How the Mind RULES!

Stefan Molyneux

Stefan Molyneux addresses questions from his audience on epistemology and ethics, focusing on why he trusts people who've done manual labor. He explains that those experiences build a practical outlook through inductive reasoning and a respect for real-world facts. Molyneux draws a line between the "sovereignty of mind" and the "sovereignty of matter," using his own stories to show how prayer or wishing alone gets nowhere without real effort. He stresses turning vague dreams into solid plans, while calling out cultural stories that hype up ambition without any follow-through. Instead, he pushes for a realistic take on personal goals. In the end, Molyneux points out that accepting matter's primacy helps build toughness and forward movement, and he encourages people to chase their aims with steady work.  SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneux  Follow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1  GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK! https://peacefulparenting.com/  Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!  Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!  You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!  See you soon! https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/UPB2025

Transcript

00:00All right, two great questions from freedomain.locals.com. If you are a premium member

00:06there, you get all kinds of goodies and benefits, and you can sign up at freedomain.com. I hope you

00:13will join a truly excellent community. So, two questions, one on epistemology, one on ethics.

00:22And the first one is, Steph, why do you say that you only generally trust people who've

00:31worked with their hands at some point in their lives, worked manual labor at some point in

00:38their lives? Well, that's a great question, and I've really touched on it here and there.

00:44I might as well give you a more concentrated answer. Now, I am fully aware of the fact that

00:51a lot of what I say is necessary to be a good philosopher is what I have done. So, I just

00:57want to put that right up front. There could be confirmation bias. I'm aware of that. But

01:03I also have looked for this over the course of my life and found it to be a consistent

01:07principle. Is it 100%? No, it's not. It is not deductive reasoning. It is inductive reasoning,

01:16which means that you're looking at the balance of probabilities. But most of life is inductive

01:23reasoning, not deductive reasoning. So, that's where the most value is. But it doesn't provide

01:29you certainty, but we mostly have to make our decisions on probabilities. Like, if you're

01:35taking a job, you have to take a job accepting that the probability of a better job falling into

01:42your lap between the time that you decide to take the job and show up at the job is very

01:47low. If you are selling your house, you have to accept the probability that an offer out of

01:56nowhere that's double the price of your house isn't going to come in from some deranged, wealthy,

02:01eccentric. You have to understand these probabilities in order to live. So, while this is not 100%

02:10proof, it is a general trend that is important. So, the question is, the sovereignty of mind

02:20or the sovereignty of matter? Sovereignty of mind versus sovereignty of matter. So, a good example

02:27of the sovereignty of mind is prayer, wherein you pray for mind, as in God's mind, to overcome

02:37the facts of reality. The last time I prayed, the last time I prayed, fervently, was when I was

02:46working up north. I was alone in a tent in the middle of nowhere, and some creature was snuffling

02:52around my tent in the middle of the night. And boy, oh boy, did I fervently pray, did I fervently

03:00pray? That it was not a mountain lion, or a bear, or a wolf, or any other sort of predator that would

03:07have torn me limb from limb. It was one of the few times I did not have my handy-dandy shotgun

03:12to protect me. Most times I had a shotgun to protect me. So, of course, when I say I was praying,

03:23of course, I was fervently hoping with an amen, which is a lot of what prayer is. And, of course,

03:30was I praying that God would make it to be a deer or something that was not dangerous? I never,

03:39by the by, I never did, in fact, find out what it was. It snowed overnight, and I could not see the

03:46tracks in the morning that would make any particular kind of sense. So, I never did find out what it was.

03:51But it certainly did not eat me up or attack me, as you can hear, I suppose. Because if I had been

04:00even bitten or clawed or something, I really was in the middle of nowhere, and the odds of me making

04:06it back, this is long before cell phones or satellite phones or anything like that, I would

04:10have died out there. So, I was fervently hoping I wasn't expecting the hand of God to come down

04:16and turn a wolf into a deer or something like that. Fervent hope with an amen at the end. But it

04:24was certainly the last time that I prayed. Was it summer, winter? Anyway, so, I don't remember

04:32finding out what it was. So, what that means is that I was hoping for the primacy of mind over the

04:40reality of matter. Another example of the primacy of mind is the secret. You know, I've mocked this

04:48occasionally over the years. Just this, oh, this nonsense that pretty people believe that the

04:55universe just gives you stuff. You know, like really hot women are just like, wow, the universe

05:00just gives you stuff. It's like, no, that's just hormones offering you resources in return for a

05:06potential, sexual favor slash relationship slash reproduction, whatever. I just ask the universe

05:12for things and lo and behold, the universe provides, right? It doesn't generally tend to happen to,

05:18you know, ugly fat old women living in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't generally work that way.

