Secret History #16: The Big Bang of Greek Civilization

Good morning. So today we do Greek civilization. We are focusing on Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.

A couple years ago, I taught the great books. So we read the Bible, uh, Dante, um, Paradise Lost, the Iliad, and the Odyssey. And believe it or not, the students' favorite book was the Iliad. And this was written maybe 3,000 years ago by this Greek man living in a different time, different culture. Even today, Chinese teenagers think he's wonderful. Okay.

So, Homer is, I believe, the big bang of Greek civilization. All right. So, let us summarize where we are. Okay. Let's review where we are. Okay. So remember that in the beginning, you have this city emerge on a major trade route, and it occupies a major river. And over time, what will happen is that as the city expands, it will create colonies along the river, and this will create warfare among the city-states because they're trying to control trade. Okay. And this leads to what we call open, cooperative competition. And as I keep on saying, this is a system that will lead to tremendous innovation. Okay. And this is what happened in China, in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt.

But then, over time, what will happen is that an empire will emerge, and this will create a bureaucracy. Okay. Now, bureaucracy has three major characteristics. The first is centralization. And because of centralization, you have now have a monopoly, and so you have a decrease in competition, which means that the society is no longer innovative. Okay. Second is you have censorship, meaning that um, no, people are no longer free to express what they want. All information is centralized. The third is writing as propaganda. So writing is a system of control, as opposed to a system of knowledge creation or self-expression. Okay. So these are the three characteristics of an empire, and um, this is true for all empires.

This is true for Minoan Greece. So remember, Minoan Greece is the empire that ruled the Aegean during the Bronze Age. What's interesting, though, is when the Bronze Age collapsed, this system allowed for massive innovation, which gave us the Greeks. Okay, so let me explain why. First of all, you now have centralization, but you now have something called the polis. So you basically have a return to the system of open warfare. The polis means city-state in Greek, and it gives us the word politics. Why? Because these polices were at war with each other always, and because every citizen um had to risk his life in a war, every citizen had the right to speak. Okay. So before every [clears throat] decision was made, all the citizens could debate. And so, as a citizen, you were required to speak in front of others. And as a result, you, even though you could be a farmer, you had to educate yourself. You had to gain knowledge. You had to learn the art of speaking, what we call rhetoric. And this allowed for massive education and innovation in Greece.

Um, the polis, because everyone had to learn, they had to change the writing system from one of propaganda to one of knowledge-seeking. So they changed their writing system. So during the Minoan age, the writing system is called Linear B. And Linear B um is a hard system to learn. But that's the point. They want the writing system to be hard to learn because then only the elite can learn it. And that's what differentiates the elite from the people, right? But now that everyone has to learn, you need, you need a more efficient writing system. And so they incorporated, they created a new system called the alphabet, which is the same system [clears throat] we use today because it's so effective. Okay, so let me explain what the alphabet is. [clears throat] All right. So, in the beginning, when we first start to write, we had pictograms. Okay. So this is the sun. This is the moon. Okay, sun and moon. As you can see, these are just pictures of words. Okay, that's the first step. But then people realize, you know what? We, we actually don't have to write down, we actually don't have to draw down, draw out the pictures. We can just use symbols. Okay. So now you use symbols like maybe an O and this. Okay. This is now becomes a sun, moon. And then people realize, you know what, there actually are a lot of words we cannot draw out. But if we make the symbol representing a sound as opposed to an idea, that'd be a lot more efficient, right? And so now um, you can create new words. This is the word now for monsoon because all you're doing is you're adding two sounds together. Okay? And this is what I call a syllabary. Okay? So Linear B was a syllabary. And um, the Chinese system is what I call an ideogram. Idiogram. Okay. So it's, it's not representing sounds, it's representing ideas. All right? And then people realize, you know what, for it to be most efficient, to be most flexible, to be most versatile, we can just have the symbol represent a part of a sound. Okay? So rather than a complete sound, just a part of a sound. So now this becomes M. This becomes S. Okay. And so you now get the word sum. And this is where we get alphabet from. What the Greeks did was they added vowels to the system. Okay. And this is the most efficient writing system in the world. It's really easy to learn, as you know, uh, from English class, as opposed to Chinese, which is very hard to learn. Okay.

So now you have the alphabet, which increases literacy and learning throughout the Greek world. For entertainment, what they did was they invited bards, poets to come and give recitals to talk about the legends of the past. And this gave rise to the most famous poet of that time, named Homer, and we will discuss Homer today. Okay. And so, in a, in a centralized system, Homer could not have have arisen because Homer would have would have been a propagandist. But now, in this decentralized system, where everyone is looking for entertainment, for knowledge, Homer can arise, and Homer will be the greatest poet of Greek civilization, and he's considered to be the father of Greek civilization. Okay, so we will discuss Homer today. And Homer is famous because he wrote two books, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Actually, he didn't write the books, he recited the the poetry, and then his students wrote it down because he himself was illiterate, and we also think he was blind. Okay.

So, the Iliad and the Odyssey are about the Trojan War. Okay, so let me explain to you what the Trojan War is. [snorts] Okay, so um, from last class, you know that uh, Troy was the center of the world. It was the heart and center of global trade, and that's why pirates kept on raiding Troy. Okay. Now, as you also know, facts become stories, and stories become exaggerated over time, and that's what gave us the legend of the Trojan War. Okay.

