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half a billion times people are
interested in what you have to say it
seems that way
somewhat of a shark well maybe it's
because you aren't a politician you are
a psychologist and your understanding
more about what's going on in the world
than many of our lawmakers actually do
and I know we've got so many ways that
we could go with this interview tonight
and we got questions thank you to all of
you in the audience who sent in your
questions I've got some of them right
here we're gonna get into those but let
me start with let's just start the
socialism piece do you think Americans
truly understand the history of
socialism and actually what it is as
you've gone around under you've had when
you speak to not just college campuses
you've been events around the world
I think 250,000 people you've spoken in
front of I mean people are unbelievably
ignorant about history and I mean I
would include myself in that you know I
mean I know what I know about the
history say preceding the 20th century
is very sketchy it's embarrassingly
sketchy you know and what young people
know about 20th century history is
non-existent especially about the
history of the radical left I mean how
would they know they're never taught
anything about it so why would they be
concerned about and then you know what
for for many of the people in the
audience you know you're old enough so
that the fall of the Berlin Wall was
well that was part of your life you know
that was really the end of the Second
World War let's say and in a technical
sense and it was very meaningful but
that's a long time ago
there's mean a lot of people born since
then and it's ancient history and we
don't have that many good bad examples
left you know there's North Korea
there's Venezuela but we're not locked
tooth and nail in a war with you know in
a proxy war and a cold war with the
Soviet Union and and it's easy to
understand why people are emotionally
drawn to the ideals of socialism let's
the left because it draws on it draws
its fundamental motivational source from
a kind of primary compassion and that is
always there in human beings and so that
proclivity for sensitivity to that
political message will never go away and
so and it's important to understand that
you have to give the devil his due
unfortunately you you've also said that
people aren't as resentful at the
success of others as we might think and
I think as you watch a lot of people
being interviewed today and you watch
some of the students being interviewed
you saw some of the ones up here you
hear people talking a lot about
inequality but you say they really
aren't as resentful as we might think as
long as they don't think the game is
fixed yes well that's certainly the case
well first of all I mean if you look at
the psychological literature to the
degree that it's accurate which is
difficult to ascertain often people
report far more prejudice against their
group that against themselves so so
that's quite an interesting phenomenon
as far as I'm concerned so there's a
tendency for people to exaggerate the
degree to which the group they belong to
it has is currently suffering from from
generalized oppression
they've been relatively free of it
themselves I also think that if fairness
isn't absolutely essential and perceived
fairness is an absolutely essential
component of peace because people can
tolerate inequality so to speak or even
revel in it let's say if they believe
that the unequal outcome is deserved I
mean look at how people respond to
sports heroes you know everyone no one
goes to a sports event and boos the star
even though he or she is paid much
better and attracts the lion's share of
the attention
hopefully not into narcissistic manner
people can celebrate success but they do
have to believe that the game is fair
and and and the game needs to be fair
because otherwise the hierarchy becomes
tyrannical the problem with the radical
left is that it assumes that all
hierarchies are too radical and it makes
no distinction between them and that's
an absolute catastrophe because you know
there's plenty of sins let's say on the
conscience of the of the West as a as a
civilization but you can't throw the
baby out with the bathwater and there
are far worse places like all the other
places for example that there have ever
been well it's the case and people also
don't understand that and they also
don't understand this is something
that's of particular importance they
also don't understand and that that may
even characterize you in this audience
it's very the knowledge of how rapidly
we're making economic improvements
around the world in the developing world
for example how fast that's happening
that is not well distributed knowledge
you know that between the year 2000 and
the year 2012 the rate of absolute
poverty in the world fell by 50%
now it's a UN figure dollar 90 a day
that was their cutoff for absolute
poverty and so the cynics have said well
you know that's pretty low barrier it's
not such an achievement to have attained
that I can tell you it's an achievement
to obtain that if you were living on
less than a dollar a ninety a day to
begin with but if you look at if you
double the amount to 380 or you double
it again to 760 you find the same
pattern I mean the poor in the world are
getting rich at a rate that is
absolutely unparalleled in all of human
history and I think I think a large part
of that large part of that is happening
