One way of conceptualizing yourself is that you're one speck of dust among seven billion
And when you conceptualize yourself that way you might think
Well what difference does it make what I say or do
And that's actually quite convenient for you
Because if it doesn't matter what you say her do then you don't have any responsibility
And you can do whatever you want
The price you pay for that is a bit of nihilism
But if you don't have to shoulder any responsibility that's a small price to pay
The other way of looking at it then this is actually the accurate way of looking at it
Is that you’re in a network
You're a node in the network
And when you conceptualize yourself that way you might think
Well what difference does it make what I say or do
And that's actually quite convenient for you
Because if it doesn't matter what you say her do then you don't have any responsibility
And you can do whatever you want
The price you pay for that is a bit of nihilism
But if you don't have to shoulder any responsibility that's a small price to pay
The other way of looking at it then this is actually the accurate way of looking at it
Is that you’re in a network
You're a node in the network
Meaning is what you have to buttress yourself against the tragedy of life
Despite the fact that you're a fragile damaged mortal creature
You found something to do that announced itself as worthwhile
That's meaning
It's an instinct
It's a deep-deep instinct
It's maybe the deepest instinct
It's like a form of vision
Meaning tells you when you in the right place
And the right place is between chaos and order
And those are real places your hemispheres
The right hemisphere is roughly evolved let's say to deal with things you don't understand that’s chaos
And your left is there to deal with things you do understand
You can't just stay with the things that you do understand because you already understand that
And you can't just stay with what you don't understand because then your lost
You need to be in the middle of those two
And you can tell when you in the middle because everything lines up
Despite the fact that you're a fragile damaged mortal creature
You found something to do that announced itself as worthwhile
That's meaning
It's an instinct
It's a deep-deep instinct
It's maybe the deepest instinct
It's like a form of vision
Meaning tells you when you in the right place
And the right place is between chaos and order
And those are real places your hemispheres
The right hemisphere is roughly evolved let's say to deal with things you don't understand that’s chaos
And your left is there to deal with things you do understand
You can't just stay with the things that you do understand because you already understand that
And you can't just stay with what you don't understand because then your lost
You need to be in the middle of those two
And you can tell when you in the middle because everything lines up
Well there's plenty of things to criticize about being
It's tragic and there's malevolence that's basically the issue
And you can complain about that
But the thing is if you complain about that if you adopt that attitude
Which is sort of an anti being attitude
You go places that if you knew you were going you probably wouldn't want to go
It's the places where like the kids that showed up Columbine web
Those are bad places
If you read the writings of the Columbine High School kids and you really read them
If they don't make the hair stand up in the back here you are not paying attention
It's tragic and there's malevolence that's basically the issue
And you can complain about that
But the thing is if you complain about that if you adopt that attitude
Which is sort of an anti being attitude
You go places that if you knew you were going you probably wouldn't want to go
It's the places where like the kids that showed up Columbine web
Those are bad places
If you read the writings of the Columbine High School kids and you really read them
If they don't make the hair stand up in the back here you are not paying attention
There is this idea that Young had which I really love which is the idea of the shadow
Which is the dark side of humanity
Its roots reached all the way to hell
He meant something very specific by that
The metaphysical element was he meant hell literally and metaphysically
But he also meant that if you were able to understand your dark side
Then you would see in yourself a reflection of the behavior that was present at Ashwood's
And that the reason that people don't take the dark side of themselves seriously at all
And even confront the fact that it exists is because no one wants to see that reflected within them
And no wonder
Which is the dark side of humanity
Its roots reached all the way to hell
He meant something very specific by that
The metaphysical element was he meant hell literally and metaphysically
But he also meant that if you were able to understand your dark side
Then you would see in yourself a reflection of the behavior that was present at Ashwood's
And that the reason that people don't take the dark side of themselves seriously at all
And even confront the fact that it exists is because no one wants to see that reflected within them
And no wonder
As a Clinical psychologist
I spend 20 hours a week for 25 years listening to people tell me about their lives
And those people were people who were just barely hanging on to the bottom of the world
Up to people who were so successful you could hardly believe it
Being a clinical psychologist if you really listen is like
Being immersed in a Dostoyevsky novel all the time you know
Because it's amazing what people tell you if you listen to them
Because they're so peculiar like they're like penguins or rhinoceroses or ostriches
They're unlikely creatures
Well you got to improve right?
And you might think while I'm a real fixer-upper and I'm really embarrassed about that
I spend 20 hours a week for 25 years listening to people tell me about their lives
And those people were people who were just barely hanging on to the bottom of the world
Up to people who were so successful you could hardly believe it
Being a clinical psychologist if you really listen is like
Being immersed in a Dostoyevsky novel all the time you know
Because it's amazing what people tell you if you listen to them
Because they're so peculiar like they're like penguins or rhinoceroses or ostriches
They're unlikely creatures
Well you got to improve right?
And you might think while I'm a real fixer-upper and I'm really embarrassed about that