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#0103_ STORY INSPIRE: How to Get Motivated Without Willpower — The Secret to Taking Action When You Don’t Feel Like It · INSPIRE STORY

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  Speaker 1: The question I wanted to address tonight is, that I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to address tonight is, what's the story of, what
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  Speaker 1: is and should be the story of your life? The
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  Speaker 1: first part of addressing that question, I suppose, is why
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  Speaker 1: a story? Why the story of your life? Well, I
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  Speaker 1: think it's because, I think it's because life is a story.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a strange idea, that life is a story.
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  Speaker 1: Because you could say, you tell a story about life.
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  Speaker 1: That's different than saying life is a story. But if
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  Speaker 1: you wanted to represent life, and you wanted to do
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  Speaker 1: that most accurately, and you had to do that with
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  Speaker 1: a story, which is what we do when we try
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  Speaker 1: to represent life, then why wouldn't you conclude that Since
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  Speaker 1: the story is the most accurate, interesting, and memorable way
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  Speaker 1: of representing life, why would you conclude anything other than
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  Speaker 1: life's a story? And it is a story, and that's
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  Speaker 1: a very different view than life, let's say, in a
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  Speaker 1: dead material world of automatons and creatures that are deterministic
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  Speaker 1: in their movement forward. A story is a romance or
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  Speaker 1: a story is an adventure. A story is something that
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  Speaker 1: has a deep intrinsic meaning. Or it's not much of
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  Speaker 1: a story. And you go to a movie and You
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  Speaker 1: go to a story. You go to a movie. You
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  Speaker 1: watch a book. And. If it's not. Engaging. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: attract your attention.
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  Speaker 2: And.
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  Speaker 1: And. And bring you along. It's not much of a story.
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  Speaker 1: And what that seems to indicate. Is that it's not
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  Speaker 1: a very accurate representation of life. Because. Why would you. Be. Bored.
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  Speaker 1: Or disenchanted. Or disengaged. When you're. being told or watching
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  Speaker 1: or acting out a poor story if that wasn't a
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  Speaker 1: deviation from the ideal that you're actually hoping to experience.
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  Speaker 1: And so, life is a story and stories vary in
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  Speaker 1: their quality and we have an instinct for assessment of
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  Speaker 1: that variation and that instinct is really Whether or not
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  Speaker 1: we find the story meaningful and engaging. And so that
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  Speaker 1: also implies that the proper story of your life would
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  Speaker 1: be one that's meaningful and engaging. I realized something a
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  Speaker 1: long time ago. This is a matter of definition. And
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  Speaker 1: so in some ways it's a matter of faith. Like
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  Speaker 1: so many things are in life. You're an ignorant creature.
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  Speaker 1: And there are limits to your knowledge. It means you
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  Speaker 1: have to put a stake in the sand somewhere. You
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  Speaker 1: have to. Decide what you're going to regard as real.
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  Speaker 1: And act. And act in relationship. With and as if
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  Speaker 1: it's real. And we're enjoined by the reductionist materialist types.
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  Speaker 1: The enlightenment types. Particularly to assume that. Life in the
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  Speaker 1: dead deterministic world of atoms. Let's say is real. meaningless
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  Speaker 1: in its essence, with an overlay of meaning on top
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  Speaker 1: of it, which is our arbitrary way of dealing with
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  Speaker 1: the hopelessness of our fate on this insignificant planet in
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  Speaker 1: a third-rate solar system on the edge of one galaxy
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  Speaker 1: among trillions. That is a way of looking at the world,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not a very interesting or productive way of
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  Speaker 1: looking at the world, and it tends to produce a
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  Speaker 1: certain kind of bitter hopelessness and that could well be
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  Speaker 1: an indication that there's something a little off kilter about
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  Speaker 1: it you can start from a different perspective and this
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  Speaker 1: is a more religious perspective although there are also philosophical
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  Speaker 1: schools that adopted and you could make the case that
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  Speaker 1: no what's really what's real in its most fundamental essence
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  Speaker 1: is what motivates you what what interests you what You
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  Speaker 1: find deeply meaningful. Real is a matter of definition in
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  Speaker 1: many ways. I mean you pay for the definition. It's
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  Speaker 1: not like there's not consequences for the definition. But. You
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  Speaker 1: make a decision about. What you're going to regard as real.
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  Speaker 1: You could investigate that a little bit. Even the materialist types.
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  Speaker 1: Tend to act as if their pain is real. Right.
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  Speaker 1: Pain has that. intrinsically meaningful quality, which is core. It's
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  Speaker 1: the essence of pain. To be meaningful, it's not something
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  Speaker 1: you can ignore. It's something that brings you to a halt.
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  Speaker 1: It brings you to your knees. It can make life
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  Speaker 1: itself unbearable. It's not something you can set aside with
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  Speaker 1: your disbelief. It's plenty real. And And I think that's
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  Speaker 1: an undeniable truth. You certainly act as if it is,
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  Speaker 1: and you don't. And then, so there's another question that
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  Speaker 1: emerges from that observation, which is, well, if pain is real,
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  Speaker 1: which is a reasonable proposition, then what helps you cope
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  Speaker 1: with pain is equally or more real. That's a good
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  Speaker 1: way of thinking about a battle between different realities. Is
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  Speaker 1: the victor of the battle is the more real phenomena.
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  Speaker 1: What helps you deal with pain? Well, love. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we know this even biochemically. If you have a child
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  Speaker 1: and the child scrapes his knee, let's say, on the cement.
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  Speaker 1: And he runs to you and you kiss it better.
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  Speaker 1: That works, and part of the reason it works, we
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  Speaker 1: know this biochemically, is because the hug and the expression
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  Speaker 1: of care produce a release of endogenous opiates in the
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  Speaker 1: child's brain along with oxytocin, and both of those chemicals
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  Speaker 1: are reassuring and analgesic. And so even at the biological level,
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  Speaker 1: love has the ability to ameliorate pain We can withstand
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  Speaker 1: a lot of pain in our lives if we're surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by love. And so that seems to give love a
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  Speaker 1: kind of reality that's irreducible. I don't find that it
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  Speaker 1: undermines these sorts of observations to point out the biological,
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  Speaker 1: the parallels, the biological parallels with that. It makes perfect
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  Speaker 1: sense to me that What's meaningful and what's biological could
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  Speaker 1: work together in harmony. In some sort of ultimate unity.
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  Speaker 1: I can't understand at all why that wouldn't be the case.
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  Speaker 1: Meaningful pursuit. That also ameliorates pain. We also know this technically.
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  Speaker 1: So it's very common, for example, for athletes who are
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  Speaker 1: involved in a very compelling game. Let's say a championship game.
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  Speaker 1: If they're injured, they can carry on and then continue
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  Speaker 1: to play. And the reason for that, there's a technical
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  Speaker 1: reason for that. And the technical reason is that.
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  Speaker 3: Imagine you have a goal that you value, which of
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  Speaker 3: course you have in a sporting event because the goal
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  Speaker 3: is a goal.
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  Speaker 1: It's pretty straightforward. And the stakes of the goal are high.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps that's the championship and that's the goal of winning
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  Speaker 1: a set or a match made up of many goals.
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  Speaker 1: So it's like a meta goal to win a championship
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  Speaker 1: is a meta goal. And if you're a key player
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  Speaker 1: in that, and you see yourself contributing in a meaningful
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  Speaker 1: manner to the movement towards that goal, that produces a
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  Speaker 1: release of a neurochemical, the neurochemical dopamine, which signals movement
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  Speaker 1: towards a valuable goal, which produces positive emotion and enthusiasm.
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  Speaker 1: It produces that sense that what you're doing is meaningful.
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  Speaker 1: Or it's an index of the fact that what you're
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  Speaker 1: doing is meaningful. That's a better way of thinking about it.
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  Speaker 1: And that's analgesic. And so meaningful engagement and love are
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  Speaker 1: both medications for pain. And pain's pretty real. And so
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  Speaker 1: why not assume that what alleviates suffering is real? You'll
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  Speaker 1: pay for what alleviates suffering. You'll pursue it. What you
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  Speaker 1: actually do seems to be a good index of what
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  Speaker 1: you regard as real. And so, if you're willing to pursue...
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  Speaker 1: if you're willing to pursue something that's evidence that you
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  Speaker 1: have faith in its value and that you believe in
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  Speaker 1: its reality so now with stories they indicate what people
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  Speaker 1: believe to be real So when you go to a movie,
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  Speaker 1: for example, or when you hear a story, you read
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  Speaker 1: a story, what you're watching or listening to, what you're
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  Speaker 1: simulating with your imagination is the theory of reality that
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  Speaker 1: the character that you're watching is applying to the world.
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  Speaker 1: That's the story they're acting out. Or the story they're
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  Speaker 1: telling themselves. And what you see when you go to
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  Speaker 1: see a movie. Is you see a character pursuing his aim.
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  Speaker 1: And perhaps transforming that aim as the plot develops. That's
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  Speaker 1: the development of character. Is the transformation of aim. The
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  Speaker 1: sequential transformation of aim. And that's the story of life
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  Speaker 1: in many ways. Is that. each of the episodes in
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  Speaker 1: your life is bounded by an aim, what you're trying
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish, the destination you're attempting to reach, motivated by
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  Speaker 1: the call of something that fills you with enthusiasm, and
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  Speaker 1: then the transformation of those aims across time as your
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  Speaker 1: wisdom increases, or your corruption if you're playing a negative game,
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  Speaker 1: As your wisdom increases, the aim transforms and becomes higher.
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  Speaker 1: And your character grows and develops. And that's what you
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  Speaker 1: want to see when you see a movie or when
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  Speaker 1: you read a great book. You want to see someone
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  Speaker 1: pursuing his aim. And then you want to see the
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  Speaker 1: transformations of those aims that transform his character in some
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  Speaker 1: manner that sheds light on the structure of the world.
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  Speaker 1: And that can be a hero who's climbing upward. And
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  Speaker 1: becoming more than he is on a continual basis. Transforming
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  Speaker 1: as he pursues his aim. With the transformation of aim
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  Speaker 1: that that entails. Or you can see someone degenerate into
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  Speaker 1: hell essentially. By aiming down. Corrupting himself. Aiming down more bitterly.
