The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast - Tragedy vs. Evil

00:00:00.940 Hey everyone, real quick before you skip, I want to talk to you about something serious and important.

00:00:06.480 Dr. Jordan Peterson has created a new series that could be a lifeline for those battling depression and anxiety.

00:00:12.740 We 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.

00:00:20.100 With decades of experience helping patients, Dr. Peterson offers a unique understanding of why you might be feeling this way in his new series.

00:00:27.420 He provides a roadmap towards healing, showing that while the journey isn't easy, it's absolutely possible to find your way forward.

00:00:35.360 If you're suffering, please know you are not alone. There's hope, and there's a path to feeling better.

00:00:41.800 Go to Daily Wire Plus now and start watching Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on depression and anxiety.

00:00:47.460 Let this be the first step towards the brighter future you deserve.

00:00:57.420 Welcome to the Jordan B. Peterson podcast.

00:01:05.040 This is episode two, Tragedy vs. Evil.

00:01:14.580 You can support this podcast by donating to Dr. Jordan B. Peterson's Patreon account by searching Jordan Peterson Patreon.

00:01:22.940 Dr. Peterson's self-development programs, self-authoring, are available at self-authoring.com.

00:01:35.820 When I started working on this problem, or I guess when it started working on me,

00:01:43.380 it was probably really in the mid-80s, and I found myself suffering from two things.

00:01:51.220 One was a very lengthy sequence of nightmares about nuclear destruction,

00:01:56.480 and they were very affecting dreams.

00:02:01.340 And associated with that was a sense of amazement that a dream that was that awful

00:02:10.160 could reflect a reality that could be that awful.

00:02:14.280 And an additional amazement at the fact that despite the production of thousands and tens and thousands

00:02:23.900 of weapons of unimaginable destruction,

00:02:26.980 and the qualitative change in human capacity that represented,

00:02:32.980 that people could go about their day-to-day lives without acting as if anything fundamental whatsoever had changed.

00:02:40.020 Now, I've never really been able to figure out why that disturbed me so much

00:02:44.980 when it seemed to not disturb, to any profound degree, most of the people I knew.

00:02:52.600 It doesn't really matter.

00:02:55.180 The upshot of it was that I spent,

00:02:58.940 I probably spent my whole life trying to understand what evil was,

00:03:02.520 and more importantly, what might be done about it.

00:03:04.620 It's a strange pursuit in some ways for an academic to undertake,

00:03:10.640 because academics tend to talk about academic things.

00:03:13.060 And one thing you can say about evil is that whatever it is, it's not bloody well academic.

00:03:18.600 It's not an intellectual issue.

00:03:20.580 It's an existential issue.

00:03:22.060 And it's not a theoretical issue.

00:03:25.340 It's an issue that deals with the absolute nature of reality.

00:03:31.380 And I guess sometimes I think that people who go into academia

00:03:34.360 go into academia to shield themselves from having to ask questions

00:03:37.220 about the absolute nature of reality.

00:03:39.840 So, anyways, I think before you can talk about something,

00:03:46.060 before you can dare to talk about something like evil,

00:03:49.620 you should do some thinking about what it is that you're talking about.

00:03:52.820 Definitionally speaking.

00:03:54.300 I learned this, I believe, from a historian named Jeffrey Burton Russell,

00:04:00.400 who wrote a very detailed history of the idea of the devil in the 1980s,

00:04:05.220 when such histories were strange, to say the least.

00:04:09.600 He was very interested in the history, the embodiment of ideas of evil.

00:04:13.580 And one of the things his work did for me was to help me clarify

00:04:17.600 the distinction between two terrible things,

00:04:21.240 the distinction that has to be made,

00:04:23.840 and that's the distinction between tragedy and evil.

00:04:26.260 And I don't think you can talk about it evil at all

00:04:28.600 until you distinguish it from tragedy.

00:04:30.360 And so I'm going to try to distinguish evil from tragedy

00:04:33.380 by making some reference to the essential existential condition of human beings.

00:04:38.280 I would say that the nature of human being is such that

00:04:41.640 it consists of a confrontation with the bounded finite,

00:04:45.560 with the unbounded infinite.

00:04:46.820 And those are the bare facts of the matter.

00:04:49.920 And the facts are that the world of experience as it presents itself to us

00:04:55.780 is literally, and not metaphorically, complex beyond our capacity to understand.

00:05:01.460 And that means that people deal, in a real sense, on an ongoing basis, with the infinite.

00:05:08.180 And I believe that that fact is the reason why religious experience is essentially,

00:05:14.460 and belief, is essentially endemic to mankind.

00:05:17.440 It's a human universal, and it's not because people believe.

00:05:20.720 It's because human existence as such consists of a confrontation

00:05:24.320 between the finite and the infinite.

00:05:26.360 And religious systems merely take that into account.

00:05:28.500 Now, our finitude, in the face of the infinite, has some inevitable consequences.

00:05:35.260 And I would say those consequences are essentially the existential conditions of life.

00:05:39.760 The first of those consequences is that

00:05:41.440 the finite is always overwhelmed by the infinite.

00:05:44.660 It has to be, because it can't encapsulate it.

00:05:47.400 And so what that means is that it's,

00:05:49.900 that suffering is central to the nature of human existence.

00:05:53.180 And suffering exists as a consequence of

00:05:55.600 the consequences of our limitations.

00:05:58.500 I mean, every single person who's alive is going to die.

00:06:02.800 And every single person who's alive is going to deal with,

00:06:05.340 with serious physical illness and mental distress.

00:06:08.560 If they don't suffer, if they aren't suffering it directly, immediately, right now, on their own,

00:06:13.540 it's almost inevitably the case that every single person who walks the earth

00:06:16.840 is confronting the bare bones of reality at that level in the guise of an afflicted family member.

00:06:24.100 And so the fact of our finitude is, again, no academic issue.

00:06:27.900 It's central to the nature of our being,

00:06:30.580 and we're forced to deal with it on an ongoing basis.

00:06:33.120 So I would say insufficiency is built into human experience,

00:06:37.840 and there are existential consequences to that.

00:06:39.900 Now, I read something a long time ago, and I don't remember who wrote it,

00:06:45.200 but it was written about Jewish commentary on the Torah.

00:06:52.500 God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.

00:06:57.280 What does he lack?

00:06:59.320 And the answer is limitation.

00:07:01.500 And that's a riddle and an answer of unparalleled brilliance, as far as I'm concerned,

00:07:06.120 because I think it speaks deeply to something about the central nature of existence itself,

00:07:10.660 and that is that without limitation, there's no being.

00:07:15.000 Now, that's a hard thing to understand,

00:07:16.740 but I think you can understand it in a number of different ways.

00:07:19.440 The first thing you might want to understand is that

00:07:21.560 I play this game with my students sometimes in my class.

00:07:25.740 I'll come up to a student or pick them at poor victim at random

00:07:28.620 and come up to them and say,

00:07:30.100 okay, we're going to play a game.

00:07:32.620 And they say, okay.

00:07:33.560 And I say, well, you move first.

00:07:35.540 Well, they don't know what to do.

00:07:36.900 And the reason for that is because

00:07:38.140 the limiting parameters of the game have not been defined.

00:07:41.560 And as a consequence of that,

00:07:42.900 they're stunned by their infinite freedom into complete immobility.

00:07:46.340 And what that means, in a sense,

00:07:47.660 is that in the absence of serious constraint,

00:07:50.360 there can be no choice, no freedom, no existence.

00:07:53.400 And I believe this to be fundamentally true,

00:07:57.120 just as the fact that human being is vulnerable is fundamentally true.

00:08:02.260 Here's another example that I think is more personal to me.

00:08:05.800 And it emerged in my imagination as a consequence of my contemplation

00:08:08.900 of my son's vulnerability.

00:08:11.140 So I have children.

00:08:12.340 There are teenagers now.

00:08:13.900 I still like them.

00:08:14.980 One of the things I was really struck by

00:08:19.620 when my children were little was how perfect they were.

00:08:22.540 And I believe that that was the benevolence of God, in a sense.

00:08:27.660 Children are tremendously difficult.

00:08:29.300 They're a tremendous responsibility.

00:08:30.940 But they're so perfect,

00:08:32.160 and they manifest that perfection in such a remarkable way

00:08:35.680 that that's the payment for taking on the responsibility

00:08:38.440 of bringing them into being and caring for them.

00:08:41.560 And the thing about being a parent is that

00:08:43.880 the vulnerability of people is made manifest to you

00:08:47.460 in a way that was never the case prior to that.

00:08:50.920 And it's haunting, and it's beautiful,

00:08:54.100 but it's also exactly right, in a way.

00:08:56.160 And I was thinking,

00:08:56.820 well, look at my son.

00:08:57.640 He's a little kid.

00:08:58.640 You know, you've got to chase after him all the time.

00:09:00.260 He can get sick.

00:09:01.020 People hurt him.

00:09:02.340 You know, people are going to be mean to him.

00:09:03.860 He's going to be disappointed in his life.

00:09:05.380 But he's vulnerable,

00:09:07.040 and it's a constant, tragic reality that he's vulnerable.

00:09:11.300 And I thought, well, okay,

00:09:11.960 let's say we want to do something about that.

00:09:14.000 So let's say we make him so that no one can pick on him.

00:09:17.280 So you could inflate him to about 20 feet high

00:09:19.640 and equip him with a metallic skeleton

00:09:22.480 and a cast-iron exoskeleton.

00:09:25.680 And you could equip him with a computerized intelligence

00:09:28.860 that far supersedes his own.

00:09:30.640 And you could remove his vulnerabilities one by one, hypothetically.

00:09:33.740 And, of course, more and more we're in a position

00:09:35.980 where we could do that in reality.

