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Speaker 1: Is happiness just an illusion or is there something we

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Speaker 1: can actually do about it? Today on The David Rutherford Show,

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Speaker 1: Hello friends, I am extremely fired up about this episode because,

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Speaker 1: as usual, on my journey on the road this week,

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Speaker 1: I have had a considerable amount of time to contemplate

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Speaker 1: why America is so bummed out right now. And if

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Speaker 1: you spend as much time as I do on X

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Speaker 1: on substack, on Instagram, on YouTube as a result of

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Speaker 1: me trying to be aware of what the mentality or

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Speaker 1: the consciousness of our society where it's at, it's pretty

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Speaker 1: apparent that right now people are pretty bummed out. Now,

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Speaker 1: before we get into this, I just want to say

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for all your support. You've been incredible.

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Speaker 1: We just we love the overwhelming outreach of support we're

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Speaker 1: getting all over the place. Please like, subscribe, and share

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Speaker 1: the show. It makes huge impact for us in the

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Speaker 1: algorithm and our algorithm. The algorithm is finally starting to

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Speaker 1: pick us up. There's one clip that we have on

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Speaker 1: Instagram that's gone over four hundred thousand views. That's because

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Speaker 1: you all are sharing it, you're commenting on it, you're

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Speaker 1: liking it. If you could do that for us on

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Speaker 1: all the different platforms YouTube, x all the places that

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Speaker 1: we're offering our content and the show on X are.

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Speaker 1: The show is at d Rutherford Show on Instagram, It's

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Speaker 1: at David Rutherford Show. On YouTube It's David The David

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Speaker 1: Rutherford Show. Or you can follow me at Team frog

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Speaker 1: Logic on everything. We still, Jordy, we still got to

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Speaker 1: get my YouTube channel back up and going, don't we

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Speaker 1: We got to figure that one out. If you, if

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Speaker 1: you know anybody at YouTube or anything, have them reach

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Speaker 1: out and help us, because, for the life of me,

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Speaker 1: I cannot find the credentials that allow me to get

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Speaker 1: back into my YouTube channel after they throttled me back

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. But your ideational YouTube's purse and it's

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Speaker 1: going to your jail, but mine's in jail still. I

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Speaker 1: think I don't know. Maybe they just what they'll say

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Speaker 1: is you've lost your password, and I was like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, give me a break. Anyways, we really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: If you want to sign up for the newsletter and

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Speaker 1: get our weekly newsletter that has all different kinds of

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Speaker 1: things in it, go to David Rutherford dot com. You

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Speaker 1: can sign up for the newsletter there. We've got a

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Speaker 1: pretty robust group coming, We're going to start putting some

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Speaker 1: more articles in there. Also, if you're interested in any

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Speaker 1: of the motivational topics or ideas that I've been teaching

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Speaker 1: for the last thirty years, the ones that I share

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Speaker 1: around the country for all the various organizations that I

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Speaker 1: speak with, most particularly the asset management firm that I

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Speaker 1: work with, go check those out. Because I teach three

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Speaker 1: different courses. You can get them online for two hundred dollars.

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Speaker 1: Each one is learning to Embrace your Fears, the second

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Speaker 1: is learning to Forge your Self confidence, and the third

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Speaker 1: is learning to live a team life. Those courses are available.

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Speaker 1: They're fantastic. Their journal based as well as some activity

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Speaker 1: but we just think they would make a huge impact

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Speaker 1: for you. Also sign up for my new upcoming fictional

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Speaker 1: book called The Poet Warrior, or go to the our

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Speaker 1: merchandise page on David Rutherford dot com. And I have

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Speaker 1: a self help book about self confidence, and then I

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Speaker 1: sell to kids book one which is a fitness book

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Speaker 1: with my cartoon character Doc Frog. The other is a

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Speaker 1: anti bully operation book with Doc and four of his

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Speaker 1: buddies that you know create up the Anti Bully Brigade. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that's all I got to say about that. The pursuit

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Speaker 1: of happiness. As I said before, when I'm in the airport,

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Speaker 1: I'm always sitting there kind of contemplating what my next

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Speaker 1: show is going to be. And early this week, when

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Speaker 1: I took off early in the morning on Tuesday to

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Speaker 1: head out to Salt Lake City, I just noticed they're

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Speaker 1: the not a malaise, but there's a heaviness across society

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Speaker 1: right now. There's a heaviness in every aspect. I hear

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Speaker 1: the heaviness in my children, right My four daughters all

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Speaker 1: teenage girls, So I hear it out of high schools.

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Speaker 1: I hear it in friends and peers and people I know. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: we see it on the internet in multiple different capacities

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Speaker 1: at every different age group. Most especially, I think this

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Speaker 1: has been a punctual by Charlie Kirk's assassination, But this

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Speaker 1: is not just the beginning of this cultural war that's

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Speaker 1: been taking place for I mean, you can argue is

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Speaker 1: it's always underpinned to society. There's always some type of

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Speaker 1: ambitious ideology or pathocracy that em talked about. That's that's

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Speaker 1: trying to wage war against the other intrinsic structures of society, right,

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Speaker 1: these hierarchical pillars that separate different groups within the overall

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Speaker 1: group itself, right, And I think you know those There's

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Speaker 1: a and also an idea that's constant. Is I think

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Speaker 1: people are saying to the sense, when are we going

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Speaker 1: to have some relief? When are we going to have

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Speaker 1: some that moment where you can wake up and you

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Speaker 1: can go pt out in your garage or go to

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Speaker 1: the gym early, get back, feed your kids or feed

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Speaker 1: yourself and then go to work. And on the way

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Speaker 1: to work, you're just listening to something that's making you laugh.

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Speaker 1: There's no heaviness into work, and work is doing great.

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Speaker 1: The economy's cranking, so your your job is viable. Your

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Speaker 1: organization you work for is increasing and generating more revenue. Right,

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Speaker 1: and there's you know, the world itself seems to be

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Speaker 1: in a stable position. Man. That That's what I think.

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Speaker 1: There's this underlying desire that people are looking for right now.

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Speaker 1: They want some semblance of order, or maybe not. It's

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Speaker 1: not ordered per se as much as it is that, oh,

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Speaker 1: we're not on the precipice of some catastrophe, Civil war,

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Speaker 1: World War three, financial collapse, whatever it might be. We

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Speaker 1: can have a place or a space and time which

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Speaker 1: most people say, you know, from nineteen ninety two to

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Speaker 1: two thousand, that time where we kind of can exhale

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Speaker 1: and just focus on the betterment of ourselves and our

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Speaker 1: communities and our families and our friends, and we don't

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Speaker 1: have this impending weight of destruction that surrounds us. And

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Speaker 1: you know, there's a group of people out there that

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Speaker 1: always seem to I don't know if it's challenged me

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Speaker 1: as much it is amaze me. And these are the

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Speaker 1: people that are like, oh, I don't watch the news

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Speaker 1: at all, and I'm not on social media. I don't

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Speaker 1: watch the news, and you know what, I'm better for it.

