00:00:02.000We go through a recap of 2022 and I talk about New Year's resolutions, man's search for meaning, the great new depression we are living through, and so much more.
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00:01:24.000We are doing a 2022 year in review and looking ahead to 2023.
00:01:29.000Let me just say a couple things that I wanted to express to you.
00:01:33.000First, I want to talk about New Year's resolutions.
00:01:36.000I'm a big fan of New Year's resolutions, regardless of whether or not you keep them.
00:01:44.000I think that every person listening should try to make a commitment of things that you think you can do better.
00:01:51.000Let me tell you why I believe New Year's resolutions are terrific and also why I get so angry when the cynics and the pessimists start making these social media posts against New Year's resolutions and making fun of them.
00:02:34.000The greatest improvements I've ever had in my life, and I think you would agree in your life, happen.
00:02:40.000You have to be honest with yourself, know yourself, know what you're good at and what you're not good at, know what you're succeeding at and what you're failing at, and then making an honest commitment to improve.
00:02:53.000So when someone says, look, I'm 35 pounds overweight and I want to lose some weight, I think that takes a lot of courage to admit that you're not where you want to be.
00:03:06.000Now, regardless of whether or not you actually are able to lose the weight or keep going to the gym, the first step of acknowledging that you're not exactly where you want to be is very healthy.
00:03:19.000We talk about 2022 and how I believe we're living through a new Great Depression.
00:03:25.000Not a great economic depression, but a great spiritual depression, the likes of which I have never lived through.
00:03:31.000And just talking to some people I really trust, they're experiencing and seeing the same thing.
00:03:37.000From priests to rabbis to pastors to just other spiritual people I know, they're seeing a widespread, massively suppressive spiritual depression.
00:03:47.000But for New Year's resolutions, what I really love about it is the admission that I have not reached my full potential.
00:03:59.000And isn't that what's one of the most beautiful parts of life is saying, I'm not exactly where I want to be yet.
00:04:08.000I find the most fulfilling New Year's resolutions not necessarily to be material New Year's resolutions saying, oh, I want to be able to get another house or all this.
00:04:21.000The New Year's resolutions that I think are the most fulfilling are the ones where you say, I want to wake up earlier.
00:04:34.000I want to go the month of January without alcohol.
00:04:38.000I want to stop watching internet or online pornography.
00:04:43.000I'm tired of watching Netflix ad nauseum.
00:04:47.000I don't feel fulfilled enough in my life.
00:04:49.000People that refuse to do that first step and just live in a state of delirium never will improve.
00:04:58.000And I think they actually are deeply unhappy when that happens.
00:05:01.000Now, it's important not to stay there, obviously, which is why the resolution is: I am resolving to go about fixing it.
00:05:08.000And I don't think we give enough credit to the process that goes into turning off your phone, turning off your computer, turning off your television, taking out a piece of paper, and writing down things that you think you have not yet reached your highest potential that you think you can go about fixing in the new year.
00:05:28.000And so my recommendation, especially for young people, but people of all ages, is to make a few New Year's resolutions.
00:05:34.000And I just get so angry is a good word for it because there's a growing cynic movement out there.
00:05:42.000And it's a lot of Gen Z because they're not religious and they're hyper-secular.
00:05:48.000And when you're secular, irony is one of the few things that actually makes sense to you because what is irony?
00:06:04.000And so young people find that irony is the only way they can make sense of the world because they don't believe the world has meaning.
00:06:11.000The universe has a cosmological or teleological or epistemological purpose for existence.
00:06:20.000And so they find irony as a way to try to explain it away in kind of a smug and arrogant, condescending way.
00:06:28.000So the point is some of these prognosticators from the cheap seats from the audience say, oh, what's the point?
00:06:39.000You're going to break that New Year's resolution.
00:06:42.000I think that's a very, if you are one of those people, stop it.
00:06:46.000You are making the world a worse place.
00:06:48.000If you are a cynic towards other people that want to self-improve, that have been honest enough with theirselves to say, you know what, I'm not all that I could be.
