 1: eternal punishments is reserved for the people who sit on
1:12:04
Speaker 1: the fence. Do we believe? Well, if we're nihilistic and resentful,
1:12:13
Speaker 1: then we believe in the spirit that shakes its fist
1:12:17
Speaker 1: at God and eternally rebels. If we believe in the
1:12:23
Speaker 1: eternal logos, then we confront the terrible combination of dragon
1:12:29
Speaker 1: and treasure that's the Potential chaos around us. And we
1:12:33
Speaker 1: take the burden for our life on our own shoulders.
1:12:36
Speaker 1: Those are the options. Or we waver in the middle stupidly.
1:12:39
Speaker 1: Trying to play both ends against the middle. Those are
1:12:43
Speaker 1: all positions of faith. They're all positions of belief. There's
1:12:47
Speaker 1: no escape from faith. There's no escape from belief. An
1:12:51
Speaker 1: ignorant person has to make his way forward with faith.
1:12:55
Speaker 1: Faith in what? The biblical stories call us to faith in.
1:13:01
Speaker 1: The Logos that established divine order at the beginning of
1:13:05
Speaker 1: time in consequence of the decision to take the full
1:13:10
Speaker 1: weight of the catastrophe of existence on itself. And that's
1:13:15
Speaker 1: the image in whose... That's the image... That's the God
1:13:20
Speaker 1: in whose image you're hypothetically made. And so what's the
1:13:25
Speaker 1: moral of the biblical story? Act like it. Thank you
1:13:32
Speaker 1: very much. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
1:14:25
Speaker 1: you for your patience and your willingness to listen to that.
1:14:31
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite my wife, Tammy, back on the
1:14:33
Speaker 1: stage We're going to answer some questions.
1:14:48
Speaker 2: Thank you.
1:14:50
Speaker 1: Okay.
1:14:53
Speaker 2: Do you need a minute?
1:14:56
Speaker 1: No, I think we can continue. All right.
1:15:05
Speaker 2: Let's see. OK, here's one. You've expressed the importance of
1:15:17
Speaker 2: myths that shape our society. Would you ever consider writing
1:15:21
Speaker 2: fiction to contribute to our damaged cultural narrative?
1:15:33
Speaker 1: I wrote a fairy tale. modified version of a Grimm's
1:15:37
Speaker 1: Brother fairy tale called Water of Life. I made a
1:15:40
Speaker 1: musical screenplay out of that. And we're working at the
1:15:44
Speaker 1: moment on about a dozen songs that are associated with that.
1:15:48
Speaker 1: So that's one answer of yes to that. And you
1:15:52
Speaker 1: may remember that I started working on a film, on
1:15:56
Speaker 1: a noir detective novel at one point too. I read
1:16:01
Speaker 1: it to your family at Christmas. I didn't go over
1:16:04
Speaker 1: very well. It's a little on the dark side, you
1:16:07
Speaker 1: might say. I suppose if I wasn't doing this, I
1:16:15
Speaker 1: would engage myself in endeavors that were more creative and artistic.
1:16:22
Speaker 1: I have a facility for writing musical plays and foolish
1:16:30
Speaker 1: poetry for children and Possibly very dark detective novels. And
1:16:37
Speaker 1: that would be very entertaining. And. Maybe. The time for
1:16:43
Speaker 1: that will come. But. Who knows what the future will bring.
1:16:49
Speaker 1: At the moment. This seems to be. You need the
1:16:55
Speaker 1: luxury to do that. You know. And to have that luxury.
1:16:59
Speaker 1: You have to be living in a time where. It's
1:17:03
Speaker 1: reasonable to isolate yourself from the broader concerns of society
1:17:07
Speaker 1: and devote yourself to your private concerns. And that's not
1:17:13
Speaker 1: the situation that we're in at the moment. So until
1:17:21
Speaker 1: I'm satisfied that all hell is not about to break loose,
1:17:33
Speaker 1: My plan and my wife's plan and my family's plan
1:17:37
Speaker 1: is to continue doing what we're doing and leave the
1:17:43
Speaker 1: more enjoyable, creative, purely creative endeavors aside until, God willing,
1:17:54
Speaker 1: the time comes that that's the appropriate pursuit.
1:18:10
Speaker 2: Julian just recorded an album.
1:18:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:18:13
Speaker 2: Our son Julian just recorded an album. It's a little
1:18:17
Speaker 2: dark too, though, I'd say. But that should come out.
1:18:22
Speaker 1: Well, Tammy and I, we've recorded a fair bit of music.