05:25So, that's the primacy. Okay, ask the universe for things and the universe provides. Now, I do think

05:31that accepting that you have certain possibilities and potentials and so on is valid. It has important

05:41aspects to your life. I believe that I am capable of doing great philosophy. That certainly opens up

05:48the possibility of that. If I don't believe I'm ever capable of doing any good or great philosophy,

05:54I'll never really try. If I think I can, I might. So, thinking does matter. And I think that in an

06:03unconscious way, the energy that you put out there, so to speak, does return in some manner. I've put

06:10out a lot of generosity. I've received a lot of generosity. I think those two things are related,

06:16but that's psychological exchange. It's not mind over matter. There is a sort of

06:24old meme or joke about socialists, which is a man comforting a crying woman on the couch

06:29saying, you know, saying that something is a human right does not magically render it immune from

06:36scarcity, right? So, that is, there's a reason why it's a man and a woman crying, a man trying to

06:42tell a woman something. And so, mind over matter is, there are facts, right? Saying that healthcare is a

06:52human right does not make healthcare available to everyone in some magic way. Everyone deserves

07:01dignity and respect in a more sort of abstract fashion. Everybody should be treated with dignity

07:06and respect. It's like, well, I mean, I think initially that's a good approach, but after that,

07:12treat them as they treat you. Everybody should be paid a living wage. It's like, well, if you really

07:18believe that, then the best thing you should do is start a business and hire a bunch of people

07:21and that way you can pay people a living wage. But basically, just having a demand that something

07:27you like be provided by the universe is, it's like a kid wanting a unicorn, a toy train and world peace

07:37for Christmas, right? It's just, I can wish things too. But the important thing is to actually make

07:43things happen in the world, not just sigh and wish. Because whatever you wish for that has to be

07:49produced by others is a wish for enslavement. Oh, I wish the cotton just picked itself, says the slave

07:57owner, right? In a terrible way. So, the primacy of mind says that the mind is supreme over matter,

08:09that the mind rules matter. Not by doing, but by thinking or wishing or hoping or imagining or,

08:19what do they call it? Manifesting. Manifesting. You know, I wanted a date for Saturday and I

08:24manifested it, like a date for Saturday, sort of, so that the mind produces effects in the universe

08:31without the annoying intermediary matter that has to be maneuvered and manipulated, right?

08:39I want, I want everyone to have a roof over their head and clothes on their back. Oh, that's nice.

08:47Have you ever made any clothes for people or built free houses? Well, no, but I want, right? And it is,

08:53I mean, to be frank, it's a little bit more of a female perspective. It's female coded.

08:58Because women want, men satisfy that, and there's nothing wrong with that, right? I mean, women want

09:04and men satisfy that want by providing. And so, for women to wish for things is fine. Men have to

09:12actually do the work to provide it. And again, I know this sounds critical of women. I don't mean

09:17that at all. It's just that women throughout human history were, at least in northern climates in

09:24particular, disabled by childbirth and child raising and couldn't go out there and raise barns.

09:30And so, women wished for, and in order to woo women, men provided, and we got to the top of the

09:37food chain and became apex predators. Lovely. I prefer that to having a wolf chew out my intestines.

09:44A+.

09:44So, when I look at people as a whole, when I meet people, what I look for is signs that they do not

09:55have the primacy of mind, but they have instead the primacy of matter. The primacy of matter is that

10:03nature is real and objective, physical laws are eternal, permanent, and immutable, and the mind

10:12must bend to what is. Reality does not bend to the mind without the intervention of the hands.

