- Today on Authentic.
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I'm gonna take a stab at
helping you find out what you're
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really looking for in this life,
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and I think I'm gonna take you
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in some really
surprising directions.
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[soft rhythmic music]
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I don't know if you ever
read the Arabian Nights when you
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were a kid,
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and I guess there are some parts
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that aren't
exactly kid friendly,
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but somehow I managed to get
a copy as a kid and I read it,
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[eastern inspired music]
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and of course, the
stories were so fabulous.
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They peaked my imagination,
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which is appropriate because
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that was the
original point of the book.
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It was supposed
to be irresistible,
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it was supposed to
fire up your imagination,
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and it was
originally designed that way
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to save the life
of a young queen.
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The story goes that
the Persian king Shahryar
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a fictitious king,
discovered that his wife
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had been unfaithful,
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so he had her executed.
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Then in order to keep that from
ever happening to him again,
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he decided to marry a new
girl every single day and then
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have her behead in the morning.
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Well, eventually the
court officer in charge
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of finding all these women
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started running
out of candidates,
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and that's when the
officer's own daughter Shahrazad
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volunteered to marry the king,
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and she was determined
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she would not be
executed in the morning.
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So it turns out that Shahrazad
was a brilliant historian
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who spent a lot of
time reading stories
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from ancient cultures.
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So what she did was tell
the king a fascinating story
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in the evening, but
she would never finish it.
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And she promised the
ending tomorrow night,
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and she was such a good
storyteller that of course,
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the king spared her life
over and over and over and over,
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just so he could
hear the end of the story.
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That supposedly
turned into this book,
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1,001 Nights,
the Arabian Knights.
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It's a collection of
stories from all kinds
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of ancient cultures,
the Egyptians, the Persians,
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the Babylonians, and so on.
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And over the years,
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the collection has
grown to include stories like
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Sinbad the Sailor,
Alibaba, and the 40 Thieves,
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and of course,
Aladdin in his Magical Lamp.
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What we have here is a book
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that comes from
the Golden Age of Islam
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when the Middle East
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became the world's
premier center for learning.
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And Western Europe at
that time, unfortunately,
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was wallowing around
in the woeful ignorance
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of the dark ages.
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And let me tell you,
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the Golden Age of Islam
really was a Golden Age.
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While European surfs
were working the fields
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for their medieval overlords
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and the state of
learning here in the West
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was all but nonexistent.
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The Middle East was flourishing,
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and the Arabic speaking
world produced some of the most
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fantastic
scholastic achievements.
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And they also
produced something else
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that I find really fascinating.
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Let me read you a little
description from a history book
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that was penned about oh,
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a hundred years
ago, back in 1922,
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and it's about
the city of Baghdad.
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During the Abbasid Caliphate.
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It was a dynasty that
lasted from about 750 AD
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when the Abbasids
overthrew the previous Caliphate
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to about the middle
of the 13th century.
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And I just wanna read you
this one description of a palace
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that was built by
one of the caliphs
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who started
ruling in the year 908.
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Here's what it says.
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"Among the most famous
buildings erected by Muktadir
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was the Palace of the Tree,
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so-called from the
tree made of silver
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weighing 500,000
dirhams or about 50,000 ounces,
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which stood in the
middle of its palace,
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surrounded by a great circular
tank filled with clear water.
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The tree had 18 branches every
branch having numerous twigs
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on which sat various kinds
of mechanical birds in gold
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and silver,
both large and small.
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Most of the branches of
the tree were of silver,
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but some were of gold,
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and they spread into the air
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carrying leaves
of diverse colors.
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The leaves
moving is the wind blew,
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while the birds
through a concealed mechanism
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piped and sang."
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Now the question that
comes to my mind is this,
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Why a mechanical silver tree?
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Why was that in the
middle of the palace?
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What exactly did it represent?
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And why did everybody find
it so completely fascinating?
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Well, to answer that,
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let me take you to another
magnificent structure that just
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about everybody knows about.
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One that was built by one of
the Muslim Mughal who ruled in
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the north of India.
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[Indian inspired music]
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The Taj Mahal is easily
one of the most recognizable
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buildings on the planet,
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and I'm guessing that some
of you have probably been there.
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It was built in
the 17th century,
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so really after
the Muslim Golden Age,
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and it's a
product of personal grief.