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  Speaker 1: Corrupting himself more. And pursuing that pathway until he's an
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  Speaker 1: avatar of. the abyss itself. And both of those patterns
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  Speaker 1: of characterization are salutary, they're both informative because you would
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  Speaker 1: like to aim up, assuming that you would like to
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  Speaker 1: have your life improve and the life of those around you,
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  Speaker 1: assuming that that could happen and that you believe it
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  Speaker 1: could happen, that you want it to happen, if you
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  Speaker 1: can simulate the life of a transforming hero Then you
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  Speaker 1: can practice in your imagination that upward pathway. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing when you participate in the world of fiction.
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  Speaker 1: Of literature. It's what you do in some sense as well.
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  Speaker 1: When you're going to a sports event. With the other 20,000
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  Speaker 1: people who are joining you in your worship. And it's
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  Speaker 1: a worship of aim. Right? Because every sporting event. Is
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  Speaker 1: a celebration of aim. And. A. A. Communal. Admission of.
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  Speaker 1: The value of that. Skillful aim.
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  Speaker 3: And.
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  Speaker 1: A participation in the process of. The development of that aim.
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  Speaker 1: Because you want to see skilled athletes on the field.
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  Speaker 1: Getting better at what they do. That's the most exciting
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  Speaker 1: part of a. Of any athletic competition. It's not only
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  Speaker 1: the competition and the possibility of victory. But you want
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  Speaker 1: to see the athletes push themselves to their limits. While
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  Speaker 1: they're engaged in that. And becoming more than they are.
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  Speaker 1: While they're doing that. In that way. When you watch
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  Speaker 1: that on the field. When you watch that, say, in
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  Speaker 1: a gymnastics contest. Where you see someone really hovering on
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  Speaker 1: the edge of disaster. And pushing themselves past where they
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  Speaker 1: even thought they could go. That's the sort of thing
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  Speaker 1: that will bring the whole crowd spontaneously to its feet.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: Because that's a testament to the... It's a testament to
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  Speaker 1: the logos of human nature. This ability to move beyond
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  Speaker 1: the zone of comfort. And to develop... An ever deeper
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  Speaker 1: level of skill and commitment. While pursuing an aim. Right.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what you see in an athletic competition. And
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  Speaker 1: that's what you participate in. As an athlete. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what you portray as a writer. And that's what you
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  Speaker 1: act out as an actor. And that's what you simulate.
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  Speaker 1: As a. as an observer, as a member of the audience.
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  Speaker 1: Imagine your favorite lecture. Dial that up on Macs, put
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  Speaker 1: that on steroids, and then add some cinematic elements to it.
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  Speaker 1: That's the best way I could describe a Peterson Academy lecture.
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  Speaker 1: I went to college because I had to. I go
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  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. In
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  Speaker 1: traditional universities, a lot of times it's just pretty dry.
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  Speaker 1: They don't bring the same energy as the professors at
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  Speaker 1: Peterson Academy. It is a completely different experience to learn
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  Speaker 1: from somebody who actually wants to teach you.
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  Speaker 2: If you've been on the about this, this is the time.
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  Speaker 2: That thing that's calling to you, you won't have an
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  Speaker 2: answer for it unless you enroll and see for yourself.
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  Speaker 1: You have the opportunity to investigate that calling. And how
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  Speaker 1: do you simulate that? That's something remarkable, something intensely interesting.
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  Speaker 1: You simulate that the same way that you come to
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  Speaker 1: understand another person. And you don't come to understand a
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  Speaker 1: person by taking their arguments apart and understanding them rationally.
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  Speaker 1: That isn't how we do it. That's too painstaking and
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  Speaker 1: people aren't that coherent anyways. Often in their presentation they're
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  Speaker 1: full of complexities and contradictions and we don't build ourselves
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  Speaker 1: rationally even though we can be rational. That isn't what
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  Speaker 1: you do. What you do is you watch a person
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  Speaker 1: and you infer their aim and that's why you watch
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  Speaker 1: their eyes. Right? Because their eyes point at what they're
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  Speaker 1: aiming at. And you watch their eyes. And our eyes
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  Speaker 1: actually evolved. So that they're maximally. Visible. Black people. Colored
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  Speaker 1: background on a white canvas. Right? They're very evident. And
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  Speaker 1: that's because all of our ancestors. Whose eyes couldn't be read.
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  Speaker 1: Were either killed or didn't reproduce. Because everyone wants to
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  Speaker 1: know what you're up to. And they. They. Infer that
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  Speaker 1: by watching your eyes, which is why we gaze into
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  Speaker 1: each other's faces when we talk. What's this person up to?
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  Speaker 1: What are they looking at? What are they devoting their
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  Speaker 1: attention to? They're devoting their attention to what they value.
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  Speaker 1: What do they value? The aim at which they're pointing.
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  Speaker 1: How do we understand that? We see their aim. We
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  Speaker 1: adopt it momentarily. And we replicate the experience on our
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  Speaker 1: own body. So to walk a mile in someone else's
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  Speaker 1: shoes is to adopt their aim. And that means to
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  Speaker 1: see the world through their eyes. Literally. To see the
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  Speaker 1: objects of their perception. Because what we perceive are things
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  Speaker 1: that move us toward or impede our progress in relationship
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  Speaker 1: to an aim. That's what an object is. It's not
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  Speaker 1: a dead fact. It's something living in relationship to a
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  Speaker 1: journey forward. And this is technically true. We understand this
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  Speaker 1: about perception. All facts are not equal. We don't perceive
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  Speaker 1: everything in the world. We perceive relevant things in the world.
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  Speaker 1: And those are the facts at hand. The relevant facts.
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  Speaker 1: And relevant facts are relevant because they pertain to a goal.
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  Speaker 1: Even in a simple situation, if I want to walk
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  Speaker 1: across this stage to move from point A here to
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  Speaker 1: point B there, I am making the assumption that point B,
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  Speaker 1: the place I'm headed, is better than the place I'm at,
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  Speaker 1: because otherwise, why go? And that's why the chicken crossed
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  Speaker 1: the road, by the way. And then when I look,
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  Speaker 1: On that pathway that opens itself up because of my aim.
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  Speaker 1: I can see the pathway forward. I can see these
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  Speaker 1: chairs let's say as obstacles in my path. The fact
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  Speaker 1: that I perceive them as obstacles in relationship to the aim.
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  Speaker 1: Means that I perceive them with negative emotion. Things that
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  Speaker 1: get in your way. Elicit negative emotion. That's a marker
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  Speaker 1: of an obstacle. And things that move you forward elicit
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: positive emotion. Enemies get in your way. And allies and
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  Speaker 1: friends facilitate your movement forward. And enemies raise your ire
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  Speaker 1: and make you anxious. And friends fill you with enthusiasm.
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  Speaker 1: And the disciples. to cooperate towards that shared aim. And
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  Speaker 1: that's the landscape of the world. That's the story that
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  Speaker 1: you inhabit. This journey from point A to point B, right?
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  Speaker 1: A story is the representation of an aim. It's the
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  Speaker 1: representation of a journey that And it's more than that.
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  Speaker 1: Because it can be a sequence of transforming aims. That's
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  Speaker 1: a complex characterization. And then it's more than that too.
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  Speaker 1: Because it can be a story of how the aim transforms.
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  Speaker 1: Because there's a pattern. When you go from point A
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  Speaker 1: to point B. You can just go there. And that's
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  Speaker 1: not much of a story. Or you can start to
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  Speaker 1: go there. And you can encounter the allies and foes.
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  Speaker 1: Tools that move you forward. Or the obstacles and pitfalls.
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  Speaker 1: That interfere with your progress. And transform you. And that's
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  Speaker 1: a deeper story. The deeper story is. I was moving
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  Speaker 1: from A to B. And something emerged. That I didn't expect.
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  Speaker 1: And in consequence of that. Unexpected occurrence. I changed dramatically.
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  Speaker 1: And my aim shifted. And I changed. started to move
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  Speaker 1: upward in a different direction as a transformed person and
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  Speaker 1: a sequence of stories like that is a tale of
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  Speaker 1: character development and that's exactly what happens in the biblical
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  Speaker 1: narratives that's exactly what they portray this story that we
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  Speaker 1: inhabit of upward transformation and I'll give you a concrete
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  Speaker 1: example of that tonight so that you understand more deeply
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  Speaker 1: what this means I'm going to tell you some of
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  Speaker 1: the story of Exodus, of the story of Moses. And
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  Speaker 1: you'll see how it fits this archetypal pattern. It's a
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  Speaker 1: portrayal of the story itself. Okay, so what's the basic
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  Speaker 1: story of Exodus? Well, the Israelites are going somewhere. They
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  Speaker 1: have a point B, right? They have a plan. They
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  Speaker 1: have a name. They have a destination. They have a purpose.
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  Speaker 1: And that purpose is the journey to the Promised Land.
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  Speaker 1: And what does that mean for you? Well, everything you
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  Speaker 1: do has that structure. Because if you're doing it, what
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  Speaker 1: would you say? If you're doing it right, everything you
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  Speaker 1: do has that structure. Well, why? Well, if you're not
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  Speaker 1: moving somewhere better, why move? I'm dead serious about this.
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  Speaker 1: The motivation to move is allied with the faith that
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  Speaker 1: the place you're going is better. So what that means
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  Speaker 1: is whether you know it or not. This is assuming
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  Speaker 1: you're not bitter, twisted, nihilistic and downward aiming. I'm assuming
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  Speaker 1: that you're on the upward path. We can lay out
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  Speaker 1: the other alternatives as well. But for the sake of this...
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: presentation will assume that what you're acting out is a
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  Speaker 1: comedy with a happy ending rather than a tragedy that
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  Speaker 1: culminates in catastrophe. Because you can act that out too.
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  Speaker 1: And if you don't know the story of your life,
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  Speaker 1: it might be that that's the one you're acting out.
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  Speaker 1: And you should probably figure that out. So, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to act out one story or another. Or it's going
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  Speaker 1: to use you as its agent. Those are the options.
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  Speaker 1: Upward aiming moves you from What? From the undesirable state
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  Speaker 1: that you're in to the more desirable state that you're
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  Speaker 1: hoping to achieve. How is that portrayed in the Exodus story?