00:06:57.000And you are one of the people on the sidelines saying, oh, what's the point?
00:07:02.000You're going to break that resolution.
00:07:06.000You should have a New Year's resolution to stop doing that.
00:07:08.000And I think one of the reasons why so many people break their New Year's resolutions is that kind of cynic chattering class that has only grown in number and volume over the last couple of years, where the community of people that want to improve is dramatic.
00:07:45.000And one of the features she has as part of her ministry to try to have people grow spiritually and to achieve spiritual depth, which is, I think, the most important thing a human being can achieve is spiritual depth, is she has a prayer request portal where she is able to hear the prayer requests of what is going on in the world.
00:08:08.000And in some ways, it's more accurate than a poll because it's real and it's not filtered through some sort of firm that might want a specific outcome and some algorithm that we're kind of out of the loop on.
00:08:20.000And it is so fascinating to see where the country is at.
00:08:25.000And it is by far the most depressed I've ever seen a country.
00:08:29.000And I'm not trying to make you depressed.
00:08:30.000In fact, I actually think you could take this in one of two ways.
00:08:33.000You can also then be even more depressed than you are and then go in a cycle of negativity and pessimism and despair.
00:08:39.000Or you could say, wow, that's a problem.
00:08:42.000And I'm going to choose to at least pursue love, joy, and peace or happiness.
00:08:49.000And so some of the common themes that Erica is seeing is hundreds of people experiencing suicidal ideation, thousands of people struggling with anxiety and depression, tens of thousands of people that are lacking significant meaning in their life.
00:09:06.000It'll bring you down for sure if you allow it to bring you down.
00:09:10.000That's a very important theme of Viktor Frankl, which I'm going to talk about later this hour.
00:09:14.000Probably one of the most powerful pieces of literature written in the last 100 years, man's search for meaning.
00:09:19.000But you got to really read it carefully and slowly.
00:09:27.000It's a tough book because he goes into great detail about his experience at a concentration camp and how he actually found meaning at a concentration camp.
00:09:35.000I mean, you think about it, it is the example of how to find meaning while going through the earthly equivalent of hell.
00:09:41.000We're going to talk more about this, but I think that in 2023, it would be helpful if the nation said we want to live in a happier country than we did in 2022.
00:09:54.000Because if we're honest with ourselves, we're living in a deeply unhappy time.
00:10:57.000I mean, there were the lights and there were the kids running around and there was the Christmas music.
00:11:00.000And it wasn't like people were necessarily miserable, but it did not feel with that kind of kinetic joy that usually would spread during the Christmas season.
00:11:13.000And then you pair that with the emails that Erica is getting.
00:11:16.000And then tragically, one of our family members committed suicide and killed herself in the last couple of days.
00:11:22.000And so there's a lot in this kind of genre of the spiritual frequency of the nation.
00:11:28.000And I mean that you could say, you could take it literally or metaphorically, but I think that there is kind of a spiritual health of the nation is very low right now.
00:11:38.000And I think it's low for a lot of reasons.
00:11:42.000Secularism creates a massive vacuum of existential despair.
00:11:48.000If you remove the idea that there is a God who created you and there is a harmony and meaning to the universe, you're not going to fill that void with macchiatos and TikTok.
00:12:00.000You're not going to fill the void just by going out to eat every night and getting yourself incredibly drunk.
00:12:06.000Eventually, you're going to look up to the heavens and say, What is the purpose of all that?
00:12:10.000Now, as a Christian, we have an answer to that.
00:12:13.000But the journey of trying to find your place in the cosmos is nothing new.
00:12:18.000Some of the greatest writers and thinkers have struggled with this and have, I think, been rather successful and persuasive in being able to make the argument that we are first and foremost spiritual beings.
00:12:31.000But I really believe that we have not yet left the era of low spiritual frequency, or said differently, an unhealthy spiritual kind of prognosis or reality from COVID.
00:12:46.000I think it has left people in a constant state of this secular frenzy.