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The story goes at the
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
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lost his favorite wife,
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Mumtaz Mahal while
she was giving birth
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to their 14th child.
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He was so overcome with
grief that he disappeared
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into his
chambers for eight days.
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And when he finally reemerged,
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they say he was
stooped over like an old man,
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and his hair had
started to turn white.
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The Taj Mahal was
commissioned as a tomb
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for his beloved bride.
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And I've got to
say, it's easily one
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of the most stunning
buildings I've ever seen.
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I mean, most of
the time tourists,
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attractions are a real letdown
when you finally lay eyes on
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them, but not the Taj.
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In fact, I don't think
I've ever actually seen a photo
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that does this place justice.
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It's made out of white marble
inlaid with precious stones
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and calligraphy
done in black marble.
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And the calligraphy,
frankly is astonishing.
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If you run your fingers over it,
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you will never feel the seam
where the white marble meets
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the black marble.
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And what they did was widen
the calligraphy as it goes up
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the column to account for
perspective so that when you
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stand at the base of the column,
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the writing looks perfectly
parallel all the way up.
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It's absolutely breathtaking,
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and if you ever
get a chance to go,
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this is one place
you should go see.
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It's worth the airfare,
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but it's not
the famous mausoleum
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that really peaks
my interest there.
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It's the garden in
front of the mausoleum.
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Most of you have seen
this garden in pictures.
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It has waterways that
reflect the Taj Mahal,
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which means you can get really
incredible photos if you take
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them from the
other side of the garden.
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The design of the garden
predates the 17th century
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by thousands of years
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The Mughal emperors borrowed it
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from the ancient
Persians who borrowed it
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from the ancient
Mesopotamians before them,
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which makes this one of
the oldest landscape designs
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anywhere on the planet.
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Now they called
it a walled garden
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because obviously it's a garden
that has a wall around it.
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In the middle of the
garden you have a fountain,
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and then you have four canals
filled with water that run
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from that fountain to
the edges of the garden,
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kind of like they're
running to the four points
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of the compass.
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And here's what's so
significant about it,
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apart from the fact that, well,
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the garden's pretty easy on
the eyes, it's highly symbolic.
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The fountain in the
middle of the garden
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is sometimes called,
the fountain of life,
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and you have four rivers
that run from that fountain
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to the edges of the garden.
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It matches the description
of Eden that you find
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in the Book of Genesis.
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I mean, just just
listen to the Genesis account.
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It says this,
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The Lord God planted a
garden eastward in Eden,
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and there he put the
man whom he had formed.
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And out of the ground the
Lord God made every tree grow
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that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food.
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The tree of life was also
in the midst of the garden.
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So it's not a fountain of life,
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it's a tree of life.
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And the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
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Now, a river went out of
Eden to water the garden,
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and from there it parted
and became four riverheads.
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Now, that is not an accident,
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but right now I've
got to take a break.
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So don't you go away
because I'm about to unpack this
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mysterious garden in India.
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Well, just a little bit more.
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- [Announcer] Dragons,
beasts, cryptic statues.
00:08:27.34\00:08:32.24
Bible prophecy can be
incredibly vivid and confusing.
00:08:32.24\00:08:36.24
If you've ever read Daniel
a Revelation and come away
00:08:36.24\00:08:39.25
scratching your
head, you're not alone.
00:08:39.25\00:08:41.58
Our free focus on prophecy
guides are designed to help you
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unlock the mysteries of
the Bible and deepen your
00:08:45.55\00:08:48.06
understanding of God's
plan for you and our world.
00:08:48.06\00:08:51.29
Study online or request
them by mail and start bringing
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prophecy into focus, today.
00:08:54.50\00:08:56.63
- The Taj Mahal has
been called a teardrop
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on the cheek of
time because it's one
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of the most heart
rending love stories ever told.
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And here's what's really
fascinating about the Taj Mahal.
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The garden in front of it
is known as a walled garden.
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But of course, as
we've already said,
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the design was
borrowed from the Persians.
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And the word they used for
a walled garden was paridaiza,
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which is where we
get the word paradise.
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I mean, literally they
called this a paradise garden
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as and as we saw a moment ago,
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it resembles the Garden of Eden.
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That is not an accident.