1:18:26
Speaker 1: The piece of music that will close this show is
1:18:29
Speaker 1: one of the pieces we recorded. And I'm going to
1:18:32
Speaker 1: be working with the musician, Victor Swift, who started this
1:18:36
Speaker 1: show on some music in the summer. And We have
1:18:39
Speaker 1: a bit of an opportunity now that this tour is
1:18:43
Speaker 1: coming to its current conclusion to play in the fictional
1:18:51
Speaker 1: and creative realm and so you know there's it's very
1:18:57
Speaker 1: fun to do that it's extremely engaging and we'll have
1:19:01
Speaker 1: some time to do it so sometime that's good that's
1:19:04
Speaker 1: a lot better than no time so and we'll make
1:19:07
Speaker 1: hay while the sun shines and Yeah, that's right.
1:19:13
Speaker 2: If you were going to be a first-time father, which
1:19:16
Speaker 2: you were, you were a first-time father, a right-wing father,
1:19:21
Speaker 2: I don't know if you were a right-wing father.
1:19:24
Speaker 1: By reputation. Yes, by reputation.
1:19:28
Speaker 2: How would you prepare your children to face the woke
1:19:31
Speaker 2: slash left-wing culture?
1:19:38
Speaker 1: Well, Stay married to your wife. Well, that's the first answer,
1:19:45
Speaker 1: you know. A huge element of the woke culture is
1:19:54
Speaker 1: the more pathological elements of the pride display. How about
1:19:58
Speaker 1: we put it that way? The notion that you can
1:20:03
Speaker 1: do whatever you want with whoever you want whenever the
1:20:09
Speaker 1: hell you want The consequences be damned. And that's. An
1:20:14
Speaker 1: insanely immature attitude. Combined with. So it's an infantile. And
1:20:22
Speaker 1: it's a toddler like attitude. With the addition of sexual motivation. And.
1:20:30
Speaker 1: It's not. There's nothing about it that works. The people
1:20:37
Speaker 1: who have the most sex. Are married religious couples. So,
1:20:43
Speaker 1: you can tell your children that. Or you could act
1:20:46
Speaker 1: it out. You know, with some due caution. Stay married
1:20:55
Speaker 1: to your wife. See if you can figure out how
1:20:58
Speaker 1: to continue being in love with her. Play together. Model
1:21:03
Speaker 1: that for your kids. They're going to want that a
1:21:06
Speaker 1: lot more than whatever idiot hedonistic malevolence is possible. Forced
1:21:14
Speaker 1: upon them by the dimwits of the radical left. So. Example.
1:21:24
Speaker 1: There's nothing more important than example. What else? Regular meals
1:21:31
Speaker 1: with your kids. That's a good idea. Read to them
1:21:36
Speaker 1: at bedtime. So you establish that time. To educate them.
1:21:43
Speaker 1: To attend to them. To teach them to read. To
1:21:46
Speaker 1: teach them to be literate. And then keep an eye
1:21:49
Speaker 1: on them. Teach them to deal with serpents. Play with them.
1:21:54
Speaker 1: Fathers are very good at that. Fathers are the adventurous
1:21:57
Speaker 1: spirit of play. Wrestle with them. Toughen them up. Challenge them.
1:22:03
Speaker 1: Set high standards. Don't let them get away with anything.
1:22:08
Speaker 1: But not because you're the cruel voice of conscience. But because... Look,
1:22:14
Speaker 1: we used to take our kids to restaurants when they
1:22:16
Speaker 1: were little. And they didn't run around like mad hyenas.
1:22:22
Speaker 1: Making fools of themselves. And the reason for that was.
1:22:27
Speaker 1: Because we didn't want people to respond to them as
1:22:29
Speaker 1: if they were misbehaving fools. We wanted people to be
1:22:33
Speaker 1: pleased with them. And to be impressed by them. In
1:22:38
Speaker 1: the manner that God promised Abraham. He would be impressive
1:22:44
Speaker 1: if he conducted himself properly. It was typical when we
1:22:51
Speaker 1: took our kids to restaurants that at the end of
1:22:55
Speaker 1: our meals, other couples, other people in the restaurant would
1:22:59
Speaker 1: come up and say nice things to the children. Because
1:23:03
Speaker 1: they sat there and acted like civilized human beings even
1:23:07
Speaker 1: when they were 18 months old. You couldn't ask them
1:23:12
Speaker 1: to do that for two hours. But you could ask
1:23:16
Speaker 1: them to do that for 45 minutes. And they learned
1:23:18
Speaker 1: how to do that. And there was nothing in that
1:23:23
Speaker 1: that about that that wasn't good. I wrote a chapter
1:23:28
Speaker 1: in my first book. The title was do not allow
1:23:31
Speaker 1: your children to do anything that makes you dislike them.
