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Civilization #42: The Protestant Reformation and the Birth of Capitalism

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Summary

Core Theme

The Protestant Reformation, by challenging Catholic dogma and emphasizing individual faith, created psychological anxieties and paradoxes that, over centuries, were resolved through the development and embrace of capitalism as a system for rationalizing the world and seeking divine favor.

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Okay. So, good morning. Uh, this morning

we are doing the Protestant Reformation

and I'll explain to you how it gave

birth to capitalism. Um, this class it's

going to be hard conceptually because we

we're going to take concepts we learned

before and combine them to help explain

the world we live in today. So, if

there's anything I'm saying that's not

clear or um confusing or debatable,

please interrupt me. Okay. All right. So

I want to make sure that you can follow

the logic clearly. Okay. So um first of

all what I will do is is explain the

three major differences between the

protestant religion and the Catholic

religion. Okay. So let's look at Catholic

Catholic

first. In many ways the Protestant

religion is a response to the problems

created by the Catholic religion. Okay.

So there are three main characteristics

about the Catholic religion. The first

is the idea of

orthodoxy or dogma.

dogma.

Okay. So there's a set of beliefs in the

Catholic religion that you must

memorize. You're not allowed to question

it. You are not allowed to interpret it.

You must memorize it. Okay? And what

maintains the orthodoxy is the idea of

hierarchy. So

only priests and the ordained those

sanctioned by the Catholic church have

access to the Bible. Only they can

interpret the Bible properly. They are

favored by God. The pope is the is God's

official representative on earth. Okay.

So that's idea of hierarchy. The last

justification by

works. Okay. Um and the idea here is if

you want to be saved, you have

to engage in the proper rituals. You

have to do what the church tells you.

Your actions matter more than your

beliefs. Okay. Now, as we discussed in previous

classes, these three main concepts that

underpin the Catholic Church, they will

create problems. Okay. Um the so

justification by works, it creates a problem

problem of

hypocrisy, right? The idea here

is it'd be nice if you believed in God.

It would be nice if you believed in what

you were doing. But you don't have to.

Okay? As long as you do what you're

told, you can still go to heaven. Okay?

It creates idea of hypocrisy. And

obviously, there are a lot of people who

are opposed to this. All right?

Hierarchy creates a problem of

corruption. There's no real mechanism to

prevent the priests from abusing their

powers. And as we discussed last week,

the priests do engage in a lot of

corruption and um abuses. Okay. The

disconnection, right? And the idea here

is that um ever since the dawn of human

history, we humans are fundamentally

religious. Our fundamental, our first

and foremost need is to connect with

God, to be with God, to work with God,

and to access God. Okay? And that's and

because of these three problems,

disconnection, corruption, hypocrisy,

there's always been dissent, there's

always been rebellion against the

Catholic Church in Europe. Remember last

week we discussed the Cathars, the

Waltians, right? So this has been an

ongoing issue in the Catholic church. So

the Protestant religion was developed in

a response to these problems. Okay. So

let's look at the three major responses

of the Protestant

religion. Okay. The first response to

access. You don't need the priest to

tell you what the Bible means. You can

just read it by yourself. In fact, God

wills that you talk to him directly by

Okay? If that is the case, then the

church must be fundamentally

egalitarian because if everyone can

access God, then everyone is equal in the

the

eyes of God. But the fundamental demand

faith. You have to truly

believe in

God. You must develop your life around

this faith in God. Okay.

So on one hand the Protestant religion

is solving a lot of problems created by

the church but on the other hand it's

also creating a lot of problems as well.

Okay so let's go very quickly over some

of the major problems. Um if it's

justification by faith it creates a

problem of

anxiety. Why?

Because how do you know you truly

believe in God? Does that make sense?

How do you really know you have faith?

You have to calculate prove to yourself

that you truly believe in God through

actions, through works. Okay? You have

to raise doubt in your mind and this

makes you anxious. It makes you antic.

Okay? So that's one huge problem created

by uh pro the Protestant religion. The

second big problem is a problem of

diversity. If everyone is equal, then

everyone can start his or her own

religion. And what we will see during

the process of reformation is an

explosion of different religions with

all they're all different sets of

beliefs. There's only one Catholic

church, but there's like tens of

thousands of Protestant

denominations. Okay. Um does that make

sense? Okay. All right.

So then with direct access you are

forced to have literacy okay you are

forced to educate

yourself all right and this is a good

thing right but it's also a problem

because if you're poor you may not have

access to education all right so this is

a problem for a lot of people and that's

why um in the beginning of development

of protestants

Protestantism most of the adherence to

this new religion are actually the

aspirational middle class. The people of

some means there are people who want to

aspire to more wealth. Okay. So this is

the basic rundown of the differences

between the Protestant religion and the

Catholic religion. All right. All right.

Um any are you clear about this? Are any

any questions so far? Is this clear to

you? Okay. All right. So now I'm going

to go deeper and explain the problems

that this new religion creates in the

minds of the faithful. Okay. The the the

faithful. All right. Okay. So the

problem that it within the Christian

religion as we discussed in previous

classes is the idea of the holy trinity.

Okay. The holy trinity. The idea of the

Holy Trinity is that Jesus

um God and the Holy

Spirit, these are different forces that

are independent of each other, but they

are equal to each other and they're part

of the same thing. Okay? So for the

human mind, the way that our human minds

are designed, it is impossible for us to

understand this concept of the Holy

Trinity. It's like saying like this pen

it is here and not here. Your mind has

to believe that this thing is here and

not here. And your mind can't do that.

Okay. Your mind has to believe in one

thing and and you it cannot believe in

contradictions. But this is inherently a

contradiction. The only way that our

mind can process this is by believing

that this is a

symbol. Okay. The reason why is that

this is something. The only way that we

can understand the holy trinity is to

believe that it is both nothing and

everything. Okay? And that's what a

symbol is. A symbol is nothing that

represents everything depending on how

you perceive

it. The problem with this is

of anxiety. Right?

Anxiety. Why does it create anxiety?

Because again, our fundamental need is

to connect with God. And the concept of

the Holy Trinity means that we can never

truly connect with God. It is a symbol.

It is an abstraction removed from us. We

can never be intimate with God. It's

either away from us or through us. But

we can never touch it. We can never feel

it. Okay? This creates

anxiety. Before this was not a problem

because the

church stood between you the

believer and the holy trinity. Okay. All

you had to do was believe in the church

and you were fine.

fine.

But then what happens? You get rid of

the church. Now you have to grasp with

gr try to grasp what the holy trinity

is. And again remember one of the main

um ideas of the prom religion is that

you must struggle with your

faith. You must re recognize and fully

realize your faith in God. Otherwise

you'll be condemned to hell. But as we

already discussed this holy trinity is

impossible to understand.

Okay. So this creates

anxiety. Now the thing about anxiety is

it creates um the the problem of like

OCD. Okay. obsessive

obsessive compulsive

behavior

because anxiety

um comes about because of

confusion. Okay. What you want to do is

remove this anxiety by ordering your

physical world. Right? People with

obsessivempulsive behavior, what do they

do? They like to clean houses. They like

to buy things. They like to lose weight.

They're trying to order. The word we use is

rationalize. They're trying to

rationalize the world around

them in order

to re reduce your anxiety. Okay. All

right. Does that make sense? Right. Have

you studied obsessivecompulsive

behavior OCD? All right. It's caused by

it's caused by anxiety. And this anxiety

forces you to try to rationalize the

world. All right. Now, there's also a

third problem in the Protestant religion

and it's the idea of double

double pre

pre

destination. All right. Okay. So, this

is a big concept but but it's very easy

to understand.

If you remove the church because the

church is too corrupt, the problem

arises like how do you know if you're

going to heaven or not? Who's going to

decide? And so a man, a theologian by

the name of John Calvin, he proposed the

idea of double predestination. And the

idea here is this. God at the beginning

of time has already

decided. And this decision is final. You

cannot persuade him that he is wrong

immutable.

And only a few, the elect will be saved.

Only only these people will be allowed

to go to heaven. Everyone else will be

condemned to

hell. And who are the elect? The elect

are those who truly

believe that they have been

saved. O only those who truly believe in

God's mercy and God's grace will be

saved. Okay? If you think about it, this

creates even more

anxiety because how do you know if

you're one that's saved? You have to

work hard now to solve this problem. Okay?

Okay?

