0:06 - Foundations of the Soul
5:18 - The Wisdom of Experience
7:36 - The Intertwined Nature of Love and Virtue
9:05 - Money and Moral Isolation
13:54 - The Illusion of Wealth
19:31 - The Regret of a Loveless Life
22:29 - The Cruelty of Time
26:22 - The Path to a Meaningful Old Age
In this lecture, we explore the profound teachings found in Matthew 16:25-27, particularly focusing on the rhetorical questions posed by Jesus concerning the value of the soul in comparison to worldly gains. The discussion begins with the premise that one’s spiritual integrity and connection to a higher moral obligation far outweigh material success. The powerful lines, “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?” serve as the foundation for a broader exploration of virtue, relationships, and the ephemeral nature of life and wealth.
Transitioning through the text, we observe the interactions between Jesus, the Pharisees, and his disciples, emphasizing the importance of discernment in recognizing the genuine over the superficial. The lecture dissects Jesus' critique of the Pharisees' demand for signs, drawing parallels to contemporary expectations for validation through superficial demonstrations of success or abilities. There is a poignant reflection on youth, wisdom, and the paradox of aging: while youth is often filled with vigor, it is sometimes devoid of wisdom, whereas the elderly, despite physical decline, often embody moral beauty.
The conversation continues to elaborate on the relationship between wealth and virtue. The ability to acquire wealth poses a dual threat; it can both enhance and isolate. The exploration emphasizes that true virtue cannot exist in isolation and requires the nurturing of relationships that are grounded in shared values. The speaker articulates that wealth can either facilitate the building of morally sound relationships or lead to a retreat into solitude with an empty pursuit of material gain. The tendency of individuals to withdraw into financial independence often diminishes their capacity for empathy, love, and meaningful connections.
As the discussion unfolds, it becomes evident that the speaker draws upon personal anecdotes to underline the significance of connection and compassion. He stresses that relationships are the soil in which virtue grows, indicating that genuine goodness blossoms only in the presence of others. The necessity of foundational relationships is further underscored by the concept that morality is inherently relational: "What does it mean to be good or evil on a desert island?" illustrates the futility of virtue in isolation.
In a thought-provoking manner, the lecture tackles how financial success can lead to both personal satisfaction and systemic regret. Many individuals who encounter an influx of wealth face an escalating sense of disconnection and despair, especially when they realize that material possessions cannot replace meaningful human interactions. The discussion veers into the concept of aging, as the speaker emphasizes the inevitability of mortality, thereby urging listeners to reflect on the value of their time, relationships, and choices.
Additionally, the speaker warns against the deceptive comfort provided by wealth, suggesting that the absence of substantial life challenges can lead people to fill the void with trivial pursuits, detaching themselves further from reality and relationships. As people grow older and acquire financial stability, the regrets of unfulfilled relationships and moral decay can loom larger in their lives.
The dialogue culminates in a passionate plea to prioritize virtue over transient successes. Through vivid imagery and poignant anecdotes, the speaker emphasizes the need to establish a life embedded with love, integrity, and robust social connections. It is conveyed that the essence of life cannot be bought, and no amount of wealth can substitute for genuine human connections. By weaving together biblical principles, personal stories, and philosophical reflections, the lecture serves as a clarion call for individuals to seek virtue, foster meaningful interactions, and approach life with a perspective rich with ethical considerations, thereby ensuring a fulfilling legacy that transcends material confines.
[0:00] Good morning, everybody. I hope you're doing well. This is Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain, and we're doing Bible verses.
[0:07] And one of the most foundational and powerful verses in the Bible, in the New Testament as a whole, is, there's a variety of ways in which it is put, but, For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? From the 21st century King James Version, this is Matthew 16, 25-27. For whosoever will save his soul shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Of what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. It's very powerful.
