YouTube video transcript

So this is the book the Brothers Karamazov by Theodore Dostoevsky. He's talking about the problem left by Jesus. Jesus comes to the world. He tells us the truth. He tells us freedom is what will enable us to seek the divine. But this creates this anxiety in people because, like, oh my God, now I have to, like, think for myself. Now I have to, like, go out into the light and feel all this pain. But I don't want to. I just want to live a happy life. I just want to watch TV every day, man. And then so.

And so then the church is like, okay, we need to create an organized religion and we need to fool people. Okay, how do we fool people? By teaching them that Jesus did actually say these things. And we're going to not. We will. We will not worship Jesus. We worship Satan instead. Why? Because Satan encourages us to enforce our will on people. Okay? We need to be evil in order to do good in the world. Okay? Think about this. These children are naughty right? Now. We can say to them, like, jesus, hey, man, you'll grow up one day and then you won't be naughty. So, okay, but in this process, you're going to hurt each other. You're going to do stupid things. So we have to be the strict father. We have to create this church in order to enforce the law on people, to make sure the children don't hurt themselves so that children can just be children, okay? And quite honestly, most of you guys, 99% of you guys, will never, ever grow up. So we have to be Satan, okay? So the church, the Catholic Church will pretend to worship Jesus, but actually we're going to worship Satan.

And so we're going to enforce the law on people. We will now be the evil empire. The Roman Empire is dead, okay? But now the Catholic Church will be the evil empire. And we're going to go around and we're going to persecute people who disobey the law so that everyone can live in peace. People want to be sheep. And you know what? People have the right to be sheep. And so we're going to be the shepherd. We will be Satan. And we wouldn't force goodness on people whether they like it or not. And this is good for people because now they don't have to accept individual responsibility, right? If my life sucks, it's not because of me. It's because of the devil. It's because of the Catholic Church, it's because of Satan. And that's what's good. Okay?

So Dostoevsky is saying this is how the Catholic Church came into being. And we'll discuss this next class in more detail. Okay? Because Jesus left a huge problem, a void in the hearts of people. People want to obey. People want to be told what to do. People don't want to think for themselves. If you make people think for themselves, they'll feel nothing but fear and anxiety. Okay? So we need to impose order.

So in this story, what happens is the Catholic Church is being. Is being the evil empire. It is oppressing people. And so one day, Jesus comes from heaven and he walks among the people. And people know, oh, my God, he's Jesus. He's come back and he's curing people. And they're all happy. But because of how the church worships Satan, they need to arrest this guy. Okay? And the Grand Inquisitor, the leader, appears before Jesus. They have a conversation that Jesus called a prisoner in the story, and he says to the prisoner, we know who you are. You are Jesus, and we're supposed to worship you, but we're going to have to kill you because you are a threat to the people. You're a threat to the happiness of the people. Okay? And what the Grand Christian will say to Jesus is,

we create good in this world by being evil, and your presence will destroy this, and therefore we must destroy you. Okay? So this is from the brothers Kir Mazov.

Thou didst not love them at all. Thou who didst come to give thy life for them. Instead of taking possession of man's freedom, thou didst increase it and burden the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its suffering forever. Okay, so what he's saying is you came to this world to free people, to tell them that the Moronite exists, that there's a spark inside them, that they don't have to be slaves. They can go where they want. But that just confuses people, that traps people in their own fear and anxiety. Life now becomes complicated. Okay, keep on going. Thou didst desire man's free love, that he should follow thee freely, enticed and taken captive by thee. In place of the rigid ancient law, man must hereafter with free heart, decide for himself what is good and what is evil, having only thine in my image before him as his guide. Okay, this is. Okay. Sorry, this is, like, really annoying. Okay. For people. Because before your teacher would tell you what is good and what is evil. Now the teacher is saying, you guys decide. Now it's complete chaos. And again, it creates anxiety in people. People just want to be told what to do. Okay? People were like, you know, at 5 o' clock we're going to have dinner at Pizza Hut, okay? People don't want to be like, oh, what should I have for dinner? People don't want to think, man. Keep on going. But didst thou know that he would at last reject even thy image and thy truth if he is white, weighed down with a fearful burden of free choice, they will cry aloud at last that the truth is not in thee, for they could not have been left in greater confusion and suffering than thou hast caused, laying upon them so many curse cares and unanswerable problems. Right, you're creating all this anxiety in people for no particular reason. People are happy just being slaves. And now you free them and they're completely confused as to what to do next.

