Slavoj Zizek: God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse conversation with Jack Miller

in HD which I wasn't able to retrieve vimeo.com/41178624
www.lfla.org/event-detail/707/...
Slavoj Zizek, renowned Slovenian critical theorist, dissects and reconstructs three major faith-based systems of belief in the world today, showing how each faith understands humanity and divinity-and how the differences between the faiths may be far stranger than they at first seem.
Jack Miles is Senior Fellow for Religious Affairs with the Pacific Council on International Policy and Distinguished Professor of English and Religious Studies, University of California, Irvine. A MacArthur Fellow (2003-2007), Miles won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for God: A Biography, which has since been translated into sixteen languages. He is currently general editor of the forthcoming Norton Anthology of World Religions.

[@walterh234]

Žižek was my fellow at Ljubljana University in the 70ties. I remeber that he was so "crazy" intelligent at that time. At the first Lacan's session I escaped because was too uncomprehensible that kind of mind dialectic. Now am sorry for that. He never smoked or even on drugs, his mind is so full of informations that his "tics" are simply a moderating gesture of his thoughts!

[@boskopils4153]

I saw Slavoj Zizek at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

[@angelohieronymous2692]

@@boskopils4153 bruh i dont think he gets it

[@nukepizzaa]

@@boskopils4153 I don't believe any of this

[@liphardusmagus5970]

@@nukepizzaa i think its a copypasta

[@arpanmitra6624]

@@boskopils4153 i dunno why i have to read the whole thing everytime i come across this, but its so funny ahhahah

[@HToothrot]

I like how it says "conversation" in the title

[@alviag]

Are we Watching Zizek so we dont need to think for ourselfs....? Is it like Friends where we watch people laugh and feel relived yourselfs, are we not pleases that there are people who think about those kinda things and we are able to watch them

[@Hardcoreforliife]

Fuck

[@lgor6837]

Shit mate

[@theRiver_joan]

Hey man

[@112233habib]

zizek does that when he reads jaques lacan ...

[@bilbowild]

I have an addiction

[@IsaacMcCaslin]

starts at 3:20

[@avantgardenovelist]

17:02: Zizek with a southern US accent

[@alexdom213]

Hahahahahahahahahaha right on :)

[@GioGio808]

That is the one of the best comments I ever read , why it has only 19 likes ?

[@inszti]

Hahahahahahahahaha.... I just shit myself... Good thing I was sitting on the toilet...

[@TheYopogo]

That's exactly what I thought when I heard that bit. You're spot on.

[@KalinTsvyatkov]

again at 1:01:22

[@DiabloPlayer4life]

Jack Miles is one of the few people that I have actually seen have more of a conversation with Zizek than most other people - and while he lets Zizek talk, he actually prompts Zizek to talk, and elaborates greatly. Good man :)

[@keeperofthecheese]

1:00:00 "I'm a jesuit volunteer" "JAMES BOND?" LOL

[@jogurtburek979]

axaxaaxaaxaxax

[@ajnorthrop9121]

The fact that this video contains the most moving exegesis of Christianity I’ve read outside of Augustine, an anecdote about cybermice and also this exchange is why I stan Zizek.

[@nickmorrow2613]

So funny

[@thesenate3009]

love how the guy with the first question decides to just casually mention Finnegan’s Wake and Menippean satire to show everyone he’s very a smart and Intellectual™️

[@sandworm9528]

You think that Finnegan's wake is "intellectual", doesn't every high schooler read it?

[@eyesocketplug6989]

What if laughter in this video is canned?

[@AlissasCouch]

What if the laughter that comes from cans were just videos??? 😬

[@DillonPlaysGuitar]

I like how he gestured to the audience to complete the joke by providing canned laughter, but nobody did.

[@sandraseeper]

He is entertaining, and am drawn to genuinely listen. My mind feels alive and connected to many dimensions within conversation.

[@not2tees]

What an amazing and delightful mix of philosopher and comedian is Zizek.

[@nakedworldtv]

"You know" My favorite thing to hear over and over in Zizek's lectures. And of course "I am about to finish. Don't worry". Every time.

[@Sir_Typesalot]

The leader of Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, wasn’t predominantly a poet, but a clinical psychiatrist. After earning his M.D. in Bosnia, he took a postgraduate course in clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in NY. Upon returning to Bosnia, he opened his own private practice, specialising in depression and neurosis. He was also the counselling psychiatrist in three sport clubs in the 1980. He wrote and published children’s books and poems, but in his native country, he was foremost known as a psychiatrist.

[@thomasstephenson4043]

thanks for the upload :)

[@BurntToastVault]

Zizek is on top form here! absolutely blazing!

[@andrewroberts8139]

Terrific introduction, by the way.