10:23A man who wants to kick a ball does not think of kicking the ball alone, right? Because he needs

10:29his foot. See, I just went from hands to feet, but you get the point. A man who wants to juggle doesn't

10:35just think about juggling or read a book about juggling. I mean, that's fine, but at some point,

10:39he actually has to try juggling and learn how to juggle. Daydreaming without action is the primacy

10:46of a mind of a matter, that you get satisfaction in daydreaming about success. I mean, I think

10:53everyone's daydreamed about being a rock star or a movie star or, you know, a gigolo, like some

11:00Casanova, sexually successful, whatever, right? And women daydream about six foot tall, six pack,

11:07six figures guy, and all of that, right? So, daydream. And again, daydreaming is fine.

11:13Imaginary lovers never let you down. Daydreaming is fine if it translates into action. If daydream

11:22does not translate into action, it is. And if it's accepted as daydreaming, oh, I've always

11:29wanted to, hamana, hamana, I've always wanted to write a book and, you know, but I know I'm never

11:33going to, it's just a daydream, right? But if people hold that out as a possibility.

11:38I remember when I was younger, I would read about, you know, so-and-so didn't become prominent until

11:43they were 40. And I'd be 30 and I'd be like, oh, okay, so there's still time. You know, I guess

11:48this is like the women who read about some woman had twins when she was 42. Oh, I guess there's still

11:53time. It's like, well, not really. I mean, it's reported because it's unusual. No, rare, very rare.

11:59Grandma Moses only started painting when she was 70 or whatever it is, right? So, I look for a

12:05primacy of matter over a primacy of mind. Because that's practical. That's somebody who wants to

12:10achieve real things in the real world. Because all of the buildings and all of the cars were once just

12:16a dream in somebody's head. So, you have to have a daydream in order to have a reality. You have to

12:22have an ambition before you can have a manifestation. You have to have a goal before you have a direction.

12:28I get all of that. I dreamed about being a public and valuable philosopher, intellectual guy

12:37for decades before it happened. I sort of, I would practice speeches in my car. I did all

12:42the rehearsals. There was no practical way to achieve that. But I dreamed about it. And then

12:49when the opportunity arose, I was ready. Preparation. I love that line from Hamlet. The readiness

12:54is all. And it is. The readiness is all. You have to be ready for opportunity. I spent years programming

13:03as a teenager. And then when an opportunity came to start a software company, I was ready. So,

13:12I look for the primacy of matter over the primacy of mind. Daydreamers will steal your soul. Because

13:22it's so frustrating. I remember a friend of mine, when I was younger, was already into martial arts,

13:28and was like an assistant teacher of someone at a dojo. And he was like, yeah, it'd be great to open

13:35your own dojo, my own dojo. And I'm like, so why don't you open your own dojo? Well, insurance and

13:43taxes and risk and this and that and the other. And it's like, then if you're not going to do it,

13:48if you know you're not going to do it, why do you keep wanting to do it? You should channel your

13:55wanting to do things into things that you can do. I like to sing. I am not a very good singer.

14:02So, I don't say, oh, you know, I still daydream about being a singer, right? Or whatever,

14:10right? I mean, that's just not a thing, right? That's not a thing. I don't have these goals and

14:16plans for things that I am not going to pursue. When I was younger, I borrowed a friend of mine's

14:24sister's electric guitar. And I kept it for a couple of months. And I learned a couple of songs.

14:31And my fingers hurt. And I have short fingers. And I didn't really get what I was doing.

14:36And I did not have any particular talent or desire or ability. And so, I did not become a guitarist,

14:45right? I've tried to learn piano three times in my life, because I had this sort of funny thought that,

14:51hey, maybe because I type a lot, I've got good keyboards. You know, whatever, right? And it

15:00doesn't particularly work for me. Some things I get sort of instinctively and right away. And

15:07some things I don't. So, I don't sit there and say, I still really want to be a pianist. Or,

15:12you know, like, I'm not going to pursue it. I don't put time, effort, and energy into it.

15:18So, I don't have daydreams without action. Daydreams are a spur to action. And if I'm

15:29pretty disciplined that if I'm not going to pursue something, I stop daydreaming about it. You know,

15:35like, I mean, I guess the question of everyone who works out, every man who works out is,

15:39am I going to get a six-pack? And I strongly doubt it. I strongly doubt I'm going to get.

