Tackling the "Meaning Crisis": Mental Chaos in University Students

This talk was organized by Blu Matter Project, a University of Toronto student group dedicated to student mental health. The organizers of this event sent me the following statement:
"Many university students' core beliefs and ideas are challenged by the courses they take, with no meaningful and beneficial replacements being proposed. This creates a devastating problem for many students. They experience a crisis of meaning, and no longer know or can't tell what they should pursue in life. This existential undermining adds to the stress students experience while attempting to maintain a good GPA and manage demanding courses. All of this can produce depression, and encourage a nihilistic outlook."
This discussion addresses such issues.
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[@bladebison]

he sat for 1 hour 42 on a fucking desk, much of that time with his legs crossed. What a boss.

[@Countcordeaux]

"Watch if you're miserable, figure out why. Watch when you're not miserable and try to figure out why." Paticca Samuppada. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu Dr. Peterson.

[@kebabas222]

Dear dr. Peterson, I read your book, I watched almost all your lectures and just want to say that light turned on within me (that "click" thing you feel motivated for) like a thousand times and it does not end to continue. Please continue what you are doing. We are so thankful for that. P. s. When I try to describe your material to my friends I say: "Have you heard that Jung is not dead? It is alive but with a different name. Its Jordan B Peterson" :)

[@bobgolden939]

incredible. i could listen five times and still be hearing new things from this.

[@lonelyb9661]

"Get your act together. Lead by example." Mr. Peterson, thank you.

[@ConnorElliot]

Every statement seems like a nugget of wisdom from this guy...

[@azanyahyisrael101]

Cuz almost everything he says is meaningful he never waste speech

[@arthuradler2800]

Great! Thank you very much! Although im from Gemany and that Live Q&A will be in the middle of the night for me, im really looking forward to it nevertheless.

[@KilVall]

The comment that the Humanities has resentfully committed suicide deserves its own lecture.

[@hankroest6836]

KZbin Search: Camille Paglia :)

[@KilVall]

"It's a landscape of death in the humanities right now. Humanities professors have destroyed their field. They talk about the funding cuts, the budget crisis, no jobs. But who did it? They did it! They made themselves marginal in the face of this great material - they've driven their clientele away. They committed hara-kiri." www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-landscape-of-death-in-the-humanities/article4317157/ Perhaps his diction was the spontaneous recovery of a memory made reading this interview.

[@TheRoland19111]

I stopped taking her seriously at the part of the polar bear

[@lunaflamed]

That would be a three hour treaty at least!!!

[@pjmclach]

Wish kids were taught this before leaving high school!

[@MNanme1z4xs]

JP qualify as a philosopher of our time, with a place among those text book figures. He is worthy the title of intellectual giant. Cant believe we still have man like this in the humanity department.

[@onetier]

Thank you for this!! So many lights went off while listening to this. Thank you for, not only listing the "problems" but also for listing steps we can take to make things better.

[@theblueflame2221]

52:00 I remember my days in school as a kid that I was told that I wasn't in class 'to think'.

[@coltonjackson3425]

Dr. Peterson, I have been an avid listener for the past year. Thank you for posting your lectures. I have recently gotten into the podcast format. It would be awesome if your lectures were available in a podcast format (with automatic updating and streaming, etc).

[@rogernock7865]

He absolutely put that first question to rest forever. Have kids properly, so that their lives are full of meaning great enough to make the suffering worth it. Problem solved.

[@tedoymisojos]

So helpful, thanks for sharing.

[@99cseni]

I love him so much, such remarkable wisdom

[@dougaduncan]

This is the best video on KZbin in terms of getting to know yourself and learning how to be in the world. The best. And that's at least the fourth time of said that, and they've all been JP videos : ).

[@spiralsun1]

EXCELLENT!!!! I left graduate school because I would not write or say what I did not believe. Perfect advice.

[@libraryofthemind]

Wow that's powerful 40:00 'it's not you and it shouldn't be boss'.... just wow...

