h194kSmK3SQ.srt

1
00:00:00,210 --> 00:00:01,410
You know,
there's this,

2
00:00:01,650 --> 00:00:06,650
there's this play written by a German 
named good though I can never say that 

3
00:00:06,650 --> 00:00:08,970
properly.
It's Johan van g o e t h e,

4
00:00:08,971 --> 00:00:13,971
and I can't say it,
but he wrote this play called Faust and 

5
00:00:13,971 --> 00:00:18,080
he wrote one part of it when he was 
quite young and then files to when he 

6
00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:18,420
was quite old and he has a character in 
there,

7
00:00:18,421 --> 00:00:23,421
Mephistopheles Mephistopheles the devil,
and he actually has the devil explained 

8
00:00:23,421 --> 00:00:25,890
himself twice basically using the same 
words,

9
00:00:25,891 --> 00:00:27,300
which,
which I really like.

10
00:00:27,390 --> 00:00:32,390
It was very profound.
And basically girth is memphis awfully 

11
00:00:32,390 --> 00:00:35,280
says no,
he's the adversary of the word.

12
00:00:35,610 --> 00:00:37,300
That's a good way of putting it,
um,

13
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,110
because that's how it works out.
Mythologically,

14
00:00:40,111 --> 00:00:42,810
he's the figure behind the snake in the 
garden of Eden,

15
00:00:42,811 --> 00:00:44,280
which is something we'll talk about 
more,

16
00:00:44,580 --> 00:00:47,700
but he has a,
he has a sophisticated philosophy.

17
00:00:47,701 --> 00:00:50,180
He's not just some random troublemaker.

18
00:00:50,270 --> 00:00:52,380
He's got a,
he's got a deep philosophy.

19
00:00:52,381 --> 00:00:55,470
And his philosophy is quite 
straightforward and it's compelling.

20
00:00:55,530 --> 00:00:58,890
It's compelling and people are gripped 
by it quite often,

21
00:00:58,891 --> 00:01:01,740
far more often than they think.
And his philosophy is,

22
00:01:02,100 --> 00:01:03,390
well,
look around at the world.

23
00:01:03,420 --> 00:01:08,420
It's like I then Karamozov in the 
brothers Karamazov when he's trying to 

24
00:01:08,420 --> 00:01:10,660
disabuse his younger brother of being a,
a,

25
00:01:10,830 --> 00:01:14,670
a Christian monk.
Mephistopheles says,

26
00:01:14,671 --> 00:01:15,480
well,
look at the world.

27
00:01:15,481 --> 00:01:17,280
I mean,
all you look around the world,

28
00:01:17,281 --> 00:01:19,890
it's nothing but a blood bath.
It's just suffering everywhere.

29
00:01:19,891 --> 00:01:24,891
Everything eats everything and people 
die terribly and they're cruel to one 

30
00:01:24,891 --> 00:01:29,151
another.
And the whole mass is nothing but a 

31
00:01:29,151 --> 00:01:31,140
constant hall of terrible carnage and,
and ruin.

32
00:01:31,141 --> 00:01:31,870
And,
and,

33
00:01:31,900 --> 00:01:32,710
and,
and,

34
00:01:32,770 --> 00:01:34,080
and,
and rec.

35
00:01:35,130 --> 00:01:40,130
He says it,
should it be better if it was never 

36
00:01:40,130 --> 00:01:41,970
existed at all.
And that's a very interesting.

37
00:01:42,210 --> 00:01:44,130
That's a very,
very interesting idea.

38
00:01:44,130 --> 00:01:46,800
And I do believe,
and I've seen this in people many times,

39
00:01:46,801 --> 00:01:50,610
that in the depths of despair,
especially when you've been betrayed,

40
00:01:50,611 --> 00:01:55,611
for example,
and you wander into the wrong 

41
00:01:55,611 --> 00:01:57,831
subdivision of the underworld.
That's something that comes to mind if 

42
00:01:57,831 --> 00:01:58,170
you know you have a very sick child,
for example,

43
00:01:58,171 --> 00:02:01,440
or maybe your whole family is suffering 
as whole families do.

44
00:02:01,441 --> 00:02:03,570
Sometimes an idea is going to come to 
you.

45
00:02:03,571 --> 00:02:08,571
It's like,
good God who put this message together 

46
00:02:08,571 --> 00:02:08,940
and is it really worth it?
Is it really worth this suffering?

47
00:02:09,090 --> 00:02:10,590
Suicidal people,
you know?

48
00:02:10,591 --> 00:02:13,350
They say no.
They say no enough of this.