1:23:36
Speaker 1: And that's a very straightforward rule. If your kids are
1:23:40
Speaker 1: acting up and you're displeased, well, maybe you're a patriarchal tyrant.
1:23:46
Speaker 1: So you could go ask your wife. You could say, Dear,
1:23:52
Speaker 1: that son of yours is annoying me. Is that because
1:23:59
Speaker 1: I'm a patriarchal son of a bitch or because he's
1:24:02
Speaker 1: a little bastard? And then it's up to your wife
1:24:07
Speaker 1: to say, Well, you are a little cruel these days,
1:24:11
Speaker 1: and you could shape up. Or, that little rat is
1:24:16
Speaker 1: also annoying me. In which case, you could conclude that
1:24:22
Speaker 1: if your child is annoying both of you, despite the
1:24:26
Speaker 1: fact that you hypothetically love him, he would probably be
1:24:31
Speaker 1: annoying other people, which isn't good for him. So, that
1:24:36
Speaker 1: should be brought to a halt. And so then you do.
1:24:41
Speaker 1: You employ whatever minimal force is necessary to say no.
1:24:49
Speaker 1: And to ensure that he doesn't make a spectacle of himself.
1:24:55
Speaker 1: My son, Julian, is a very civilized person. And also
1:25:00
Speaker 1: a very tough person. Was an ornery little two-year-old. He
1:25:06
Speaker 1: was quite... insistent that he get his way. And it
1:25:15
Speaker 1: took a fair bit of wrestling to help him learn
1:25:20
Speaker 1: to manage his will. But he did. And because of that,
1:25:28
Speaker 1: we could rely on his judgment from the time he
1:25:31
Speaker 1: was three. And that's never changed. And so, and it
1:25:37
Speaker 1: was a pleasure to be around him. And it didn't
1:25:39
Speaker 1: take that much. It wasn't that much trouble. It was
1:25:44
Speaker 1: nowhere near as much trouble as not doing it. We
1:25:48
Speaker 1: didn't say no that often. But when we said no,
1:25:53
Speaker 1: what we meant was if you continue doing that, something
1:25:59
Speaker 1: you do not like will happen to you with 100% probability. Right,
1:26:08
Speaker 1: and that's what no means. And if that's the rod
1:26:12
Speaker 1: of iron behind your no, then when you say no,
1:26:16
Speaker 1: you get listened to. And then you don't have to
1:26:19
Speaker 1: say it that often. And so, that's what I would
1:26:24
Speaker 1: recommend to a new father. Do not let your children
1:26:28
Speaker 1: do anything that makes you dislike them. If you do
1:26:33
Speaker 1: not like your children, you will be cruel to them.
1:26:37
Speaker 1: And so you regulate your child's behavior so they don't
1:26:41
Speaker 1: have to encounter the monstrous part of you. Accidentally. At
1:26:51
Speaker 1: the worst possible time. Right.
1:27:06
Speaker 2: This is not a question, just a big thank you
1:27:10
Speaker 2: for being the light in the darkness and for being
1:27:14
Speaker 2: the voice that my generation needs. A big hug from
1:27:17
Speaker 2: the benches.
1:27:36
Speaker 1: You Mexicans.
1:27:45
Speaker 2: Okay, question. What advice would you give to someone whose
1:27:49
Speaker 2: little sister is saying she's trans? What is the best
1:27:53
Speaker 2: way to proceed as an older sister?
1:28:10
Speaker 1: Well, I think part of what you do is you
1:28:13
Speaker 1: do two things. You let her know in no uncertain
1:28:16
Speaker 1: terms that she is not to do anything that harms herself.
1:28:21
Speaker 1: That that is not acceptable. No dressing like the opposite sex.
1:28:28
Speaker 1: No hormones. No puberty blockers. And no butchering surgeries. That
1:28:40
Speaker 1: means war. Right? No. That is not happening. No matter what.
1:28:50
Speaker 1: Any child that is poking around in that satanic realm.
1:28:59
Speaker 1: is testing to see if anyone cares enough to stop her. Hey,
1:29:10
Speaker 1: there's an actress in the US, Ellen Page. My understanding
1:29:20
Speaker 1: of Ellen Page is that she was quite badly brutalized
1:29:24
Speaker 1: as a child actress. That is not rare. What's the consequence?