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Speaker 1: I live a more blissful life. I don't have this

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Speaker 1: impending doom that surrounds me all the time. And I

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Speaker 1: just I'm better. I feel better about my life, and

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Speaker 1: everything's just it's easier. I feel more happy. And to

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Speaker 1: a certain degree, I maybe it's not admire but I

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Speaker 1: certainly can acknowledge. Wow, that's a legitimate process or approach

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Speaker 1: to living your life where you can have some separation

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Speaker 1: from the turmoil or the dystopic future. That's you know,

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Speaker 1: right impending us outside your door, as you know is

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Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. And my outlook for that is, yes, you

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Speaker 1: are protecting your mental health. But there's another aspect of

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Speaker 1: it is that you're ignoring the reality of a societal

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Speaker 1: situation that if it continues to ascend and build and

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Speaker 1: grow or infect or metastasize or cannibalize the consciousness or

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Speaker 1: the conscious state of the world, the outcomes of that,

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Speaker 1: as we've already seen in our past, can be catastrophic.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's probably an understatement which which prevents

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Speaker 1: happiness in just about every way, shape or form. And

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, there's a reason why American culture

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Speaker 1: has absolutely integrated this quest or this pursuit of happiness.

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Speaker 1: I think it's built into American society. Why because it's

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Speaker 1: part of our foundation, right, It's part of the way,

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Speaker 1: it's part of the central idea that America was built

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Speaker 1: upon by our founding fathers and by those who actually

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Speaker 1: exited and left the tyranny of England in the sixteen hundreds.

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Speaker 1: They were seeking out a space of existence that could

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Speaker 1: they could be segregated from that tyranny that consummate impending

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Speaker 1: pressure of overreach or or the imposition of a particular

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Speaker 1: way of thinking or believing right, or the overreach of

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Speaker 1: a government's control in terms of taxation, or determining what

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Speaker 1: you could own versus not own, what is the governments

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Speaker 1: or what you lease? All of those components which drove

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Speaker 1: those pilgrims out of England. I think that's a part

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Speaker 1: of our foundational essence in America. I realize there are

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Speaker 1: many choices when it comes to who you choose for

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Speaker 1: your cell phone service, and there are new ones popping

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Speaker 1: up all over the place all of the time. But

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Speaker 1: here's the deal. There's only one that boldly stands in

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Speaker 1: the gap for every American that believes freedom is worth

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Speaker 1: fighting for. And I know that because I've done it myself,

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Speaker 1: and that's Patriot Mobile. For more than twelve years, Patriot

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Speaker 1: Mobile has been on the front lines fighting our god

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Speaker 1: given rights and freedoms while also providing exceptional nationwide cell

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Speaker 1: phone service with access to all three of the main networks.

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Speaker 1: Don't take my word for it, Ask the hundreds of

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Speaker 1: thousands of Americans who've made the switch and are now

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Speaker 1: supporting causes they believe in simply by joining Patriot Mobile.

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Speaker 1: Listen up, I'm here to tell you that switching is

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Speaker 1: easier than ever. Activate in minutes from the comforts of

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Speaker 1: your own home. You can keep your number, you can

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Speaker 1: keep your phone, or you can actually upgrade Patriot mobiles.

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Speaker 1: All US based support team is standing by to take

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Speaker 1: care of you. Simply call ninety seven to two Patriot today,

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Speaker 1: or go to Patriotmobile dot com forward slash Ruthiford. Use

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Speaker 1: promo code Rutherford that's r U T h E r

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Speaker 1: f O r D for a free month of service.

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Speaker 1: You heard that, correct, folks. For a free month. Just

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Speaker 1: type in my name Rutherford. That's Patriotmobile dot com forward

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Speaker 1: slash Rutherford, or simply call nine to seven to two Patriot.

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Speaker 1: Make the switch today. God bless America. Who Yah? And

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Speaker 1: you know, obviously everybody recognizes that the Declaration of Independence

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Speaker 1: is the defining document that generated an idea. The challenge

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Speaker 1: I believe now is that many of you have either

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Speaker 1: consciously or subconsciously detached yourself from that reference point that

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Speaker 1: it was the pursuit of happiness. It wasn't the guarantee

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Speaker 1: of happiness. Right. Happiness is one of the core eight emotions, right,

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Speaker 1: It's in there joy, right, and so but you have

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Speaker 1: to recognize, like all emotions, it's fleeting. As quick as

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Speaker 1: it comes, it can go, and in particular, if you

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Speaker 1: allow the external world to govern your interpretation or perception

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Speaker 1: of happiness itself. So how do we begin to contextualize

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Speaker 1: that from a historical perspective that roots us back in

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Speaker 1: what it when it actually meant what the author, Thomas Jefferson,

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Speaker 1: actually meant when he scribed that very famous phrase. Now

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Speaker 1: let's go back to the original, which was part of

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Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson's Right Declaration of Independence that he kind of

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Speaker 1: co authored, if you will. He was the found the

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Speaker 1: focused offer in it, but did have help from John

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Speaker 1: Adams and others. But it was this iconic sentence that

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Speaker 1: really encapsulates the idea of what the American Revolution, more

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Speaker 1: so the culture of an American society was built upon.

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Speaker 1: And that's we hold these truths to be self evident,

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Speaker 1: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed

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Speaker 1: by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these

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Speaker 1: are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, you

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Speaker 1: got to recognize that the conclusion of that was was

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Speaker 1: was not kind of haphazard right. It was an intent.

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Speaker 1: It was intentional. Every single word was chosen with specific intention.

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Speaker 1: And what you need to understand is that the intention

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Speaker 1: was not shallow in its aspiration, but it had with

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Speaker 1: it a depth of thinking through Thomas Jefferson, through John

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Speaker 1: Adams that was much more tangible or viable maybe that's

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Speaker 1: not the right word, much more intentional then. I think,

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Speaker 1: how many of us imagine the phrase itself to mean today? Right?

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Speaker 1: The pursuit of happiness? What makes us happy today? Right,

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Speaker 1: Having a certain level of material things, having a particular

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Speaker 1: financial health, having an oppert tunity that kind of generates

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Speaker 1: a sense of meaning, whether it's a job or your family,

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Speaker 1: a community, Right, these things that that's what it is.

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Speaker 1: But what Thomas Jefferson was trying to encapsulate in this

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Speaker 1: statement was much more sophisticated than I think most people

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Speaker 1: allow themselves to realize. Right, This was a deliberate choice

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Speaker 1: that was rooted in Enlightenment, Enlightenment philosophy, colonial colonial political thought,

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Speaker 1: and the specific context of the American Revolution itself. Right. Now,

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Speaker 1: that that's the thing that I think becomes a little

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Speaker 1: bit problematic intellectually or emotionally for people because this document

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Speaker 1: and that statements as what is what are our rights?