00:09:37.340 And one of the things I realized right away was that

00:09:39.120 as you remove the vulnerabilities,

00:09:41.260 you remove the thing you love.

00:09:43.880 And then I started to understand more deeply

00:09:46.260 that vulnerability was a precondition for a human being,

00:09:49.580 and that was a desirable precondition

00:09:51.340 because the things about human existence

00:09:53.460 that are wonderful and remarkable

00:09:55.900 are so integrally tied up with vulnerability

00:09:58.920 that they're actually inextricable.

00:10:00.860 The Jewish commentary,

00:10:05.640 what the infinite lacks is the finite,

00:10:09.280 is a more abstract way of getting at the same thing.

00:10:11.620 If you could do absolutely anything you wanted at any point

00:10:15.960 and be anywhere you wanted

00:10:17.140 and be anything you wanted,

00:10:18.400 and if there was nothing that was out of your reach,

00:10:21.800 there would be nothing to do

00:10:23.180 because you'd be everything at once.

00:10:25.060 And when you're everything at once,

00:10:26.760 which is, at least in principle,

00:10:28.340 the position of God,

00:10:30.500 there's no story.

00:10:31.840 And there's no being.

00:10:33.040 And there's something about being that is a story.

00:10:35.240 And without limitation, there's no story.

00:10:36.880 So then the question starts to become,

00:10:38.680 with regards to consideration of human vulnerability,

00:10:41.620 is there a way to conduct your life

00:10:43.820 in such a manner

00:10:45.260 that the intrinsic vulnerability

00:10:46.760 that characterizes your life

00:10:48.340 is rendered not only acceptable but desirable?

00:10:52.580 And to me, that's the central question of existence.

00:10:54.920 And I tell you, get that wrong.

00:10:56.520 You're on the wrong track.

00:10:57.680 And if you're on the wrong track,

00:10:59.020 man, you are in one terrible place.

00:11:01.280 I would say, with regards to tragedy,

00:11:05.340 humans are vulnerable.

00:11:07.440 And that's tragic.

00:11:08.840 But if tragedy is the price that we pay for existence,

00:11:11.340 then so be it,

00:11:12.160 if existence is justifiable.

00:11:14.440 And so tragedy itself,

00:11:15.780 which is merely a revelation of our vulnerability,

00:11:18.400 can't be regarded as evil.

00:11:20.760 It's just a condition of existence.

00:11:24.300 And so it's necessary to distinguish

00:11:26.320 the tragic conditions of existence from evil

00:11:28.460 before you can even address the problem.

00:11:30.000 And I think what that means to some degree

00:11:31.820 is you should not blame on the relationship

00:11:34.560 between the finite and the infinite

00:11:36.300 the terrible failings of humanity

00:11:39.480 that can be laid directly at the feet of human beings.

00:11:43.140 So earthquakes aren't evil,

00:11:44.560 and cancer isn't evil,

00:11:46.160 and mental illness isn't evil,

00:11:48.280 and predators aren't evil.

00:11:49.580 They just are part of the way things are.

00:11:53.040 But there are certain categories of human action

00:11:55.380 that are definitely outside the parameters of mere tragedy,

00:11:58.980 and those are the things we really have to get a handle on.

00:12:03.300 Evil for me is differentiated from tragedy

00:12:06.660 by its lack of necessity and its voluntarism.

00:12:10.240 And it's a tenant, I think,

00:12:14.360 of modern materialistic thought

00:12:16.180 that there are social or material causes for actions.

00:12:20.960 And it's an extraordinarily useful theory.

00:12:23.880 But I think one of the unfortunate consequences of that

00:12:26.820 is that we've tended to write off much of human misbehavior

00:12:29.540 and attribute it to, say, insufficiencies in material conditions,

00:12:32.840 which is not an acceptable theory.

00:12:35.680 There are all sorts of human cultures

00:12:38.220 that were characterized by virtually complete absence

00:12:42.100 of material luxury, well-being,

00:12:44.620 whose cultures were highly functional and highly moral.

00:12:48.920 And to describe the propensity towards misbehavior

00:12:52.400 as a consequence of economic inequality

00:12:54.220 is entirely beside the point, as far as I'm concerned.

00:12:57.320 Evil is more pernicious than that

00:13:02.040 which is generated, for example, by social inequality.

00:13:06.540 I think it's actually,

00:13:08.040 although this is a terrifying thought in some ways,

00:13:10.300 it's more appropriate to consider it

00:13:11.920 a form of demonically warped aesthetic.

00:13:19.260 And I'll give you a couple of examples

00:13:20.860 of what I mean by that, for example,

00:13:22.420 because the manifestation of this warped aesthetic

00:13:27.160 makes itself apparent under certain conditions.

00:13:30.760 So, for example, I think it made itself apparent

00:13:34.000 in the imagination of the first politician

00:13:35.920 who coined the acronym MAD

00:13:39.000 or Mutual Assured Destruction.

00:13:41.960 That's an aesthetic of evil.

00:13:43.720 To make a joke of a situation that catastrophic

00:13:48.640 indicates the kind of malevolence

00:13:51.660 that lurks behind the fact

00:13:53.160 that such a condition exists.

00:13:55.100 The motto on the gates of Auschwitz, I believe, 0.72

00:14:00.180 in the Second World War,

00:14:01.600 work will make you free.

00:14:04.600 That's another manifestation of the aesthetic of evil.

00:14:07.340 It's a terrible, terrible, ironic joke.

00:14:10.920 And it's instructive to meditate

00:14:13.400 on what sort of imagination would have the arrogance

00:14:16.400 to tell such a terrible joke.

00:14:22.480 The concentration camps are classic examples of evil.

00:14:25.620 And I think by analyzing at least certain kinds of events

00:14:28.940 that occurred within them,

00:14:30.060 it's easier to get a clear idea of what evil constitutes.

00:14:33.280 And one of the stories that's always haunted me, I guess,

00:14:36.140 is, I believe it's another story derived from Auschwitz,

00:14:39.260 the prison guards in Auschwitz would take the prisoners

00:14:42.060 who were already stripped of their dignity

00:14:44.260 and to whatever degree possible, their identity

00:14:46.440 and their culture and their language

00:14:48.120 and their status as valuable beings.

00:14:50.520 And yet that wasn't sufficient.

00:14:52.620 They needed to be tortured in addition to that

00:14:55.040 before they were killed.

00:14:56.660 And the torture often consisted of

00:14:58.760 self-evidently counterproductive work.

00:15:01.440 A situation that also frequently characterized activity

00:15:06.100 in the Soviet Nulag archipelago

00:15:07.560 where perhaps 60 million people met their death.

00:15:12.440 A typical Auschwitz example was the requirement 0.99

00:15:15.640 for prisoners to carry 100-pound sacks of wet salt

00:15:18.520 from one side of the compound and then back again.

00:15:21.380 Now that's evil as far as I'm concerned.

00:15:23.260 And you have to think about it from an aesthetic perspective

00:15:25.720 in a sense because it's a celebration of horror.

00:15:28.880 And it's a conscious attempt to violate

00:15:32.740 the conditions that make life itself tolerable.

00:15:36.360 And it's aimed at dehumanization,

00:15:40.260 destruction of the ideal,

00:15:42.500 and at an even deeper level,

00:15:44.940 revenge against the conditions of existence itself.

00:15:48.360 I've tried to understand the developmental pathway

00:15:51.140 that leads to acts like that.

00:15:53.500 My academic research as well as my clinical experience

00:16:00.960 has revealed to me that

00:16:03.140 what appears to lie at the bottom of motivation

00:16:06.660 for the excesses of behavior that characterize evil

00:16:09.860 are two tightly causally related factors.

00:16:15.880 One, arrogance.

00:16:17.820 Another, resentment.

00:16:18.900 And both of those are tied up with

00:16:23.340 vulnerability of human beings

00:16:27.860 in the face of the infinite,

00:16:31.720 but tied up with something more profound as well.

00:16:38.240 The most thorough account of this

00:16:39.960 that I've managed, I think,

00:16:41.740 at least to partially comprehend,

00:16:43.500 I believe is contained in the first couple of the stories

00:16:45.820 in the Old Testament,

00:16:48.160 in Genesis,

00:16:50.040 the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man,

00:16:53.220 and the immediately following story of Cain and Abel.

00:16:57.620 As far as we can tell,

00:16:58.760 those are very, very old stories.

00:17:00.820 They predate Judaism, 1.00

00:17:03.200 at least in some of their structural elements.

00:17:07.500 It's conceivable that some of the elements in those stories

00:17:10.780 are as old as the human capacity to tell stories itself,

00:17:14.160 assuming that they were grounded in an oral tradition

00:17:16.880 that predated the written tradition.

00:17:18.540 And we know that oral traditions can last,

00:17:20.780 at least in some forms,

00:17:22.100 unchanged for periods of up to 25,000 years.

00:17:25.040 So the anthropological and archaeological evidence

00:17:27.480 is fairly clear on that point.

00:17:29.760 These are very, very, very old stories.

00:17:32.460 And people remember them and created them

00:17:34.440 for reasons we really don't understand.

00:17:35.940 And they're strange and mysterious

00:17:39.080 and unforgettable all at the same time.

00:17:42.380 The story of Adam and Eve,

00:17:43.980 as far as I can tell,

00:17:45.460 is the story of the coming of consciousness,

00:17:48.700 the coming of self-consciousness to mankind.

00:17:52.240 And I think that the human self-consciousness

00:18:00.880 is what separates us from animals.

00:18:02.520 In Genesis, there's an insistence

00:18:05.760 that when Adam made the apple that Eve offered to him,

00:18:09.040 the scales fell from his eyes,

00:18:10.440 and the first thing that he realized

00:18:11.800 was that he was naked.