So let's summarize because of the

protestant religion you have three new

problems created. The first is the

individual believer cannot understand

the holy trinity but they must. That's

what the religion demands. That's the

first problem. Second problem is the

anxiety causes OCD which makes them want

to rationalize the world. It makes them

want to order the world according to

their faith. Okay, that's the second

issue. The third issue is the idea of

double pre predestination that where

which says that if you do not truly

believe in God if you have if you do not

actually figure out the grace of God

then you'll be condemned to eternal

damnation. Okay. So these are the three

major problems created by the pro

religion. And so over time okay and this

is a process that will take decades

centuries. They figure out a

solution, right? They figure out a

solution. And the solution is this. The

solution is money. Sorry,

money. Okay. The solution is money.

That's how you resolve these three

paradoxes or three contradictions, three

anxieties. All right. So, first of all,

let me explain what money is. Okay.

money. All right. So, in the world we are

are

all different. We have different pers

Um so each individual is unique. Each

individual is different. Each individual

sees the world differently. And this

creates confusion. This creates

problems. Okay? If I ask you why you're

in school, you might say, "Oh, I'm here

to learn mathematics." I might ask

someone else like, "Oh, I want to go to

America for college." Another person

might be like, "I want to learn." Okay,

each person is

different. Okay? But what happens is

this. If I introduce the concept of

money, what it does is it standardizes,

systemizes, clarifies and simplifies

everyone's understanding into

one concept into a coherent hole. Okay.

So let me use an experiment to show you

like why this is true. All right. So

some experimenters they gave everyone a

wine test. They put three different

bottles of wine in front of each person.

Ask each person to taste the wine and

then ask each person which wine is the

best. And most people could not tell the

difference. They were different. They

these are different bottles of wine but

they didn't know which one was better.

Okay. Then what the experimenters did

was they put price tags on each bott of

wine. Okay,

$10, $20, $50. And then when the

expenders did this, everyone knew, oh,

of course the $50 bottle of wine is

better. Okay, so that's what money does.

Man, money allows us to simplify the

Okay. So all our beliefs, all our

values, our judgment now is placed into

this one symbol, money. But then what

happens is we then take this money and

we reshape the world according to money.

Okay, does that make sense? Now I ask

you, why are you going to school?

Everyone's like to make money in the

future. Everyone agrees on this.

Okay, so that's what money is. Money is

a system to standardize everyone's

thought and then once the

standardization happens, it reshapes

reality into a rational order. Okay,

does that make sense? All right. Okay.

So, let's go back. Okay. Now that we

understand what money is, we can now

explain how money reduces the

paradoxes, right? Money is a way for

people to rationalize the world. You're

you're anxious. What do you do to re to

reduce this anxiety? Make money. Make

more money. Don't stop until you make

the most money. Okay?

Okay?

Then money is a way to resolve the God

issue because money is also a symbol. So

what you can do mentally is conflate God

with money. Money is God. God is money.

That makes sense to people, right? And

now because you've completed God of

money, you can now solve the

predestination problem, which is like,

oh, how do I know I have faith in God?

Because I have a lot of money. Because I

spend my entire life accumulating

money. And how do I know I'm going to

heaven? because I'm

rich. The my wealth shows that I have

true faith in God. If I have true faith

in God, then I must be one of those

predestined by God to be the elect. And

therefore, I have nothing to worry

right? And because of this, the beauty

of the system is this. It creates a

Never before in human history have

people people believed that this is a

good thing that that you should go

accumulate money for the sake of

accumulating money. Okay? Before it was

always about accumulating money in order

to increase your social status. So

wealthy people would always spend their

money holding community fees. Okay? On

giving money to the the poor, on helping

the community. So remember Julius Caesar

when he died he was the wealthiest man

in the world but he gave a third of his

money to the poor people of Rome. He

gave a third of his money to building

parks for Rome. Okay. And the and the

the final third went to um is adopted

here um Octavian. Okay. All right. But

now what's important is that you try to

accumulate as much money as possible.

Don't waste it because if you waste it

it's corruption. It shows you lack of

faith in

God. All right? And that's why we have

capitalism because of the anxiety

created by the Protestant Reformation.

All right? And again, um this is a

process that will take centuries. It

doesn't happen right away. Okay? But

it's a process that takes centuries and

it's and it's a process that will define

the world we live in

today. Okay? Even though

today most people actually not

Protestant, most people do not believe

in double pred predestination. Most

people um don't really understand the

holy trinity. Most people don't want to

rationalize the world. We have absorbed

this mentality.

Okay, we believe that we should

accumulate money for the sake of

accumulating money. That's why we

worship people like Jack Ma, Ellen Mus,

Jeff Bezos. Even though if you think about

it, they've just accumulated a symbol,

right? But money is actually nothing.

But we worship them because we believe

that money is reality

itself. All right? That's what

capitalism is. Capitalism is a belief

that money is reality in itself. All

right? So um I know conceptually this is

hard and this is a lot but and now what

I will do is explain historical context

explain the evidence for this argument.

But first I I want to make sure that

this argument is clear to you. This this

is a thesis. Okay. This is to this is

explanation as to why you have capitalism

capitalism

today. All right. So, um, any

questions before I explain the historical

context? This is all clear. Okay, good.

All right. So, now what I'm going to do

is uh explain the historical context as

well as provide the um evidence. Okay.

All right. So the process of reformation

is a

process that took place from 1517. 1517

is when a theologian Martin Luther

published his 95 thesis. His the 95

thesis is a direct criticism of the

Catholic Church. Uh the corruption of

the Catholic Church and it ends really

in the year 1648. This is after decades

of um violent warfare between the

Protestants and the Catholics. And at

this point, Europe is completely

exhausted. They just finished fighting

something called a 30 years war, which

is before World War I, the deadest war

in European history. It kills at most

about 8 million people. So all of Europe

is completely devastated. In certain

parts of Germany, which is where the war

was fought, they lost about half of

their population. Okay. And this war

ended in something called the treaty of

Westfailia, the peace of Westfailia,

which guarantees religious freedom to

everyone in Europe. And this ends the

Protestant Reformation. Okay. All right.

So again, um, historians state the

beginning of the Protestant refu

reformation to Martin Luther. Um last

week we we discussed the crusades and we

discussed how um there were um many

thinkers theologians who are post

Catholic church uh people like John

Whitecliffe Jian Hos um and they were

eventually condemned as heretics and the

rebellion was stumped out by the

Catholic Church. But Martin Luther u

he's fortunate in that he has powerful

political patrons. The various princes

of the Holy Roman Empire want more

autonomy from the Catholic Church and

Martin Luther gives them a proper

pretext in order to financially divorce

themselves from the Catholic Church.

Okay. So, as I discussed, what he's most

famous for is something called the 95

thesis, which is a direct criticism of

the corruption of the Catholic Church.

At this time, the Catholic Church wanted

to build St. Peter's Basilica, a church

in the Vatican. And they wanted this to

be a gorgeous building. So to finance

the building of this church, the um

Catholic Church sold something called

indulgences. Indulgences are basically

like tickets or um um special letters

that will reduce the punishment of your

relatives in purgatory. Okay? It's it's

basically to reduce the number of sins

you committed. It's it's it's basically

like bribing God, okay? To reduce your

your penalty. And this was a very

popular thing and allowed uh the Pope to

build St. Peter's Basilica, which is one

of the most beautiful buildings in the

world today. But as you can imagine, if

you are a true Christian, you are

insulted, you're offended,

um you're angered by the idea of this

corruption. Okay. So the 95 thesis uh or

95 sentences in which in which um Martin

Luther lays out his case against

indulgences and as such against the

authority of the church and the pope and

this is the argument he makes. Okay. So

let's look at some sentences in on so

the 36 sentence is every truly repentant

Christian has a right to full remission

of penalty and guilt even without

letters of pardon. Okay. And what he's

saying here is the idea of salvation by

faith. You don't have to spend this

money. You don't have to do what the go

what the church tells you. If you are a

true Christian, if you truly believe in

God, God will forgive you. You have

direct access to God. Okay? So he's

denying the authority of the pope which

makes him a heretic. He also says

Christians are to be taught that the

pope in granting pardons needs and

therefore desires their devout prayer

for him more than the money they bring.

Okay, this is very insult to the pope.

He's saying like the person that most

offends God in this world is the pope

because the pope is insulting God by

telling the world that that God can be

bribed by money. Okay. So, let's pray

for the pope because clearly the pope um

has offended God.