[1:12] Chapter 16. As a whole, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees come and testing desired him Jesus, that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed. And when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned amongst themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. But when Jesus perceived this, he said unto them, O ye have little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread. Do you not yet understand? Neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up, nor the seven loaves of the four thousand. Do you not yet understand? Neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up, nor of the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets ye took up.
[2:41] How is it that ye do not understand that I spoke it not to you concerning bread, but that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
[3:08] And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barajona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
[3:55] From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not happen unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[4:42] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
[4:57] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there are some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
[5:18] Of course, there's a lot going on here as a whole. And when they say, prove your divinity by doing tricks, little par of tricks, and Jesus says, you can figure out the weather from the color of the sky, but you cannot determine the shape of a noble and virtuous man when he's standing right in front of you. You should not need tricks to determine the nature of virtue. This is kind of like, obviously, a completely different category when people say to me, hey man, what's your IQ? That's kind of a trick. Do a parlor trick called having a 160 IQ. Do it. I mean, if my brain is studied after I'm dead, I'm sure they will find language landscapes of a village or something like that, but you should be able to determine who is virtuous without tricks.
[6:12] So, the wisdom that is in this is something that the old are constantly trying to tell the young. I think about this, you know, when I see my daughter and her friends and so on. I think about this because the young who are unwise are, you know, full of youthful vigor and strength. And there is a beauty in youth as a whole. But in general, there is unwisdom in youth as a whole. And the old who are wise are physically decrepit, but morally beautiful. And it is one of these paradoxes, of course, that the less beautiful the exterior, at least the potential is the more beautiful the interior. Now, when you get older, as you age, possessions mean less and less and less as a whole. To be a rich man with a bad conscience is to be in a worse prison than an imprisoned man with a good conscience. To walk golden halls with sick, unease, and self-recrimination in your heart, mind, soul, and bowels is a fate in many ways worse than death.
[7:36] We live for two things. We live for two things. We live for virtue and we live for relationships. We live for goodness and we live for love. And the two are intertwined like two trees that have grown together. You cannot have love without virtue. You can not have virtue without love. The two grow together. You cannot have virtue in isolation because virtue is a relationship. What does it mean to be good or evil on a desert island where you are all alone for years and years? It does not mean anything to be good or evil. Good or evil are in your relationships in specificity to human beings. You can be good to people, you can be evil to people if you are isolated, good or evil, have no meaning. It's like having a plug without a socket. It means nothing.
[8:40] So in order to get love, you must be virtuous. And in order to be virtuous, you have to have love. You have to have love of others, you have to have love of virtue, and you have to have the feedback, of course, of those who love you and love virtue. You cannot be virtuous in isolation. All you can do is survive.
[9:05] You need good people around you to remind you of virtue, to remind you of morality, to remind you of integrity, and then the test of your virtues is how you treat those in the world that you meet.
[9:21] Money isolates or has that potential. So, if a man makes five million dollars, he can use it to found a family and then be surrounded by, if he's a good man, a virtuous and loved people.
[9:38] Or he can say, with his $5 million, fantastic, I don't need anyone. I can live and act entirely on my own. I need nothing and no one. And he can use it to isolate himself. It is actually quite sad and not an uncommon phenomenon that when men come into money, they found families. And when women come into money, they often will break families or when they're bribed with money.
[10:02] So money has the potential to expand virtue through the founding of families through the funding of good works through the spread of morality and integrity which is aided though not specifically required by money because you can spread virtue conversationally you don't need a studio or a big technical setup or anything like that so money can aid in the spread of virtue but money can isolate you from moral interactions with people. And there's two ways, of course, that money isolates you from moral interactions with people. One is that you just start functioning in solitude. You say, oh, well, I've got enough money, and I don't need people, and I can do my own thing, and I don't need to compromise, and I can act in isolation. And your social and relationship skills atrophy over time, and you just get more and more comfortable with solitude, and then every interaction that requires compromise, which is the recognition of self and other, that other people have needs and preferences, you have needs and preferences, and you should work to maximize people's happiness in win-win situations. Those muscles atrophy, and it's tough to maintain virtue if you're isolated. There really is no such thing as virtue in isolation.