[@---qs5co]

Dr. Peterson, I’ve recently found your lectures and find you very enlightening. I came across this video because you address “is it immoral to have children?” With all due respect, I don’t feel like your answer fully addressed the issue. Your solution is to simply raise children right and encourage them to believe they are strong enough to face life’s difficulties. Your reasoning to have children is because it brings yourself enjoyment, and ignores whether it brings the child enjoyment. You say that some broken parents don’t want their kids to be less broken than themselves. Maybe in some circumstances, but my personal belief is that I don’t want to mess up parenting and make someone who is just as broken or even more broken than myself. I’ve dealt with depression most my life, and even when I go through periods of happiness, I would rather not to have ever existed than to have existed. While I have been suicidal before, in those times of happiness, I’m not suicidal. I just rather to have never existed than to actually exist. In my pits of depression, suicide was never really an option because of the consequences and pain it would cause to others. If I have a kid, there is a good likelihood they will inherit mental issues like me. I would hate for my potential child to feel a burden of having to exist so to not disappoint me. Maybe they wouldn’t turn out to think like me. But the chance that they do, seems pretty unfortunate and it would be all for the sake of me being selfish and wanting to have company in my old age.

[@aresmars2003]

@1:25:30 "Never lie to someone who is in psychological trouble." Is offering "false comfort" lying? My personality is loath to offer uncertain comfort but I expect this is in part because I don't want to be blamed for false hope later on, so I can't separate my need for worst-case brutal realism to keep open from someone's need for immediate comfort. I'll offer my best probabilities of relative risks, but people in psychological pain seem to want certainty I can't offer.

[@TheShrimpBaby]

This is one of the best, most thought-provoking KZbin comments. I've ever seen in my life. Makes me really think about my own actions. Thank you for sharing your insight.

[@aresmars2003]

If a person is "suffering psychologically" with anxiety, example like because it might rain on her outdoor wedding in 3 months, should a weatherman lie and say "It'll be fine, don't worry about it." Who wants to be responsible for comforting someone with false hope that makes them happy now, and unhappy later if a guess is wrong? My "mature" answer would say we all have "regressive states" of various forms where we just want parental figures to deal with things that we don't want to deal with, and so its important to recognize "This person is regressed" or "I'm regressed now", and need something that is unreasonable. Then you won't blame people for failing to comfort you, or for giving you false comfort because you demanded it.

[@trin1721]

always with the coke zero

[@metafixi]

He's described it as being the only soft drink to "energize" him. Very peculiar!

[@gerrymackenzie1106]

CATBUG how the fuck can such a skinny person drink that shit!!!

[@metafixi]

Gerry Mackenzie​ are you making assumptions from his body weight?! You degenerate ableist

[@gojira444]

maybe because... there's no sugar in it??

[@markboggs746]

I'm surprised he drinks it. It's got aspartame in it right?

[@shananagans5]

What happened at 10:24? Is that the image we should use on a future coin? If he saves western civilization I think that's at least worth putting his image on a quarter.

[@neththom999]

"Any moron, any chattering devil could come up with that objection. But why in the world would anyone with any sense ever listen to it?"

[@attyeichholz]

Truth!

[@davidm9196]

some synchronicity at 1:28:00 and on as he describes people's dark sides and exposes his dark side to the camera

[@MrRocksW]

I wish I saw this when I was in university. I had a tough time there. I found it very hard to make friends, very competitive, high workload, constantly feeling behind my peers etc. At the same time nihilistic and doubting what the point of life was.

[@stvbrsn]

Re: the first few minutes of the professor’s talk... I’d guess most people between 40 and 65 who attended college had a similar experience. All the social pressures of high school faded away, and anyone who recognized it seized the opportunity to reinvent oneself. Plus, we were able to reinforce this by forging new friendships with like minded people who were similarly trying to orient themselves in an increasingly confusing, complex world. Further reinforced by the dopaminurgic and seratonugic systems and all that... Don’t know what it’s like now. Stressful? Well I can tell you that my college years (86-90) were the most stress-free times of my life, bar none.

[@azanyahyisrael101]

The father figure I never new I needed..

[@dougaduncan]

Oh Captain, my Captain!

[@pendejo6466]

Man, someone brought the camera, but couldn't be bothered with a mic?

[@thomasmcewen5493]

Pendejo If you can be woken up by a mosquito buzzing in a dark room in the middle of the night across the room, you can hear this, it is called listening.

[@thomasmcewen5493]

Pendejo If you can be woken up by a mosquito buzzing in a dark room in the middle of the night across the room, you can hear this, it is called listening.

[@produccionesabuela8533]

I was about to say there is no need to insult, then I realized his name is Pendejo xD

[@metafixi]

If the system has always been corrupt and will always lag behind, is that then an argument for technocracy?