He also says,"Wh does not the pope whose

wealth is today greater than the richest

of the richest?" He's saying the pope is

the richest man in Europe. Why doesn't

the pope spend this money and build the church

himself build just this one church of

St. Peter with his own money rather than

with the money of poor

believers? Okay? Why is he exploiting

the poor when he is the richest man in

the world? Okay, as you can see and as

you can imagine, the cho the church is

furious with him and they deem him a

heretic and they want to burn him at the

stake. But again he's protected by

powerful political patrons and they

fight a war um over this issue and it

ends with something called the peace of

Augsburg which divides um the Holy Roman

Empire Germany into uh Lutheran uh areas

where they are free to believe in

Lutheran and Catholic areas where they

still adhere to the pope. Okay. So this

is the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Reformation.

um J Martin Luther um starts um this

doctrinal debate and John Calvin also

contributes to it by introducing the

idea of double

predestination. All right. So Martin

Luther he wants to reform the church and

and then he eventually realizes that he

needs to build another church. But John

Calvin with his idea of pre double

predestination, he's trying to he's

trying to deny the authority of the

church. Okay? He's telling people that

because God has already decided who will

go to heaven at the beginning of time

and the church is lying to you. The

church is fooling you, deluding you.

Okay? All right. So, uh he's a

Frenchman. He went to the suborn the

University of Paris. And as you can

imagine, he's deemed a heretic and he fi

and he flees to a place called Geneva in

Switzerland. And Switzerland is one of

the birth places of the Protestant

Reformation. The reason why is um there

are a lot of independent towns in

Switzerland and as I mentioned um the

first believers in the Protestant

religion are actually towns people.

That's aspirational middle class. Okay,

they want they want to be connected with

God. They want a religion that

encourages them to achieve more in life

and that's what the Protestant religion is

about. Um there's also another uh famous

theologian that's really not not

discussed today, but he's considered one

of the three major founders of

Protestantism. His name is Eric Zingli

and he's based in Zurich. Okay. And he's

three. Okay. All right. So, the

Protestant Reformation, it opens a can

of worms. It opens a Pandora's box

because before the ultimate authority

was the pope who represented God, but

now you're free to believe whatever you

want. So, um there are lots of peasants

who rebelled against nobility because

they thought that feudalism was evil in

the eyes of God. Okay. Okay, so this is a

protocommunist movement. These are

people who wanted total equality and

democracy and freedom in the world

because they believe that is the will of

God. Okay? So they rebel against the

feudal lords that kill them and then the

entire uh monarchy unite the sarcas

because they see this see these peasants

as a threat. Okay. Now there are lots of

these peasants. We estimate maybe about

300,000 joining this rebellion, but they

are not educated. They are not

organized. They have no

weapons and they have no centralized

authority and therefore they're all

massacred by uh the aostatic armies.

Okay. All right. So this is the peasants

war and this is important because

eventually we will discuss communism and

communism will be developed in response

to the peasants war. Okay. So this is

the deadliest massacre of peasants

revolution. Um 1534 is the act of

supremacy. That is when the king of

England Henry VII declares his

independence from the pope. Okay. But

because there's such a strong Catholic

contingent in England,

um Henry VII maintains Catholic

practices. But rather than have pope be

at the head of the church, he himself is

now head of the church. Okay? It's

called the church of England now. And

the relig religion is called uh England

the Anglican religion. Okay. The

Anglican religion. All

right. Um so the thing that we should

observe about the reformation is that

first of all it's extremely diverse.

Okay. There are lots of different

denominations. The Lutheran are those

who believe uh in Martin Luther. Okay.

The Calvinists are those who believe in double

double

predestination. The Anglicans are

English who still follow Catholic

rituals but rather than follow the pope

they follow the king of England. Okay.

The Husides are those who adhere to Jane

Husse in Bohemia. The Unitarians are

interesting. The Unitarians are those

who deny the divinity of Jesus. They

deny the Holy Trinity. God is God and

Jesus is just the Messiah. He's just a

prophet of God. Okay? So, they affirm

the moral teachings of Jesus, but they

deny his divinity. You also have uh the

Anabaptists. Okay? The Anabaptists are

interesting as well because they believe

that to truly believe in God, you must

choose to do so. Therefore, you must not

baptize infants because when you do so,

you force children to believe in God

even though they themselves lack the

capacity, lack the reason to believe in

God. Okay? So only adults can join the

faith and they must do so voluntarily.

All right. So, as you can see, there's

tremendous um divergence. There's

tremendous diversity within the

Protestant uh faith and it still still

continues today. Okay. Every day you

have new denominations opening up

because people are interpreting the

Bible differently. The another thing

that you will notice is that most of

Protestants are actually located in Northern

Northern

Europe, right? So the countries of

England, Germany, uh the Nordic

countries, Switzerland, they will go

Protestant. And in the south, um France,

Spain, Italy, they will remain Catholic.

The only exception is this, the south of

France, okay, the south of France, the

south of France will turn Protestant.

It's interesting for us because if you

look at a map, okay, the Protestant uh

French are heavily centered in the south

of France. And if you remember from last

week, that's where the Caththers are

also located. Okay. So, some historians

believe that um Protestantism um and

Cath and Catharism, they sort of mingle

together. They combine and became

conflated together. Okay. Other

historians believe that it's because

that culturally the south of France

because it's um it's it's like

surrounded by mountains. It's always

been culturally

independent of um the rest of French.

They speak a local language called uh

proven which is different from uh

um these Protestants in French in sorry

these Protestants in France um they're

mainly the middle class they're

extremely well educated they become very

prosperous and they're joined by the

nobility and as such the king of France

and France is right now the most

powerful country in Europe the king of

France sees him as a threat and so what

he'll do is he'll um kill some of the

nobles which launches the St. Barflu

days massacre in 1572. Okay, that's a

day when tens of thousands of French

Protestants called Hugenats were killed

and this will start a process by which

these Hugenats extremely well educated,

extremely hardworking, extremely

wealthy, they will move to Protestant

countries like England and the

Netherlands and Germany and they will

help these countries jumpstart the

industrial revolution. Okay, they will

bring their expertise

um and they will help these countries

jumpst start the industrial revolution.

So this is a tremendous loss for France,

tremendous gain for um the other Protestant

Protestant

nations. Okay. So um

eventually Europe is divided into two

major factions. The Catholic faction and

the Protestant faction. And these two

factions will eventually engage in

something called the 30 years war. Okay,

between the Hatsburgs, okay, the Holy

Roman Empire was supported by the Pope

versus basically the infinite states of

um Germany. Okay, and this is a war that

will last exactly 30 years and again it

will kill at most 8 million people. It

is the deadliest war in European history

um up until World War I. Uh what's

interesting about this war is that

France, which is Catholic, chooses to

join the Protestants in this war because

they see the Holy Roman Empire as an

imperial threat. They're afraid that if

they allow the Hapsburgs to take over

Germany, then eventually they will

swallow up France. Okay. So, it was a

religious war, but it was also a

geopolitical and imperial war. All

right. And again um this war ends with

the treaty of Westfailia which

guarantees religious freedom in Europe.

Okay. So the the religious wars will end

and Protestant religion will now be free

independently. Okay. So this is called

the peace of

Westfailia. Okay. So um now let's

summarize and let's um discuss the

evidence for my argument that the

protestant reformation gave birth to

capitalism. Okay. So um these are the

three major differences between the

Catholic religion and the protestant

religion. The question then is why is it

that the north will become really

Protestant and the south of Europe will

become will stay mainly Catholic. Okay.

Um so one thing that we discussed in

this class is the persistence of

culture. So is it so again no one knows

why this is the case. Okay. And you'll

hear different arguments. It could have

been weather. It could have been uh

personality. It it could have been a lot

of different factors. Okay. But one

possibility I I want to present to you

today is the cultural factor which is

that the south of France and the north

of France are culturally different. All

right. So let's look at south of France.

South sorry south of Europe. The

southern Europe countries of Spain,

France and Italy were heavily influenced

by Roman culture. That's where the Roman

Empire was based, right? The Roman

Empire eventually became an imperial

bureaucracy. There are three core values

to the Romans, right? Liberty. Now

liberty, this is really important. It

means obedience to the law. Because only

by obeying the law can people be free to

do what they want. Okay. Second is the

idea of republica. Republica means

public virtue to serve the public good

which basically means obeying what the

Senate tells you to do. Okay? Obeying

authority. And the last is idea of piety

which is to respect the customs and

history and traditions of Rome. Okay.

Okay, so these are the three major

values of the

Romans and we can believe that they're

they become embedded in the south of

Europe. Now let's look at Viking

culture, okay? And when I say Vikings, I

don't really mean Vikings per se. What I

really mean are those protoindo-uropeans

that never really assimilated into Roman

culture, right? So what are their

values? Well, they believe in courage.

They believe in loyalty and they believe

in re resourcefulness. Okay? And we

discussed this when we discussed the

Vikings. Now, what we're going to do is

this. We're going to map Catholic belief

with Romans and we're going to map

Viking belief with the Protestants and

see what happens. Okay. So, the

Catholics, they believe in orthodoxy,

right? Well, the Romans also believe in

orthodoxy. They call it liberty, right?