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Speaker 1: Is directly correlated to that our right are these inalienable rights.

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Speaker 1: But guess what we're willing to go toe to toe

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Speaker 1: with the greatest empire arguably in human history, the English Empire, right,

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Speaker 1: the monarchy of England. Remember that back then the sun

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Speaker 1: never set on the English Empire because of its naval fleet.

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Speaker 1: And it's a colonial ability to overwhelm certain areas around

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Speaker 1: the world that had huge natural resources and trade opportunities.

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Speaker 1: So the context of the pursuit of happiness is built

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Speaker 1: upon the essence of revolution itself. So, as you begin

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Speaker 1: to listen to my explanation of what this actually means,

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Speaker 1: think about this stuff that I'm telling you, allow it

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Speaker 1: to sync in as you're listening to me in your

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Speaker 1: car right now, as you're listening to me while you

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Speaker 1: work out this pursuit of happiness is contextualized by the

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Speaker 1: American revolution itself, all right now, the origins of the

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Speaker 1: phrase are quite interesting. Right when you think about the

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Speaker 1: pursuit of happiness in quotations, you know it traced back

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Speaker 1: to the confluence of intellectual traditions that shaped our founding

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Speaker 1: father's worldview, right. A primary influence at this time of

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Speaker 1: Jefferson was John Locke, right, who's eighteen sixty nine the

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Speaker 1: Second Treasty of Government outlined unalienable rights as life, liberty,

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Speaker 1: and a state or property right, and that was the

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Speaker 1: ability to own your own shit right, and that the

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Speaker 1: government or the aristocracy of the imperial man. Once you

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Speaker 1: purchased it or conquered it man, that was yours and

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Speaker 1: nobody was going to take it for you. And within

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Speaker 1: that sense of ownership where you could build a structure

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Speaker 1: that gave you enclosure and you could raise a family

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Speaker 1: and carve out in the wilderness, which they literally did,

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Speaker 1: a place for you to just exist and pursue this

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Speaker 1: happiness right. So John Locke was huge and a big

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Speaker 1: time admirer of Locke. Jefferson was big time and adapted

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Speaker 1: this triad. But here's the kicker. What did he substitute.

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Speaker 1: He got rid of the estate or the essence of

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Speaker 1: the pursuit of a state of property, and he put

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Speaker 1: in the pursuit of happiness for property. Now you know

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Speaker 1: this phrase, This overall general idea was more closely aligned

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Speaker 1: with George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights adapted on June twelfth.

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Speaker 1: Instead of July fourth, r eight weeks before Jefferson's draft,

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Speaker 1: and then in his he said, quote certain inherent rights,

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Speaker 1: namely the enjoyment of life, liberty, and with the means

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Speaker 1: of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness

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Speaker 1: and safety end quote. So it's interesting, he added. Mason

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Speaker 1: added the other thing, Right, he recognized that the initial

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Speaker 1: components and remember these go back to enlightenment thinking on

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Speaker 1: what enables the human soul to have that sensation of

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Speaker 1: strength or conviction or protection of their state of mind. Right,

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Speaker 1: because that's what all this is. It's like, this is

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Speaker 1: what gives you proper mental health. And when you look

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Speaker 1: at what the mental health crisis of what's going on

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Speaker 1: in America, what are the fundamental ideas? Right? Physical health

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Speaker 1: has been attacked through over prescription of drugs and pharmaceuticals,

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Speaker 1: the impact of our food. Right, keeping young kids encapsulated

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Speaker 1: indoors for eight hours a day, infecting them with a

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Speaker 1: particular desire that the only sense of meaning they're going

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Speaker 1: to have is if they go work for some mega corporation. Right,

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Speaker 1: that whole thing. So all these things are in a

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Speaker 1: front right to what we're doing now or implementing now

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Speaker 1: into our kids and in ourselves was kind of countering

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Speaker 1: too to what these these men were talking about. And

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Speaker 1: so Mason included that right now, you know, when Jefferson

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Speaker 1: was working on the Declaration in Philadelphia, he had access

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Speaker 1: to all these thoughts. Like when he's he's contemplating, he's

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Speaker 1: just not sitting there, you know, in some poetic kind

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Speaker 1: of stream of consciousness state. He's thinking about each word

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Speaker 1: and why it's important and where it comes from from

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Speaker 1: him philosophically. Now, Jackson also drew from a ton beyond

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Speaker 1: Locke and Mason, and from Scottish Enlightenment figures like Francis Hutchinson,

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Speaker 1: David Hume, Henry Home or otherwise known as Lord Kames,

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Speaker 1: and Adam Smith, who all discussed happiness here it is

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Speaker 1: as a moral pursuit involving virtue and reason. Now you

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Speaker 1: know what's interesting is Lord kames writings on moral philosophy

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Speaker 1: influenced Jefferson the frame happiness as the practice of virtue

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Speaker 1: in harmony with natural laws, right, the practice of virtue.

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Speaker 1: So the idea then immediately should be what comes to

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Speaker 1: the forefront of your consciousness while you listen is what

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Speaker 1: how do I practice virtue, or even more so, what

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Speaker 1: what what are virtues to me? Like? What aspect of

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Speaker 1: my life am I engaging in day in and day

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Speaker 1: out that's virtuous? Right? And then? And then is that

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Speaker 1: practice of virtue harmonious with what the natural environment offers me?

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Speaker 1: You know? And I don't think people are looking at

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Speaker 1: it like that. We've whatever, the powers that be have

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Speaker 1: stripped us in our consciousness, our philosophical pursuit away from

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Speaker 1: the court correlation of virtue and our integration into the

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Speaker 1: natural environments right now? What is virtue? Virtue is a

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Speaker 1: moral quality or trait considered to be good or desirable,

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Speaker 1: reflecting ethical excellence and righteousness. It often involves attributes like honesty, courage, capassion,

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Speaker 1: or justice, which guide actions towards the greater good. In philosophy,

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Speaker 1: virtues are habits or dispositions that enable a person to

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Speaker 1: live a morally good life, often balancing extremes example Aristotle's

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Speaker 1: Golden Mean. Different cultures and systems emphasize specific virtues like

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Speaker 1: the cordial virtues prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, or in

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Speaker 1: Western thought or Confucian virtues like benevolence or propriety. All right,

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Speaker 1: so when I put in you know, hey, groc, give

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Speaker 1: me a list of all the virtues. This is what

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Speaker 1: it pumped out, right, And I watch you in your mind.

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Speaker 1: Let's take thirty seconds right now in your head to

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Speaker 1: think of as many virtues as you can right while

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Speaker 1: you're sitting there. You got this in your head. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna give you thirty seconds to think about it, all right. Dude, udeoo, dude,

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Speaker 1: do doo doo doo doo doo. God, I hated that,

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Speaker 1: all right, think about it. Don't just think wait for

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Speaker 1: me to say it. Actually come up with at least

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Speaker 1: three or four virtues. And see how many of them

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Speaker 1: you come up with that that meet this list? All right?