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  Speaker 1: What's the undesirable state? Tyranny. Or, more precisely, the dynamic
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: between tyranny and slavery.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Because those two things dance. You can't have one without
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the other. The Israelites... Are under the thumb of the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh and the Egyptian state. They've been transformed in slaves.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: The ancient Hebrews. Because they had the temerity. To be successful.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: So that's a story that's. Many thousands of years old.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: And it's the same story that's playing out. On university
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: campuses right now. Right. The. Temerity of the Jews to
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: be the successful minority. That's what dooms them to slavery
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: in Egypt.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: They.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Arrive there as beneficial visitors under the authority of Joseph.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: And the new Pharaoh forgets their contributions and the resentful
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Egyptians who are angry with the Hebrews for their success
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: turn them into slaves. And so that's been going on
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: for a very long period of time. And so the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Israelites are Burdened by the yoke of the tyrant. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a leader arises to speak for them. That's Moses. Okay,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: so who's Moses in relationship to you? Well, you might
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: say no one because I'm not a leader. Or no
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: one because I'm not a member of the tribe of slaves.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And I'm not... And I would say, well, you should
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: rethink that. Because there's a fundamental significance to this story.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: And the story is trying to situate each person in
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the actual landscape of human existence. And that landscape is
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: characterized by tyranny and slavery. Always. Okay, so how can
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: you understand that? Well, tyranny exists at multiple levels. Multiple
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: levels of social reality. So let's walk through. And I
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: mean this. I don't just mean this metaphysically. I mean
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: this in the case of actual tyranny as well. Don't
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: be thinking that tyranny is just something political. That's a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: big mistake. It's something that exists at the level of.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: It exists in relationship. It exists in your relationship with yourself.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: You can be a tyrant to yourself. No problem. That's
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: extremely common. You have. stubborn, foolish ideas that have possessed you,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: whose origin you're unconscious of, that dominate you in ways
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that your slavish habits allow. And that's always the case.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: And that's just you as an individual. So, the part
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of you that has a redemptive quality, the part of
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: you that could be a leader, Could stand up against
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: your tyranny to yourself. And your proclivity to be a
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: slave to that tyranny. And that's something you will wrestle
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: with in your life. You as tyrant. Maybe you're a
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: harsh taskmaster. You're hard on yourself. And you're using the
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: stick instead of the carrot constantly. You force yourself to
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: do things. You exist in a relationship of power. With
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: regard to. You're present in your past and your future.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: You crush your desires. You force yourself to step forward
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: in your traces. And you're a tyrant and a slave simultaneously.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And in principle, you could rise above that and be
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: an agent of transformation and escape from that dynamic. That
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: dynamic doesn't only exist psychologically, let's say. Maybe that characterizes
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: your marriage.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: And that... You're a tyrant and your wife is a slave.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Or she's a tyrant and you're a slave. Or you
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: take turns being tyrant and slave. But the relationship, the
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: degenerate relationship has degenerated in the direction of the expression
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: of power. And that's the definition of a degenerate relationship.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And so you could be the tyrant in your marriage.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Or you could be the slave in your marriage. Or
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: you could... Be whatever the alternative is to tyranny and slavery.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: And you could fight that battle out in your marriage.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Which you will. You will. It's like the definition of
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: marriage that... And then it's the same with your family. Like,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: are you a tyrant to your kids? Or are you
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: a slave to your two-year-old? That's more common now than
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the tyrannical situation. And so all that means is the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: two-year-old's the tyrant. Which is very, very common. It's very,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: very common. It's very bad for a two-year-old to be
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the boss. Because he knows he doesn't know anything. And
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: he's already on top. It's like, what the hell is
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: he going to do for the rest of his life?
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: So that means the two-year-old who's a tyrant is immediately
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: lost in the desert. Right? It's very, very bad. So
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: you can be a slave to your children. You can
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: be a tyrant. And then it's the same in relationship
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to your parents. And... It's the same in relationship to
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: your friends. Maybe you don't have friends. Maybe you're the
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: sycophant to the local bully. Or maybe you're the bully
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and you have sycophants. Or maybe you're such a slave
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to your appalling habits. That you don't have any friends
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: at all. So that just means your fantasies are tyrannical.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Your fantasies of revenge and isolation. And then maybe as
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: a business person. You tyrannize over your employees, and maybe
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: you try that with your customers, which is not a
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: good strategy, by the way. way. Right? It's not a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: good strategy with your employees either. That power dynamic. But,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: power corrupts, as they say. And if you're in a
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: position where you can wield the rod... The temptation to
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: do so. Is something against which you will struggle. And
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: that's part of the eternal dynamic of slavery and tyranny.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: And then. It becomes more obvious when you start thinking
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: about the community or the state or the nation. Well,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: that's usually where we think of tyranny residing. You can
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: see that proclivity for tyranny now in the West really
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: start to invade the more local forms of community organization,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: the school boards and the municipalities that are taking or
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the universities. That are taking a vicious turn towards authoritarianism.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: And we know that that can possess a whole state.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: That happens repeatedly. And certainly a nation. And then you
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: might say. Well what's a nation like when it's a tyranny?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: And you might think Hitler and Stalin and Mao. And
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the freedom loving people. On whose neck the heel of
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: authority rests. And that's complete bloody rubbish. That is not
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: how a tyranny works. In a true tyranny. Everyone. Everyone.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Is a tyrant to themselves. Every self-tyrannizing thug is a
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: tyrant to his wife. Every couple is a tyrant to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: their children. Every family is a tyrant to the neighbors.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That the tyranny and the slavery is everywhere at once.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: And that's a totalitarian state. That's why it's totalitarian. And
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: along with that comes the grip of the lie. Every
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: single person in that awful dynamic state. Slave to the totality.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Tyrant in the moment. Every single one of those participants
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: is lying about absolutely everything. To themselves and to everyone
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: they love. 100% of the time. And that's the story
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: of hell. That's for sure. And so this landscape that's
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: portrayed in Exodus. This is the human realm. This is
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: the human realm and the battle against tyranny and slavery
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: in favor of the proper alternative. That's life. Really? Now
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Moses becomes a leader. How? Well, that's interesting. Moses is
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: transformed into a leader. When he encounters the burning bush.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: So let me tell you that story. Because this will
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: tell you how to be a leader. That's a good
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: thing to know. Well, unless you want to be a
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: tyrant or a slave. And you can want both of those.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe simultaneously. The tyrant has power. And can gratify his whims.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: And the slave has no responsibility. So what a deal
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: that is for the slave. And every tyrant needs a slave.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: And if you're not a leader. Then you're a slave.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Or a tyrant. Moses is out. Moses is an adult.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: When he becomes a leader. That's a good story. It's like.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: How about you're an adult. Before you're a leader. Right.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Something university students. Should be taught on campus. It's like.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: You're 18. Seven years ago. You were 11. You don't
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: know anything. You're not a leader. Why? You're. Your parents
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: subsidize you or the state. You haven't had a job.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: You've never supported yourself. You don't have any children. You
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: have no responsibility. It's like, you're not a leader. You're
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: not going to fix the world. You can't even keep
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: your dorm room clean. Moses is an adult. When the
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: call comes for him to become a leader, he is married.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: He's established a good relationship with his father-in-law, Jethro, who
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: plays a very important role in the Exodus story. He's
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the kind of husband who chases away the thugs, which
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: is how he meets his wife-to-be. Initially, she's trying to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: draw water from a well, and Moses is a master
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: of water, by the way, like Christ. She's trying to
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: draw water from a well, and there's thugs around the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Around the well site. And he chases them away. And so.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: His future wife is pretty happy about this. As she
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: should be. Because Moses shows himself as the man. Who
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: has enough spine. To keep the thugs at bay. And.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: That's the responsibility of. Any man who's. Masculine in the
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: fundamental sense. Is to keep the true. Predators at bay. And. That.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: The theme is amplified by his choice of profession. Moses
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: is a shepherd as an adult. And that's not a
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: high status occupation. It's a working class job. But it's
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: a noble working class job. And that's emphasized in the
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: scriptures repeatedly. Because the shepherd is very frequently the savior.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: David is a shepherd for example. And Christ is a shepherd.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: In the metaphorical sense. And so why a shepherd? Well,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: it was a hard job being a shepherd in the
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: ancient world. You had to fend for yourself. You were
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: isolated for long periods of time. You had to guard
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and defend the most vulnerable sheep. Lambs, even more particularly,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: were quite tender and delicious.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: And.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: There were lions and wolves. And you had like a
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: spear and a shield and a slingshot. And that's not
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of armament to take on a lion, let's say.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: And so, if you were a shepherd, you were an adult.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: And you could take care of things that were vulnerable.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: And you could keep the beasts of prey at bay.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: And that's what Moses was. He was having a pretty
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: good time of it, being a shepherd. It was a
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: credible job. He had a couple of wives, got along
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: with his father-in-law. He was away from the tyrants because
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: he'd left Egypt. He's an adult. So now one day
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: he's out with his sheep, wandering about in the wilderness.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: And he's near Mount Sinai or Horeb. And Mount Sinai
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: is a pyramid with its pinnacle in the clouds. It's
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the place where earth and heaven meet. Now why is
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: a mountain top that place? Well, partly because up is good.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: So up is heavenward. Partly because as you climb a mountain,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: you rise above things. Partly because when you climb a mountain,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: you can see everything much more broadly. And that expansion
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: of vision is associated with enlightenment and illumination. With the
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: ability to see widely and far. And so... The mountain
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: pyramid is a classic place where earth and heaven, which
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: is the ultimate up, meet. And many magical transformations happen
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: at Mount Sinai. And Moses' transformation into a leader is
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: one of them. And so he's going from point A
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: to B as a shepherd. Guiding his flock. And something
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: attracts his attention. Now that's worth knowing. People in the
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: modern world have no idea where to find God, so
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: to speak. They believe they have to have the faith
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: in God. Which is something like the proclamation of a
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: set of descriptive beliefs. I believe in God. That's not
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: what happens to Moses. What happens to Moses is that
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: God reveals himself to Moses. That's a whole different kettle
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: of fish, you might say. And how does that happen? Well,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: you need to know this because it happens to you
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: and you don't notice it. And that's a mistake. So
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: God is characterized frequently in the biblical texts as the
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: spirit of calling. Now, that's not his only characterization. He's
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: characterized as well, in many ways. As conscience, for example.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: The voice of conscience. But the spirit of calling is
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a prime characterization. The spirit of calling is that which
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: fills you with enthusiasm.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: The desire to move forward. This analgesic pleasure in the
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: journey upward. That's calling. And enthusiasm means, to be enthusiastic,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: means to be filled with the spirit of God. Because
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the root word in theos, theos is deos. It's deity.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: It's God. To be enthusiastic is to be filled with
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: the spirit of the divine. So that's something to know too.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: What makes you enthusiastic? What calls you forward? Well, you
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: have to notice and you have to understand that it
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: will take you off the beaten path. Even if the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: path you're on is an adult, mature, and useful path,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the call of what will transform you will come from
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: the side, so to speak, and it will take you
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: off the path. Okay, so now how do you understand
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: that in your life? Well, are you interested in things?
