Lyrics The Primary Fact of Experience - Akira the Don , Jordan B. Peterson

So, I'm gonna tell you today about a way of looking at the world that I think is substantially different from the way most people look at the world
The standard scientific view of the world of course, is that it's made up of familiar objects
And that the world is in essence a material place
But there's some very potent limitations of that viewpoint, despite the fact that it's given us tremendous power
And the limitations are essentially as follows;

The essential matеrialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousnеss
Which is probably the primary fact of experience
The essential materialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousness
Which is probably the primary fact of experience

Neuroscientists in recent years, mostly in the last decade have been trying to crack the problem of consciousness, and they have absolutely made no progress
Not only do neuroscientists understand virtually nothing about consciousness
They can't even really figure out what its function is
They can't understand why
Our brains would go to so much effort to make us aware of things when it isn't clear at all that awareness is necessary for life
Especially given that there are many life forms on the planet that don't seem to be aware at all

The essential materialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousness
Which is probably the primary fact of experience
The essential materialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousness
Which is probably the primary fact of experience

The standard materialist view is also insufficient in many other ways
Insufficient philosophically, I think as you probably all know, because a conception that portrays the world is made up of objects is in some really fundamental way dead
And it doesn't seem to have a place in it for human beings, or a place in it for meaning
Or a mood whereby you might be able to conceptualize the real existence of something like an emotion, or a dream, or a motivation
All phenomena which are just as mysterious to neuroscientists and to scientists in general as consciousness
Now, the problem with this seems to be mostly experiential
If you have to ask people what they know more than anything else
They know, number one that they're conscious
They know, number two, that their internal experiential life is composed of emotions and motivational states, which although not rational in the central structure, are so real and relevant, that virtually everything that people do is predicated on them

The essential materialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousness
Which is probably the primary fact of experience
The essential materialist view can't tell us anything
About consciousness
Which is probably the primary fact of experience

So our current viewpoint, despite its ability to give us tremendous technological power, seems to eradicate from formal consideration
Many, many essential experiences that are vital to life, in fact, even perhaps primary
I'm gonna suggest to you today, that there's an alternative viewpoint, and I think also it's one that although you may be hearing about it formally for the first time is also something that you know, unbelievably deeply
(Unbelievably deeply)
(Unbelievably deeply)
(Unbelievably deeply)
(Unbelievably deeply)