0:00

Phil Robertson here. They told me

0:02

Hollywood doesn't want hard stories these

0:04

days. Well, my story's

0:06

about as messy as they come, but

0:09

it turns out our movie, The Blind,

0:11

is reaching a mighty throng out there.

0:14

You break a few box office records

0:16

and suddenly Hollywood takes notice

0:20

that this is a message you'll want to

0:22

hear. You're never too

0:24

far gone. God can reach you

0:26

wherever you are, no matter how dark

0:29

things have gotten. If you're lost, he

0:31

can give you refuge. If you're weary, he can

0:34

bring you strength. It

0:36

was hard to watch my darkest moments

0:38

on a screen, but when

0:41

I hear that people are finding

0:43

hope after seeing this

0:45

movie, I know the embarrassment

0:47

was worth it. I hope you'll watch The

0:50

Blind and share it with someone who needs

0:52

to know it's not too

0:54

late to turn it around.

0:56

Own The Blind today at

0:59

blaztv.com/the blind. Blaze

1:01

Radio Network. And

1:03

now, the Rabbi Daniel Lappin Show. The

1:06

more the world changes, the more we find

1:08

comfort in the things that never change. This

1:12

is Rabbi Daniel Lappin, on demand,

1:14

on the Blaze Radio Network. Welcome,

1:18

happy warriors, to the Rabbi

1:20

Daniel Lappin Show, where I,

1:22

your rabbi, reveal how the

1:24

world really

1:26

works. Thanks for being

1:28

part of the show, and you know I

1:30

appreciate everything that you do to help promote

1:33

the show. You've

1:35

obviously been doing absolutely

1:37

beautifully. I hope that things

1:39

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1:41

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2:01

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2:03

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2:05

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2:08

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2:10

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Your goal may be to become a

2:15

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2:17

a better friend. It may be

2:20

to attain a specific skill, increase

2:22

your income or become more involved in

2:24

your community. Perhaps you want to live

2:26

a healthier lifestyle or spend regular time

2:28

in Bible study, wanting to do

2:30

more and to become more is

2:33

a yearning that all

2:35

good people share. Yet

2:38

we all know the feeling of looking back

2:41

after a few months and being a bit

2:43

disappointed that we've seen kind of in the

2:45

same old place we were earlier. And

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that's what our product, the Chart

2:50

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2:54

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2:58

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3:01

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3:04

progress throughout the week in the journal. We

3:08

help you really kind of

3:10

relish and enjoy your personal growth as you

3:13

move along week to week. And

3:15

then we provide a weekly

3:17

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3:20

I introduce an approach

3:22

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3:24

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3:27

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3:29

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3:39

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3:45

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3:55

It's really not significant. We really wanted to

3:58

be accessible to each and every body. So

4:01

go to rabbidaniellappin.com. Today's

4:08

show is a little bit different. I do this from

4:10

time to time. It doesn't happen very often, but whenever

4:13

I have an event at which I explain something in

4:15

a way that I think will be useful and

4:17

helpful to each of you, I go

4:20

ahead and make it available. And so I had

4:22

a chance to do a speech for an entrepreneur

4:26

and finance people program

4:28

in California recently, and

4:32

they wanted me to talk on what ancient

4:34

Jewish wisdom is actually good for. That's

4:37

a really good challenge. So I did, and

4:41

I wanted to make it available to you as

4:44

well. So that is what is coming up now.

4:46

I'll be back with you at the end, but

4:51

for now, sit back and

4:53

enjoy it. Let me know what you

4:55

think. And thank you

4:57

all for being here. I only have

5:00

a couple of corrections to Peter's

5:02

kind introduction, and I'll

5:04

only take time to correct one

5:06

of them. I think he

5:08

said that he said something about me being

5:10

a theologian or

5:13

something like that. And all I can say is, how

5:15

dare you, sir? That

5:19

is possibly the biggest insult I've

5:21

got today. And

5:24

I do collect a fair number

5:26

of them. So what's wrong with

5:29

that is that a theologian

5:31

tells you about God, and

5:36

I couldn't be less interested in what people have

5:38

to say about God. I'm

5:40

a lot more interested in what God thinks about

5:42

people. But of course, that's nothing

5:45

to do with theology. So

5:48

let's start off, if I may, with

5:52

explaining the nomenclature I'll be using.

5:54

So we're all talking the same

5:56

language. And I'm

5:58

going to use the words. physical

6:01

and spiritual. But

6:04

allow me to do

6:09

nothing whatsoever to

6:12

do with virtue or

6:14

piety or

6:16

holiness or God.

6:20

Spiritual has a very simple

6:22

and accurate definition.

6:26

Spiritual is nothing more and

6:28

nothing less than

6:30

things that cannot be

6:33

measured in a laboratory. It's

6:36

as simple as that. And

6:39

so gratitude is spiritual,

6:43

fortitude is spiritual, the

6:46

colour of my skin, physical

6:49

and relatively unimportant.

6:53

If I'm looking to hire somebody to my

6:55

company, I'm far more

6:57

interested in their spiritual

6:59

characteristics than their physical characteristics.

