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March 13, 2009 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
28:23
1299 The Truth Has No Power
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And Christina and Isabella are still asleep, so I suppose we will do another one.
I think it's March the 5th. It's Thursday and we're just on our way to New Hampshire.
And I just did Corruption Part 3 and we will continue because there's another topic that I wanted to talk about that came up recently in a call conference that I don't think will ever be released, but the idea I think was worth keeping and I'll mention it out here.
So, we talk a lot here, I talk a lot here, about the power of truth.
And the truth has extraordinary rich and deep power.
But communicating the truth is virtually powerless.
The truth itself has incredible power.
But we who communicate the truth have almost no power at all.
And let me give you an analogy, as I want to do, as much for my own clarification as anyone else's.
But what I mean by that is that smoking five packs of cigarettes a day has an enormous effect on your physiology.
And so that has a huge effect on you.
Like it or not. And it's not up to you whether it does or doesn't have an effect.
It's not open to your choice. However, trying to get someone to quit smoking five packs a day, you are virtually powerless.
I mean, you can cajole, you can wheedle, you can nag, you can encourage, you can whatever, right?
But you're kind of powerless.
Right. I mean, if you've ever tried to help an addict or somebody who suffers from a really entrenched personality disorder, like some sort of paranoia or persecutory complex or whatever, you've got no goddamn hope, right?
I mean, there are borderline personality disorders, sociopathic personality disorders, antisocial personality disorders, which you can't treat them.
You can't treat them, right?
I mean, a borderline personality disorder in particular You can't treat it.
There is no talking cure for these.
It's not a personality with a problem.
It is a personality that is a problem.
There's no ego outside to adjust and tweak and so on.
It's the difference between a bad back and spina bifida.
I mean a chiropractor can fix a bad back but can't fix spina bifida because it's just permanently warped, right?
So, understanding the difference between the power of truth and our power to effect the truth or effect honesty or virtue in another is really, really crucial.
And because we handle this massive heart of a thousand sun's glowing atomic powerhouse called truth, we keep thinking that its power seeps into us, you know, like radioactive spider venom or something and gives us these amazing Spider-Man powers.
It doesn't. It doesn't.
The truth is, there's nothing more powerful in the world except perhaps strong atomic forces, but the truth is the most powerful thing in the world, but we who speak the truth are virtually helpless, right?
And that distinction, which I'll go into hopefully in a useful way in this podcast, that distinction is really, really, really important because we are We are full of power, but we have no powers.
We are full of strength, but we can't lift a teacup.
And that's a real paradox.
But it's really, really important to get this distinction.
Because if you don't get this distinction, then you will forever feel like frustration and failure when it comes to getting other people to...
Change, right? To become curious about philosophy, to become curious about self-knowledge and psychology, introspection, all of the stuff that is around the elevation of the species, elevation of potential, the expansion of empathy, compassion, strength, courage, virtue, and all that throughout the world.
Because we who have felt the power of philosophy in our lives, We have this amazing respect for it, right?
We who have felt the amazing, incredible, fantastical effects of truth and virtue in our own lives.
We just have this astounding respect for its power, right?
And I think rightly so. I think we should have respect for its power.
Because it is so incredibly powerful, right?
If you surrender to the truth and you submit to the truth, your decisions, submit to principles, to rationalism, empiricism.
If you submit your decisions to that, right?
And let go of your mere preferences, right?
So, if you think you have a friend and You talk to your friend about X, Y, and Z that's troubling you, and if your friend just doesn't seem to give a rat's ass, then that's an empirical fact, right?
As opposed to, well, I guess I brought it up wrong, or maybe he was in a bad mood, you know.
You try it a couple of times, and if you consistently get back that your friend just doesn't seem to care about what's troubling you, then that's an empirical fact, right?
And when you submit your decisions about the quality of your relationships based on You know, UPB and RTR and all the kind of universal stuff that we talk about here.
Well, you get facts back that are unpleasant sometimes.
Obviously, the hope is that we get facts back that are pleasant, right?
Breakthroughs and positive steps forward in intimacy, trust, understanding, love, and respect.
But a lot of times we get stuff that's not...
That's not a lot of fun.
So when we submit our relationships to empirical examination, when we ask people what is truth, what is virtue, they're either going to say things that are wrong or they're going to say they don't know or maybe it's a magical answer that we haven't thought of or one that we have.
But when we use the power of philosophy, it has massive, massive cyclonic effects upon our life.
And because it has these amazing and powerful and magical and tremendous and terrifying effects on our own life when we act in philosophically sound, principled, empirical manners, we are fully charged with the power of philosophy.