1:29:33
Speaker 1: She came to hate her own sexuality and no one
1:29:40
Speaker 1: ever loved her enough to protect her property. That's a catastrophe.
1:29:47
Speaker 1: What's the consequence? She cut off her breasts. No one
1:29:52
Speaker 1: loved her enough to stop that. You have a sister.
1:29:59
Speaker 1: You need to let her know that she is loved
1:30:07
Speaker 1: and that she is not to hurt herself because she's
1:30:11
Speaker 1: valuable and that she has the trouble that young girls
1:30:17
Speaker 1: have and that she's to confront those and face them
1:30:22
Speaker 1: and accept them and welcome them in the Same courageous
1:30:29
Speaker 1: spirit that Mary accepted the challenge from God. When she
1:30:33
Speaker 1: found that she was pregnant. To not only reconcile herself
1:30:39
Speaker 1: to the fact of her femininity. But to welcome it.
1:30:43
Speaker 1: And to be a model as a sister for doing that.
1:30:49
Speaker 1: But then again to ally that with absolute 100% unshakable resolve.
1:30:54
Speaker 1: To burn everything to the ground. To stop. the butchery, right?
1:31:11
Speaker 2: What's your advice for Mexicans that want to be and
1:31:15
Speaker 2: do good in a country where murder, violence, and corruption
1:31:19
Speaker 2: is the norm?
1:31:22
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I talked about that tonight in When Jacob...
1:31:31
Speaker 1: Jacob becomes Israel, right? As his character transforms. He transforms
1:31:38
Speaker 1: so completely that he becomes a new person. And he
1:31:42
Speaker 1: becomes the progenitor of those who wrestle with God. That's Jacob.
1:31:48
Speaker 1: Jacob is not a good guy when he starts out.
1:31:51
Speaker 1: He is a lying, manipulative, self-satisfied... intellectual, tent-dwelling mama's boy.
1:32:04
Speaker 1: That's what he is. He deceives his father and manipulates
1:32:15
Speaker 1: his brother out of his rightful inheritance. And because of that,
1:32:21
Speaker 1: he has to run from his home. Although you could
1:32:26
Speaker 1: imagine that that's a relief for Jacob because he gets
1:32:29
Speaker 1: away from his mother. And on the way to his uncle,
1:32:35
Speaker 1: he has a dream. And the dream is of Jacob's ladder,
1:32:40
Speaker 1: this spiral upward that has God at its pinnacle. With
1:32:44
Speaker 1: the angels from God moving up and down on the
1:32:48
Speaker 1: pathway to heaven. And he wakes up and he builds
1:32:56
Speaker 1: an altar and he makes a vow to God to
1:33:02
Speaker 1: journey up the ladder to heaven. What does that mean?
1:33:10
Speaker 1: It means that he decides to turn away from his
1:33:17
Speaker 1: iniquity and to become good. What does that mean for you?
1:33:20
Speaker 1: It means that you could decide to do that. You
1:33:25
Speaker 1: could decide to do good. How? Well, in the biblical stories,
1:33:34
Speaker 1: the way you become good, you could say, is the
1:33:37
Speaker 1: Old Testament way and then the New Testament way. The
1:33:40
Speaker 1: Old Testament way is, thou shalt not. The commandments. Stop
1:33:44
Speaker 1: doing the things you know are stupid. And It's a
1:33:49
Speaker 1: game in a way you can play with yourself. It's
1:33:51
Speaker 1: like you can look at your life, you can talk
1:33:53
Speaker 1: to your conscience, you can decide what you're doing that's
1:33:56
Speaker 1: counterproductive and wrong by your own standards of evaluation. And
1:34:02
Speaker 1: then you can see which of those things you would
1:34:05
Speaker 1: be able to change, maybe, and then you can change them.