in Africa where by the way here's
another lovely piece of news the child
mortality rate in Africa is now the same
as it was in Europe and
18:52 which is I mean that's an absolute
miracle or it's insane that that's not
front-page news right it's that that's
that's within a lifetime and the
fastest-growing economies in the world
are also there and so but but as you're
saying it but why isn't it front-page
news and when you considering social
media and how fast news and photos and
all that can travel and that young
people are aficionados of all this
technology
why don't they know these things or why
aren't they computing what they see as
being progress well I think part of it
is that things are changing so fast that
none of us can keep up like it's hard to
keep the story updated I had no idea for
example that most of the world's
economic news and even a substantial
proportion of its ecological news by the
way was positive until I started to work
on a UN Committee about five years ago
on sustainable economic development and
I read very widely economically and and
also ecologically and realized that
things were way better than I had any
any sense of that that that these
improvements had come at a tremendous
rate and and but you see pardon so so
partly it is just that it's so new that
we don't know and we don't have a story
about it and and and and and who is who
who would be driving the communication
of such things especially given two
other things one is that human beings
are tilted towards negative emotion in
terms of its potency and so for example
people would rather they much they're
much less happy to lose five dollars
than they are happy to gain five dollars
we're loss averse or we're more
sensitive to negative emotion than we
are to positive emotion and there's a
reason for that and the reason is well
you can only be so happy but you can be
dead and right and I mean dead is that's
not good and and there can be a lot of
misery on the way to that end and so
we're
were tilted to protect ourselves and
that makes us more interested in some
sense and more easily captivated by the
negative than by the positive and so
that's that's a hard bias to fight and
then when you also take into account and
I think this is something that's Sarat
worth seriously considering because the
other thing we don't understand is the
technological revolution that's
occurring in every form of media no one
understands it and but one of the
consequences is is that the mainstream
media so to speak is increasingly
desperate for attention right there
exist in a shrinking market with
shrinking margins all of the leading
newspapers and magazines are feeling the
pinch
television is dead you because YouTube
has everything the television has and
then an incredible array of additional
features and radio is being replaced by
podcasts and so it's very unstable time
for the mainstream media and what would
you expect them to do except to do
whatever they can to attract attention
in whatever manner they can manage one
example of this one very good example of
this is you may or may not know that the
rates of violent crime in the United
States and and actually in most places
have have plummeted in the last 50 years
it's it's really quite remarkable the
United States is now safer and in terms
of violent crime than it has been since
the early 60s and that was probably the
safest time there ever was but the
degree to which violent crime has been
reported has increased it's funny the
curves are almost completely opposite to
one another this is the decline in
violent crime this is the increase in
the reporting of violent crime and the
reason for that is well people read
stories about violent crime and then of
course they're much more likely to
believe that it's on the increase and
the people who are most likely to
believe that it's on the increase by the
way are also those who are least likely
to be affected by it because you know to
be a victim of a violent crime what
helps to drink too much but it also
helps a lot to be young and male and
that those aren't the people who are
particularly afraid of violent crime
even though they're the ones most likely
to be implicated in it so there's
technological reasons for our our
concentration on the negative and
they're complex it's not easy to figure
out how to combat the spiral of outrage
and attention-seeking that I think is
accompanying the death of our previous
means of communication no one no one
knows how to handle that and and that's
a big problem let's got me I know so
many in this audience and not just here
in New York but we hear from our members
all over the country they're so
concerned about what their children and
what their grandchildren are both being
taught but also what they're coming back
home from college and talking about and
saying where are you where are they
learning them and I know where they're
learning it but how does this get
seeping into them you obviously have
spoken out not just 15 or so you've
Toronto but colleges all over the world
what is it you see today on the campus
or among young people today that that is
that's new or may or is it new I've
heard you say that we're no more
polarized today than we were maybe even
under Richard Nixon and the campuses
were more on fire than that even they
are today so what are the similarities
and differences that you're saying well
I don't I don't see any real evidence
that your society is more polarized
generally speaking than it has been at
many times in the past and I think the