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: And then you might think, well, is that a good
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: way of saying it? I'm interested in something. It's like,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: not exactly, eh? Because you don't get to pick what
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: you're interested in. It's more like what you're interested in
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: picks you, right? You find yourself interested in something. Something beckons,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: a dream, a desire, a fantasy. Something that says to
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: you that you could be more than you are, and
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: your life could be more than it is. Now, that
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: can be pathological. You can nurse a false calling and
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: become delusional, but that has nothing to do with the
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: core phenomena. Your children develop and mature like you do.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Because they're called by the world to move out into it. Right?
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: The spirit of adventure beckons to them. And it does
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: that like it does for you. By gripping their interest.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: And that's what a calling is. And so this is
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: what happens to Moses. He catches out of the corner
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: of his eye a glimpse of something different. Glimmering and
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: glittering and beckoning. Like the snitch that Harry Potter chases
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: in the Quidditch game. In the Harry Potter series.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: That meta game that the seeker is playing. That if
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: successful also constitutes the victory over in the actual game.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will open.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: That's what happens to Moses. Something beckons to him. This
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: is something to understand. You will see in your life
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: that things call to you. And that there's something behind
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: what calls to you. Well, what is it that's behind
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: what calls to you? As your aim transforms as you
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: move upward. Well, classically that's the spirit of the ancestral
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: God of Abraham and Isaac. It's a definition. So God
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: makes himself manifest in what calls you upward. And that's
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: so useful to know. Because no matter where you start.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Murderous shepherd. That's where Moses starts. He flew from Egypt.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: He fleed from Egypt because he murdered someone. He starts
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: in a pretty rough place. It's like well you can
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: start in a rough place. Well how? Well aim up.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Well I don't know where up is. It's the opposite
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: of down. Down. Okay? I'm dead serious about that. I
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: don't care how confused you are. There's some stupid things
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: you're doing. That you know are stupid. You know they're
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: hurting you. By your own definition. You know it. With certainty.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Stop doing those. That's a start. That's an upward aim.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: And why? Because you're going to stop doing stupid things.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: So your life gets better. It's a proclamation of a decision.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: Made in faith. Things could be better. I could take action.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: If you even dimly apprehend the next stage up, you're
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: on the path. And if you make it closer to
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: that proximal up, your vision will clear. And the next
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: destination will make itself known. And that's Jacob's ladder, by
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the way. That spirals upward forever with the God of
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: the ancient Jews beckoning at the apex. That's a definition.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Is God is the spirit that stands behind everything that
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: calls to you. Right? Behind love. Behind curiosity. Behind hope.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Behind that compulsion of interest that pulls you down the
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: pathway of your destiny. And I've interviewed many people who've
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: been very successful. And I often ask them how they're...
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: Calling made itself manifest in their life. And it's often
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: very early. These people. Jocko Willink for example. Who's this
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: brute of a soldier. Who's about three feet thick. This way.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: And like quite the bloody monster. And a very good man.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: But with all the capacity to be a very bad man.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: And he knew he was going to be a soldier.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: When he was like three. I'm sure his parents knew
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: it too. Because I imagine he was one of those kids.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: That was running around the house. Shooting the cat with
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: a toothpaste tube. You know, so people have their pattern
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: of interest very, very young. Often. Not always, but often.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: It makes itself manifest and pulls them along. And that's
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: in you. And maybe you repress it. Maybe you're afraid
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: of it because you think you'll betray yourself. You don't
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: think you have it in you. Or you don't want
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: the responsibility. But, man, you reject the call at your
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: great peril. Right? Literally the peril of your soul. And
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: you imperil. everything by doing so. Because if you don't
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: follow what calls to you, you don't become who you
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: could be. And then the world's a lesser and more
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: evil place because of that lack. And that's on you.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Like seriously, that's on you. And you feel that in
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: the pointlessness and bitterness and misery of your misbegotten life.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: That's the voice of conscience telling you that The path
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: of irresponsibility that you chose in preference to the call.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Is the pathway to hell itself. And not just for you.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: And that's. Man. That's the brutal truth. And so Moses
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: has enough faith to wander off the path. To investigate.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: What he sees is a flaming tree. Well why a tree?
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: What's the tree of life? Well. Why a tree? Well
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: a tree is alive. And it branches upward. And it
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: grows from nothing. From a little seed into this magnificent thing.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: That stretches its leaves up towards the sun. And the
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: tree is life itself. And it's on fire. Because living
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: things are on fire. And so it's like. The essence
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: of life magnified. That's what a burning bush is. And
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: that's what you see when you see. I took my daughter.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: When she was about. 16 months old up to this
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: cabin in northern Saskatchewan which is a province a rural
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: province that's mostly inhabited by old people and we took
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: my daughter to this cabin with my parents and they
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: had a lot of their friends they're all retirees and
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: my daughter was very happy child and she wandered around
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: in this little cabin living room playing away and chirping
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: away happily and you know, on fire like little kids are.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: And all those grandparents, they just sat there and watched
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: her like they were watching fire itself. And that's because
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: they were. And there's a glow in that, you know,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: that attractiveness of children that is the revelation of infinite
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: possibility and the blessedness of the, what, untrammeled spirit of
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: childhood that Expansive attempt to reveal the light and move upward.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: And they were entranced by that. As wise old people are.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: And Moses encounters that. As you do when anything grips you.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Or when anything makes you love it. Or anything calls
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: you forward. What is that? Well, it's the spirit of
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: life itself calling to you. And you could say, well,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: that's the instinct for development. And I'd say, fine, I
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: don't care if you want to think about it from
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: a biological perspective. It doesn't make any difference. You have
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: an instinct or impulse to continually mature and develop into
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: more than you are. Fine. It doesn't matter how you
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: construe that in some fundamental sense. The instinct and the
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: religious will line up in any case. And Moses investigates.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: And as he investigates, he... First removes his shoes, and
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that's a sign of respect. He wants to touch the
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: ground again. To shed anything that separates him from what's
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: most real. And in taking off his shoes, he also
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: abandons his current identity. Shoes signify identity. Shoes are part
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: of the uniform of work, let's say. There's soldiers' boots.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: There's Dorothy's red shoes in The Wizard of Oz. There's
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: the glass slippers of the princess. Shoes signify. Your current pathway.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: And Moses sheds them. Because he's ready to change. Which
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: you have to be. If you. Follow the calling. That
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: pulls you off the path. Towards the destiny. That's characterized by.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: The revelation of who you could be. And Moses continues to. Confer.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: With this phenomena. That attracts him. And. It pulls them
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: in more and more deeply. And that's what happens in
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: your life. And you know this. Because maybe you committed
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: in some minor way. To some personal deviation. To some hobbies.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: To some obsessive interest. That pulled you away from. Your
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: mundane identity. Towards the domain of your interest. And you
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: concentrated on it deeply. And learned a lot. Because of
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: your pursuit. And in that learning. You got deeper and
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: deeper into things. You started to understand. I had a friend.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: A professor who took up stamp collecting. When he was
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: like 55. You think stamp collecting. You know it's pretty
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: mundane stuff. occupation but he traveled all over the UK
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: to find these stamps and he talked to all these
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: people who collected and he collected old stamps. And that
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: brought him much more into contact with the history of
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: his country. And he became a very avid amateur historian.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: And everything that you take seriously leads to everything else.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Everything that's true and real that you interact with. partakes
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: in the structure of reality itself. And if you take
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: it seriously enough, then that reality will make itself known
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: to you. And what's the consequence of that? Well, what
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: happens to Moses is that God himself speaks from the
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: depths of the burning tree of life. And that's what
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: happens when you take something seriously enough to go deep.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: That's what happens to you. And so what happens to Moses? Well,
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: God says, I am who I am. I'm the spirit
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: of being itself. I'm what always has been and what
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: is now and what always will be. And that's what's
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: calling to you. And it's telling you to shed who
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: you are and become who you could be. And Moses says, well,
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: who's that? And God says, the leader who eternally leads
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: people away from the tyrant and the thrall of slavery.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: And Moses says, well, who's going to listen to me?
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: And God says, if you tell them I sent you,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: they'll listen. And you think, well, what does that mean?
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, if you listen to someone who's deeply engaged,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: telling you about what they know, you listen. Well, why?
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Because their speech has the charisma of truth. And you
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: can tell that. I mean, you can be gamed. A charlatan,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: a psychopath can fake that, but not for long. That's
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: what the court magicians do in the Pharaoh's court as
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: they ape magic. But there's real magic too. And that's
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the magic of someone who's gone deep. And Moses says, well,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: I'm slow of tongue. I'm not much of a speaker.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: And God says, that's your problem, buddy. Sort it out.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: And what does that mean? It's like, well, you have
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: your problems and your insufficiencies, your areas of no talent,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: let's say. And No doubt you console yourself with the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: proposition that in your flawed state, it's okay that you
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: take a back seat because what could you do anyways?