15:49Am I going to get super buff? Well, I strongly doubt it, because,

15:53well, as far as getting super buff, I tried it. When I played Macbeth, I buffed out quite a bit.

16:01I'm genetically limited. Some people are genetically gifted in terms of the muscle that they accumulate.

16:05But I'm limited, because if I push my body too hard, I just get injured. And so, I pushed my

16:11body about as hard as I could, and I bulked up some, but not super much. And that's just as far

16:16as I can go. And it also was kind of tiring, and it also was time-consuming, and so on, right? So,

16:24I went from my two reps of 20, or two reps of 12 sometimes, I went to six reps of six and train

16:31until failure. And it's not something that is of particular interest to me. And again, I'm always

16:39courting injury, and my body is somewhat prone to injury from overexertion. So, it's not a thing.

16:45Anyway, sorry. But if I'm around people who daydream and don't act, they will steal my soul. Because

16:54I get progressively annoyed, I'm not saying this is right or wrong, I'm just telling you what my

17:00experience is. If I'm around a daydreamer who constantly talks about what they could or woulda

17:05shoulda, my mother was one of these. She was always talking about writing a book called One Woman's

17:11Century about her life. And I offered to help her after I had written a couple of books. I said I'd be

17:20happy to help, and we could organize notes. But she never did, right? She never did. It's just

17:25something she talked about. And of course, after a while, I realized, and I'm not going to say how

17:29long, but it should have been shorter. But after a while, of course, I realized that she liked talking

17:34about writing a book, because that raised her status. But she didn't want to actually write a book,

17:40because that would be hard work. And it is, right? So, being, and I grew up with a lot of dreamers.

17:48And some of the people I grew up with did genuinely achieve cool things and good things and

17:54so on. So, it weren't all dreamers. But I have not, and nobody I grew up with achieved anything

18:01great, good, good, solid stuff. But I certainly went the furthest of anyone that I grew up with.

18:09I mean, by far. And one of the reasons I went further is I just refused to be around

18:16dreamers. And I still refuse to be around dreamers. If somebody is sighing about what

18:21they want to do, and they don't actually take tangible steps, either to do it, or to find

18:26another dream. I've been a very sort of big advocate, as a whole, I've been a very big advocate

18:32of find something that you really care about, that you're really interested in, throw yourself

18:38into it 150%. If it doesn't work, try something else, until you find something that really works

18:43for you. A big advocate of that. Huge advocate of that. And the people who daydream, I have

18:52no particular interest in. So, with it, and in fact, I sort of recall from them. And of

18:57course, the older you get, it's fine to daydream, you know, when you're in your teens or early

19:01mid-teens or whatever. But at some point, you actually have to start acting towards achieving

19:06some kind of goal. And so on, like so. And I had friends who did have big dreams. I had

19:12a friend who took a maths and physics double major, but didn't succeed, got too frustrated,

19:18had some physical ailments that interfered. And I don't know, I sympathized with all of

19:24that. It's like, okay, but then you got to find something else, right? If that doesn't

19:27work out, right? I tried, gosh, I tried the academic world. I tried the art world in terms

19:34of acting and playwriting. I tried the business world. And let's see, I did well in acting. I did

19:43well in academia. I did better in business. And then in terms of philosophy and talking directly

19:52to the public, that was when I hit my stride. That was when I got my groove on. You just keep

19:58trying. You just keep trying different things until you find stuff that works. And then you

20:04throw everything into it and see how far you can go. So the primacy of matter is that

20:14the physical is superior to the mental. The physical conditions the mind. The mind is a slave

20:25to the real, if that makes sense. And if people don't want to do that and have that approach,

20:34then I'm going to annoy them and they are going to annoy me. I'm the kind of person that if somebody

20:42says, I want to, want to, want to, I'll be like, let's make it happen. And if they then recoil,

20:47you know, I'm very much like, oh, I've always wanted to ask that girl out. And I'm like, well,

20:53ask her out or find another girl. But don't just sit there wanting. The purpose of wanting

20:59is to act. And so the people who want to do stuff and don't do it, I annoy them by constantly telling

21:06them that they should do it or giving them practical advice. And the people, and the people

21:12who just want to daydream are annoyed by me and I'm annoyed by them. Because they're like, no,

21:16I just want to, you know, wouldn't it be nice if, right? People are, it'd be nice if healthcare

21:22was free. I'm like, well, you can become a doctor and work for free. No, no, no. I just want to

21:27daydream about it. Wouldn't it be nice if? And I just get annoyed by that because I, I think it's,

21:32I think it's narcissistic. I think it's greedy. I think it's foolish. I think it's destructive.