7:02

I want to know about their integrity. I'm

7:06

really interested in their persistence and

7:11

if they have excellent

7:14

communication skills. Well

7:18

that would be spiritual as well. And

7:21

I can't imagine what

7:24

physical characteristics would interest me, you

7:26

know, unless I was hiring a

7:28

model for a swimsuit line which

7:30

is not the business I'm in.

7:33

So the

7:35

characteristics that I only care

7:38

about are in

7:40

fact spiritual characteristics.

7:43

A saxophone is something

7:45

physical because I can measure it

7:48

in any number of ways. I can measure its

7:50

weight, I can measure its length, I

7:52

can measure the tone it produces,

7:54

I can even measure the

7:57

precise metallic constitution of the

7:59

country. construction. A

8:02

musical tune, however, while

8:04

it can be written down and it

8:07

can be recorded, its

8:10

essential characteristics are

8:12

incapable of being measured. So, for

8:14

instance, there is

8:17

no way, there is no instrument that

8:19

can tell you whether a tune

8:22

is going to make you feel happy or sad.

8:26

There's no way of plugging

8:28

a tune into a machine that'll tell

8:30

you whether that tune is going to

8:32

be a hip, whether it's

8:35

a tune that'll make men march to

8:37

war or bring tears to the eye

8:39

or make old ladies tap their feet

8:41

and none of those things can

8:44

be measured by an instrument. Music

8:47

is something intrinsically spiritual. So

8:49

I hope that that is

8:51

reasonably clear and the reason

8:53

it's important is because

8:57

we don't get told

9:00

a lot about spiritual

9:03

characteristics. As

9:06

a matter of fact, we live

9:08

in an odd time in history

9:11

when the dogma of scientism

9:14

dominates the culture and

9:16

the academy. The dogma

9:19

of scientism says that

9:21

nothing exists in the

9:23

world that cannot be

9:25

measured. Well,

9:27

given the qualities that I've just been

9:32

talking about, you think that

9:34

that is a demonstrably false

9:37

proposition but nonetheless the dogma

9:39

of scientism is still strong.

9:41

The dogma of scientism insists

9:44

that there's nothing that can ever be

9:46

wrong with the human being that cannot

9:48

be corrected chemically

9:51

with some kind of a pharmacological

9:55

substance and

9:58

that would account. or

10:00

help to account for the incredibly

10:03

high proportion of Americans who are

10:05

now undergoing some form or another

10:07

of mental treatment, something

10:10

that was virtually unknown 50

10:13

years ago. And so as

10:16

this dogma of scientism spreads, it

10:19

suggests that if

10:23

a man betrays his marriage, the

10:26

primary reason for that is a chemical

10:29

one. There is a wiring

10:33

reality that makes it

10:35

an inevitability. In

10:37

other words, the entire idea of moral

10:39

choice, which if you're

10:41

in the financial, if you're all

10:43

in the financial services industries in one

10:46

way or another, you

10:48

exercise moral choice several

10:50

times every single day

10:52

at your work and yet

10:57

the culture proposes

11:00

the manifestly preposterous

11:02

proposition that there

11:04

is no such thing as anything

11:08

non-physical. It's

11:11

ridiculous because so many of the financial

11:13

decisions, and heaven knows many of you

11:15

know this as well as I do,

11:18

many of the financial decisions that people make

11:21

are spiritual,

11:23

not physical. And

11:26

in other words, taken at its most

11:28

basic, you know,

11:30

you may have a client who spends

11:33

an enormous amount on clothing and

11:37

the clothing may have

11:40

the provenance of some distinguished

11:42

and eminent designer. It

11:46

may even have a label on it. But

11:49

it in no way adds to the

11:51

utilitarian value of that item of clothing.

11:53

As a matter of fact, for

11:57

me personally, the best item of clothing

11:59

that that I possess

12:03

is a set of denim coveralls that

12:06

I use when working on the engine of my

12:08

boat. It's

12:11

really terrific. I put

12:13

my left leg into it, I then

12:16

put my right leg into it, I

12:19

then put my left arm into it and

12:21

then my right arm and all of that takes

12:23

no more time than it takes me to

12:25

describe it and then I reach

12:27

down for a big long diagonal brass

12:29

zip that runs from the lower left

12:31

to my right shoulder and

12:33

I give it one big long pull

12:35

and I am dressed in less than

12:38

30 seconds and it's durable and

12:40

it's warm and it's

12:43

terrific and

12:45

yet I don't

12:47

wear it to the office. Why not?

12:53

Because our need for clothing

12:55

is more spiritual than physical.

12:58

Only a limited part of the reason we

13:00

wear clothing is to keep

13:02

us warm and

13:05

protected. A

13:07

large part of the reason we wear clothing is

13:11

to retain our dignity.

13:13

That's spiritual, sorry, that's not

13:15

physical. Dignity is an entirely a

13:17

spiritual proposition. Not

13:21

wanting to be seen nude, totally

13:23

spiritual. There's no physical reason for that.

13:27

Many people overcome it and they

13:30

spend vacations at nudist colonies and

13:32

they feel perfectly comfortable, I think.

13:35

But clothing,

13:38

very little utilitarian

13:41

purpose, mostly spiritual.

