0:00 - The Desire for the Unearned
3:49 - A Letter from Buckingham Palace
7:18 - The Power of Simplicity and Universality
8:47 - The Simplicity within Human Character
12:21 - The Heartbreak of Falsifying Truth
15:15 - The Punishment for Seeking Truth
20:18 - Understanding the Importance of Punctuation
21:05 - The Importance of Knowing Morality
23:18 - The Importance of Showing Your Work
25:45 - The Control Mechanism of Evil
28:45 - The Experience of Moral Stain
31:41 - The Power of Language in Control
In this insightful talk, I reflect on the concept of desire for the unearned and its origins. I delve into personal experiences, such as finding a rock as a child and believing it was a diamond, which sparked a sense of security and desire for instant wealth without earning it. I also recount incidents where practical jokes and false aristocratic invitations revealed underlying desires for unearned status and privilege.
I transition into exploring how societal influences shape our desires for the unearned, particularly when authentic expression of reasoning and morality is discouraged. I discuss the importance of simplicity and universality in moral reasoning and how questioning societal norms can lead to severe consequences and punishment. This leads to a deeper reflection on how individuals navigate societal expectations around morality and the inherent contradictions and control mechanisms at play.
I highlight the power dynamics involved in controlling individuals through moral judgment, particularly labeling someone as 'evil' to manipulate and subdue them. I emphasize the conflict individuals face when attempting to question and understand morality in a society that demands obedience and conformity without genuine moral exploration. This internal struggle between seeking truth and facing societal repercussions illuminates the complex nature of desires for the unearned.
Ultimately, I underscore how societal structures and power dynamics fuel desires for the unearned by stifling genuine moral exploration and reasoning. The fear of punishment and ostracization for questioning established norms and seeking moral clarity reinforces individuals' yearning for unearned rewards and status. This thought-provoking discussion sheds light on the intricate interplay between personal agency, societal expectations, and the pursuit of authenticity in moral reasoning and decision-making.
[0:00] So if evil is a desire for the unearned, the big question is where does the desire for the unearned come from? And my particular methodology for figuring out these things is to look at my own life, because I'm every woman, to look at my own life and see, okay, did I have a thirst or desire for the unearned when I was a kid? And where would that have come from? And I can think of a couple of examples.
[0:30] So, when I was in boarding school, I had a rock. Boy, these are tiny little details of my life that hopefully end up being big philosophically useful. I hope useful theories. So, when I was a kid in boarding school, I had a rock.
[0:51] And, of course, in hindsight, it was a piece of granite with some quartz. But I had the belief at the time that the little piece of quartz, the shiny bit that was sticking out, was a diamond, and a large diamond. Now, of course, I knew that my father looked for gold, looked for diamonds in Africa. And many years later, I went to a mine, a tour de mine in South Africa, which was pretty wild. Man, was it windy, because, of course, you know, they have to keep the airflow pretty high in these kinds of places. So, I held on to that and it felt, I felt a certain sense of security in that I had found a rock that, look, it wasn't like I 100% thought it was a diamond, but it gave me some sort of comfort to have faith that it was a diamond. And I remember, I remember sitting there. In choir um fingering the rock in my pocket touching the diamond and i remember also scraping my nail along the diamond to see if it would yeah i knew diamonds were hard and all of that i was like six or whatever right and of course i had just found i thought i just found this diamond and it wasn't like i earned this diamond but i remember hearing about the what was it the cullinan diamond that some guy just poking in the ground with a stick end up digging up one of the largest diamonds ever found and of course became staggeringly rich and you know just Just that you trip over something. You win the lottery and you just trip over something. And so this desire for the unearned, I think, was kind of there early on.
[2:20] And I remember early as a kid exploring my singing voice, thinking, eh, not bad, not great, not bad. And seeing if maybe I could figure out a way to use that. I know you didn't have to be a great singer to be a successful singer. I mean, the Bob Dylan thing. So i do remember having this thirst for the unearned now again when it kicked in, was i had a friend who played a practical joke on me sort of mentioned this on the show before but this desire for the unearned and also when you have parents who just don't give you anything useful when it comes to basic self-protection that sort of struck me as well so i got a letter delivered to me that invited me to the queen's like a private queen's jubilee or something like that and it was on official the queen buckingham palace stationary like it was embossed there were watermarks like the whole thing right and my mother i just i remember this she immediately seized upon this you know like this was absolutely true and at the one the one thing i can thank my father for is registering me as an aristocrat and i did have esquire after my name and we come from nobility and you know blah blah blah and all expenses go to and i remember being somewhat skeptical and i did ask my friend if he played a practical joke on me but you know getting seized up on my mother's in my mother's you know this is.
