https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=nW7qorx9YWc
At this age, do you contemplate your death and legacy? What influence, if any, are you hoping to leave us when you’re no longer? When I was young, younger, I thought the idea of death haunted me very constantly. Very constantly, for decades, I would say. When I woke up in the morning, the first thought on my mind was, there isn’t much time, you better get going. And I learned that that wasn’t the case for most people. They weren’t haunted by death the same way that I was. It was probably partly, I have a proclivity to depression that seems to be familial, and that was probably a manifestation of that. But I don’t really think, it doesn’t haunt me now, partly because I know that there are things that are much worse than death. And so that’s a terrible thing to know, but it’s also a useful thing to know. There are things that are far worse than death. There are things that you should be properly much more afraid of than just death. So it doesn’t haunt me now. I try to make the most of the moment, you know, aim up and make the most of the moment. That’s the ethos of the Sermon on the Mount, by the way. Aim at the highest goal you can contemplate and then pay attention to the moment. And that’s the antidote to death anyways, in some real sense. Because doing that makes what you’re doing so engaging that it chases all the thoughts of mortal self-consciousness from the theatre of your imagination. If you’re engrossed enough in the moment, and I think you can be engrossed enough in the moment for that to happen if what you’re pursuing is of sufficient value. And I believe, it appears to me, for me, that what I’m pursuing is of sufficient value so that that’s what happens. You know, like I’m pretty damn happy to be here. Why wouldn’t I be thrilled about this? How could anything possibly be better than this? You know, and I hope that you feel the same way. You know, I’m in a unique position in relationship to what’s happening here, obviously. But it’s just, it’s more than all I could hope for in some fundamental sense. And it’s the case that because it’s more than I could hope for in some fundamental sense, it’s more than enough. And enough is something like, it’s a sufficient antidote to the terror of mortality. It’s like, yeah, finitude, but it’s worth it. It makes itself manifest as worth it. And I’m willing to accept that, to fall into that, and to assume that that’s actually a reflection of the structure of reality itself. And I do believe that that’s the case, because I believe, as I told you earlier, that the instinct that you have that makes itself manifest as meaningful engagement is the most real thing there is. It’s more real than suffering. It’s more real than, it might be more real than death itself. Now, I don’t know exactly what that means. It’s also the antidote to hell. And so, and I believe those things. And what do I mean by believe? I mean, I stake my life on them. That’s what I mean by believe. And so, so that’s the first part of the answer to that question. It’s that I’m trying to carefully walk the path of maximal meaning. And that’s a true path. And if you attend to what is meaningful with sufficient rigor, the pathway will make itself clear. When Moses, in the book of Exodus, Moses is walking in the desert, and something catches his attention, and he goes to investigate. It’s the burning bush. It’s this bush. It’s a tree. It’s on fire, but the fire doesn’t consume the bush. It’s a numinous manifestation. It’s like fire itself. It grips his imagination. It’s like love. It’s like beauty. It grips his imagination. And he attends to it deeply, and out of that deep attention, the voice of God emerges. It’s like that’s exactly how the world is constituted. If you attend with sufficient rigor to that which manifests itself as meaningful, within that, you discover the voice of God himself. That’s how the world is constituted. And then with that discovery, you have what is necessary to stave off the terror of death and maybe the terror of hell. And if you have that, then you don’t need anything else, and you wouldn’t want anything else, certainly not as a substitute. So in terms of being remembered, I don’t really think about that in some sense. I presume that if I do what I can now, then I’ll be remembered in the proper manner, whatever that might be. And I think that’s a useful mode of apprehending your own existence. Like if you undertake to do what is sufficient in the moment, in the deepest sense, then things will lay themselves out as they should. And you should have faith in that. That’s in some sense a moral injunction. That’s part of assuming, for example, that love is a cardinal virtue and that the truth will set you free. Those are propositions of faith. And they’re deep propositions of faith. And if you abide by them rigorously, then you reap the attendant blessings. And so I’m more concerned about how this evening goes than I am about how I’ll be remembered. And that’s appropriate, I think. So you could say too, I suppose, that to the degree that this evening goes as it could and should, then it will be remembered, right? Because it works. It lays itself out in the optimal manner. And then it burns itself into the structure of your imagination. And then it’s remembered precisely as it should be remembered. And that’s an index that things are in order and that we’re in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. And that’s good enough. Nothing could be better than that. And little could be better than this. And so thank you very much, everyone. Nice to see you all. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Very good to see you all. Good night.