Obedience to laws. Don't question laws,

just obey them. Um, Catholics believe in

hierarchy. Well, Romans believe in

hierarchy as well. They believe in

obeying the Senate. The Senate is the

ultimate authority, right? Uh Catholics

believe in justification by works. Uh

the Romans believe in piety, right?

Respecting tradition. You don't have to

believe in these traditions, but you

must respect them. All right? So, this

is pretty close. I mean, it's not

perfect. All right? But this suggests

that uh Roman culture had a tremendous

influence on development of the Catholic

Church. Now, let's look at the pro the

Protestants. Okay, they believed in

direct access to God through the Bible.

Well, the Vikings believed in courage.

What is courage? Courage is ex

selfexloration to go out into the

unknown and figure out things for

yourself. Okay? And that's what the

Bible is. That's what faith is. To read

the Bible by yourself and to interpret

the Bible in your own way and you have

to do so using emotional and spiritual

courage. All right. Egotarianism.

So the Vikings had a concept of loyalty

and loyalty is basically the idea of

mutual love. I'm loyal to you and you're

loyal back to me because we love each

other. All right. And the last concept

is justification by faith and individual

struggle to come to terms with what God

means to you individually. Okay. And uh

Vikings believed in resourcefulness,

right? Which is also the idea of

individual struggle. you can figure out

by yourself if you work hard enough, if

you will yourself, you have the courage

to do so. Okay? So again,

um I leave this as a possibility. Okay?

Don't don't treat this as a historical

fact. I just suggest this as a way to

think about why the Protestants became

Protestants, the Catholics became

Catholics. Okay? And a lot of it has to

do with the cultural residue from the

past. Okay? All right. So this this is

just a thought experiment. All right. So

let's talk now talk about why is it that

the Protestant Reformation won out

again. They were up against the R uh the

Holy Roman Empire. They they were up

against Catholic Church. Um there were

more people in Catholic Europe. Catholic

Europe was wealthier and stronger. But

they still won. Okay. And the reason why

they won is due to the invention of

three things. The first thing is the

printing press which allowed for mass

literacy and education. Now everyone

could read the Bible. Before you

couldn't do so, you couldn't afford a

Bible. But now everyone can read the

Bible. But not only that, but but

everyone can now become self-educated.

You can read all the classics by

yourself. Okay? And the Protestant

religion compelled you to be literate

and to be educated. And as such the

Protestants as a whole were more well

educated than the Catholics. Okay,

that's the first reason. Second reason

is the musket. This is really important.

Before uh the main weapon, the ultimate

weapon was the knight, the armor knight.

And the armor knight was a professional

soldier, right? And that's where the

knights were the nobility because you

have to spend all their time uh training

for war, going to war, fighting wars.

Um, and it's very expensive to be a

knight. But now eventually you have the

gun, the musket. Okay? And it takes

about 60 days for anyone to learn how to

use the musket. And the musket is the

thing about the musket that's really

important is it's able to pierce the

armor of the knight, which makes which

makes the knight useless in war. Now,

okay, it's a musket that uh is

important. So in other words, anyone who

has courage and devotion, meaning mainly

the Protestants, they're able to fight a

war and the musket will be vital. It

will be crucial for both the American

Revolution and the French Revolution.

Okay? And we'll we'll discuss the musket

when we get to the American Revolution

and the French Revolution. The last

thing is that of banknotes.

Okay? Before uh people use gold or coins

that were mitted with gold in order to

trade goods. Not only you can use bank

notes which is just money. Okay. Um and

you can now monetize your hard work and

frugality. You can now channel your hard

work and frugality into bank notes.

What's really important now is there's

only a finite number of gold and coins,

right? But there's an infinite source of

banknotes. So you can work infinitely

hard. Okay. So, so what this means is

um before the process reformation, it

was really hard to get people to work

hard because let's just say that you are

an employer and you want to be like,

okay, I'm going to pay people more,

right? But when you pay people more,

they actually work less because they

can't spend that money. They're like,

well, you know, if I have to work eight

hours a day to make $100, but now I work

$2 two hours a day to work to make $100.

I'll just make I'll just make I'll just

work two hours. So we actually work

less. And in this system, slavery makes

sense because

um the way to get people to work hard is

to force them into eternal debt, which

is what slavery is. But in this new

Protestant system, then slavery is an

evil because you're denying people the

capacity to be with God, right? You are

with God if you work hard. But if you're

a slave, how do you measure the hard

work? You you're not able to work hard.

And that's why um after the pos

reformation, one of the main things that

they did was eventually outlaw slavery.

Okay, so there are lots of good things

about about the Protestant Reformation.

You have the industrial revolution. You

have the end of slavery. You have the

rise of capitalism. You have the rise of

the middle class. You have lots of

really good things, but there's also no

denying that there are some bad effects

as well. Okay. All

right. So, this is a printing pressed by Gutenberg.

Gutenberg.

This this is what a printing press looks

like. You have the musket. Okay. So,

before people had

bows, right? And the bows um were used

by trained archers and they weren't that

powerful. But now with the musket,

you're able to pierce knight armor.

Okay? Because there's more energy.

uh 3,100 jewels within the

bullet and then you have bank notes as

well and banknotes really is the

exception of wealth. Okay, which means

that in theory now you could have

infinite wealth. Why why are we so

wealthy today? Because we because we

abstracted wealth. Okay, before wealth

was limited because

um gold was limited but now with bank

notes with money in theory wealth can be infinite.

Okay.

Okay. So this is John Wes Wesley who is

the founder of the Methodist church.

Okay. And he summarizes

the idea of prois Protestantism really

well. We ought not to prevent people

from being diligent and frugal. We must

exhort all Christians to gain all they

can and to save all they can. That is in

effect to grow rich. Right? So

Protestant believe that it is God's

calling. It is your mission to get rich

and that's how you know that you're

favored by God. All right? And the way

to get rich is by working hard and not

Okay. So, what I'm going to do now is

present the evidence for my argument

that the Protestant religion gave birth

to capitalism. Okay. And to do so, I'm

I'm going to refer to three major

thinkers. Max Weber, Eml Durkham, and

Jor Siml. They're all sociologists.

They're considered three major founders

of the social sciences. Okay? And they

they're all contemporaries. They they

were all writing about the year 1900.

Why this is important is the year 1900

is really

when the Protestant religion is most

triumphant. Right? This is when

capitalism is most dominant. Even though

most people are not Protestants,

Protestant um the work ethic, the belief

system has conquered the world. Germany,

Germany,

Britain, United States are the are the

three most powerful countries in the

world at this time. They're the three

largest empires and they're all

Protestant nations and as such they can

impose Protestant beliefs on everyone

else. Okay? And in the year 1900 is also

be before World War I. So at this time

everyone thinks that this is the

greatest thing in the world. Protestant

Protestantism, industrial revolution,

capitalism are all um divinely sent by

God to bless humanity. Okay? And what

Max Weber, George Simo, and EML Durkim

are trying to do is figure out what's

really going on. Okay? And to see if

there are any consequences to the

system. And what they will show us is in

fact there are a lot of problems in this

system. Okay. So let's let's first look

at Max Max Weber who in 1904 to 1905

from 1905 he wrote something called the

Protestant ethic and the spirit of

capitalism. He's trying to explain why

is it that protests are a lot wealthier

than Catholics in general. Okay. And

this is what he has to say.

So far as predestination was not

reinterpreted, toned down or

fundamentally abandoned. Okay? So

remember double predestination, right?

The belief that God has already selected

those who will go to heaven and you must

prove to yourself that you're one of

them. Two principal mutually connected

types of pastoral advice appear. Okay?

So there are two consequences to the

idea of predestination.

On the one hand, it is held to be an

absolute duty to consider oneself

chosen. Okay? So, only a minority are

going to heaven. The odds are you're not

going to heaven. But you must believe

you're going to heaven. Otherwise, you

lack faith in God. Otherwise, you don't

truly believe in God. And then and then

therefore, you'll be truly damned,

condemned by God.

and to combat all doubts as temptations

of the devil. Since lack of

self-confidence is the result of

insufficient faith, hence of imperfect

grace. Okay? To prove that God is

perfect, to prove that God loves you,

you must truly believe that you are

chosen by

God. If you doubt yourself, then you'll

be condemned to hell. Okay? Then you

become a servant of the devil. The

exhortation of the apostle to make fast

one's own call is here interpreted as a

duty to attain certainty of one's own

election and certification in the daily

struggle of life. Okay? So you need to

prove that you are one elect by focusing

on this world. Okay? Focus your energies

on conquering this world.