Nixon era is a good example I mean if
you if you think about it merely
statistically I mean you've been split
50/50 Republican Democrat for what five
elections now and it's almost perfect
50/50 split that really hasn't changed
Trump of course is somewhat of a wild
card and so that complicates things but
I don't think it changes the underlying
dynamic what I what I do think is is has
arisen again because it's made itself
manifest many times in the last hundred
and hundred years is the rise of this
group identity associated quasi Marxist
viewpoint with this additional toxic
mixture and and paradoxical mixture of
post-modernism the post modernists are
famous for being skeptical of
meta-narratives that might be a defining
that was Lyotard I believe who coined
that although I might be wrong it was
one of the French post modernists and
that that means that they're skeptical
about the idea that uniting large
uniting narratives are valid and it's a
it's a huge problem that claim because
the first question is well how big does
the narrative have to be before it's a
meta-narrative right I mean is the
narrative that holds your family
together
falsehood is the narrative that holds
your community together a falsehood like
how big does it have to be before it
becomes a falsehood and so it's a very
vague claim and it's a very it's a very
dangerous claim in my estimation because
I believe that and I believe the
psychological research is clear on this
what we have we our cognitive abilities
are nested inside stories we're
fundamentally narrative creatures that's
how our brains are organized and so to
deny the validity of large-scale
narratives is to deny the validity of
the manner in which we organize our
psyches and that's unbelievably
destabilizing for people I mean first of
all the simplest story in some sense is
that I'm at point a and I'm going to
point B and that's not as simple a story
as it might sound because it implies
that you are somewhere and that you know
it you have a representation of it
geographically let's say socially
psychologically you have some sense of
who you are but more importantly you
have some sense of who you are
transforming yourself into and so that
gives you a direction and now that
direction the direction gives you
meaning and that I'd and I don't mean
that in a cliched
sense what I mean is that the way that
our brains are constituted is that
almost all the positive emotion that
people feel and install so true of
animals by the way is it emerges as a
consequence of observing that you're
making your way to a valued endpoint so
you know you think well what makes you
happy is the attainment of something and
there is a form of reward that is
associated with that it's called consume
Ettore reward it's the satisfaction that
you feel say after you have a delightful
Thanksgiving meal but that isn't the
hope and the meaning that people thrive
on the hope and the meaning that people
thrive on is the observation that
they're moving towards something
worthwhile and that might be
individually although it really can't be
because we live in collectives but it
should be collective and that isn't
optional if you don't have a goal a
transcendent goal say something that's
beyond you then you don't have any
positive emotion and that's not good
because you have plenty of negative
emotion and then that's that's the
problem with fundamental claims of
meaninglessness to in life that it's
this it's the philosophical error that's
made by nihilists let's say who say what
life is meaningless it's like well if
you're a nihilist genu genuinely you've
lost all hope your life isn't
meaningless it's just unbearably
miserable and that's and that's a form
of meaning you know that suffering is a
form of meaning and you can try to argue
yourself out of that with your
nihilistic rationalizations but that is
not going to work you need a
transcendent goal in order to withstand
the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune and the destruction of the
narratives that guide us individually
psychologically and that also unites us
socially familial and socially it's an
absolute catastrophe and well the
question then is why is it being
undertaken and that's a complex question
that and I
if we can even discuss that that that
has something to do with this on an
unholy marriage of the postmodern
nihilism with with this Marxist utopia
notion which makes no sense at all
because the post modernists are
skeptical of meta-narratives yet Marxism
is a grand meta-narrative but coherency
it doesn't have to make sense well
that's well that in fact the idea that
it makes that thing's have to make sense
is part of the oppressive patriarchy and
so we can just dispense well I'm serious
that people people people people teach
that in in a dead serious manner that
the requirement for logical consistency
is an arbitrary what's an arbitrary
imposition on cognitive structure it's
not something necessary for for rational
cognition even if there is such a thing
I mean you know you don't know how deep
this war goes in some sense I can give
you an example you know there's a freeze
debate about free speech on campus but
what you don't understand it it isn't a
debate about who can speak it's a debate
about whether there is such a thing as
free speech and the answer from the
radicals is that there isn't because for
there to be free speech you see there
have to be sovereign individuals right
and those sovereign individuals have to