13:43

And so people spend, by the

13:46

way, my overalls cost 9.95 on

13:48

sale. I

13:51

don't think I have a more

13:53

economical and effective

13:56

piece of clothing in my wardrobe. I actually

13:58

have three of them. like him so much, I

14:01

have more of them than I actually need. But

14:05

here am I still appearing

14:08

before you this evening with

14:10

multiple items of clothing.

14:13

Multiple. Leaving

14:15

aside the invisible items of clothing,

14:17

I've got shirt and pants and jacket

14:20

and then I have a tie and

14:22

then for heaven's sake I've got cufflinks

14:24

on my wrists. Why?

14:30

Well somehow or another more

14:33

items of clothing that

14:35

are non utilitarian we

14:38

regard as a more respectful way

14:40

of dressing and

14:43

that is why a man wear

14:45

going to a dinner party

14:47

in a tuxedo will even add

14:50

to what I'm wearing. He might have a

14:52

cummer band and he might even have studs

14:54

on his shirt instead of buttons. The

14:56

more items of clothing somehow the

14:58

more respectful is how

15:01

you come across and

15:04

so if I'm going to be appearing before you

15:06

all this evening and you're investing some of your

15:08

time with me, why naturally I

15:10

have to dress in a way that demonstrates

15:12

respect for you. All

15:15

the time I've been talking about

15:17

nothing but spiritual considerations and

15:21

when somebody drives across town because

15:25

gas is three cents a gallon

15:27

cheaper at a station that their

15:29

handy little iPhone tells them about.

15:32

That's a spiritual need not a physical need

15:35

because they're using more gas driving there and

15:37

back than they're saving. But

15:39

there are many people who have a

15:41

deep-seated desire to get a bargain and

15:43

to get a deal and

15:46

in any event you've heard of

15:48

retail therapy you probably got clients

15:50

who overindulge in it. Shopping

15:53

feels good but

15:56

it's a purely spiritual feeling. And

16:00

so, it's really

16:02

important that if

16:04

you want to live and operate

16:07

effectively in this world of ours,

16:10

that you develop a sense

16:12

of how the world really

16:14

works. And

16:17

it is impossible to

16:20

operate effectively if

16:22

you are actually ignorant of

16:25

spiritual realities. Now,

16:30

it's so serious and so

16:32

significant that

16:34

we even have to spend a couple of

16:36

moments, if you will, on

16:39

the question of whether money

16:41

itself is spiritual

16:45

or physical. Now,

16:49

can money be measured? Well,

16:54

the first thought that

16:56

occurs to me as well, you

16:59

know, I drop it into the slot machine

17:01

on a vending machine at the end of

17:03

the floor on my hotel floor

17:07

and that vending machine knows whether I

17:09

fed in a dollar or five dollars.

17:12

It knows whether I've dropped a quarter in the slot

17:14

or a dime in the slot. So,

17:17

it looks as if money can be measured,

17:19

but wait. What's

17:22

being measured is a strip

17:24

of colored paper and

17:26

a metallic disc. But

17:30

those are not really

17:32

the essence of money, because

17:35

if somebody writes me a check for

17:37

ten dollars, he's

17:39

also given me money. And

17:43

if somebody shakes hands with me

17:45

and says, I'll give you ten

17:47

dollars on Friday, that's also money.

17:51

And the orientation of

17:54

iron oxide molecules on

17:57

that brown strip behind my credit card

18:00

Well, that's money also. And

18:02

the ones and zeros on the hard

18:05

drive at my financial institution, well, that's

18:07

money too. And

18:10

so it becomes very difficult to

18:12

define exactly what money

18:14

is. And so one way

18:17

of establishing that it is spiritual,

18:19

not physical, is because

18:21

one of the rules is that

18:23

in order to impact anything physical,

18:25

I actually have to

18:27

be in physical proximity to do it.

18:31

And so a car

18:35

windshield is very physical.

18:38

And if I want to damage

18:40

somebody's car windshield, I need

18:42

a hammer and I need to be right there. But

18:46

how about if I want to

18:48

damage your money? Well,

18:50

here's a way I could do it. While

18:54

we're talking here, one

18:57

of my associates is putting

18:59

the word out that the

19:01

world is coming to an end tomorrow.

19:05

And meteorite is going to strike the

19:07

planet at 12 noon and

19:09

it's all over. And

19:11

you may as well relax about it. It's inevitable.

19:14

And the truth is we've had a pretty

19:17

decent ride up till now. And

19:19

it's not as if you're being singled out as

19:21

getting the Jews and the Baptists and everybody else.

19:24

It's all over for everybody. And

19:27

if enough people in our

19:29

neighborhood, in our city, in our state and maybe

19:31

even in our country, if enough people believe

19:34

that the world is coming into an

19:36

end tomorrow, what have I done to

19:38

the value of your assets at this

19:41

moment? Would

19:44

you agree that I've

19:46

dramatically reduced the value of your

19:48

assets? Don't

19:51

try and sell your real estate tomorrow morning

19:53

and see what happens. There's

19:55

nobody going to be interested in buying your

19:57

real estate. There's only another four or five

20:00

hours of the world to exist. And

20:04

so merely by putting out a rumor

20:07

and by changing the way people feel

20:09

about the future, I have

20:12

seriously damaged your wealth

20:16

just as reliably as I damaged

20:18

the windshield of that car. And

20:21

that's really, really important

20:24

to understand. That tells us

20:27

that the essence of money

20:29

is its value. And

20:32

the value of money is entirely

20:34

spiritual. It

20:36

cannot be measured.

