https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=XzGqea4pSgA
As the United States currently descend into a whirlwind of protests and riots and chaos, I thought it might be important to look at the symbolism of protests, the symbolism of riots, what they can mean, what is their structure. Now I want to warn you that this video is not going to be political. So for those hoping to see me virtue signal or comment or make some kind, take some kind of political stand, you’re not going to see this here. But if you’re interested in understanding the mechanisms, both positive and negative of protests, then this might be the video for you. This is Jonathan Peugeot. Welcome to the symbolic world. So in order to understand protests, we have to understand first of all and accept the basic idea that societies lay themselves out as hierarchies. And so within these hierarchies, there are elements which are above and our authorities have a responsibility to care, to protect the people below. Also responsibility to protect them from each other, to maintain order as well. And you also have people who would be in that power hierarchy, are lower, and are usually there to follow the rules, to obey the rule of law, to obey the way that this order comes down upon them, and to benefit from it. Of course, they also have to benefit from this rule because it is the manner in which society is held together and we avoid chaos, we avoid people coming into our homes and robbing. All of this is the first prerequisite in understanding what protest is. And so protest always comes from below. Protest always comes from the people. It’s the people who are complaining about the manner in which the authority is laid out, the manner in which the authority is manifesting itself. It could be a complaining on a scale which can go from complaining about specific rules which seem unfair, complaining about how the rules do not afford you enough. It can also be a deeper complaining which is a complaining about the authority itself, a desire to remove, to replace the authority right there because we think it is inadequate. And it can go all the way to anarchy and to anarchism in believing that the authority itself as a concept has to be removed. And so we have to understand that when we’re looking at a protest or when we’re seeing protesting activities, what’s going to happen is within the act of protest you’re often going to see every level of that scale playing out at once. You will see within the act of protesting those who are protesting more narrowly a certain event, a certain thing which they think is unfair, they will be protesting the authority itself as the particular authority for being unacceptable all the way down to the desire to dismantle the entire system and a desire to dismantle all systems basically is the most extreme version of that. So if we look at what’s going on today we can see that all of this is going on and so depending on how you want to play the narrative you can focus on one or the other of these and that’s important to understand if you want to be fair about any situation. You can focus on those who are protesting a specific thing peacefully and doing their thing if you want to say that the protests are legitimate and then you can also focus on those that are creating the anarchy and looting and destroying if you want to show that the protesting is illegitimate. Both of those narratives are possible because they’re all happening at the same time. It just depends on where you point your attention and to simply call the other narrative illegitimate is not going to work in a discussion because the other narrative is legitimate as well. Those two things are all these things are happening simultaneously in a protest. So in order to understand the structure of protest the best way to understand it is to understand it analogically to understand it in your body in your person to understand it on smaller scales like families and then it can help us see how the structure is playing itself out. So you have to see that the top of the hierarchy so whether it be your mind your thought your you know your identity whether it be the family the parents that are above in a family whether it be in a society that you have the authorities above and you have the people below there’s an exchange which happens between the two and so the people from above will give down and the people from below will support right they’ll act as a kind of support for that for the authority which is above a way for the authority to show itself and for the people below then what you see is the authority acts as a binding agent which helps us remain together which helps us to be one to be a nation to be a city to be a family and to be a person right and so this exchange is the normal way to go and so the the protest happens when the bottom part feels like there is a disconnect between the two when the bottom part feels like that which is above is not acting properly is not acting according to the interests of that which is below and so you can imagine the the easiest way to understand protesting is to understand it really as a child and you have you so you have a parent and you have a baby and the baby when the baby is hungry the baby will protest the baby will cry in order for you to feed the baby and so that is the the most immediate you know aspect of protesting another way to understand it is for example hunger you are hungry your your stomach is grumbling and your stomach is is protesting the fact that you haven’t given it anything so you’re sitting you’re working you are wanting you want to focus on the on the task that you’re doing but your stomach is saying uh-uh pay attention to me my friend you can’t ignore me i’m here i need to be fed and i’m and i am what is supporting you so if you don’t feed me at some point my protestation is going to disable the very functioning of the body and it’s the same with a child if you have a child that is asking for something a child that that wants to be fed if you do not feed the child the child will scream