So, let's go over the um, basic outline. So, there are uh, the gods of Mount Olympus. The king god, of course, is Zeus. And the three goddesses are Hera, who is the queen god. They are Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, who is the goddess of love. Okay. Hera is the queen, the mother. Athena and Aphrodite are the daughters of Zeus. So, it's one big family. One day, um, they discover a golden apple on Mount Olympus. And the golden apple says, "To the most beautiful in the world." So, of course, all three believe it must be mine. And so they fight and they fight and they fight. And Zeus is going crazy because they won't stop fighting. So Zeus has an idea. He will have a contest. And on this contest, the golden apple will be awarded to one of the three. Okay. But now he needs to find someone stupid enough to be the judge. And he finds this person named Paris. And Paris is a prince of Troy. And so Paris meets the three goddesses, and of course, each goddess is trying to bribe Paris. So Paris says, "Paris, if you pick me, I will give you a kingdom. I will make you a king." And Paris likes that, "That's a really attractive offer." Okay. Then Athena says, "Hey, if you pick me, I will give you all the wisdom in the world. You will be the wisest man in the world." And Paris likes, "Okay, that sounds cool. Sure." And then Aphrodite says, "I'm going to give you the hottest girl in the world." And Paris is like, "Yes, that's what I want, man." Okay. So he marries Helen. Um, this, this, this may sound strange to you. Like, why would you give up power and wisdom for, you know, sex? And so I was talking to my wife about this, cuz I, I didn't understand Paris's choice, right? And she said, "Of course, you pick Helen because what matters to guys is status, face, right?" [snorts] "You're a king, but there are lots of other kings. You have wisdom, but like, who knows you have wisdom, right? But hey, if you're walking around the world with like the hottest girl in the, you feel good about yourself." Okay. So of course, you pick Helen. So there you go. My, my wife knows more than I do. All right. But anyway, so now this is a problem because now Hera and Athena are pissed off and they want revenge. In fact, they're so pissed off, they decide they're going to destroy not just Paris, but the entire Trojan people. Okay, they're going to wipe out Troy from the face of the earth. They want revenge. Another problem is at this time, Helen is married to Menelaus, who is the king of Sparta, and his brother is Agamemnon, who is the king of Argos. And Sparta and Argos are the two most powerful places in Greece. So Agamemnon is the king of kings. He is the king of Mycenaean Greece. And so they organize this huge army to attack Troy to retrieve Helen. Okay. Um, and this will go on for 10 years, this battle in Troy. And this will give rise to many legends that Homer will use to entertain the Greek people after the fall of the Minoan Empire. Two of the most famous heroes of this time, and there are like hundreds, okay, are Achilles and Odysseus. Odysseus is known for being the wisest of the Greeks, the greatest strategist. Achilles is known for being the bravest warrior. Okay. Um, Odysseus will come up with the idea of the Trojan horse, which is what ends the war. Because, as you know, what will happen is the Greeks will sneak inside a horse, a wooden horse, pretend that it's a gift to the Trojans. The Trojans will take the horse inside the city. The Greeks will sneak out at night and kill everyone. Okay. All right. So, that's the um, story of the Trojan War. What Homer will do is he will take this epic, okay, this legend, and turn it into a great story. He does not tell the whole story. He only tells a part of the story. He tells a story of the battle between Achilles and Agamemnon. Okay, so let's go over the plot of the Iliad. Okay, the Iliad. All right. So the story begins like this. Agamemnon has arrived in Troy with his entire army. But Troy is a walled city, and these guys are pirates. So they cannot uh, destroy Troy. So what they, what they do is, well, they're pirates. So they go and they go and raid other islands that are allies of Troy. And what they do is they capture booty, which includes beautiful young girls. Okay? And they have these girls as sex slaves. Now, the custom of war is that if a girl belongs to a powerful family, that family can choose to ransom her back, and you have to give her back. Okay. Now, it turns out that Agamemnon likes his girl, but she's, she's the daughter of a powerful priest. And the priest says, "Give me back my girl, and I'll give you a lot of money." And Agamemnon says, "No, I like her and I'm lonely, so screw off." So this priest gets angry and prays to Apollo, and Apollo unleashes a plague on the Greeks, and everyone's dying. Okay? And so Achilles discovers what's happened and he confronts Agamemnon in a war council, and he says, "Agamemnon, you have to give the girl back, or else we're all going to die here." And Agamemnon says, "Fine, I will give her back, but only on the condition that I take your girl." And of course, Achilles is pissed off. He's like, "That's not fair." And Agamemnon is like, "Too bad. I'm king." And so, Achilles says, "Fine, but I will never fight for you ever again. I'm going to let the Trojans destroy you here. I'm going to, I'm the greatest warrior in the world. I'm going to sit back and I'm going to let the Trojans destroy you." Okay.

So after, after that meeting, Achilles goes to his mother, who's a goddess. Her name is Thetis, and she's a river goddess. And, and Achilles says to Thetis, "Listen, mother, could you help me out? Could you tell Zeus to help the Trojans?" The reason why is I want the Greeks to lose so that they beg me to save them. I came to Troy to be a hero. So let the Trojans win, and then I'll come and save the Greeks, and I'll be a great hero. So that's what Thetis does. And Hector, who is the prince of Troy, okay, he's brother to Paris. He discovers that Achilles is absent from the battlefield. So he leads the Trojans against the Greeks, and they're destroying the Greeks. They're at the point where, sorry, at the point where they've almost reached the Greek ships, and they want to burn down the Greek ships because if they do that, the Greeks cannot resupply themselves, and they will all die in Troy. And so at this point, Odysseus and the other Greeks say to Agamemnon, "You know what? We need Achilles. Please, please get Achilles back into the battlefield." And Agamemnon says, "Fine. Tell him this. Tell him I will give him my daughter in marriage. I will give him all the treasure in the world if he comes and fights for us." So Odysseus and the Greeks go to Achilles and say, "Please, please, please help us." And Achilles says, "Nope." Why? Because Agamemnon is not here. "Where's Agamemnon? I don't need his daughter. I don't need all this money in the world. I'm going to die anyway in battle. So screw off." Okay.