20:38

The only way it can be

20:40

measured is by a marketplace of

20:42

other human beings. There's

20:45

no instrument in any lab that

20:48

can tell you the value of your

20:50

money. You want

20:52

to find it out? Look at the

20:54

prices in the supermarket. Oh, inflation. Well,

20:57

what's inflation? A physical or a

20:59

spiritual problem? Well,

21:01

inflation, regardless

21:05

of attempts on the

21:07

part of certain economists

21:11

and certain politicians who

21:13

will advance such nonsense

21:15

as modern monetary theory,

21:18

which holds that the government can print as much

21:20

money as it likes because it has the power

21:22

to do so and there's

21:24

nothing to worry about. The

21:27

reality is that prices

21:29

go up when governments

21:31

print more money

21:33

than the aggregate economic productivity

21:37

of the sovereign area in

21:39

which that money is the

21:41

prime means of exchange warrants.

21:45

Again, an entirely spiritual problem. Why

21:47

on earth would governments print more

21:49

money than they should? Well,

21:52

because it's a penalty

21:54

free way of taxing people. You

21:58

just have to inflate the currency. and

22:01

everyone's going to be paying more in taxes. They

22:04

move up into different profits. The

22:07

amount of money that people

22:09

make in numbers goes up,

22:11

their taxes go up and

22:13

there's no penalty to be paid in the

22:15

ballot box at the next election because

22:18

nobody realizes that their money

22:20

is being stolen. They

22:23

assume it is some

22:25

bizarre, mystifying, economic subterfuge,

22:29

something weird. It just happens. It's

22:31

like an earthquake. Well,

22:34

nothing could be further from the truth. And

22:37

so even a correct

22:39

understanding of money depends

22:42

on an understanding of

22:44

the spiritual and the physical. Taking

22:48

it a step further, if

22:51

you're all with me up till

22:53

now, going a

22:55

little bit further, we

22:58

can take a look at

23:01

two different classifications of

23:04

knowledge. And what I'd

23:06

like to do is I'm going to tell you a few things and

23:09

you can tell me whether

23:11

those these things,

23:13

let's just put it this way,

23:15

can these things be accurately predetermined?

23:18

That'll be a good

23:20

preliminary step to understand what it

23:23

is we're looking at. So

23:25

to give you an example, can,

23:29

I mean a parent knows their children, right?

23:33

Parent knows their child. Can

23:36

you predict the

23:38

behavior of your child in

23:41

a certain set of circumstances? And

23:45

the answer is to

23:47

a degree. I can't

23:50

predict it 100%. My children

23:53

are little human beings

23:56

with independent agency and

23:59

I have sense but I

24:01

can't guarantee. How

24:04

about the quantity

24:09

of electrical current

24:11

that will be induced in

24:13

a coil in

24:15

which I move a magnet

24:17

rapidly? If

24:20

I know the details of the

24:22

coil and I know the distances

24:24

and I know the exact nature

24:27

of the movement of my magnet,

24:29

can I predict the amount of

24:31

current that will flow in that coil? Absolutely.

24:37

So those are two examples of

24:39

knowledge where the

24:41

first one is a sort

24:43

of, yeah but it

24:46

can't be measured. I can't give

24:49

you any guarantees. I kind of

24:51

know but

24:54

not reliably. The second one is

24:56

quite reliable. I

25:02

know my 357 Magnum

25:04

revolver very well. I

25:08

also have access to the mathematics

25:10

of parabolic flight. If

25:13

I fire my revolver at a 45 degrees

25:16

angle into the air

25:19

and I know the muzzle velocity of

25:21

the round and I

25:23

know that gravity is 9.8 meters

25:25

per second squared and

25:28

this all takes place in a vacuum so I

25:30

don't have to worry about air resistance. To

25:32

what accuracy can I predict the point

25:34

where that bullet will come down to

25:37

earth? High

25:40

or low? High is low. Very

25:43

high. I can probably

25:45

predict it to the inch, you

25:49

know, even though it might be 200

25:51

yards downrange but if

25:53

there's no air resistance and I

25:55

know all the parameters I can

25:57

predict it absolutely reliably. If

26:06

a conductor knows his orchestra, it's a

26:08

little bit like the parent and child

26:10

problem, conductor knows

26:12

his orchestra. Can he predict every

26:15

night exactly how the symphony is going to

26:17

come out? No. They're

26:21

unpredictables. They're things you can't possibly

26:23

know. If

26:28

I construct, if I'm

26:30

the Boeing company and I

26:32

construct an airplane, with

26:35

what degree of certainty can

26:37

I predict its flight characteristics?

26:41

High or low? High.