1:34:09
Speaker 1: And then every time you make that sacrifice and you
1:34:13
Speaker 1: shed a little bit of dead wood or you allow
1:34:16
Speaker 1: it to be burned off, Then you're a little wiser
1:34:19
Speaker 1: and you can see a little more clearly and you
1:34:22
Speaker 1: can see what else might have to go. You can
1:34:25
Speaker 1: see that if your eye offends you that it should
1:34:28
Speaker 1: be plucked out. And then maybe you can get to
1:34:33
Speaker 1: the point where you can not only stop doing what's bad,
1:34:37
Speaker 1: but you could start doing what's good, which is really
1:34:40
Speaker 1: what Christ calls upon people to do. He talks to
1:34:46
Speaker 1: the rich young man. Who says to him, Lord, I
1:34:51
Speaker 1: have been a devout follower of the commandments. I honor
1:34:56
Speaker 1: my parents. I keep the commandments. But my life is
1:35:01
Speaker 1: still insufficient. And Christ says to him, you must sell
1:35:07
Speaker 1: everything you have and follow me. And Christ's disciples say,
1:35:11
Speaker 1: if that's the price of salvation, then no one is
1:35:14
Speaker 1: willing to pay it. And people read that as if
1:35:17
Speaker 1: it's an anti-capitalist screed. That's the liberation theology take, let's say.
1:35:23
Speaker 1: And that isn't what it means at all. It means
1:35:26
Speaker 1: that if you've stopped doing what's wrong and you're not
1:35:36
Speaker 1: doing enough of what's right to be engaged in your life,
1:35:43
Speaker 1: then you have to radically change what you're doing and
1:35:48
Speaker 1: you have to give up everything that's an impediment to
1:35:50
Speaker 1: your progress forward. And for the rich young man, Christ's
1:35:55
Speaker 1: diagnosis was that his wealth was bringing him misery and
1:36:00
Speaker 1: not buying for him entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
1:36:06
Speaker 1: So what does that mean practically? You want to fight
1:36:11
Speaker 1: the tyrant? Like Moses. You want to stand up for
1:36:15
Speaker 1: the slave. Like Moses. Get your house in order. How
1:36:21
Speaker 1: do you do that? Start with yourself. Stop doing the
1:36:25
Speaker 1: stupid things that you're doing. That you know are stupid.
1:36:28
Speaker 1: Start doing the things that you know are good. Pursue that. Religiously.
1:36:35
Speaker 1: And then you'll. Learn. How to. Set things in order.
1:36:40
Speaker 1: Beyond the confines of your own soul. Beyond the. dynamics
1:36:45
Speaker 1: of your relationship with your wife, beyond the stabilization of
1:36:48
Speaker 1: your own family, maybe you'll become enough of a person
1:36:52
Speaker 1: so that having put what's right in front of you
1:36:58
Speaker 1: in order, you have something more to offer to everyone else. So,
1:37:06
Speaker 1: one step at a time, you want to turn yourself
1:37:09
Speaker 1: into the person whose words ring true. And those are
1:37:15
Speaker 1: the people that no tyrant can stand against. That's the
1:37:19
Speaker 1: man who goes to the court of the Pharaoh and says,
1:37:22
Speaker 1: God commanded me to say to you, let my people
1:37:27
Speaker 1: go so they may worship me in the desert. What
1:37:33
Speaker 1: does that mean? It doesn't mean let my people go
1:37:36
Speaker 1: so they can have a naked orgy while worshiping the
1:37:40
Speaker 1: golden calf. It means let my people go so they
1:37:45
Speaker 1: can adopt the mature sacrificial attitude that establishes the state
1:37:52
Speaker 1: that does not require a king or a slave. How
1:37:56
Speaker 1: do you participate in that? By standing up against your
1:38:01
Speaker 1: own tyranny, by standing up against the tyranny in your
1:38:03
Speaker 1: marriage and in your family, in your community, in the state,
1:38:08
Speaker 1: by sacrificing your slavish habits, by attending to what calls
1:38:17
Speaker 1: to you, by establishing a relationship with your conscience, and
1:38:21
Speaker 1: by becoming a leader. And if enough people do that,
1:38:29
Speaker 1: the tyrants will vanish and the slaves will be free
1:38:34
Speaker 1: so you all know that I think at some level
1:38:38
Speaker 1: or you wouldn't be here tonight listening to this you're
1:38:44
Speaker 1: here because something is calling to you and so I
1:38:48
Speaker 1: would say Get at it. There's tyrants that need to
1:38:56
Speaker 1: be confronted and slaves that need to be freed. And
1:38:59
Speaker 1: you might be one of the tyrants and one of
1:39:02
Speaker 1: the slaves. So you could start with yourself. All right, everybody.
1:39:18
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. It was very nice to be here.
1:39:22
Speaker 1: Pleasure to see you all. Thank you, Tim. My pleasure.
1:39:35
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming. Thank you very much for coming tonight.
1:39:39
Speaker 1: Thank you, my dear. Thank you for the poster. Good
1:39:45
Speaker 1: to see you all. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, everybody.