be defined by that sovereign
individuality and they have to have
their own locus of truth in some sense
that's a consequence of that sovereignty
and then they have to be able to engage
in rational discursive negotiation with
people who aren't like them which means
they have to stretch their hands let's
say across racial or ethnic divides they
have to be able to communicate and they
have to be able to formulate a
negotiated and practical agreement and
none of that is part and parcel of the
post-motor doctrine all of that all of
that up for grabs
there's no sovereign individuals your
group identity is paramount
you have no unique voice you're a
mouthpiece of your identity group you
can't speak across group lines because
you don't understand the lived
experience of the other and so it's not
who gets to speak it's whether the
entire notion it's a very classic
Western notion and a very deep one of
free and intelligible speech is even
valid I mean these these this this
intellectual war that's going on in the
universities is way deeper than a
political war it's it's it's and way
more way more serious than a political
war it manifests itself politically but
but no it's politics is way up the scale
from where this is actually taking place
so when you when you're talking with
students both in to one-on-one or what
your their questions and I'm gonna get
to some of your questions here very
shortly these are not all conservative
students that are coming up to you and
they're downloading your videos and
listening to your podcast and it's not
even though it is a lot of young men
it's on all men what do you think drives
people to the message and to the things
that you talk about oh I think it's that
people I'm believable and well that's
why it's that's why I mean you know in
most of my lectures so I've done about a
hundred and fifty public lectures or so
in the last year all over the world and
to large audiences and the audience is
in Australia we're starting to approach
well we had audiences for fifty five
hundred people in Australia so which is
quite remarkable you know that that
fifty five hundred people would come to
listen to like a serious discussion
about philosophical theological and and
psychological issues and and to
participate in that and and I don't pull
any punches I'm not speaking down I
would never speak down to an audience
all right I think that's a dreadful
error of arrogance but the reason that I
think people believe what I say is that
I'm very pessimistic well I look because
most times when you when you listen to
someone who's who's a motivational
speaker let's say you know it fills you
with a temporary optimism but you go
home and and and the wiser part of you
knows that mostly it's it's the
takeover of rotten wood with with a
fresh coat of paint and I tell my
audiences very clearly that their life
is going to be difficult and sometimes
difficult beyond both imagining and
tolerance and that that is definitely in
your future if it isn't in your present
and for many people it's in their
present and that that and that and that
that can be unbearable that enough to
turn you against life itself to corrupt
to corrupt you to to drive you to
nihilism to drive you to suicide and
worse to drive you to thoughts of
vengefulness of infinite scope to not
only be turned against yourself and your
fellow men but to be turned against
being itself because of its
intrinsically brutal in some sense
nature and and then it's worse than that
actually because it's not only that we
suffer and and that that will
necessarily occur but that we all make
our suffering worse because of our
ignorance and our malevolence and
everyone knows that to be true and so
the discussions start let's say on a on
our on an unshakable foundation but then
I can tell people look despite that
despite that we're remarkable creatures
you know we're capable of taking up the
burden of that suffering and facing the
reality of that malevolence voluntarily
we can actually do that and all of the
psychological evidence suggests and this
is independent of your school of
psychology if you're a practical
psychologist a clinical psychologist of
any sort the evidence is crystal clear
that if people voluntarily confront the
problems that face them and the
malevolence that surrounds them that
they can make headway against it and not
only psychologically so it's not only
meaningful to do that psychologically
which which it is to
to confront the problems that that
torment you voluntarily that's
meaningful psychologically but it's also
practically useful in that you can
actually solve some of the problems that
beset you and god only knows how good we
could get at that you know I mean I
don't know what percentage of human
effort is spent in counterproductive
activity you know I'm not an absolute
cynic about that but I mean when I talk
to undergraduates I asked them you know
how much time do you waste every day by
your own bracketing and it's somewhere
between five and eight hours it's a lot
of time well I usually walk through I
walk through student students through an
economic analysis of that I said well
you know why don't you value your time
at 50 dollars an hour and calculate for
yourself just exactly what you're doing
to your future by your inability to
discipline yourself it's worth thinking
through in any case people do waste a
lot of time and there they also act
counter productively a lot of the time
regardless we do make progress and and
and and we can thrive under the
