Bishop Robert Barron - Christianity and the Catholic Church (Lex Fridman Podcast)
How important are relationships? Relationships are life, no human exists in a vacuum, quite the opposite as humans go crazy alone and strive in communities (As also described in Outliers - extended families, better health outcomes). Individuality vs community? The more one focuses on the self, the more they sacrifice community. Passivity, holding back seems an important part in making sure community strives. The more you exercise individuality the less people you will be compatible with. But full on passivity is also counter productive: it’s a delicate balancing act.
Relationship between priorities and goals. Do goals stem from priorities? Can humans live without an overarching, grand goal/purpose?
Thought my main priority was to help others, but thinking more about it, I do not go out of my way to help others. Rather it is an underlying principle I employ wherever I go, real main priority seems to be satisfying curiosity. “Don’t go into social work” as was said in career counseling in high school - incompatible main goal from this perspective?
How universal are humans? Do we have the same moral compass? Is there even a “standard human” to strive for? Religion sort of provides this standard, but I’d say it does not account for all the bad (in Christianity at least). Christianity sums it all into evil, but I don’t think humans inherently are or choose to be evil. Does not the bad we do stem from other factors, life choices, past experiences and suffering?
Religion aligns values of people, which makes it easy to connect and build relationships. It is also a safe foundation from which to start discussions from. Christians in the camp did not seem to have as much stake in their beliefs as atheists/agnostics I’ve met. I tend to have this devil’s advocate, provocative way of playfully finding out what makes people tick and this approach seemed to work very well in this camp compared to other circles I’ve been in.
US people:
- 5/30 thought Estonians drive on the left
- Food is so much better in quality, was immediately felt with less stomach pains etc
- They almost never bike, after 5km were already tired
- A lot more careful in conversations, always start with polite responses