0:00:00 - 0:00:22 Hello, this talk is entitled Open Your Eyes. People Are Evil. This is a provocative title and I, I hope that the presentation comes out. OK. Uh I want to apologize for my voice. I'm getting over a cold. I feel awful, but uh this is on my mind this morning and I wanted to share it. So this is based on 0:00:21 - 0:00:43 uh some, a few different chapters in my recent book, The Glory Of God is Intelligence Acquiring and disseminating Light and Truth that's available on amazon.com. And you can also download a free PDF from my blog at upward dot dot blogspot.com. I really encourage you to get that and look into it. Uh It's 0:00:42 - 0:01:03 a dense book. I'm not sure it's super difficult to understand. But what I mean by D is that there is a lot to it and you'll see that, uh you know, you'll read a sentence in one of the chapters and you could probably spend days sort of digging into it and doing your own study on that idea. Uh I just kind 0:01:02 - 0:00:00 of glaze over things and move on. It's 400 pages. So, um at least in one of its formats. I've changed the page size. So I can't actually remember off the top of my head, but there's a lot, there is my point and I hope to do some more of these videos to peel apart ideas that I just kind of glance by. 0:00:00 - 0:00:00 OK. So one of the challenges in doing these videos or writing blog posts or writing books is that I'm aware that I'm encountering mixed audiences uh and they can be mixed in various ways. So, um Paul said in First Corinthians 920 that he had this challenge as well. And, and when he preached to Jews, 0:00:00 - 0:02:11 he said I became as a Jew uh that I might gain the Jews. And uh you know, when he preached to Romans, he understood the customs of the Romans and he had experiences in his life being Jewish and a Roman that he could uh connect to those audiences and frame his message accordingly. And uh the struggle 0:02:11 - 0:02:37 I have is not just with background, although that, that is certainly the case. So I'm trying to reach people who are from uh an agnostic atheist background as well as a Christian background. Uh whether that's Catholic or Protestant um or L DS background. And these, this is a challenge to say things in 0:02:36 - 0:03:00 a way that reaches all people and to use sources that all people recognize. Of course, the challenge anyway. Um this is really hard um in and of itself. But there's another dimension of this mixed audience problem, which is uh where people stand spiritually, what the condition of their heart is uh as 0:02:59 - 0:03:26 a person. And um you could basically divide that into two camps, right? So, um there are people out there who uh have struggled their whole lives, I guess, toiled their whole lives to become better people. It doesn't matter if they're young or old, but those who have made a determined effort to improve 0:03:26 - 0:03:47 or in a very different place uh in terms of what they need to hear versus what would be helpful to them versus folks who are just starting that journey. Um And, and so that's tricky. And when, when you're reading The Glory Of God is Intelligence, the book I referenced that just came out, um You'll see 0:03:47 - 0:04:08 that there are two parts of the book. It's not strictly divided along those camps. I don't want anyone to say like, oh, well, maybe I should just read this first part or just read the second part. That's it, it's very sequential. You should start at the beginning and end at the end. But um you will find 0:04:08 - 0:04:33 that different parts of the book speak to you more different chapters of the book or even different sections of the chapter. And I tried to cover all those bases, but I'm not sure how well I did anyway. Um So this talk likewise should touch on people from different camps in terms of who you are as a 0:04:33 - 0:04:55 person. Um Anyway, ok, so let's get started. So there are three kinds of people. Uh The first kind is the, the type of person who will do the right thing, no matter what these people are really rare. Uh But they're important. The second group this describes most people on this planet, they'll do the 0:04:55 - 0:05:16 right thing when the environment promotes it. So if they're in a situation where the consequences are very obvious and where things are set up so that they're encouraged to do the right thing, that's what they'll do. And if they find themselves in a situation where the opposite is the case, then they 0:05:15 - 0:05:39 won't do the right thing. And then the third group are thankfully rare and these are people who will do the wrong thing all the time, no matter what. So nothing you say or do or no environment you construct is capable of enticing them to do good. Well, who cares about that? Right. Well, it matters. Um 0:05:38 - 0:05:59 , if you're the kind of person who does evil all the time, I don't think this presentation will do you any good. Uh But for the other two groups, depending on which group you're in, uh maybe it'll convince you to act differently or at least to think differently. And so if you're in the group, the majority 0:05:58 - 0:06:24 group of people who uh will do good when you're in a supportive environment, then I hope that, uh I hope that you think about why that is. And maybe you'll come to the realization that your partiality comes from a partial trust in God. If you really trust God and you believe what he says, then you'll 0:06:23 - 0:00:00 find you have an abundance of reasons to do the right thing all the time. Not just when it's easy, but mostly this presentation is for the third group. Um, well, in this ordering the third group, but I actually started with this on