00:13:06.000It gives people in the environmentalist groups meaning.
00:13:08.000In fact, I'm actually reading a really interesting biography on Xi Ji Ping, whose biography is really mysterious.
00:13:17.000But the one thing we do know about Xi Ji Ping, he was sent off to a work camp when he was young, and his father was one of the founding fathers of the modern CCP.
00:13:24.000And at age 18, Xi Ji Peng famously told all of his friends, I have found my meaning.
00:13:30.000It is to serve the Chinese Communist Party.
00:13:52.000And so we know how that's going to end for Xi Ji Ping.
00:13:55.000It will end in torment and despair, just as it did for every attempted conqueror of the last couple thousand years.
00:14:01.000But outside of serving the state, then they try to say, well, just please yourself.
00:14:06.000Just have an unlimited amount of food and pleasure, drugs, and drink.
00:14:13.000And the existential despair, the vacuum that is being created, shows that we have the most suicidal, alcohol-addicted, drug-addicted generation in history.
00:14:23.000And why is it that so many young people are killing themselves?
00:14:28.000I mean, I just told my friend, I was just telling somebody, yeah, I mean, I know four or five people that, unfortunately, in the last couple of years decided to kill themselves.
00:14:40.000I know that might sound very harsh, and I'm not saying I don't have sympathy and compassion.
00:14:46.000But if you believe that it's all about you, not about service, not about connection to the divine, then all of a sudden that kind of unthinkable becomes entertainable.
00:15:12.000It's been quite a year, and I want to summarize just some of the highlights: Russia invading Ukraine.
00:15:19.000There were the Beijing Olympics, Novak Zhoikovic, Katanji Brown Jackson, the Canadian Freedom Trucker, truckers, the rise of the Parents Party, overturning the mask mandate, Roe versus Wade being repealed.
00:15:37.000There was a lot of newsworthy items all throughout the year, but let's be honest.
00:15:43.000If you go back to some of the programs that we did earlier in the year, there was a kind of constant bend, a constant pivot towards the midterm elections.
00:16:01.000There was a lot of hope that was being put into the November midterm elections, 11-8.
00:16:09.000Now, it wouldn't be fair to say that it was all terrible and that it was catastrophic across the board, but it was certainly a letdown.
00:16:16.000And I think a lot of you in this audience feel that and you see that.
00:16:22.000You thought that this would be a chance for us to reclaim the country, that regular everyday citizens would be able to send a triumphant message, and it just fell short.
00:16:31.000And it fell short in a very serious way.
00:16:34.000Yes, we won the House of Representatives.
00:16:40.000And so, I mean, I look, I had this wonderful year in review that our team put together here.
00:16:45.000Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
00:16:48.000Ron DeSantis was one of the winners of this year, signing the Florida Parental Rights and Education Act.
00:16:54.000Roe versus Wade was repealed, praise God, even though Republicans didn't know how to deal with it politically.
00:17:00.000August, of course, remember Biden raided Mar-a-Lago.
00:17:03.000I thought it was one of the biggest political mistakes.
00:17:06.000We did not talk more about that raid during the midterm elections.
00:17:10.000Elon Musk bought Twitter this year, which was a big deal, probably a bigger deal than the midterm elections that allow us to talk openly about the vaccines and lockdowns, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin.
00:17:26.000I'll be very honest personally, the sabotage and the ambush of Kerry Lake was a very, and still is a very difficult thing for me to move on.
00:17:37.000I think it's important to be honest with you, the audience, about things that I'm good at and things that I struggle with.
00:17:47.000I struggle with forgiveness, especially when it comes to the ambush of someone as spectacular and as special as Kerry Lake.
00:17:59.000I have not forgiven the people that have done this.
00:18:01.000The people that automatically forgive after a tragedy, let's just say you're either being fake or you're far more spiritually developed than I am.
00:18:12.000It's just not, it doesn't come easy to me.
00:18:15.000Certain things, you cut me off in traffic, whatever.