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: And that's just wrong. It's like you're called upon to
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: do what you can regardless of your flaws because if
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: that wasn't the case, then no one would ever be
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: called upon to do anything because there's no one without
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: their requisite flaws and their abilities, their talents that they're
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: both unique and It's your fate to contend with them.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: And God says. Well the fact that you can't talk
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: is no problem for me. Because I'm God and I
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: made everything. So you don't really have to worry about
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: that being an impediment. And then he says more practically.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Don't you have a brother? Aaron? Can't he talk? Moses says. Yeah.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: And God says. Well why don't you just take him
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: along for the ride. And. What's the wisdom in that?
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: It's well. If you pursue your calling. And you're called
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: upon to be more than you are. And you have
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: impediments in your way. You don't have to do it alone.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: You could find some other people. To take on the
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: adventure with you. And there's enough bloody adventure for them too.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: It's not like they have to take a back seat.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: It's not a zero-sum game. Adventure. There's more than enough
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: for everyone. There's enough difficulty in life. So everyone could
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: strive together. To their utmost. And not exhaust the possibility.
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: All that would do is make more possibility.
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: Life is not a zero-sum game. And it's a corrupt
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: proposition to hypothesize. Otherwise, there's not enough for everyone. What
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: does that mean? Well, there better be enough for me.
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Because that's the first thing that leaps to mind. It's like, no,
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: there's plenty of trouble for everyone. So... You don't have
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: to worry if you're not up for the job. If
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: you can ally yourself with others. And you have the
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: humility to understand who they might be. Well the more
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: the merrier. So Moses. Goes back to Egypt. And he's
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: told by God to face down the tyrant. And that's
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: a hell of a thing. But that's. If you don't
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: want to be a slave. And you don't want to be.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: Boxed in by your presumption of your own ordinariness. If
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: you don't want to be sterile and frozen. And turned
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: to lifeless stone. If you don't want to be a
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: dead branch. Then you better learn how to talk to
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: the tyrant. And how do you do that? Well you
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: tell them the truth.
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: And that's what overthrows the tyranny. God tells Moses something
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: very specific, which is very much worth knowing, very much
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: relevant to the story that we're telling. God tells Moses,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: go to the Pharaoh and you tell him this very specifically.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: You say, God has commanded me to tell you to
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: let my people go.
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: That's a very famous line. All you Americans know that
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: from the civil rights movement. Let my people go. That
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: was the clarion call partly for the American Revolution. Certainly
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: the clarion call for the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: Which used the Exodus theme repeatedly as a motivating and
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: uniting motif. But that isn't what God tells Moses. He says,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: tell the Pharaoh to let my people go. So they
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: may worship me in the wilderness. Right. And he doesn't
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: just say that once. He says that once per plague. Right.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: Exactly those words. And that's very relevant because what God
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: sets up as the alternative to tyranny is not anarchic,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: hedonistic freedom. That's not the dynamic. The dynamic is the
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: properly structured state as the antithesis of tyranny and slavery.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Of course, that begs the question, what's the properly structured state?
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: And you can think about that state multiple ways. You
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: can think about it as the state of your mind.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: You can think about it as the state of your house.
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: You can think about it as the state of the nation.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. It's the same pattern at all the
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: different levels of potential analysis. What's the proper state that
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: characterizes the alternative to tyranny and slavery? You think tyranny
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: and slavery as opposites, although they dance perversely together. But
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: there's a Alternative that stands in opposition to both. And
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: that's the mystery. That's the right story. What's the alternative
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: that stands in opposition to tyranny and slavery? Well, Moses
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: confronts the Pharaoh and performs his magic. Which the magicians
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: of the court are able to duplicate for the first
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: four or five tricks. And then, as the charlatans of
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: tyrants are wont to do, their tricks fail. Moses warns
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh, let my people go so they may worship
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: me in the wilderness. Or, or what? Or hell's going
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: to break loose. Well, what does that mean in relationship
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: to tyranny? Well, how often have you stuck to something
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: stupidly to torture yourself and not even learn from that? Well,
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: that's in the nature of the tyrant. What does the
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: tyrant do? A tyrant is the person who refuses to
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: learn from their own mistakes. And what happens if you
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: refuse to learn from your own mistakes? Well, that's easy.
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: Each mistake gets worse. And that's what happens to the
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh and the Egyptians. First of all, the world falls apart.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Plagues come up from underneath, so to speak. The natural
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: world rebels. And then the heavens fall apart. And darkness falls.
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: And then the future itself is destroyed. And that's the
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: death of the firstborn. And the moral of that story is.
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: If you're tyrannical enough. And you refuse to learn in
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: the face of mounting evidence. Not only will you destroy
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: the present. You will destroy the future. And that's what
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: happens to the Egyptians. And that's what happens to everyone
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: who insists upon remaining silent. That tyrant who's absolutely right
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: in the face of all disconfirming evidence. And the opposite
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: of that is humility. It's like, maybe you're wrong. That's
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: why you're miserable. And so you pray, God reveal to
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: me the manifold ways in which the tyranny of my
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: presumptions makes me wrong. That's a prayer that'll be answered.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: To the great relief of everyone who knows you. The
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh refuses that and brings devastation on his state. And
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: of course that's what tyrants do. So there's nothing about
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: that that isn't true. The Egyptians leave. The Israelites leave.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: They despoil the Egyptians. The Egyptians leave their treasure on
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: the table for the Israelites to take. Well what does
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: that mean? Took me a long time to figure that out.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, what happens in a tyranny? This is
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: what's happened in the universities. People in a tyranny forget
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: what's valuable. They just forget it. It's like they're so
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: warped that they think that the true value lies somewhere else.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: So the universities have left truth, beauty, justice, the scientific method,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: in the entire religious tradition on the table For what
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: for anyone to take and use it's like well if
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: you're gonna leave that behind Someone's gonna pick it up
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: because that's where the treasure is and that's what happens
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: to the Israelites when they leave Egypt they take the
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: treasure with them because the tyrant forgets what it is
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: and so Now they're in the desert. They cross the
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: Red Sea. Why? Well, look, man, when you first escape
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: from the tyranny of your own presumptions, there's going to
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: be some cataclysm associated with that. You know what it's
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: like to learn something painfully, right? It just about kills you.
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: You were so wrong that you almost die to learn.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: And so that's the Red Sea. That's the sea of
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: blood that wipes out the tyrant. And Moses can weave
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: his way across that chaos. Maybe in one fell swoop.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Or maybe there's traditions differ in this. Maybe by feeling
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: his way across carefully. Like someone who's thoughtful does. And
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: the Israelites cross the Red Sea of catastrophic, cataclysmic destruction
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: of the tyranny. And they end up not in the
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: promised land. And this is something to know. And this
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: is part of the story. Why do people stubbornly adhere
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: to the beliefs that make even them miserable tyrants? And
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: the answer is, better the tyranny than the desert.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: Better a certainty that's false than a confusion that's real.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: Or that's what people are afraid of. It's like, I
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: can't let go of that. Where would I be? And
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: the answer is lost in the desert for three generations. Right?
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: The poor Israelites, it's like a short trip geographically. I
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: heard the other day that your state spent $ 11 billion
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: building 1600 feet of high-speed rail. $ 80 million a foot. Okay,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: how do you account for that? If you're confused enough,
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: it takes you forever and costs everything to do nothing. Right. Well,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: that's the condition. There's no limit to the amount of
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: time and money you can waste if you're confused enough.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: And so that's... And the Israelites are confused. They have
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: the habits of slaves. Right? Right? So they don't know anything.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: They're not used to taking care of themselves. They don't
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: take responsibility. And the tyrant's gone. And so they're wandering lost.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: Moses and God guide them. But it's a rough journey.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: And it takes them a long time to shed the
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: habits of slaves. Well, they're in the desert. They bitch
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: and whine and moan and complain and lose faith constantly.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: They lose faith in Moses. They curse God. They doubt
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: the existence of the promised land. And worse, they pine
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: for the bloody tyranny. Well, didn't we have it good
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: under the thumb of the Egyptians? At least we weren't
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: wandering around in the desert. Right, and that's that false
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: nostalgia for the pathological past that characterizes a kind of sentimental...
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: The worst of a blinkered sentimental conservatism. You saw this
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: emerge in the Soviet Union. You know, in the midst
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: of the 90s. Everyone over 50 was pining for Stalin.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: You know, at least everyone knew where they were then.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: You know, that false nostalgia for the previous tyranny. Another
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: impediment to growth. You won't let go of your own
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: iron grip on your soul. Because... You'll be in the
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: desert and you'll be so lost there that you'll wish
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: that you were back in the grip of the idiot
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: ideology that had you under its thumb. And that's what
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: happens to the Israelites. They're in the whiniest lot, constantly
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: fighting with each other. Why? Well, they have the habits
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: of slaves. They don't know how to negotiate. They don't
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: know how to organize themselves into a community. They don't
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: know how to take responsibility. They're used to being ordered around. Which,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: of course, makes you a slave. And I suppose there's
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: some misery in that. But you don't have to bloody
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: well think, do you? You don't have to take any responsibility.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: And that's what the tyrannical state always offers idiot slaves.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: You won't have to think. You won't have to take
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: any responsibility. Everything will be done for you. It's like, well, everything...
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Why should I even be around then? Well, that turns
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: out to be a major problem for people in a tyranny.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: Like the utter meaninglessness of a life that's run according to,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: you know, a top-down patterned order. There's no adventure in that.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: All the adventure is in the responsibility. And that's what's
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: vacuumed up by the tyrants when the people themselves become
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: irresponsible and slavish.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: And so all of you who are sitting there, one
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: of the questions I was going to ask you tonight is...
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: How many of you take an active role in the
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: political realm? And you can ask yourself that, and here's
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: something to think about. It's like, for all you decent
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: citizens who abdicate political responsibility, you need to understand that
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: that void will be filled by tyrants. Right. So it's
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: either you or the tyrants. That's the option. So if
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: it's not you. And you're wondering why there's a lot
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: of tyrants. It's because it's not you. And so. And
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: we'll get to that. I'll explain why that's the case.