On the other hand, in order to attain

that self-confidence, intense worldly

activity is recommended as the most

suitable means. It and it alone

disperses religious doubt and gives the

certainty of grace. Okay. So this idea

of all the you have anxiety. How do you

deal with anxiety? Work, work, work.

Okay. OCD, obsessive compulsive

behavior. What kind of work do you do?

Make money. Because the money is proof

of God's

grace, right?

Okay. So he

continues there's worldly Protestant

asetism. Okay. Asetism means like you're

actually not spending any money. Okay.

Not only are you compelled to make a lot

of money but you're also compelled not

to spend any of

it, not to enjoy it because that leads to

corruption that leads to

decadence. Acted powerfully against the

spontaneous enjoyment of possessions. It

restricted consumption especially of

luxuries. Okay. So, no one's spending on

any of this money. Where's this money

going? It's going to the bank. And who's

using this money in the bank? The

government is. And what are they doing?

They're using to fight wars, right? And

that's how England, the Netherlands

became empires. They had access to all

this surplus wealth that Protestants

weren't spending.

On the other hand, it have a

psychological effect of freeing the

acquisition of goods from inhibitions of

traditionalist ethics. Okay. So the idea

this. Before if you're wealthy, you

expected by everyone around you to

support the community, usually by

organizing feasts on religious

festivals. Okay? You were expected to

share your wealth. If you had too much

money, it showed that you were against

the community. Okay? It showed that you

were selfish. But

now people believe that you're if you're

wealthy, it means God favors you. The

more wealth you have, the more people

respect you. Okay? It's a complete

inverse from the historical

um case. Historically we believe that

those who have too much money are evil.

Now we believe that those who have too

much money are inherently good. Okay?

It's complete

reverse. It broke the bonds of the

impulse of acquisition in that it not

only legalized it but looked upon it as

directly willed by God. Okay. So before

it's embarrassing to have too much

money. Now it is prestigious to have too

much money.

The campaign against the temptations of

the flesh and the dependence on external

things was not a struggle against

irrational acquisition but against the

irrational use of wealth. Okay. So

what's evil is not to make a lot of

money. What's evil is to use that money

yourself.

Right? Okay. So now he discusses a

problems with this ideology. Okay. The

Puritan want to work in a calling. Okay.

So the Puritans want to be close to God.

We are forced to do so. We're not

Puritans. Most of the world is not

Puritans. We were stuck. We are in

prison in their world. They create this

world and we're stuck in it. For when

acetism was carried out of monastic

cells into everyday life. Okay. So the

idea was the Catholic Church. If you

wanted to be be aesthetic, if you wanted

to deny the world, you went into a

monastery. The Puritans made the entire

world into a monastery. Okay? Um, and

began to dominate worldly morality. It

did its part in building the tremendous

cosmos of a modern economic order. He's

talking about capitalism. Okay? So,

capitalism was created by the Puritans

in order to rationalize the world.

This order is now bound to the technical

and economic conditions of machine

production which today determine the

lives of all the individuals who are

born into this mechanism. Not only those

directly concerned with economic

acquisition with irristable force. Okay.

So they create this system which is

industrial production. This industrial

production has made us all into slaves

and the soul of this industrial

production system is capitalism. wealth

for the sake of

wealth. Okay? And there's no denying the

system. You cannot you can never free

yourself from the system. You're stuck

inside the system. But not only that,

but this entire of industrial uh

production, it has permeated into all

aspects of life. It's permanent into the

family. It's permanent into the school.

Okay? Why do you have grades? Why do you

have why do we have tests? Because of

this industrial economy, right? grades

money. Perhaps it will so determine them

until the last ton of fossilized coal is

burnt. Okay? What he's saying here is

that this system will keep on going

until we destroy the planet. Okay? And

until we run out of resources because

that's what capitalism is. It's the

exploitation of the environment.

In Baxter's view, the care for external

goods should only lie on the shoulders

of the saint like a light cloak which

can be thrown aside at any moment. Okay.

So the idea of Protestantism is listen external

external

wealth wealth is just a measure of your

faith in God. That's not what's

important. What's important is your

faith, right?

But but the faith decreed that the cloak

should become an iron cage. Okay? Money

was supposed to be a tool. Money was

supposed to be a mechanism for us to

connect with God. But now money,

capitalism, industrial production, it's

become our prison. There's no there's no

denying it. No one can now escape this.

Okay. Okay. Does it make sense to

you? All right. So now he makes

predictions. No one knows who will live

in this cage in the future or whether at

the end of this tremendous development

entirely new profits will arise or there

will be a great rebirth of old ideas and

ideals of e of neither mechanized

petrification embellished with a sort of

convulsive self-importance. Okay, sorry.

I read this wrong. Okay, let let me do

this again. No one knows who will live

in this cage in the future or whether at

the end of this tremendous development

entirely new profits will arise or there

will be a great rebirth of ideas. Okay.

So what we're saying is this as

capitalism conquers more and more

territory as it becomes more embedded

into everyday life. There will be a

nostalgia for the Catholic Church and

there may arise new prophets who will

rebel against capitalism just like

Martin Luther rebelled against the

Catholic religion. Okay? And these new

ideas will happen. They call fascism and

communism. All right? So capitalism will

give rise to the Nazis as well as the

communists, the bullshiks. So this is

the future. Okay? So he's making a

prophecy. But if these things don't

this mechanized petrification

embellished with a sort of convulsive

self-importance. We believe today that

we have achieved divinity. We have

achieved heaven on earth. Capitalism is

the greatest good. But if you think

about it, our civilization has become a

zombie civilization. It is about soul.

It is about spirituality. It is about

heart. It's all machine. It's all money.

It's all obsession. Nothing else. Okay.

So, I'm sorry that this is not appearing

properly. Okay. But but that's what he's

saying here. For of the last stage of

this cultural development, it might well be truly sad. Specialists without

be truly sad. Specialists without spirit. Okay. We have scientists who

spirit. Okay. We have scientists who lack

lack purpose. They have

purpose. They have no sense of divinity. They have no sense

no sense of divinity. They have no sense of mission. Okay? They're just doing

of mission. Okay? They're just doing technical work. Scientists who just do

technical work. Scientists who just do technical

work sens this nullity imagines that it has

sens this nullity imagines that it has achieved a level of civilization never

achieved a level of civilization never before achieved. Okay. All right. So

before achieved. Okay. All right. So that's what he's saying. He's saying

that's what he's saying. He's saying like our civilization it is a zombie

like our civilization it is a zombie civilization. It is an unlimited. No, it

civilization. It is an unlimited. No, it is nothing. Is is nei.

is nothing. Is is nei. We believe this is

We believe this is perfection. Okay? And if you think about

perfection. Okay? And if you think about it, he's describing perfectly the world

it, he's describing perfectly the world we live in

we live in today. It's perfect. Okay? He's he wrote

today. It's perfect. Okay? He's he wrote this in about 1900. He predicted this

this in about 1900. He predicted this would happen. And he's right. We live in

would happen. And he's right. We live in a zombie

a zombie civilization. All right. Okay.

civilization. All right. Okay. So um this is George Siml who is a

So um this is George Siml who is a friend of Max Webber's the

friend of Max Webber's the contemporaries the colleagues their

contemporaries the colleagues their friends um and he's trying to explain

friends um and he's trying to explain where money comes from okay and I as

where money comes from okay and I as explained previously money now has

explained previously money now has become a substitute for the idea of God

become a substitute for the idea of God it's become reality itself okay and how

it's become reality itself okay and how and why is that okay here explains it

and why is that okay here explains it the projection of mere relations into

the projection of mere relations into particular objects is one of the great

particular objects is one of the great accomplishments of the mind okay so

accomplishments of the mind okay so we're able to take an idea and transpose

we're able to take an idea and transpose this idea onto a thing. Okay, we're

this idea onto a thing. Okay, we're we're able to take the idea of God and

we're able to take the idea of God and turn it into money. Okay, we can do that

turn it into money. Okay, we can do that and that's a great thing. When the mind

and that's a great thing. When the mind is embodied in objects, these become a

is embodied in objects, these become a vehicle for the mind and endowed with a

vehicle for the mind and endowed with a livelier and more comprehensive

livelier and more comprehensive activity. Okay, when we do this, we turn

activity. Okay, when we do this, we turn God into money. Our understand of

God into money. Our understand of reality becomes much more vibrant. We're

reality becomes much more vibrant. We're able to understand reality much better.