[@newagereactionary]

There's an ad before this video; I love it!

[@sxfocksx]

"Thank you. I hope i was not too crazy..."

[@jrg8]

"you are not a complete idiot." I love you Zizek.

[@MichelleE110]

awesome, incredible.

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

I am in man love with this man.

[@miri8851]

Sooooo.... gay? Men can love men in romantic platonic etc ways.

[@lifepuddle3036]

It took 6 year's but, we got him

[@slothmode3590]

@@lifepuddle3036 lol

[@Zirc0nium69]

well said, sir. tipping my hat towards you.

[@flyLeonardofly]

yes you are spot on about that

[@lievenyperman9363]

"I am a Jesuit volunteer." Zizek: "Jamesss Bond?"

[@TheBailongas]

great stuff

[@fra-kolpanzer]

Does anyone know what the musical piece in the beginning is? Is it a fragment of some musical piece or just an intro for the show?

[@sycamore6935]

The world is not about to begin, the world is _about_ to continue, actually it already is

[@evenkeel87]

I would really love to hear Zizek's thoughts on Bataille.

[@markdzima]

I had that thought too!

[@brandontart]

Last question was the most pertinent. SZ touching on the idea that the man who blows himself up does so as an act to convince himself that he believes. This is in contrast to Paul&Christ: JC telling believers "not to worry", and Paul said: "be anxious for nothing". Fear & worry serve as inactions, where relaxing into their words' truth reveal the truest acts of faith. Mary and Martha Lk10:38-42, for instance, tells the same story. Christian belief then:when one no longer acts to prove to self.

[@marcuswagner6312]

What is essentially Rene Girard's explanation of the crucifixion is something that I think Zizek should be made aware of, if he hasn't already encountered it. I recommend anyone interested in Zizek to read Girard. I would say don't read Girard without reading Hegel, but you shouldn't be reading Zizek without reading Hegel, either.

[@ethanthomas7372]

He does know about Girard. In his talk with Jean-Pierre Dupuy (day two, i.e. post-lecture) they talk out Girard's Christianity. Apparently they both agree but Girard, but Girard changed his mind later - so Girard is the only one of the three who doesn't believe Girard.

[@musicloverkathy]

Unless reading Zizek leads you to reading Hegel.

[@Synodalian]

@@ethanthomas7372 Wait....what changed Girard's mind?

[@ethanthomas7372]

@@Synodalian No idea. They didn't say anything besides that.

[@TheBiomuse]

@@ethanthomas7372 Girard (who was a personal friend) didn’t “change his mind.” I surmise that they were expecting that Girard’s apparently paratheistic remapping of Christian theology should have resulted in his own atheism (as do most people when they first encounter his thought; as did I). It did not, because he viewed it as a genuine decoding, without presuming that a teleological examination is somehow equivalent to an alternative epistemology. Egotistical, perhaps, but it confirmed for him the social necessity of religion and the social advantage of functioning Christianity specifically. Zizek’s interesting move here is to locate that functional valence between persons rather than within.

[@jayaramj9630]

Zizek!! What a genius..

[@whoisbbg]

That is a good point.

[@bloodynoes]

What's the music at the beginning (jazz piano)? Sounds cool....

[@skyadriana5419]

a very good introduction. Congratulations to the panel leader!

[@kasraman]

very classy ending

[@ujean56]

Now that's entertainment.

[@Kobe29261]

Your comment makes me very happy! Of course in a pseudo-intellectual; "I-also-get-it!" kind of sense but this is only a break in the struggle. Keep well!

[@lyndonbailey3965]

Zizek is the one who knocks

[@IzmirWayne]

Can anyone please give me a link to the original text of the story he tells at 48:02

[@MateuszSiwiak]

I want 7 hours!

[@emmailiaki3015]

The jazzy opening tune is great, too!!! Any body knows the name?

[@glenc5185]

16:25 What dies on the cross? 18:20 Chesterton's reading of 'Eli eli lama sabachthani?'

[@Technicolor909]

I love hearing what Zizek has to say about Hitchens. Slavoj, I think, is much more human than Hitch, especially considering Hitch was fully endeared to human decency, whereas Slavoj seems to realize that religion is more of a social order than a gimmick for power.

[@keplerskitty5949]

zizek has that awesome element of insane genius, I'm just in a trance when I watch and listen to him...

[@shankyxyz]

the point about hyper-agreement with ideology is so true and so funny.

[@Nexustonothing]

Does anyone know if he has written more on this cascade from poetry to philosophy, … as a justification for bad things and so on?

[@guadalajara4848]

very interesting initial music. Does anyone know who is playing ?

[@ToddBoopable]

I read somewhere that he calls them "tics". But yeah, I think it has to do with nervousness.