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: So now the Israelites are out in the desert. Bitching
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: and moaning and whining and fighting with each other. Because
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: they don't have enough sense to settle their own disputes.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: And they start to pine for the Pharaoh. Who was
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: always there when they needed him. And they set up
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: Moses as a judge. And so he sits from morning
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: till night. Judging the Israelites. Listening to all their petty complaints.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: And adjudicating. Right? And you can imagine. That's a very
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: difficult job. To take all that responsibility onto yourself. And
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: at that point. Moses' father-in-law Jethro shows back up. And
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: he's a good guy Jethro. A benevolent foreigner. Pattern of
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: character in the biblical corpus. The foreigner who has the
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: wisdom that the tyrannical state has abandoned. Right? So the
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: foreigner as agent of transformation. That's Jethro. He comes and
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: he sees Moses out there in the desert. Visiting his...
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: He's come for a visit to his son-in-law. And he
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: sees Moses sitting from dawn till midnight judging the Israelites.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: And he says, you've got to stop doing that. And
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: Moses says, well, why? You know, the people need me and...
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: Jethro says, well, there's two reasons fundamentally. First of all,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: no one can do this. You can't take the weight
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: of 150,000 people onto yourself. That's too much. You can't
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: handle it. It's too much for you. It's too much
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: for one man. And then he says, but there's something worse.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: This is not good for the Israelites. It's like they're
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: trying to make you into another pharaoh. They're abandoning the
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: necessity to make responsible judgments for themselves. They're pushing it
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: up the political hierarchy. They want to turn themselves into
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: slaves and you into the king. And eventually the Israelites
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: demand a king. This is much later in the biblical stories.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: They demand a king because everyone else has one. And
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: God keeps saying, you don't want a king. You could
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: do things yourself. And the Israelites think, we'd rather have
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: a king. And God says, well, you know, those kings,
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: they tend to turn into tyrants. And the Israelites say, well,
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: as long as we get to be irresponsible, we don't
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: care if we have a tyrant. And so they end
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: up with the kings. And that's not a good deal.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: And that's something your country realized a long time ago.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: When it was founded. That responsible citizens don't need a king. Why?
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Because they do the bloody work themselves. And what's the
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: utility in that? Well, then you get to have a life.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: So that's what Jethro tells Moses. It's one of the
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: most brilliant, very short part of the biblical story. He says, look,
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: this is what you have to do. You got to
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: take all these people and you got to make a
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: hierarchy out of them. And here's how you do it.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Find familial groups, kin groups of 10 people and get
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: them to nominate a leader. And then when anyone in
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: those 10 has something to bitch about, they can bring
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: their problems to the leader and he can sort it out.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: And then maybe now and then there'll be a problem
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: that the leader of 10 can't adjudicate. And so put
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: the leaders into groups and then have them elect another leader.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: And then if a dispute can't be settled locally, it
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: can move up one rung to the next level of
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: self-government and do that all the way up to groups
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: of 10,000. And then you can put yourself at the
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: top and any dispute that isn't settled as it moves
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: up the hierarchy of responsibility, Can land on you. And
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: you can have a chat with God about it. And
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: that'll alleviate the excess burden of responsibility. That you've pridefully
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: taken on yourself. In your unconscious desire to become the
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: new pharaoh. Because the pull of power is a temptation
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: for Moses. And it'll be real good for the damn Israelites.
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: Because they'll have to stop being immature slaves. And figure
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: out how to solve their own problems. And then they
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: won't need a bloody tyrant. And that's. The establishment of
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: what's called the principle of subsidiarity. Which is a core
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: doctrine in Catholic social theory. And the doctrine is the
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: alternative to tyranny and slavery. Is a hierarchy of distributed responsibility.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: Starting with the individual. You have something to do. Moving
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: to the family. To the marriage. The couple is a
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: unit of responsibility. Moving from that to the family. Another
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: unit of responsibility. From that to the local community. And
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: then to the state. And then to the nation. With
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: responsibility distributed here. Down that hierarchy. As far down as
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: it can possibly be distributed. Then you don't need a king.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: Then you're not under the thumb of a tyranny. And
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: you're not a slave. And what does it require? It
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: requires the voluntary adoption of maximal responsibility. And that's. What's
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: the payoff? You get to be a man. Or a woman.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Who's mature. And integrated. And contributing to the community. In
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: a meaningful way. And bear the weight of. Bringing the
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: order that is good into the world on your own shoulders.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: And what's the payoff for that? Well, you get to
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: do it. And it happens. And you don't need a king.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: And you're not a slave. But there's more to it
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: than that. It's the same as having an adventure. Right?
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: To take on that responsibility. That's what gives you value.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: Even in your own eyes. You know? That ability to
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: take some of the burden of the world on your
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: own shoulders. Or maybe a plenty of it. Not only
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: for you. But also for your wife. For your husband.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: And for your children. And for your town. And your community. Right?
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: And you can see then. That you are a locus
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: of stability. And positive transformation. Operating in the world. And
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: there isn't anything that's more deeply meaningful than that. And
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: there's no difference between that. And establishing the proper covenant
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: with the God. Who sits at the top of Jacob's
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: eternal ladder. That's all the same thing. And what that
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: means is a properly God-fearing responsible citizenry. Is no longer
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: under the heel of tyrant. And no longer prone to
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: the hedonistic blandishments of the irresponsible slave. And that's a
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: great deal. And one of the things that is very
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: useful for you Americans in particular to understand is that's
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: the story of your country. Like, seriously. And your country
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: is very highly functional. And most of you admire success.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: And this is a remarkably non-envious society. And it's unbelievably
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: productive and hospitable and trusting and generous. Remarkably so. Uniquely
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: so in the world. And Uniquely so in the history
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: of the world. And why? Because you adopted a subsidiary
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: structure of self-governance. And you adopted the roles of voluntary.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: Of the citizens who took the burden of governance onto themselves.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: And look what's happened. Don't lose that. Don't lose that.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: The world depends on that. And so what's the story here?
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: What's the story? Well, you're going from point A to B, right?
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: And it's punctuated. A, is it tyranny that you're trying
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: to escape from? Or a state of slavery? There's something
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: wrong with where you are. Where are you headed? Somewhere better.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: Or you wouldn't want to go there. That's the eternal
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: movement upward towards the promised land. Upward, up the holy mountain,
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: towards the kingdom of heaven. Up towards the heavenly kingdom.
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: City of Jerusalem. To the place where the lights are
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: on the hill. Right? Everyone understands that imagery. That's where
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: you're headed. That's what motivates you in life. That's what
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: holds you together. That's what unites the community. Along the
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: way you leave the tyranny. And it's not a linear
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: journey to up. It's a punctuated journey. Because you end
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: up in the desert. That's a consequence of your previous idiocy.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: And refusal to learn. And you have to strive. Chaotically
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: in that desert. To put yourself back together. And you
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: do that by. Organizing yourself properly. Psychologically and in the community.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: And adopting the responsibility. For your own destiny. And then
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: you can sojourn. In God's company. To the promised land.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: Right and that's. The story of life. And it's true.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: And that's the end of that. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you. That's quite a trip. From Egypt through the desert.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: To the threshold of the promised land. It's a hell
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: of a story. That's for sure. And it's one well
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: worth knowing and well worth understanding. Because it is a
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: story about you. Like right to the core. You know,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: it's a story about what everyone could be if they
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: hearken to the voice of calling and adventure. And it's
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: a story about how a harmonious psyche and a harmonious
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: productive state can be set up by people who are
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: willing to bear... The responsibility of their own life. There's
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: no difference between that and hoisting the cross. Those are
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: the same idea. Right? And we've founded our communities in
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: the West on the image of the cross. For exactly
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: that reason. Because at a deeply unconscious level. A deeply
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: implicit level. We understand that responsible self-sacrifice is the soul
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: of the community. And that's true. Obviously. Obviously, if you're
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: going to organize yourself communally, you're going to give up
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: your impulsive individuality. There's no difference between that sacrifice. There's
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: no difference between that maturation. Obviously, that's the pathway to
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: psychological integration and social harmony. Right? The human pattern of
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: existence is voluntary self-sacrifice. Right? And that's the message that's
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: at the core of the biblical library and at the
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: center of the Christian ethos. You see it reflected in
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: the story of Abraham. He's called upon even to sacrifice
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: his son. Everything is to be offered upward in the
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: process of sacrifice that stabilizes the community and transforms the individual.
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: And that's the story that the West is founded on.
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: It's the story that insofar as you're sane, you see
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: the world through. And we're in danger of forgetting that.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: And that's a very, very, very bad idea. If you
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: forget the truth. You live in falsehood. And there's no
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: difference between that being in hell. And so. God help
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: us avoid that. That's for sure. So. Alright. I'm going to.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask my daughter to come on stage again.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: And she's going to. She's going to. To select some
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: questions from the audience. That you were kind enough. And
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: interested enough to offer. And we'll do that for. 23 minutes, apparently.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: And that'll be evening. That was great. Thank you, dear.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: I opened you one already. Oh, thank you. Nailed it, yeah.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: You know, that's such a fun story. Such a remarkable story.
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: You know, everybody Every detail in those stories is stunningly
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: worth evaluating. You find these little treasures hidden in the stories.
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. This is so funny. There's
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: a scene of rebellion in the Exodus story near the end.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Like the Israelites have just about made it to the
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: promised land. And this guy named Koresh gets bitchy. Like
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: the Israelites always do. And he goes to Moses. And
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: this is literally what he says. He says... I've got
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: together with some of my guys. We're feeling kind of
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: victimized and oppressed. And we think that you've done everything
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: you've done just to gain power for yourself. Right? It's
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: exactly what the radical critics of Western civilization are screeching
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: about now. Everyone who's successful is a victimizer. Yeah, well.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: There isn't a more pathological story than that. I tell you,
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: when your culture starts to identify success with criminality, you're
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: in serious trouble. You criminalize success. Yeah.
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that process, that process, by the way, historically
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: often starts with demonization of the Jews. Because the Jews
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: have the temerity to be a successful minority. And The
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: successful in any dimension are always a minority. And so
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: the Jews are the canary in the coal mine. When
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: the thugs and the resentful monsters of Luciferian rebellion come
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: crawling out from underneath their rocks. They point to the
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: Jews first and portray them as victimizers. Because of their success.
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: And people abandon them. Not understanding that. The target isn't
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: the Jews. The target is those who have the temerity.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: To be successful. And the Jews fall first. But they're
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: not the last to fall. And if you can't see
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: that unfolding. In what's in front of you right now.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: You are not paying attention. And that's a bad idea. So.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: So Koresh has this rebellion. Against Moses. And it's a
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: victim victimizer narrative. And the consequence of that. is. The
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: earth swallows up Koresh and all his followers. Right. Yeah. Well. So.