00:18:13.500 And what that seems to me to mean

00:18:15.120 is that I think it means, first of all,

00:18:17.300 that women make men self-conscious. 0.99

00:18:19.520 And I think there's ample reason to presume that.

00:18:21.700 And there's good evolutionary reasons

00:18:23.020 for suggesting why that might be the case.

00:18:24.840 Because sexual selection among human beings

00:18:27.920 has been a primary force of evolutionary development.

00:18:30.600 And sexual selection in human beings

00:18:32.160 is primarily conducted by women.

00:18:36.140 So, for example, as Roy has pointed out

00:18:38.580 in his address to the APA a few years ago,

00:18:41.820 and I hope I get this right,

00:18:43.020 twice as many of your relatives were women as men.

00:18:45.820 And that means that women 1.00

00:18:47.680 are more frequently reproductively successful than men

00:18:51.680 and that they reject most men.

00:18:53.860 And the rejection of a man

00:18:55.720 for reproductive purposes by a woman 1.00

00:18:57.500 is the most serious form of rejection

00:18:59.260 that's possible from an evolutionary point of view

00:19:01.500 because the judgment is that,

00:19:03.160 well, you might be nice enough to talk to,

00:19:04.600 but you're sure not fit

00:19:05.920 to have your genes propagate

00:19:07.060 into the next generation.

00:19:08.820 So it's no wonder that women 1.00

00:19:10.300 can make men self-conscious.

00:19:12.580 And I think there's some reason

00:19:13.680 to presume that it's the sexual selection forces

00:19:16.540 that women placed upon men 0.99

00:19:17.860 that drove rapid human cortical evolution

00:19:19.800 and the development of self-consciousness.

00:19:21.980 Now, that's a leap,

00:19:22.920 and there's no way I can justify that

00:19:24.540 in the course of this particular talk,

00:19:27.020 but I think there is good reason

00:19:28.200 to presume that it's the case.

00:19:30.700 In Genesis, human beings become self-conscious,

00:19:33.360 and the first thing that happens to them

00:19:34.600 is that they realize they're naked.

00:19:35.880 And then the next thing that happens to them

00:19:37.300 is they develop the moral sense

00:19:38.840 to tell the difference between good and evil.

00:19:40.920 And it's a very strange thing

00:19:42.040 because in some sense,

00:19:43.000 before a creature is self-conscious,

00:19:44.820 there is no distinction between good and evil

00:19:46.620 because, as I said before,

00:19:48.220 a predator is not evil.

00:19:49.680 It's just a predator.

00:19:51.240 The fact of a predator, like a wolf,

00:19:53.080 might be a tragedy for the rabbit,

00:19:54.620 but you can't be assuming that the wolf is evil

00:19:56.660 merely because it wants to eat the rabbit.

00:19:58.360 But with the dawning of self-consciousness,

00:20:01.280 there seems to be the emergence of a moral sense

00:20:04.880 that's essentially unique to human beings.

00:20:06.800 And that has something to do with our capacity

00:20:09.400 to reflect upon the mechanisms of our action

00:20:12.360 and then, for some reason,

00:20:13.740 to be able to modify those actions

00:20:15.520 and to choose which ones to implement

00:20:17.020 in the future.

00:20:18.580 We don't understand that.

00:20:20.220 And you can even deny, if you'd like,

00:20:22.280 that the phenomena of free choice exists.

00:20:24.780 But our culture is essentially predicated

00:20:26.680 on the notion that it does exist.

00:20:28.240 And in the absence of evidence that it doesn't,

00:20:30.540 I'm going to take the easy way out

00:20:31.820 and assume that it does.

00:20:32.820 Otherwise, things fall apart,

00:20:35.020 and they fall apart badly.

00:20:38.100 When, after Adam and Eve become self-conscious,

00:20:42.580 the first thing they do is close themselves.

00:20:44.440 And to me, that's a mythological description

00:20:46.420 of the emergence of culture

00:20:47.820 as an intercession between the fundamental vulnerability

00:20:52.220 and nakedness of the human form

00:20:54.280 and the depredations of nature.

00:20:56.240 If you realize that you're vulnerable

00:20:57.860 and prone to death,

00:20:59.420 the first thing you're going to do

00:21:00.480 is to start rearranging the manner

00:21:02.180 in which you construe yourself

00:21:03.360 so that you can protect yourself

00:21:04.880 from such an unfortunate outcome.

00:21:07.040 That's, I think, partly why God curses Adam

00:21:09.120 with the necessity of work

00:21:10.460 once he finds out,

00:21:11.460 once God finds out

00:21:12.340 that people have become self-conscious.

00:21:14.000 Like, if you know that winter

00:21:16.200 is lurking in the future, for example,

00:21:18.400 you're going to work.

00:21:19.200 And animals don't work. 0.96

00:21:20.220 They're just motivated to do whatever they do.

00:21:22.060 But humans work.

00:21:22.960 And that means they subvert

00:21:24.300 their day-to-day motivations,

00:21:25.840 their immediate motivations

00:21:27.520 for the purposes of future security.

00:21:30.480 And there's a real cost to that.

00:21:32.080 I mean, part of the cost is separation

00:21:34.020 from the pure and unadulterated flow

00:21:36.980 of animal life.

00:21:37.820 And I believe that people suffer

00:21:39.020 from that absence of flow continually.

00:21:44.440 And the advantage they gain from it

00:21:47.520 is that they can plan for the future,

00:21:48.860 but the disadvantage is that they're calculating

00:21:50.680 and cold and separated

00:21:52.120 from their own instinctual resources.

00:21:53.800 Going online without ExpressVPN

00:21:57.680 is like not paying attention

00:21:59.100 to the safety demonstration on a flight.

00:22:01.140 Most of the time, you'll probably be fine,

00:22:03.360 but what if one day that weird yellow mask

00:22:05.740 drops down from overhead

00:22:06.760 and you have no idea what to do?

00:22:09.040 In our hyper-connected world,

00:22:10.520 your digital privacy isn't just a luxury.

00:22:12.820 It's a fundamental right.

00:22:14.140 Every time you connect to an unsecured network

00:22:16.120 in a cafe, hotel, or airport,

00:22:18.420 you're essentially broadcasting

00:22:19.600 your personal information to anyone

00:22:21.420 with the technical know-how to intercept it.

00:22:23.500 And let's be clear,

00:22:24.360 it doesn't take a genius hacker to do this.

00:22:26.700 With some off-the-shelf hardware,

00:22:28.260 even a tech-savvy teenager

00:22:29.660 could potentially access your passwords,

00:22:31.820 bank logins, and credit card details.

00:22:34.080 Now, you might think,

00:22:35.320 what's the big deal?

00:22:36.200 Who'd want my data anyway?

00:22:37.740 Well, on the dark web,

00:22:38.900 your personal information

00:22:40.020 could fetch up to $1,000.

00:22:42.160 That's right, there's a whole underground economy

00:22:44.420 built on stolen identities.

00:22:46.380 Enter ExpressVPN.

00:22:48.180 It's like a digital fortress,

00:22:49.640 creating an encrypted tunnel

00:22:50.820 between your device and the internet.

00:22:52.860 Their encryption is so robust

00:22:54.440 that it would take a hacker

00:22:55.480 with a supercomputer

00:22:56.320 over a billion years to crack it.

00:22:58.460 But don't let its power fool you,

00:23:00.200 ExpressVPN is incredibly user-friendly.

00:23:02.640 With just one click,

00:23:03.660 you're protected across all your devices.

00:23:05.680 Phones, laptops, tablets, you name it.

00:23:07.860 That's why I use ExpressVPN

00:23:09.240 whenever I'm traveling

00:23:10.380 or working from a coffee shop.

00:23:11.980 It gives me peace of mind

00:23:13.060 knowing that my research,

00:23:14.380 communications, and personal data

00:23:16.140 are shielded from prying eyes.

00:23:17.740 Secure your online data today

00:23:19.540 by visiting expressvpn.com slash jordan.

00:23:22.720 That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N.com slash jordan

00:23:26.500 and you can get an extra three months free.

00:23:29.200 Expressvpn.com slash jordan.

00:23:31.000 Starting a business can be tough,

00:23:36.720 but thanks to Shopify,

00:23:37.860 running your online storefront

00:23:39.140 is easier than ever.

00:23:40.840 Shopify is the global commerce platform

00:23:42.820 that helps you sell at every stage

00:23:44.360 of your business.

00:23:45.100 From the launch your online shop stage

00:23:47.000 all the way to the

00:23:47.720 did we just hit a million orders stage,

00:23:50.040 Shopify is here to help you grow.

00:23:52.140 Our marketing team uses Shopify every day

00:23:54.200 to sell our merchandise

00:23:55.000 and we love how easy it is

00:23:56.640 to add more items,

00:23:57.900 ship products,

00:23:58.580 and track conversions.

00:23:59.440 With Shopify, customize your online store

00:24:02.100 to your style

00:24:03.020 with flexible templates

00:24:04.120 and powerful tools

00:24:05.180 alongside an endless list

00:24:06.880 of integrations and third-party apps

00:24:08.560 like on-demand printing,

00:24:09.980 accounting, and chatbots.

00:24:11.700 Shopify helps you turn browsers

00:24:13.080 into buyers

00:24:13.860 with the internet's best converting checkout,

00:24:16.000 up to 36% better

00:24:17.360 compared to other leading

00:24:18.440 e-commerce platforms.

00:24:20.060 No matter how big you want to grow,

00:24:21.700 Shopify gives you everything you need

00:24:23.160 to take control

00:24:23.900 and take your business

00:24:24.920 to the next level.

00:24:26.460 Sign up for a $1 per month trial period

00:24:28.480 at shopify.com slash jbp,

00:24:31.060 all lowercase.