able to understand reality much better. Okay, the ability to construct such

Okay, the ability to construct such symbolic objects attains its greatest

symbolic objects attains its greatest triumph in money. Okay, money becomes a

triumph in money. Okay, money becomes a placeholder for everything, right? For

placeholder for everything, right? For money represents pure interaction, its

money represents pure interaction, its purest form. How do we

purest form. How do we know if we're working hard? How do we

know if we're working hard? How do we know if we are succeeding? How do we

know if we are succeeding? How do we know if we have friends through money?

know if we have friends through money? Okay, for capital

Okay, for capital accumulation, it makes comprehensible

accumulation, it makes comprehensible the most abstract concept. It is an

the most abstract concept. It is an individual thing whose essential

individual thing whose essential significance is to reach beyond

significance is to reach beyond individualities. It centralizes

individualities. It centralizes everything. Okay. Everyone agrees on

everything. Okay. Everyone agrees on money. Thus, money is the adequate

money. Thus, money is the adequate expression of the relationship of man to

expression of the relationship of man to the world which can only be grasped in

the world which can only be grasped in single and concrete instances yet only

single and concrete instances yet only really can see when the singular becomes

really can see when the singular becomes the embodiment of the living mental

the embodiment of the living mental process which interweavves all

process which interweavves all singularities and in this fashion

singularities and in this fashion creates reality. Okay. So uh at at the

creates reality. Okay. So uh at at the beginning of the class I talked about

beginning of the class I talked about money right how money

money right how money um takes all our different perspectives

um takes all our different perspectives and converges into one thing okay and

and converges into one thing okay and then it redesigns reality through this

then it redesigns reality through this lens okay that's what he's saying here

lens okay that's what he's saying here okay uh the last person I want to talk

okay uh the last person I want to talk about is Email Durkham and he's a French

about is Email Durkham and he's a French uh sociologist and his most famous book

uh sociologist and his most famous book is called on suicide he's he's trying to

is called on suicide he's he's trying to discuss why is it that protestants are

discuss why is it that protestants are much more likely to kill themselves than

much more likely to kill themselves than Catholics. Okay. And his

Catholics. Okay. And his um answer is it's because Protestants

um answer is it's because Protestants believe you have to struggle

believe you have to struggle individually with faith whereas

individually with faith whereas Catholics don't believe that. Catholics

Catholics don't believe that. Catholics believe that you just follow community

believe that you just follow community rituals and you're good. Okay. So

rituals and you're good. Okay. So Protestants feel that they are alone and

Protestants feel that they are alone and abandoned in this world and that they

abandoned in this world and that they they must struggle out of this

they must struggle out of this darkness and that leads to tremendous

darkness and that leads to tremendous energy. Okay? But it also leads

energy. Okay? But it also leads sometimes to self-deeat. It leads to

sometimes to self-deeat. It leads to hopelessness and that's why they kill

hopelessness and that's why they kill themselves. Okay? So so so let's not

themselves. Okay? So so so let's not read this but but that's what he's

read this but but that's what he's saying.

Okay. Okay. But I want to read this. This is really important. He's talking

This is really important. He's talking about the fact that Protestants

about the fact that Protestants transfer this um anxiety in the

transfer this um anxiety in the accumulation of wealth, right? They're

accumulation of wealth, right? They're anxious about what God is. They're

anxious about what God is. They're anxious whether or not God loves them

anxious whether or not God loves them and they uh focus on accumulation of

and they uh focus on accumulation of wealth. Okay? And this is a problem

wealth. Okay? And this is a problem because overexited ambitions always

because overexited ambitions always exceeds the results that they achieve.

exceeds the results that they achieve. whatever these may be because they have

whatever these may be because they have not been aware that they should not go

not been aware that they should not go any further. Okay. Right. Let's just say

any further. Okay. Right. Let's just say that you want to lose weight. Your

that you want to lose weight. Your obsession is to lose weight. It's

obsession is to lose weight. It's possible that you may die in the process

possible that you may die in the process because you don't know how much weight

because you don't know how much weight you should lose. You don't know what the

you should lose. You don't know what the proper equilibrium is. Okay? You just

proper equilibrium is. Okay? You just want to lose as much weight as possible.

want to lose as much weight as possible. That's problem with accumulating money.

That's problem with accumulating money. You try to get more and more money to

You try to get more and more money to prove your worth to God, but you can't

prove your worth to God, but you can't stop. You don't know when to stop.

stop. You don't know when to stop. Okay?

Okay? Consequently, nothing satisfies them and

Consequently, nothing satisfies them and all this agitation perpetually sustains

all this agitation perpetually sustains itself reaching any form of sity. You

itself reaching any form of sity. You cannot stop. Okay? You look at Jack Ma,

cannot stop. Okay? You look at Jack Ma, the richest man in China at some point,

the richest man in China at some point, right? He has all this money, $50

right? He has all this money, $50 billion. What is he doing with it?

billion. What is he doing with it? Nothing. All he wants is make more and

Nothing. All he wants is make more and more money. Why? Because only the

more money. Why? Because only the acquisition of money brings him

acquisition of money brings him happiness. Nothing else

happiness. Nothing else does. It's a

does. It's a disease. Above all, as this race towards

disease. Above all, as this race towards an unattainable goal can give no

an unattainable goal can give no satisfaction, but the race itself, if

satisfaction, but the race itself, if that can be called satisfaction, should

that can be called satisfaction, should anything chance to get in its way, then

anything chance to get in its way, then one is left

one is left empty-handed. Okay?

empty-handed. Okay? You're so focused on the obainment of

You're so focused on the obainment of wealth that if you lose this process,

wealth that if you lose this process, okay, you stop this process, you will

okay, you stop this process, you will feel devoid of everything. Okay, you

feel devoid of everything. Okay, you could have $50 billion in the bank, but

could have $50 billion in the bank, but you lo you drop out of this race, if you

you lo you drop out of this race, if you stop the commission of money, you will

stop the commission of money, you will fall into anxiety and

fall into anxiety and depression.

depression. right now. It so happens that at this

right now. It so happens that at this time the struggle becomes more violent

time the struggle becomes more violent and more painful both because it is less

and more painful both because it is less regulated and because competition is

regulated and because competition is fiercer. Right? So he's talking about

fiercer. Right? So he's talking about capitalism. How because it's all about

capitalism. How because it's all about the creation of wealth and the wealth

the creation of wealth and the wealth can only bring about more anxiety and

can only bring about more anxiety and more

more stress. It's bring it's bringing out all

stress. It's bring it's bringing out all social bonds. Okay. It's bringing all

social bonds. Okay. It's bringing all traditional morality. It's bringing all

traditional morality. It's bringing all bringing down all customs and

norms. All classes are caught up in it because there's no longer any

because there's no longer any established classification. If you're

established classification. If you're rich, if you're poor, you're stuck in

rich, if you're poor, you're stuck in the system. No matter how rich you are,

the system. No matter how rich you are, you're still playing this game. You can

you're still playing this game. You can never escape

never escape it. So the effort is all the greater at

it. So the effort is all the greater at the moment when it becomes more

the moment when it becomes more unproductive.

unproductive. How can the will to live not be weakened

How can the will to live not be weakened in these conditions? Okay,

in these conditions? Okay, so like I know this is hard and I I know

so like I know this is hard and I I know what what what what what I'm saying is

what what what what what I'm saying is it's going to be depressing, but what

it's going to be depressing, but what Max Weber is saying is we live in a

Max Weber is saying is we live in a zombie

zombie civilization. Okay, that's what he's

civilization. Okay, that's what he's saying. What Durkin is saying is that

saying. What Durkin is saying is that this civilization is on a on a path to

this civilization is on a on a path to suicide. It's on a path to

suicide. It's on a path to self-destruction because there's no

self-destruction because there's no purpose in a civilization. It's all

purpose in a civilization. It's all this. We exist for the sake of

this. We exist for the sake of accumulating nothing of value and

accumulating nothing of value and eventually we'll just recognize this and

eventually we'll just recognize this and we'll all have to die. Our civilization

we'll all have to die. Our civilization is on a path to suicide. And you know

is on a path to suicide. And you know what? They're right. They're prophets.

what? They're right. They're prophets. Think about this.

Think about this. Never before in human history have we

Never before in human history have we been as

been as wealthy as technological progress right

wealthy as technological progress right we have the

we have the internet as more connected we can fly

internet as more connected we can fly all around the world you can go to

all around the world you can go to United States and study and then come

United States and study and then come back and work okay you have more

back and work okay you have more opportunities than ever before but again

opportunities than ever before but again think about this okay never before in

think about this okay never before in human history have there been more

human history have there been more depression anxiety more suicides

depression anxiety more suicides ides more feeling of

disconnection. Okay,

Okay, so think about this. Let's do a thought

so think about this. Let's do a thought experiment. Let's just say that I have

experiment. Let's just say that I have anxiety. And the way that I deal with

anxiety. And the way that I deal with this anxiety is I collect newspapers.

this anxiety is I collect newspapers. Every day I'm out collecting newspapers.