the other side, it's the people who do the right thing all the time. 0:00:00 - 0:07:07 Uh, these people tend to be weighed down by their experience and their disappointment in other people and in life because, uh, of some ideas that will cover here, but one of them is how they project. So a good person will project good onto everyone else and everything else. And, um, they'll constantly 0:07:06 - 0:07:28 be disappointed quite literally in the sense of the term that you would expect something positive to come and then reality would ensue and it won't be as nice as you thought it would be. Um, and I think having an understanding, a better understanding of the way things work, uh, can both help you suffer 0:07:28 - 0:07:51 less and also make you more effective in helping others, which tends to be very important to those kinds of people. All right. So here's a little question for you. What kind of person are you? And maybe you thought about this, maybe you haven't maybe you came up with the right answer before and maybe 0:07:51 - 0:08:17 you didn't. Uh, one thing that seems to be true of human nature is that we're woefully unaware, period. We're unaware of almost everything, whether it's reality or consequences or opportunities in life. We're, we're woefully unaware of what's going on around us. And this is why it's so valuable to have 0:08:16 - 0:08:39 , um, what I call Jethro's in our life. So if you think about Moses and here he had 40 years of experience as one of the most powerful men in the world. He was an accomplished military leader and political leader in Egypt. Uh And then he was exiled and became a nobody. And he met this guy Jethro who 0:08:38 - 0:09:04 is a shepherd. And it's interesting because uh shepherds were an abomination to the culture. Moses grow, grew up in. And uh Jethro taught him a few things about life and was able to ratchet forward moses' uh understanding of things beyond what he had acquired in the best environments in Egypt. So he 0:09:03 - 0:09:24 had acquired the best Egypt had to offer. And then he goes into the wilderness and meets the shepherd and he uh gives him an avenue to build on top of that anyway, not to diverge too much from the point here. But um my point is that we're really unaware of things and sometimes when we have an opportunity 0:09:23 - 0:09:44 to step outside of our normal life, even if it's just for an hour in the morning or something, we can critically examine things and hopefully, uh whether it's with the help of someone else or not, we can uh ratchet things forward and have an advancement over where we stand previously. So, what kind of 0:09:44 - 0:10:05 person are you? But the other question is as you interact with people in this world, um which is gonna happen on a regular basis unless you live in a cave, um, You ought to think more actively about what kind of person they are and this can help you, like I said before, be more effective in helping them 0:10:04 - 0:10:30 . It can also help you avoid unnecessary suffering. Um OK, so not only are we unaware of opportunities and consequences of things, but we tend to be unaware of the hearts of the people around us and also of our own hearts being more conscientious of these things is definitely a good thing. Um I don't 0:10:30 - 0:10:52 know if you found yourself in the middle of a maze and you didn't have eyes or you were blind, then you'd probably have a harder time of it than if you could see. So any information we have that's true can help us navigate life better than we can without it. So, um here's this idea of projection which 0:10:51 - 0:11:12 I briefly mentioned before. People who are good, they tend to assume that others are good and they'll interpret their perceptions of the world with that lens. People who are bad will do the same thing. They'll assume that the people around them are bad. Um, and that they're thinking the same way and 0:11:11 - 0:11:32 they're motivated by the same things that they are. This is just what we tend to do. It's human nature. But if you don't think about that explicitly and if you don't know if you're a bad or good person, then you're in a bad spot. Um, because if you're good and you assume those around you are good, you'll 0:11:32 - 0:11:57 be hurt very often and you'll, you'll do things that are unwise, given reality. If you're bad, you'll miss out on opportunities to learn from people who are better than you. Um, and morally. And, um, that would be a real shame. So, excuse me. So, um, there's also a kind of a third type of person and 0:11:56 - 0:12:21 , you know, it's bad enough to be a bad person, but what's worse is to be a dishonest, bad person. So, um, when you're dishonest, the, the problem is that you lie to yourself about who you really are and, uh, you don't have any kind of a, a compass to see things as they really are because you can selectively 0:12:21 - 0:12:43 pick and choose whatever it is that's currently pleasing at the moment and that doesn't just apply to your decisions in your life. It also applies to how you interpret other people. So, for example, um, suppose you are dating and you meet someone and carnally, you desire this person so they're attractive 0:12:42 - 0:13:05 for whatever reason and not just looks but maybe, um, I don't know, maybe they cater to some thing you like to do. That's fun. But maybe unwise and, um, you'll lie to yourself even though you kind of know this person's bad for you because they do this or that, or they'll help you do this or that, that 0:13:05 - 0:13:29 you don't really want to do because, you know, it's not good. Um You'll lie to yourself, to entice yourself to continue in this with this uh in a