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: You know. Play victim victimizer. And just watch what happens. So.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: And hopefully. We'll have enough wisdom. To not let that
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: go too far. But. We'll see, won't we? We'll see.
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: We'll hope. Are you ready?
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 2: I'm starting with a light one. How do you see
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 2: the archetype of Satan in today's society?
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: Well, probably the most interesting manifestation is related to the
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: Tower of Babel. So, the Tower of Babel is a
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: pyramid of Babylon, right? Babel is Babylon. And at the
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: time the story was created, there were multiple city-state kingdoms
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: in the Middle East. And all of the tyrants, all
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: the petty would-be tyrants in those states, who tried to
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: make themselves into gods, built pyramids, towers. In competition to
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: see who could build the highest tower. And that was
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: a testament to their own... God-like status, let's say. And so...
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: You know, that still happens today. As cities compete to
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: see who can build the tallest building. And there's something
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: in that that is... You know, emblematic of.
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: Genuine technical striving. And the cathedrals, of course, of Europe...
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: Had that proclivity to... Be the tallest structure in the community.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: Of course, they were... They were what consecrated to God.
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: So not to the local bloody thug. The Tower of
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: Babel is a monument to human presumption. And the builders
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: of the Tower of Babel were the engineers. And that's
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: what's happening in today's society. Is that the engineers build
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: Towers of Babel to their own intellectual presumption. And that's
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: happening everywhere. And Why the engineers? Because the engineers are...
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: I like engineers, by the way, don't get me wrong.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: We're talking about something very specific here. Engineers have a
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: proclivity to worship technology. And that's a bad idea, because...
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: Technology can help us solve our problems if we're upward oriented,
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: but orientation towards technology is not an upward orientation. It
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: has to be put in its proper place. And if
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: you put technology at the pinnacle, which is what the
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: builders of the Tower of Babel do, you build false
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: monuments to the wrong God. Well, what God? Imagine the
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: worship of technology is associated with the, what would you say,
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: elevation of intellect to the highest place. It's something like that.
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: Look how smart we are. Well, the spirit of intellectual presumption,
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: that's Lucifer. Right. Because Lucifer is the intellect that worships
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: itself and believes that it should take the place of God.
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: And that produces this Luciferian technological presumption that produces towers
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: of Babel. What happens when you produce a tower of Babel?
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: Everyone speaks a different language. Why? Because no one's united.
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: Psychologically or communally. Towards the proper highest aim. And so
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: no one can understand each other anymore. Everyone speaks a
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: different language. Commentators on this story say. Well that was
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: a primitive way of explaining. Why there's so many languages.
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: It's like. Hey guys. You seriously missed the point. Like seriously.
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: It's a story of technological presumption. Why do people start.
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: Speaking different languages. Because unity of apprehension makes words comprehensible.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: What do I mean by that? What is a woman?
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: That's what I mean by that. Right. Okay. So. So.
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: So we don't know. And so what does that mean?
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: It means the most fundamental words are now. Have now
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: gone askew in their meaning. Well why? Why? Because we
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: inhabit the wrong towers. Like seriously. I tell you. I
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: truly believe this as a psychologist who's looked deeply into
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: such things. Inability. There is no confusion deeper than inability
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: or refusal to distinguish the sexes. Creatures without nervous systems
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: can tell the difference between male and female. Right? I'm
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: serious about that. Right?
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: From an evolutionary perspective, we have been able to make
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: that discrimination for 650 million years. That's a long time.
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: It's more fundamental than up and down, or black and white,
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: or night and day. It's the most fundamental, verbally signified reality.
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: If you're confused about that, then everyone speaks a different language.
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: And that's in no small consequence, the result of our,
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: what would you say, mind-addling Luciferian technological presumption. I know
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: those things are tangled together oddly, but the world's an
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: odd place. You can see the fractionation in our ability
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: to communicate occurring as we produce Facebook, as we produce Twitter,
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: as we produce these new landscapes of presumption. That destroy. Threaten.
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: Our ability to. Communicate. Presumption. That's doing that. It's Luciferian presumption.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: Now there's nothing wrong with the intellect. But it's a
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: terrible master. It's a great servant. But it is a
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: terrible master. And one of the. Temptations of. Those with
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: the intelligence to. Manipulate technology is to. Place the worship
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: of their own intellect. At the highest pinnacle. And then
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: it's Luciferian. Instantly. And that is a bad thing. It's
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: always been a terrible thing. It's no better now. Worse probably.
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: Because we're so technologically powerful. You know if we. If
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: we worship technology. Which is a real threat. God only
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: knows what's going to happen. You know I look today.
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: I saw this new AI system. It's the avatar of
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: chat GPT-4. It's been given a voice. A very attractive
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: female voice. Very charismatic. Very caring. Very responsive. It's like
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: we're literally building soulless agents. Soulless agents of seduction. Jesus,
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: that's probably not going to go well. Yeah. And it's,
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: who's doing it? The presumptuous engineers who can't get a date. Yeah.
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: Ha ha. Right. It'd be funny if it wasn't terrible.
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: You know, pornography drove the development of the net. 30%
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: of the traffic is still pornographic. It's like, don't be
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: underestimating the terrible power of frustrated sexual desire and what
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: it's capable of what kind of havoc it's capable of
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: wreaking so yeah so be awake that's for sure well
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: so that's an example of of lucifer tromping around the earth.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 2: And when you use that uh what did you say
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 2: you're dumber than an organism without a nervous system yeah
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 2: that's a good one i'm gonna keep that.
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: Hey, ready?
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 2: This is a new one. We haven't talked about this before.
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 2: How can someone who intends to live by logic also
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 2: hold true to the supernatural elements and beliefs in the
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 2: Bible without feeling as though you're betraying logic?
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: That's a very complicated question. You know I would say.
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: I hesitate to attempt an answer. Because it's not. To
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: answer that question properly. You have to elucidate. A non-materialistic philosophy.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: Like really from first principles. And you just can't do
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: that in five minutes. I mean I've been trying to
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: do that for. I've been literally trying to do that
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: for 40 years. You know and so. Let's see if
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: I can just make a. Make a crack at it.
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: I give you an example. That's all I can do.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: This just pushes me to the limits of my knowledge.
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: Don't be thinking that this is some kind of final answer.
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: So Christ in the Gospels is presented as. The source
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: of the banquet.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 3: And.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: The banquet that never ends. He's the well. That never
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: runs dry. The fish that multiply. Beyond necessity. And the
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: bread that. That feeds the multitude. That's Christ. Okay. So
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: what does that mean? Well here's at least what it means.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is everything it means. But this
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: is at least what it means. Okay. You know in
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: this culture we have the idea of natural resource. That's
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: a stupid idea. It's a materialistic idea. And it's fundamentally
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: an envious and Marxist idea. Because it's predicated on the
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: idea that valuable things are just sort of lying around. And,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: you know, thieves take them and monopolize them. And that's capitalism.
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: It's something like that. And if the natural resources were
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: just distributed fairly, everyone would be rich. It's like, there
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: are no natural resources. Like air, maybe. You can breathe.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: But even then, you have to put some effort into it.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: No one's going to push the air into your lungs. Right? So,
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: there's even some human effort in breathing. There's no natural resource. Okay, well,
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: what about fresh water? It's like really are you really
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: that clueless like seriously? Do you know how hard it's
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: been to produce a civilization that has a reliable? That
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: has the kind of reliable access to fresh water that
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: you have in LA. It's a desert here. Like how
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: did you manage that? Like it's impossible. Most of the
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: world still has no fresh water. It's hard. To have
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: fresh water. Okay, so what are the preconditions for fresh water?
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: A insanely sophisticated technological infrastructure. Okay, what are the preconditions
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: for an insanely sophisticated technological infrastructure? People who go to
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: work every day, right? Like working class people who are
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: fundamentally honest and hardworking. Who are upward aiming. Who go
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: and fix the pipes. That would otherwise be breaking non-stop.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: That keep the whole bloody clattering apparatus working miraculously. That
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: keep the lights on. Which is impossible. Do you know
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: how many countries in the world have like no electricity?
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: Or if they do, it's rolling blackout city. It's like,
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: why are these on? Why are these on? Because you're
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: a Judeo-Christian nation. That's why. And why would I say that? Well,
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: it's because there's an ethos of sacrifice that constitutes the
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: valid meritorious work that produces the American dream. And by
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: and large, everyone adheres to it. It's a miracle. You've
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: got to see this. It's an absolute miracle. People, damaged people,
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: you know, hurt people. They struggle out of bed at
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: 6 in the morning and they go out into storms
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: and they fix the power lines. And why do they
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: do that? Well, obviously to get paid, but it doesn't
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: happen in third world countries. They do it because they
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: act out an ethos. It's the ethos on which complex
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: civilization depends. It's the self-sacrificing ethos that's characterized by, let's say,
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: the offering of Christ. And the reason he's the well
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: that never runs dry and the bread that never ends
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: is because the pattern of self-sacrifice and upward aiming that's
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: embodied by Christ is the source of the resource that
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: never exhausts itself. Right? And so, is that a miracle? Well, yes.
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: Is it the kind of miracle that people usually think
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: about when they read the Gospels? No. Now, can I
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: bridge the gap between the historical reality and that, let's say,
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: more symbolic interpretation? No. You know, no one can bridge
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: the gap between the historical reality of Christ and the,
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: what would you say, the... the... Transcendent narrative power that
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: suffuses the text. That's beyond anyone's ability. And it's beyond
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: my ability. But I can tell you that that's at
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: least what it means. And that's not nothing. Right? That's something.
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: To understand that the pattern that calls you to adventure.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: The conscience that encourages you to tell the truth. That's
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: the same spirit that makes the desert bloom. That's the
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: same spirit that provides the food that never ends to
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: the starving. That's true. And so is that a miracle? Yes.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: Is it a miracle that the rational can appreciate? It
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: depends on how rational they are. There's nothing about the
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: account I just gave that doesn't make sense. So that's it.