So now Achilles and Agamemnon are stuck because Achilles wants Agamemnon to apologize, but Agamemnon doesn't want to lose face. So there's a real threat that the Trojans will destroy the entire Greek army. Okay? And they're about to reach the ships and burn down the ships. And Achilles is watching this and he's like, "Why aren't the Greeks coming and begging me again?" Okay? He wants the Greeks to constantly beg him so he can say no. And the Greeks, and the Greeks are like, "We know that. So we're not, we're not going to come." So then what happens is Achilles, he's so nervous that he sends Patroclus, who is his lieutenant, to go talk to the Greeks and say, "Hey man, what's going on? Do you need Achilles' help?" And the Greeks say to him, "Patroclus, we know Achilles, he's got this terrible temper. He's not going to come save us, but maybe you can save us, Patroclus." And Patroclus says, "Yes, I can be the hero now." So he runs back to Achilles and says, "Achilles, you, we're all going to die here. Let me go fight." And Achilles is like, "Fine, you, you can go fight, but only on the condition that you just save the ships and you do not push the Trojans back to Troy." Okay? "That's my glory. Do not steal my glory." So, of course, what Patroclus does is he tries to win all the glory for himself. He forces a duel between himself and Hector, and Hector kills Patroclus. Now Achilles is pissed off, and Achilles is like, "Screw this. I'm going to go kill Hector." Okay. So now Agamemnon and Achilles are best friends because they both want to kill Hector. Achilles duels Hector, kills him, and he is now the greatest warrior in the world. He's proven himself to be the greatest hero in the world. He's saved the Greeks. He's killed Hector. He's avenged his friend Patroclus. He should be the happiest man in the world, right? And this is the genius of Homer. He now falls into a deep depression. He mutilates Hector's body. He ties Hector's body to his chariot and rides around the city of Troy. And all the Trojans are screaming in horror. The gods are like, "This is disgusting, man." The Greeks are like, "No, man. This is a war crime. We don't want to get involved." Okay? Achilles is going crazy. He can't sleep. He can't eat. All he can do is mutilate Hector's body. All right.

So now, so now the gods are watching this and saying, "You know what? Um, we shouldn't allow this because this is a war crime, and Hector was always um, a good subject. So let's broker a peace between Achilles and Priam, who is the father of Hector. Okay? Because in this world, it's important to bury the dead because only by burying the dead can they find eternal peace. Okay. So Priam wants, wants the body back. So Priam himself cannot sleep. And both Achilles and Priam agree to this deal. The gods send Priam into Achilles' tent, and Achilles is busy. Okay? Achilles is distracted, and Priam is sitting next to him. And at this point, what Priam can do is take a dagger and stab Achilles in the neck and avenge his son, right? What he does instead is he kneels down before Achilles and kisses his hand. He submits himself before Achilles. And Achilles is so awed by this that he recognizes that Priam is the greater hero. That Priam has more courage than he does. And now Achilles submits to Priam. And the two forgive each other and weep together. And this is how the Iliad ends. Okay. This is a story that tells us that the real battlefield is not out there in the shores of Troy. The real battle is inside our human heart. Okay. Why does Achilles fall into depression? Because he himself knows he's, he's the one guilty for the killing of Patroclus. Maybe it was Hector who killed Patroclus, but it was Achilles who made it possible. Why? Because number one, Achilles didn't have to get in a stupid fight with Agamemnon. Okay. Number two is when the Greeks came to beg, Achilles could have, could have said yes. Okay. And then number three is Achilles did not have to send Patroclus into battle. So Achilles knows in his heart that he was guilty, and as such, he could not forgive himself, and so he fell into depression. And so Priam, by forgiving Achilles, allowed Achilles to forgive himself. Okay. So it's, it's a problem of forgiveness, and this is the hardest problem in human society. How do you forgive those who've done wrong to you? And how do you forgive yourself for doing wrong unto others? This is the hardest problem in human society. If you, if you can solve this problem, you, you can now create a great civilization. That's what Homer did. Okay? Homer showed us that this is the greatest problem in the human heart. And when we forgive each other, we make the world new. We rejuvenate the world. We change the world from one of destruction into one of vitality. Okay. Priam, by sacrificing himself, by having the courage to forgive Achilles, changed the destiny of himself and his son Hector, because Achilles gave Hector back and told Priam, "Not only will I give your son back, but I will make sure that you have enough time to ensure a proper funeral for Hector." Achilles himself will ensure the Greeks will not attack Troy during the funeral. Okay. And that's the beauty, power of the Iliad. It is the most shocking ending ever. It's the most beautiful, the most poignant, the most tragic ending ever. Even today, we cannot match it.