relationship with this person because you'll sort of selectively recognize things about them anyway. So, um this is, this is something you'll see from time 0:13:29 - 0:13:51 to time. Uh In the book, there's uh a section about those who quote unquote love a lie and there's much more to it than this and I don't talk about relationships, but the general principle is laid down there and there are all kinds of uh scriptures there to sort of flesh out this idea. Um Whatever the 0:13:51 - 0:14:15 case, the point is that uh projection is not a good thing and it doesn't matter if you're a good person and you're projecting good or you're a bad person projecting bad or you're a liar who projects that lie. Um We have to judge according to reality and reality does not mean our perception of reality 0:14:14 - 0:14:37 . It's things as they really are. It's not things as we think they are right. So um there's a word that's used very often in the scriptures, the word is righteous and uh I don't think it means what most people assume it means. At least it's useful to think of it in a different uh framework. So in John 0:14:37 - 0:15:03 724 the Lord says judge, not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment. So to judge, according to the appearance is to trust what you think and feel about a situation from your perspective, to judge righteous judgment is to somehow tap into a sort of a transcendent view of things. Uh The 0:15:03 - 0:15:32 view of God is the ideal. Um But at least to judge, according to um our best idea of who God is and what he's like. And I go into that a lot more in the book and I will go into that in future videos. Um But let's just leave it at that. The point is that there, there is a latent reality. Um So that's 0:15:31 - 0:15:58 things as they really are. And then there's the appearance of reality, which is our perception of reality and everyone has a different perception of reality and um none of them are, are actually correct. Everything you think is either um inaccurate or it's incorrect. And so it helps to try to divorce 0:15:57 - 0:16:27 ourselves from what we think and try to tap into something transcendent. That's more correct. Ok. So how do you know, uh how do you know whether someone or something is good or evil. Um This is a really big topic and there's one chapter dedicated to this in the book and then the discussion of it sprinkled 0:16:26 - 0:16:54 throughout the rest of the book outside of that chapter. But I just want to very briefly focus on one specific narrow um subset of this, which is just talking about good people and bad people. And uh here's some clues. So first the easiest thing you can do and the most correct thing is to assume that 0:16:54 - 0:17:23 until proven otherwise, someone is not good. And the reason for this is that human nature is evil. So from the fall of Adam and Eve, um the every imagination of the thoughts of man was evil continually and we don't have to spend too much time unpacking that. But the idea is that what people desire and 0:17:23 - 0:17:47 what they tend to do by default is not good. Of course, there are exceptions to this, whether they're momentary exceptions in the life of someone who is in general, not a good person or whether this is a, an exception in terms of the person. And because there are good people out there, um the point is 0:17:46 - 0:18:12 that what you will tend to encounter. So if you're just sort of doing a lottery of random people, you will encounter evil. So what are these bad ones like? So this passage is from Jeremiah nine in the Old Testament says they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the 0:18:12 - 0:18:37 truth upon the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. So we'll tease this apart. Um, they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. This, these people are dishonest and they lie all the time. I mean, it's such a constant thing that it's says they bend their tongues 0:18:37 - 0:19:00 like their bow. So you obviously, when you shoot a bow, you bend it and it's a tool and, and this is saying that uh the state of deceit is so constant that it's like their tongues were designed for it. They're not valiant for the truth. We'll talk about what that means and they proceed from evil to evil 0:18:59 - 0:19:21 . Talk about that as well and they know not the Lord. Ok? Um Take ye heed every one of his neighbor and trust ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbor will walk with slanders and they will deceive everyone his neighbor and will not speak the truth. They've taught 0:19:20 - 0:19:47 their tongue to speak lies and they weary themselves to commit iniquity. So these, these people, you shouldn't trust them. It's very obvious, right? Because what's going on behind the scenes is that it's just constant deceit, their orientation is towards evil. It's not good to lean on these people. Um 0:19:46 - 0:20:09 There's another little segment of a, of a verse that I like from Isaiah 2610, it says let favor be showed to the wicked yet, will he not learn righteousness? And what this is saying is that there are people out there who will not benefit even if you try to teach them or try to help them. So even for 0:20:08 - 0:20:30 example, if you alleviate them from the consequences of their poor choices, they won't actually learn from it. And then in Proverbs 17, we have fools, despise wisdom and instruction. Someone's reaction to correction is a key indicator of whether they're good or bad. So if we sum all this up from these 0:20:30 - 0:20:52 passages, bad people lie. Uh and it's not just a once or twice kind of thing. It's a deeply rooted part of their character. They're