[@sjdhsmfbsdhmfbsdhmfbsd6290]

Absolutely loved this video! It would be wonderful if you would use a microphone in your classes, because even with headphones on, it's quite difficult to hear your voice. Nonetheless, thank you for these videos! :D

[@surfreverbguy7364]

I plan to share this with every young adult I know who is entering university. I might just copy the audio and drop the intro, no offense, and give it to them as an mp3 without telling them who the speaker is. That way they aren’t biased by anything they might have heard previously about JBP. After listening, when they ask, they will have a good founding in his ideas and might even want to hear more.

[@ajdonnelly7160]

This man is profoundly wise.

[@thewarsmith1078]

You look like you're about to start levitating, Dr. Peterson. Keep up the good work.

[@Byenia]

Pausing at 36:42: Yeah, I don't wish to contribute to creating greater hell for myself and others. Tough situation since old habits die hard. But still. I get what this man is getting at here.

[@SamuelAbelow]

Didnt this go up a few months ago?

[@tictoc5443]

Define meaning Define purpose

[@intlprofs1]

audio too low

[@BrettonFerguson]

Life is suffering. Straining to hear Peterson is part of the lesson.

[@runningrigert]

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Love it

[@yeaown8139]

maybe listen up. It's perfectly audible.

[@runningrigert]

I think they fixed it!

[@maxpower6918]

A levitating Peterson wow's a class of amateur magicians!! for over an hour.

[@havenbastion]

Who was that who gave the intro? I couldn't catch the name.

[@crisisactor420]

Did he say community college was an advantage? Damn... things have changed.

[@olahfsmart3630]

Would love to have subtitles tho, for non native English people

[@raulfernandezg]

we all want to listen to what you have to say. Please make sure you get good sound from your talks.

[@DEMatthewsMedia]

22:57

[@jonasstrzyz2469]

The eradication of humans is not the same thing as preventing the existance of suffering that does not need to exist. 1:10:00 on the morality of having Children. And yes, I am so pure hearted that I do not want to expose other people to what I have endured. I am not victim of crime, war or powerty. There have been times when I did not care for anything, being completly apathetic. I wanted to be sad, because to be sad, was to feel something. I found laughter in this sadness, because I did not know what to do. How to deal with how I was feeling. It is an experience that I do not want anyone esle to go trough, purpusfully contributing or causing that experience is immoral. But knowing that this can happen to someone who I have brought into existance without their cosent, would also make me immoral, not as much, but stil immoral. I know that watching children play in the park, and growing up, is often a wonderfull experience for parents. But what do you do when your child becomes the victim of a scaring crime or experiences terrible things? I am not saying that you are responsible for these things. But what would you tell your child? "Althought I was well aware of the horrible things which do occour, I satisfied my personal needs." This is what I consider to be a blunt and accurate description of reality and people who procreate. You may ask me. Why are you alive, if life is so bad? I am alive because I want to fullfill certain needs, like getting the job that I want, and finding a partner. I understand your reaction, but what other logical reason is there for justifying the creation of something which would not make you immoral, for not creating it? My personal experiences do also influence my judgment, in the end, however... I do not want someone to experience what I did.

[@MrTheUniqueName]

Wouldn't you say that if one concludes that it's better not to have kids to prevent suffering, one has also concluded that there is no way for life to be meaningful enough for the suffering to be worth it?

[@jonasstrzyz2469]

Not necessarily. One can conclude that others have not been able to find meaning in life. I do not think that life has any inherent meaning, but you still find something that has meaning for you, something that you enjoy doing. Now because there are no guaranties of finding meaning in life or living a happy life. I consider it better not to risk it for an individual that has not concented to being alive. I know that the unborn cannot consent, but you get the point. I do not find it justified to risk it for just because I want the individual to exist.

[@MrTheUniqueName]

I would strongly suggest that you watch Peterson's other lectures related to meaning, because in those he talks about how life has many meanings, not just one or none. One of those meanings is actually suffering itself and that is what nihilists fail to consider. I used to think like you, but those lectures changed my perspective on what meaning actually is and whether it is possible for life to exist without it (I reached the conclusion that it can't).