and scream and scream until everything is impossible until all your family activities cannot function the family will break down if there isn’t this attending from to what is below and so would you and you have to understand it also as as a hierarchy that is that we have at all these different levels we have the same the same situation where you as being below is calling upon that which is above to make sure that you’re taken care of but that at that level that’s also happening above you can imagine that in a business for example where the employees need something they need some tools or they need some resources in order to do the work and or they’re not getting paid enough and so they’re stressed and they’re they’re struggling to take care of their daily life and so they ask for from to their bosses they ask for more resources to do their work or for their lives and then the boss has those bosses have to answer but then the same thing will then happen above and so the level of bosses above they also maybe want to raise they maybe want more possibility for the factory or for whatever it is that they’re doing and so then they have to ask above in order to receive the authority from above and this in a business you have this hierarchy where this will happen in every level and so you can see in in scripture for example in the proverbs there’s a wonderful verse which says whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will call out and not be answered so you can understand that in scripture really it is this idea of the poor and so the poor have nothing they have to receive what they have from above and so they they moan they grumble they complain they ask to be taken care of and if you do not listen to the cries of that which is below you will also not be answered from above so it works in a hierarchy where you have to take care of the needs of that which is below if you don’t then you will not receive from that which is above and you can understand that as just a moral statement but you can also understand it also in terms of very practical means think again about the company where you have let’s say employees that are asking for something for tools to do their work or they they’re not paid enough or they’re struggling and so they’re distracted they’re not focused on what they’re doing and then they ask their boss for more possibility more flexibility or whatever now the if the boss doesn’t doesn’t give them what they need to the capacity that he’s capable of in order to increase their possibility of producing then when that boss is going to ask above for more there’s a chance that the the people above are going to look around and say well you know why would we give you what have you proved you haven’t proven to us anything and so they might look to another department or to someone else in order to give allocate the resources so you have to take care of those below you so that those above you will see you and see your grumbling as also legitimate so that they will also want to also want to answer that okay and so you can see in scripture they’re the best place where you can see the question of of protesting or complaining or grumbling is in the story of the exodus so when the Israelites leave Egypt they go out into the desert and so they have they’re they’re out into the desert they have nothing and they complain and what’s important to understand is that at first when they complain their complaints are legitimate in scripture there’s a sense in which there’s god and moses are a little bit annoyed at the complaint and that’s almost like it’s inevitable you know when your cry child is crying it’s annoying you can’t help but be a little bit annoyed when the people below you are complaining but there’s also a manner in which god will then answer that complaint so the complaint has to come first you can the poor ask the and and you can understand that also in terms of just us in terms of prayer as well that’s related to this so we ask we we grumble we we show our we show that we’re struggling right we show it to that which is above us and so the the Israelites as they’re in the desert they encounter these salty waters so their waters that they can’t use bitter waters they’re really the waters of chaos and so they grumble they complain they like we need water right we need water and then god gives them water then they complain that they’re hungry and then god gives them mana and and there’s another place again where they complain that they need water that thirsty and then then god makes water flow out of the rock and so you can see that the the grumbling comes first and the protest it’s related also to the problem of the question and i’ve talked about this before the idea of the how the question comes before the answer the desire comes before the name or before the the possibility comes before the answer and so an example that i use all the time but it fits a little bit in this question is when the mother of god when mary goes to christ and she tells him that there’s no wine left right she is there’s a there’s a request there’s an asking and the grumbling is really a type of asking but of course it because it’s the lower parts of you because it’s the lower parts of you it manifests itself not as a not as a asking in a logical way but just as a a kind of grumbling of discontent so really the stomach or the child crying is the best way to understand that that just expression of need and of lack of lack of something right so that’s why the analogy between the family the child is the best analogy to to get but then the thing is with these protests or the idea of protesting is that just like your body just like your child you have to find a balance between let’s say the compassion and the order and that balance is extremely difficult to find i don’t pretend to know what the balance is but there is to an extent to which the desire the needs of the poor have to be met have to be answered by that which is above and the the idea that your stomach you also have to answer the needs of your stomach you