21:36I think it's dangerous. I think it's toxic. And it is the kind of thing that causes entire

21:43civilizations to be destroyed is wanting stuff in that way. So the primacy of matter is science,

21:54right? So science does not concern itself much with the beauty of a theory that is falsified by

22:02experimentation, by actual physical evidence. Doesn't matter, this is a Feynman thing, right?

22:08It doesn't matter how beautiful or elegant your theory is. What matters is if it actually works in

22:16reality. And so reason says it doesn't matter how emotionally compelling your theory is.

22:26Is it rational? Empiricism says it doesn't matter how elegant and cool and appealing and interesting

22:35and satisfying your theory is. Is it borne out by the actual evidence, right? So primacy of mind

22:44is manifested in the theory or the statement that goes something like this, where it is said,

22:53well, communism is nice in theory, it just doesn't work in practice, which is, to the primacy of

23:00matter, people, incomprehensible. Two and two makes five is nice in theory, it just doesn't work in

23:08practice. It's like, no, if it doesn't work in practice, it's not nice in theory. It's wrong.

23:15And it is, the primacy of mind says, emotions matter more than evidence. Theory matters more

23:23than practice. Sentimentality matters more than achievability. Daydreams mean more than

23:28factual achievements, you know, all of that sort of stuff. So, people who work with their hands

23:35have accepted and get pounded into them every day, that you actually have to do things in the real

23:42world, that intentions do not matter, except insofar as they lead to achievement. So when I had a paper

23:51route, if I did not deliver the papers, daydreaming about delivering the papers, having the intention

23:59to deliver the papers, really wanting to, or doing everything but, like even walking around the

24:04neighborhoods with my giant bag and I had a little cassette tape, I used to play Queen's Greatest

24:08Heats song when I was 11 or so, and I had a giant sack that I would get on my bike and haul the papers

24:16around. If I did everything but actually put the papers on the people's front steps, then I was

24:22not delivering the papers, and people were upset. And if I said, well, I really meant to deliver the

24:29papers, that did not help, that did not matter. What mattered was, did I actually deliver the papers?

24:37When I had a job moving furniture, a real finger buster, and bringing furniture into a building,

24:45I also had a job putting, I had a job for a while at a place called Space Age Shelving in Don Mills,

24:51I actually had to cut the shelves to the customer specifications, and if they were wrong, then

24:58that would be bad, I would get in trouble. I would mix paint and cut keys and cut glass at a hardware

25:04store, and if I got that wrong, then the customer would be mad, and I would be in trouble. And I should

25:14be because I had wasted resources. My code had to compile and meet specifications and run at a

25:20reasonable speed in order to please clients. Had to compile, meet needs, meet spec, run at a good

25:28speed, and that was a huge challenge at times. So, wanting it, I can't say it doesn't matter because

25:37you can't act without some sort of desire and purpose, so desire and purpose is fine, but desire

25:44and purpose that doesn't lead to measurable action is worse than a waste of time. If you have a bad

25:51infection, visualizing your immune system fighting it like sharks attacking, a seal isn't gonna cure the

25:58infection. I mean, I'm not saying it's harmful, maybe it'll help a tiny bit, I don't know, but it's not

26:02gonna cure the infection. But if you think it will, your infection just gets worse. Like daydreaming

26:07without action is worse because it gives you the satisfaction in a way of achievement without the

26:16actual trouble of achieving things and struggling and striving and failing and learning and all of

26:23that, right? Being rejected and so on, right? I mean, most of what I did in the business world,

26:28as is true for just about everybody in the business world, most of what I did in the business

26:33world was rejected. Most sales calls, you don't make the sale. I mean, even if, especially if it's

26:39cold calling and stuff, right? It's just not gonna happen. So, primacy of consciousness is toxic.