[@jonasstrzyz2469]

MrTheUniqueName To give you the short version. I have had to endure depression, I reached the point of not giving a shit about anything and became completly apathetic. I have experienced excessive amounts of guilt. Guilt that had not valid reason. This is an experience that is part of life. It is an experience that I do not want anyone else to experence, especially if I am responsible for the persons existance. I consider it immoral. Now since you do not share my experience. I thought to give you my premises. 1. I have affective/emotional empathy. This means that I feel bad if someone who I love or care for feels bad. 2. I would rather not feel bad. 3. With life comes needs. 4. There is not guarante that needs are going to be satisfied. Even if you are rich. 5. Even if the needs are satisfied there is a lot of shit that can happen to a person. Like crime, desease, accidents, loosing a loved one, need I go on? 6. If needs are not satisfied this leads to negative stimulie of all forms. Ranging from getting annoyed or stubbing your toe, to depression and death. Yes depression can be caused by a lack of friend and social isolation. Conclusion: Dont have children. Looking forwards to your counter arguments.

[@MrTheUniqueName]

Suffering is indeed a part of life. Life cannot exist without it. But that doesn't, and shouldn't, mean that life is not worth living. With the right guidance everyone can find the right approach to life that would make their lives meaningful and worth living in spite of the inevitable suffering that we all experience in various shapes or form throughout our lives. What is immoral is not to bring someone to life, but to not provide the proper guidance once you bring them to life.

[@sparksmacoy]

How should you confront evil?

[@coolmike1538]

Thamus Jones Speak the truth

[@markboggs746]

With good.

[@thomasmcewen5493]

Michael Lindner There are levels of truth, A Jewish professor explaining to a SS officer, that he and his wife are more valuable as workers, true, but another truth is that evil just wants them dead. I live in an ex-atheist communist nation, logic doesn't work with evil, I say use a gun ASAP.

[@coolmike1538]

Thomas McEwen Sometimes the truth is that the person opposite you is unreachable, appeals to their humanity falls flat. In those cases violent resistance may be necessary. It depends on the situation. I wasn't in Nazi Germany, but I like to believe that I could appeal to the humanity of the typical foot soldier. The Nazi true believers may have only been reachable by a bullet.

[@markboggs746]

There is no such thing as "evil". Only absence of "good". We live in a probabilistic universe which is not deterministic and so there is only more possibilities or less. I choose more. Phenomenologically that translates into: "“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”― Edmund Burke

[@CaptainRetsuUnohana]

Personally a big proponent to my own depression. the existence crisis led to the animegayboy lyfe mang.

[@emptyhearted9981]

like brushing your teeth,not eating way too much ice cream before bed,not smoking more cigarettes then you absolutely must, thanking and feeling sadness for the mother cow and her babby for the deep emotional pain she suffered for the dairy i have consumed . are these the thousands of tasks you speak of oh wise won (one)?

[@ENCwwe]

Wait why is he sitting on the...you know what, why not?

[@AdurianJ]

The opposite of being a Nazi is Kitler !

[@alphacuremother1019]

20:57

[@brutalgaming1709]

28:00

[@grnhy]

1:08:12

[@yeaown8139]

Pay attention when the Buddha is lecturing.

[@edweb2006]

Too late for this action .... Damaged generation

[@lunaflamed]

45:30 ish...Anti-White is TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE in Main Stream right now...

[@azobchajin1491]

Someone put Jordan Peterson's videos and voice clips into an AI and program it to generate a speech that sounds exactly like he would. Then, put that AI into an app, and sell the app as a facial recognition personal counselling app that can read your face and also generate speech responses to your concerns. It wouldn't be violating copyright laws because you aren't actually using his content to diagnose people, you're using your own AI's program to diagnose people via the facial recognition software and your algorithms on the app.

[@cocorico128]

have children so you aren't alone?

[@MrTheUniqueName]

That's one of the reasons. Certainly not the only one (and not the most important one).

[@joedoe1096]

Was someone taping the audio with the built in mic on a digital camera 20 feet away at the back of a classroom? The sounds from the audience were as loud as Jordan Peterson. I downloaded an app to boost this audio, and all it does is make the background noise too loud! If you're in charge of filming these things and you don't give a shit, please be honest and give the job to someone else. I don't know anything about audio and I could have done a better job than this. Set the damn mic right next to the speaker. You can use a phone for this, so there's no excuse.

[@incipimitusiterum4261]

I always picture Kermit the frog when I hear him, it's awesome 🤣

[@fargoth7]

This is the antithesis of what is taught at Jesuit universities

[@jack-4129]

Is it evil to become a biological parent only when you know that human overpopulation is the root cause of: anthropogenic climate change, the anthropocene mass extinction event, habitat degradation and destruction, and factory farming and industrial fishing; but only a tragedy when you do it without knowing that human overpopulation causes those things?