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Speaker 1: Ten more seconds five, four, three two one? All right,

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Speaker 1: here we go, Jordy, go ahead, give me your list. Courage?

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Speaker 1: Wait did you look it up? Did you type it in?

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Speaker 1: Why I was doing that? I saw your little fingers

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Speaker 1: moving over there. I was not you. Okay, okay, good,

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Speaker 1: Then go for it.

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Speaker 2: Let me hear what you came up with them, all right, go,

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Speaker 2: I would say, first and foremost is the courage, yep, Honesty,

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Speaker 2: all right? Discipline, oh love it good. That's a good,

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Speaker 2: good place to tell that's good. All right, I dig it,

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Speaker 2: that's good. Good job, that's those are good one. All right,

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Speaker 2: here we go. You're ready.

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Speaker 1: Courage, wisdom, justice, temperance, compassion, honesty, humility, patience, kindness, integrity, gratitude, forgiveness, forgiveness, prudence,

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Speaker 1: it is, prudence, charity, hope, fortitude, loyalty, respect, diligence, chastity, generosity, peacefulness,

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Speaker 1: and sincerity. All right, How often are you thinking about

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Speaker 1: one of those concepts in depth? How often are you

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Speaker 1: teaching one of your children those concepts on how to

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Speaker 1: manage their behaviors. So they're pursuing a particular skill set

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Speaker 1: or idea or relationship with generosity integrated into that, with

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Speaker 1: peacefulness integrated into that, with gratitude, forgiveness, kindness, hope integrated

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Speaker 1: into that pursuit of those activities, right, Because that's what

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Speaker 1: it is. You have these things in our lives that

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Speaker 1: give us fulfillment. Educating ourselves, engagement with our peers and friends,

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Speaker 1: engagement with family members, right, the intimacies in those relationships,

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Speaker 1: the adventure that's out in front of us, right, because

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Speaker 1: that's a huge part of that pursuit, right, the pursuit

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Speaker 1: of happiness should include the adventure of going to experience

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Speaker 1: new endeavors. But how are you going to do it?

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Speaker 1: What's the formula? What's the structure of your belief systems

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Speaker 1: that I talked about before, Well, these are the words

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Speaker 1: that you should use to formula to formulate these intentions

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Speaker 1: in your life right now. This list covers virtues from

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Speaker 1: various traditions including you know those classical cardinals, right, Christian

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Speaker 1: theological virtues, other global ethical systems, right, a wide variety.

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Speaker 1: These are things that the reality is. These are the

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Speaker 1: things that human beings have been fortifying throughout human hitting,

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Speaker 1: right from that first moment of that first what is it,

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Speaker 1: that revelatory awakening of human consciousness? Whenever that took place,

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Speaker 1: whether it was a singular act, like, I believe that

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Speaker 1: at one point there was this immaculate conception of consciousness

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Speaker 1: within a particular being that then began to spread through

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Speaker 1: the evolution of that particular piece Homo sapiens or whatever

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Speaker 1: came before that, right, and perhaps maybe the consciousness was

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Speaker 1: different in those other groups. I mean, obviously some races

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Speaker 1: and groups out there have neothan what is it a

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Speaker 1: Neanderthal DNA and them and all that stuff. But there

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Speaker 1: was a moment obviously that took place. That was the

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Speaker 1: crossover where all of a sudden, like you're like, oh, whoa,

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Speaker 1: I'm aware, I'm self concent that I can think about thinking, right,

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Speaker 1: that I can plan out. I can concoct a plan

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Speaker 1: that keeps me alive from the natural realities of the world. Right,

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Speaker 1: those things that want to kill me, poisoning me, the

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Speaker 1: environmental effects that want to erase me, you know, all

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Speaker 1: of these external things. Now what I can do is

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Speaker 1: I there's someone else, there's another being that has that

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Speaker 1: capacity for consciousness too. We can figure out how to

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Speaker 1: interact through whatever means it is to formulate a plan

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Speaker 1: together which exponentially increases our ability to survive and thrive. Right.

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Speaker 1: So that's how long this is because what happens each

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Speaker 1: iteration of that behavioral component, those those those tied together

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Speaker 1: actions generates what over time, the more we do things

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Speaker 1: that are iterable for the benefit of our our survival,

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Speaker 1: those generate what a virtue. Out of that iterable behavior

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Speaker 1: comes something that we hold true, and that's a virtue.

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Speaker 1: That's one of these virtues. So then what we can

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Speaker 1: do is if we get our tribe, culture, subculture, societies

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Speaker 1: to all buy in to those iterable virtues. Now we

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Speaker 1: have a system that we can emerge to another level,

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Speaker 1: in another level, in another level. And what we've seen

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Speaker 1: throughout history or recorded history we have is that when

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Speaker 1: these societies begin to move away from these core virtues

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Speaker 1: that are integrated into pretty much every existing society or

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Speaker 1: civilization throughout history, which keeps them going. When we move

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Speaker 1: away from those core virtues and implement another line of

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Speaker 1: virtues or moral relativism that the individual themselves constructs, whatever

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Speaker 1: their virtuous nature is, you know, there's a whole other

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Speaker 1: side of that which is detrimental towards the continued reciprocal

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Speaker 1: game that's being played that oh, if I do it,

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Speaker 1: you'll do it. If we do it together, we survive

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Speaker 1: and thrive. But there's that one person who comes in

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Speaker 1: and says, now I'm not playing a game. I want

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Speaker 1: what I want, I get what I get, I desire

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Speaker 1: what I desire, I want it at any time, to

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Speaker 1: hell with you, And that breaks up the system. It

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Speaker 1: causes the chaos, which then degrades into violence, evil, destruction,

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Speaker 1: the whole thing. Right, So, when you start to think

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Speaker 1: about the creation of virtue. Right. It really is is

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Speaker 1: this goes back to classical antiquity. And when you look

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Speaker 1: at the great thinkers of our time, right, you had

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Speaker 1: Aristotle with his initial concept of you to ammonia, right

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Speaker 1: or ood ammonia, which is human flourishing through virtuous living. Right.