26:48

Absolutely. No question about it. The

26:50

Boeing company does not deliver a

26:52

777 airliner

26:55

to Lufthansa

26:57

Airlines and says to them, guys, you've

27:00

got about a 98% probability

27:02

that this airplane will stay airborne.

27:07

That's not how it works. It's 100%. And

27:13

one of the reasons air travel is

27:15

so incredibly safe and reliable is

27:17

because they've nailed this down. It's

27:22

absolutely solid. If

27:26

we build a ship,

27:29

not counting the Titanic and icebergs, but if

27:32

we build a ship, shipyard

27:34

builds a ship, how

27:36

high is the probability that it will float

27:38

when they launch it? Not

27:43

only is it a high probability, but

27:46

they even know exactly

27:48

where to paint the

27:50

waterline. And then when they

27:52

launch it, don't if

27:54

it doesn't float exactly on that waterline.

27:58

These things are predictable. reliable.

28:01

And they're reliable. And

28:04

somebody shows you a business plan

28:08

and they're going to start a business based

28:10

on that business plan. How

28:14

high or low is the probability that

28:16

that business is going to succeed? Well,

28:21

if we just look at the statistics of

28:24

new business, we know that

28:26

even though I know the principles

28:28

and I've seen the business plan

28:31

and I know what their capital

28:33

structure is, even so

28:36

the rate of success cannot

28:38

be guaranteed. And

28:45

what's more, if that same business

28:47

plan was transferred to another set

28:49

of principles, that

28:52

makes it even more uncertain. Yet,

28:56

if the Boeing company builds

28:58

a triple-7 with a

29:01

different set of workers than they used for the

29:03

first one that came off the line eight years

29:05

ago, makes no

29:07

difference. So

29:12

you've got to ask yourself, what's

29:14

the difference between

29:16

a magnet in a coil of wire

29:19

or building an airplane or building a ship

29:22

and starting a business? How

29:24

about a man and a woman come

29:27

and tell you they

29:29

got engaged and they're getting married? And

29:32

you congratulate them and you buy them a

29:34

fish slice for an engagement presence. And

29:38

then the man is a friend of yours comes to you and

29:40

says, by the way, what

29:42

do you think are our chances of

29:44

remaining married for the next 20 years?

29:49

Do you have any way of knowing? You can

29:52

ask all the questions you like, you still

29:54

don't know. So

29:57

starting a business and starting

29:59

a marriage seem

30:01

to have very low prediction

30:04

rates. They may well

30:06

be very successful, but you don't know

30:08

for sure in advance. But

30:12

building a bridge or

30:14

a boat or an airplane or

30:16

a skyscraper, very high

30:20

prediction of success rate. You know,

30:22

and by the way, the

30:26

converse is somebody, an amateur might

30:28

show you the plans for

30:30

a house. And if you're an experienced builder,

30:33

you might well say, this is

30:35

a disaster. Don't build this. And

30:38

he says, ah, you're just such a pessimist. I've

30:41

been dreaming of this house for years,

30:43

it's going to be just fine. You

30:45

know, and the house isn't fine. It

30:47

leaks and the foundation shifts and the

30:50

walls crack. And you know, you

30:52

want to say I told you so because

30:54

it's reliable. So you have to

30:56

ask yourselves now, what

30:59

is the difference between

31:01

on the one hand, buildings

31:05

and skyscrapers and airplanes, bridges

31:08

and boats? And

31:10

on the other hand, things

31:13

like marriages and businesses. What

31:15

is the difference? Well,

31:22

the difference is, I'm sure all of you are

31:24

shouting out at me,

31:26

but your microphones are muted,

31:29

fortunately. So I don't know,

31:32

is that when

31:35

you deal with physical objects, everything is always

31:38

very predictable, because the

31:41

so called scientific method is

31:43

quite reliable. But whenever we

31:46

deal with human beings, we're

31:50

dealing with spiritual issues, because

31:53

human beings are predominantly spiritual,

31:55

not physical. Oh,

31:57

yes, I have a body, no question about it. and

32:00

that body has needs and desires, no

32:02

question about it. But

32:04

it also has spiritual needs and desires and

32:07

those are a lot harder to know something

32:09

about. Because if you're

32:11

deprived of a physical need like oxygen,

32:14

you start gasping very quickly and so

32:16

you know that you need some oxygen.

32:20

If you're deprived of food, well you

32:22

know pretty quickly the pangs of hunger

32:24

let you know. But

32:27

if you're deprived of your dignity, you

32:30

don't always know. And

32:32

when you're deprived of a sense

32:34

of the infinite, and

32:38

I deal with this very often with

32:40

men who've had vasectomies, there's

32:43

something fundamentally different about

32:46

men and women. For a

32:48

woman, the idea

32:51

of the infinite is

32:54

linked to one egg a

32:56

month. Well

32:59

the man the infinite is linked to

33:03

the idea of a hundred million of them

33:05

a day. That's

33:07

quite a difference. And

33:11

so when doctors told my

33:13

clients, you don't have to worry,

33:17

there is no change whatsoever that you

33:19

will know about if you've had a

33:21

vasectomy. Well

33:24

if that were true, you wouldn't have a huge

33:26

number of people trying to get vasectomy reversals because

33:28

there is a difference. The doctors

33:30

were right from a scientific point of view.