So the question now is, how is it that Homer and the Greeks had such wisdom, and today we don't? And the answer is, their minds were different back then than they are today. Okay. So let me explain why. [snorts] Okay. So you know from psychology that we have two hemispheres in the brain. Okay. A right hemisphere and a left hemisphere. The right hemisphere is a creative, emotional, caring hemisphere. The left is the logical, analytical, utilitarian hemisphere. Okay? So, right does art, maybe left does math. Okay? We know this from simple psychology. Now, there's an American psychologist, psychologist named Julian Jaynes, and he proposes a really interesting theory. His theory is actually what's happening is the right hemisphere is receiving information from the universe, vibrations from the universe, and the left hemisphere is interpreting this information into reality. Okay. All right. So remember we, we discussed Kant. What, what does Immanuel Kant say? Immanuel Kant says that there are two realities. The noumenal, the world of things in themselves, and the phenomenal, the things to us. Okay. So what happens is that our brain interacts with the noumenal and then filters it back into the phenomenal. Okay. And it uses a filter, time and space, in order to perceive things. Okay. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel says that this noumenal is the gist. Okay. The universe. And as we discussed, the universe are just vibrations. Okay. Vibrations. And so if you apply all this to this theory, what's happening is our right brain is receiving these vibrations, and then our left brain is just, is transforming these vibrations into everyday reality. Okay. Then the question then is, how do we interpret these vibrations? Well, for most of human history, we've interpreted them as just gods and spirits. Okay? And even though it's not factual, it is truthful in that it allows us to better understand the universe, and it better allows us to understand ourselves. Okay? By embracing this model of the brain, we have access to wisdom. Okay? The wisdom of Homer and the Greeks. And that's why back then, the Greeks were much more creative and wise than we are today. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. Because what we've done today is we've shut off this part by saying, "Nope, all that matters is science, logic, and materialism." Okay. So we've shut down the right brain and we only use the left brain today. That's why we are less creative. Right? So that's the argument I will make to you today. All right. Let's continue. All right. The great big bang, the beginning of Greek civilization. All right. So this is Julian Jaynes. Okay. And he wrote a book called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Bicameral mind is just the left and right hemisphere, and these two work together. The right is the receiver of the universe. The left is the interpreter of the universe. All right. So he gives an example of this. Okay. Why is it that in ancient times, when kings died, we buried them with lots and lots of gifts? We buried them as though they were still alive. And the answer is, from our perspective, they were still alive. Okay. The burial of the important dead as if they still lived is common to almost all these ancient cultures whose architecture we have just looked at. This practice has no clear explanation except that their voices were still being heard by the living and were perhaps demanding such accommodation. These dead kings, propped up on stones, whose voices were hallucinated by the living, were the first gods. Okay. Does that make sense to you? We lived in a world where we're using both our left and right hemispheres, and as such, we saw spirits, deities, gods all around us. Okay? We interacted with them, and they gave us both inspiration as well as motivation. Okay. And so um, this is a Viking ship burial where a king is being buried with his ship and his horses as though he was still alive. Okay? Because from their perspective, he's still alive. He's still able to give us his wisdom. This is the cult of the skull, which is what we found in most Neolithic cultures, okay? The most, the earliest agricultural societies. Why? Because they practiced ancestor worship, and they believed that these skulls were living, and they could help you access the dead in the spirit world and, and, and draw wisdom and inspiration from them. This is a book, The Cosmic Serpent, by Jeremy Narby. Okay. And he tells us that, listen, if you just do some basic research, this understanding of the universe where our right brain receives spirits and left brain interprets it in reality, it makes a lot of sense. Okay? Because all the, the entire universe is itself consciousness. Okay? It's all mind, and matter is just what we perceive. I began my investigation with the enigma of plant communication. Okay? Plants are able to communicate with, with each other. We know this scientifically. I went to accept the idea that hallucinations could be a source of verifiable information. Okay? So, if you feel as though a spirit is talking to you, maybe the spirit really is talking to you. And I end up with a hypothesis suggesting that a human mind can communicate and defocalize consciousness with the global network of DNA-based life. All this contradicts principles of Western knowledge. Okay. So all the entire universe is consciousness. Plants have it, animals have it, we have it. And therefore, if we open our minds, we're able to communicate with the entire universe and draw insight. All right? And he goes on, scientists know this, and our greatest discoveries came from scientists who embraced the consciousness of the universe. Many of science's central ideas seem to come from beyond the limits of rationalism. René Descartes dreams of an angel who explains the basic principles of materialistic rationalism to him. Albert Einstein daydreams in a tram approaching another and conceives the theory of relativity. James Watson scribbles on a newspaper in a train, then rides his bicycle to reach the conviction that DNA has the form of a double helix. Okay. So it's almost as though a spirit is telling the secrets of the universe to the scientists. So, and just ask yourself these questions, and you will understand that maybe the universe is consciousness, right? So, these questions are: Sometimes you think of someone, and then boom, that person calls you. Is that strange? Has that ever happened to you? Do you feel as though you're being watched all the time? Do you feel as though you're an actor on a stage? Do you sometimes feel you're compelled to act as though something has control of your body? Okay. Possession. Why do certain ideas pop in your head all of a sudden? Do you sometimes feel as though something planted an idea into you? Why do you have dreams? Where do dreams come from? What do dreams mean? Do you sometimes feel as though you know what someone else is thinking? Okay. Is it possible you're sitting with a friend and you know exactly what your friend is thinking, even though you're not talking? Do you think sometimes that you're having a conversation with a friend inside your head? Okay. So your friend is not there, but you're having a conversation with your friend. Do you feel as though you have a guardian angel? Okay. I'm sure you know you're too shy to say this, but I'm sure that you feel as though there is a spirit world, right? Okay. These were not mysteries and questions before because everyone assumed we lived alongside spirits, deities, gods all around us. Okay? Today we ask these questions. Before, they didn't ask these questions because everyone just assumed that, yeah, of course, we live alongside angels and demons, and that's why we are who we are. Okay.

So, let's go to the Iliad. Okay. And the Iliad, it shows us how the brain worked at that time. A brain that was both materialistic and spiritual. A, a brain that understood that we lived in different dimensions. Okay? And the gods had more control over us. And the gods represented our emotions and the workings of nature. Okay? The Iliad. Now, this is a translation by Robert Fagles. So let's, in the very beginning of the Iliad, okay, Homer says this: "Rage, goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the house of Hades so many sturdy souls, great fighter souls, but made their bodies carrion, feast for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end. Begin, Muse, when the two first broke in clash, man on lord, the man, and by Achilles." Okay. So the first thing that Homer says is, "Please inspire me, Muse." Okay. So what he's doing is not creating, what he's doing is channeling. He's drawing inspiration from the gods. Okay. When he's speaking to people, he's saying, "I am here as a messenger of the gods. This information is from the gods themselves." All right.