[3:50] Absolute perfect good news it's 100 true there's no reason to check now this is long before the internet right you couldn't couldn't sort of check on on anything and i would say i was somewhat excited a little skeptical somewhat excited because i had been you know i come i kind of i mean you know you know who i am right the idea that i was squatting in some squalid blood welfare hovel uh surrounded by you know drunks and and and yellers and screamers and beaters and you know it was like hell i mean like it was like hell uh and i really felt like a movie star in a 12 year old horror quote movie you know just sort of made up made up stuff right.
[4:37] And so i really felt like i had to get sky hooked out of this hellhole like this this nightmare it It really felt like, and I can't really explain it other than I knew that there was some, I knew that my father had a doctorate. I knew that my mother's family was very well educated and very artistic and very creative and good writers and all of that. So I really felt like our, me, I say my family, it wasn't really my family. I really felt that I was just kind of being held underwater. And I was going to find a way to you know maybe I was breathing through a straw you know you imagine sort of these movies where some guys hiding breathing through a straw or a read or something like that I think that showed up in one of Dan Brown's books anyway.
[5:23] So, what happened was I just really felt like I was in the wrong place, really felt like I was in the wrong place. Now, this letter that came to me with, you know, perfect calligraphy and perfect letterhead and all that, and it was, of course, returned stamped from the postbox by Buckingham Palace. Like this guy had really gone. He had an uncle who worked in a paper producing place that produced actual official stationery for Buckingham Palace, for the Queen. And then he got him to mail it from right there. So, you know, it looked somewhat legit. anyway so this was a sort of feeling like ah you know i have been plucked out of obscurity and will be soon returned to my proper place you know that kind of stuff right and and of course it sort of came out of nowhere it came out of history it came out of uh something i didn't earn but it was a, a relief or a respite from this you know i guess, This proletariat horror movie that I found myself stuck in, again, through sort of no fault of my own, but just the way that things happened in my life, right?
[6:34] So, I remember that. I remember having some, you know, I mean, the good looks that I had as a teenager, as a young man. I mean, I didn't really earn those, but I had some, I guess, some excitement and some pride. I mean, I did a lot of exercise. I was on like water polo team. I was on the swim team. I was cross country running team. I played soccer. I played tennis, like, you know, moved, moved a lot. And so, I mean, that helped in terms of physique and all of that, but, you know, bone structure was kind of born with it, right? So the desire for the unearned for me, I think, came out of...
[7:18] And I don't know, like, I sort of have this feeling, and it's not a proof or anything, but as we explore, I had this feeling that I was not allowed to earn. Yeah, that must be it. So I was not allowed to earn in the way that I wanted to, in the way that I wanted to. Do i mean i'm still not i mean this you know 50 years later i'm still not but i was not so my particular skill is is is twofold it's universality and simplicity it's universality and simplicity and upb is shockingly simple and And UPB is non-aggression principle that's universal. Now, the proof, I mean, the proof is a flourish. The proof is elegant, like you can't have, stealing cannot be universally preferable behavior. Stealing cannot be universally preferable behavior because stealing is when you don't want someone to take your property. But if taking property is universally preferable behavior, then you want someone to take your property. Therefore, stealing ceases to exist as a category. I mean, that's pretty elegant. That's pretty elegant. And simplicity plus universality is where my real strength is.
[8:48] And that simplicity for me has always been part of my character since I was a little kid. You know, I'd hear these couples screaming at each other in the nightmarish environment that I was born into. too. I would just say, well, just be nice. Like, what are you screaming at each other for? Like, just be nice. What's with the screaming? Like, that's not a good idea. That doesn't make any sense. But that simplicity and universality is a powerful thing. It's one of the most powerful things, really. I mean, universality is the opposite of hierarchy, right? Hierarchy says rules for thee, but not for me. And simplicity plus universality is, well, the rules are all the same and upb would do for society even more than the general theory of relativity did to physics because how does that really affect your daily life whereas it does really affect your daily life when you have a very powerful state apparatus that's dictating and dominating your every move so my simplicity plus universality was not allowed to like my greatest strength right i I mean, the thing that I have the most to bring, to offer to the world, that was not allowed.