need to answer its grumbling the same with your child you need to answer the you need to answer the needs of your child but then that balance can also tip in the other way because the problem with your belly is that it’s never satisfied right the problem with a child is also that a child is never satisfied and so if you give in to all the all the grumbling of your child and if you give in to all the grumblings of your belly well for your belly you will become fat you’ll become diabetic you’ll become unhealthy and your child will become a spoiled brat and we often think that protest only happens to the very very desperate but that is actually not true and your experience of your own body and your experience of your family you will realize that that’s not true so protests happen at every level they happen in the most desperate and in the bible it is said that you need to answer that protest which comes from from poverty you would say but there’s also a protest which comes from a kind of spoiled attitude an attitude that i am owed things and so your belly is if you don’t if you’re not careful your belly is always hungry your belly your desires will always be cycling back you’ll always have more and then you can get the image you know the kind of narrative in this situation of the the workers who demand from their bosses and demand and demand and demand to a point where at some at some point the boss will take the factory and move it to china or take the factory move it to south america or whatever because the demands of the the body are so big that they don’t fit the capacity of the head to provide for it and to answer those demands it just there is no it’s impossible for the system to handle so much demand and so then the system will break down you see the same of course with children with children that will you know throw tantrums to get them the the tiniest thing their tiniest little difficulty answered their their you know whatever little toy they want or game or or or just to get whatever they want or to go to bed later or to eat ice cream for dinner or whatever the child if you always give in to the grumbling then the child will become a spoiled brat that will expect more and more and sadly the thing is this is also true in society and so as society actually gets richer and as let’s say all of our society moves up in terms of absolute poverty you know there is no absolute poverty at least so little absolute poverty in north america it’s almost it’s almost zero compared to just 100 or 200 years ago as people have more that doesn’t mean that they will stop protesting it means that at every level there is the possibility of expressing the lack because there is a sense also that because things come from above those that are above you you know you you can start to think like that has to come down it has to lower and so then there has to find there has to be this balance between the grumbling and the authority so you can see in scripture this is what happens in the story of exodus the israelites ask for water god gives it to them the israelites ask for food god gives it to them and then there is the moment in the story where god kind of there’s an in between right where god gives a mix of rigor and mercy he gives a he gives into the to the desire but also says you got to stop this is it like this is the limit you need to stop so this happens when the israelites ask for meat so the israelites are receiving this mana from heaven they’re receiving the water and then the israelites well actually it’s important to notice in the text that it says the mixed multitude so you have this mixture of israelites and other peoples that are there in the group and this mixture is one of the causes of the the now the grumbling to get bigger because when you have mixture when you don’t have a clear let’s say united group then the mixed elements don’t feel as much the need to submit to the authority they just don’t because it’s not their thing they they are they feel marginally connected to the thing and so it’s normal that that’s where the the grumbling can continue once the basic needs have been answered because you know they don’t feel like this is their project or they don’t feel like this is theirs and you can see it both ways you can see it on the one hand it can be the fault of the authority of not being able to include these these mixed multitudes into their project to make them fit within their main project but it’s also it can also be seen as in a some aspect the fault of the the the people the fault or the the reality of the people who just don’t feel like this is their thing and so they’re more prone to continue grumbling as things manifest themselves so this mixed multitude now says we want meat and then god finally gives them meat but also burns the periphery of the of the camp right and so let’s say purges some aspect of this problem right kind of says clamps down says okay i’m gonna give this to you i’m gonna clamp down a little bit but now this has to this has to stop and so what’s important in scripture everything is balanced out and so that can be a really scary story it can be a very scary story because you have this mixed multitude you have the hierarchy and then you have the the purge on the edge of the so if you were paying attention to the video until now you will have noticed that there was some noise in the background that my cat was complaining and complaining and it came to a point where the cat was complaining so much that i couldn’t continue this video and i actually had to stop in order to deal with the complaint of the cat and so you can understand this as a symbolism happens moment because the grumbling of the animal aspect of our family was becoming so strong that i actually had to interrupt the logos and interrupt the process in order to take care and if you pay attention in the next few seconds you will notice that because the cat is actually my daughter’s responsibility myself as an authority what i will do is i will get up and i will go tell my daughter that she needs to take care of