33:33

The doctors were right from a materialistic point

33:35

of view. The doctors were right from a

33:37

physical point of view. But

33:40

they didn't know anything about the spiritual

33:42

impact. You

33:46

know when Ray

33:49

Kroc met Richard and

33:52

Maurice McDonald in the early

33:54

1950s, he

33:56

loved the way they were making hamburgers. And

33:59

he wanted get involved with them and

34:02

so they hired him as

34:04

their franchise manager and

34:09

he got going. He

34:12

took their system of

34:14

preparing fast food and

34:17

he started working on franchising and he

34:19

very quickly made them nervous because

34:22

they were envisaging opening

34:24

about four or five McDonald's all

34:27

around the West, California and adjoining

34:29

states but no more than four

34:31

or five stores. They

34:34

lacked a vision of

34:36

the infinite and

34:38

they felt uncomfortable with

34:41

the idea of the infinite and they wanted

34:43

to keep things relatively

34:45

confined and controllable. Ray

34:48

Kroc was a guy who

34:50

thought infinitely. He saw

34:53

tens of thousands of franchises. Eventually

34:56

he got so frustrated he said, I either

34:59

have to stop working with you or you have

35:01

to sell the business to me and

35:05

they both said to him, we'd be happy

35:07

to sell to you but the trouble is we each need

35:09

a million. Now

35:11

admittedly in 1954 a million was

35:14

money but not compared to

35:16

what they would have had and they

35:18

stayed in even as small shareholders and

35:21

so he gave him each $1.7

35:23

million which after tax gave him

35:25

each a million and Richard Maurice

35:27

McDonald's said goodbye and went off

35:29

into the sunset and Ray

35:32

Kroc built the McDonald Corporation. A

35:35

vision of the infinite is one of

35:37

the spiritual necessities. By the way, I'm

35:39

not saying that a man who's out

35:41

of a sector cannot function with a

35:43

vision of the infinite. It's just a

35:45

little harder. It comes more easily naturally

35:47

to a man who produces millions of

35:49

sperm every day. It's just

35:52

a spiritual aspect of how we're built and

35:55

it's an aspect of how the physical

35:57

and the spiritual interlock. in

36:00

the reality of life. And

36:03

so artificial

36:06

intelligence, big,

36:08

big talking point now,

36:11

a huge amount of capital has been

36:13

raised for AI, a

36:15

huge amount. Microsoft are

36:17

the owners of chat UBT

36:19

and other aspects of the

36:22

AI industry, the

36:26

chip manufacturer with

36:31

an end that, name me, lose

36:33

me just for the moment. NVIDIA.

36:35

NVIDIA, thank you. Yes, thanks very

36:37

much. Chip manufacturer that

36:39

makes most of the trips used in

36:41

AI architecture, doing very, very

36:44

well indeed. But

36:47

you might remember that a

36:49

few years ago, General Motors started

36:52

an AI division for

36:56

the production of autonomous

36:58

cars. And

37:00

they projected $50 billion

37:03

in earnings from that subsidiary

37:06

alone by 2030. The

37:09

subsidiary's name is Cruz. And

37:13

in 2021, two years ago,

37:16

the pre-money valuation of

37:18

Cruz was $30 billion when

37:22

they did a round

37:24

of financing. About

37:26

a month ago, maybe two months

37:28

ago, the California Department of Motor

37:30

Vehicles suspended

37:32

the operations of

37:34

Cruz, the subsidiary for General Motors,

37:37

the artificial intelligence subsidiary,

37:40

because it turned out that

37:44

a fellow driving a regular car

37:46

struck a woman and the collision

37:48

threw her into the path of

37:54

an oncoming autonomous cruise vehicle,

37:57

which immediately stopped. But

38:00

then it started trying to move to

38:02

the curb and drag the

38:04

woman 20 yards to the curb,

38:06

thereby killing her. And

38:10

so goodbye cruise, goodbye $30

38:13

billion valuations because

38:16

there are certain things artificial intelligence is

38:18

very good at and there are other

38:20

things it's very, very bad at. Artificial

38:24

intelligence would be very good at

38:26

helping to design the water line

38:28

for ocean-going freighters, for

38:31

building airplanes and for designing buildings and

38:33

bridges. AI would be great for that

38:35

and it is. AI

38:37

is very good for pulling defective

38:40

items off an assembly line. But

38:44

AI wouldn't be very good at predicting the

38:46

success of a business plan. AI

38:49

wouldn't be very good at telling a couple what

38:51

their chances are of a successful marriage or

38:53

what they should do to achieve it. And

38:57

at the moment, because everybody

39:00

has been so conditioned to

39:03

the idea of a scientism

39:05

dogma that everything can

39:08

be resolved scientifically, which is

39:10

sheer nonsense. But people

39:12

have bought into it so

39:14

completely. Academia, the culture, commerce,

39:16

politics, that

39:18

there is a lack

39:21

of clarity as to

39:23

where AI can add value and

39:25

where it cannot add value. But

39:29

these are things that become

39:31

far easier to understand and

39:33

to analyze when

39:35

you do have an understanding

39:37

of the spiritual side of

39:40

reality as well. And

39:42

so I think that Peter

39:46

has entitled the lecture, The

39:48

Value of Ancient Jewish Wisdom, if

39:51

I remember correctly, and if

39:53

not, I apologize, Peter. But

39:57

the value of…

40:00

of ancient Jewish wisdom is

40:03

not theology and it's not how

40:09

to make God smile on you and make

40:11

sure he doesn't strike you with lightning. It's

40:14

primarily an understanding and

40:16

an insight into the

40:19

spiritual aspect of how the

40:21

world really works.