00:18:17.000Even if you steal something from me, okay, whatever.
00:18:20.000But if you ambush and sabotage a gubernatorial candidate who had a very clear vision, let me be very clear, it's not over.
00:18:29.000I hope it goes up to the Supreme Court, but let's pretend that it's going to end the way that it currently stands.
00:18:34.000I think that's a fair and rational way to look at it.
00:18:39.000It's very hard for me to all of a sudden say, you know, I forgive you.
00:18:43.000And it's also difficult because they haven't asked for forgiveness either.
00:19:27.000Turning Point USA was definitely a shining star in this dark Spiritually despondent chapter that we're living through.
00:19:40.000Praise God for Turning Point USA and the chapters that we're starting and the students that we're training and the leaders that we are lifting up.
00:19:48.000Praise God for the millions of people that we are reaching every day, for the pastors that we're working with, for the churches that we're working with, for Turning Point Academy.
00:19:56.000If it wasn't for Turning Point USA, we would be in a far, far darker spot than we are right now.
00:20:02.000So, what is the takeaway from this last year?
00:20:04.000I think that this last year could have been worse, and it's always important to say that, but it was the year of the shattering of high expectations.
00:20:14.000It's a year where millions of people, myself included, had understandably and reasonably high expectations that we were going to advance in the Senate and take back the House triumphantly.
00:20:28.000And it's a year when all of that was kind of shattered in front of us for a variety of reasons.
00:20:32.000We've gone through the reasons of it, but that's a very honest thing.
00:20:34.000And that creates a people that then kind of go into political, civic, personal, spiritual hiding.
00:20:44.000It creates a demoralized chapter that we're living through.
00:20:49.000I'm basically over it in a lot of different ways, except the fact that I have a lot of resentment for people that do things unjust and unethical, especially when it comes to elections.
00:21:02.000And so this last year, a lot of people, I think, baked in the hope of what they wanted to see happen in the midterm elections.
00:21:50.000Charlie, tell me, what was your favorite book that you read this year?
00:21:54.000It's interesting now that we have the sweepstakes of that.
00:21:57.000But let me elaborate a little bit more on the seed of equivalent benefit before I get into my favorite book of the year.
00:22:02.000It's this: look, I'm a big believer in choice and agency.
00:22:07.000That's what I love about Frankl's book.
00:22:11.000And he's not alone in this, but there's things you can control and there's things you cannot control.
00:22:18.000And in Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, he's in a concentration camp where he literally is about to die from typhus and he has no shoes and it's negative 10 degrees and he has to go dig ditches.
00:22:36.000And he said at certain moments, he had these waves of bliss where he was never happier because he made a conscious decision to have an attitude of love, joy, and peace.
00:22:47.000I mean, you look at it and you think the first reaction is like, this guy's delusional.
00:22:51.000I mean, what kind of drugs is this guy on?
00:22:54.000And then you read deeper, and he explains it from a psychological perspective: he knew there were things he could not control.
00:23:02.000He could not control the Capos or the SS or the Nazis or what kind of soup he was going to get served or what kind of bread rations he was going to get.
00:23:12.000He could not control whether or not his best friend was going to be taken away.
00:23:16.000He couldn't control when the camp was going to be liberated, but he could control his attitude.
00:23:23.000And when he could control his attitude, he realized that if they can't take that away, then they can't take your being itself away.
00:23:33.000That's a very difficult thing for a lot of people in the Western world to embrace because that means that he could find meaning in suffering.
00:23:42.000And I know a lot of you are suffering right now.
00:23:45.000We have a rather generous audience, praise God.
00:23:48.000There's people, I guarantee you, that are dealing with anxiety and depression and suicidal ideation and sticky thoughts and anxious thinking and all of that.
00:23:59.000People actually know what they're doing and to talk to those people.
00:24:03.000But at the root of almost all of it is a lack of meaning.