[@MrCscardenas]

Can you put subtitles in spanish? Please! Thank you

[@HaikuMalta]

He actually makes a point from "thank you for smoking", twenty minutes in.

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

42:35 "every ideology to be operative, shouldnt go to the end, it has to leave its true implications a little bit in shadow" you could exchange the word ideology for neurosis here and it still makes sense.

[@melo7444]

SPARTANLIFECOACH considering his psychoanalytic background and the tension between conscious and unconscious elements of ideology in his work, I'd say that's a fair comparison.

[@mlonyenioner]

SPARTANLIFECOACH but isn't it true that, my godt, ideology today IS just a neurosis. even fukuyama is not a fukuyamaist how should i put it

[@melo7444]

mlonyenioner brilliant

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

my got!

[@elizabethsharp1607]

nice find, thank you for sharing. I am concerned about my parents and the new "wave" of christian movements that is heading (in my opinion) very far from the basic teaching of Christ...leading a new "prophetic movement" that is really dangereous toward the harsh judgement of "God." The final days and so forth. I would even go so far as to say, pretty narcissistic... masked as "false humility." But who am I to judge right? I just had to walk away years ago when I saw the "reality" and refused to make ammends with my own parents in denial (which was submitting to authority that was unaccountable) Talk about. Being humble, loving and non-judgmental. Silence of lambs...

[@brek5]

Yeah, if you go to some of his other talks on the subject, it might be clearer. Just google it or, if you like philosophy, check out the documentary "Examined Life." I think he talks about it in there....could be wrong, though. He is definitely in it, though.

[@nedefinisani.5950]

Excellent, especially after 1:00...great insights, very linkable to buddhism and vedanta

[@theongreyjoy1947]

40:30 what is this?

[@jungiantrip]

The Lewis Black of Philosophers. Genius.

[@jeffreyallen2382]

2) He holds that the Christian dialectic (as he describes it) is the path to that structural shift. I hesitate to use this example, but there is a very obvious difference between the atheism of Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and the atheism of Sartre and Camus. In the former, there is absolutely no radical change of subjectivity.

[@lloplop]

rihanna @ 1:07:20?

[@kinkokonko]

Brilliant debate. The only thing I can confirm is Man made God. The rest is brilliant insight into how we think

[@Velkar182]

What kind of act does Zizek say it is (at 1:13:05 )? "It is much more a ( ) act."

[@TheJoyfulPianist]

Dawkins rests on the same absolutist premise as religious fundamentalists. Both camps think they know the truth. Zizek, like most thoughtful persons, doesn't claim to know the truth. He is therefore a rival to Dawkins in my opinion.

[@godotkrull579]

Starting very nice and then again: Repetition Repetition Repetition... I guess he needs to, it's okay, but I think I'm done now! Thank You SO much Slavoj! Before you die: Plz give as a whole theoretical Book which is it's own subject. Like the Phenomenology of spirit by Hegel, the Critique of pure Reason by Kant and the World as Will and Representation by Schopenhauer! PLZ! Seriously! This one I would read!!!

[@debordwalk]

59:45 good

[@Stupidityindex]

This guy throws ideas out so fast it's for me like running on a treadmill when I am out of condition.

[@musicloverkathy]

The most exhausting is his conversation with Cornel West. Not only have they read everything, they can quote from them like rapid fire tennis balls flying out of one of those machines. It's absolutely terrifying. I love how Zizek prefers the minimalistic use of language in Beckett over the blah, blah, blah of Joyce, but has to make people not worry that he's Castro and will talk for 7 hours, which he could do without a 2nd thought. I absolutely love his fascination and openness to every aspect of culture and his liberating humour. He is pure joy.

[@debordwalk]

1:14:00 Zizek argues for the Occupational Art School

[@CPLains]

time?

[@camaraholaciudad]

I love it when Miles is trying to be funny that Zizek asks him: "What is the connection between not trusting Mexicans and trusting you?"

[@upalgangopadhyay7117]

10 years late but can we just talk about how he absolutely ruined the joke by answering? 😂

[@greenmountainfarms7515]

​@@upalgangopadhyay7117Agreed.

[@dzhibrish]

What do you mean by radical atheism in your reply? and where is it presented?

[@Stupidityindex]

05:10 my reading too.

[@Freakingeediot]

I think he's actually doing it right.

[@AndrewMann552]

Would be interesting to hear Zizek discuss Thomas Muntzer and the Anabaptists, he briefly mentions Muntzer in his introduction to "Trotsky: Terrorism & Communism."

[@nonners21]

Zizek is on at 3:18

[@mutatismutandis6051]

right................