[11:24] And of course, the other thing that happens is you get so used to having your own way that all other perspectives tend to bring out a kind of petty irritability. I shouldn't have to compromise, and other people's needs and preferences are interferences with my somewhat lazy, self-indulgent will. It's easy to forget the vivid reality of other people when you use your money to isolate yourself. Now, the second way, of course, that you cut off yourself from moral connection with people through money is to use your money as a tool of power and manipulation and control. We can call this the Bill Gates path or something like that. So then you use your money to... Dangle in front of people, maybe to sleep with a lot of girls, or to, you know, fund various corrupt causes in the typical zillionaire's wife scenario, divorced wife scenario.
[12:29] And that's another way, of course, that you isolate people, because people are not there for your virtues, they're there for your money. But they have to, everyone has to lie and pretend that you're, you know, just a great guy that everyone cares about and loves, but you're just a guy with money. So everyone has to lie and pretend, right? Every time you're there in a relationship for something other than the person's virtue, you have to lie about it and pretend that you're there because the person is good and positive. I mean, this is a bit diminished in the business sense, but, you know, every man who is a man whore, right? Every man who sleeps with a lot of women has to lie to those women, either explicitly or implicitly, and say that he likes them as a person rather than if you try and sleep with a woman by saying, I dislike you and loathe you as a person, but I want to use your body for physical satisfaction. I mean, all but the most corrupt women will recoil and the corrupt women you're just adding to the damage of their prior exploiters if they react in any positive way to such a horrendous statement. So if you have money and then you dangle it in front of people in order to have them lie about liking you when they, in fact, only like your money. You know, like, nobody wants you when you're down and out. It's an old blues song.
[13:47] And so, you know, you rent a yacht and your friends come on a big party and so on. But they're there for the yacht.
[13:54] They're there for the selfies, the bikinis, the status. They're not there for you. But they have to pretend, hey, great, thanks, man. you know, you're great, you know, as opposed to you could be anyone as long as you have Khashoggi's intergalactic space yacht. So you just lie. Everyone has to lie.
[14:12] Now, life is generally short for the virtuous and endless for the corrupt.
[14:21] And as you age, the value of things diminishes, and the value of love, of virtue, increases. And I remember this, and I've mentioned this before, when I started to make some money, and I was living, I was a, I broke up with a girlfriend, and I was living as a roommate in a condo. I was just in my own room in a condo in Toronto, and it had a nice gym, it had squash courts, and it had a fairly big swimming pool for an apartment building. And it was all very nicely done, all quite ornate. And I remember swimming in the swimming pool. I was in my 20s at this point, and I remember swimming in swimming pool thinking, well, let's say that I make a massive amount of money, right? This is just the beginning, right? I said, well, what if I make a massive amount of money and I can have a swimming pool in my own house and I am swimming alone in my swimming pool in my own house? Well, how sad would that be? How sad would that be? And of course, if you have a bunch of cool stuff and you can't even get shallow friends, then that's a really tragic situation, right?
[15:47] So what would that mean? I have stuff and no one to share it with. And most of us, I mean, if you live, I mean, certainly into your 50s, right? So people, elderly relatives die and they get inheritances and so on. And I've known people who've come into money, so to speak, and their unhappiness increases. I mean, one of the ways that you can keep the unhappiness of a loveless life at bay is to be constantly in a situation or state of scarcity, because then you're just trying to figure out how to pay your bills and meet your expenses and so on. And you're just constantly on the ragged edge of need and want. And so it's easier to just, you know, if you're just looking down, right? It's like, it doesn't seem like such a long walk or hike. If you're just looking straight at the ground, if you look up at the high mountain, you've got to climb and you get perspective, it can be, it can fill you with despair. And I've known people who've made some money or come into some money, and their unhappiness tends to escalate or increase because their immediate, you know, looking at your toes, running on the treadmill, wants and needs have been removed.