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What you have at the Taj Mahal
is a beloved bride who died,
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and she's just
outside the garden,
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symbolizing this
hope that one day she will
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return to paradise with
her husband, the prince.
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And that is the
story of the Bible.
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God's people are
known as his bride
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and they're
living under a curse.
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The wages of sin is death,
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and you and I no
longer live in paradise,
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but the rest of the Bible
describes the love of a great
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prince and has planned to redeem
us from death and bring us
00:10:01.56\00:10:04.73
back as the bride of Christ.
00:10:04.73\00:10:07.40
So the story of the Taj Mahal
turns out to be the story of
00:10:07.40\00:10:11.27
the entire human race.
00:10:11.27\00:10:14.38
So now I want to talk about
the concept of paradise itself
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because the human race seems
to have this collective memory
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of a better time
and a better place,
00:10:22.15\00:10:25.49
even though you and I have
been taught that we climb the
00:10:25.49\00:10:27.89
evolutionary ladder
over millions of years,
00:10:27.89\00:10:30.43
and our plight today is
better than it was in the past,
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that tooth and claw existence
of the prehistoric world.
00:10:34.03\00:10:37.73
Well, in spite of all of that,
00:10:37.73\00:10:39.40
we still sense that somehow
we lost something once we all
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kind of know that at
some point in the distant past
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life was better than it is now.
00:10:46.61\00:10:49.04
And and we somehow
realize we need to get back
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to where we were in
the very distant past
00:10:51.81\00:10:54.22
if we're ever gonna
feel complete or be happy.
00:10:54.22\00:10:57.15
And this is such
a strong impression
00:10:58.39\00:11:00.32
that over the last
few thousand years,
00:11:00.32\00:11:01.92
we have spent untold
amounts of money, time,
00:11:01.92\00:11:05.43
and energy trying to rebuild
00:11:05.43\00:11:07.76
what we lost in
the distant past.
00:11:07.76\00:11:10.13
And what we do is
construct artificial paradises.
00:11:10.13\00:11:14.94
Now, I'm almost hesitant
to do this because, well,
00:11:14.94\00:11:18.01
I'm about to quote Aldous
Huxley describing one of his
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hallucinogenic experiments,
00:11:21.04\00:11:23.41
but he does say something
very interesting at one point
00:11:23.41\00:11:26.78
as he's comparing the natural
world to the artificial world
00:11:26.78\00:11:30.89
that human beings have built.
00:11:30.89\00:11:32.42
He writes this,
00:11:32.42\00:11:33.99
"We walked out into the street,
00:11:33.99\00:11:35.69
A large, pale blue automobile
was standing at the curb.
00:11:35.69\00:11:40.00
At the site of it,
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I was suddenly
overcome by enormous merriment.
00:11:41.23\00:11:44.23
What complacency,
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what an absurd
self-satisfaction beamed
00:11:45.50\00:11:48.54
from those bulging
surfaces of glossiest enamel!
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Man had created the
thing in his own image."
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Now in Huxley's account,
00:11:55.74\00:11:57.81
he found the
whole thing ridiculous
00:11:57.81\00:11:59.15
to the point of laughter.
00:11:59.15\00:12:00.75
And of course,
00:12:00.75\00:12:01.98
that's because he was
stoned out of his gourd.
00:12:01.98\00:12:03.92
So we need to take what he
said with a huge grain of salt.
00:12:03.92\00:12:07.82
But you will notice
00:12:07.82\00:12:09.42
that his observation's
not entirely wrong.
00:12:09.42\00:12:12.53
While the human race was
made in the image of God.
00:12:12.53\00:12:15.30
A lot of what exists on
the planet today was made
00:12:15.30\00:12:17.77
in the image of us, of human
beings because we designed it.
00:12:17.77\00:12:21.54
We built it.
00:12:21.54\00:12:22.94
For thousands of years,
00:12:22.94\00:12:24.41
we have been building solutions
to the problem described in
00:12:24.41\00:12:27.11
the Book of Genesis.
00:12:27.11\00:12:28.94
We've chosen to go our own way,
00:12:28.94\00:12:31.35
and we have been removed from
the paradise where there was
00:12:31.35\00:12:34.25
no pain or suffering.
00:12:34.25\00:12:36.62
So what we've done since
then is try to rebuild paradise
00:12:36.62\00:12:40.19
one little bit at a
time by inventing solutions
00:12:40.19\00:12:43.22
to the hard reality of living.