And we surge across the seas with philosophy like a wind blowing 10,000 sails and sometimes taking us in every which direction but the one we want, but is something which is almost always useful, if not downright revelatory.
And because our sails are up and the wind is so staggeringly powerful, we feel this power And the joy and excitement and thrill that comes from a philosophical life, a life of integrity and virtue and curiosity and self-knowledge and honesty and courage and all this sort of stuff.
We then want others to experience this power.
In the same way that somebody who has magical access to it A 21st century dentist wants other people from the 17th century to have access to it.
Because you don't have to live like this, dying of tooth decay at 25 or whatever, right?
So, we are full of the power of truth.
The joy, the glory, the terror, the excitement, the thrill of truth.
Virtue, integrity, philosophy, principles.
And because it has such a powerful effect on our lives, we think that It should have a powerful effect on other people's lives.
And so we try to share this.
We talk about our excitement or our thrill or whatever, whatever, right?
And lo and behold, we find that it doesn't move other people, right?
Or it moves them away from us, right?
And this is related to Corruption Part 3, which is sort of why this is following, as we know why, right?
But there's a couple of things.
The wind is always blowing, but that doesn't mean that it affects everyone, right?
I'll stretch this metaphor until we hear a distant Chekhovian cherry tree pinging sound.
Cherry orchard pinging sound.
But the wind is always blowing, and for those of us out shouting on the wild, wild seas, you know, treading the squishy decks and throwing our ropes and bringing around our sails and shouting into the seagulls and sunrises, that is a very exciting time.
And we want other people to live as vibrantly and vivaciously as we do and to feel that joy and power of harnessing philosophy, the unconscious, the ecosystem, and all the stuff that we talk about here.
But, you know, we only have that excitement because we're out on the water and our sails are up.
And we're willing to go through the challenges of learning how to sail with...
I mean, with two things, fundamentally, right?
With principles and with the unconscious, right?
The two sort of, in a sense, being one and the same.
But with principles and the unconscious, that is where the real power and energy of life lies.
But... We then go to other people and we say, oh, you're going to come out here.
But they're in the basement.
They don't even know the wind.
Or they're in the basement because they unconsciously know the wind and don't want to go out.
Or they're just standing outside and it's not that windy where they are.
They're not out on the ocean.
Or maybe they're in the harbor.
You know, in a little rowboat without any sails.
They say, well, it's windy. That's just annoying, right?
They don't have any sails. Or maybe they're out in a sailboat, but their sails are not up, right?
In which case, the wind which so propels, excites, and terrifies us, it does not do the same for them because they're not out on the water with their sails up.
Right? So the fact that we're out on the water with our sails up means that we feel the power Of the truth.
The power, the excitement, the thrill, all of that good stuff.
We feel all of that.
But other people don't.
Or they get a vague sense of the excitement of wet-toed, storm-tossed, distant-traveling, ocean-crossing lives.
And they shrink further back into the basements, away from the Wind, right?
So the power that we feel does not, like the wind that we feel does not give us the ability to blow anybody anywhere.
We feel the wind because we're out in the ocean, our sails are up, and our spirits are high.
But that does not give us any wind with which to motivate or move others, right?
And understanding that difference is really important.
The power, thrill, and hand-trembling excitement that you feel is your sense of the power of principles and the full personality, of principles of authenticity.
But that thrill and excitement that you feel can in no way motivate somebody else to do anything, fundamentally.
You can't make anyone do anything, of course, right?
I mean, you can tell tales of the excitement of blue sky and stormy sailing, but you really can't blow anyone else out into the water.
You can't get anyone out of the basement, into the street, down to the harbor, into a boat, out to the sea, with the sails up.
The power of philosophy, the power that philosophy brings to us does not give us the power to bring philosophy to anyone else.
Let me say this again.
The power that philosophy brings to us does not give us the power to bring philosophy to anyone else.
We don't have that power.
We don't have the power to change other people.
We don't have the power to convince anyone.
We don't have the power for our words to magically move people's hearts and minds.
We don't have the power for our words to animate their hands, make them turn pages, plug in mp3 players, listen to podcasts, download books, watch videos, read Rand, read Rothbard, read Hayek, read von Mises, read Molyneux, whatever, right? The power that philosophy brings to us gives us no power to change anyone else.
One more metaphor, and it's a repetition, but I think has a powerful way of getting it across.
If we quit smoking, lose weight, and exercise, that gives us the magical power to live 20 or 30 years longer.
It's magic! Hell, if we floss, we get to keep our teeth, right?
20 or 30 years, life extensions, magic, right?
