you need a meaningful life it's not
optional because that combats the
suffering and more than that if you lead
a meaningful life which means to adopt
responsibility almost inevitably you
actually make things better and so you
can take people down to the bottom of
the abyss and you can say it's no wonder
that you despair
given your finitude but there's so much
possibility that surrounds you that you
can make something of that regardless of
its of the reality of its horror and you
do that with responsibility and people
understand that and so it it isn't just
a call to make making things better it's
not a call to a utopia that's produced
by human imagination it's it's it's a
minute it's it's it's the insistence
that without
the proper engagement in truth that your
life will your life will degenerate and
you will end up embittered and in hell
and so the conversation just hasn't been
serious enough I would say and that's
especially bad for young people you know
one of the things I tell young people
all the time I'm not a very typical
psychologist in this regard because
psychologists like to Pat people on the
head and say you're all right the way
you are
I talked to Bishop Baron a while ago um
he said that the Catholic priests were
trained in the 1960s to kind of be
accepting you know humanistically your
okay the way you are you know and that's
such rubbish it's like not only are you
not okay the way you are you don't think
that anybody else is okay the way they
are either you know what you don't think
your children are okay the way they are
like you love them and all that but you
don't want them to stay three years old
their entire life you want them to
expand and improve and become who they
are and so instead of telling young
people that they're okay the way they
are I tell them that and it's a terrible
message for them if they're desperate
you know so let's say ten and percent of
the people in my audience are young
maybe they're young men just for the
sake of argument and they're like not in
good shape
they don't have any geek goals there
they're drinking too much they're
watching pornography all the time
they've got no aim they've got no
structure in their life and they're just
bloody miserable and the misery is
twisting them into malevolence because
enough misery will absolutely do that to
you and then what are you gonna do and
come along and say well you're you're
okay the way you are it's like that's
the last thing they want to hear it's
like get your damn back together you
know you got things to do and they're
gonna be difficult and that there's a
there's a there's a echoing Christian
message in there
say which is you pick up the weight of
your suffering voluntarily and you walk
uphill with it and that not only gives
you the meaning that you need in life in
your life to stop you from degenerating
in a dangerous manner but it actually
makes things better and so that that
that all has to be part of it like I
believe in human ingenuity I think we
can solve all the problems that beset us
but it can't just be it has to be more
than we can enhance material well-being
that's just what it tends to be now it's
not enough life is hard
it's it's it's a crucifixion that's
right and so it's no wonder they think
that it's like okay fine first of all
we're gonna take it seriously yeah
you're suffering and adrift and you have
your reasons but you need so you take
those reasons seriously and you say
despite that despite that there's more
to you than you think and you know that
- because you upgrade yourself for not
manifesting it and you say to people
well I ask people for example who do you
admire because that's a lot of instinct
for admiration is part of the instinct
for imitation it's like how do you
admire you admire people who are
completely irresponsible
you admire people who can't take care of
themselves they can't even take care of
themselves
here's that most admirable person
completely useless to themselves maybe
even counterproductive just a bloody
catastrophe for their family and like a
social danger like no one admires that
no one admires that it's like you start
minimally can you take care of yourself
at least that that be the first thing
and then is there more nice there enough
to you so that maybe someone else could
rely on you now and then maybe maybe a
number of people maybe your family it
could be a you could be the glue that
holds them together and amends them and
then maybe there could be more to you
than that maybe you could be someone for
your community and god only knows how
far you could go with that those are the
people you admire it's like well try
that out see what happens and start
locally you
Carl Jung said this is one of my
favorite Carl Jung quotes modern man
does not see God because he will not
look low enough I really like that and
so you know I've been telling the people
that I talk to the same thing it's like
you have a certain amount of potential
within your grasp you may find what you
have contemptible because you're not in
a position of power this modicum of
possibility that's been granted to you
is beneath you and so you do nothing
with it and so you get nothing from it
you take that seriously you do the small
things you can the humble things that
you can to put yourself together in that
in those tiny embarrassing ways that are
real and if you do that enough you'll
you'll for will fortify yourself and
that will work and you know one of the
things that's been unbelievably
hardening to me it's ridiculous really
normally now if I go out during the day
if I go to any city I've been to like
150 cities in the last year and if I'm
walking around on the street or in an
airport someone will come up to me about
every 10 minutes or so and they'll say
the same thing they always say the same
thing they first of all apologize for
bothering me and they're very polite to
all my interactions with people you'd
never guess this from like my reputation
in the press but all my interactions
with people in public are unbelievably
positive and the people will come up and
say you know I was in this small domain
of hell a year ago or six months ago
whatever it is addiction alcoholism I
wasn't getting along with my family I've
been living with my girlfriend for five
years and we were stuck I didn't have
any direction for my career I was
nihilistic you know I was whatever you
know although different ways that people
can fall into a pit and and and and be
miserable said I read your books or I
watched your lectures and I decided I
was going to I was gonna try to put my
family together
I was gonna I was gonna make a vision
and pursue it or it's gonna try telling
the truth I was just gonna try one of
these things and things are way better
way better you know and sometimes it's a
father and a son or sometimes it's a son
and a daughter or it's a girlfriend and
a boyfriend and the girlfriend is very
happy usually because her boyfriend has
straightened up substantially and maybe
they're getting married and like he's
half civilized at this point but but but
it's but it's it's an unbelievably
positive thing to see and and it's a
real thing you know it's like it's it's
so interesting to watch the fact that
all people have to do is put some of
these things into practice and all of a
sudden that little more to come of
potential that they had because they got
humble enough to deal with it properly
starts to expand and expand and like I
believe and I do believe this and I
think this is part of the Christian
message fundamentally is that there's
actually no limit to that expansion no
because in some sense like we are this
weird combination of finite and infinite
like we're related to the infinite in
some manner obviously because the
infinite exists and here we are and so
we're related to it in some manner and I
don't know what manner that is but I
don't know what the limits are it's like
if you were the best person you could be
no truly if you decided to live by truth
and to aim at the good and you really
did that you put your whole heart and
soul into it like you were like that's
what you were staking your life on
because you're staking your life on
something who the hell could you be and
no one knows you know you know perfectly
well you could be far more than you are
and you don't know what the oppor limit
of that is and we certainly don't know
what the upper limit would be if there
were lots of people doing that god only
knows what problems we could solve you
know there's lots of suffering and
misery in the world
plenty and it's no wonder that people
get bitter but God as you pointed out
before you know we've got no shortage of
ingenuity and possibility and if we were
serious about making things less
wretched than they are who knows what
miracles we could pull off
[Music]
you
[Music]
you