00:12:43.22\00:12:46.29
We've spent
thousands of years building
00:12:46.29\00:12:48.43
an artificial paradise.
00:12:48.43\00:12:50.40
And while life is certainly
more convenient today than it
00:12:50.40\00:12:53.70
was even a hundred years ago,
00:12:53.70\00:12:55.77
I think we'd all have to admit
that we've hardly constructed
00:12:55.77\00:12:58.27
what you could
honestly refer to as paradise.
00:12:58.27\00:13:02.08
Let's go back to the
beginning of recorded history
00:13:02.08\00:13:04.61
for just a moment.
00:13:04.61\00:13:06.08
And let me show you the
way that the book of Genesis
00:13:06.08\00:13:08.58
describes the situation.
00:13:08.58\00:13:10.22
This takes place
right after the famous story
00:13:10.22\00:13:13.69
of Cain and Abel
00:13:13.69\00:13:15.09
where Cain murders his
brother in a fit of jealousy,
00:13:15.09\00:13:17.99
and he commits the
first recorded homicide.
00:13:17.99\00:13:21.23
It says,
00:13:21.23\00:13:22.53
"Then Cain went out
from the presence of the Lord
00:13:22.53\00:13:24.93
and dwelled in the land
of Nod in the east of Eden.
00:13:24.93\00:13:28.34
And Cain knew his wife, and
she conceived and bore Enoch,
00:13:28.34\00:13:31.77
and he built a city and called
the name of the city after
00:13:31.77\00:13:35.21
the name of his son, Enoch."
00:13:35.21\00:13:37.88
This is the earliest
record we have of urbanization.
00:13:37.88\00:13:42.18
And what's interesting about
this is the fact that it's not
00:13:42.18\00:13:44.89
presented in a positive light.
00:13:44.89\00:13:46.62
Cain was living near the gates
of Eden where the presence of
00:13:46.62\00:13:50.13
God could still be detected.
00:13:50.13\00:13:52.39
But after committing
this unspeakable crime,
00:13:52.39\00:13:54.73
he was forced to leave.
00:13:54.73\00:13:55.76
He had to go somewhere else.
00:13:55.76\00:13:58.40
The rest of the family
stayed in the vicinity of Eden
00:13:58.40\00:14:01.70
where they could
see the two cherubim
00:14:01.70\00:14:03.37
and the brilliant flashing
00:14:03.37\00:14:04.57
presence that dwell
between those cherubim.
00:14:04.57\00:14:07.18
So now the human
race was divided up
00:14:08.31\00:14:09.68
into two basic categories.
00:14:09.68\00:14:11.85
On the one hand,
00:14:11.85\00:14:13.08
you had those who
tried to stay close
00:14:13.08\00:14:14.25
to the presence of the Lord
00:14:14.25\00:14:15.75
because well, they knew
based on God's prediction,
00:14:15.75\00:14:18.39
a Messiah would eventually come
00:14:18.39\00:14:21.02
and restore them to paradise.
00:14:21.02\00:14:23.36
They were clinging to
the hope of deliverance.
00:14:23.36\00:14:25.66
But then on the other hand,
00:14:25.66\00:14:27.00
you had a branch
of the human race
00:14:27.00\00:14:28.70
that struck out on its own
00:14:28.70\00:14:30.30
completely away
from the presence of God.
00:14:30.30\00:14:32.63
And one of the first things
they did, they built a city.
00:14:32.63\00:14:37.21
Now, back in the day,
00:14:37.21\00:14:38.67
those cities usually had
walls around them just like they
00:14:38.67\00:14:41.31
did until fairly recent history.
00:14:41.31\00:14:43.11
And what you had
inside that wall was something
00:14:43.11\00:14:46.18
of an artificial paradise,
a place of relative safety,
00:14:46.18\00:14:50.25
because living in a city
was really, really convenient,
00:14:50.25\00:14:53.62
and it still is to this day.
00:14:53.62\00:14:55.79
It turns out when you get
enough people together in one
00:14:55.79\00:14:58.23
single center, you have
more of just about everything.
00:14:58.23\00:15:01.16
You have more
goods and services,
00:15:01.16\00:15:02.63
bigger and better
hospitals, public transit,
00:15:02.63\00:15:05.37
you have all sorts
of stuff that makes life
00:15:05.37\00:15:07.70
just a little more convenient.