that which is her responsibility and there is of course it’s not explicit but there is of course a a underlying suggestion in my statement that i take care of your needs i’m your father i take care of your needs and therefore you need to take care of your responsibilities of which the cat is part of and so this is precisely the hierarchy that i’m talking about in this video i was going to edit it all out but i decided that because it was such a meta moment i needed to leave it in so let’s continue on so we have to be really careful when we look at this the bible because the bible is always very balanced it can be a bit scary to see the story at first because you have this idea of the mixed multitude then you have the grumbling and finally you have this fire which comes and purges the outskirts of the of the camp and so it can be a bit it can be a bit scary but if you look at the scripture it always balances itself out because the next chapter right away in the next chapter you have the flip side of the same story so on the in the first story you have the danger of the danger of mixture and how it can lead to excessive grumbling and then on the other side you have the opposite which is that the leaders grumble against moses that he is married to a foreign woman and so they grumble about that and because of that there’s also another punishment where miriam who grumbles about that is excluded from the camp for a certain amount of time because of this grumbling and so you can see the the balance which is that we don’t want we don’t want mixture to weigh down that which brings us together but we also don’t want an excess of purity which will prevent us from having this kind of normal breathing of in and out that all identities need in order to exist and so just like all symbolic patterns there is this sense in which the notion of the grumbling of the lower parts is an inevitable process it’s an inevitable reality of of any structure because the the higher aspects have to take care of the lower aspects and there’s also a sense in which that can go too far and that can also lead to the breakdown of the system the other breakdown can also that i hinted at before is the breakdown of course that if the authority doesn’t tend to the poor if the authority doesn’t tend to those who are need and are grumbling then the system can break down as well so the system sadly can break down well not sadly the system can break down by all excesses either an excess of authority or an excess of the the bottom which is asking for too much or is or is never satisfied and so we need to find a balance between the two and that can be very difficult to find especially as tensions escalate and especially as discourse escalates sadly also this is going to be my last my little political insert sadly in the world of social media in the world where everybody feels like they have to give their opinion and somehow take a stand on on one side or another it forces people to move into excessive territory because it’s difficult once you create two opposite sides it’s difficult to see the nuance even to see the nuance within the protest where like i said there are within a protest there are protests as much for a specific thing which seems to be unfair as there is for those who want to demolish the very idea of authority or the very idea of a state and so but once you’re asked to take sides it’s very dangerous because you you feel like you have to either justify completely one side the side of the protest or you have to justify completely the side of those who want to clamp down and reestablish order and i don’t think that that’s the best way to go i think it’s important to understand the need for order and also understand the the possibility at least that there is that sometimes the grumbling can be sometimes the grumbling can be justified because of because people feel like they’re not part of a system or feel like they don’t have access to what the authority is supposed to provide us and so hopefully that will be helpful for for you to understand the pattern and and we’ll be paying attention my next video will continue my lighter streak just because i feel like we’ve had so much heavy in 2020 i told you it was going to get insane and i’m sorry to say that it’s not over it’s still going to get crazier but hopefully i can also give you a little bit of pressure for fresh air my next video is going to be an interpretation of video game symbolism you know just to give you guys a little break from the craziness so thanks for your support in these wild and crazy times and i will see you very soon so there are so many things happening at the symbolic world right now you know it’s difficult to keep track of everything that’s going on we have tried to use this strange corona lockdown to to increase the reach and increase the type of things that are happening there is of course the blog that has started the new symbolic world blog where many people have been writing some amazing articles and every week we’re posting new articles on symbolism on different subjects all kinds of subjects that can be surprising to you even there is also a the facebook group which is continuing strong with the moderators doing a great job but there is also now a new french channel where i am going to be putting up french content there is going to be less content of course but when i do have french content it’s going to be there look into the descriptions to find a link to that and do not forget the clips channel which is continuing to put up stuff you know several videos every week taking out some of the questions or some of the little subjects that appear in my videos and putting them together into clips doing a wonderful job there so there is also a new merch coming out new images i have a new image right now of a watch the fools image of the fool pulling up the king in a card that was designed by owen cyclops who you will hear very soon in an interview so there’s a lot of exciting things going on please join in the fun so thanks for your involvement and your support