[10:03] To express itself or i guess i could say when i began to express it in, my childhood when i began to express it then i got into severe and significant trouble i mean as i always have in in life right people who make the claims that they have morality claim that it is simple enough that you should be able to follow it and yet universal enough that it gains the status of morality right it has to be simple enough that you can follow it, and of course we also explain morality to three-year-olds, two-year-olds, and so on, right? So it has to be simple enough that you can follow it, and it has to be universal, otherwise it's just a preference, right? So if you were to say to a kid, don't hit another child because I don't like the sound, that's not much of a moral argument. That's an argument for sort of personal accommodation, and that also fails the test of universality, right? Because the kid who's is being hit doesn't like it either. And so if you should change your behavior because of what people don't like, i.e. I don't like the sound of hitting, therefore you shouldn't hit. If.
[11:09] You change your behavior based upon somebody else's negative experience, then don't hit would be, right? It would be that, right? But it would be a sort of subjective preference, right? So change your behavior based upon somebody else's preference, which is sort of the route to cancel culture, I'm shocked, I'm appalled, I'm horrified or whatever, then, the way that it plays out is, well, I prefer to hit and therefore the person should not complain that I'm hitting them because if we should change our behavior based upon other people's preferences, I prefer to hit and therefore that other person should not complain, right? It doesn't really go very far. But what people say to kids is don't hit, it's wrong. It's wrong. It's bad, right? It's wrong. And that's a universal moral claim, right? Simple enough for a three-year-old to understand and universal enough that it gains the superpower called morality, right? So, simplicity plus universality is at the root of how society controls people, but the only way it can control people is by violating simplicity to some degree, and certainly universality as a whole. So
[12:22] Where my great strength was simplicity and universality i began to sort of i think probe that kind of stuff like what's acceptable you know that's that's the big thing we all have to ask kids okay we're in a society what's allowed what's acceptable how much truth can i tell i wrote this in a novel many years ago that uh children one of the greatest heartbreaks children experience is finding out how little truth is possible in their society. That you will only gain a temporary sense of security by falsifying your own experience and language. And if you tell the truth, and if you are curious, and if you are persistent, then punishment will result. I remember this as well when I I, you know, when I hit my mother back, when I got to be, I don't know, 13 or 12 or 13, and I hit my mother back, I was, I mean, she was shocked and appalled and, you know, did the usual fainting couch, hysterical screaming, how dare you stuff. And it's like, what are you talking about? Bigger people hit smaller people. I'm now bigger than you. So that's, that's what we do. And, and simplicity, right? But of course the whole point of hitting children is that they shouldn't hit you in return, no matter how big they get, right? Particularly when they get bigger. So.
[13:39] I was not allowed to earn my way, I mean, prior to the internet, where I had a good 15 years of achieving universality plus simplicity, had a good 15 years of that. So I was not allowed to earn my way with my greatest strengths to achieve my greatest potential. In other words, what is our greatest is our moral reasoning, our universality. That's what makes us specifically human is our moral reasoning. And I was simply not allowed to achieve the full flourishing or even a partial flourishing of my humanity, my applying simplicity plus universality to the most essential human characteristic, which is morality. I was enormously punished for that, for being curious, for asking questions, for being skeptical and all of that.
[14:31] And then, of course, what happens is it's so painful, and this is where the real censorship comes in right it's so painful to realize that you're mostly being lied to and not just being lied to but lies are then demanded of you in return it's so painful that we end up short circuiting that whole process and then it becomes you're encouraged to tell the truth you're encouraged to be moral you're encouraged to be consistent but when you bring up a morality and a universality and a consistency that is inconvenient to those in charge, to the powers that be, if you bring that up, then you are punished.