[17:06] One of the ways that people escape or avoid meaning is to keep themselves in a state of scarcity. If that state of scarcity is lifted or removed, then people often get pretty miserable. This is the sort of curse of winning the lottery and all that kind of stuff. So as you get older, if your physical wants are taken care of, and they tend to be, I mean, I've known guys who, you know, lived in a one-bedroom apartment and, you know, they didn't have great jobs. But, you know, over time, they make a little bit more money, their expenses don't go up because they don't have families or anything. So, they start to become more financially comfortable over time. And their ragged-edge physical needs are softened into the far horizon. and then what? And then what? This is the problem with retirement, right? And then what? Your days are going to be filled with something. It's either work and love or avoidance and regret. So as you age, your money, becoming often more plentiful, becomes less valuable, less important, because it cannot buy you happiness.
[18:24] Maybe you could afford some big gaming computer, and you can play some games. And this puts you back into the moment-to-moment thing, right? The moment-to-moment thing is really important in the avoidance of perspective and meaning in life. Just live moment-to-moment. Oh, I've got to win this online video game. Oh, I've got to build this thing in Minecraft. Oh, I've got to scroll through Twitter, and it's moment-to-moment, boom, boom, boom, right? It keeps the perspective at bay. It keeps a larger view and then the zoom out at bay. And as you get more money, of course, each additional dollar is of diminishing value, right? If you're starving and you get $10, then you can get a meal, not a great one, but a meal. And that is the world of difference, right? If you have a million dollars, getting $10 doesn't change much of anything. So when your material needs are met, you will almost inevitably be faced with regret.
[19:22] And your money, your income tends to go up over life and your regrets at a loveless life. A loveless life is a life without virtue.
[19:31] It is at best neutral and most likely corrupt. And I don't know if you've ever been in the presence of someone, I've had it a couple of times in person before the show, where the despair just, I mean, it's like, it's like that school bus in that meme with the freight train coming, when the regret hits someone. I remember being at a karaoke night and a guy was singing and just put down his mic in the middle and just like sat down on the stage like a guy I knew. It's just like regret, regret, regret.
[20:05] I remember one guy who I knew many years ago who was diabetic and was doing a pretty trashy job on a cruise ship, and he was so seized with despair that he woke up, went down to the dessert buffet, and ate an entire chocolate cake, and then he had to be airlifted out because of the health issues. People will roll a grenade into their own tent metaphorically when they are filled with that level of despair. And you can't buy back your youth. It's a one-way ticket. And the despair also kicks in when you age and infirmities and creaks and groans and little shooting pains and, the presage of decrepit age begins to creep into your system against your will. I mean, almost no matter what you do, stuff is going to happen. And that is, of course, the little ripple whispers of death coming down the pipe, you know, like the myth of the old.
[21:12] Indigenous people of North America who could put their ears to a train track and hear the train long before it had any other presence. Like a whisper in your ear, death sends murmurs of discomfort to remind you of the bed you sink into and never arise from. And the distraction has you spend your days in useless short-term abandon. And then, right, since the devil is cruel, since corruption is cruel, the veil is lifted from your eyes long before you die about how much time and life you've wasted. It's so easy to waste life when you're young, because you think you have a virtually infinite supply. And it is very hard to waste your life when you get older without great regret. This is why, like, I just can't get into video games anymore because I just recognize that's going to be time out of a finite supply. When you're young, time is an infinite supply. As you get older, you realize you are taking from a pile that has a visceral end. You can't buy love. You can't buy relationships. You can't buy your way out of regret.
[22:30] You can't buy your way out of aging.
[22:34] And it's very hard to reverse bad habits later on in life. It's very hard. And I would say functionally impossible. Functionally impossible is like, you don't calculate the odds because it's kind of pointless. Like it's functionally impossible to win the top prize in the lottery. Do people win it? Sure. but it's functionally impossible because your odds are more likely you're getting killed in a car crash going to pick up your ticket than actually winning the lottery, right? So it's functionally impossible. I mean, it's like saying, well...