00:15:07.70\00:15:10.41
But at the end of the day,
00:15:10.41\00:15:12.17
it is still an
artificial paradise.
00:15:12.17\00:15:14.14
And what usually
happens is that we get
00:15:14.14\00:15:16.14
what we call big city problems
00:15:16.14\00:15:19.01
because in addition
to all the convenience,
00:15:19.01\00:15:21.82
you also get more violence,
more vandalism, more pollution,
00:15:21.82\00:15:26.32
and more potential for
devastation when disaster
00:15:26.32\00:15:30.29
strikes. And so you have
to weigh all the convenience
00:15:30.29\00:15:32.29
against the problems that
inevitably go with cities.
00:15:32.29\00:15:35.33
And while those problems
existed almost anywhere you go
00:15:35.33\00:15:38.83
in history and
still do to this day.
00:15:38.83\00:15:41.37
They're always more
prominent and more concentrated
00:15:41.37\00:15:44.94
wherever you put an
awful lot of people together.
00:15:44.94\00:15:48.34
And that's because artificial
paradise does not solve the
00:15:48.34\00:15:52.38
biggest problem we have,
00:15:52.38\00:15:54.08
and that's the broken
condition of our human hearts.
00:15:54.08\00:15:57.19
What you get when
you bring a whole bunch
00:15:57.19\00:15:59.25
of fallen people together
00:15:59.25\00:16:00.72
is a bigger
concentration of the very thing
00:16:00.72\00:16:02.69
that plagues us the
most, our tragic imperfections,
00:16:02.69\00:16:06.16
our selfishness.
00:16:06.16\00:16:07.83
So no matter how you
plan to make life easier,
00:16:07.83\00:16:10.93
no matter how
spectacular your new city,
00:16:10.93\00:16:13.37
there's still a
serpent in the garden.
00:16:13.37\00:16:16.04
But now he has a
bigger field to play in
00:16:16.04\00:16:17.87
because he followed
us from the gates of Eden
00:16:17.87\00:16:20.14
into all those
artificial paradises.
00:16:20.14\00:16:22.78
And our hearts are just as
corrupt as they were before,
00:16:22.78\00:16:25.48
if not worse.
00:16:25.48\00:16:27.48
This is a story that plays
out again and again and again.
00:16:27.48\00:16:30.79
Throughout the
pages of the Bible.
00:16:30.79\00:16:32.72
Abraham and his nephew
Lot were traveling together,
00:16:32.72\00:16:35.29
and at one point,
00:16:35.29\00:16:36.79
they decided to pitch their
camps in two separate places.
00:16:36.79\00:16:39.76
It turns out the land that
they were on was too small to
00:16:39.76\00:16:42.96
support both families.
00:16:42.96\00:16:44.33
So Abraham gave Lot
his pick of the land.
00:16:44.33\00:16:47.34
"Look," he said,
00:16:47.34\00:16:48.54
"Look, if we're
gonna still be friends,
00:16:48.54\00:16:49.94
we need to solve
this crowding problem.
00:16:49.94\00:16:52.01
So you go ahead and pick first,
00:16:52.01\00:16:53.34
and then I'll go the other way."
00:16:53.34\00:16:55.31
Well, here's what happened.
00:16:55.31\00:16:57.15
According to the Bible, it says,
00:16:57.15\00:16:58.78
And Lot lifted his eyes and
saw all the plain of Jordan,
00:16:58.78\00:17:03.32
that it was well
watered everywhere,
00:17:03.32\00:17:05.29
like the garden of the Lord,
00:17:05.29\00:17:06.99
like the land of Egypt
as you go towards Zoar.
00:17:06.99\00:17:09.86
So Lot is eyeballing the
most convenient place to live.
00:17:09.86\00:17:14.60
Then Lot chose for
himself all the plain of Jordan
00:17:14.60\00:17:17.50
and Lot journeyed east.
00:17:17.50\00:17:18.93
And they
separated from each other.
00:17:18.93\00:17:21.00
Now, so far it seems
like a reasonable proposition,
00:17:21.00\00:17:23.97
but there is more to the story
00:17:23.97\00:17:25.44
because it wasn't just
the nicely irrigated land
00:17:25.44\00:17:28.78
that was attractive to Lot.