00:24:32.420 Go to shopify.com slash jbp now

00:24:34.800 to grow your business

00:24:35.820 no matter what stage you're in.

00:24:37.680 That's shopify.com slash jbp.

00:24:43.320 In today's chaotic world,

00:24:45.320 many of us are searching for a way

00:24:46.660 to aim higher

00:24:47.440 and find spiritual peace.

00:24:49.400 But here's the thing,

00:24:50.600 prayer, the most common tool we have,

00:24:52.520 isn't just about saying

00:24:53.420 whatever comes to mind.

00:24:54.400 It's a skill that needs to be developed.

00:24:57.160 That's where Hallow comes in.

00:24:58.860 As the number one prayer

00:24:59.780 and meditation app,

00:25:00.900 Hallow is launching

00:25:01.620 an exceptional new series

00:25:02.980 called How to Pray.

00:25:04.800 Imagine learning how to use scripture

00:25:06.340 as a launch pad

00:25:07.280 for profound conversations with God,

00:25:09.740 how to properly enter

00:25:10.860 into imaginative prayer,

00:25:12.560 and how to incorporate prayers

00:25:14.140 reaching far back in church history.

00:25:16.500 This isn't your average

00:25:17.620 guided meditation.

00:25:18.900 It's a comprehensive two-week journey

00:25:20.640 into the heart of prayer,

00:25:21.900 led by some of the most respected

00:25:23.800 spiritual leaders of our time.

00:25:25.920 From guests including

00:25:26.780 Bishop Robert Barron,

00:25:28.200 Father Mike Schmitz,

00:25:29.180 and Jonathan Rumi,

00:25:30.460 known for his role as Jesus

00:25:31.720 in the hit series The Chosen,

00:25:33.480 you'll discover prayer techniques

00:25:34.820 that have stood the test of time

00:25:36.400 while equipping yourself

00:25:37.580 with the tools needed

00:25:38.380 to face life's challenges

00:25:39.600 with renewed strength.

00:25:41.460 Ready to revolutionize

00:25:42.540 your prayer life?

00:25:43.700 You can check out the new series

00:25:45.040 as well as an extensive catalog

00:25:46.580 of guided prayers

00:25:47.560 when you download the Hallow app.

00:25:49.320 Just go to Hallow.com

00:25:51.220 slash Jordan

00:25:51.900 and download the Hallow app today

00:25:53.340 for an exclusive three-month trial.

00:25:55.600 That's Hallow.com

00:25:56.640 slash Jordan.

00:25:57.960 Elevate your prayer life today.

00:26:03.720 Eve, of course,

00:26:04.880 is cursed by what's going to be

00:26:06.200 terrible pain in childbirth,

00:26:08.320 and that's related

00:26:09.280 to the development

00:26:10.640 of the immense skull size

00:26:13.140 that characterizes human infants

00:26:14.740 and their incredibly lengthy

00:26:16.680 period of dependence,

00:26:19.040 which is also associated

00:26:20.120 with their immense brain.

00:26:23.940 After Adam and Eve

00:26:24.920 become self-conscious,

00:26:26.280 they hide.

00:26:28.220 And this is actually

00:26:29.200 a comical part of Genesis.

00:26:30.540 It's never really read

00:26:31.360 as a comedy,

00:26:32.060 but it is a comedy.

00:26:33.320 Even the fall itself

00:26:34.340 is a comedy,

00:26:35.140 and so they're hiding away

00:26:36.960 behind a bush,

00:26:38.420 and God comes walking

00:26:39.960 through the garden,

00:26:40.600 and God the infinite

00:26:42.220 is accustomed to walking

00:26:43.860 with Adam

00:26:44.380 with no interruption

00:26:46.860 of the flow of information

00:26:48.080 between them.

00:26:49.820 But Adam isn't there,

00:26:50.700 and God says,

00:26:51.760 you know,

00:26:52.260 where have you gone?

00:26:54.440 And Adam says,

00:26:55.160 well, I'm hiding.

00:26:56.580 And God says, 1.00

00:26:57.580 which is kind of stupid, really. 1.00

00:26:59.060 And this is why it's a comedy. 1.00

00:27:00.200 It's like he's hiding

00:27:00.740 behind a bush,

00:27:01.560 and this is God,

00:27:02.820 and he can see through bushes,

00:27:04.440 and like Adam should know that,

00:27:05.720 but it doesn't really matter.

00:27:06.460 He's hiding behind this bush anyways.

00:27:08.240 And so Adam says,

00:27:09.960 I'm hiding,

00:27:10.760 and God says,

00:27:11.560 well, why are you hiding?

00:27:13.940 Well, it's because Adam

00:27:14.600 is ashamed,

00:27:15.260 and Adam says,

00:27:17.360 well, I'm naked.

00:27:20.040 And this is an example

00:27:21.300 of the tremendous compression

00:27:23.020 of human wisdom

00:27:23.960 into a few lines

00:27:25.060 that characterizes mythology.

00:27:26.580 You say,

00:27:26.720 well, why would people

00:27:27.420 hide from God

00:27:28.200 once they realize

00:27:29.660 they're naked?

00:27:30.480 And I would say,

00:27:30.960 well, that's pretty obvious.

00:27:32.360 Once you know

00:27:33.120 you're vulnerable.

00:27:34.620 Do you really have

00:27:35.580 enough courage

00:27:36.140 to manifest any sort

00:27:37.380 of semblance

00:27:37.900 of a divine destiny?

00:27:39.060 Well, the answer

00:27:40.180 to that is pretty much

00:27:41.060 clearly no,

00:27:41.780 and it's no bloody wonder.

00:27:42.980 And so the hiding is,

00:27:44.000 people hide

00:27:44.740 when they're self-conscious

00:27:45.660 and vulnerable.

00:27:46.480 What do they hide from?

00:27:47.360 They hide from

00:27:47.980 their deepest destiny,

00:27:49.300 and it's no wonder.

00:27:50.720 God says,

00:27:51.460 okay, yeah,

00:27:52.080 well, you figured that out,

00:27:53.100 how that happened.

00:27:53.900 And Adam says,

00:27:54.560 and this is comical too,

00:27:55.580 well, it's the woman's fault, 1.00

00:27:56.600 which I think

00:27:57.040 is really funny,

00:27:57.760 and which actually

00:27:58.440 may have been

00:27:59.060 the original sin

00:28:00.040 and not the eating

00:28:00.860 of the apple, right?

00:28:01.860 The first time

00:28:02.660 that the man

00:28:04.080 blamed the woman 0.99

00:28:05.460 for his self-conscious misery,

00:28:08.080 I think that's the real fall

00:28:09.380 and not the rise

00:28:10.140 of self-consciousness itself.

00:28:12.360 Anyways,

00:28:12.840 we know the rest

00:28:13.440 of the story.

00:28:14.100 God says,

00:28:14.640 oh, well,

00:28:14.960 the cat's out of the bag now.

00:28:16.460 You know you're vulnerable,

00:28:18.060 and from here on in,

00:28:18.900 history starts.

00:28:20.100 You're out of paradise.

00:28:21.100 You're out of unconscious

00:28:21.920 identification

00:28:22.620 with the natural world.

00:28:24.140 You're going to work.

00:28:25.640 You're going to sweat.

00:28:26.700 Lots of the time

00:28:27.440 it isn't going to work.

00:28:28.660 And women, 1.00

00:28:29.620 they're going to be

00:28:30.360 beholden to their husbands,

00:28:31.840 not because that's divine fiat,

00:28:34.260 but because the developmental

00:28:35.760 dependency of a human infant

00:28:39.540 is so extreme

00:28:40.300 that women are cursed 1.00

00:28:41.260 to rely on men 0.90

00:28:42.380 for protection

00:28:43.000 when they're at

00:28:43.540 their most vulnerable.

00:28:46.160 Fine.

00:28:47.000 So that's self-consciousness

00:28:48.320 and an explanation

00:28:49.080 for why people

00:28:49.840 would hide away

00:28:50.660 from their destiny.

00:28:51.640 But then the next story,

00:28:53.060 the Cain and Abel story,

00:28:54.000 really elaborates that out

00:28:55.700 and describes it.

00:28:56.540 And so Cain and Abel,

00:28:57.520 of course,

00:28:57.920 are two sons

00:28:59.240 of Adam and Eve,

00:29:00.260 and they're really

00:29:00.720 the first people

00:29:01.500 because, of course,

00:29:03.260 Adam and Eve

00:29:03.780 were made by God.

00:29:04.720 So they're really

00:29:05.120 not people at all

00:29:05.880 because people are born

00:29:06.960 and Cain and Abel

00:29:07.820 are the first two people.

00:29:10.380 And they characterize,

00:29:11.860 as far as I can tell,

00:29:12.920 two canonical patterns

00:29:14.480 of reaction

00:29:15.520 to the terrible vulnerability

00:29:17.340 that's revealed

00:29:18.420 as a consequence

00:29:19.380 of the development

00:29:20.060 of self-consciousness.

00:29:24.000 Cain and Abel

00:29:24.760 make sacrifices to God.

00:29:27.180 Why?

00:29:28.540 Human cultures

00:29:29.340 make sacrifices.

00:29:30.180 That's what they do.

00:29:31.380 Sacrifice,

00:29:32.000 sacrificial ritual

00:29:32.900 is a human universal.

00:29:35.000 Blood sacrifice

00:29:35.860 is a human universal.

00:29:37.240 Human sacrifice,

00:29:38.740 at least in some

00:29:39.580 anthropological epochs,

00:29:41.400 was regarded

00:29:41.880 as a human universal.

00:29:43.360 Why do people

00:29:44.060 make sacrifices

00:29:44.980 to God

00:29:45.580 to please Him?