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Speaker 1: And so's that's pretty fun are back, man, I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's that's that's that's that's old, right. Other people like

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Speaker 1: Cicero epic epic eighties, epic eighties, Marcus Aurelius with his stoicism, right,

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Speaker 1: and it's all this lifelong quest for self improvement and

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Speaker 1: ethical conduct rather than mere pleasure. And I think what's

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Speaker 1: happened is that our society, modern society, as things have

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Speaker 1: gotten easier, right with supermarkets and Amazon and liquor stores

426
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: around the corner and whatever else, you need to uh

427
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 1: anesthetize yourself from the reality of those who seek ultimate

428
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:48,720
Speaker 1: control of your own sovereignty. As you ignore that, that

429
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 1: pursuit of happiness becomes almost a numbing effect. You're you're

430
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: you're seeking to numb yourself from the reality that this

431
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 1: is a consummate fight, the pursuit of happiness. It's revolutionary

432
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 1: in nature. So One of the guys that I think

433
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 1: really had the most impact as I was doing research

434
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: on this was if you looked at who Jefferson was

435
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: deeply into in the seventeen seventies, and that was a

436
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 1: person named Cicero, an ancient philosopher, and he wrote this

437
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 1: one these series of books called the Tusculine Disposition or Disputations,

438
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: which links happiness to wisdom and tranquility. All right, wisdom

439
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: and tranquility. So we've seen happiness connected to the pursuit

440
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 1: of living a virtuous life. Now Cicero talks about wisdom

441
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 1: and tranquility. So think about what it takes to become

442
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: wise life, experience, adventure, multiple failures, relationships, understanding what's good

443
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,400
Speaker 1: and bad in a relationship. And through that that exposition

444
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 1: or that exploration, as at the end result of that

445
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 1: arduous you know, path, right, that path of righteousness or salvation,

446
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: we can find some momentary tranquility that we think we

447
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,480
Speaker 1: understand the world around us through the lens of these virtues,

448
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 1: and that I've this exercise or this ambition, or this

449
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 1: this this combat against mere pleasure, right, that's what begins

450
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 1: to give us. Ah. Now I'm I'm I'm I have

451
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: a tranquility about my effort right now when you look

452
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,319
Speaker 1: at these overview of these five books, and I'll go

453
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,359
Speaker 1: through this pretty quickly, right right, What the purpose of

454
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: these books was, uh uh? Cicero was aiming to provide

455
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 1: practical philosophy for Romans, synthesizing Greek through primarily Stoic and

456
00:34:54,280 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: Epicurean and peripatetic influences, to address emotional distress and guide

457
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 1: readers towards virtuous and a tranquil life. Now, this dialogue

458
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:12,360
Speaker 1: pretty much he began this in forty five BCE, right,

459
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: So that's what I want you to really think about that.

460
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: Human beings have been thinking about what this means the

461
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,279
Speaker 1: pursuit of happiness for thousands of years. And it's not

462
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 1: like you know, where we have deep thought is you

463
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,400
Speaker 1: take a twenty minute break while you're on the shitter

464
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: from scrolling and you hear you see something in depth

465
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: by someone you follow, and you sit back and you're like,

466
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 1: oh wow, that's heavy, right, and then twenty minutes later

467
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:44,719
Speaker 1: you're backing to the monotony of the material pursuit of happiness.

468
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,799
Speaker 1: These people would sit around for years, I mean, how

469
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: many years did they cart go into the woods? Ten years?

470
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 1: That dude try to figure out his philosophical ideation. Right,

471
00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 1: So when you think about you know this, you know

472
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 1: and these are dialogues between Cicero and a narrarator, a

473
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 1: narrator interlocator. Often I'm named in a Socratic style that

474
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 1: he did in his tusculin Villa. All right. The core

475
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: thesis in this is happiness demands on inner virtue and wisdom,

476
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:21,359
Speaker 1: not external circumstances, and tranquility is achieved by mastering emotions

477
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 1: and fear through reason, all right, book number one. And

478
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 1: this is fascinating on the contempt on the contempt of

479
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 1: death right, and that's overcoming the fear of death to

480
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 1: achieve tranquility. Now, this was really what set me forth

481
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,839
Speaker 1: in my quest to become a Navy seal and keep

482
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,439
Speaker 1: carrying a gun, was that I had this bizarre, unrealistic

483
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 1: fear of death right. I was afraid of it. Like

484
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,439
Speaker 1: why and why was I afraid of it? I think

485
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 1: partially because in my childhood I hadn't experienced any hardship

486
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 1: or real trauma or toughness. Was I mean, I grew

487
00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,120
Speaker 1: up in boke Ratone. My parent my dad would as

488
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,799
Speaker 1: an attorney. I you know, went to great schools. I

489
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,760
Speaker 1: didn't have any worries at all, and so I moved

490
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 1: into this place of pleasure, if you will, intellectually and

491
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: didn't want to be challenged. But that didn't get me.

492
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:13,480
Speaker 1: So it got me to a point. Was like, when

493
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 1: I started to become a man, I had no real

494
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:20,319
Speaker 1: concept of what that masculinity or manhood was like, or

495
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 1: what the intention behind it, or what I was supposed

496
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: to do with it, how I was supposed to figure

497
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: it out. And so, you know, part of his key

498
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 1: arguments in this is death is not an evil. It

499
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:40,239
Speaker 1: is either annihilation which is no suffering, or a transition

500
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 1: to the afterlife, which is potentially better. Now, I fundamentally

501
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 1: believe that my death will open up a space for

502
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,399
Speaker 1: heaven in the afterlife with Christ. So but in order

503
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: to get there, what do I have to do? I

504
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 1: have to pursue this revolutionary happiness, virtual endeavor, this pressure

505
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 1: to constantly be righteous in my existence. Right, don't forget

506
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,799
Speaker 1: that list of virtues, because that's what the pursuit is.

507
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 1: And if I do that, then I'll have some what

508
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 1: what will emerge in that wisdom? And that's understanding deaths

509
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:26,719
Speaker 1: inevitability and irrelevance to happiness, drawing on Stoic and Platonic ideas. Right,

510
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 1: certainly I understand the pursuit and the presence of death

511
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 1: if you exist within special operations. It's the whole thing

512
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: is a death culture, right. Everything surrounds the eventual confrontation

513
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:49,120
Speaker 1: between a warrior or terrorists, or evil, good and evil,

514
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: wherever you want to look at it. It's that pursuit

515
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:57,840
Speaker 1: of confronting the thing that ultimately will destroy the pursuit

516
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:04,319
Speaker 1: of happiness for my tribe. Right. So you know, he

517
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 1: also refutes fears by arguing the soul's immorality, and that's

518
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 1: from Plato or alternatively, the non existence is not to

519
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: be feared, which is the Epicurean view. Now, in linking

520
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:21,360
Speaker 1: this to happening, fear of death disrupts tranquility. Wisdom dispels

521
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 1: this fear, enabling a calm life focused on virtue. So

522
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 1: if you pursue this virtuous life, right, you know, depend

523
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 1: upon where you look at If you're a Christian, have

524
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 1: faith in the afterlife. Man, you're going to do the

525
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: things that you need to do that you know you'll

526
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 1: be welcomed into eternal existence and for me through my Christianity. Right.

527
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: And the other is, if it is annihilation, that's it.