dishonest, they're not interested in acquiring more truth. They don't learn from their mistakes. They don't benefit from the sacrifice of others and they don't get to know 0:20:52 - 0:21:17 God. So if we invert all of these things, we'll have a good description of a good person. So you can know that a person's good if they embrace truth, if they desire more truth, if they learn from their mistakes, if they benefit and grow from the sacrifice of others, so it's not wasted, they actually 0:21:16 - 0:21:39 change as a result and they get to know God these things, they seem simple, right? I mean, I just rattled them off and I'm sure you understand what each of these things means, but how often are you cycling through these ideas as you interact with people? And are you classifying people and yourself as 0:21:39 - 0:22:00 falling into one of these buckets intentionally conscientiously? Probably not. You're probably just kind of bouncing through life like a, a pinball in a pinball machine without really realizing the distinction between those things in the pinball machine. Right? There are certain things you want to hit 0:21:59 - 0:22:20 at a certain angle and uh knowing how this all works and what, what that ball is and what the things are, it's bouncing off of. It turns out it matters. If you don't know the difference between the paddle and uh some, some bumper that you're bouncing off of, then you're not going to be able to play as 0:22:19 - 0:22:46 effectively as someone who does. So these are important things to know. So, um moving along with this, this idea of, of sort of discerning whether someone's good or not, here's some questions, how do they treat people that have no ability to benefit them? Um One way we can get fooled is by evaluating 0:22:45 - 0:23:07 someone in their interactions when it turns out that the person they're interacting with has the capacity to, to benefit them. So it's easy to be nice to someone when there's something you're trying to get out of them and you'll find that most evil people do this, right? Because unless they're very stupid 0:23:07 - 0:23:27 , why, why wouldn't you, because you're gonna get something out of it, the real trick is to see how they treat people, uh, from whom they don't anticipate a benefit. So whether this is, you know, someone on the street who they're never gonna see again or wait staff at a restaurant or, um, what other 0:23:27 - 0:23:47 , whatever other situation where they don't think that they're gonna get something out of it. This is very telling. Another question is how do they handle the realization of a mistake? So if you were to point out to them something that they could do better, how do they react? Are they really grateful 0:23:46 - 0:24:09 ? You'll find that that's exceedingly rare. Uh What's, what's much more common is that someone will try to defend themselves or they'll try to shift the blame onto you or someone else. Um, they'll pull the victim card, whatever it is, but good people will really love correction, they'll love it. They 0:24:09 - 0:24:31 won't just take it but they'll, they'll actually be really grateful that you brought it up. Uh Whereas most people don't bring it up and, and certainly don't want to hear it. So, uh another question is, how do they talk about other people? And one of the most valuable channels here is uh the kinds of 0:24:30 - 0:24:57 people that you could expect them to. Not like. So how do they talk about people that spitefully use them, their enemies, uh People that are out to get them or their exes? That's always really interesting. And then finally another question is, do these people improve, the more you get to know them. So 0:24:56 - 0:25:20 almost everyone will uh you know, people are like onions and you peel off the layers and you get to know them better. Almost everyone will um reveal that their true selves are worse than what you thought. But some select few people will actually get better, the more that you know them either because 0:25:20 - 0:25:42 they're progressing or what I actually mean in this is, is that there are parts about them that you don't know about that are actually much better than what you do know. That's very rare. So, wrapping all this up, most people are bad and you ought to go through life. Assuming that if you prepare yourself 0:25:41 - 0:26:04 and you act wisely, you'll, uh, much better navigate the situations that are out there and hopefully you can see into yourself a little more clearly now. And if you're in that group that isn't where you should be or where you want to be, maybe you can make some changes to get there. The other thing to 0:26:04 - 0:26:26 , to go forward thinking about is how rare good people are. If you're privileged enough to know a good person, let alone several, you should really be grateful because they don't exist in high numbers. So if you happen to know some, someone who's truly good, you should treasure them and, uh, whether 0:26:25 - 0:26:50 it's a friend or something more, be grateful for that lastly, um, it's good to assume that people are not good until they prove otherwise, especially if you're good because remember, good people will project their goodness onto others and it will lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering in terms of whether 0:26:50 - 0:27:17 it's business deals or life decisions or partners, whatever the case may be, friendships, um, spouses, you find out all the details later on and you regret what you've done. So take it slow and, uh, let that, let that onion unravel and prove to you what reality is rather than, uh, letting you know that 0:00:00 - 0:00:22 Hello, this talk is entitled Open Your