00:29:47.080 It seems like

00:29:47.560 a mystery

00:29:47.980 to modern people.

00:29:49.620 I ask my students,

00:29:50.860 what sacrifices

00:29:51.720 did you make

00:29:52.320 to go to university?

00:29:53.760 Well, they can answer

00:29:54.460 that in two-tenths

00:29:55.180 of a second.

00:29:56.240 You know,

00:29:56.480 they can't party

00:29:57.060 as much as they might have.

00:29:58.020 They can't drink

00:29:58.960 nearly as much beer

00:29:59.740 as they might have liked to.

00:30:01.260 More seriously,

00:30:02.380 a lot of them work.

00:30:03.460 A lot of them

00:30:03.940 have put their families

00:30:05.100 in serious financial straits

00:30:07.680 to send them to university.

00:30:09.180 They've given up

00:30:10.100 all sorts of things

00:30:11.280 in order to pursue

00:30:12.340 a course of action

00:30:13.480 that they believe

00:30:14.180 will best ensure

00:30:15.280 their harmonious relationship

00:30:16.820 with the nature of reality.

00:30:18.520 Everyone makes sacrifices.

00:30:20.120 Okay.

00:30:20.580 We can say that now

00:30:21.560 because we're

00:30:22.100 psychologically sophisticated

00:30:23.400 and linguistically sophisticated

00:30:24.640 and we know something

00:30:25.520 about human psychology.

00:30:26.600 But thousands and thousands

00:30:28.040 of years ago

00:30:28.700 before people had

00:30:29.620 this explicit

00:30:30.260 psychological acumen,

00:30:31.520 the best they could do

00:30:32.360 is act out

00:30:33.420 and tell stories

00:30:34.300 about human psychology

00:30:35.240 because they hadn't developed

00:30:36.420 any further than that.

00:30:37.780 And Cain and Abel

00:30:38.380 is one of those stories.

00:30:41.480 The sacrifices are burnt

00:30:43.080 on an altar.

00:30:44.280 Why?

00:30:45.120 Well, the smoke rises.

00:30:46.700 Well, so what?

00:30:47.840 Well, God's up in the sky

00:30:49.100 and if the smoke rises up there

00:30:50.400 and he gets a whiff of it,

00:30:51.360 he can tell what the quality

00:30:52.340 of the sacrifice was.

00:30:53.700 And you can laugh about that

00:30:54.940 and you can think about it

00:30:57.100 as primitive

00:30:57.600 but it's not primitive.

00:30:58.640 It's artistic

00:30:59.140 and it's beautiful

00:30:59.920 and it's accurate.

00:31:01.460 And here's why.

00:31:02.280 It's because before the invention

00:31:04.640 of the electrical light

00:31:06.660 and maybe before the invention

00:31:08.000 of fire

00:31:08.520 and the closest a human being

00:31:12.060 could ever get

00:31:12.700 to direct confrontation

00:31:13.680 with the absolute unknown

00:31:15.080 was to look up

00:31:15.780 at the night sky

00:31:16.580 because the night sky,

00:31:18.160 especially when it's

00:31:18.820 sprinkled with stars,

00:31:20.020 confronts you directly

00:31:21.180 with the fact

00:31:22.160 of the infinite.

00:31:22.800 And to make the presupposition

00:31:24.420 that God resides

00:31:25.480 in the infinite

00:31:26.140 and you're having

00:31:27.260 a direct experience

00:31:28.060 of the infinite

00:31:28.520 at that moment

00:31:29.360 is not a primitive notion.

00:31:31.200 It's a very intelligent

00:31:33.060 and creative hypothesis.

00:31:35.480 And so the notion

00:31:36.060 that God occupies the sky,

00:31:37.760 the day sky

00:31:38.300 being equally as impressive

00:31:39.520 as the night sky

00:31:40.240 is not a primitive hypothesis.

00:31:42.180 It's a reflection

00:31:42.880 of the nature

00:31:44.020 of a certain kind

00:31:44.740 of human experience.

00:31:46.440 You burn something

00:31:47.340 and you send the smoke up.

00:31:48.680 God gets a crack

00:31:49.540 at determining

00:31:50.900 the quality of your offering,

00:31:52.360 the quality

00:31:52.840 of your sacrifice.

00:31:54.220 Well, let's get,

00:31:55.440 let's be perfectly clear

00:31:56.620 about this.

00:31:57.720 If your sacrifices

00:31:58.780 aren't first rate,

00:32:00.020 the nature of your relationship

00:32:01.340 with the infinite

00:32:01.980 is going to suffer dreadfully.

00:32:03.880 And that's exactly

00:32:04.640 what the story

00:32:05.240 of Cain and Abel reveals.

00:32:06.560 Now, Abel,

00:32:08.540 he's a trusting character.

00:32:10.200 He believes

00:32:10.720 in the nature of experience

00:32:11.900 and the nature of existence.

00:32:13.100 When he's called on

00:32:13.760 to make a sacrifice,

00:32:14.640 he sacrifices the best

00:32:16.080 that he has to offer.

00:32:17.280 And that makes God happy

00:32:18.580 and as a consequence,

00:32:19.500 everything that Abel touches

00:32:20.800 turns to gold.

00:32:21.620 Everyone likes him.

00:32:22.520 They respect him.

00:32:23.600 His crops multiply.

00:32:24.820 He's successful with women.

00:32:26.200 Plus, he's a wonderful guy.

00:32:27.540 So you could hardly imagine

00:32:28.640 a more annoying creature

00:32:30.160 if you possibly attempted

00:32:31.580 to do it.

00:32:32.200 Whereas Cain,

00:32:33.260 see, Cain has reacted

00:32:34.820 to his self-consciousness

00:32:36.480 by withdrawing

00:32:38.060 from the infinite.

00:32:38.920 And there's a tremendous

00:32:39.920 danger in that

00:32:40.700 because it starts to mean

00:32:41.840 that he relies

00:32:42.600 purely on his own

00:32:44.160 devious devices

00:32:45.780 to sail his ship

00:32:48.240 through the shoals of life.

00:32:49.540 He believes

00:32:52.160 as his arrogance develops,

00:32:53.820 as a consequence

00:32:54.640 of his withdrawal

00:32:55.600 from the infinite,

00:32:56.600 a contact that he can't tolerate

00:32:58.360 because he can't tolerate

00:32:59.440 his own vulnerability,

00:33:00.640 that he's able to deceive

00:33:01.940 the structure of reality itself,

00:33:03.360 to offer second-rate sacrifices

00:33:05.160 to God himself

00:33:06.860 who can see

00:33:07.560 absolutely everything

00:33:09.020 because the infinite

00:33:09.860 is absolutely everything,

00:33:11.400 and to prevail nonetheless.

00:33:13.240 Well, needless to say,

00:33:14.620 this does not work.

00:33:15.840 And it doesn't work

00:33:17.560 in an obvious way

00:33:18.740 if you talk to people

00:33:20.120 and they reveal to you

00:33:21.640 their unnecessary suffering.

00:33:23.660 It's very straightforward

00:33:24.880 to look behind

00:33:25.980 what it is that they have to say.

00:33:28.060 They'll tell you

00:33:29.180 the poor decisions

00:33:30.160 they made in their lives

00:33:31.100 and the opportunities

00:33:31.780 that they didn't take

00:33:32.740 and the chances

00:33:33.600 that they didn't have

00:33:35.840 enough courage to grasp

00:33:36.940 and the sacrifices

00:33:37.880 they failed to make.

00:33:38.980 There's nothing mysterious about it.

00:33:40.700 And their own experiences

00:33:42.340 teach them full well

00:33:43.780 that they pathologize

00:33:44.900 the relationship

00:33:45.540 they have with

00:33:46.160 the nature of reality.

00:33:48.140 Well, that's a terrible thing.

00:33:49.680 Well, and Cain

00:33:50.140 is dreadfully unhappy.

00:33:51.640 He's unhappy

00:33:52.180 because nothing

00:33:52.800 he ever wants happens

00:33:53.940 and that's partly

00:33:54.560 because he doesn't

00:33:55.160 really want it

00:33:55.820 because if he really wanted it,

00:33:57.040 he'd make the right sacrifices.

00:33:58.720 The salt is rubbed

00:34:00.080 into his wounds

00:34:00.920 by the existence

00:34:01.700 of his brother

00:34:02.420 for whom everything

00:34:03.180 seems simple

00:34:04.000 but of course really isn't.

00:34:05.960 Cain goes to complain to God.

00:34:08.640 And I had to read

00:34:09.260 three or four different

00:34:10.100 translations of these

00:34:11.100 particular verses

00:34:11.860 to figure out

00:34:12.560 what this meant.

00:34:13.780 And he says

00:34:14.900 what in the world

00:34:17.180 is going on here?

00:34:18.400 I'm marking myself

00:34:19.420 to the bone.

00:34:20.240 I'm sacrificing things

00:34:21.520 left, right, and center.

00:34:22.660 Everything I touch

00:34:23.520 turns to dirt.

00:34:24.460 Everything turns against me.

00:34:26.540 What's up

00:34:27.380 with the nature of reality?

00:34:29.400 Cain's essential vulnerability

00:34:30.680 is revealed

00:34:31.980 and exacerbated

00:34:34.100 by his pathological attitude

00:34:35.600 towards his own actions.

00:34:37.160 God says to him

00:34:38.000 essentially

00:34:38.540 sin is a predatory cat

00:34:41.500 that crouches 0.67

00:34:43.020 that crouches

00:34:43.040 at your doorway

00:34:43.640 and leaps on you

00:34:44.600 at will it

00:34:45.260 but if you only

00:34:46.380 wanted to

00:34:46.880 you could master it.