528
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 1: It's over, it's done. You know you've pursued this thing,

529
00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:51,359
Speaker 1: this reward of being virtuous to the people you care

530
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 1: most about, and to give that presence which creates what

531
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:59,359
Speaker 1: tranquility in the chaos that is otherwise life itself. All right.

532
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,800
Speaker 1: The second one book was Enduring Pain, and he says

533
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,760
Speaker 1: the theme of this is pain is not an insurmountable

534
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: evil and can be endured through mental strength. Key arguments

535
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:14,120
Speaker 1: pain is a body sensation, but its perception is magnified

536
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 1: by the mind's weakness. Now I pitch this all the time.

537
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,800
Speaker 1: This is a core understanding of all of the frog

538
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 1: logic concepts. Right, pain is an inevitability. Suffering and pain

539
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,919
Speaker 1: are imbued in life, no matter way which one. Even

540
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 1: if the existence of knowing you're gonna die, that's going

541
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,400
Speaker 1: to infuse pain. But as you see others suffering around

542
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: you from drug addictions, overdoses, through bad health, mental health, trauma, abuse, neglect,

543
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 1: all these things that seem to be a component of

544
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,760
Speaker 1: those who lack the ability to pursue happiness, or virtuousness

545
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,480
Speaker 1: and only seek pleasure, right, or don't push themselves to

546
00:40:55,640 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 1: develop that the armor of virtuousness or righteousness, if you will. Right,

547
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 1: what happens that pain overwhelms them and then they lack

548
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 1: discipline and they lack this tranquility, and so that infects

549
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 1: the environments around them. So pain is a part of it.

550
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: It's how you perceive it. So I always talk when

551
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: I talk to the teams that I work with, man,

552
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,920
Speaker 1: part of your training should be implementing positive pain. That's

553
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 1: what they did to us and Seal program. Right. It

554
00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: was the application of positive pain that derived that drive

555
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: the evolution of our team life or our culture. Our

556
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,680
Speaker 1: our team culture, and that team culture was built on

557
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,719
Speaker 1: the willingness to sacrifice for those you love most, to

558
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,759
Speaker 1: accept the harsh pain of existence on the battlefield as

559
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:45,240
Speaker 1: a component of the virtuousness that makes us strong together

560
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,880
Speaker 1: and that brings our happiness. That's the happiness they're talking about.

561
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 1: Book three talks about grief and emotional distress all right, now,

562
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 1: Alleviating grief and emotional disturbances is very difficult because it's

563
00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: emotions like grief arrive from false beliefs about the importance

564
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 1: of external goods like wealth, status, whatever it might be,

565
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:11,960
Speaker 1: and so often we grieve in that part. Right, we

566
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,359
Speaker 1: have emotional distress because we don't feel like we have enough.

567
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,320
Speaker 1: We don't rate against our neighbors. Hell, I live in

568
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 1: a place that's completely inundated with high net worth people.

569
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: I'm surrounded by it. Even my job is all about

570
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:30,320
Speaker 1: high net worth people. And so I'm constantly bearing witness

571
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 1: to that. As the arbitrator of happiness. If you can

572
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: retire at fifty five, you've got a lake house and

573
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,880
Speaker 1: all this other stuff, And that's the aspiration of happiness,

574
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 1: which distorts rot the pursuit of happiness that's based on

575
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 1: what ch efforts and is trying to implement through all

576
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 1: these other people. Right, So get in touch with that understanding,

577
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:57,800
Speaker 1: right that you know he rational self control and philosophical

578
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:02,000
Speaker 1: reflection that helps you ocome the distress of all these

579
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:06,839
Speaker 1: other ideas or material ideas that distract you from pursuing

580
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 1: this virtuous philosophy. Right, All right, the book number four

581
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:17,759
Speaker 1: on other emotional disturbances, right, and this is managing all

582
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 1: your passions. Right. Fear Anger desires to achieve what he

583
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 1: calls a balanced soul. Now, This has been a huge

584
00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,439
Speaker 1: part of the self help moving which really I think

585
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 1: emerged in the late nineteen sixties. And you know in

586
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,880
Speaker 1: a way that it is today right through humanistic psychology

587
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,040
Speaker 1: and all of what now is positive psychology and all

588
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:44,120
Speaker 1: these other things, right, the pursuit of this happy state, right,

589
00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: And that's what you know, yolo and all these other

590
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:55,400
Speaker 1: ideas like that have emerged in our social consciousness right right,

591
00:43:55,680 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 1: because emotions are disorders caused by irrational judgments, and that's

592
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 1: per the stoic doctor. And what I see is young

593
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 1: people who are in this emotional distress that they don't

594
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:10,640
Speaker 1: have safe spaces. They you know, the words are violence,

595
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:16,400
Speaker 1: all this crap that's just permeating across so many different

596
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 1: levels of our society and demographics and age groups. It's

597
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: it's it's ridiculous. Since when in human history has has

598
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: this been a reality? And it's not. And what it is,

599
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 1: it's a hyper need to protect themselves against what the

600
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 1: harshness of life itself. And you can't continue to create

601
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:41,839
Speaker 1: safe spaces. It's just an impossibility. There's no such thing

602
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:45,759
Speaker 1: as a safe space. And it's illusion that people who

603
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 1: want to manipulate other people have created for them to believe.

604
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: There is no safe space. Right, there's no space space

605
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:58,160
Speaker 1: in your own mind. The contemplation of your meaning or

606
00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:02,480
Speaker 1: value that pursued a virtuous that's pressure that can cause

607
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 1: emotional distress if you don't have something to aim at,

608
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:11,399
Speaker 1: something to focus on. Right, and that whole thing right,

609
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 1: wisdom as rational control of passions, creates a tranquil mind. Right,

610
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: it's the essential for lasting happiness. Now people want to

611
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 1: imagine again, this thing is about right. If I can

612
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,399
Speaker 1: feel happy, if I feel that sense of elation, then

613
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:32,360
Speaker 1: that's my pursuit. That's an illusion. Happiness comes from the

614
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,080
Speaker 1: fact that when you're surround, when you're in the storm

615
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:39,560
Speaker 1: of life, your boat, your ship, your proverbial metaphorical ship

616
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,799
Speaker 1: of your mind, the mass doesn't crack, and if it does,

617
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,240
Speaker 1: you don't freak out, or you don't lose your rudder.

618
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 1: And if it does, you don't freak out, or the

619
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,200
Speaker 1: whole cracktion, you don't freak out, or you go into

620
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 1: water on your whatever. You don't freak out. You can

621
00:45:53,160 --> 00:46:00,360
Speaker 1: maintain the sense of what. The pursuit of happiness, the

622
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 1: pursuit of those virtues that control everything, is not the end.

623
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:15,280
Speaker 1: Everything is not dystopia, incarnate the world. The sky isn't

624
00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 1: falling every fricking minute. Why because you have the wisdom

625
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 1: to recognize, you know that which does not kill you

626
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: only makes you stronger. Quote a little Nietzsche. And the

627
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:32,719
Speaker 1: last book is on the sufficiency of virtue for happiness.

