In this episode, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson continues his conversation with Dennis Prager on the topic of "Believing in God" and why it's a bad idea to tell someone they're "okay the way they are." He also talks about the power of silence, and why he doesn't believe in the idea that you should be okay the way you are. Dr. Peterson's daughter, Michaela Peterson, joins her father to discuss her father's experience with depression and anxiety, and offers her thoughts on the idea of "You're Not Okay the Way You Are." This episode is a continuation of last week's episode, which was a commentary on claiming belief in God, and a commentary from the May 2019 Prager U Summit, where Dr. Prager discussed his thoughts on God and his belief in the existence of God. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, please know that you are not alone. There is hope, and there's a path to feeling better. Let this be the first step towards the brighter future you deserve. Subscribe to Daily Wire Plus now and start watching my new series, "Depression and Anxiety: A Guide to Feelings Better," starting on September 1st, 2019. I hope you enjoy it, and leave just a little bit mind blown! and leave a little less lost and nihilistic than you were at the beginning of your life. Enjoy, Michaela - Dr. B. P. Peterson (and let me know what you think of this episode. -Jonestownsays: "It's like that you've been better at the end of the day than the beginning or the beginning." - Jonestown . Jonestsays: Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and share it with your friends and family. Jon s Story: "I don't know what's better than you're better at it than you've got a brighter future than you are at the start of the end or you're going to be better at that?" Thank you, Jon s story: . . . Jonestay me: "I've got something better than that you're not OK the way I am at the way that you deserve to be?" Jon's Story: , Jonathan s Story, John s Story - Dennis Pragers: "You've Got Something Better at the Beginning or You're Not OK at the End of the Day?"
00:00:00.960Hey everyone, real quick before you skip, I want to talk to you about something serious and important.
00:00:06.480Dr. Jordan Peterson has created a new series that could be a lifeline for those battling depression and anxiety.
00:00:12.740We know how isolating and overwhelming these conditions can be, and we wanted to take a moment to reach out to those listening who may be struggling.
00:00:20.100With decades of experience helping patients, Dr. Peterson offers a unique understanding of why you might be feeling this way in his new series.
00:00:27.420He provides a roadmap towards healing, showing that while the journey isn't easy, it's absolutely possible to find your way forward.
00:00:35.360If you're suffering, please know you are not alone. There's hope, and there's a path to feeling better.
00:00:41.800Go to Daily Wire Plus now and start watching Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on depression and anxiety.
00:00:47.460Let this be the first step towards the brighter future you deserve.
00:00:57.420Welcome to Season 2, Episode 16 of the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast.
00:01:03.860I'm Michaela Peterson, Dr. Peterson's daughter and collaborator.
00:01:07.420This week's episode is a bit of a continuation of last week's.
00:01:10.580If you haven't heard last week's episode, I'd recommend listening to that one first and then listening to this one.
00:01:15.820We've combined a commentary on claiming belief in God, and then a discussion with Dennis Prager, both from the May 2019 Prager U Summit.
00:01:23.820Dad's a bit upset in this video. It's because of what's been going on with my mom.
00:01:27.700If you've been listening to this podcast, you know we've been dealing with some really serious health issues.
00:01:31.660So that's part of the reason for his state of being.
00:01:33.800That being said, I hope you enjoy it, and leave just a little bit mind blown.
00:01:38.260I swear I'm always mind blown around Dad.
00:01:40.680It's warped me into the human I am today. Enjoy.
00:01:43.860When we return, Dad's conversation with Dennis Prager.
00:01:46.780Please welcome my father, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson.
00:01:55.500So, I think I'll tell you what I've learned over the last year.
00:02:05.200I've traveled to about 160 cities since last January with my wife, Tammy, and spoken to about 300,000 people at live events.
00:02:24.760And so, the first thing I learned was that, for some reason, I can travel to 160 cities and speak to 300,000 people.
00:02:35.440And that was a shock in itself, that it's a continual shock, that everywhere we go, there's a massive hunger for whatever it is that I happen to be talking about.
00:02:52.520And, you know, I think about that constantly when I'm discussing, what I'm discussing with my audiences, trying to understand what it is that's driving this.
00:03:11.820You know, one of the things I do is listen for silence.
00:03:14.480If you have 3,500 people in an auditorium and they all fall dead silent, what that means is that you've touched on something that's of universal importance in that moment anyways.
00:03:32.380Because it supersedes, the topic supersedes anything else that's being considered, right?
00:03:39.820It supersedes the desire to shift your position in your chair.
00:03:43.200It supersedes the desire to whisper to your neighbor.
00:03:47.260It grips your attention completely and forces a silence.