[15:16] And the punishment is on the very basis of morality and consistency and universality. In other words, you are encouraged to speak the truth as a child. And then if you speak the truth that is inconvenient to adults, you are punished for backtalk, for not listening, for being obstructive, for being stubborn, for whatever it is, right? I mean, so all of the very same processes that justify your punishment are the same processes that you are encouraged to pursue.
[15:57] And that's really, I mean, it's really contradictory. Of course, it's really painful. It's a huge issue. And so people just say, A, like why is it that people say or seem to enjoy that there's no such thing as truth? You know, children are enormously interested in pursuing the truth, in figuring things out. Babies and toddlers are constantly exploring the world and the universe and all of that to try and figure out what's true, what's real, what's valid, what's right. And in particular in the realm of morality, because morality is so powerful.
[16:28] So the moment that you are then told that curiosity, truth-seeking, and striving to, understand morality, the moment you are told that that is a punishable offense, that you are not allowed to try to understand what is true and right and good, that morality Morality is something that you are to be commanded on, not something that you are allowed to explore or be curious of.
[17:03] And, of course, it's the old question of Socrates, right, that everybody said, I know what is the just, the wise, the virtuous, the pious, the noble. And then, of course, he would ask them questions. They would say, well, the argument, as Euthyphro says, right, the argument keeps moving around, and I can't seem to get it to stay still. to which Socrates, of course, quite rightly says, that's not me moving the argument around. It's the truth. And in fact, it's your lack of understanding of what you're saying that is moving the argument around. You're just blaming me for something that's inherent to you and the argument and your argument.
[17:39] So we are not allowed to be fully human. We are allowed to be human enough to be cowed by morality or moral commandments, but we are not allowed to be human enough to be curious and explore moral logic, moral universals, moral universality. And my sort of relentless curiosity in these matters, which I really flourished after therapy, right? After therapy when I sort of really did confront the pain and horror that anti-rationality had inflicted upon my soul because when we are punished for striving to understand that which is used to command us when we are punished for striving to understand, that which is used to control us then we you know we come dangerously close to the we are tax livestock we are serfs we are in a sense mental slaves and we are controlled by that which is most elementally human. I mean, there is sort of, you know, the bad dog stuff, right?
[18:56] When you sort of have a negative tone or an aggressive tone or aggressive body language with regards to a dog and the dog senses disapproval and the dog then will hopefully change his or her behavior based upon that disapproval but it's not a moral thing it's just like that's a bond right that's the the dog is thinking that you're a tribal member a pack member and doesn't want disapproval it's not a moral thing though the dog could never ever explain any universals associated with this you know like well i go into i go to the washroom in the toilet why don't you you rude rude dog right so when we are told to be good, and we are told what goodness is right then we have i think a big question we are told And we're generally told to know things and not just copy, right? So when it comes to math, right, what do they always say? They say, show your work, right? Show your work. Don't just write the answer. If you don't write the answer, if you only write the answer, that's no good because you could have just guessed it. You have to show that you understand something. You can't just parrot an answer and consider yourself knowledgeable. You have to really show that you understand something, right?
[20:19] And this is the case in other topics as well, other topics as well. So, I mean, you can't just use punctuation. You have to learn what punctuation is, why it matters, how it's defined, when to apply it, and you have to show your work. You have to show that you understand, right? You can't just say, I've read the book. You have to say what was in the book. You have to write a book report. You have to show or say what you have learned from it. You have to prove that you have read it and understand the themes or the characters or whatever it is, right?
[20:58] So that's really important. What are we told? To know something, you have to show your worth.
[21:05] But when it comes to morality, which is much more important than math or geometry or grammar or science.
[21:15] When we are told to be good, then we do have to show, and we try to show our work, right, because we're told in order to know something. There's nothing more important to know than morality, and in order to know something, you have to really understand it, you have to explore it, you have to be able to explain it, you have to be curious about it, you can work it through, you can work through it yourself, right? When it came to math, of course, it was, you know, quite common that the teachers would say there's not just one way to do this you can do this any number of ways and i remember in geometry there was different ways to prove particular geometrical, propositions you could go opposite angle theory or everything was called the theory and came until it came to triangle inequality as they had to say relation because they didn't want tit of course to to be the acronyms. I taught triangle inequality relation. OAT, opposite angle theory. I still remember it, but I'm not sure I could apply it.