Every day I'm out collecting newspapers. I fill this room with newspapers and

I fill this room with newspapers and then I go next room and I fill up

then I go next room and I fill up newspapers. Everyone would say that I am

newspapers. Everyone would say that I am hoarding. Okay, the word is hoarding and

hoarding. Okay, the word is hoarding and it is a

it is a disease, right? It's a disease. We all

disease, right? It's a disease. We all know, we all know it's a disease. If I

know, we all know it's a disease. If I were to go talk to a psychologist, he

were to go talk to a psychologist, he would he would say, "I'm I have a

would he would say, "I'm I have a disease. I need I need

disease. I need I need to take some anxiety medication. I need

to take some anxiety medication. I need to relax, go on vacation, whatever."

to relax, go on vacation, whatever." Okay. But let's just say this. Let's

Okay. But let's just say this. Let's just say I have anxiety and all I want

just say I have anxiety and all I want to do is make money. I make a million

to do is make money. I make a million dollars. I don't spend it. I put in the

dollars. I don't spend it. I put in the bank and I go make $2 million.

bank and I go make $2 million. and then I go make $300 and I'm not

and then I go make $300 and I'm not spending it. It's all in the bank. Okay.

spending it. It's all in the bank. Okay. How is that different from hoarding?

How is that different from hoarding? How's that different from me collecting

How's that different from me collecting newspapers and just putting in the

newspapers and just putting in the house? It's not. There's no difference,

house? It's not. There's no difference, right?

right? But everyone would think I'm a great

But everyone would think I'm a great person. I am a good person because I'm

person. I am a good person because I'm working hard and I'm saving money.

Right? It's a contradiction in our society. It's a contradiction that

society. It's a contradiction that exists because our society, our

exists because our society, our civilization is incapable of recognizing

civilization is incapable of recognizing that we are a zombie civilization that

that we are a zombie civilization that is on the path to civilizational

is on the path to civilizational suicide. All

suicide. All right. Okay. So, this was depressing,

right. Okay. So, this was depressing, but I feel as

but I feel as though we needed to

though we needed to um discuss this. Okay. And again um the

um discuss this. Okay. And again um the same ideas that we learned previously

same ideas that we learned previously we're combining it and and we are going

we're combining it and and we are going to use these ideas to understand the

to use these ideas to understand the future development. Okay. All right. So

future development. Okay. All right. So um any questions?

Yep. believe that.

Okay, you're absolutely right. Okay, you're absolutely right that that so in

you're absolutely right that that so in the Catholic religion, suicide is the

the Catholic religion, suicide is the worst sin that you can commit. Okay, and

worst sin that you can commit. Okay, and in the Protestant religion, there are

in the Protestant religion, there are also um mechanisms against suicide. But

also um mechanisms against suicide. But let's go back to the theory. The theory

let's go back to the theory. The theory is double predestination. God has

is double predestination. God has already decided who will be burned in

already decided who will be burned in hell and who will go to heaven and only

hell and who will go to heaven and only a minority can go to heaven right and

a minority can go to heaven right and there's nothing you can do to change

there's nothing you can do to change this you understand so if you follow the

this you understand so if you follow the logic you commit suicide you're doing

logic you commit suicide you're doing God's will because you commit suicide

God's will because you commit suicide because you don't believe in God or you

because you don't believe in God or you don't have enough faith in God which

don't have enough faith in God which means that you were condemned anyway

means that you were condemned anyway okay so suicide it's not a sin it's a

okay so suicide it's not a sin it's a sign of weakness

sign of weakness Does that make

Does that make sense?

Okay. But um also what's important for us to remember is that suicide, it's

us to remember is that suicide, it's also a feeling of

also a feeling of disconnection. It's a belief that no one

disconnection. It's a belief that no one cares if you die or not. No one supports

cares if you die or not. No one supports you in your life and therefore you're

you in your life and therefore you're better off dead. When you if you die,

better off dead. When you if you die, you're not actually impacting the

you're not actually impacting the community. Okay?

community. Okay? And that's I Durkham's argument. You're

And that's I Durkham's argument. You're always going to have people kill

always going to have people kill themselves in all religions. There's you

themselves in all religions. There's you can't really stop that. But Protestants

can't really stop that. But Protestants are more likely to kill themselves

are more likely to kill themselves because Protestant is a much more

because Protestant is a much more individualistic uh religion than

individualistic uh religion than Catholic.

Catholic. Okay. All right. Does that make sense?

Okay. All right. Does that make sense? Great.

Great. Okay. Next question.

philosophers. Okay, so these three are not

Okay, so these three are not philosophers. These three are

philosophers. These three are sociologists. So they're social

sociologists. So they're social scientists. They're Max Weber who was

scientists. They're Max Weber who was consider the founder of sociology. Uh

consider the founder of sociology. Uh Jor Siml um and Durkham. These these are

Jor Siml um and Durkham. These these are the three major sociologists that uh

the three major sociologists that uh really um created modern social

really um created modern social sciences. Okay.

Okay, that's a great question. Okay. Um, okay. So, these are social scientists

okay. So, these are social scientists and the thing about social scientists is

and the thing about social scientists is they feel their responsibility is to

they feel their responsibility is to diagnose problems and once they diagnose

diagnose problems and once they diagnose problems then it's up to us to figure

problems then it's up to us to figure out the solution. Okay. So, so, so let's

out the solution. Okay. So, so, so let's let's figure out what they're saying.

let's figure out what they're saying. Okay, so um Weber is saying

that this anxiety which leads to

anxiety which leads to capitalism will ultimately lead to

capitalism will ultimately lead to civilizational

decline. Okay, that's his main argument. Okay. So again like he's not writing at

Okay. So again like he's not writing at the beginning of Protestantism where

the beginning of Protestantism where protest was a persecuted religion

protest was a persecuted religion um and where um it really gave hope to a

um and where um it really gave hope to a lot of people and it it really empowered

lot of people and it it really empowered them to transform their lives. Okay.

them to transform their lives. Okay. He's really talking about late

He's really talking about late protestism when it's really conquered

protestism when it's really conquered the world and he he's seeing a lot of

the world and he he's seeing a lot of issues. Okay. And so he's looking at

issues. Okay. And so he's looking at this. He's looking at the anxiety which

this. He's looking at the anxiety which causes capitalism which causes

causes capitalism which causes civilization to decline. So he says

civilization to decline. So he says there has to be a response. And there's

there has to be a response. And there's going to be pos three possible

going to be pos three possible responses. Okay? The first possible

responses. Okay? The first possible response is nothingness. Okay? In which

response is nothingness. Okay? In which case, guess what? We we become a zombie

case, guess what? We we become a zombie society. A zombie society just means

society. A zombie society just means that we just go on daytoday doing

that we just go on daytoday doing whatever, but we don't know why. We

whatever, but we don't know why. We don't really care. We have no soul. We

don't really care. We have no soul. We have no spirit. We have no energy. Okay,

have no spirit. We have no energy. Okay, that's what a zombie society is. And

that's what a zombie society is. And that and that's what he's afraid of. But

that and that's what he's afraid of. But it's also possible that there is a uh

it's also possible that there is a uh reaction, okay, which will lead to the

reaction, okay, which will lead to the return of the Catholic Church, which was

return of the Catholic Church, which was basically a

theocracy. Does that make sense? That's the second possibility. Now another

the second possibility. Now another possibility is that you have new

possibility is that you have new profits or people who are trying to

profits or people who are trying to channel this discontent with capitalism

channel this discontent with capitalism in order to form new movements in the

in order to form new movements in the way that Martin Luther and John Calvin

way that Martin Luther and John Calvin did. Right? And in the 20th century

did. Right? And in the 20th century there were two major responses to the

there were two major responses to the problem capitalism. The first of course

problem capitalism. The first of course is called

is called communism. The second is called fascism,

communism. The second is called fascism, okay? Or the

Nazis. All right? So the 20th century was really about

was really about defeating these two critics of

defeating these two critics of capitalism, right? That's what the 20th

capitalism, right? That's what the 20th century really was about. You first had

century really was about. You first had World War II, which defeated Nazism, and

World War II, which defeated Nazism, and you have the Cold War, which defeated

you have the Cold War, which defeated communism. All right? So this is out.

communism. All right? So this is out. Okay. So right now, okay, our two our

Okay. So right now, okay, our two our two paths ahead of us is either a zombie

two paths ahead of us is either a zombie society or the or a return to a

society or the or a return to a theocracy. And so if I'm a betting man

theocracy. And so if I'm a betting man what a future looks like, I think it is

what a future looks like, I think it is most likely the world becomes a

most likely the world becomes a theocracy. All right? And there are

theocracy. All right? And there are theocracies that exist today. So for

theocracies that exist today. So for example, let's look at North Korea.

example, let's look at North Korea. North Korea is a theocracy where people

North Korea is a theocracy where people are not allowed to think for themselves.

are not allowed to think for themselves. People must do what they're told. Okay?