difficult conditions that make up our
lives and we can resist the malevolence
that entices us that's within our power
and we don't know the limits to that and
we also know that it's better to we all
know this that is better to live
courageously
than cowardly everyone knows that that's
what you teach people that you love
and and and we know that it's better to
live truthfully than in deceit and you
can tell that too because that's also
what you tell people that you love and
we know that you should pick up your
damn responsibilities and move forward
everyone knows that it's is part of our
intrinsic moral nature and that nature
is there and it's not difficult to
communicate to people about this like
everyone knows that you wake up at 3:00
in the morning when you've left let your
life go off the rails and that you
berate yourself for your uselessness and
your cruelty and your failure to take
off to take the opportunities that are
in front of you and if you were the
master in your own house in some sense
the captain of your own destiny if there
was no intrinsic nature well that would
never happen you'd just let yourself off
the hook
there'd be no voice of conscience
tormenting you but no one escapes from
that and what that indicates is to me is
that at least psychologically we live in
a universe that's characterized by a
moral dimension and we understand that
well and that moral failings have
consequences and then and that they're
not trivial they destroy you they
destroy your family they destroy your
community and and you can tell people
that and they listen because they know
they don't know they know that's the
thing and maybe that's the thing about
being an intellectual you do you have
the opportunity to articulate ideas that
other people know they embody but they
can't articulate and that's what people
tell me you know they say well you help
me give words to things that I always
knew to be true but couldn't say or or
they say I've been trying to put some of
your precepts into practice
responsibility being a main one vision
another honesty I
was bringing up the pack and saying this
is the fun part of doing all of this fun
is a weak word that it's it's it's a
it's the remarkable part of doing all
this I mean I have people tell me
constantly wherever I go it's so
delightful that you know they were in a
pretty dark place and they tell me why
and there's plenty of dark places in the
world and they decided well maybe they
were gonna develop a bit of a vision and
take a bit more responsibility and start
telling the truth and putting some
effort into something and they come up
and they say well you can't believe how
much better things are hearts like I've
got I got three promotions I had one guy
tell me this was a lovely story you know
15 seconds he came up after a talk he
said two years ago I got out of jail it
was homeless he said I own my own house
I have a six-figure income I got married
and I have a daughter thank you
that was the whole conversation it's
like he decided he decided he was going
to put his life together and you know
and so you can look at that pessimism
that constitutes let's say the core of
what well I think it's the core
religious message really is the is the
tragic nature of the world the reality
of suffering it's it's part of the core
religious message but what emerges out
of that properly conceptualized is a
remarkable appreciation for what human
beings are capable of like we are
unbelievably resilient and and able
creatures and we do not have any
conception of our upper limits dr.
priewe so let me ask you I mean we have
about 10 minutes and I'm gonna get a
couple questions in here from our
audience on this to but is that that
hope that you're talking about that
you're giving people hope young people
hope is that one of the secrets to
reaching them you know and it's it's
it's such a perverse sort of hope
because I would say for the last 45
years we've told psychologists have been
have been certainly to blame for this at
least in part you're ok the way you are
that's what
tell young people oh you're okay the way
you are it's like and there's nothing
worse than you can tell that you can
tell someone who's young than that
especially if they're miserable you know
and lots of them why if they're
miserable and aimless it's like oh I'm
miserable and aimless and sometimes I'm
suicidal and I'm nya list ik and I don't
have any direction in your life it's in
my life it's like well you're okay the
way you are here and it's like they
don't want to hear that they want to
hear look you know you're and you know
this you're useless you know nothing you
haven't got started
you've got 60 years to put yourself
together and god only knows what you
could become and that's so that message
is so much more it's so funny because
it's so it's such an attack but it's so
positive because there's faith there in
the in the potential that makes up the
person rather than the miserable
actuality that happens to be manifesting
itself at the moment and young people
respond extraordinarily well to that
because when you know that if you're a
parent and you love your your child your
son your daughter what you're trying to
foster is the best in them you want that
to manifest itself across the course of
their life you want them to become
continually more than they are to see
what they could be and well and I think
that's part of the great message of the
West is that that's that's the that's
the ethical requirement of individual
