Jordan Peterson on Root of Evil

The root for malevolence is the desire for revenge against God for creation itself.  Jordan B Peterson

The more I hear Dr. Jordan B Peterson, the more I think he has had thoughts similar to my own. Indeed, I have inserted in the transcribed text a link to where I analyzed the meaning of God's Name so that it clearly corresponds to a key realization that Dr Peterson observed as he answered a more general question in the video portion that I've transcribed.

The good thing for me is that JBP has invested far more energy (and has a paid position from which) to explore ideas that I have only done a bit on my own, poorly apportioned, time.

I am grateful to have found out about him, but sadly due to his coming under attack by various Sinister forces. So this is another instance where I'm bringing what I think is his vital thinking to your attention.

The transcription and time marks below are for the video lecture of Professor Peterson's Biblical Series II: Genesis 1: Chaos & Order. This transcription are from captions I contributed to a version captioned in English that's not yet unpublished. Once released, either the whole 2 1/2 hour video, or the portion highlighted here, will replace the one embedded below. Any emphasis here added by PF.

2:05:40 -2:06:05 Audience questioner requested that JBP provide his view of the consequences due to humanity having been  appointed to expand upon creation.

2:06:10.4 [JBP] Here's something interesting too; we will develop this a lot.

You see, when Adam and Eve eat the fruit, when the snake gives them the fruit, the thing that happens is their eyes are opened.

Okay, to me that means that they've woken up. There's been an increment in their consciousness.The next thing that happens is they recognize that they're naked. To recognize that you're naked is to recognize that you're vulnerable.

Human beings are strange creatures. [JBP bends over] Most animals are like this, and they're protected. But not us. [stands tall] Our most vulnerable parts are displayed for harm and for everyone to observe.

Right, so we have that sort of bipedal self-consciousness built into us. But what is really interesting, is that when Adam and Eve realize that they're naked it's the same moment that they know the difference between good and evil.

and that -- God -- that, I just ground away on that for years: what's the relationship between consciousness, knowledge of nakedness and the knowledge of good and evil?


I think I figured it out.
I think it was that. You see: when you know that you're vulnerable. And they also developed knowledge of death, right? So it's deep knowledge of vulnerability.

They get embarrassed about that. They cover themselves up, right? So that's culture.

So it's a very profound shock for them to recognize that they're naked. It even makes Adam hide from God.

Then they develop the knowledge of good and evil. Well, I think because, you see, human beings have this peculiar capacity that no other creature has, which is I know how I can be hurt, because I am aware of my own limitations. Painfully aware.

And now because I know how I can be hurt, I know how you can be hurt. And I can take advantage of that. And that's how evil enters the world. That's how it looks like to me.

I've got this expansion of knowledge. It says in Genesis that that gives people another attribute of divinity: knowing the difference between good and evil. It has nothing to do with animals and it has nothing to do with Adam and Eve prior to having their eyes open. But the cosmos switches when that self-consciousness manifests itself.

2:08:11.4 That's when the possibility of evil enters the world. It's something like that.

That's also echoed by the intimate relationship between the snake in the Garden of Eden and Satan.
That's a very strange association. It's like this snake also becomes the adversary of being [PF thinks that God is Being-- after all, He said his name is "I Am that I Am." Readers will find the analysis here] and I think I'll jump very quickly into that.

But I think that's because [first] there's the snake that bites you in the jungle; and then there's the snake that lives in your enemy; and then there's the snake that lives in your family if you banish the enemy to the netherlands. Then there's the snake that lives in you if you remove yourself from your family.

And that snake that's in you -- right -- that's a psychological phenomena, that's equivalent to transcendent evil itself -- the thing that inhabits every single person. And that's why there's that association between the snake and Satan. And that's where I think people have this... it's associated with our knowledge of vulnerability that gives us this constant capacity for evil.

Can you Imagine if you're a medieval torturer? -- you know people don't generally imagine that sort of thing -- but people were medieval torturers and they were very good at what they did.

The only way you can be a torturer is to know what would hurt you. Right, and so you exploit the knowledge of your own vulnerability to bring pain into the world.

I don't think you can lay that precisely at God's feet. Now people have been arguing about that for a very long time.

The question for me that arose from that. Fine, like tragedy, [that] you can lay that at God's feet. Well if we didn't bring additional evil into the world, could we tolerate the tragedy of being without becoming corrupt? Well I think generally the answer to that is:Yes, as I've seen people react quite heroically to the arbitrary burdens of their life. but malevolence: man, that lays them low. It seems to be nothing but a destructive force.

I do believe this as well -- you see it in the Cain and Abel story -- that
2:10:15.8 the root for malevolence is the desire for revenge against God for creation itself.

I've read terrible things written by terrible people, trying to get to the bottom of things. I've mentioned the Columbine killers for example. It's clear. All you have to do is read what they wrote.What they were doing was taking revenge against God. They knew that. It wasn't unconscious. They'd been dwelling on this for months, plotting their revenge. And it was against for being itself, for the crime of being.

So -- that's where your question led me.

The section transcribed above begins with the long question at 2:05:40