49
00:02:13,380 --> 00:02:15,120
You know,
and you have to be pushed along way.

50
00:02:15,121 --> 00:02:17,730
Generally speaking before you'll 
actually commit suicide.

51
00:02:17,731 --> 00:02:20,280
You have to be in very,
very desperate straits,

52
00:02:20,281 --> 00:02:25,281
but your answer under those conditions 
is that being is such that it would be 

53
00:02:25,281 --> 00:02:27,780
better if it had never been,
and that's a very.

54
00:02:28,230 --> 00:02:29,940
I think,
I think it's a very.

55
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000
It's a terrible philosophy,
I believe because I think what happens 

56
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,391
if you act it out is that you make the 
very things that lead you to despair far

57
00:02:39,061 --> 00:02:44,061
worse and I can't see that.
If it's reasonable to draw a logical 

58
00:02:44,061 --> 00:02:48,231
conclusion that suffering should you 
justify as your desire to make being in 

59
00:02:49,170 --> 00:02:52,440
that the answer to that can be to 
produce more suffering.

60
00:02:52,730 --> 00:02:57,730
It just doesn't make sense.
And my observation has been that people 

61
00:02:57,730 --> 00:03:01,660
who act out the Memphis defilippo and 
philosophy inevitably make suffering far

62
00:03:01,661 --> 00:03:05,800
worse and so and then that raises the 
other specter of well do.

63
00:03:05,801 --> 00:03:10,801
They weren't being just to cease or are 
they just out for bloody revenge at 

64
00:03:10,801 --> 00:03:11,140
every,
at any cost.

65
00:03:11,141 --> 00:03:15,940
And Mike Inclusion has always been that 
is that the mask is well being shouldn't

66
00:03:15,941 --> 00:03:20,941
exist because it's too terrible,
but the true motivation is I'm going to 

67
00:03:20,941 --> 00:03:24,331
make everyone suffer as much as I 
possibly can before I say goodbye to 

68
00:03:24,331 --> 00:03:27,901
this place and if you read the writings 
of people like the kids who shot up the 

69
00:03:27,901 --> 00:03:29,280
columbine high school,
they'll tell you exactly that.

70
00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,490
That's precisely and exactly what they 
concluded and then act it out.

71
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,640
So anyways.
But in this God says that it was good.

72
00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:39,940
I've thought about that a lot is like 
because the question is something like,

73
00:03:39,941 --> 00:03:42,250
well,
is it something better than nothing?

74
00:03:43,390 --> 00:03:45,550
Because that's a really good question.
You know,

75
00:03:45,730 --> 00:03:49,660
and I thought about two things in 
relationship to that and one is,

76
00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:55,410
one is,
well maybe it depends on how it is that 

77
00:03:55,410 --> 00:03:57,541
you are right?
Because it could be that there are ways 

78
00:03:57,541 --> 00:04:00,430
of being in the world that justify the 
world and there are ways of being in the

79
00:04:00,431 --> 00:04:05,431
world that make the world unbearable.
And I believe that the narrative that 

80
00:04:05,431 --> 00:04:09,481
runs through the biblical stories is 
precisely a dialogue between those two 

81
00:04:09,481 --> 00:04:13,351
types of being.
And the optimistic part of the story is 

82
00:04:13,351 --> 00:04:15,550
that being requires limitation and 
suffering.

83
00:04:15,610 --> 00:04:16,810
There's no escape from that.

84
00:04:16,990 --> 00:04:21,990
But there are modes of being that allow 
that to be perhaps even more than 

85
00:04:21,990 --> 00:04:26,071
tolerable.
Perhaps there are modes of being that 

86
00:04:26,071 --> 00:04:26,950
allow that to be good and it's a 
straight and narrow road.

87
00:04:26,951 --> 00:04:29,320
It's a very difficult road to tread.
So,

88
00:04:29,321 --> 00:04:30,110
so I think,
well,

89
00:04:30,111 --> 00:04:31,960
that that's possible.
You know,

90
00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:34,930
I'm not an optimist by nature and,
but uh,

91
00:04:34,931 --> 00:04:39,931
that's,
that's one of the things that I've 

92
00:04:39,931 --> 00:04:42,270
conceptualized and read about that I 
actually find plausible because it's 

93
00:04:42,270 --> 00:04:42,790
certainly the case.
Everyone knows this,

94
00:04:42,791 --> 00:04:45,160
that there are ways that you can act and
make things worse.

95
00:04:45,490 --> 00:04:48,220
Everyone knows that.
And so if that's the case,

96
00:04:48,221 --> 00:04:49,750
there has to be the opposite,
right?

97
00:04:49,751 --> 00:04:52,990
There has to be ways that you could act 
and make things better.

98
00:04:53,290 --> 00:04:58,060
And obviously you can act in ways that 
make things really way worse.

99
00:04:58,270 --> 00:04:59,710
And so the question is,
well,

100
00:04:59,711 --> 00:05:03,400
are there ways that you can actually 
make things really much better?

101
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,940
And I think that's the question is can 
we have our cake and eat it too?

102
00:05:07,150 --> 00:05:12,150
Can we have the being that requires 
limitation and suffering and also 

103
00:05:12,150 --> 00:05:14,590
simultaneously transcend that by our 
mode of being.

104
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,800
And I believe that the biblical stories 
and perhaps not only the biblical 

105
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:20,050
stories,
but the biblical stories,

106
00:05:20,051 --> 00:05:25,051
are they human?
Imagine one of the human imaginations 

107
00:05:25,051 --> 00:05:27,100
best attempts to address and answer that
question.

108
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:32,260
That's what the entire story is about.
So the first of it is the catastrophe of

109
00:05:32,261 --> 00:05:36,280
the collapse of self consciousness and 
the entrance of humanity into history.

110
00:05:36,430 --> 00:05:37,900
And the rest of it is,
okay,

111
00:05:38,020 --> 00:05:40,990
now we're in history.
Now we know that we're going to die.

112
00:05:40,991 --> 00:05:45,991
We know about our mortality.
We're conscious of our own being is the 

113
00:05:45,991 --> 00:05:49,711
remote of acting in the world that 
allows that to be justifiable or maybe 

114
00:05:49,711 --> 00:05:51,640
even more that allows that to be 
triumphant.

115
00:05:51,970 --> 00:05:56,320
And then I would also say maybe it's 
worth finding out.

116
00:05:56,321 --> 00:06:01,321
You know that the other thing that's so 
interesting because you've got this 

117
00:06:01,321 --> 00:06:02,240
short time on earth and there's lots of 
things that are very,

118
00:06:02,241 --> 00:06:07,241
very difficult to contend with and,
and you have the problem of tolerating 

119
00:06:07,241 --> 00:06:12,101
yourself even in all your insufficiency 
and one of the things that seems to me 

120
00:06:12,101 --> 00:06:14,960
to be the case is that if you adopt a 
sufficiently profound mode of being,

121
00:06:14,961 --> 00:06:19,961
if you attempt to do that,
then the mere act of lifting up that 

122
00:06:19,961 --> 00:06:24,350
weight is enough to justify the fact 
that you're insufficient and mortal and,

123
00:06:24,500 --> 00:06:25,150
and,
and,

124
00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,160
and bound by tragedy.
And I believe that and I believe people 

125
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:31,940
believe that because if you watch how 
people act,

126
00:06:31,941 --> 00:06:35,780
they look for people they admire and 
they do admire people,

127
00:06:35,781 --> 00:06:37,880
right?
It's a natural.

128
00:06:37,970 --> 00:06:42,970
It's a natural phenomena.
You see it starting with children being 

129
00:06:42,970 --> 00:06:45,820
children admire and then they imitate 
and we look to people who seem to be 

130
00:06:45,820 --> 00:06:49,691
able to bear the burden of being in a 
heroic manner and there's something 

131
00:06:49,691 --> 00:06:52,120
inside of us that calls to that and that
makes us want to,

132
00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,200
to mimic that and to follow it.

133
00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,890
And I think that that's.
I think that that's the deepest and most

134
00:06:57,891 --> 00:07:02,891
profound of instincts and I think it's 
right and even if you're not so 

135
00:07:02,891 --> 00:07:03,710
convinced on the positive end,
you know,

136
00:07:03,711 --> 00:07:06,260
because it's more difficult to be 
convinced of the positive.