So, this is the fatal meeting. Oh, sorry, not the fatal meeting, the clash between Agamemnon and Achilles. The first meeting that starts off the Iliad. So, Agamemnon says to Achilles, "Give me your slave girl and get out of here." Okay. And Achilles is, "Screw you. I'm not going to fight for you again." And but now Achilles is pissed off. He wants to kill Agamemnon. Okay. "Agamemnon broke off, and anguish gripped Achilles. The heart in his rugged chest was pounding, torn. Should he draw the long sharp sword slung at his hip, thrust through the ranks and kill Agamemnon, or check his rage and beat his fury down?" Okay. So he can't control himself. Okay, rage has overtaken him. He wants to like step forward and just kill Agamemnon. "As his raging spirit veered back and forth, just as he drew his huge blade from his sheath, down from the vaulting heaven swept Athena. Athena's here now. Okay. Before Achilles, the white-armed goddess Hera sped her down. Hera loved both men and cared for both alike. Wearing behind him, Peleus' son, his fury here. Only Achilles saw her. None of the other fighters. Struck with wonder, he spun around. He knew her at once." Okay. So Achilles is hallucinating Athena. No one else can see her. Okay. "Pallas Athena," the terrible blazing of those eyes, "and his winged words went flying. Why? Why now, child of Zeus, with a shield of thunder? Why come now to witness the outrage Agamemnon just committed? I tell you this, and so help me, it's the truth. He'll soon pay for his arrogance with his life." So he really wants to kill Agamemnon. "Her gray eyes clear, the goddess Athena answered down from the skies, 'I come to check your rage, if only you will yield. The white-armed goddess Hera sped me down. She loves you both. She cares for you both alike. Stop this fighting now. Don't lay hand to sword. Lash him with threats of the price that he will face. And I tell you this, I know it. It is the truth. One day, glittering gifts will lie before you three times over to pay for all his outrage. Hold back now. Obey us both.'" Okay. So, Achilles wants to kill Agamemnon, but now he's being possessed by Athena. Okay. And Athena says, "Stop." So, she urged, and a swift runner complied at once. "I must. When the two of you have down commands, goddess, a man submits, though his heart breaks with fury. Better for him by far. If a man obeys the gods, they're quick to hear his prayers." And with that, Achilles stayed his burly hand on a silver hilt and slid the huge blade back in his sheath. He would not fight the orders of Athena. Okay. So again, this is not factual. Athena doesn't really exist, but it's truthful in that it gives us insight into how the human brain, the human emotions work. Okay.

Now, what I'm going to do now is I'm going to write this again in modern prose to show you the difference. Okay. Okay. So, this is what, what I wrote myself. Okay. It's bad writing. It's modern prose, but, but you're able to compare and contrast. Okay. "I don't need you. Get out of my sight," Agamemnon. He spat on the ground. Achilles' blood boiled, and he reached for the hilt of his sword. He saw all eyes stare at him, and he stayed focused on Agamemnon. He counted the seconds and the steps it would take for him to sprint forward and strike him down. His feet grew heavy, and his legs grew wobbly. He could not move. He felt the thumping of his heart. Achilles snapped around and walked out of the room. He saw all eyes focus on him. Okay. So this is factual, but it's not truthful. Do you understand? It doesn't give us insight into why this is happening. So the Iliad is truthful, but not factual. Modern prose is factual, but not truthful.

So now, as I said, Achilles refuses to fight. The Greeks are losing the war, and so the Greeks beg Achilles to come fight. Achilles says no. And he sends Patroclus to um, figure out what's going on. And Patroclus comes out and says, "Let me fight." Achilles. Okay. And at this point, Achilles should just be like, "We'll fight together, or don't go if it's too dangerous." Instead, he says this. [snorts] "So he pleaded, lost in his own great innocence, condemned to beg for his own death and brutal doom." Okay, he is Patroclus. "And move now to his deaths, the famous runner cried, 'No, no, my prince Patroclus, what are you saying? Prophecies?' 'None that touch me, none I know of. No doom my noble mother revealed to me from Zeus. Just as terrible pain that wounds me to the quick. When one man attempts to plunder a man his equal, to command a prize exalting so in his own power, that's a pain that wounds me, suffering such humiliation. That girl, the sons of Achaea picked her as my prize, and I sacked the wall city, one of my spear, but right from my grasp he tears her, Agamemnon, that son of Atreus, treated me like some vagabond, some outcast, stripped of all my rights.' So the Greek army is about to be destroyed, and Achilles is concerned about his own pride. Okay? He's a very selfish person. Agamemnon stole his girlfriend, and he's pissed. 'Enough. Let bygones be bygones now. Done is done. How on earth can a man rage on forever? Still, by God, I said I would not relax my anger. Not till the cries and carnage reach my own ships. So you, you shot my, my splendid armor on your back. You lead our butter-hungry Myrmidons into action. And now, in fact, the black cloud of the Trojans blast down on the ships with full gale force. Our backs to the breaking surf, but cling still to a cramped strip of land, the archives lost. The whole city of Troy comes trembling down on us, daring, wild. Why? They cannot see the bronze my helmet flash before their eyes. Oh, they soon run for their lives and choke the torn beds of the field with all their corpses. If only the mighty Agamemnon met with me with respect.'" Okay. So the Trojans are attacking them because he's not in the battlefield. But if you, if you were on the battlefield, the Trojans would just run away. Okay. "Now, as it is, they're fighting around our camp. No spear rages now in the hand of Diomedes, keen to save the Argives from disaster. I can't even hear the battle cry of Agamemnon, break from his hated skull, but his man-killing Hector calling his soldiers on, his war cries crashing around me, savage cries of his Trojans sweeping the whole plain. Victors bring the archive armies to their knees. Even so, Patroclus, fight disaster off the ships. Fling yourself as Trojans' full force before they gut our hulls with leaping fire and tear away the beloved day of our return. But take this command to heart. Obey to the end. You can win great honor, great glory for me in the eyes of all the Achaean ranks. And they, they'll send her back, my live and lovely girl, and top it off with troves of glittering gifts. Once you have whipped the enemy from the fleet, you must come back. Even if Zeus, the thundering lord of Hera, let you cease your glory. You must not burn for war against these Trojans, mad men lusting for battle. Now about me. You will only make my glory that much less." Okay. "Me, me, me. All he cares about is me." Patroclus, you, you can go to battle, but don't win too much glory. Do not outshine me. Okay. And because he says this, what does Patroclus do? He tries to win all the glory for himself. He engages in a duel with Hector, and he, and it costs him his life. Okay? So, it's Achilles' fault this is happening, and he knows it. All right. So, the psychology here is just so insightful, so deep, so striking.