628
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:36,400
Speaker 1: Virtue alone is sufficient for a happy life, he says,

629
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:42,720
Speaker 1: regardless of external circumstances. He defends the stoic view that virtue, wisdom, justice, courage,

630
00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 1: temperance is the sole good ensuring happiness even in its adversity.

631
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:51,480
Speaker 1: He engages with other schools, the Epicureans who prioritize pleasure

632
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:59,080
Speaker 1: and parapatetics who include external goods and happiness, which is

633
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:03,279
Speaker 1: we as we know know a distraction from that pursuit. Right,

634
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:08,600
Speaker 1: If I have this Rolex watch, I'm happy. If I

635
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: own this home, I'm happy. If I have the top

636
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 1: paining job, I'm happy. And that's what gets us distracted.

637
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: And that's what this whole thing has been conjured at

638
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 1: what it's done. Right and now, because we're we have

639
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:27,480
Speaker 1: so much access to information and there's so many choices

640
00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:32,480
Speaker 1: to pursue, people are overwhelmed because they're not focused on

641
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:39,080
Speaker 1: those virtues to guide them in their ambitions, right all right?

642
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,480
Speaker 1: You know, I think as you go through, you know,

643
00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:48,320
Speaker 1: Cicero actually argues that happiness is attainable through wisdom and virtue,

644
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 1: which enables tranquility by freeing the mind from fear, pain,

645
00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 1: and emotional disturbance. Each book addresses a specific obstacle to happiness,

646
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:01,319
Speaker 1: offering philosophical tools to overcome it. Again, if you want

647
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: to understand the length of which, go back. Read some Cicero,

648
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,920
Speaker 1: read some Marcus Aurelius, read some Plato, Socrates, And it's

649
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 1: not to adapt their genuine nature of philosophical ideas, but

650
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,760
Speaker 1: it's to understand that this is a journey that humans

651
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:20,920
Speaker 1: have not stopped. There has not been an interruption in

652
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:25,520
Speaker 1: this pursuit since the dawn of our consciousness. So what

653
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:31,440
Speaker 1: are you doing with your consciousness? Are you pursuing this happiness?

654
00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:35,520
Speaker 1: You know, when you when you go back in and

655
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: you really look at why Jefferson incorporated this instead of

656
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,040
Speaker 1: the property clause as the as the ultimate idea in

657
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:49,400
Speaker 1: that you know, it was intentional and multifaceted. You know,

658
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 1: I think what he says is while Locke focused on

659
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:57,520
Speaker 1: material estate, as a right. Colonial documents like Mason's treated

660
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:03,080
Speaker 1: property and happiness as separate. Property involved acquisition and possession,

661
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: while happiness encompass broader flourishing. The distinction avoided equating rights

662
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:17,360
Speaker 1: solely with ownership, which could have implement implications with the

663
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 1: whole slavery thing at the time. Right, And I think

664
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: Jefferson was a parent even though he was a slave owner,

665
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:26,200
Speaker 1: sleeping with one of his slaves, having children with one

666
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,960
Speaker 1: of his slaves. He was aware of that distinction that

667
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:32,040
Speaker 1: needed to be made, that it was not about the

668
00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:35,160
Speaker 1: possession of property and more about the possession of this

669
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:39,640
Speaker 1: happiness or virtue as that which will make human beings

670
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 1: amidst the grandeur of suffering and pain, that will give

671
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:48,120
Speaker 1: them that sensation that their life has meaning. Therefore, they're

672
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:53,399
Speaker 1: actively participating in the pursuit of good deeds, of being

673
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:57,879
Speaker 1: good men and women. You know, this made it more

674
00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: aspirational and inclusive, appealing to a diverse colonial audience seeking

675
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 1: justification for independence. Again, I go back that revolutionary spirit, right,

676
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 1: and that revolutionary spirit is what should be. I know

677
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,959
Speaker 1: it's taking place in many of you. I know you're

678
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 1: having that. I think there are many people that are

679
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:22,600
Speaker 1: fomenting this aggression against each other at pretty high degree

680
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:26,719
Speaker 1: right now. And that's what you know. Whatever the opposite

681
00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: side is, whatever the anarchists or the communists or the

682
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:34,960
Speaker 1: Marxists or the socialists or whatever want, they want to

683
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:38,920
Speaker 1: tear down the framework of virtue within us that pursue.

684
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,040
Speaker 1: What they say is you'll be happy when you owe nothing,

685
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:47,240
Speaker 1: and you'll like it. That's what it is. We will

686
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 1: give you everything you need to be happy, which is

687
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: essentially anesthetizing or impeding or muting or cutting out the

688
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:02,879
Speaker 1: very things in side you philosophically that are driving you

689
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:05,960
Speaker 1: to become the person you've always wanted to be, which

690
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:09,279
Speaker 1: is righteous in a place where salvation will accept you

691
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 1: because you've been virtuous and you have healthy relationships, and

692
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: you have deep meaning because you sacrifice yourself for your tribe,

693
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 1: your clan, your your culture, your sub sect of society,

694
00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 1: your communities, your churches. Hey, that's giving you that deeper

695
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:37,480
Speaker 1: sense of purpose. You know when you think about that

696
00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: list of virtues, this has been incorporated throughout time. I mean,

697
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:44,959
Speaker 1: you know, one of the great thinkers of that time

698
00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:49,840
Speaker 1: also was Benjamin Franklin, you know, and you know He

699
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,400
Speaker 1: had these thirteen lists of virtues that if you adhere

700
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:58,480
Speaker 1: to them, you would have this this sensation of happiness

701
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,360
Speaker 1: in you. It would give you that tulity or that wisdom,

702
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: It would give you that sense of righteousness and being.

703
00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:09,240
Speaker 1: And so these were his right temperance, eat and drink,

704
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:14,160
Speaker 1: and moderation, Avoid excess silence, Speak only with only what

705
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:19,680
Speaker 1: benefits others or yourself. Avoid idle chatter, order, keep things organized,

706
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:24,279
Speaker 1: Let each item have its place. Resolution, stick to your

707
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:30,279
Speaker 1: decisions and goals. Frugality, spend money wisely only on what's worthwhile.