00:34:48.460 And that is

00:34:48.900 absolutely

00:34:49.820 the last thing

00:34:51.360 that Cain wants to hear

00:34:52.480 because if things

00:34:53.820 are going from bad

00:34:54.660 to worse

00:34:55.160 for you

00:34:55.920 and you're playing

00:34:57.080 a causal role in it

00:34:58.220 there's nothing

00:34:59.200 more horrible

00:34:59.880 than something

00:35:00.460 that someone

00:35:01.720 can do to you

00:35:02.440 but reveal to you

00:35:03.620 in a way

00:35:03.960 that you can't deny

00:35:04.900 that you're entirely

00:35:06.120 complicit in your own demise.

00:35:08.300 And that's exactly

00:35:09.100 what God does to Cain.

00:35:10.820 And so what does Cain do?

00:35:13.760 Well the logical thing

00:35:14.860 would be listen

00:35:15.580 because if the structure

00:35:16.940 of reality itself

00:35:17.920 tells you something

00:35:18.740 it's best to listen

00:35:19.640 since there's no way

00:35:20.480 out of it

00:35:20.820 but that's not what Cain does.

00:35:22.540 He's so incensed

00:35:23.840 by his sensual vulnerability

00:35:26.060 compromised

00:35:27.100 and exacerbated

00:35:28.460 by his failure

00:35:29.400 to make the appropriate sacrifices

00:35:30.940 and to conduct himself

00:35:32.000 appropriately

00:35:32.520 that he decides

00:35:33.260 then and there

00:35:33.820 number one

00:35:34.560 to destroy his ideal

00:35:36.280 to reduce the tension

00:35:37.880 that he feels

00:35:38.540 when that ideal exists

00:35:40.140 as a contrast point

00:35:41.180 and number two

00:35:42.000 to destroy the favored son 0.94

00:35:43.360 of God 0.50

00:35:43.900 and so he goes out

00:35:45.020 into the field

00:35:45.600 and kills Abel

00:35:46.620 and God comes along

00:35:47.880 and says

00:35:48.280 where's my favorite son

00:35:49.740 and Cain says 0.71

00:35:50.480 I killed him

00:35:51.980 and it's so interesting 0.99

00:35:54.660 to me

00:35:55.040 that that story

00:35:55.880 is placed

00:35:56.440 really

00:35:57.060 it's the third story

00:35:58.500 in the Old Testament

00:35:59.700 it's with the archaic stories

00:36:01.780 and it's a story

00:36:02.820 that reveals

00:36:03.480 as far as I can tell

00:36:04.700 that there are two essential

00:36:05.740 patterns of reaction

00:36:06.780 to the self-conscious

00:36:08.740 vulnerable conditions

00:36:09.980 of existence

00:36:10.580 and one is

00:36:11.320 humble

00:36:12.460 approach

00:36:13.760 to infinity

00:36:14.820 with determined

00:36:16.100 attempts

00:36:16.680 to make the appropriate

00:36:17.620 sacrifices

00:36:18.300 the other is

00:36:19.220 arrogance

00:36:19.580 resentment

00:36:20.220 the keeping of everything

00:36:21.480 good for oneself

00:36:22.220 and the degeneration

00:36:23.320 of the soul

00:36:24.080 into something

00:36:24.680 that's homicidally murderous 0.81

00:36:26.420 well the story

00:36:28.360 doesn't stop there

00:36:29.240 and it gets really

00:36:30.060 compressed in this part

00:36:31.320 and that's perhaps

00:36:32.160 because some of it's

00:36:33.020 been lost

00:36:33.500 with the passages

00:36:34.200 of time

00:36:34.660 but the next thing

00:36:35.340 that happens

00:36:35.780 is that

00:36:36.300 well God

00:36:38.000 doesn't punish Cain

00:36:39.040 and you think

00:36:40.780 that's kind of strange

00:36:43.140 I mean the Old Testament

00:36:43.940 God

00:36:44.260 he's punishing people

00:36:45.160 left right and center

00:36:46.060 it's right

00:36:46.400 why not Cain

00:36:47.240 and you think

00:36:48.360 well he marks Cain

00:36:49.780 and he says to the people

00:36:50.980 who are around

00:36:52.120 that they should leave him alone

00:36:53.280 because he's been marked

00:36:54.980 by God

00:36:55.460 as to be left alone

00:36:56.380 and the reason for that

00:36:57.620 I think

00:36:58.020 and this is something

00:36:58.920 that's reflected

00:36:59.480 on our legal system

00:37:00.560 is that

00:37:00.980 murder promotes revenge

00:37:02.900 and revenge

00:37:05.020 destroys societies

00:37:06.160 and so God

00:37:07.300 puts an end

00:37:07.840 to the situation

00:37:08.580 right there and then

00:37:09.240 by telling people

00:37:10.040 that despite

00:37:11.380 the fact

00:37:12.580 that Cain

00:37:13.120 has

00:37:13.420 has committed

00:37:16.140 a terrible crime

00:37:17.020 that there will be

00:37:17.680 no

00:37:18.240 retribution

00:37:19.600 Cain goes off

00:37:22.440 and gets married

00:37:23.060 and he has

00:37:25.080 a number of

00:37:26.060 generations

00:37:26.560 of offspring

00:37:27.360 if you insult

00:37:30.840 a member

00:37:31.200 of the first

00:37:32.680 generation

00:37:33.180 of Cain's

00:37:33.680 offspring

00:37:34.020 he doesn't

00:37:35.400 kill you 0.85

00:37:35.800 he kills 1.00

00:37:36.120 seven of you 1.00

00:37:37.000 and if you

00:37:38.360 insult a member

00:37:39.080 of the second

00:37:39.980 generation

00:37:40.500 of Cain's

00:37:41.000 offspring

00:37:41.300 he doesn't

00:37:42.440 kill seven 0.85

00:37:43.000 of you 1.00

00:37:43.280 he kills 1.00

00:37:43.700 seven times 1.00

00:37:44.380 seven of you

00:37:45.160 and then

00:37:46.580 on down

00:37:47.360 the road

00:37:48.980 of the

00:37:49.720 offspring

00:37:50.340 of Cain

00:37:51.220 is Tubal Cain 0.67

00:37:52.460 and Tubal Cain

00:37:54.040 is the

00:37:54.680 artificer

00:37:55.880 of weapons

00:37:56.760 of war

00:37:57.320 and this

00:37:58.980 stunningly

00:38:00.120 brilliant story

00:38:01.140 says in its

00:38:02.520 incredibly

00:38:03.400 compressed fashion

00:38:04.440 that the

00:38:06.220 motivation that

00:38:07.160 drives the

00:38:08.160 commission of

00:38:08.800 the worst

00:38:09.300 human atrocities

00:38:10.460 is an inevitable

00:38:11.980 social consequence

00:38:13.260 of the refusal

00:38:14.580 of the self-conscious

00:38:15.660 individual

00:38:16.260 to make

00:38:17.080 the sacrifices

00:38:18.120 appropriate to

00:38:18.980 establishing a

00:38:19.740 harmonious life

00:38:20.660 and their

00:38:21.720 consequent

00:38:22.420 degeneration

00:38:23.000 into a kind

00:38:23.940 of murderous

00:38:24.660 and resentment

00:38:25.320 filled rage

00:38:26.280 rage

00:38:27.180 propagating

00:38:28.340 endlessly

00:38:29.140 through its

00:38:30.440 variations

00:38:31.140 in society

00:38:31.960 until everything

00:38:33.380 comes to an

00:38:34.080 end

00:38:34.340 and the next

00:38:36.240 story

00:38:36.580 is the

00:38:37.420 flood

00:38:37.720 and it's

00:38:39.780 not surprising

00:38:40.540 because if

00:38:42.280 things go from

00:38:43.200 bad to worse

00:38:43.920 long enough

00:38:44.520 everything

00:38:46.040 falls

00:38:46.600 and it's a

00:38:47.900 terrifying story

00:38:48.680 and I didn't

00:38:49.200 understand that

00:38:49.900 story I didn't

00:38:50.380 understand that

00:38:50.900 story for years

00:38:51.700 it wasn't

00:38:52.600 really until I

00:38:53.280 read Alexander

00:38:53.940 Solzhenitsyn

00:38:54.560 that I

00:38:55.860 developed I

00:38:56.840 think the

00:38:57.200 cognitive capacity

00:38:58.100 to even

00:38:58.720 understand what

00:38:59.720 the story

00:39:00.020 meant because

00:39:00.700 Solzhenitsyn said

00:39:01.960 it is no

00:39:02.380 bell prize

00:39:02.900 accepting speech

00:39:03.840 a single person

00:39:05.480 who stops

00:39:05.860 lying can bring

00:39:06.500 down a tyranny

00:39:07.160 which is a

00:39:08.260 stunning thing

00:39:08.880 to say but I

00:39:09.580 would also say

00:39:10.200 something that's

00:39:10.800 been amply

00:39:11.220 demonstrated in

00:39:12.040 the 20th century

00:39:12.760 because we have

00:39:13.420 historical examples

00:39:15.100 of people who

00:39:15.660 did precisely that

00:39:16.560 Gandhi did it

00:39:18.160 Vaclav Havel

00:39:19.020 did it

00:39:19.420 Nelson Mandela

00:39:20.220 did it

00:39:20.900 Solzhenitsyn's

00:39:21.740 Gulag Archipelago

00:39:22.720 was definitely

00:39:23.700 one of the

00:39:24.420 ax blows that 0.75

00:39:25.180 brought down

00:39:25.620 the Soviet Union

00:39:26.340 a stunning

00:39:27.200 achievement for

00:39:28.040 a person who

00:39:29.020 started writing

00:39:29.660 that book by

00:39:30.400 memorizing it

00:39:31.160 when he was a

00:39:31.840 concentration camp

00:39:32.620 victim this far

00:39:33.400 away from

00:39:33.780 starvation