So, let's use an analogy to understand the psychology. Okay. Let's pretend John and Jill are boyfriend-girlfriend, but they have a fight like boyfriend and girlfriend do, and they break up. Okay? But they want, they long for each other, but they don't want to apologize to each other. Okay? So Jill tells her best friend Jane to talk to John to try to get him to apologize. All right. And then Jane goes talks to John, and John says, "You know what? I've had it with Jill. I'd much rather date you because you're more beautiful and you're more, you know, reasonable." And then Jane is really excited because Jill is prettier than she is, right? So she runs back to Jill and says, "Hey, John asked me to go on a date. Maybe I can use this opportunity to convince him to apologize." And then Jill says, "Okay, go date him, but what if you do? Don't kiss him." So what does Jill do? Right? So this is reverse psychology, right? Okay. So Jill knows that if she says this, Jane's going to kiss John. And Achilles knows that if he tells Patroclus, "Don't win too much glory," but Patroclus is going to win a lot of glory, right? And so what happens, of course, is that Patroclus dies. Now Achilles can now enter the battlefield and win all the glory for himself. And that's what happens. Okay. He kills Hector. He saves the Greeks. But then he goes crazy. What he does is he ties Hector to his chariot and he starts riding around the walls of Troy. It is a, it is a war crime. It's disgusting. It's hideous. The Trojans are going crazy. But the Greeks are like, "We don't want this, man." The gods are like, "What the hell's going on?" Okay. So this is just shocking. It's, it's a mutilation. It's torture. All right.

So now we move to the end of the Iliad, and at this point, Priam, the king, cannot sleep because his son Hector is being mutilated by Achilles. Achilles can't sleep because he cannot forgive himself for the death of Patroclus. And so he takes it out on Hector. Okay. And the gods are watching this and they're kind of disgusted. "The games are over now. The gathered army scattered, each meant to his fashion, and fighters turned their minds of thoughts of food and the sweet warm grip of sleep. But Achilles kept on grieving for his friend, the memory burning on, and all-subduing sleep could not take him. But not now. He turned and twisted side to side. He lost manhood, his gallant heart. What rough campaigns they fought to an end together. What hardships they had suffered, cleaving their way through wars of men and pounding waves at sea. The memories flooded over him, live tears flowing. And now he lied on his side, now flat on his back, now face down again. At least at last he leapt to his feet, one in anguish, amish along the surf, and dawn on dawn." Okay, he cannot sleep. He's depressed. Okay. He is racked with self-guilt. He cannot forgive himself for what has happened. "Flaming over the sea and shore would find him pacing. Then he yoked his racing team to the chariot harness, lash the corpse of Hector behind the chariot for dragging, and haul him three times round the dead Patroclus' tomb. And then he rested again in his tents and leave the body sprawled face down in the dust. But Apollo pitied Hector, dead men though he was, and warded all corruption off from Hector's corpse, and around him, head to foot, the great god wrapped the golden shield of storm, so his skin would never rip as Achilles dragged him on. And so he kept on raging, shaming noble Hector. But the gods in bliss looked down and pitied Priam's son. They kept on urging the sharp-eyed giant-killer Hermes to go and steal the body. A plan that pleased them all. But not Hera, Poseidon, or the girl with blazing eyes. They clung to their deathless hate of sacred Troy, Priam, and Priam's people. Just as they had at first when Paris in all his madness launched the war, he offended Athena and Hera, both goddesses. But Zeus, who marshes the storm clouds, warned his queen, 'Now, Hera, don't fly into such a rage at fellow gods. These two can never attain the same degree of honor. Still, the immortals love Prince Hector dearly. Best of all the mortals born in Troy. So I loved him at least. He never sinned with gifts to please my heart. Never once did my altar lack its share of victims. Wine cups tipped and a deep smoky savior. These are the gifts we claim. These are our rights. But as for sealing courageous Hector's body, we must abandon the idea, and not a chance in the world behind Achilles' back. For Thetis is always there, his mother always hovering near him night and day. So would one of you gods call Thetis to my presence, so I can declare to her my solemn sound decree. Achilles must receive a ransom from King Priam. Achilles must give Hector's body back.'" Okay. Does that make sense? So the gods are fighting over what to do. And then Zeus says, "You know what? Let's just poke over a peace between Achilles and Priam." Okay. So Priam agrees to ransom back Hector's body, and Achilles agrees. Okay. So again, we can write this in modern prose and we can eliminate the gods, but what you'll see is that it's not as powerful. It's not as intriguing, not as truthful. "Priam cannot sleep and toss in his bed. His wife and his children come one by one to console the weeping king, but to no avail. His servants try different sleeping potions, and one by one they fail. In the middle of the night, he screams at the moon and tears at his graying hair. Priam aches for Hector and feels guilt and remorse for failing his son. Children spies watch Achilles drag Hector's body day and night. They take turns spying, and they know that Achilles cannot sleep. They report this news to Priam, and this gives him hope. He sends an emissary to the Greek camp, and Agamemnon agrees that it is Priam's right to ransom back his son, as is a custom of war. Even after the rage of Achilles, Agamemnon sends a servant to talk of Achilles. Achilles does not hear Priam's offer, but he nods his head anyway." Okay. So, it's less powerful. It's um, less truthful. It's less interesting. Okay. All right.

Now comes the most powerful part of the Iliad. Okay. This is actually when Priam and Achilles meet for the first time. And so what happens is that Priam is snuck into the tent by Hermes, and the majestic king of Troy slips past the rest, and kneeling down beside Achilles, clasps his knees and kisses his hands, those terrible man-killing hands that have slaughtered Priam's many sons in battle. So the king has the opportunity to kill Achilles, but chooses instead to kiss his hand and submit before Achilles. And this submission destroys the pride of Achilles. Okay. It's an emotional battle, a duel between Priam and Achilles, and Priam has won. Awesome. "As when the group of madness seizes one who murders a man in his own fatherland and flees abroad to foreign shores to a wealthy noble host, and a sense of marvel runs through all who see him. So is marvel beholding majestic Priam." Okay. That's what Priam has done. Priam is like a fugitive who's wanted for murder. He escapes, and he should be a slave, but somehow he's become wealthy. Okay. So by submitting himself before Achilles, Priam has changed the destiny of the world. "His men marveled too, training startled glances, but Priam prayed his heart out to Achilles. 'Remember your own father, great godlike Achilles, as old as I am, pass a threshold of deadly old age. Now doubt the countrymen round about him plague him now, with no one there to defend him, beat away disaster. No one, but at least he hears you're still alive, and his old heart rejoices, hopes rising day by day to see his beloved son come sailing home from Troy.' Those words stir within Achilles a deep desire to grieve for his own father. Taking the old man's hand, he gently moved him back, and overpowered by memory, both men gave way to grief. Priam wept freely for man-killing Hector, probably encroaching before Achilles' feet, as Achilles wept for himself. This is the first time Achilles can now cry. Okay. He cannot cry before. Now for his father, now for Patroclus, once again, and they're sobbing roles and fell through out the house. They have forgiven each other. Why? Because they love their people. Okay. So Priam saw Hector in the face of Achilles. Achilles saw his father in the face of Priam, and because of their love for others, they found love for each other. So love is the unifying force of the universe. Love is what allows us to forgive ourselves and forgive others. Okay. And this is the tremendous insight of the Iliad. Okay. And to demonstrate to you how powerful this insight is, let's run a scenario. Okay. Let's do a thought experiment. Let's just say you're driving a car with your wife and..."