40:25

And we have to understand that modernity

40:29

is only significant on

40:32

the physical side of the spectrum.

40:35

But on the spiritual side

40:37

of the spectrum, modernity is

40:39

irrelevant. And so

40:41

I might tell

40:44

you, as I'm telling another group tomorrow

40:46

evening, some of

40:48

the secrets of

40:51

sharing a bed and a bank account, which

40:55

is an accurate depiction of marriage.

40:59

Marriage is both sexual and economic.

41:02

It's both sexual and financial. Love?

41:05

Did somebody say love? Don't

41:07

be ridiculous. That's not the issue. No, no

41:12

it's sex and money and that's one of the

41:14

reasons why it is that even after

41:17

more than 50 years of

41:19

feminism and sexual egalitarianism,

41:22

the overwhelming majority of couples

41:25

that are getting engaged

41:29

today, tomorrow, this month, next

41:31

year, last year, the

41:33

majority of them, the overwhelming majority

41:35

of them get engaged because

41:38

the man goes down on one knee

41:40

and holds out a ring to a

41:42

girl and says would you accept this

41:44

ring and make me the happiest man

41:46

in the universe? How

41:48

come after 60 years of

41:51

gender egalitarianism we don't have 50%

41:53

of marriages coming about

41:56

that way and the other

41:58

50% of marriages coming out

42:00

because a woman goes down on one

42:03

knee, holds out a gold Rolex to

42:05

a guy and says,

42:07

accept this Rolex, marry

42:09

me and make me the happiest woman in

42:11

California. It doesn't happen.

42:16

It's almost always a disaster.

42:18

As a matter of fact,

42:20

there is a cruel genre

42:22

of videos on YouTube of

42:25

female proposals that went horribly wrong

42:29

and they do mostly go horribly wrong. That's

42:32

because people overlook the financial

42:34

aspect and the financial

42:36

aspect is different for men than it is

42:38

for women. These and people say to me,

42:41

what are you talking about? This is the

42:43

21st century and my answer.

42:45

Well it's not the 21st century actually because

42:48

it does actually tie back to the Torah

42:50

and to the Baba Kama historically women were

42:52

not included in business. So it is a

42:54

bit of a difference. Actually nothing

42:56

could be further

43:00

from the truth and if you like we

43:03

can certainly discuss and debate that

43:06

but the

43:08

basic idea was

43:10

as true a hundred years ago and a

43:12

thousand years ago and it'll be as true

43:14

a hundred years time into the future is

43:17

that women are uncomfortable

43:20

with men who have less

43:22

economic resources than they do.

43:25

As much fact the stats

43:27

are unarguable on this.

43:30

The data is absolutely persuasive

43:33

that women wives

43:35

who dramatically out-earn their husbands deem

43:38

the marriage. The marriage does not survive

43:40

very well. As a matter of fact,

43:42

a new study just came out a

43:44

month ago. I was fascinated by this

43:46

one that when wives win major lottery

43:48

winnings the marriage ends within

43:51

the next year or two when men

43:53

earn a substantial lottery winnings

43:55

the marriage gets enhanced. Why

43:58

do I tell you all this? modernity

44:02

doesn't apply to

44:04

the spiritual areas

44:06

we're talking about. You want to talk

44:08

about that? What do you want to do

44:11

with women's ability to obtain a get? What

44:16

is that got to do with this?

44:18

Explain to me. Orthodox Jewish

44:20

tradition has not traditionally allowed

44:23

women to exit a marriage

44:25

as smoothly as it has for men.

44:28

Absolutely correct and the reality is that

44:30

women can't enter a marriage as smoothly

44:32

as men either. In other

44:34

words, no man sits at home on a Saturday

44:39

night waiting for the phone to ring because

44:42

he hasn't got a date. If he's

44:44

a man he initiates it. For women

44:46

that is a lot harder because whether

44:49

you are proposing marriage or proposing

44:51

a date it is much more

44:53

difficult for a woman to do

44:55

than for a man. These are

44:58

realities that haven't changed one little

45:00

bit. Whether we're

45:02

talking about parent-child relationships,

45:04

male-female relationships, sibling relationships,

45:08

whether we're speaking about the relationship

45:10

of a person with their money,

45:13

these are not things that have changed.

45:16

The amount, the number of days my grandfather

45:18

spent traveling on the road for business is

45:20

pretty much the same as I do. Except

45:24

I travel in a luxury and

45:26

I stay at a lovely hotel and

45:29

he traveled on a third-class

45:31

compartment on a European train

45:34

and stayed in a farmer's

45:36

barn. But the basic idea

45:39

that you very often have to travel

45:41

in order to make money hasn't changed.