[@debordwalk]

56:15 disappointment in jurgen habermas; "it's dangerous to do it if we follow that path...so let's not do it...Some things be better left unknown."

[@MrHerzog333]

there's a small section on Bataille in The Parallax View saying that Bataille is the philosopher of "the passion for the Real" or something. What I don't get is why Zizek never mentions Baudrillard who is so close to Zizek own project. Also, to everyone here, what is the point of the white haired guy making the comment about Mexicans? Was he serious or what?

[@echo1174]

The only thing I disagree with is, that these phenomenon are new. I think it's always been this way but, we were at least connected to the cause and effect of our actions, no more.

[@mutatismutandis6051]

Do you have a more *realistic concept of God*? Please elaborate!

[@vonroretz3307]

The "perverse God" is the God of Calvinism. Always the elephant in the room, Calvin is firmly behind the binary dualism of Decartes and Rousseau.

[@darthrevan3342]

No, Calvin give stuff like the Man Devil not Rousseau.. Rousseau is all about virtue and happyness, Man Devil is all about vice = virtue

[@NDPdEport]

i agree there is a condescending attitude. i dont agree that his observations are inconsequential. i think he does think there is something that needs to be done about religious fanaticism and that thing is to read the holy books, all of them to be read by all, including us. or books of myth if you prefer.

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

he really is - and I agree with him totally: they might be "right", but by god they are obnoxious about it

[@not2tees]

This doesn't necessarily mean that You aren't a troll (I give you a pass, myself) but I think most viewers have to agree with your point about Zizek indeed looking the part of TROLL. He has that Under The Bridge look, all right.

[@udical]

why? do u have some prof?

[@thumb023]

I think his nose itches ♥

[@TheHardProblem]

FYI: Hitchens and Zizek knew each other and were on friendly terms

[@NovemberTheHacker]

You have to be polite with those who are dead inside.

[@maxstirner5361]

CLOSE... it's Max Stirner.

[@DSteinman]

Wow, a fellow Steinman! 😃

[@stevenmichalkow]

...I know! Like that was a realistic option for her to say?!

[@todayisokay4075]

Slavoj seems to miss the idea that a God's capability might only be achieved through specific paths. The idea is that God might be all-powerful, but to get what they want they have to follow recipes. Also, please fix the title, I believe you meant to type: "Jack Miles" not "Jack Miller"

[@williampotter7572]

At 48:00, the death penalty story is very similar to how Jesus convinces people not to stone an adulterous woman. "Let he who is without sin cast the fist stone". Jesus never said that the death penalty was wrong.

[@jimmyart007]

It's called subversive thought, what's all the fuss about? It's fun.

[@happygucci5094]

Jung contended with this idea of God too- and I agree with Zizek and Jung- you have to contend with the God of the Book of Job and the response that he gives God.

[@fatfacekid]

The answer Zizek gives to the question at 1:09 shows that Zizek's Atheism is clearly at odds with Dawkin's. I think you're right to point out that Dawkins and Zizek share some things in common but nonetheless it's evident throughout the lecture that Zizek believes A) Neo-atheist have a misconception of belief and that B) this misconception leads to the replacement of god with a different form of transcendence.

[@colindevane]

It's Jack Miles not Jack Miller

[@KingsOfCydonia]

What was that at 29:43 " i was never taken for a Mexican" etc. Was it an irony?

[@jeffreyallen2382]

1) Zizek talks fast and gets ahead of himself. But he develops these ideas in text; this is just a quick detour in a lecture. He claims New Atheists lack understanding/conception of how belief functions-their beliefs, beliefs as beliefs in society, the beliefs of the religious. He sees New Atheists belief as quantitatively different from the religious, that is different in content only. Radical atheism, on the contrary, is structurally/qualitatively different.

[@Peakage]

at 60:20 did he say James Bond? "...Jesuit..." "James Bond!?!?" "...Jesuit..."

[@blastpeed]

In those terms, it does sound like something he would say. As opposed to the unwarranted charge of charlatanism which Chomsky has labelled him with recently

[@cbawt]

I think you are right, except there then is a rivalry between their "Atheisms" as dawkins is a part of everything. Yes no particular one with Dawkins, but there still is one... and dug into deeper i think there is a huge antimony, whether Dawkins would admit it or not, the arguments presented against religion by him and like authors, can be presented against the whole of philosophy as well, or many other communities or mediums of culture, that don't adhere to scientific method. Ironic perhaps :)

[@HamidRehman100794]

The image is both horrifying and extremely humorous in a reality enhancing way *sniffle* *sniffle*

[@bad_manbot]

that's a microphone

[@TeaTweety]

yes, he seems just uninterested in what his host has to say, maybe irritated with his to conventional way of conversation. I have to say that I was impressed with construction of your sentence.