being in the proper sense is to
constantly note that you're not what you
could be to take responsibility for that
and to and to commit yourself like body
and soul to the attainment of that ideal
we're gonna get a question here from our
members about right here on the front
row Bob Grantham had a couple good
questions right here uh he asked much of
your effort today is trying to help
people improve their lives we've just
been talking about that why does the
establishment attack you rather than try
to support you
efforts well you know we should be
nuanced about that I mean there's a
there's a group of newspapers in Canada
called post media that's 200 newspapers
strong and they supported me you know I
mean I've had a lot of support from
journalists and I would say I've had
more support from the higher quality
journalists which I'm quite happy about
so it's polarized you know there isn't I
have a dedicated coterie of people who
regard me as an enemy
there's no doubt about that and I think
it's because I am I am absolutely no fan
whatsoever of the radical left I think
the the fact that you can actively
present yourself let's say on a campus
as a communist is as the fact that
that's allowable is as mysterious as it
would be if it was allowable to present
yourself as a Nazi I am NOT a fan of the
radical left and
and I think I understand the motivations
on the radical left both on the
postmodernist end and on the more
Marxist end and I'm because of that I'm
a relatively effective critic and that
makes me very unpopular so and that's
fine because I'm not because what people
are being taught that's emerged from
that brand of absurd and surreal
philosophy is of no utility as a guiding
light to anyone and it's a it's a
catastrophe to take young people in
their formative years when they're
trying to catalyze their adult identity
and to tear the substructure out from
underneath them and leave them bereft
and I do believe that that's what the
universities on the humanities end and
to some degree on the social science end
I do believe that that's what they
fundamentally managed to achieve so and
I don't admire that I think there's
something deeply sadistic about that
there's something deeply anti-human
about that and it presents itself in the
guise of moral virtue which makes it
even worse and so well that's why people
don't like me all right we've got about
five minutes I'm gonna try to get into
quick question this is where's Adam from
Vassar College it's Adam oh there he is
all right so this was Adams question he
said given the liberal political order
bends towards automation of individuals
eg automation and urbanization
how can meaningful community be assured
well you build that for yourself in part
you know I mean Adam get a girlfriend
well I mean people aren't doing that you
know that that's falling by the wayside
right and and so I meant it's because
it's trouble you don't well it is
trouble life is trouble and it's trouble
to establish a permanent relationship
you know I mean we've told young people
for far too long that well they should
be happy in their relationships let's
say and it's like that's weak it's well
it is God most of you are married it's
like to be married for 40 years that's
that's not a triumph of happiness it's a
truck it's it's a triumph of character
it's a triumph of negotiation right
it's a triumph of a will to do that and
and and and that should be celebrated
but it so today it should also be
pointed out that no matter who you find
like they're no better than you and
that's not so good so so there's gonna
be problems and so but that shouldn't
stop you it's like find someone you know
you're gonna have if you're lucky you're
gonna have the opportunity to sort of
sift through about five people in your
life that's about it then you're gonna
have to stake yourself on one of those
people and it's a well it's it's a it's
a hell of a risk but but with any luck
it'll make you a better person that that
that wrestling you know one of the
things I learned I did a series of
biblical lectures in 2017 which have
turned out to be crazily popular of all
the insane things to be and I was
supposed to ask you why do you yes that
is yes yes well I learned one of the
things I learned in in in in those
lectures and should have known before
was that the word Israel so they've
chosen people of God the people of
Israel are those who wrestle with God
and that's such an interesting idea you
know it's a fascinating idea because it
indicates at least even even in our
deepest religious texts that there's
some there's something about existential
conflict and engaging in that that's
actually part of the moral substructure
of life that that that that simple
belief let's say whatever that might
mean in a deity isn't sufficient is that
there's an active engagement with with
with the infinite and then and it's and
it's a battle in some sense and I think
that's that's the proper way to
conceptualize I think it's the proper
way to conceptualize a relationship it's
it's a battle it's about towards a
positive end it's a battle towards the
transformation of both of you into more
than you could have otherwise been so
you need that and you need your friends
and you need to develop a network of
friendship and you need to put your
family together and to act responsibly
towards them and then you need to move
out from that into the broader community
and that's on you and that's how you
fall
you you you you make it a part of the