[23:06] Save for my retirement, because a distant relative I don't even know about might leave me $5 million in her will when I hit the age of 65. Could it happen? I mean, it's certainly within the realm of possibility, but it's functionally impossible. Like, will it happen? No. Oh, you have to act like it won't happen, right? Is it possible that, I don't know, whoever you find to be really attractive, I had a mild partiality to say Sandra Bullock. So if I was single, is it possible that Sandra Bullock could call me up tomorrow and want to go on a date. It's not impossible. I mean, we both exist at the same time continuum, I suppose. But you don't sit there and say, no, no, no, I'm not going to go meet anyone because I'm waiting for a call from Sandra Bullock. It's frankly impossible, right?
[23:54] And you start to get the real hints and intimations of mortality. And, you know, there are software issues where you get sick and you get better. And then there are hardware issues where you end up with sort of permanent things, right? Like I have a bit of tinnitus. That's like a permanent thing. So, that happens in your 50s, but you're probably going to live to your 80s. That's 30 years, right? Think of how long 20 to 50 is, right? 20 to 50 is a long time, or 50 to 80 is a long time. But the difference is 20 to 50, you're building and growing and you have hail, hearty, you know, solid, youthful sleep and so on, right? I was going to remember this, the old man in 1984 saying he had to get up, what, eight times, 10 times a night to pee. I mean, I assume that's going to be pretty rough and difficult. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't, but I'm sure it increases.
[24:51] So, what's that Paul Simon song, The Obvious Child? I don't expect to sleep through the night. So you have less energy, less health, less future, less to offer others, right? So when you're young and you're going out in the world and carving your way and making a couple of bucks and so on, right? You have more to offer people, more to offer the world. When you get old, what do you have to offer if you're full of regret? Well.
[25:19] Late, really, to start relationships when you're old. What do you have to offer people? Well, I'm aging. Well, I'm full of regret. I mean, I have some money, but that doesn't buy me virtue. That certainly doesn't buy me love. And you have the bad habits of solitude and exploitation if you've developed those, which are not functionally reversible. That's a long time. That's one of the tweets I had on Twitter back in the day. Your fertility mostly ends at 40. What are you going to do from the ages of 40 to 80. A little bit more like you travel and have sex. And it's like, yeah, well, maybe not when you're 70, 75, maybe, maybe not. So if you gain the whole world, but lose your sense of satisfaction, your sense of virtue, your sense of having done good with the incredibly rare gift of life, what do you get? Well, you get some money. Money actually makes your regret worse because you don't have that head down, live day by day stuff.
[26:23] So this is the cry from the old to the young. Focus on virtue. Do good. Take your energy and use it to bind yourself to people with ropes and hoops and chains of mutually admirable virtues. Do that. And then your old age will be full of comfort and love, companionship, connection.
[26:46] And even if, of course, you are married, you're a woman and your husband, he's probably going to die six, seven years before you do and that's a long time to be alone if you don't have kids, if you don't have a community. And, of course, as you age, the people who are single and solitary and particularly those without kids, they don't actually have a huge amount to offer because of that solitary aspect, that non-compromise aspect, that non-building-of-life aspect. So, you might just end up in an old age home full of other weirdo, unconnected, regretful losers, or full of regret losers. And that's a really tragic way. And so, let's say that you have, you're wealthy enough to have an indoor swimming pool in your house, but nobody's in your house. You haven't done the good that gets you the love. And because you don't have the love, you can't do the good. That's a nightmare. That's a nightmare. And then you have to cling to other people who've also avoided virtue, and it ended up being a tribe of fairly sick and sickened corruption. And this can go on year after year, decade after decade, until death becomes a sweet release from endless regret. The money is not worth it. The money is used to build love, connection, families. It is not used to buy trinkets that are tossed out when you're tossed in the ground.
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