Your child home from restaurant, okay? And you've had too much of drink and then you hit a car and your wife and your child died. Okay, that's the first scenario.

Second scenario is you're driving home and then a drunk driver hits you, killing your wife and your child. It's not your fault, it's the drunk driver's fault. Okay.

The third scenario, you're arguing with your wife and you're not really watching the road. Okay, then that drunk driver hits you and kills your wife and your child. Okay, these are three different scenarios, right? Let me ask you a question. In which scenario are you less likely to forgive the drunk driver? One, two, or three? One, it's your fault. Two, it's his fault. Three, it's his fault, but it's also your fault. Which one?

It's number three, guys. Okay? Why? Because you cannot forgive yourself first. All right? If you cannot forgive yourself, you can't forgive others. And guess what, guys? In real life, it's always number three. It's almost never number one or number two. So, forgiveness is something that we encounter every day. All right? Every day we make mistakes and because we can't forgive ourselves, we can make even more and more mistakes. Okay? That's a problem of forgiveness. And this is the deepest problem in human society. And so, what the tells us is that the real struggle is not for power. The real struggle is within our heart. The real struggle is between ourselves. If we forgive ourselves, we can change the world. Right? If we forgive others, we make the world a better place because prime forgave Achilles. Achilles was able to forgive himself and they made the world a better place. Okay, that's the power of the human heart. And this is what gives rise to Greek civilization. Okay, the Greeks engaged in an oral tradition. And in the oral tradition, they were constantly trying to figure out the mysteries of the human heart. All right? So, uh, this is, this is, uh, Pericles giving his famous funeral oration. So every day people are speaking because that's what a person does, speaks before others. All right.

Um, the Greeks were known for their theater. This is the amphitheater in Athens. You can see it seats about 10,000 people and this is what they do for fun. They stage theater and everyone watches it and the theater plays, uh, plays by Sophocles or about the human heart, the mysteries of the human heart. So every day people are thinking about what it means to be human and that's and that's why they have the greatest civilization in the world. [snorts] This is the agora, the marketplace where people come together and just debate, they talk. So Socrates was famous for being in the agora, the marketplace and just finding people to debate. [clears throat] This is the symposia. The symposia is a gathering of wealthy people. What they do is they drink wine and they talk about philosophy, love, death, what's the meaning of life. Okay. Now, the wine is interesting because they'll water down the wine so it's not as strong, okay? And they'll do this like for like the entire night. This is Socrates engaging in a symposium on love. That's what they do for fun, guys. This is a trial, Socrates. Um, so if there's if if you're charged with a crime, you face a trial and there's 500 people and you have to convince those 500 jurors why you're guilty or why you're not guilty. Okay? All right.

So, this is an oral culture where every day people are talking with each other and that's the source of their creativity. And what they're talking about is the Iliad, the Odyssey. They're trying to figure out what Homer meant, what Homer was trying to tell the world in his poetry. Um, this is Herodotus. So even if you write, the first thing you do is when you write, you will recite your writings to everyone. So you understand what the reaction is. Okay? Writing comes from community. It comes from understanding the feelings of others. Okay. Today we just write by ourselves and that's why our writing is crap. All right.

So, um, this is Anna Karenina, considered the greatest novel of the modern period. It's written by Leo Tolstoy and um, it, it's a really fun novel. I highly recommend it. It's a great book. Okay. And it starts off by saying, "Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Everything was in confusion. In the Oblonskys' house, the wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl. Okay. So, it starts over an affair. What happened is that the husband's, um, um, sister, Anna, will come from, um, St. Petersburg to try to, um, resolve the issue, but then she'll fall in love with another man, Count Vronsky, who, and they have an affair together. Okay. And this affair destroys their families and it ends with Anna Karenina's suicide. Okay. Because what's happening is that she's demanding more and more from Vronsky and he can't keep up. He's, he's exhausted by the demands of Anna Karenina. So this is what she says before she kills herself. "My love keeps growing more passionate and egoistic while his is waning and waning and that's why we're drifting apart." She went on musing, "And there's no hope for it. He has everything for me and I want him more and more to give himself up to me entirely. He wants more and more to get away from me. We walked to meet each other up to the time of our love and then we have been irresistibly drifting in different directions. There's no altering that. He tells me I'm insanely jealous and I've told myself that I am insanely jealous, but it's not true. I'm not jealous, but I am unsatisfied. I don't have any meaning in my life, and I want this love to give me meaning." Okay? So, it's almost like she's looking for God. We've killed God, and now she's looking for God in affairs, in sex, in lust, and that's why she can't find it. Okay. All right.

So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this and translate it into heroic prose. Okay. Let's see how Homer wrote this. I'm not Homer, okay? But like this is how he might have written it. Okay. And Anna Karenina went to the train station and sat on the bench waiting for the train to come. Her thoughts are empty and her head low. "Where do you plan to go?" Someone asked from the corner. That snapped Anna from her trance and to her horror, she saw herself. But it was not herself. She was older with graying hair and drooping eyes. And Anna looked as though she had seen a ghost. Okay, so she's hallucinating herself 20 years from now. All right. "Who are you?" Anna shouted in horror. "What do you want?" "Where will you go?" the older Anna asked. "Where's Vronsky?" Anna shouted. She looked around. The train station was empty. "Okay," "You know where he is?" the older Anna said with a look of pity on her wrinkled face. Anna got up and walked away. She was being followed. So, she knows that in time she'll just all be alone. Okay? She sees her own future. "Anna, where are you going?" the older Anna asked. "Stop following me," Anna shouted back, picking up the pace. "I am going to a place where you can't find me." "Don't do anything rash," the older Anna said, chasing after her. "Leave me alone," Anna shouted, and she ran and ran, screaming and screaming. She tripped and fell into the tracks right in front of the train. So, and then she died. Okay.

So if you do it this way, it gives you more insight into the human mind, the human psyche, right? And that's what what we've forgotten. So what happens when we stop believing in the spiritual? What happens when we disconnect from the right hemisphere of the brain? We clutter our brains with insignificant concerns, pursuits and details in search of significance. When we kill God, anything can be God. Okay. So as I said, Anna Karenina with her fear, she's looking for God. She's looking for meaning. And before when we hallucinated, when we talked with the gods, we had meaning. We had wisdom. We had significance. And now we've lost it. And the result is what we call modern literature, which is complete utter crap, by the way. Okay. And we know because this is Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Okay. It's considered the greatest, one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It's not very good. All right.

So this is, um, a woman talking to herself. It's what we call stream of consciousness. "There were the eternal problems, suffering, death, the poor. There was always a woman dying of cancer even here. And yet she had said to all these children, 'You shall go through it.' To eight people, she had said relentlessly that. And the bill for the greenhouse would be 50. For that reason, knowing what was before then, love and ambition, and being wed alone in dreary places, she had often the feeling, why must they go up and lose it all?" Okay, so her mind is wandering, wandering, and wondering, and she's concerned about the grocery bills. She's concerned about the future. She's concerned about the past. There's no discipline. There's no focus to any of her ideas. Okay? And this is what we call stream of consciousness. And it's the way we think today. Okay. The reality is that we live in a world in which God is dead. In which we're not allowed to imagine a spiritual world. Um, and in a world in which we're only focused on the here and now. And as such, we live meaningless, insufficient lives. And as such, our brains are just focused on things that don't matter. Okay? And our brains become schizophrenic. All right? Okay. Does that make sense, guys? Hey. Yeah. Any questions? All right. Yeah. Hi.

>> I I have a question about the the concept about forgiveness that you just mentioned, uh, that if you can't forgive yourself, you can't forgive others. I think the example of this is China and Japan because China hates Japan because of the Japan invasion war. And after hearing this quote, I think China hates Japan so much even until now. It is because that, um, China cannot forgive himself because he's too weak. And also, just like the third third situation that you just showed, Japan based and China is too weak to fight back. So, uh, China cannot forgive his weakness. So, he cannot forgive Japan.

>> Yeah. Um, yeah, that's that that's a great analogy. I I can, I completely agree. Yeah. Because if you're really strong and confident, you just focus on improving yourself. You don't think about other people. Yeah. Okay. Any more questions, guys? But but thank you for the comment. Okay. All right.

So, last thing I'm going to do is I'm going to read some YouTube comments. Um, so, I don't have time to read YouTube comments, but my wife loves reading YouTube comments and she sends me YouTube comments and it's basically my homework. Okay? So, if my wife sends it to me, I I respond, right? So, let's look at some YouTube comments from the last video. Um, Wes and Qatara says, "Hey man, what about Africa? What about Egypt and African civilization?" And you know, I'm sure that Africa, Egypt, Sudan are really, really interesting. I don't know enough about it to comment on it. Okay. So, what I want to do is later on I want to focus more on Africa. Okay. Okay, I want to go to Africa and I want to learn more about the continent so I can comment, um, more about Africa. Like for me, teaching is a learning journey. Okay. I teach to learn. Okay.

Um, so this, uh, YouTuber says, Bad Bentham says, um, "I underrepresent livestock in the economic system," and this is absolutely true. Okay. If you look at the steps, the currency is actually livestock. Cattle, sheep are the main currency of the steppe people and it's what allows the steppe people to fight great wars because when they go off in wars, they can bring the livestock with them and therefore they don't have any logistical issues. Okay. So this comment is absolutely right.

Um, question. So, "Capital changes ultra-signic nature to utilitarian when hard work and motivation get saturated. Why are we only going in one direction that's getting saturated?" Um, yeah, so this is interesting. So, um, we have two natures, an altruistic and utilitarian nature. And what we've discovered is that, um, if you break the balance and you become too utilitarian, it's almost impossible to move it back. Okay? And that's why societies collapse.

"How similar is this series to Civilization series?" Okay. So the comment is that I'm using a lot of content that I used before in Civilization, and yeah, that that is that is a fair criticism. And the reason why is that, um, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to better understand history. So what I'm doing is I'm trying to analyze history from different angles. So last year when I taught Civilization, I was trying to just figure out how civilizations work. And this year what I'm trying to do is trying to apply the idea of secret societies to the better understanding of civilization. So I know some of the content is repeating itself, but the angle, the slant, the overall thesis has changed. Okay? And I'm and I'm going over a lot of this information in order to build a case of why we have secret societies. All right?

Um, "How do we manage to produce during these horrible times?" Same question I asked myself yesterday. Okay. So, so the question is what if children when things are getting worse and worse and the answer is because children is what gives us hope. Children is what gives us purpose. When you see that the world has collapsed or when you see the world is in chaos, you have children because children give you the energy, the motivation, inspiration to fight for a better world. Okay? So I am probably the most pessimistic person on planet Earth. Okay? I think the entire world is going to hell. I have three kids. I have three young kids. And the reason why is well, first of all, I love my kids. I love having children. But also my children fill me with hope and energy and power to fight for a better world. I'm only doing this, I'm only teaching this class. I'm only putting this on YouTube to build a legacy for my children. If it were not for my children, I would honestly not be doing this. It's really hard work. Okay. All right.

So, that is it for today. Thank you guys. Uh, we'll continue next week. Okay.