ideal that you're pursuing and then you
you realize that that's that's up to you
to do and maybe then you realize that
you can do it as well if you're willing
to make the right sacrifices which
really usually means burning off a fair
bit of of Deadwood and that's not
something that people are particularly
excited about doing and no wonder our
time has been too short we have time for
just one more final question I'm told
what have I not asked you about I've
been thinking of our theme of standing
up against socialism what have I not
asked you about what have other
interviewers not ask you about that
would be beneficial for us all to know
as we want to take well you you you
asked a little bit about these biblical
lectures you know one what was
interesting was I rented a theater in
Toronto I rented it 15 times and and was
a theater for about 500 and it sold out
every time and I lectured about Genesis
which and it was mostly young men who
came they weren't all young but they
were mostly men which was very
surprising because like that's just not
what happens and what the reason that
the the the lectures worked and and was
because I put together something that I
don't think liberals or conservatives
have done a good job of putting together
the Liberals are more on the happiness
and freedom end of things and the
conservatives are more on the duty end
of things and those are both those both
have their place but I've been
attempting to develop an argument that's
centered on meaning and I do believe and
I believe that our our most central
religious symbols like the symbol of the
Cross itself for example the bearing of
the Cross is a an embodiment or a
symbolic representation of this idea is
that you you have to have a meaning in
life that sustains you life is a serious
business you're all in it's a fatal
business right everyone's in it up to
their neck and it's
it's dreadful in some sense in the
classic sense and you need a meaning
that can sustain you through that and
that's to be found in responsibility and
that's something that we have not
communicated I don't think well to
ourselves but we certainly haven't
communicated it to young people it's
like well you're lost there's reasons
that you could be lost and they're real
you know god only knows what terrible
things happen to you in your life it's
like how are you gonna get out of that
well not by pursuing impulsive happiness
that is not going to work not by
thinking in the short term not by
thinking in a narrowly selfish manner
either but by taking on the heaviest
load of responsibility that you can
conceptualize and bear that will do it
it'll do it for you it'll give you a
reason to wake up in the morning it'll
give you a balm for your conscience when
you wake up at night and ask yourself
what you're doing with your life it'll
make you a credit to yourself and to
your family and it'll make you a boon to
your community and more than that
there's more than that you know it's
said in the Genesis that every person is
made in the image of God and there's an
idea in Genesis that God is that which
confronts the chaos of potential with
truth and courage
that's the logos and if we're made in
the image of God that's us that's what
we do is we confront the potential of
chaos the future the unformed future we
confront that consciously and we we
decide with every ethical choice we make
what kind of world we're going to bring
into being we transform that potential
into actuality and we do that as a
consequence of our ethical decisions and
so it's not only a matter of putting
yourself together and putting your
family together putting your community
together it's a matter of bringing the
world in its proper shape into being and
I truly believe that that's the case and
I believe that we all believe that but
we hold ourselves responsible you know
that if you've made a mistake with your
family
because you were selfish or
narrow-minded or blind in some manner
that you regard yourself as culpable you
could have done otherwise and now you've
brought something into the world that
should not be there and it's on you we
we hold ourselves responsible in that
matter and so what that indicates to me
is that in a deep sense we believe that
we are the agents that transform the
potential of being into reality and that
is a divine if anything is links us with
divinity
it's our capability to transform what is
not yet into what is and and the other
thing that happens and I'll stop with
this in Genesis and this is so
interesting it's so fascinating is that
as god conducts himself through this
enterprise of the transformation of
potential into actuality he stops
repeatedly and says and it was good and
and then that did and that's a mystery
is why is it good and the answer is
something like well if what if you
conduct yourself with the courage that
enables you to accept your vulnerability
which is no trivial matter and if you're
truthful then what you bring out of
potential is what's good and that sets
the world right and that's up to us and
to me that's the great that's the great
story of the West that's why we regard
ourselves as sovereign individuals of
value is that's what we are and we need
to know that to take ourselves seriously
and to act properly in the world and so
and that's what I said in the biblical
lectures in many hours and that's what's
made them popular because people in and
at the level of the soul I would say
people know these things to be true so
ladies and gentlemen please help me
thanks
[Applause]