Eyes. People Are Evil. This is a provocative title and I, I hope that the presentation comes out. OK. Uh I want to apologize for my voice. I'm getting over a cold. I feel awful, but uh this is on my mind this morning and I wanted to share it. So this is based on 0:00:21 - 0:00:43 uh some, a few different chapters in my recent book, The Glory Of God is Intelligence Acquiring and disseminating Light and Truth that's available on amazon.com. And you can also download a free PDF from my blog at upward dot dot blogspot.com. I really encourage you to get that and look into it. Uh It's 0:00:42 - 0:01:03 a dense book. I'm not sure it's super difficult to understand. But what I mean by D is that there is a lot to it and you'll see that, uh you know, you'll read a sentence in one of the chapters and you could probably spend days sort of digging into it and doing your own study on that idea. Uh I just kind 0:01:02 - 0:00:00 of glaze over things and move on. It's 400 pages. So, um at least in one of its formats. I've changed the page size. So I can't actually remember off the top of my head, but there's a lot, there is my point and I hope to do some more of these videos to peel apart ideas that I just kind of glance by. 0:00:00 - 0:00:00 OK. So one of the challenges in doing these videos or writing blog posts or writing books is that I'm aware that I'm encountering mixed audiences uh and they can be mixed in various ways. So, um Paul said in First Corinthians 920 that he had this challenge as well. And, and when he preached to Jews, 0:00:00 - 0:02:11 he said I became as a Jew uh that I might gain the Jews. And uh you know, when he preached to Romans, he understood the customs of the Romans and he had experiences in his life being Jewish and a Roman that he could uh connect to those audiences and frame his message accordingly. And uh the struggle 0:02:11 - 0:02:37 I have is not just with background, although that, that is certainly the case. So I'm trying to reach people who are from uh an agnostic atheist background as well as a Christian background. Uh whether that's Catholic or Protestant um or L DS background. And these, this is a challenge to say things in 0:02:36 - 0:03:00 a way that reaches all people and to use sources that all people recognize. Of course, the challenge anyway. Um this is really hard um in and of itself. But there's another dimension of this mixed audience problem, which is uh where people stand spiritually, what the condition of their heart is uh as 0:02:59 - 0:03:26 a person. And um you could basically divide that into two camps, right? So, um there are people out there who uh have struggled their whole lives, I guess, toiled their whole lives to become better people. It doesn't matter if they're young or old, but those who have made a determined effort to improve 0:03:26 - 0:03:47 or in a very different place uh in terms of what they need to hear versus what would be helpful to them versus folks who are just starting that journey. Um And, and so that's tricky. And when, when you're reading The Glory Of God is Intelligence, the book I referenced that just came out, um You'll see 0:03:47 - 0:04:08 that there are two parts of the book. It's not strictly divided along those camps. I don't want anyone to say like, oh, well, maybe I should just read this first part or just read the second part. That's it, it's very sequential. You should start at the beginning and end at the end. But um you will find 0:04:08 - 0:04:33 that different parts of the book speak to you more different chapters of the book or even different sections of the chapter. And I tried to cover all those bases, but I'm not sure how well I did anyway. Um So this talk likewise should touch on people from different camps in terms of who you are as a 0:04:33 - 0:04:55 person. Um Anyway, ok, so let's get started. So there are three kinds of people. Uh The first kind is the, the type of person who will do the right thing, no matter what these people are really rare. Uh But they're important. The second group this describes most people on this planet, they'll do the 0:04:55 - 0:05:16 right thing when the environment promotes it. So if they're in a situation where the consequences are very obvious and where things are set up so that they're encouraged to do the right thing, that's what they'll do. And if they find themselves in a situation where the opposite is the case, then they 0:05:15 - 0:05:39 won't do the right thing. And then the third group are thankfully rare and these are people who will do the wrong thing all the time, no matter what. So nothing you say or do or no environment you construct is capable of enticing them to do good. Well, who cares about that? Right. Well, it matters. Um 0:05:38 - 0:05:59 , if you're the kind of person who does evil all the time, I don't think this presentation will do you any good. Uh But for the other two groups, depending on which group you're in, uh maybe it'll convince you to act differently or at least to think differently. And so if you're in the group, the majority 0:05:58 - 0:06:24 group of people who uh will do good when you're in a supportive environment, then I hope that, uh I hope that you think about why that is. And maybe you'll come to the realization that your partiality comes from a partial trust in God. If you really trust God and you believe what he says, then you'll 0:06:23 - 0:00:00 find you have an abundance of reasons to do the right thing all the time. Not just when it's easy, but mostly this presentation is for the third group. Um, well, in this ordering the third group, but I actually started with this on the other side, it's the people who do the right thing all the