People must do what they're told. Okay? And it's all a very heavily ritualized

And it's all a very heavily ritualized society which worships the divinity of

society which worships the divinity of the supreme

the supreme leader. We may hate the society. We may

leader. We may hate the society. We may be disgusted by by the society. But

be disgusted by by the society. But guess what? Okay, this is really

guess what? Okay, this is really important. People in North Korea, even

important. People in North Korea, even though they're poorer, even though they

though they're poorer, even though they have less freedom, they are on average

have less freedom, they are on average happier and more fulfilled and more

happier and more fulfilled and more energetic.

energetic. than most societies. You compare you

than most societies. You compare you compare North Korea with South Korea.

compare North Korea with South Korea. Okay? Right? In South Korea, no one's

Okay? Right? In South Korea, no one's having

having kids. That's a sign of complete

kids. That's a sign of complete hopelessness in their society. North

hopelessness in their society. North Korea, they're having a lot of kids.

Korea, they're having a lot of kids. That's a sort of faith in our society.

That's a sort of faith in our society. Okay? So, that's what Max Weber is

Okay? So, that's what Max Weber is predicting. He's predicting these three

predicting. He's predicting these three possible paths. We tried the new

possible paths. We tried the new prophets path, didn't work. Okay? We

prophets path, didn't work. Okay? We don't want to become a zombie society.

don't want to become a zombie society. So the only path ahead of us is to

So the only path ahead of us is to become a

become a theocracy, a return to the tyranny of

theocracy, a return to the tyranny of the Catholic Church. But the tyranny

the Catholic Church. But the tyranny gives us meaning, purpose, and

gives us meaning, purpose, and spirituality, a connection with God that

spirituality, a connection with God that we are lacking into this into today's

we are lacking into this into today's society. Okay. But okay, let's just say

society. Okay. But okay, let's just say for the sake of argument, you know what?

for the sake of argument, you know what? Um, I like my individual freedom, right?

Um, I like my individual freedom, right? All right. I don't want to I don't want

All right. I don't want to I don't want to go to to a bureaucracy where

to go to to a bureaucracy where everyone's a slave. What can we do about

everyone's a slave. What can we do about this?

Um, okay. So, one issue that Max Weber doesn't really address because he

doesn't really address because he doesn't recognize the problem is all

doesn't recognize the problem is all these problems we're talking about is a

these problems we're talking about is a problem of mass

society. Okay. When you have mass society, your options

When you have mass society, your options are much more limited. When you have

are much more limited. When you have mass society, you need to feed millions

mass society, you need to feed millions and millions of people. You need to

and millions of people. You need to organize them. You need to give some

organize them. You need to give some something to do. Therefore, your

something to do. Therefore, your political flexibility doesn't really

political flexibility doesn't really exist. Okay? So, in other words, okay,

exist. Okay? So, in other words, okay, thinking ahead, there are two solutions.

thinking ahead, there are two solutions. either you become a theocracy or you

either you become a theocracy or you figure out the problem of not society.

figure out the problem of not society. Okay, if society

Okay, if society becomes I mean like I'm sorry to say

becomes I mean like I'm sorry to say this but like if most people in the

this but like if most people in the world died then we would have more

world died then we would have more freedom in this world. Okay, but if but

freedom in this world. Okay, but if but if we choose to continue the system we

if we choose to continue the system we have 8 billion people struggling on this

have 8 billion people struggling on this earth then you're stuck with moving

earth then you're stuck with moving towards a theocracy.

towards a theocracy. Okay. So that's what Max Weber is

Okay. So that's what Max Weber is saying. He's basically

saying. He's basically um giving us a prophecy about our future

um giving us a prophecy about our future right now. Okay. Having said

right now. Okay. Having said that, let's look

at Durkham. Okay. Durkham. What's he

Durkham. What's he saying? He's saying this. Okay. This is

saying? He's saying this. Okay. This is really important. Okay. Um it's a hard

really important. Okay. Um it's a hard argument but this is what he's saying.

argument but this is what he's saying. All right. Why do you have

All right. Why do you have suicide? Su suicide is result of

suicide? Su suicide is result of disconnection. If we do not think we are

disconnection. If we do not think we are valuable in the world. If we think that

valuable in the world. If we think that we are alone in this world, we don't

we are alone in this world, we don't want to be part of this world. We kill

want to be part of this world. We kill ourselves. Okay. It's a very simple

ourselves. Okay. It's a very simple idea, right? But then the question then

idea, right? But then the question then is why is your

is why is your disconnection? Because of anxiety,

disconnection? Because of anxiety, right?

It's it's a belief that if I don't work hard, God will not favor

hard, God will not favor me. Right? Why is anxiety important?

me. Right? Why is anxiety important? Because it leads to

capitalism. So in other words, these four concepts are

words, these four concepts are interconnected. All right? Disconnection

interconnected. All right? Disconnection leads to suicide. But we have

leads to suicide. But we have disconnection because of anxiety. But

disconnection because of anxiety. But anxiety is what feeds capitalism. If

anxiety is what feeds capitalism. If people weren't anxious, they wouldn't go

people weren't anxious, they wouldn't go out and work so hard to make money,

out and work so hard to make money, right? To be like, you know what? I'm

right? To be like, you know what? I'm very happy making my $10 a day and sat

very happy making my $10 a day and sat at home eating noodles because I don't

at home eating noodles because I don't care, right? Your society would

care, right? Your society would collapse. Capitalism will

collapse. Capitalism will collapse. Okay? So, so you understand

collapse. Okay? So, so you understand capitalism creates suicide. That's why

capitalism creates suicide. That's why we have the highest suicide rate in the

we have the highest suicide rate in the whole in in in entirety of human

whole in in in entirety of human history. Okay. More anxiety, more

history. Okay. More anxiety, more depression, more suicide, more

depression, more suicide, more unhappiness, more loneliness than ever

unhappiness, more loneliness than ever before in human history.

before in human history. Okay? So, you can't say capitalis

Okay? So, you can't say capitalis capitalism is the issue. But if you work

capitalism is the issue. But if you work out the logic, capitalism is the

out the logic, capitalism is the issue, right? And that's why today in

issue, right? And that's why today in the United States and elsewhere in the

the United States and elsewhere in the world, they're talking about a return to

world, they're talking about a return to a theocracy because that the direct

a theocracy because that the direct response to capitalism is a theocracy.

response to capitalism is a theocracy. Let's just all obey the church and we're

Let's just all obey the church and we're good. Okay. Now, women will have to stay

good. Okay. Now, women will have to stay at home and uh give birth to kids. Oh,

at home and uh give birth to kids. Oh, and also like if you're homosexual,

and also like if you're homosexual, we're we're going to have to kill you.

we're we're going to have to kill you. But, you know, that's the price we we're

But, you know, that's the price we we're going to have to pay. Okay. So, it's a

going to have to pay. Okay. So, it's a terrible world that we're going to. But

terrible world that we're going to. But what Durkin is saying is if we continue

what Durkin is saying is if we continue on the path of capitalism, people are

on the path of capitalism, people are going to choose the path of theocracy

going to choose the path of theocracy that theocy theocracy is almost the

that theocy theocracy is almost the natural outcome of capitalism because of

natural outcome of capitalism because of the problem of

the problem of disconnection. Okay, but are you going

disconnection. Okay, but are you going to be able to defeat capitalism ever?

to be able to defeat capitalism ever? And the answer is no. Okay, we tried in

And the answer is no. Okay, we tried in the 20th century. It led to the death of

the 20th century. It led to the death of tens of millions of people. Okay, good

tens of millions of people. Okay, good luck trying to defeat

luck trying to defeat capitalism. You can't do it. It can't be

capitalism. You can't do it. It can't be done. It's too

done. It's too powerful.

powerful. Okay, does that make sense?

Okay, does that make sense? Okay, any more questions?

Okay, great. So, um, next Tuesday we do the silent

um, next Tuesday we do the silent revolution. Okay. All right.

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YouTube Transcript:Civilization #42: The Protestant Reformation and the Birth of Capitalism