00:24:07.000And the argument that Viktor Frankl makes, which is profound, is he disagrees with Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote the book Beyond Good and Evil, who said that everything in life is about a will to power, that you have free will, but it's really about getting power.
00:24:25.000He disagreed with Sigmund Freud, who was basically a contemporary, who said, no, no, no, everything's about a will to sex and pleasure.
00:24:32.000Everything is about foul logocentrism, about the phallic pursuit of the man.
00:24:38.000And he said, no, that's not really what it's about.
00:24:40.000And there's a really powerful part of the book where Viktor Frankl, who literally was in an equivalent of hell on earth, says in the concentration camp that the sex drive of the man kind of went away.
00:24:55.000But the meaning drive never went away.
00:25:20.000There's somebody else who said it, I think.
00:25:22.000Anyone who has a why can overcome anyhow.
00:25:25.000And if you have the why, which I believe structural Western religion, specifically Christianity and/or Judaism, or a combination of both, well, if it's a combination of both, it'd be Christianity, but something that recognizes a divine creator and you being a creation helps you get to that.
00:25:47.000The idea that you have the free will to choose your attitude, that you have will to meaning, not will to power, not will to pleasure.
00:25:56.000You have those things, but you're going to end up falling short.
00:25:59.000And what Frankl writes, which is super powerful, is that he was in the most barren, desolate state of nature that he turned into a psychological experiment.
00:26:20.000He turned the unspeakable horrors of Auschwitz into an opportunity to learn who man actually was.
00:26:29.000So he says that man has to find meaning, and that's the name of his book, Man's Search for Meaning.
00:26:34.000And yes, when you have secularism in every one of your institutions, people are going to be searching for meaning in bizarre places and they're going to come up empty.
00:27:23.000And so, anyway, look, having, I'll tell you my top three books of the year.
00:27:29.000Number three, in third place, the one that had a very serious impact on me, and it's going to kind of seem out of order here, but bear with me.
00:27:38.000Number three is Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis.
00:27:41.000It's a terrific book, and it's very short.
00:28:36.000So I want to give you a warning before you've heard me talk about it throughout the year, but it's by Arthur Kusler called Darkness at Noon.
00:28:44.000Darkness at Noon is a terrific book all about the Soviet Union and about how dark things can really get.
00:28:52.000So if you're like, wow, Charlie, this episode has been really depressing and people are killing themselves and all of this.
00:28:58.000Oh, yes, but you have, well, maybe you do have an idea, but if you want a preview into the psychological, the political, the spiritual darkness and lack of meaning, read Darkness at Noon.
00:29:09.000It's all about the Soviet show trials.
00:29:43.000And it's not religious and it's not anti-religious.
00:29:46.000He does acknowledge that a belief in the divine can be very helpful.
00:29:50.000But his entire premise, I believe, is biblical.
00:29:54.000He believes that living in a state of overindulgent comfort, air conditioning, three meals a day, staring at screens for eight hours a day, is making us miserable.
00:30:06.000The argument he makes is that we're meant to be in nature, a monks challenge to grow deeper and better, to go a long time without eating, to even go 36 hours at times without eating.
00:30:17.000Talking about how being in a state of nature can make you full of joy and peace.
00:30:23.000He talks about the psychological data.
00:30:25.000He talks about this idea called a masogi.
00:30:27.000I read it multiple times that a very profound impact on me.
00:30:40.000And I think it's applicable to anybody.
00:30:42.000A question, some of you might say, look, Charlie, I have no New Year's resolutions.
00:30:47.000Or someone might say, Charlie, what should my New Year's resolution be?
00:30:50.000A very simple New Year's resolution that should, in my personal opinion, based on the book of Michael Easter, which has made a big impact on a lot of people's lives, is to stop being so comfortable.
00:31:02.000Because we think of happiness of being comfortable, but actually typically it's the opposite.
00:31:07.000Making yourself intentionally uncomfortable, exposing yourself to cold water, going a long time without eating, changing your diet, hiking for days on end, challenging yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, actually can help develop that path towards meaning that Viktor Frankl talked about.