00:17:28.78\00:17:30.78
It says Abram dwelt
in the land of Canaan
00:17:30.78\00:17:34.18
and Lot in the
cities of the plain
00:17:34.18\00:17:36.32
and pitched his tent
even as far as Sodom.
00:17:36.32\00:17:38.99
But the men of Sodom were
exceedingly wicked and sinful
00:17:38.99\00:17:42.52
against the Lord.
00:17:42.52\00:17:44.39
So where does Lot go?
00:17:44.39\00:17:46.29
To the city, to an
artificial paradise.
00:17:46.29\00:17:48.86
Because it's more convenient.
00:17:48.86\00:17:50.93
And of course,
00:17:50.93\00:17:52.37
we all know that the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
00:17:52.37\00:17:54.14
were legendary
for their wickedness.
00:17:54.14\00:17:56.67
I mean, yeah, they
had all the conveniences
00:17:56.67\00:17:58.77
that come from living in
a larger population center,
00:17:58.77\00:18:01.58
but that also meant they
had a higher concentration
00:18:01.58\00:18:04.55
of human depravity.
00:18:04.55\00:18:06.08
Which means that more people
00:18:06.08\00:18:07.78
were feeding off of
each other's wickedness.
00:18:07.78\00:18:10.09
Now, I don't want
you to think I'm saying
00:18:11.25\00:18:12.65
that all city dwellers are evil,
00:18:12.65\00:18:14.26
because I really
don't think that,
00:18:14.26\00:18:15.72
and to be quite honest,
00:18:15.72\00:18:17.26
I kind of enjoy the conveniences
00:18:17.26\00:18:18.83
of living in
larger population centers.
00:18:18.83\00:18:21.56
But there is
something in this story that you
00:18:21.56\00:18:23.60
and I need to pay attention to.
00:18:23.60\00:18:25.57
And I'll be right back after
this to tell you what that is.
00:18:25.57\00:18:28.67
[light music]
00:18:31.04\00:18:32.31
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00:18:32.31\00:18:34.34
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- Let's go back to
Aldous Huxley for just a moment
00:19:02.04\00:19:04.77
because in that same passage
I read you before the break,
00:19:04.77\00:19:07.31
the one where he was looking
at the world while he was
00:19:07.31\00:19:09.74
stoned and
thought it was ridiculous,
00:19:09.74\00:19:11.41
we'd made the
world in our own image.
00:19:11.41\00:19:13.58
Well, he says something else
00:19:13.58\00:19:15.28
that I find
really, really fascinating.
00:19:15.28\00:19:20.02
Now, again, let me give
you a huge disclaimer here
00:19:20.02\00:19:22.32
because this is
the second episode
00:19:22.32\00:19:24.13
in which I've made
reference to psychedelic drugs.
00:19:24.13\00:19:26.49
And some of you
might be wondering,
00:19:26.49\00:19:28.16
why does Shawn think
that's so fascinating?
00:19:28.16\00:19:30.30
Well, it's because I'm convinced
00:19:30.30\00:19:32.20
that people who use these
things are looking for something
00:19:32.20\00:19:35.24
the drug's never
actually going to give them.
00:19:35.24\00:19:37.74
They're playing around
00:19:37.74\00:19:39.01
with another type
of artificial paradise.
00:19:39.01\00:19:41.38
It's a way to escape the
pain and suffering of real life
00:19:41.38\00:19:44.05
and pretend for a few hours
00:19:44.05\00:19:45.71
that you don't
actually live in this place.
00:19:45.71\00:19:48.35
And of course, if you're a
disciple of the Bible like I am,
00:19:48.35\00:19:51.59
you've got to take the
worlds of Aldous Huxley
00:19:51.59\00:19:54.59
with a massive,
massive grain of salt
00:19:54.59\00:19:57.29
because he was playing around
with hallucinogenic drugs.
00:19:57.29\00:20:00.83
And I will never, ever be
willing to hang my assessment
00:20:00.83\00:20:04.90
of reality on the
words of someone who speaks
00:20:04.90\00:20:07.17
from a chemically
compromised perspective.
00:20:07.17\00:20:10.37
A lot of what he says
is just sheer nonsense
00:20:10.37\00:20:12.87
as you might expect.