[22:16] So we're told, don't just parrot conclusions. Don't plagiarize. Don't take somebody else's work and pass it off as your own. You have to really, really understand it for yourself. There's lots of different ways to get to the right conclusion. You have to show your work, and you have to really absorb and understand what's going on. And you you're asking questions is a good if you don't understand something don't pretend to know it ask questions and really figure it out for yourself and don't plagiarize think for yourself i don't know if that's still going on but that's certainly the way it was when i was a kid.
[23:00] So let's look at the logic right morality is the most important thing to know, to know something you must reason through it yourself you must ask questions you must be Be critical. There are lots of different ways to get to the answer. Don't parrot other people's answers. Don't plagiarize. Don't provide conclusions without showing your work.
[23:18] Be curious. Be relentless. Now, if you take those principles, you would think, of course, that society would be the most happy if children were the most skeptical of and questioning of morality, right? Right? Society would be the most happy when students really thought through moral questions, moral issues, tried to figure out what was right and what was wrong, reasoned through everything, showed their work, didn't just parrot conclusions, didn't plagiarize, didn't just pass off other people's conclusions as their own.
[23:57] Answers. And of course, if society was based on UPB, it would be a perfectly wonderful thing. You know, my daughter, of course, is perfectly, I'm perfectly happy. In fact, I'm quite thrilled when she went through a phase of trying to find exceptions to UPB. Like, please go ahead, because if you find one, I'd really like to know.
[24:20] And she doesn't do it as much anymore, any more than she, you know, continues to test whether the gravity works but i i really enjoyed that phase but of course if your morals are based on contradictions or power or corruption or ignorance or fear or compliance or whatever then those relentless questions push you closer and closer to the greatest agony in your soul which is you're told to be good but the moment you try to understand what being good actually means you are attacked and punished you are told to think for yourself to come to your own conclusions to be skeptical and to reason things through that but the moment you try that with the most important mental discipline of morality you are punished and ostracized and attacked, ah so painful because it realized it has you realize that you're living in a moral asylum or a um a prison you're living in a prison which which can't even call itself a prison, right i mean if the powers that be were to say oh yeah no i mean we'll tell you to be moral but morality is just something that we it's just a it's like a joke that we use because we know that people are susceptible to it we'll just tell you to be moral because when we define morality it turns out that being moral is just obeying us and not questioning us right.
[25:46] And of course if they were to say that they would lose they have to pretend that it's somehow universal and moral. They have to pretend all of that.
[25:55] They can't say the truth, right? So it's worse than a prison. At least in a prison, they don't say this is a resort. They just say, you're not a club fed, right? I mean, if it's in a prison, there's a prison. It's a prison. I'm a prison guard. This is a prison. This is your prison cell. You're in prison. They don't make any bones about it, right? Because you're already under their control directly, so they don't have to have mental control as much when you're in the prison. And so the desire for the unearned, i think to some degree comes out of well you're not allowed to earn yourself your reasoning your moral comprehension your understanding of virtue in society you're not allowed, to earn your humanity yourself any animal can obey i mean crack a whip throw a carrot you've got it right so the fact that we obey doesn't make us human any animal can live in a tribe or a society all pack animals do it ants do it so the idea that it is living in a society that makes us human.
[27:05] Animals can reason right i mean there are tons of studies of the monkeys that pile up things together the bananas and monkeys can reason monkeys can trade we know that when we when When we introduce currency into monkey tribes, the first thing that the male monkeys do is start trading the currency for sexual favors from the females, right? That's the way it works. So you can trade. You can evaluate things. You can value things. You can be part of an economy. You can be part of a society. You can be part of enforced ethics or moral standards, so to speak, if you're an animal. They're not moral standards, but you can have tribal norms strictly enforced. Forced through the you know like the silverback gorilla the big 800 pound dude he beats up on anyone who goes against the grain or they withhold food from people who don't participate in the hunt and who aren't raising children and right so none of that makes us human it just makes us alive makes us you know more advanced than protozoa of course when it makes us mammals but no it's not i mean rape is is fairly uncommon what is it ducks and dolphins and so on it's fairly uncommon common in society in in um animal societies animal environments and that's why the men the male birds i think they go through this crazy mating dances and clear out the clearings and and fluff up fluff up their plumage and so on right so they don't just i guess they can't right i guess can't rape but yeah it's um.