[@LARESCIV]

If you live in west, where birth rates are way below whats needed 1.5 vs 3.1 you have no excuse to not have kids especially with all the social benefits and safety and infrastructure. So its an excuse to not take responsibility i.e. a proof of incompetence of being responsible. If you are irresponsible you go the pathway of evil i.e. pure selfishness

[@anoncyclist2131]

you cant say anything about... naming races including white. in retrospec this must sound amazing

[@normandylander]

19 minutes in, someone starts messing with the camera, and they obviously don't know how annoying it is to watch anything when some witless tool who thinks they're being technical, starts waving the camera around while it's recording. It got so bad I had to stop watching, which is too bad, I really enjoy prof Peterson's talks and lectures, but not when it's done with a 'drunken camera' technique*.

[@mistermuskie]

The arts are out cause they can't be monetized? Whaaaat?

[@hankroest6836]

Artists don't make regular money. Only institutional Arts administrators (apparatchiks) and art collectors do. Entertainers are not usually educated in the arts, and anyway organized education is poison to the artist sensibility (even more so than it is to all other sensibilities).

[@MrTheGuitarNerd]

You know a lot of economically stable (never mind rich) artists, do ya?

[@alirios2241]

Why is the audio of so many lectures such shit

[@chrishazelwood8669]

ps. oops, very sorry missed you last name! ( please be carful - are you growing a little sugar monster? -- soft drinks!! )

[@xyhmo]

3:52, exit charlatan, enter master. ur welcome

[@DirtPoorWargamer]

I can prove that procreation is immoral with a series of premises that no one can (legitimately) argue with: 1) It is immoral to cause unnecessary suffering without consent 2) All life suffers 3) To give life is to be the root cause of suffering on another 4) Nothing is capable of consenting to being born 5) Procreation is only necessary to ensure the continued survival of a species 6) The continued survival of any species is unnecessary 7) Procreation is therefore immoral The only thing that could invalidate this argument is if you could demonstrate a necessary function that humanity provides the Universe, and that the continued existence of the Universe itself is also necessary. Good luck with that. I like his definition of evil though as the Christian God necessarily qualifies, lol.

[@lonelyb9661]

Wells So I suppose a universe of lifeless waste is then the the opposite of immorality? But wait, if there is no life, there's no morality either. Contrary to what you may believe, the opposite of immorality is morality. Thus the necessity of life. Thus the necessity of procreation. In summation, your thought experiment of proving immorality has a conclusion not of immorality, but no morality at all.

[@DirtPoorWargamer]

Just because morality doesn't exist without life doesn't mean that life is necessary. It simply means that since we do exist, we are able to make moral valuations. The existence of morality is also morally neutral, so you can't claim that since procreation creates morality, it's moral. I told you: the only thing that can invalidate my argument is to demonstrate a necessary function that humanity provides the Universe, and you have been unable to do that.

[@lonelyb9661]

Wells Again. You did not prove immorality. You proved no morality. It's like me saying that a rock is immoral. A rock doesn't have morality. They are not the same.

[@DirtPoorWargamer]

And again, you're talking out of your ass. Why do I bother arguing with morons? This isn't even close to saying a rock is immoral, because an inanimate object can't be morally classified, but an action taken by a sentient being can. The fact that the life that will suffer didn't exist prior to this action is irrelevant; it will still suffer as a result. If we were to assume your position were true, then it wouldn't be immoral to intentionally handicap your offspring prior to birth, and unless you're mentally disabled, we all agree that isn't the case. My argument demonstrates that procreation a) causes suffering, b) does so without the consent of the procreated, and c) is unnecessary, so if we agree that it is immoral to cause unnecessary suffering without consent, then procreation must be immoral by definition. You just can't stomach this truth because you refuse to see that humanity is unnecessary within the scope of the Universe. The Universe existed before us, and will continue to exist long after we're gone. Also, you seem to be under the mistaken impression that all life is subject to morality; that is incorrect. Only sentient beings are subject to morality. A lower order animal is incapable of the type of thinking that morality requires, and as such can not be held to moral standards. Even if all creatures in the Universe subject to morality stopped breeding and died out, there would still be life.

[@lonelyb9661]

Wells But life is required for morality to exist. That is all I said. Your weakness is saying life is suffering. Life involves suffering. It is not suffering itself. Some people can handle it. Some can't. But I do realize that I am arguing with a genius. You are 100% correct that if you end life, you end morality, and you end immorality. Truth is you can't handle life so to you life is suffering. Me? Nope. I guess ignorance is bliss. Life has been good to me.