00:20:12.87\00:20:13.81
But every once in a while,
00:20:13.81\00:20:16.08
he throws out an interesting
thought that makes me wonder
00:20:16.08\00:20:18.35
what he was really
looking for in life.
00:20:18.35\00:20:20.48
I mean, listen to this.
00:20:20.48\00:20:21.82
He says, "That humanity at large
00:20:21.82\00:20:24.55
will ever be able to dispense
00:20:24.55\00:20:26.05
with artificial
paradises seems very unlikely.
00:20:26.05\00:20:29.72
Most men and women
lead lives at the worst,
00:20:29.72\00:20:31.86
so painful and at the
best, so monotonous, poor
00:20:31.86\00:20:34.83
and limited, that
the urge to escape,
00:20:34.83\00:20:37.10
the longing to
transcend themselves,
00:20:37.10\00:20:39.67
if only for a few
moments is and has always been
00:20:39.67\00:20:43.14
one of the principle
appetites of the soul.
00:20:43.14\00:20:46.31
Art and religion,
carnivals and saturnalia,
00:20:46.31\00:20:48.91
dancing and
listening to oratory,
00:20:48.91\00:20:51.21
all these have served
an H.G. Well's phrase,
00:20:51.21\00:20:54.18
as Doors in the Wall.
00:20:54.18\00:20:56.42
And for private,
for everyday use,
00:20:56.42\00:20:58.75
there have always
been chemical intoxicants."
00:20:58.75\00:21:03.09
What what does he
mean by doors in the wall?
00:21:03.09\00:21:05.79
Well, what Huxley believed
00:21:05.79\00:21:07.40
was that the brain
filters out most of
00:21:07.40\00:21:09.60
the information that
comes in through our senses.
00:21:09.60\00:21:11.60
It, it puts up a safety wall.
00:21:11.60\00:21:13.30
And well, he's
essentially correct.
00:21:13.30\00:21:15.27
If your brain didn't do that,
00:21:15.27\00:21:17.04
you'd go crazy trying to assess
the impossible flow of data
00:21:17.04\00:21:21.11
that comes at you every
single moment of the day.
00:21:21.11\00:21:24.48
So your brain makes
choices about what's important
00:21:24.48\00:21:28.35
and it sloughs
off the information
00:21:28.35\00:21:30.59
you didn't really need.
00:21:30.59\00:21:32.35
So in that regard,
Huxley was correct.
00:21:32.35\00:21:34.96
There is a bit of a wall.
00:21:34.96\00:21:36.79
But from his perspective,
00:21:36.79\00:21:38.39
which was really
an occult perspective,
00:21:38.39\00:21:41.56
the filters in his mind were
cutting him off from access to
00:21:41.56\00:21:44.10
something he called
quote the mind at large.
00:21:44.10\00:21:47.70
Now, what he meant by that
00:21:47.70\00:21:49.47
was the great
cosmic consciousness
00:21:49.47\00:21:51.27
that you find in a
lot of Eastern religions.
00:21:51.27\00:21:54.24
You also find
it in the teachings
00:21:54.24\00:21:55.68
of the ancient
gnostics who believed
00:21:55.68\00:21:57.91
that our
physical bodies were traps
00:21:57.91\00:22:00.28
that prevented us from ascending
00:22:00.28\00:22:01.78
to the great non-material
oneness of the universe.
00:22:01.78\00:22:05.62
So Huxley is
looking through doors
00:22:05.62\00:22:07.79
through this physical wall
00:22:07.79\00:22:09.32
so that he can become
part of that great cosmic mind
00:22:09.32\00:22:12.23
in the sky.
00:22:12.23\00:22:13.66
And its perspective
that is radically at odds
00:22:13.66\00:22:16.16
with the teachings of the Bible.
00:22:16.16\00:22:18.27
But what you do find here
is a pretty good description of
00:22:18.27\00:22:20.97
what motivates us
as fallen human beings.
00:22:20.97\00:22:24.74
The world we live in
reminds us on a daily basis
00:22:24.74\00:22:28.44
something certainly is wrong.
00:22:28.44\00:22:31.25
And so we build all
these artificial paradises,
00:22:31.25\00:22:33.58
little gimmicks to try
and alleviate our pain.