00:39:34.340 it shows you

00:39:35.360 as clearly as

00:39:36.500 anything possibly

00:39:37.340 can how

00:39:38.320 powerful the

00:39:39.100 human spirit

00:39:39.640 can be if

00:39:40.680 it's willing to

00:39:41.340 take on the

00:39:42.100 obligation of its

00:39:43.140 relationship with

00:39:43.960 the divine

00:39:44.460 and also how

00:39:45.400 terrible things

00:39:46.200 can become if

00:39:47.160 the responsibility

00:39:47.880 of that burden

00:39:48.740 is not

00:39:49.140 shouldered

00:39:49.620 now it's no

00:39:51.360 wonder as far

00:39:51.980 as I can tell

00:39:52.500 that people don't

00:39:53.060 think this way

00:39:53.600 because thinking

00:39:55.100 this way is

00:39:55.720 it's catastrophic

00:39:56.420 in a way

00:39:57.160 because the

00:39:58.080 burden it places

00:39:58.800 on the individual

00:39:59.560 is so extreme

00:40:00.360 that it's almost

00:40:00.920 unbearable

00:40:01.560 well and

00:40:01.960 but that's

00:40:03.100 exactly why it

00:40:03.940 is in Genesis

00:40:05.040 to begin with

00:40:05.740 that Adam

00:40:06.160 hides when he

00:40:06.840 becomes conscious

00:40:08.080 of his own

00:40:08.600 vulnerability

00:40:09.180 it's like he

00:40:10.060 thinks well a

00:40:10.700 creature such as

00:40:11.440 I I could never

00:40:12.180 bear such a

00:40:12.820 burden

00:40:13.040 well there's a

00:40:14.000 lot more to

00:40:14.420 people than meets

00:40:15.120 the eye

00:40:15.560 and the only way

00:40:16.740 I learned that

00:40:17.320 was by looking

00:40:17.860 at people's

00:40:18.440 and my own

00:40:19.120 people's

00:40:19.600 and my own

00:40:20.040 capacity for evil

00:40:20.980 because I started

00:40:21.740 to realize that

00:40:22.460 we regard ourselves

00:40:23.840 as narrow little

00:40:24.660 beings in a

00:40:25.320 particular kind

00:40:25.980 of box

00:40:26.540 and there's real

00:40:27.320 comfort in that

00:40:28.040 although there's

00:40:28.520 tremendous limitation

00:40:29.480 you cannot see

00:40:30.840 your way out of

00:40:31.380 that box

00:40:31.840 until you know

00:40:32.940 well what I teach

00:40:33.940 my students

00:40:34.540 I teach them

00:40:35.160 about Nazi

00:40:35.700 Germany

00:40:36.040 and I try to

00:40:36.900 make them

00:40:37.200 understand that

00:40:37.940 there's an

00:40:38.780 overwhelming

00:40:39.220 probability

00:40:39.840 if they were

00:40:40.480 in Nazi Germany

00:40:41.140 in the 1930s

00:40:42.040 that they would

00:40:42.460 have been

00:40:42.720 perpetrators

00:40:43.320 and Nazis 0.54

00:40:43.980 an overwhelming

00:40:44.980 probability

00:40:45.660 and if they

00:40:46.480 can't accept

00:40:47.120 that because

00:40:47.680 it's a historical

00:40:48.300 fact

00:40:48.780 they have

00:40:49.220 absolutely no

00:40:49.980 idea who

00:40:50.420 they are

00:40:50.860 now imagining

00:40:52.680 yourself as a

00:40:53.420 Nazi perpetrator 0.97

00:40:54.220 is an unbearably 0.99

00:40:55.100 terrifying thing

00:40:55.900 to do

00:40:56.260 but I don't

00:40:57.080 believe that you

00:40:57.620 can do

00:40:58.040 I don't think

00:40:58.960 that you have

00:40:59.360 any insight

00:41:00.000 whatsoever

00:41:00.660 into your

00:41:01.200 capacity for

00:41:01.860 good

00:41:02.180 until you have

00:41:03.260 some well-developed

00:41:04.640 insight into your

00:41:05.360 capacity for evil

00:41:06.300 because people can

00:41:07.740 tell you until

00:41:08.300 they're blue in the

00:41:08.820 face about your

00:41:09.520 capacity for good

00:41:10.300 it just sounds like

00:41:11.140 wishful thinking

00:41:13.460 it sounds like

00:41:14.000 the sort of thing

00:41:14.480 that an advertiser

00:41:15.280 might tell you on

00:41:15.980 TV

00:41:16.280 it's just too good

00:41:17.300 to be true

00:41:17.860 and I don't think

00:41:19.520 people believe it

00:41:20.400 but I think that

00:41:21.820 if you tell people

00:41:22.720 that you know

00:41:23.280 in the cold

00:41:24.480 dark corners

00:41:25.200 of their mind

00:41:25.820 there are

00:41:26.120 motivations that

00:41:26.800 are so terrible

00:41:27.500 that they would

00:41:28.460 traumatize themselves

00:41:30.400 if they were ever

00:41:31.400 revealed

00:41:31.840 that everyone knows

00:41:33.060 at some level

00:41:33.940 of analysis

00:41:34.420 that that's

00:41:35.020 absolutely true

00:41:35.960 you think

00:41:37.460 there's evidence

00:41:38.660 throughout history

00:41:39.340 that it's possible

00:41:40.160 for people to be

00:41:41.260 enlightened

00:41:43.000 and you'd think

00:41:44.380 since enlightenment

00:41:46.120 is viewed as the

00:41:47.060 medication for

00:41:47.880 vulnerability and

00:41:48.660 death

00:41:48.900 that everybody

00:41:49.580 would be struggling

00:41:50.380 as hard as they

00:41:51.560 possibly could

00:41:52.220 to be enlightened

00:41:52.880 if such a state

00:41:53.840 exactly

00:41:54.320 and precisely exists

00:41:56.060 but if the barrier

00:41:57.360 to enlightenment

00:41:58.080 is the development

00:41:59.480 of self-consciousness

00:42:00.580 of the individual

00:42:01.720 human's

00:42:02.480 infinite capacity

00:42:03.640 for evil

00:42:04.160 then you can be

00:42:05.020 immediately

00:42:06.020 convinced

00:42:07.240 about why

00:42:08.720 enlightenment

00:42:09.460 is in such

00:42:10.200 short supply

00:42:11.160 when I

00:42:13.000 finished my

00:42:15.580 first provisional

00:42:16.360 examination

00:42:16.860 of the sorts

00:42:17.580 of motivations

00:42:18.200 that drove people

00:42:19.040 to set up

00:42:19.460 concentration camps

00:42:20.520 and to torture

00:42:22.360 people terribly

00:42:23.140 in those camps

00:42:23.940 I came to a

00:42:25.520 terrible conclusion

00:42:26.380 it was a

00:42:28.040 conclusion that

00:42:28.700 I think in some

00:42:30.220 ways was the

00:42:30.620 worst thing that

00:42:31.160 had ever happened

00:42:31.720 to me maybe

00:42:32.240 intellectually and

00:42:33.040 morally

00:42:33.320 I thought

00:42:33.920 I came to

00:42:35.940 understand why

00:42:36.520 it is that

00:42:36.900 people depended

00:42:37.620 on their group

00:42:38.120 identity and

00:42:38.680 their cultural

00:42:39.160 identification

00:42:39.760 because that

00:42:40.700 helped protect

00:42:41.340 themselves from

00:42:42.120 their own

00:42:42.540 vulnerability

00:42:43.000 you have to

00:42:44.040 believe things

00:42:44.720 because you

00:42:45.100 just don't know

00:42:45.680 everything

00:42:46.060 so you have to

00:42:46.560 believe things

00:42:47.100 they fill in the

00:42:47.680 gaps

00:42:48.000 the beliefs

00:42:48.440 fill in the

00:42:48.900 gaps

00:42:49.200 if the beliefs

00:42:50.540 are stripped

00:42:50.940 from you

00:42:51.380 then your

00:42:51.960 defenses against

00:42:52.780 the infinite

00:42:53.200 are stripped

00:42:53.760 and it's no

00:42:54.280 wonder that

00:42:54.800 people will

00:42:55.200 defend their

00:42:55.660 beliefs

00:42:56.080 I thought

00:42:59.200 well

00:42:59.520 if you're

00:43:00.560 too involved

00:43:01.200 in defending

00:43:01.640 your beliefs

00:43:02.180 you're going

00:43:02.700 to be willing 1.00

00:43:03.100 to kill other 0.97

00:43:03.700 people in their 1.00

00:43:04.260 defense

00:43:04.600 and we're so

00:43:05.100 technologically

00:43:05.740 powerful now

00:43:06.480 that we can

00:43:06.900 no longer be

00:43:07.460 willing to

00:43:07.900 kill other 0.98

00:43:08.300 people in 1.00

00:43:08.760 the defense

00:43:09.640 of our own

00:43:10.020 beliefs

00:43:10.280 because the

00:43:11.480 time for that

00:43:11.940 has passed

00:43:12.540 and I realized

00:43:15.040 well if you

00:43:15.720 don't stand up

00:43:16.360 for your beliefs

00:43:16.880 you leave

00:43:17.240 yourself bereft

00:43:18.000 you're open

00:43:18.560 to the

00:43:18.840 depredations

00:43:19.460 of the

00:43:19.780 infinite

00:43:20.060 that's equally

00:43:20.820 intolerable

00:43:22.200 it seems to

00:43:22.880 leave no way

00:43:23.480 out

00:43:23.820 there is a

00:43:27.200 way out

00:43:27.600 you know

00:43:27.860 and I think

00:43:28.360 it's the way

00:43:28.960 out that

00:43:29.380 genuinely

00:43:30.420 religious people

00:43:31.320 have tried to

00:43:31.920 offer humanity

00:43:32.680 for thousands

00:43:33.600 and thousands

00:43:34.100 of years