All right, keep on reading. Only some thousands. Okay, so what he's saying again is your freedom is only good for the minority of people who can think for themselves, who aspire to the divine. What about everyone else? And what of the rest? And how are the other weak ones to blame because they cannot endure what the strong have endured? How is the weak soul to blame that it is unable to receive such terrible gifts? Canst thou have simply come to the elect and for the elect? But if so, it is a mystery and we cannot understand it. And if it is a mystery, we too have a right to preach a mystery and to teach them that it is not the free judgment of their hearts, not love that mattered, but a mystery which they must follow blindly, even against their conscience. So we have done. Okay, alright, so what he's saying is this. Okay, I understand Christianity is complete, complete chaos, okay? But this complete chaos means people will never understand what your true teachings are. If you don't understand what your true teachings are, they don't have to follow it, they don't have to think for themselves. Okay, so we create a complete chaos so that people will not be forced to obey us. Okay? That's why we corrupted your teachings. Keep on going. We have corrected thy work and have founded it upon miracle, mystery and authority. Immense joy that they were again led like sheep, and that the terrible gift that had brought them such suffering was at last lifted from their hearts. Were we right teaching them this speak? Did we not love mankind so meekly acknowledging their feebleness, lovingly lightening their burden, and permitting their weak nature, even sinuous or sanctioned. Why has now come now to pander us? Okay, do you understand this idea? The understanding is why is there evil in the world? Because people don't want to think for Themselves. So you need evil people to command people, to enslave people, to force them against their will. Now people are like, well, I don't have a choice in the matter. I can't think for myself. Sorry, man. Okay. If you actually give people complete freedom, it'd be complete chaos in the world. That's why there's Satan. That's why there's Satan in this world. This is why Satan must rule this world. Okay,

I meant to end it like this. When the inquisitor ceased speaking, he waited some time for his prisoner to answer him. His silence weighed down upon him. He saw that the prisoner had listened intently all the time, looking gently in his face and evidently not wishing to reply. The old man longed for him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But he suddenly approached an old man in silence and softly kissed him on his bloodless, aged lips. That was all his answer. The old man shuddered. His lips moved. He went to the door, opened it and said to him, go and come no more. Come not at all. Never, never. And he led him out into the dark alleys of the town. The prisoner went away. And the old man, the key is close in his heart, but the old man adheres to his idea. Okay, so the person, of course, is Jesus, right? And so the inquisitor has these great arguments. And the inquisitor is right, and what he's saying is, okay, Jesus, what's your response to this? And Jesus response is basically, I forgive you, I love you and I forgive you. Same thing as what Priam did to Achilles, right? And as you can see by kissing the inquisitor, rather than fighting him, the inquisitor loses. He knows he's lost. He knows he's been humbled, so he lets Jesus go, says, just get out of here, please, don't bother us again, okay? This is not your world. This is Satan's world. And the kiss glows in his heart. The old man adheres to his ideas. Okay? So Jesus did not change the old man's mind, okay? But there's a spark in him that now glows, okay? The spark that he killed, that he tried all this time to kill with reason, with evil, is still able to grow, glow, okay? And that's the power of forgiveness. Even though the person seems to be the most evil person in the world, and this guy really is the most evil person in the world, as long as you're able to show him the possibility of love, the spark will glow. Okay, now what's the. So the Inquisitor poses this problem, like, okay, people don't want to think for themselves. People lack free will. People don't want free will. What's the solution? The solution is the soul is eternal, okay? And you have to give people time. We're talking about, like millions of years. Maybe not in 50 years people will figure it out, but in about a million years, people will figure out for themselves, okay? And Jesus, God is patient. He's loving, he's forgiving. He's generous. He's compassionate. So take your time, okay? What's important is that people learn for themselves. Eventually you'll figure out being a slave sucks. You know what? It may seem as though watching Netflix, playing video games, being online all the time is fun, but if you go outside and play, that's a lot more fun, guys, eventually you'll figure it out, all right? And you have to figure out by yourself. So God is forever patient. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay, so next class, we'll talk about the Catholic Church and how it came into being and why it really is the church of Satan, all right? Why it's going to go against the teachings of Jesus. But dosi actually point this out, how the Catholic Church and Jesus are competing forces, okay?