time. 0:00:00 - 0:07:07 Uh, these people tend to be weighed down by their experience and their disappointment in other people and in life because, uh, of some ideas that will cover here, but one of them is how they project. So a good person will project good onto everyone else and everything else. And, um, they'll constantly 0:07:06 - 0:07:28 be disappointed quite literally in the sense of the term that you would expect something positive to come and then reality would ensue and it won't be as nice as you thought it would be. Um, and I think having an understanding, a better understanding of the way things work, uh, can both help you suffer 0:07:28 - 0:07:51 less and also make you more effective in helping others, which tends to be very important to those kinds of people. All right. So here's a little question for you. What kind of person are you? And maybe you thought about this, maybe you haven't maybe you came up with the right answer before and maybe 0:07:51 - 0:08:17 you didn't. Uh, one thing that seems to be true of human nature is that we're woefully unaware, period. We're unaware of almost everything, whether it's reality or consequences or opportunities in life. We're, we're woefully unaware of what's going on around us. And this is why it's so valuable to have 0:08:16 - 0:08:39 , um, what I call Jethro's in our life. So if you think about Moses and here he had 40 years of experience as one of the most powerful men in the world. He was an accomplished military leader and political leader in Egypt. Uh And then he was exiled and became a nobody. And he met this guy Jethro who 0:08:38 - 0:09:04 is a shepherd. And it's interesting because uh shepherds were an abomination to the culture. Moses grow, grew up in. And uh Jethro taught him a few things about life and was able to ratchet forward moses' uh understanding of things beyond what he had acquired in the best environments in Egypt. So he 0:09:03 - 0:09:24 had acquired the best Egypt had to offer. And then he goes into the wilderness and meets the shepherd and he uh gives him an avenue to build on top of that anyway, not to diverge too much from the point here. But um my point is that we're really unaware of things and sometimes when we have an opportunity 0:09:23 - 0:09:44 to step outside of our normal life, even if it's just for an hour in the morning or something, we can critically examine things and hopefully, uh whether it's with the help of someone else or not, we can uh ratchet things forward and have an advancement over where we stand previously. So, what kind of 0:09:44 - 0:10:05 person are you? But the other question is as you interact with people in this world, um which is gonna happen on a regular basis unless you live in a cave, um, You ought to think more actively about what kind of person they are and this can help you, like I said before, be more effective in helping them 0:10:04 - 0:10:30 . It can also help you avoid unnecessary suffering. Um OK, so not only are we unaware of opportunities and consequences of things, but we tend to be unaware of the hearts of the people around us and also of our own hearts being more conscientious of these things is definitely a good thing. Um I don't 0:10:30 - 0:10:52 know if you found yourself in the middle of a maze and you didn't have eyes or you were blind, then you'd probably have a harder time of it than if you could see. So any information we have that's true can help us navigate life better than we can without it. So, um here's this idea of projection which 0:10:51 - 0:11:12 I briefly mentioned before. People who are good, they tend to assume that others are good and they'll interpret their perceptions of the world with that lens. People who are bad will do the same thing. They'll assume that the people around them are bad. Um, and that they're thinking the same way and 0:11:11 - 0:11:32 they're motivated by the same things that they are. This is just what we tend to do. It's human nature. But if you don't think about that explicitly and if you don't know if you're a bad or good person, then you're in a bad spot. Um, because if you're good and you assume those around you are good, you'll 0:11:32 - 0:11:57 be hurt very often and you'll, you'll do things that are unwise, given reality. If you're bad, you'll miss out on opportunities to learn from people who are better than you. Um, and morally. And, um, that would be a real shame. So, excuse me. So, um, there's also a kind of a third type of person and 0:11:56 - 0:12:21 , you know, it's bad enough to be a bad person, but what's worse is to be a dishonest, bad person. So, um, when you're dishonest, the, the problem is that you lie to yourself about who you really are and, uh, you don't have any kind of a, a compass to see things as they really are because you can selectively 0:12:21 - 0:12:43 pick and choose whatever it is that's currently pleasing at the moment and that doesn't just apply to your decisions in your life. It also applies to how you interpret other people. So, for example, um, suppose you are dating and you meet someone and carnally, you desire this person so they're attractive 0:12:42 - 0:13:05 for whatever reason and not just looks but maybe, um, I don't know, maybe they cater to some thing you like to do. That's fun. But maybe unwise and, um, you'll lie to yourself even though you kind of know this person's bad for you because they do this or that, or they'll help you do this or that, that 0:13:05 - 0:13:29 you don't really want to do because, you know, it's not good. Um You'll lie to yourself, to entice yourself to continue in this with this uh in a relationship with this person because you'll sort of selectively