00:43:34.600 and the way

00:43:35.780 out of the

00:43:36.780 conundrum

00:43:37.440 posed to you

00:43:39.100 by your

00:43:39.580 reliance on

00:43:40.300 ideological beliefs

00:43:41.380 and your

00:43:41.900 vulnerability in

00:43:42.860 the face of

00:43:43.340 the unknown

00:43:43.800 is the

00:43:44.480 development of

00:43:45.180 a truly

00:43:46.280 integrated and

00:43:47.220 powerful character

00:43:48.140 and that's a

00:43:49.800 individual

00:43:50.480 development

00:43:51.060 and it means

00:43:51.860 constant

00:43:53.000 confrontation

00:43:53.760 with things

00:43:54.280 you don't

00:43:54.600 understand

00:43:55.100 and constant

00:43:55.920 attempts to

00:43:56.600 ensure that

00:43:57.080 your character

00:43:57.640 is composed

00:43:58.620 of truth

00:43:59.780 and solidity

00:44:00.980 rather than

00:44:01.580 deceit

00:44:02.180 and to make

00:44:03.480 of yourself

00:44:03.880 something that's

00:44:04.560 built on a

00:44:05.040 rock and not

00:44:05.800 predicated on

00:44:06.560 sand and the

00:44:07.300 thing is it's

00:44:07.880 one thing to

00:44:08.600 tell people that

00:44:09.460 because maybe

00:44:10.400 they should take

00:44:10.960 care of themselves

00:44:11.660 but I don't

00:44:12.980 know if that's

00:44:13.440 enough to tell

00:44:13.980 people because

00:44:14.660 they don't take

00:44:15.460 care of themselves

00:44:16.020 that well but

00:44:16.700 it's a completely

00:44:17.660 other thing to

00:44:18.300 say look you

00:44:18.860 know every time

00:44:19.980 you make a

00:44:20.440 pathological moral

00:44:21.380 decision you

00:44:22.580 move the one

00:44:23.200 the world one

00:44:24.000 step closer to

00:44:24.740 complete annihilation

00:44:25.720 and I absolutely

00:44:27.280 believe that

00:44:28.060 I think the

00:44:29.240 historical evidence

00:44:30.060 is crystal clear

00:44:31.460 and I also think

00:44:32.800 that every time

00:44:33.400 you make an

00:44:34.060 appropriate moral

00:44:34.740 decision and you

00:44:35.500 manifest moral

00:44:36.240 courage in the

00:44:36.880 face of your own

00:44:37.480 vulnerability

00:44:37.860 then you move

00:44:39.000 the world one

00:44:39.600 step farther

00:44:40.260 from the brink

00:44:41.000 and every

00:44:42.400 that's the case

00:44:43.220 for every single

00:44:44.120 person

00:44:44.660 you know

00:44:45.320 Solzhenitsyn said

00:44:46.320 drawing on his

00:44:47.140 eastern orthodox

00:44:48.080 Christian background

00:44:49.040 every single

00:44:50.840 person is the

00:44:51.520 center of the

00:44:52.020 world

00:44:52.360 a center of the

00:44:53.720 world

00:44:53.980 not the center

00:44:55.100 of the world

00:44:55.640 the world's a

00:44:56.360 complicated place

00:44:57.200 it can have all

00:44:58.140 sorts of centers

00:44:58.900 it's hard to

00:44:59.760 believe that you

00:45:00.280 might be one of

00:45:01.060 them but everything

00:45:02.800 about human existence

00:45:03.740 is hard to believe

00:45:04.660 the fact that it's

00:45:05.660 here at all is hard

00:45:06.400 to believe

00:45:06.780 the nature of it's

00:45:07.600 hard to believe

00:45:08.180 everything that human

00:45:09.680 beings does is so 0.99

00:45:10.880 ridiculous and 0.99

00:45:12.200 remarkable that it's 0.99

00:45:13.340 like it's a

00:45:13.980 consistently and

00:45:14.960 constantly unfolding

00:45:15.960 miracle the idea

00:45:16.960 that each of you

00:45:17.600 might be a

00:45:18.600 center of the

00:45:19.680 cosmos in that

00:45:21.440 infinite admixture 0.97

00:45:23.300 of ridiculousness 0.93

00:45:24.420 and absurdity is

00:45:25.380 is hardly more

00:45:26.980 than one more 0.98

00:45:27.760 ridiculous thing 0.99

00:45:28.600 to swallow 0.99

00:45:29.220 well I'll

00:45:31.280 summarize I

00:45:31.880 guess

00:45:32.140 I said that

00:45:34.040 tragedy is a

00:45:34.740 precondition for

00:45:35.480 being

00:45:35.820 being is the

00:45:39.200 interplay between

00:45:39.880 the finite and

00:45:40.540 the infinite and

00:45:41.220 in that interplay

00:45:41.900 there's tragedy

00:45:42.500 and there's no

00:45:42.920 way out of that

00:45:43.600 evil is something

00:45:44.900 different

00:45:45.340 evil is the

00:45:47.440 conscious attempt

00:45:48.220 to make the

00:45:48.680 conditions of

00:45:49.300 existence more

00:45:50.060 pathological than

00:45:51.020 they have to be

00:45:51.700 and it's motivated

00:45:53.140 by conscious intent

00:45:54.180 the motivations arise

00:45:56.400 because people pay a

00:45:57.560 terrible price for

00:45:59.040 their self-conscious

00:45:59.820 awareness and that

00:46:00.700 awareness is their

00:46:01.600 awareness of their

00:46:02.380 vulnerability and that

00:46:03.500 is a terrible thing to

00:46:04.920 be aware of

00:46:05.620 that vulnerability can

00:46:11.060 be confronted

00:46:11.660 forthrightly

00:46:12.820 accepted and the

00:46:13.780 appropriate decisions

00:46:14.660 made alternatively

00:46:15.720 people can retreat

00:46:16.580 into their own

00:46:17.420 rationalistic arrogance

00:46:20.120 and attempt to

00:46:21.200 deceive themselves and

00:46:22.740 everyone else about

00:46:23.660 the nature of their

00:46:24.380 own existence and

00:46:25.120 about the nature of

00:46:25.880 reality that pathway

00:46:27.500 leads to nothing but

00:46:28.400 destruction

00:46:28.920 I think that there's

00:46:33.620 good reason to assume

00:46:34.560 that it's too late in

00:46:35.720 the in our

00:46:36.380 developmental course as

00:46:37.400 a species for that

00:46:38.660 path to be acceptable

00:46:39.720 anymore because we're

00:46:41.060 too powerful and if

00:46:42.300 too many people stay on

00:46:43.440 that path we're going to

00:46:44.420 do ourselves in and so

00:46:46.520 I would say as we've

00:46:48.360 become more

00:46:48.900 technologically powerful

00:46:50.100 an increasing moral

00:46:51.480 burden is being placed

00:46:52.460 on each of us it

00:46:54.260 matters to the to the

00:46:56.520 to the destiny of the

00:46:58.360 cosmos whether or not

00:46:59.640 you get your moral act

00:47:00.740 straight and I don't 0.98

00:47:01.760 mean that in a trivial

00:47:02.740 way I believe that

00:47:04.120 that's as close to an

00:47:05.060 empirical fact as

00:47:06.040 anything that can be

00:47:06.880 demonstrated I also

00:47:07.700 believe that's as

00:47:08.300 terrifying a thing to

00:47:09.260 consider as anything you

00:47:10.240 could possibly imagine

00:47:11.180 and maybe it's too

00:47:12.200 much to ask of people

00:47:13.280 but you know our great

00:47:14.900 religious traditions do

00:47:16.180 continually remind us

00:47:17.740 that inside every human

00:47:18.920 being there's a spark of

00:47:20.060 divinity and that idea

00:47:21.600 is a precondition for our

00:47:23.960 entire system of law

00:47:25.520 there's always the

00:47:27.980 possibility that it's true

00:47:29.220 and if it's true it means

00:47:30.980 that there is a there's a

00:47:32.880 there's an infinite avenue

00:47:34.920 of potential that lays open

00:47:36.740 to every single person and

00:47:38.480 that the ability to

00:47:39.920 transform the terrible

00:47:41.600 conditions of reality into

00:47:43.500 something not only

00:47:44.540 acceptable but worthy of

00:47:45.920 celebration actually lies

00:47:47.260 within our grasp and the

00:47:49.600 alternative that the

00:47:50.940 alternative to that is the

00:47:52.360 continual generation of a

00:47:54.420 kind of hell that's so

00:47:56.000 incomprehensibly awful that

00:47:59.640 by any reasonable person's

00:48:03.340 standards it has to be

00:48:04.920 regarded as something to

00:48:05.960 avoid that's all i have to

00:48:11.980 say about that

00:48:12.660 thank you for listening to

00:48:17.300 the jordan b peterson podcast

00:48:18.980 that was episode two tragedy

00:48:21.880 versus evil you can support

00:48:25.240 this podcast by searching

00:48:27.820 jordan peterson patreon and

00:48:29.940 donating the amount of your

00:48:31.060 choice or by visiting

00:48:33.160 self authoring dot com

00:48:35.040 thank you

00:48:37.080 you

00:48:39.180 you

00:48:41.180 you

00:48:43.180 you

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast - December 19, 2016

Tragedy vs. Evil

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript