How to Live a Meaningful Life
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful discussion, a Catholic bishop, along with Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Verveiki, delves into the crisis of meaning among young people. They explore the impact of scientism and the culture of self-invention, which has led to a loss of objective values. The bishop emphasizes the need for great Catholic scholars, artists, and saints to guide the youth back to a meaningful life by embodying and teaching the wisdom tradition and objective values.
Takeaways
- đ The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing and pursuing objective values in life for a meaningful existence.
- đš The conversation involves influential figures like Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Vervaeke, discussing the crisis of meaning, especially among young people.
- đ The speaker defines a meaningful life as one that is in a purposive relationship with values, and a religiously meaningful life as one oriented towards the highest value or supreme good.
- đ The script references Dietrich von Hildebrand's philosophy, which speaks to the intuition of objective values that transcend subjective satisfaction.
- đ The speaker discusses the concept of 'scientism' as a reductionist view that limits knowledge to the scientific form, potentially obscuring the realm of objective values.
- đ€ The crisis of meaning is attributed to scientism and the culture of self-invention, which views claims to objective value as disguised power plays.
- đ The speaker calls for great Catholic scholars, artists, and saints to embody and teach the wisdom tradition and objective values.
- đĄïž The speaker argues against the post-modern framework that reduces truth, goodness, and beauty to subjective constructs or power dynamics.
- đïž The solution to the crisis of meaning involves cultivating a sense of objective value and a purposive orientation towards these values.
- đ The importance of the wisdom tradition, from figures like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas to contemporary thinkers, is highlighted for its role in guiding a meaningful life.
- đ± The script suggests that mentors and wisdom figures who live by and teach the objective values can help young people find a sense of meaning.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the conversation among the three gentlemen mentioned in the transcript?
-The main topic of the conversation is the crisis of meaning, particularly among young people, and how it relates to the understanding of values and purpose in life.
Who are the three gentlemen involved in the conversation, and what are their respective fields of expertise?
-The three gentlemen are Jordan Peterson, a cultural figure and psychologist; Jonathan Pageau, an artist in the Christian Orthodox tradition; and John Verveiki, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto.
What does the speaker define as a meaningful life?
-A meaningful life, according to the speaker, is one that is in a purposive relationship to values, and a religiously meaningful life is one that is in a purposeful relationship to the highest value or the supreme good.
What is the intuition of objective values as described by Dietrich von Hildebrand?
-The intuition of objective values refers to the recognition of values that go beyond merely subjective satisfaction, values that seize and rearrange our subjectivity, demanding attention and guiding our actions.
How does the speaker relate the concept of the 'sumo bonum' or the supreme good to a meaningful life?
-The speaker relates the 'sumo bonum' to a meaningful life by suggesting that every act of will is grounded in a desire for something perceived to be the highest good, and being in a purposeful relationship with that value gives life its religious and ultimate meaning.
What role does scientism play in the crisis of meaning as discussed in the transcript?
-Scientism, the reduction of all knowledge to the scientific form, is identified as a contributing factor to the crisis of meaning because it leads to the occlusion of the realm of objective values, which are not easily quantified or measured by physical sciences.
What is the 'culture of self-invention' mentioned in the transcript, and how does it relate to the crisis of meaning?
-The 'culture of self-invention' refers to the belief that one's identity and values are entirely self-created, often leading to the dismissal of objective values as mere power plays. This perspective contributes to the crisis of meaning by undermining the recognition of objective truths, goodness, and beauty.
What solution does the speaker propose to address the crisis of meaning?
-The speaker suggests that the crisis of meaning can be addressed by fostering great Catholic scholars, artists, and saints who can teach, reverence, and embody the wisdom tradition, objective aesthetic values, and moral values, thereby guiding young people back to a sense of meaningful life.
How does the speaker's understanding of a religiously meaningful life differ from a secular understanding of meaning?
-The speaker's understanding of a religiously meaningful life is grounded in a purposeful relationship with the highest value or the supreme good, which is often tied to a transcendent reality. This differs from a secular understanding, which might focus more on subjective satisfaction and personal achievement without necessarily referencing a transcendent good.
What is the significance of the conversation's reference to historical figures like Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas?
-The reference to historical figures like Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas is significant because it situates the discussion within a long-standing philosophical and theological tradition that has grappled with the nature of objective values and the supreme good, providing a historical context for the current crisis of meaning.
Outlines
đ The Crisis of Meaning and the Role of Values
The first paragraph discusses the crisis of meaning in contemporary society, particularly among young people. It attributes this to the influence of power games and the occlusion of the realm of value. The speaker recounts a Zoom conversation with influential figures like Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Verveiki, focusing on the topic of meaning. The speaker's definition of a meaningful life is one that is in a purposive relationship with values, with a religiously meaningful life being in a purposeful relationship with the highest value or supreme good. The concept of objective values beyond subjective satisfaction is explored, drawing on the philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand. The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing and integrating these values into one's life, striving for the supreme good, which is likened to Plato's 'form of the good' and the unconditioned good that is the ultimate goal of human striving.
đŹ The Impact of Scientism and Self-Invention on Meaning
The second paragraph delves into the factors contributing to the crisis of meaning, highlighting scientism and the culture of self-invention. The speaker criticizes scientism as the reduction of all knowledge to scientific knowledge, which fails to account for objective values such as moral and aesthetic truths. This reduction leads to a loss of meaning as the realm of value becomes obscured. The culture of self-invention is also identified as problematic, as it suggests that claims to objective value are merely power plays rather than genuine truths. The speaker argues that this mindset has been internalized by many young people, leading to a loss of objective value and a sense of purpose. The solution proposed involves fostering great Catholic scholars, artists, and saints who can embody and teach the wisdom tradition, thereby guiding young people back to a meaningful life. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the need for mentors and wisdom figures to address the crisis of meaning effectively.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄObjective Values
đĄSumma Bonum
đĄScientism
đĄWisdom Tradition
đĄCrisis of Meaning
đĄCulture of Self-Invention
đĄReligious Meaning
đĄMichel Foucault
đĄEpistemic Order
đĄPurposeful Relationship
Highlights
The discussion revolves around the crisis of meaning, especially among young people, and how it relates to power games and the disguise of objective values.
The importance of recognizing and seeking objective values beyond subjective satisfaction, as influenced by Dietrich von Hildebrand's philosophy.
The concept of a meaningful life being one that is in a purposive relationship to values, and a religiously meaningful life being in relation to the highest value or supreme good.
The role of intuition in understanding objective values that go beyond mere subjective satisfaction.
The distinction between the epistemic, moral, and aesthetic orders of values and how they contribute to a meaningful life.
The reference to Plato's 'form of the good' as the ultimate goal of striving for the mind and heart.
Aristotle's view on the supreme good as the contemplation of the unmoved mover, and its significance in understanding reality.
Thomas Aquinas' perspective on the will seeking goods and how it is grounded in a desire for the supreme good.
The idea that every act of will is nested in a higher good, leading to the pursuit of the sumim bonum or highest good.
The crisis of meaning being prompted by scientism, which reduces all knowledge to the scientific form and overlooks objective values.
The critique of scientism for its inability to grasp moral and aesthetic values beyond the physical sciences.
The impact of the culture of self-invention and the dismissal of objective values as disguised plays of power, influenced by post-modern thinkers like Michel Foucault.
The loss of meaning due to the dominance of scientism and the culture of self-invention, leading to a lack of objective value and purposive orientation.
The solution proposed involves nurturing great Catholic scholars, artists, and saints to embody and teach the wisdom tradition and objective values.
The need for mentors and wisdom figures who can guide young people back to a sense of meaningful life by living and embodying moral values.
The importance of great Catholic artists who reverence the objective aesthetic values and the Catholic aesthetic tradition.
The call to action for sharing the insights of the video and subscribing to the YouTube channel for more on the topic of meaning and values.
Transcripts
if i'm claiming hey this is good and you
ought to do it this is true you ought to
know it this is beautiful and you ought
to seek it all i'm doing is playing a
power game
those things can't be true in themselves
they're a disguise play of power well
see with that's been baked into the
minds of so many young people today and
when that happens the realm of value
even s's or it's it's occluded
the result
a loss of meaning
[Music]
[Applause]
i had a great good fortune last week of
sitting down for a zoom conversation
with
three very interesting gentlemen one was
jordan peterson second was jonathan
pajot and the third was john verveiki
i'm sure you all know jordan peterson
one of the most influential figures on
the cultural scene today
jonathan pageau is a very interesting
man uh he's an artist in the
in the christian uh orthodox tradition
and then john vervicky is a professor of
cognitive psychology at the university
of toronto and all three have a very
strong social media presence
and all four of us are very interested
in this question of
meaning
and the crisis of meaning especially
among young people so we had a good
two-hour conversation about it
but peterson began by asking each of us
just to
give our understanding or our definition
of meaning and then more specifically of
religious
meaning
so when my turn came i said well i think
to have a meaningful life
is to be in some kind of purposive
relationship to values
and to have a religiously meaningful
life
is to be in a purpose of relationship to
the highest value or the supreme
good
now what did i mean by this language
well i go back to dietrich von
hildebrand the great catholic
philosopher of the 20th century
he talked about the intuition of
objective values
these values that go beyond the merely
subjectively satisfying so we know what
that means when we we like something
subjectively but the objectively
valuable
isn't just a matter of pleasing one's
subjectivity the objectively valuable
seizes us it invades us it rearranges
our subjectivity it demands
attention so there are values
hildebrandt would say in the epistemic
order that is to say truths
their values in the
moral order so we see the great goods on
display in the lives of the saints there
are values in the aesthetic order so we
notice the beautiful
a meaningful life is one that is
awakened to these values and ordered to
them
that we seek them
we seek to integrate them and in some
cases for example the artistic case to
create them
in the moral case to imitate the great
saints and become ourselves
subjects of moral goodness
okay
by the sumo bonum or the supreme value i
mean
that unconditioned form of the good the
true and the beautiful
that stands behind and shines through
all the
more limited forms of objective value i
made reference in the conversation to uh
to plato
plato knew all about these values but he
also said there's the form of the good
he compared it to the sun by whose light
we see all things
so the form of the good the
unconditioned good the good in itself
that's the goal of the highest striving
of the mind and the heart for aristotle
it would be a contemplation of the
unmoved mover
so this this supremely actual reality
that stands behind all the
potentialities and actualities of the
world
for thomas aquinas and here is very
interesting jordan peterson was very
much echoing aquinas
the will seeks goods i'm i'm seeking it
good right now making this this video
but that particular act of the will
nests in a still higher
value or set of values
i'm doing this video because i want to
evangelize etc and then that desire ness
in a still higher good or purpose i want
to evangelize because that's the uh the
command of the lord
with any act of the will i can do this
kind of nesting analysis and see that
finally
every particular act of the will is
grounded in
a desire for
something perceived to be the sumim
bonum the highest good it's why tayar de
chardin said we wouldn't get out of bed
in the morning unless implicitly we
believed in god he's making the same
point i get out of bed in the morning
seeking some particular good but that
nest in ever higher goods
until i come finally to the supreme good
to be in purpose of relationship to that
value
is to have a religiously meaningful life
okay so we all knock this idea around
from our different perspectives
but then we came the question of okay
what's prompted the crisis of meaning
especially among a lot of young people
today and i think we focus on a couple
of things especially
the first one is scientism
you know i've talked about this before
i haven't a single little thing against
the sciences i love and reverence the
sciences but i've got a lot against
scientism which is the reduction of all
knowledge to the scientific form of
knowledge
the trouble is we're so impressed
by the success and predictive equality
of the physical sciences
that we have reduced human knowing to
that realm well see if you're a
platonist that means you are looking at
the
shadows on the wall of the cave
in a hyper sophisticated way
you're coming to ever deeper knowledge
of the evanescent passing things of this
world
but objective values
moral and aesthetic that goes beyond
what the physical scientists can grasp
when i limit authentic knowledge to the
physical sciences
i see this realm of value as simply oh
subjectivism it's simply a projection of
my needs
it's soft science as opposed to the hard
science
the problem is prior to the to the rise
of the modern sciences most of the most
brilliant people in the western
tradition were cultivators of this
wisdom tradition
articulating objective values orienting
us to the supreme value
but today because of scientism there's a
great sort of occluding of that realm
and then the second thing we put our
fingers on was
what i've called the culture of
self-invention which carries with it the
concomitant
conviction
that claims to objective value whether
that's truth or goodness or aesthetic
value
those aren't real those are disguised
plays of power
right this is michel foucault and so
many others in the post-modern framework
that if i'm claiming hey this is good
and you ought to do it this is true you
ought to know it this is beautiful and
you ought to seek it all i'm doing is
playing a power game
those things can't be true in themselves
they're a disguise play of power well
see with that's been baked into the
minds of so many young people today and
when that happens the realm of value
even s's or it's it's occluded
the result
a loss of meaning
yeah knowledge given by the physical
sciences sure we have a lot of that
affirmation of our subjectivity we got
tons of that
but we're losing a sense of objective
value and a purposive orientation to
that value
okay what's the solution
i said look
speaking as a catholic bishop out of the
catholic tradition
we need great catholic scholars
who reverence this wisdom tradition that
know it
that no of these figures going back to
augustine and thomas aquinas and dante
and coming up through the great figures
today
that know and love that tradition can
teach it effectively we need to be sure
great catholic artists and here you know
jonathan pajot was interesting to talk
to a guy who is a carver and a painter
in the iconic tradition we need great
catholic artists who reverence the
objective aesthetic values
that know the catholic aesthetic
tradition
stretching up from ancient times through
you know michelangelo and everybody else
up to the present day and then finally i
suggested
we need great catholic saints
we need people who embody these great
moral values they don't just talk about
them they embody them they live them
these figures
will be the mentors and the wisdom
figures who can draw young people back
into a sense of a meaningful life
that's the best way to address this
crisis of meaning
thanks so much for watching if you
enjoyed this video i invite you to share
it and to subscribe to my youtube
channel
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