137
00:07:06,470 --> 00:07:11,470
You can certainly be convinced on the 
negative end because there are ways of 

138
00:07:11,470 --> 00:07:14,861
being that are so brutal and so 
reprehensible that merely to read about 

139
00:07:15,171 --> 00:07:20,171
them is enough to traumatize you.
And I think that if you're a person who 

140
00:07:20,171 --> 00:07:24,281
hasn't lost their soul completely,
you can't help but encounter stories 

141
00:07:24,281 --> 00:07:26,390
like that and shudder away from them.
And you know,

142
00:07:27,260 --> 00:07:29,060
Alexander Solzhenitsyn,
who,

143
00:07:29,450 --> 00:07:32,480
who was the person who did most 
unmasked,

144
00:07:32,510 --> 00:07:35,180
the absolute horrors of communist 
totalitarianism,

145
00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:42,280
said that he believed that the Nuremberg
judgments were the most important event 

146
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,941
of the 20th century.
And that that was the judgment at the 

147
00:07:45,941 --> 00:07:49,630
end of World War II.
That there were certain actions that no 

148
00:07:49,630 --> 00:07:51,971
one was to undertake no matter what 
their cultural background was because 

149
00:07:51,971 --> 00:07:51,971
they were,
let's say,

150
00:07:51,971 --> 00:07:52,820
crimes against humanity.

151
00:07:53,090 --> 00:07:55,520
That there was such a thing as universal
evil.

152
00:07:56,060 --> 00:07:57,940
And you can debate that.
You know,

153
00:07:57,960 --> 00:07:59,250
I mean and,
and,

154
00:07:59,370 --> 00:08:01,890
and people certainly have,
but the problem is,

155
00:08:01,891 --> 00:08:06,891
is if you debate that,
then you have to say that there are 

156
00:08:06,891 --> 00:08:09,821
conditions under which the sorts of 
things that happen say in the 

157
00:08:09,821 --> 00:08:12,431
concentration camps,
which would be the gassing of children 

158
00:08:12,431 --> 00:08:12,431
after their torture and,
and they're,

159
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,830
they're forcible removal from their 
parents and all the terrible things that

160
00:08:15,831 --> 00:08:18,170
went along with that,
that that's just okay.

161
00:08:18,230 --> 00:08:23,230
It's just an opinion.
It's just something that happened and 

162
00:08:23,230 --> 00:08:23,990
there are circumstances under which 
that's justifiable if you,

163
00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,590
if there's no transcendent,
good and evil underneath that argument,

164
00:08:27,591 --> 00:08:30,250
it's only a matter of practicality and,
and,

165
00:08:30,290 --> 00:08:32,110
and,
and it seems to me that that's,

166
00:08:32,310 --> 00:08:36,710
that's not the right conclusion to draw.
That's how it seems to me.

167
00:08:36,711 --> 00:08:40,250
And that's what Solzhenitsyn concluded 
when he looked at the Nuremberg trials.

168
00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,640
So the notion that the notion that it 
was good,

169
00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,010
well even if you don't believe that and 
you know,

170
00:08:49,011 --> 00:08:50,870
because maybe it's not as good as it 
could be,

171
00:08:51,050 --> 00:08:54,980
I would say it's incumbent on you as 
someone who participates.

172
00:08:55,110 --> 00:09:00,110
The process of of furthering creation to
act as if it couldn't be good at least,

173
00:09:00,931 --> 00:09:03,660
and to further that with with all of 
your efforts,

174
00:09:03,730 --> 00:09:08,730
part of it because what the hell else do
you have to do that could possibly be 

175
00:09:08,730 --> 00:09:11,991
better than that,
that could possibly justify your 

176
00:09:11,991 --> 00:09:14,631
existence.
More than that and you know perfectly 

177
00:09:14,631 --> 00:09:14,631
well,
if,

178
00:09:14,631 --> 00:09:14,631
if you,
if you have any sense at all,

179
00:09:14,631 --> 00:09:19,491
if you think clearly about it at all,
is that that's what you want to see in 

180
00:09:19,491 --> 00:09:19,491
every one else.
You know,

181
00:09:19,491 --> 00:09:19,730
it's,
you're,

182
00:09:19,750 --> 00:09:23,490
you're desperate and maybe you're 
cynical and now and then someone appears

183
00:09:23,491 --> 00:09:28,491
that acts at least momentarily,
like a light in the darkness and that 

184
00:09:28,491 --> 00:09:31,850
lifts your spirit up and gives you a 
little bit of hope and maybe helps you 

185
00:09:31,850 --> 00:09:31,850
continue on.
It's well.

186
00:09:31,850 --> 00:09:34,120
That's obviously a call to being.
It's,

187
00:09:34,210 --> 00:09:36,630
it's a,
it's a statement from your own soul that

188
00:09:36,631 --> 00:09:37,050
says,
well,

189
00:09:37,051 --> 00:09:39,840
there's something about that.
That's how you should be,

190
00:09:40,470 --> 00:09:41,730
and maybe then,
well,

191
00:09:41,820 --> 00:09:46,230
we get a chance to,
to participate in what is good.