45:44

The number of days that a typical

45:46

married man is willing to spend on

45:49

the road hasn't

45:51

changed very much either. Studies show so

45:53

that's kind of interesting. But

45:57

the point is that so much of

45:59

life whether it's in

46:01

the relationship area, whether it's

46:03

in the financial area, whether it's in

46:06

the commercial arena, transactions and so on.

46:09

So much of that hinges on

46:11

the spiritual and not the physical,

46:14

even getting all the way down to

46:16

the clothing that we wear. And

46:19

so what I speak about

46:22

in both the book that

46:24

Peter mentioned earlier as well

46:27

as my most current

46:29

book which is just out, it's

46:31

called The Holistic You. And

46:35

this is the subtitle of the

46:37

book is How to Integrate Your

46:40

Family, Your Finances, Your Fitness,

46:42

Your Friendships and Your Faith

46:45

into Your Life. And

46:48

again, that's a spiritual concept

46:51

that we are as

46:53

human beings, we are

46:55

complex systems. In

46:58

exactly the same way that a modern

47:00

motor car is a very complex system.

47:04

And if I buy a Hyundai

47:06

accent, a perfectly admirable

47:08

car for its price range and

47:11

I decide that I want to improve it

47:14

and I purchase an aftermarket

47:16

10 cylinder

47:19

W configuration 6

47:22

litre engine that powers the Bentley

47:25

and the top end Audi and

47:28

I install that in place of

47:30

the 1.5 litre 4 cylinder inline

47:32

that my Hyundai accent used to

47:34

have. And I think

47:36

to myself, well, this is a neat little

47:38

improvement. You know, my buddy next

47:41

door just painted on racing stripes on

47:43

his Hyundai. I have changed the engine

47:45

for a much better engine. He

47:47

has improved his car. He actually hasn't.

47:50

The fuel supply won't work. The

47:54

connection with the transmission won't work.

47:57

The suspension won't carry the weight.

47:59

He's made a mess of it. You cannot work

48:01

on just one part of a complex system

48:03

at a time. And one

48:06

of the reasons that in

48:08

the medical profession there is a

48:10

growing awareness of

48:12

the holistic aspect of health,

48:14

the whole area of

48:21

people being playing

48:23

a role in medical tests where

48:26

half the people get a

48:28

real tablet

48:30

with pharmacological efficacy and

48:33

the others get a sugar tablet as

48:36

a sort of

48:38

placebo. And then it turns

48:41

out very often that for many people

48:43

the placebo actually has the effect that

48:46

the patient was told it would have

48:48

in spite of the fact that from

48:50

a physical perspective there is no such

48:52

thing. It happens

48:54

nonetheless because we are

48:56

complex holistic creatures. So

48:59

that is the area I

49:02

specialize in. I

49:04

consult for businesses on

49:07

focusing on the holistic aspect

49:09

of every aspect of business,

49:12

the spiritual nature of money

49:14

and above all the what

49:17

I call the five F's

49:19

of successful living. A

49:23

strong relationship with family and

49:25

that also means sexual obviously

49:27

right because the whole, I

49:29

mean sex is the basis of family.

49:31

The only reason you had a nice Thanksgiving

49:33

family meal which I hope you did and

49:36

the only reason uncles and aunts and

49:39

cousins and nephews and nieces were there

49:41

is because many years

49:43

ago Grandpa and Grandma caught one

49:45

another's eye across the room and

49:47

later found ecstasy in one another's

49:49

arms. I mean that's why there's

49:51

a family. And so

49:54

we speak about building

49:56

effective relationships family wise, family

49:58

wise, family wise. fitness wise,

50:01

fitness wise, physical fitness wise,

50:05

friendship wise, our

50:07

social and civic

50:10

connections and then

50:12

finally our faith connections as well.

50:16

And the bottom line is that if

50:18

you've got no financial worries and

50:21

you have a terrific marriage and

50:24

a lovely family and

50:26

you've got great friends and

50:29

you're in reasonably good physical health and

50:31

you're okay with your Creator as well,

50:34

you don't have much to complain about in life. And

50:38

that is the circumstances I wish for each

50:40

and every one of you. My

50:43

gratitude to you for spending time with me this

50:45

evening and certainly if there's

50:47

time, I'm

50:49

happy to take any questions otherwise if you want

50:51

to call at night that's also okay. Well there

50:54

it was. I hope you enjoyed

50:56

that and let me know what

50:58

you think. That's what the comment section on

51:00

the We Happy Warriors website is for. You're

51:02

not yet a happy warrior? What? Come

51:05

on, join us. It's a community

51:07

of people who are trying to

51:09

progress as we all are in

51:11

our 5S. So

51:15

that brings us to the end of today's show. Until

51:17

we meet next time, I am

51:20

your rabbi urging you onwards

51:22

and upwards in your family

51:24

and in your finances, in

51:26

your faith, in your fitness

51:28

and your friendships. God

51:30

bless.