[28:29] There are norms in animals, but what is it that makes us uniquely human? Well, it's our ability, or it's almost an innate tendency to obey morality. And this is why control of morality is control of human beings, control of the future.
[28:45] When we're told something is bad, we don't experience it as disapproval. We experience it as sin. We experience it as a moral stain. We experience it as evil.
[29:03] You know, if the dog rips up the couch and you sort of snarl at the dog, the dog will bow its head and the dog will say to itself, wow, my owner really disapproves of what I'm doing, right? And the dog may feel bad, but the dog doesn't feel evil.
[29:23] It is only human beings who have the capacity to experience the emotion of being evil or the judgment of being evil and the sort of shame and horror of of that right and that is foundational to understand right that's how we're controlled that's how we're managed it's how we're right, it's evil because evil disarms people with a conscience right that the word evil is used against people without a conscience to control people with a conscience it's the remote control resource hammer at the vending machine trick that people who don't believe in evil know that people with a conscience do believe in evil and by calling them evil they will remote control torture them into coughing up resources and surrendering their power, right? The word evil is a control mechanism that is used to destroy the free will of virtuous people. I'm not kidding about that. It is used to destroy the free will of virtuous people and turn them into slaves. I mean bad people don't generally feel guilt or shame for the wrongs that they do otherwise they wouldn't do those wrongs.
[30:51] And good people do feel shame and guilt for the wrongs that they do, and bad people are perfectly aware, or amoral people, right? The mammals are perfectly aware that damning the angels puts them in hell. The mammals are perfectly aware that damning the angels puts them in hell. And if you can remote control torture someone by calling him evil or her evil.
[31:16] And if it's believed, and here's the thing too, Two, it doesn't even have to be believed by the recipient, right? So if you call Bob evil, it doesn't even matter if Bob just kind of laughs at you and just recognizes the ploy for what it is, the attempt to hijack and control another human being remotely through language, mind control spell, so to speak, right?
[31:42] So it doesn't matter, really, if Bob knows it's bullshit and it's just a ploy and all all of that because if bob's wife bob's boss boss bob's friends bob's kids if they believe the label then bob's host right he's screwed he's toast and so you can't like if you are morally curious as a child if you say oh i'm supposed to show my work and not plagiarize and understand everything, there's lots of different paths to the truth, and they really want me to think for myself, okay, I'm going to start thinking about this morality thing, right?
[32:27] Then, wow, they must really want me to, they say that morality is the most important thing, and thinking for myself is hugely important, therefore thinking for myself with regards to morality, must be the most important thing that I should do. So I'm going to do it. But then when you try to do it, you get punished worse than anyone. You get punished worse than anyone.
[32:54] And that freezing cold, hysterical, hateful rage that is provoked when you ask fundamental moral questions or try to understand and define morality in your society, that freezing cold, psycho-aggressive rage, I mean, I think we've all, haven't we all sensed it? it like it's the biggest, biggest predator in society. It's the rage against the morally curious, those who genuinely seek to understand the morals of the society they live in and very quickly, in fact, almost immediately find out that there are total lies, worse than lies, contradictions, power control mechanisms, frauds. The secret whip that rules the entire world. The secret whip that rules the entire world.
[33:53] That's a pretty horrifying thing to say, to see, wouldn't you say? And haven't we all kind of felt this dim shape in our minds, this dim shape in our societies? Haven't we all felt around this bladed, foggy machinery that Sucks people in and vanishes them from general society. You don't screw with the machinery.
[34:21] You don't mess with people's income. You don't undo or even question the rules of the rulers. You don't attempt to unshackle anyone. You cannot. You are simply not allowed. To be curious when you're told to be curious about the most important thing in your life. You cannot undo the power of the predators. That is not at all allowed. It's a very powerful thing. So why do people desire the unearned? Because they're never allowed to earn honestly or legitimately. It's not possible. It's not allowed. And there is no punishment greater than being curious about morality. Trying to show your work, trying to understand what you are supposed to obey, because the moment you try to understand it, your obedience evaporates. That can't be allowed. Stefan Molyneux, freedomain.com slash donate. Thank you.
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