But that 20 or 30 years, magic life extension from quitting smoking, losing weight and exercising, in no way gives us the power to stop other people from smoking, eating too much and being sedentary, right?
It gives us stupendous power To extend our lifespan.
But it doesn't give us any power to put out one single cigarette in the world.
Or keep one bucket of fried chicken out of anyone's jowls.
Or get anybody off a couch.
Do you see the difference?
The power it gives to us in no way gives us the power to give it to others.
Can't. Now, I mean, of course, if we...
Quit smoking, lose weight, exercise, we'll look better, we'll feel better, feel healthier, live longer.
And then some people will be interested and motivated by that.
But that's their deal, right?
That's not our power to change, to affect, to control, right?
Can't do it. I'm not invested in your change.
I hope you do. I think it's great if you do.
If you go to therapy and self-knowledge and all that.
Truth, virtue, courage.
I know it's going to make you happier, but so what?
Everybody who's overweight knows dieting will make them thinner.
Doesn't mean they want it.
Enough to do it.
Doesn't mean. You losing weight doesn't keep one Oreo out of anybody else's cheeks.
And I think that's really, really important.
Because so often we interrupt our own growth in order to try and grow other people.
In other words, we stop dieting in order to go and help other people diet.
And it doesn't work.
It doesn't work.
My suggestion is always focus on becoming the most radiantly happy, powerful, excited, thrilled, deep, terrified, honest, open, authentic person that you can be.
That is the beacon that will ignite and excite others.
But the moment you focus on trying to change other people the moment you focus on trying to get other people to become interested in philosophy or self-knowledge or whatever it is that we're talking about here or whatever it is that's exciting to you the moment you try to use philosophy rather than live philosophy then it fizzles,
right? The moment you try and control the wind You get blown overboard, and then the wind dies, right?
So it's dead calm, right?
I will. Keep right.
So, we have this constant temptation, constant temptation, and it is really out of our own anxiety.
1288, I think it is, Empathy Part 2, right?
You might want to listen to that if you haven't.
It is our own anxiety That keeps us close to the herd, right?
That keeps us in this realm of, okay, I'll take three steps forward, but then I have to turn around and get someone else to take two steps forward so I don't feel alone.
I'm so thrilled with the power of philosophy that I have to go and CPR this power of philosophy into other people.
Get them to get excited about philosophy so that I'm not alone.
I don't feel alone. But it doesn't work.
It doesn't work. You can get other people excited about philosophy as long as you're not dependent on other people getting excited about philosophy.
It's a weird paradox, but it's true.
If you want to help other people because you are genuinely thrilled about the power and virtue of philosophy or self-knowledge, then that will communicate itself.
Because people will then get that you're not doing it for any nefarious purpose.
Right? And they will then...
Be open to it, right?
I mean, to take an example, a bit of a silly example, but I think it's valid.
If you're going in to buy a car and the salesman is relaxed and curious about what you want and so on, then you're going to be open, right?
You recognize that, yeah, okay, he wants to make a commission, but he genuinely wants to serve you.
He's not going to steer you wrong. If, on the other hand, though, you go in and the guy's shaking and he tells you, if he doesn't sell you this car, he's out of a job, you know he's not going to be objective, right?
And you're going to be that much less likely, if not, it's not going to be downright impossible to buy a car from him.
You just won't want to, right?
Because his need is overcoming his service to you, right?
His anxiety, his need for a job is overcoming his objectivity and his service to you, right?
You are now serving him and nobody wants to be accustomed to serving The salesman, right?
The salesman's job is to serve you, right?
And so if you are trying to get people to be interested in philosophy because you don't want to be alone, I mean, it won't work.
You're using other people to manage your own anxiety.
And they will sense that.
Everybody knows everything all the time.
Everyone is a genius and everyone knows everything all the time.
If you come to people and you say, you have to grow because I'm afraid of growing and being alone, then you're actually saying that growing makes you anxious and needy and desperate and frightened.
Well, you know, how's that gonna be, right?
Hey, I have a sports drink that makes you paranoid.
Want some? No, of course not, right?
It can only be out of a joy and fullness and a desire to share that joy and fullness and happiness that positive change can occur for others, right?
If you say, it is absolutely the greatest fun in the world to be out there on the ocean under a full wind with your sails all up, people are first of all going to say, I'm pretty skeptical, show me.
And if you're like, well, I don't want to go out there alone...
They're going to say, well, it can't be that much fun, can it?
Right? And I think that's just really, really important to understand that the power of philosophy doesn't give us any power to bring philosophy to other people.
This is true for me. I don't have any power to bring philosophy to anyone.
Right? Because I have no power over others.
