https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=zbzFjBHEzcc
You know, the whole self-help culture, all of that stuff is exactly what you’re saying. And a lot of modern, this kind of California Buddhism is that as well. There’s this like, I’m going to meditate. I’m going to do these different things. It’s like it’s just like a technique. I’m going to do it so that, you know, so that I have more energy. I have, you know, I feel better. I am a happier whatever. And so there is this kind of instrumentality, like you said. And I think that that’s maybe, you know, that’s interesting because that is something that I think when we talk about the problem with the meaning crisis. And it was interesting because I kept seeing that that’s what Bishop Barron was trying to talk to Jordan Peterson about. But Jordan just wasn’t, it just wasn’t on his horizon. He kept trying to bring it back to worship. He was saying, it’s worship. That’s the key. Key is it’s what do you celebrate? That’s how it starts. It’s like, what are the things that we celebrate? And that comes way before all the other questions of, like you said, this idea of I’m going to use this technique or this technique to achieve this goal in my life or whatever. The first question is what we celebrate. And that’s something that I thought that the fact that he kept wanting to bring it back is like, it’s about worship. It’s about worship. It’s so hard for people to understand that the attitude of gratitude and the attitude of celebration, of worship, that’s the first ground to reality. And that’s the only way that you don’t make God an instrument. You don’t make God into something that you’re going to use to get what you want is true worship and true, you know, like recognize your place, like know where you are and elevate, celebrate that which is beyond you. There’s all these things that actually you do end up getting. But like you said, it’s that you’ll only get them if you don’t look for them, if you don’t look for that. And that’s true about so many things in life, right? It’s true about so many things like it’s like if you go into a friendship only thinking about what it’s going to give you, then you’re going to get a lot less out of that friendship than if you go into a friendship with a kind of open desire to connect with someone and to have a communion with a human person. Then the gratitude, let’s say the lower aspects, you’re actually going to get way more. You know, and Christ, you know, Christ always says that all the time. He’s like, don’t worry about the things of this world. If you don’t, if you focus on God, if you celebrate God, if you live in the kingdom of God, then you’ll get those things. Don’t worry. They’ll be there. Like, that’s not the point. That’s not the point of life.