00:03:51.980And it's a very interesting thing to listen for that because you see that people are in the grip of something.
00:04:02.780And then you have to puzzle out what it is that they're in the grip of.
00:04:13.280You know, there's this idea that became very popular in the 1960s.
00:04:19.980I just talked to a bishop, Bishop Barron, about a week and a half ago for my YouTube video channel and for my podcast.
00:04:30.560And I told him that I was a strange psychologist because I never told my audiences that, and I always speak to individuals in the audience, I never tell someone that they're okay the way they are.
00:04:44.840You know, there's this idea that came up in the 60s that you're okay the way you are.
00:04:49.060And, well, I don't like that idea very much.
00:04:55.320And I think it's a very bad idea, especially when you're talking to young people who are lost and nihilistic and depressed and suffering and aimless and ideologically possessed and prematurely cynical.
00:05:10.600Because they're not okay the way they are.
00:05:13.120And if you tell them that they are, then they think, well, this is it.
00:20:12.480When I was very young, I realized that, uh, God or nature had given me, uh, what I have called a goodness detector.
00:20:21.440And I knew, I always knew when I was in the presence of a good person, because that's all I really care about.
00:20:32.360I think brains are wildly overrated, wildly.
00:20:38.000Uh, that's why I think you, you're not bright if you join Mensa.
00:20:42.140Uh, why you would want to announce to the world, your IQ is so bizarre to me that I, I, I, I, I'm sure there are nice people there, but I, I, I don't understand it.
00:20:54.060But I always picked up that, and I've, and I've always been right.
00:21:00.640I, I, it's a, it's a, I'm batting a thousand essentially.
00:21:04.020And when I heard you read your book, the passion comes from, I just want to help people lead a better life.
00:22:12.820Every time you connect to an unsecured network in a cafe, hotel, or airport, you're essentially broadcasting your personal information to anyone with a technical know-how to intercept it.
00:22:22.300And let's be clear, it doesn't take a genius hacker to do this.
00:22:25.500With some off-the-shelf hardware, even a tech-savvy teenager could potentially access your passwords, bank logins, and credit card details.
00:22:32.920Now, you might think, what's the big deal?
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00:24:58.300I got motivated to do what I've been doing, and I've been doing what I've been doing for, I would say, since about 1979, in one form or another.
00:25:12.120Because things take a long time to generate.
00:25:15.200And one of the things I learned in the early 80s was that people have a great capacity for evil.
00:25:21.720And I didn't really understand that of myself until the early 80s, something like that, after meditating on it for a long time.
00:25:35.880And so I would say, it's not that I'm, I would never claim to be good.
00:25:59.160It's easy to confuse that with other human beings.
00:26:02.320You know, it's a different thing to understand that it's true of yourself.
00:26:07.740I often recommend to my students that they read history as a perpetrator and not as a victim or a hero.
00:26:13.720And people very seldom do that, and it's no wonder.
00:26:16.300But I would say, perhaps, that I became terrified enough from learning what I learned that I tried to avoid the pathways that lead people to the dark places that they go.
00:26:31.820And there's something in that that might approximate good.
00:26:40.560The parallels between us are so eerie to me that in my book on happiness, which came out in 99, I actually have a chapter on the necessity of having a tragic view of life.
00:27:00.060And then I hear you speak of, like just now, this tragic view of life.
00:27:06.120And, ironically, if you don't have that, you can't be happy.
00:27:09.440So, it's just another example of this, that you're getting this message out.
00:27:16.400If you want to comment on that, please, if not, I'll go on.
00:27:19.880You are such an, I watch you, and you're such an intense listener.
00:27:23.620I don't know when you're going to react.
00:27:32.140It's an idea that's expressed, for example, in the classic Disney movie, classic Disney movie, which I really like, called Pinocchio.
00:27:44.260And, you know, when Pinocchio is attempting to free himself from the forces that manipulate him as a puppet and to become an autonomous being,
00:27:54.180he is required to go to the darkest place to find the worst monster and face that voluntarily.
00:28:04.880And, in doing so, he rescues his father.
00:29:27.120We know now, from a biological perspective, that if you put yourself in new situations, in new and challenging situations,
00:29:34.540that new genes turn on in your nervous system and code for new proteins that produce new neurological structures.
00:29:42.300And so you can't even be what you are fully biologically unless you expose yourself to everything that you can expose yourself to as you journey through life.
00:29:51.820The old idea of a pilgrimage was predicated on that idea, as is walking in Chartres Cathedral.
00:30:06.620The idea that you walk the labyrinth in Chartres and you come to the center is that you traverse every corner of the world, quarter by quarter.
00:30:18.560And then you come to the center, and the center is the center of the church, and it's the center of the crucifixion.