Philosophy has given me, I think, amazing power within my own life.
Clarity of choice, clarity of purpose, clarity of virtue, clarity of courage, clarity of intent.
So philosophy has given me enormous power In my own life.
And we feel that that power radiates like flames from our fingertips out into the world and we can scorch the darkness away with the power of our woven fingertips.
But it's not true. The power that philosophy fills us with is only for us.
It is not something that brings any effect to the world outside whatsoever.
At all. I mean, there's a poem I wrote I mentioned before.
It's very short. Two men in a wood, one bad, one good, are both eaten by wolves, right?
The virtue doesn't provide you any protection against wolves, and it doesn't give you any power over anyone else at all.
And the moment you try to use it as power or leverage over other people, and I've seen people do this in the chatroom and in calls where they try to use knowledge or self-knowledge or philosophy to dominate others, and it just immediately is kind of gross.
It's kind of revolting to see, in my opinion, but it doesn't work.
It doesn't work. And understanding this powerlessness is really, really important.
It's really important. A philosophy should not bring with it feelings of futility and failure.
If it is, then you're doing something wrong, right?
And the reason that it shouldn't bring feelings of futility and failure is that it's about the truth, and the truth is efficacious, right?
And the first truth that we need to understand is that we don't have power over others, and that the power that philosophy fills It's a one-person cure, right?
It is entirely for us.
It is in no way transferable to other people.
And the moment we try and transfer it, we kill it within ourselves.
The moment we try and transfer it to others, we kill it in ourselves.
The moment we try to drag people out onto the ocean, the wind dies.
This always happens, right?
You see this metaphor all the time.
In movies, right? A kid sees some gremlin or something and drags his parents over, his parents look and sees nothing, right?
The moment we try and drag other people into seeing what we see, what we see vanishes, right?
That's why we do it. We know that, right?
We do it to avoid the stress of authenticity, the short-term stress of authenticity, self-knowledge.
Because if you don't remember this, and it's not the easiest thing in the world to remember, but it's worth really, really concentrating on.
Because if you don't remember this, you're going to feel like a failure all the time, right?
You're going to feel thwarted all the time.
You're going to feel like you have this beautiful treasure, and every time you try to show it to people, it turns into a handful of monkey dung, right?
And you're like, hey, this is the best tasting stuff ever.
Mmm, mmm. Want some?
Hey, that's monkey dung.
Damn! It was zirloin just a moment ago.
We focus on ourselves.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
The only way to change the world is to change yourself.
And it's absolutely true.
Because you go out and try and change other people, it simply won't work.
It simply won't work.
All you're doing is saying, I'm frightened and I need you to change because I don't believe...
In philosophy, right?
So you're...
UBB violation.
Ooga! Ooga! Ooga!
Philosophy is great. It's the best thing ever.
I have cancer. You have cancer.
I have a pill which cures cancer, but I'm not going to take it unless you do.
Well, why don't you take it and show me how it cures cancer and then maybe I'll be interested, right?
No, no, no! You have to take it!
You have to take it! It's like, why?
Right? I don't even think I have cancer.
You're the one who has cancer, not me.
Why do I have to take this pill?
Do you understand? Take the pill.
Just take the pill. Forget about changing other people.
You can inspire them over time if you don't need them to change, but forget about that.
If you aim at that, you'll miss completely.
I don't get mad at people who don't change.
Don't change, don't change. Don't quit smoking.
Don't quit smoking. I quit smoking.
I'm going to live longer, but if you want to keep smoking, it's your deal.
Don't blow it in my face, right?
But you can keep smoking.
I'm not going to get mad at you. It's up to you.
It's your choice, right? I'm not invested in that.
The world does not have to change because if I'm going to put my goddamn happiness on the world changing, I'm going to be miserable and frustrated from here to the end of time and wouldn't that suck, right?
Hi, Isabella. Welcome to your father.
He's thwarted angry and bitter.
Because why? Well, he got into philosophy, you see.
I mean, that would really suck, right?
It's not about changing others.
It's not about helping a goddamn soul.
Not about changing anybody else.
Not about getting anybody else to come along with you.
It's about you. Your happiness.
Your virtue. Your integrity. Your joy.
Your truth. Your honesty.
Your openness. Your vulnerability.
Your strength. Your power.
Your seamanship.
Seamanship. And as long as you accept that the power that you feel gives you no power to change others whatsoever, you can go your way content with your own growth and then you can become a beacon which will make it impossible for like-minded souls not to find you.
You can't turn clay into a god.
You can turn yourself into a god and then the pantheon will find you.
Thank you so much for listening.
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