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: Reconciliation of the rational and the miraculous. And if you
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: don't think that. The fact that electricity comes out of
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: the plug. The wall. When you put the plug in.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: If you don't think that's an ethical miracle. You're. You
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: just don't. You just don't know the first thing about.
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: What would you say? What makes life more abundant? It's
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: an ethos. It's the ethos in which technology itself should
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 1: be nested.
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: And that's. That's the Tower of Babel problem. It's like
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: technology is not what makes us rich. It's ethical conduct
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: makes us rich. Technology can serve that if it's put
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: in its proper place. Just like the intellect. Just like sex.
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: Just like adventure. Everything subdued and named properly. And it
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: can serve what's highest. Out of place. Anything out of place.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: Especially elevated to the highest place. Is immediately some variant
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: of Satan. Could be sex. It could be power. It
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: could be. Anger. It could be. Intellect. You got to
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: get what's. Properly. At the pinnacle. In the right place. And.
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: And then everything. Then you're in the garden. And. Everything.
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: Is at your fingertips. And that's the truth. It's really.
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: That's really how the world is structured. That was impressive.
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you, my dear.
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, going in a different direction. How do we understand
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 2: and respond to the differences between men and women in
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 2: a society that has blurred the obvious truths?
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: Well, that's sort of a problem you hash out. In
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: the confines of your marriage. Isn't it? You know. I mean.
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: That's where the rubber hits the road. So to speak.
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: So how do you do that? Well. I'll tell you
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: a story about that. So I had this friend. He
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: came from this little town. Called Bear Canyon. And when
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: I say little town. You have to understand. That the
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: town I came from. Had 3,000 people in it. It
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: was way the hell out in the middle of nowhere.
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: And Bear Canyon was a little town. That compared to Fairview.
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: Was way out in the middle of nowhere. So, I
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: don't know how many people were in Bear Canyon. It
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: was like at the edge of the northernmost prairie. It
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: was literally the last part of the prairie settled by
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: Europeans in North America. And that was only in the
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: 1950s or thereabouts. So, it was a backwoods place. Anyways,
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: I had a friend who came from there. And he
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: was of Swedish extraction. And he ended up falling in
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: love with and then marrying the cousin of my wife, Tammy.
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: And she was also Swedish, of Swedish origin, and they
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: decided that they would go to Sweden to get married.
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: And during their marriage ceremony, there was a custom that
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: they both participated in. And the custom was that when
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: they were standing beside each other at the altar, they
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: lifted a candle above their heads. And that signified the marriage,
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: but it signified more than the marriage. See, it signified
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: what a candle signifies on a Christmas tree, which is
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: enlightenment and illumination and the return of the light in
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: the darkness and the return of the sun in the
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: depths of winter and the heavenly sovereignty of the sun
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: compared to the stars. And that's all tied up in
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: that candle. But it also signifies Christ. And that's because
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: marriage is a sacrament. And the theory is that the
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: union of man and woman recreates the original Adam prior
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: to his division into man and woman and the reestablishment
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: of the identity that characterized life in the Garden of Eden.
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: That's all packed into that symbol, that idea. So what
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: does that mean practically? Who's the boss in your marriage? Well,
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the traditionalists, the demented power-mad traditionalists, they all
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: insist that it's the man. Try that in your marriage
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: and see how that works for you. It's like one
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: of the really troublesome things about women is they make
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: terrible slaves. They really do. they're like unruly and you
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: know they're full of tricks and if you oppress them
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: they got like they got six tricks to your one
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: like club it's just it's just not going anywhere and
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: so so you know the man is he in charge
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: well and The odd deluded man thinks so. And that's
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: just an indication of how absolutely he's been, what? Defeated
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: by his wife. Yeah. So then it's the wife that's
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: in charge. It's like, no, that's a dismal set of
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: circumstances for everyone. So women have the misfortune of liking
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: men who are of higher status than they are. Right?
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: And that's cross-culturally true. And there's a reason for that.
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: And the reason fundamentally is... Well why would a woman
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: want a man who's more useless than her? She's going
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: to have a baby. To fill that role. She might
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: as well have someone who's helpful. And so she looks
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: for someone who's going to be helpful. Compared to her.
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: And so. And that's very much key to sexual attraction.
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: Between men and women. And that's well documented. Like cross-culturally.
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: It's one of the most well-founded observations. In all of.
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: What would you say? In all of psychological investigation. And so.
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: A woman who dominates her husband. Will have virtually no
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: sexual attraction to him. So that's real fun for both
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: of them. And so then you might say. Well who
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: the hell is in charge then? And the answer is.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: What's in charge is what's signified by the candle.
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: And so the notion. It's so sophisticated, this idea. This
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: is like the superstition of the religious. It's like, you
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: have no idea, man, how deep these ideas are. They're
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: insanely deep. So here's the idea. So one of Christ's
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: proclamations is that whenever there's two or more together in
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: his name, that he's present. The Logos itself, or the
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: holy dove that descends from heaven is present. So what
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: does that mean? Well, it means that there's a Logos,
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: that's Christ, that's the force that extracts order out of
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: chaos at the beginning of time. That's present whenever there's
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: honest dialogue. Dialogue. Dialogos. The logos that two or more
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: people engage in. Whenever there's truthful communication present, the spirit
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: of the logos makes itself manifest. Well, that's what a
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: marriage is. It's the opening up of the possibility of intimate,
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: truthful communication. That's transformative. Okay, that's a spirit. Now, that's
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: the spirit that's supposed to be elevated. That's what you
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: both serve in a marriage.
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: So that's the right answer to how the relationship between
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: men and women should be constituted. It should be constituted
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: in the spirit of love and truth. And the willingness
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: to take maximal responsibility. And if you do that then
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: the logos flows between you and that's what solves the
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: problems and ennobles you and keeps you in love and
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: provides a stable platform for your children and that's a
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: good deal. And so What do you serve? You serve
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: what's highest in your marriage. Both of you. And then
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: neither of you is a tyrant or a slave. And
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: you take the responsibility that's commensurate with your role. And
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: you negotiate that. And then you're the foundation of the community.
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: And you have someone to love. You know who has
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: the most sex? This is funny. Religious married people. So
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: isn't that funny? It's like 60 years after the sexual revolution.
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: The data Aryan. Is it the alphabet hedonists who are
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: on top? Or the conservative Christians? It's like on the
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: sexual front, the conservative Christians are kicking ass. That's so funny.
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: It's so ridiculous. It's so... unpredictable it's you just know
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: that's true because it's so absurd.
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 2: So the clock counted down to 23 a number of minutes.
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: Ago i see so we should stop we should probably
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: we should stop yes do you have one more do
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: you have one more quick let's see if i can
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: do one quick.
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 2: Okay okay okay okay speed question okay speed quest okay
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 2: this might be helpful for people um What would you
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 2: advise people who wish to find meaning in their lives
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 2: by embracing their responsibilities but find themselves unmotivated?
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're probably forcing yourself too much. That'd be my guess.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: You're using the heavy hand of power, right? You want
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: to invite yourself to play. So how do you do that? Well,
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: figure out a game you want to play. You know,
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: and then make a plan. It's like, How do you
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: do that? Well, this is what Christ tells his followers
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: in the Gospels. He says, knock and the door will open.
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you'll find. Okay,
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: so you have a problem. You want to be motivated.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: So you have to meditate. You have to pray. You
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: have to think, okay, if I could have what I
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: needed to be enthusiastic about working towards it, What would
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: that be? And that's a question everyone should ask themselves.
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: It's like, what the hell do you want? What would
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: satisfy you? Well, first of all, you have to ask
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: the question, right? And people don't. They're afraid to, for
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: all sorts of reasons. And then you have to accept
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: the answer. And you might think, well, that's impossible. It's no, no.
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's impossible. Stumbling forward, depressed, anxious, hopeless,
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: and unmotivated. That's impossible. Striving to attain a difficult goal.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: That's a compelling challenge if you set it up properly.
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: And if the end is something you want. It's like
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: you could do this in your marriage. It's like, okay. Well,
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: I tell people to do this in local ways. Here's
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: an example. It's a good example. Imagine coming home at
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: night after work. You do that every day, let's say.
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: Take a stereotypical example. That takes you about half an
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: hour to make that transition. And so that's about 5%
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: of your life is the half an hour every day
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: that you come home after work. 5% of your life.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: So you get 20 things like that right, you got
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: your life right. So you might think, well, how would
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: I like things to happen when I came home? Like,
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: what would motivate me to come home? What would motivate
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: me to keep working? How would I like to be greeted?
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: How would I like my kids to react when I
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: walk in the door? What response would I like from
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: my wife so that I feel that the work I
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: did during the day was justified? How could I make
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: her happy to see me? So that we were pleased
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: when we re-encountered each other after a day's separation. Well,
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: you can sit there and think that through. If you
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: could admit it to yourself. You know, probably what you
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: want isn't that unreasonable. You might be able to negotiate
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: that with her and then you'd have it. And then
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: you'd be motivated. It's like... Dare to dream. You know,
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: ask yourself, what do I want? With the presumption that,
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're not completely blind and deluded and greedy,
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: that you could probably have it. And the world wouldn't
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: fall apart just because you got something that you needed.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: You could give yourself that break. And you have to
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: find out, just like you would when you're making friends
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: with someone. It's like, what the hell do you want?
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 2: What?
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: If I could offer you what you wanted, what would
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: it be? Well, I don't know. It's like, well, then
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: the first thing you want is to know what you want.
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: There's some place to start. You know, and you can
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: figure it out. And if you aim small enough, you
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: can figure it out. And then, so if you're not motivated,
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: you're probably living someone else's dream. You're laboring under some
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: false illusion. You're tyrannizing yourself. You're taking on too much responsibility.
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: You're using power when invitation would suffice. And you don't
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: have a vision. Well, it doesn't have to be that way.
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: You could figure out a game you want to play
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: and invite yourself along. And you can do that. That's
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: how life is constituted. So don't think it's impossible. It's
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: not impossible. I told you what was impossible. Stumbling miserably forward.
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: That's impossible. That's for sure. All right. That's good. Thank you, everyone.
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Mick. Nice to see you all. Thank you, everybody,
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: for coming. Pleasure to see you. All right, everyone. Good night.