26:49Primacy of matter is, there's no point daydreaming about building a shed unless that daydreaming has you

26:58build a shed. So, you daydream, and again, daydreaming is fine. You daydream, and then you say,

27:03am I gonna do it? And if you're gonna do it, then do it. And if you're not gonna do it, then stop

27:07daydreaming about it, and instead, do something, daydream about something you can actually do,

27:13if that makes sense. So, the people who've worked with their hands are less susceptible to the

27:17primacy of consciousness. A man who's actually built houses doesn't just daydream about houses being

27:23built. He builds houses. And if he really wants to build houses for the poor, then he goes and

27:29raises money, or he uses his savings, or he labors for free, or whatever it is, and builds houses for

27:35the poor. And I do kind of loathe the primacy of consciousness people who think that only intention

27:40and wishing and daydreaming and nagging is the way to get things done. I think it's just awful,

27:46because you're just relying on other people to have to do what you fervently claim that you want.

27:50And the primacy of consciousness people are just yes-but people. Well, why don't you open your

27:57dojo? Yeah, but, you know, insurance can be a real bitch, and, you know, you gotta sign a long lease,

28:02and banks aren't in a lending mood right now. Yes-but, yes-but, yes-but. It's like, yeah,

28:06but I see dojos. Yeah, but they probably inherited them, or, you know, they took over something. It's

28:10like, well, why don't you take over a dojo? Yeah, well, I don't really know it. Like, it's just yes-but,

28:15yes-but, yes-but. And it's exhausting, and debilitating, and annoying as a whole.

28:20So, people who work with their hands tend to be more conservative. They tend to be more realistic.

28:27They tend to be more rational. They tend to be more empirical. They just tend to be

28:32more accurate, metaphysically and epistemologically. They cannot manipulate. Like, I couldn't manipulate

28:38the earth into giving me gold when I worked up north. I had to go and actually, you know, hump the

28:45drills and do all of the hard work and risk and danger and cold and frostbite and all that kind

28:50of stuff, right? So, I had to actually do it. There was no shortcuts. I remember one time when

28:55my boss came up. There were three of us in the tent in the middle of the winter, and we would go out

29:03most days, except when it was hailing. Hailing was just brutal. Anyway, he came up and wanted to go out

29:07and see the sights, and we were like, oh, we're, um, no, it's hailing. And he's like, oh, come on,

29:13come on, let's go, come on. And it was just this sort of, I don't know, South African absolutism.

29:18And it was, uh, it was rough. And just had to grit your teeth and go out and do it. There was,

29:29I mean, or, you know, get the significant displeasure of the boss, if that makes sense.

29:35So, I hope that makes sense. So, when people have worked with their hands to make real things

29:41in the real world, and I don't just mean sort of physical labor, like lifting and humping and

29:45hauling and digging and stuff. I'm talking about even things like a code and so on. You can't just

29:49will things to work. You have to subject yourselves to the reasoning, right? So, if you,

29:56what's the old joke? I want a processor fast enough to complete an endless loop in an hour.

30:00So, if you are in codeland, and you end up with an endless loop, right? Line 20, uh, line 10, go to

30:08line 20, line 20, go to line 10. Just the computer goes back and forth forever until it dies. And so,

30:15if you're in an endless loop, then you can't just will your way out of that. You can't manipulate

30:20your way out of it and so on, right? You can't talk your way out of it. And so, when you can talk

30:26your way in and out of things, then you have a primacy of consciousness. And again, there's

30:33nothing wrong with that, but you have to have at least at some point in your life, in my experience,

30:36you have to have had a basis of the primacy of matter. So, it's fine to be, you know, a salesperson,

30:42you talk yourself in and out of sales, but it should be based on actual facts, empirical

30:45and actual facts, for sure. But you definitely do need to have that in the basis of your mind

30:56in some fashion. You have to have been conditioned by actual facts. And if you can just talk yourself

31:02in and out of stuff, you know, if you can whine and get resources, if you can nag and get resources,

31:07if you can intimidate people and get obedience and thus get resources, then the primacy of

31:13consciousness is when you are primarily reliant upon other people for your resources, the primacy,

31:20which is, you know, women who are pregnant and all of that, as opposed to the primacy of matter,

31:27when you get your resources from actual facts, matter and reality of the world. If you can't nag it or

31:34complain about it or vote for it in order to get it to come into existence, well, that's pretty bad,

31:41right? That is a big problem in the world. And it's not a problem in the absence of the state,

31:48although it can be, of course, it can lead to or come from a lot of emotional manipulation.