recognize things about them anyway. So, um this is, this is something you'll see from time 0:13:29 - 0:13:51 to time. Uh In the book, there's uh a section about those who quote unquote love a lie and there's much more to it than this and I don't talk about relationships, but the general principle is laid down there and there are all kinds of uh scriptures there to sort of flesh out this idea. Um Whatever the 0:13:51 - 0:14:15 case, the point is that uh projection is not a good thing and it doesn't matter if you're a good person and you're projecting good or you're a bad person projecting bad or you're a liar who projects that lie. Um We have to judge according to reality and reality does not mean our perception of reality 0:14:14 - 0:14:37 . It's things as they really are. It's not things as we think they are right. So um there's a word that's used very often in the scriptures, the word is righteous and uh I don't think it means what most people assume it means. At least it's useful to think of it in a different uh framework. So in John 0:14:37 - 0:15:03 724 the Lord says judge, not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment. So to judge, according to the appearance is to trust what you think and feel about a situation from your perspective, to judge righteous judgment is to somehow tap into a sort of a transcendent view of things. Uh The 0:15:03 - 0:15:32 view of God is the ideal. Um But at least to judge, according to um our best idea of who God is and what he's like. And I go into that a lot more in the book and I will go into that in future videos. Um But let's just leave it at that. The point is that there, there is a latent reality. Um So that's 0:15:31 - 0:15:58 things as they really are. And then there's the appearance of reality, which is our perception of reality and everyone has a different perception of reality and um none of them are, are actually correct. Everything you think is either um inaccurate or it's incorrect. And so it helps to try to divorce 0:15:57 - 0:16:27 ourselves from what we think and try to tap into something transcendent. That's more correct. Ok. So how do you know, uh how do you know whether someone or something is good or evil. Um This is a really big topic and there's one chapter dedicated to this in the book and then the discussion of it sprinkled 0:16:26 - 0:16:54 throughout the rest of the book outside of that chapter. But I just want to very briefly focus on one specific narrow um subset of this, which is just talking about good people and bad people. And uh here's some clues. So first the easiest thing you can do and the most correct thing is to assume that 0:16:54 - 0:17:23 until proven otherwise, someone is not good. And the reason for this is that human nature is evil. So from the fall of Adam and Eve, um the every imagination of the thoughts of man was evil continually and we don't have to spend too much time unpacking that. But the idea is that what people desire and 0:17:23 - 0:17:47 what they tend to do by default is not good. Of course, there are exceptions to this, whether they're momentary exceptions in the life of someone who is in general, not a good person or whether this is a, an exception in terms of the person. And because there are good people out there, um the point is 0:17:46 - 0:18:12 that what you will tend to encounter. So if you're just sort of doing a lottery of random people, you will encounter evil. So what are these bad ones like? So this passage is from Jeremiah nine in the Old Testament says they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the 0:18:12 - 0:18:37 truth upon the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. So we'll tease this apart. Um, they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. This, these people are dishonest and they lie all the time. I mean, it's such a constant thing that it's says they bend their tongues 0:18:37 - 0:19:00 like their bow. So you obviously, when you shoot a bow, you bend it and it's a tool and, and this is saying that uh the state of deceit is so constant that it's like their tongues were designed for it. They're not valiant for the truth. We'll talk about what that means and they proceed from evil to evil 0:18:59 - 0:19:21 . Talk about that as well and they know not the Lord. Ok? Um Take ye heed every one of his neighbor and trust ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbor will walk with slanders and they will deceive everyone his neighbor and will not speak the truth. They've taught 0:19:20 - 0:19:47 their tongue to speak lies and they weary themselves to commit iniquity. So these, these people, you shouldn't trust them. It's very obvious, right? Because what's going on behind the scenes is that it's just constant deceit, their orientation is towards evil. It's not good to lean on these people. Um 0:19:46 - 0:20:09 There's another little segment of a, of a verse that I like from Isaiah 2610, it says let favor be showed to the wicked yet, will he not learn righteousness? And what this is saying is that there are people out there who will not benefit even if you try to teach them or try to help them. So even for 0:20:08 - 0:20:30 example, if you alleviate them from the consequences of their poor choices, they won't actually learn from it. And then in Proverbs 17, we have fools, despise wisdom and instruction. Someone's reaction to correction is a key indicator of whether they're good or bad. So if we sum all this up from these 0:20:30 - 0:20:52 passages, bad people lie. Uh and it's not just a once or twice kind of thing. It's a deeply rooted part of their character. They're dishonest, they're not interested in acquiring more truth. They