708
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:34,000
Speaker 1: Interesting that he was one of the foundation of our government. Right,

709
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,520
Speaker 1: and what are we right now? Thirty eight trillion dollars

710
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:39,640
Speaker 1: in debt. I guess they've thrown fugality for gality out

711
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:44,160
Speaker 1: the window. And what's going to happen as result? Chaos? Right? Industry,

712
00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:48,320
Speaker 1: Stay productive, don't waste time on trivialities. What's your screen

713
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:51,000
Speaker 1: time right now? Look it up today while you listen

714
00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,640
Speaker 1: to this after I finished, get on what's your screen

715
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,000
Speaker 1: time for the last three weeks? What could you have

716
00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:01,560
Speaker 1: been doing productive in that time? About fortifying your virtues? Sincerity,

717
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 1: be honest and fair, avoid deceit. I mean, lying is

718
00:53:06,680 --> 00:53:12,480
Speaker 1: the serpentine of all societies. Corruption, right, justice, don't harm others,

719
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:18,399
Speaker 1: do what's right, Moderation, avoid extremes, keep a balanced approach, cleanliness,

720
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: maintain personal and environmental hygiene, Tranquility, stay calm, don't sweat

721
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:28,200
Speaker 1: the small stuff, chastity, practice restraint in sexual matters.

722
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:28,399
Speaker 2: Man.

723
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:30,960
Speaker 1: That goes all the way back to Sodom and Gomorrah.

724
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,120
Speaker 1: And look at what we're seeing right now. Look at

725
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 1: where we're seeing the aggressive violence emerge out of certain

726
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 1: communities that are absolutely going after prudence or chastity, if

727
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:51,359
Speaker 1: you will, and those concepts humility, imitate Jesus and Socrates,

728
00:53:51,560 --> 00:53:58,800
Speaker 1: be modest. You know, when you think about Jefferson's intent

729
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:04,200
Speaker 1: and reasons for including this right, he never explicitly explained

730
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:08,240
Speaker 1: the phrase, but its survival through the edits by John Adams,

731
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, and the Committee of Five in Congress indicate

732
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:14,759
Speaker 1: on its meaning. This is what I want you to

733
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:19,520
Speaker 1: pay close attention to. He intended it to underscore that

734
00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:27,560
Speaker 1: Britain's tyranny violated natural rights, justifying revolution. By including it,

735
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:34,160
Speaker 1: the Declaration framed independence as a moral imperative for enabling

736
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:45,120
Speaker 1: human potential linking personal virtue to republican governance. Personal virtue

737
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:49,080
Speaker 1: to Republican governance, not democratic governments. And I'm not talking

738
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,880
Speaker 1: about in terms of our political parties. Both political parties,

739
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:56,760
Speaker 1: in my opinion, have been sacrificing the pursuit of virtue

740
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 1: at a very high degree in order for his law.

741
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:04,240
Speaker 1: As I can remember paying attention to politics, right, whether

742
00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,960
Speaker 1: you want to go back to Iran contra, whether you

743
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,080
Speaker 1: want to go back to taking us off the gold

744
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:15,560
Speaker 1: standard or the induction of the Fed and income tax.

745
00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:17,520
Speaker 1: I mean, how we went to war for two two

746
00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 1: to three percent sales tax on tea? Well, how much

747
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:23,120
Speaker 1: you paying at taxes now? Right? Or a war on

748
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:29,160
Speaker 1: traditional family values or the war in Iraq, or unconditioned

749
00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:33,279
Speaker 1: bombing against American civilians overseas, or whatever it is, our

750
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:35,960
Speaker 1: own the Patriot Act and our own violation of our

751
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:39,439
Speaker 1: own liberties. Can you imagine what our founding fathers would

752
00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:41,399
Speaker 1: say if they were to be able to look at

753
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,920
Speaker 1: what we've concocted for ourselves and these distractions towards the

754
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:49,040
Speaker 1: pursuit of these virtues that were at the base revolutionary

755
00:55:49,080 --> 00:56:04,200
Speaker 1: in nature. You know, this is not just some ifeat

756
00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:11,439
Speaker 1: elite land owning person that just was like, Oh, I'll

757
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:14,280
Speaker 1: just throw this out. It sounds so poetic. My prose

758
00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:18,359
Speaker 1: are significant. Now, these were people that were breaking with

759
00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:22,240
Speaker 1: the most powerful organization in the world, and their lives

760
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:26,640
Speaker 1: were in danger. Every one of those people who concocted,

761
00:56:26,719 --> 00:56:33,200
Speaker 1: in particular Thomas Jefferson, would have been hung in public

762
00:56:33,280 --> 00:56:41,200
Speaker 1: squares for writing these words. You have to let that

763
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:45,839
Speaker 1: seek in because you have to understand that's what was

764
00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:51,880
Speaker 1: at stake. When people no longer adhere to the pursuit

765
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:57,279
Speaker 1: of happiness, the pursuit of virtue, the pursuit of wisdom

766
00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:03,880
Speaker 1: and tranquility, the pursuit of a structure of salvation and

767
00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:09,319
Speaker 1: righteousness right based on these God given inalienable rights. When

768
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:16,760
Speaker 1: we stop doing those things, then what happens We get

769
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:20,560
Speaker 1: to a place like we're at right now. We get

770
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:24,720
Speaker 1: to a place where we're unsure of what's going to

771
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:30,600
Speaker 1: happen tomorrow. So my ask of you as we wrap

772
00:57:30,720 --> 00:57:37,080
Speaker 1: this up, is to pursue those virtues. Pick two or

773
00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:41,520
Speaker 1: three or one a month for the next year and

774
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 1: focus on those virtues. In fact, what we're gonna do,

775
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:47,680
Speaker 1: Jordan and I are going to put out a little

776
00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:53,200
Speaker 1: challenge on the Frog Logic Institute, a little one month challenge,

777
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:55,840
Speaker 1: all right. Actually, we're going to take each virtue and

778
00:57:55,880 --> 00:57:58,280
Speaker 1: we're going to build those out for one per week

779
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:01,040
Speaker 1: for how I remember, however many weeks, and we're going

780
00:58:01,120 --> 00:58:03,800
Speaker 1: to give you a little assignment for that, all right,

781
00:58:05,560 --> 00:58:08,919
Speaker 1: So we'll let you know when that's up and out

782
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:12,280
Speaker 1: for that little virtue challenge. Because what I think we

783
00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:15,200
Speaker 1: all need to do more of is not be fixated

784
00:58:15,240 --> 00:58:18,439
Speaker 1: on the material items or the feeling of ignorance that's

785
00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:23,800
Speaker 1: going to give us this symbiotic or utopic state of existence,

786
00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:27,880
Speaker 1: because it's just not the way life works. It's just

787
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:32,400
Speaker 1: not reality. And so what we want you to do,

788
00:58:32,640 --> 00:58:35,520
Speaker 1: what I want you to do is I want you

789
00:58:35,560 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 1: to get focused on the pursuit of happiness by redefining

790
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:45,520
Speaker 1: the virtues that make you feel good. And they might

791
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:50,240
Speaker 1: be painful, but I'm telling you there's a revolution in

792
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:54,000
Speaker 1: your heart that needs to take place in your pursuit

793
00:58:54,080 --> 00:58:56,440
Speaker 1: of your faith and your belief systems and what this

794
00:58:56,560 --> 00:59:03,760
Speaker 1: great country represents. Oh yeah,