31:55But it is important to recognize the difference. And there's a lot of people who shy away from the

32:02primacy of matter and retreat into the primacy of consciousness. I mean, in many ways, that's

32:07insanity is when you retreat from the primacy of matter. And then you just, you know, you daydream

32:12that you're Jesus or Napoleon or something like that, right? So that is, and I can tell, you know,

32:19I hate to say, oh, it's like, but I can sort of tell when people have spent their whole life

32:23just in language and manipulation and whining, complaining, nagging. And it can also be inspiring,

32:29right? But all of that. But when their primary source of value is other people's minds rather

32:37than things in reality, and if they've never done that, again, you can be a great, inspiring,

32:44abstract, intellectual, motivating leader. But in order for it to be reality-based and honorably

32:51based, it generally has to have come out of dealing with things in the world, right? So like,

32:56if you look at the practicality of someone like Mike Cernovich, then he did physical labor when

33:02he was younger, I think the same thing is true of Scott Adams. Socrates, of course, was famously

33:07a soldier, which is very much the primacy of matter. And I don't think, was Plato? I don't think so.

33:16But, you know, people who go from, you know, middle-class households into academia and then to a

33:26think tank and then into politics or policy or, you know, something like that. I mean,

33:31they just never touch actual, unbending, unyielding, factual objective. Doesn't give a crap about your

33:37thoughts. Physical matter. And I, of course, was not a huge fan of the physical labor I did when I

33:44was younger. But in hindsight, it turns out it was a pretty good idea. And things that you don't like

33:51at the time, you know, the old saying goes, I've sort of been thinking about it a lot lately. Never,

33:56never underestimate the worst luck your bad luck has saved you from, right? I have a very sort of

34:01strong imagination and abstract capacities. And if it is the case that I hadn't done labor, if I had been

34:10raised, and one of my friends, I remember, I had a pretty brutal job over the course of the summer,

34:19pretty sort of rough physical job over the course of the summer. And he was sitting by the pool reading

34:25Von Mises. And I was, of course, highly envious of that. That would be, that would be nice. That

34:32would have been a pretty nice summer. But no, that turned out to have been better in the long run. I

34:37think not just for me, but for the world as a whole, that it was better in the long run for me to have the

34:42primacy of matter. And of course, because my mother very much threw herself into the primacy

34:49of consciousness, or was hurled down by this brutal Russians who, I'm sure, assaulted her when

34:55she was a child in the most horrifying ways we can conceive of, and some we probably can't even

35:00conceive of, like Menendez stuff. But my mother definitely had the primacy of consciousness in that

35:08she just didn't like doing the physical labor. And she very much lived in daydreams of law and

35:15retribution and vengeance and hostility and manipulation. And she, you know, worked to stay

35:20physically attractive so she could manipulate men and so on. And of course, it never led to anything

35:25particularly good as a whole. So yeah, the primacy of matter is science, empiricism, reason,

35:34evidence. And I can really tell when I'm debating with someone or I've worked with someone if they

35:43have never had to desperately rely on the unyielding, unbending facts of reality. I can tell

35:54because they have a certain subjectivity and relativity and all of that sort of stuff,

36:00loosey-goosey stuff. You know, there's nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so and all of

36:06that kind of stuff. And that is not ideal. And you can kind of tell that kind of stuff if that makes

36:15sense. FreeDomain.com slash donate. Thank you so much for your support of the show. I really do

36:20appreciate it. And I hope you have a wonderful afternoon slash evening slash morning slash night

36:25whenever you happen to be listening. But yeah, FreeDomain.com slash donate. Don't forget,

36:30shop.freedomain.com and peacefulparenting.com for the new print books. Thank you. Bye-bye.

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