don't learn from their mistakes. They don't benefit from the sacrifice of others and they don't get to know 0:20:52 - 0:21:17 God. So if we invert all of these things, we'll have a good description of a good person. So you can know that a person's good if they embrace truth, if they desire more truth, if they learn from their mistakes, if they benefit and grow from the sacrifice of others, so it's not wasted, they actually 0:21:16 - 0:21:39 change as a result and they get to know God these things, they seem simple, right? I mean, I just rattled them off and I'm sure you understand what each of these things means, but how often are you cycling through these ideas as you interact with people? And are you classifying people and yourself as 0:21:39 - 0:22:00 falling into one of these buckets intentionally conscientiously? Probably not. You're probably just kind of bouncing through life like a, a pinball in a pinball machine without really realizing the distinction between those things in the pinball machine. Right? There are certain things you want to hit 0:21:59 - 0:22:20 at a certain angle and uh knowing how this all works and what, what that ball is and what the things are, it's bouncing off of. It turns out it matters. If you don't know the difference between the paddle and uh some, some bumper that you're bouncing off of, then you're not going to be able to play as 0:22:19 - 0:22:46 effectively as someone who does. So these are important things to know. So, um moving along with this, this idea of, of sort of discerning whether someone's good or not, here's some questions, how do they treat people that have no ability to benefit them? Um One way we can get fooled is by evaluating 0:22:45 - 0:23:07 someone in their interactions when it turns out that the person they're interacting with has the capacity to, to benefit them. So it's easy to be nice to someone when there's something you're trying to get out of them and you'll find that most evil people do this, right? Because unless they're very stupid 0:23:07 - 0:23:27 , why, why wouldn't you, because you're gonna get something out of it, the real trick is to see how they treat people, uh, from whom they don't anticipate a benefit. So whether this is, you know, someone on the street who they're never gonna see again or wait staff at a restaurant or, um, what other 0:23:27 - 0:23:47 , whatever other situation where they don't think that they're gonna get something out of it. This is very telling. Another question is how do they handle the realization of a mistake? So if you were to point out to them something that they could do better, how do they react? Are they really grateful 0:23:46 - 0:24:09 ? You'll find that that's exceedingly rare. Uh What's, what's much more common is that someone will try to defend themselves or they'll try to shift the blame onto you or someone else. Um, they'll pull the victim card, whatever it is, but good people will really love correction, they'll love it. They 0:24:09 - 0:24:31 won't just take it but they'll, they'll actually be really grateful that you brought it up. Uh Whereas most people don't bring it up and, and certainly don't want to hear it. So, uh another question is, how do they talk about other people? And one of the most valuable channels here is uh the kinds of 0:24:30 - 0:24:57 people that you could expect them to. Not like. So how do they talk about people that spitefully use them, their enemies, uh People that are out to get them or their exes? That's always really interesting. And then finally another question is, do these people improve, the more you get to know them. So 0:24:56 - 0:25:20 almost everyone will uh you know, people are like onions and you peel off the layers and you get to know them better. Almost everyone will um reveal that their true selves are worse than what you thought. But some select few people will actually get better, the more that you know them either because 0:25:20 - 0:25:42 they're progressing or what I actually mean in this is, is that there are parts about them that you don't know about that are actually much better than what you do know. That's very rare. So, wrapping all this up, most people are bad and you ought to go through life. Assuming that if you prepare yourself 0:25:41 - 0:26:04 and you act wisely, you'll, uh, much better navigate the situations that are out there and hopefully you can see into yourself a little more clearly now. And if you're in that group that isn't where you should be or where you want to be, maybe you can make some changes to get there. The other thing to 0:26:04 - 0:26:26 , to go forward thinking about is how rare good people are. If you're privileged enough to know a good person, let alone several, you should really be grateful because they don't exist in high numbers. So if you happen to know some, someone who's truly good, you should treasure them and, uh, whether 0:26:25 - 0:26:50 it's a friend or something more, be grateful for that lastly, um, it's good to assume that people are not good until they prove otherwise, especially if you're good because remember, good people will project their goodness onto others and it will lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering in terms of whether 0:26:50 - 0:27:17 it's business deals or life decisions or partners, whatever the case may be, friendships, um, spouses, you find out all the details later on and you regret what you've done. So take it slow and, uh, let that, let that onion unravel and prove to you what reality is rather than, uh, letting you know that 0:27:16 - 0:27:23 you've made a mistake after the fact. Well, I hope that helps and, uh, we'll see you in the next video.