One of the reason I think people like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro are experiencing popularity is because the world is starving for new philosophy that isn’t grounded in materialism.
People are attracted to those who speak about the notion that our lives do have meaning more than we realize, a notion that is contrary to secular humanism, which is our modern cultural ideolgy.
People have everything and yet have nothing.
As thinking, conscious human beings, we are naturally driven to seek knowledge on all things, including the meaning of our own life, but so much of what we see and hear each day is about transient ideas, not meanings nor valuable ideals.
Society reeks of superficiality, so that when someone like Peterson comes along and pinpoints ideas that make us say, “wow, that makes sense,” this is all the more proof that we need more people like Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and others who aren’t afraid to point out that life is not only supposed to be hard, it also has great meaning and it is incumbent upon us – as individuals- to find value on higher levels of living.
Philosophy is all but dead in the modern culture. The man on the street has no time for deep thinking. How could he? his attention is being pulled in so many different directions, so any thought that requires more than a few minutes of contemplation is quickly washed out by the other noise.
The result of this is a sense of vacuousness; untethered strings tied to a constantly shifting idea that being busy is what counts, being consumed by consumption.
But Philosophy is what drives peoples’ spirits; meaning excites us, having a purpose makes us enthusiastic. Just ask Elon Musk.
But what if your job is meaningless (except for the paycheck); what if your social life is meaningless, transient? Where do you look for meaning or value? Netflix? Facebook?
Some look to vice to fill the void of emptiness, others look to faith for meaning. Far too many of us do not seek at all because life today teaches us not to look for deep insights since such ponderings are subjective; meaning is meaningless according to the secularist.
And so when people come and talk about meanings, values, virtues, we naturally get excited because these ideas are fresh and not of this world, or of this age. We are inspired, just as when Jesus inspired Judea and The Roman Empire – and set a new world in motion. History is filled with periodic teachers of truth,
I am hopeful the next few decades will bring new teachers of spiritual truth to society. It has been a long time since we seen a Gandhi, Calvins and even a King. We are starving – not for a new religion, as God knows we have plenty of those – we are starving for a reminder that life has more meaning than just what is going on in our smartphones.
Man doesn’t not know the language of the gods because they have not been spoken in over three centuries.
A hundred years ago the Bible was taught in schools. Now it is considered a violation of the laws governing the separation of Church and State.
While I am not a proponent of State sponsored religion, I do believe the Bible carried a very important point that has been lost, that there is a long history of man searching for God, and in doing so discover eternal truths having to do with meanings, virtues and ethics. God is real. But the word God today, the word has become offensive, or at least confusing.
But when this age of secularism and materialism ends and spiritual ideas begin to take root and find broader appeal, it will be through modern teachers who carry on the ideas of ancient philosophers, then a new spiritual age will have begun.