00:22:33.58\00:22:36.82
We gather in the artificial
gardens of urbanization
00:22:36.82\00:22:39.79
trying to
mitigate the inconvenience
00:22:39.79\00:22:42.12
of living in a
broken and painful world.
00:22:42.12\00:22:45.13
And sometimes when that proves
to be a bigger concentration
00:22:45.13\00:22:48.66
of suffering,
00:22:48.66\00:22:50.20
we look for other ways
to get back to the garden.
00:22:50.20\00:22:52.77
And some people use chemical
substances to create yet
00:22:52.77\00:22:55.80
another artificial paradise,
00:22:55.80\00:22:58.21
a sense of euphoria
trying to assure themselves
00:22:58.21\00:23:01.08
that the pain they
feel in life isn't real.
00:23:01.08\00:23:05.28
But more than 50
years after the drug culture
00:23:05.28\00:23:08.08
swept across North America,
00:23:08.08\00:23:09.52
we can now see
that it really was
00:23:09.52\00:23:11.19
just more artificial paradise.
00:23:11.19\00:23:13.66
It might be
beautiful, seeing that way
00:23:13.66\00:23:15.29
for a couple of hours,
00:23:15.29\00:23:16.86
but in the end, it's
a horrible substitute.
00:23:16.86\00:23:19.16
Another artificial
tree with mechanical birds
00:23:19.16\00:23:22.16
pretending to be the real thing.
00:23:22.16\00:23:25.07
Go to any large urban
center and you'll find yourself
00:23:25.07\00:23:27.54
stepping over people
on the sidewalk who tried
00:23:27.54\00:23:29.97
to go back to
Eden the wrong way.
00:23:29.97\00:23:32.87
Some people looked for liberty
in the sexual revolution,
00:23:32.87\00:23:35.68
convinced that the moral
boundaries we used to honor in
00:23:35.68\00:23:38.38
society were
actually making them unhappy.
00:23:38.38\00:23:41.42
And the end result of that
more misery, more broken people,
00:23:41.42\00:23:46.42
more broken homes,
00:23:47.16\00:23:48.36
because the real problem
00:23:48.36\00:23:49.86
is not the
institutions that we live with.
00:23:49.86\00:23:52.23
The real problem in this
world isn't the government
00:23:52.23\00:23:54.63
or the education
system or the lack
00:23:54.63\00:23:56.40
of services in your city.
00:23:56.40\00:23:58.20
The real underlying
problem is right here
00:23:58.20\00:24:00.77
in the human heart.
00:24:00.77\00:24:02.24
You and I are broken,
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and not one of
our utopian projects
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has ever managed to fix that
00:24:06.68\00:24:08.41
because we're all
looking in the wrong direction.
00:24:08.41\00:24:10.65
We're looking to places
where there are no answers.
00:24:10.65\00:24:14.68
You know, it's not an accident
00:24:14.68\00:24:16.18
that our history books are
full of these horror stories
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that come from all
these utopian settlements
00:24:18.29\00:24:20.96
or communes
where people said, Man,
00:24:20.96\00:24:23.09
we are gonna finally
create a manmade paradise.
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From Waco, Texas
to Jonestown Guyana,
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to some of the utopian states
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that popped up in
Europe after the Reformation.
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All of them, all of
them ended in disaster.
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I'll be right back after this.
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[somber music]
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- [Announcer] Life
can throw a lot at us.
00:24:42.64\00:24:45.05
Sometimes we don't
have all the answers,
00:24:45.05\00:24:48.45
but that's where
the Bible comes in.
00:24:48.45\00:24:50.49
It's our guide to a
more fulfilling life.
00:24:50.49\00:24:53.09
Here at The Voice of Prophecy,
00:24:53.99\00:24:55.49
we've created the
Discover Bible Guides
00:24:55.49\00:24:57.66
to be your guide to the Bible.
00:24:57.66\00:24:59.26
They're designed to
be simple, easy to use,
00:24:59.26\00:25:01.73
and provide answers to many
of life's toughest questions,
00:25:01.73\00:25:04.77
and they're absolutely free.
00:25:04.77\00:25:06.77
So jump online
now or give us a call
00:25:06.77\00:25:09.10
and start your
journey of discovery.
00:25:09.10\00:25:11.94
- Most of us still have this
collective sense that the world
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is not supposed to be
the way it is right now.
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And most of us seem to
remember a time way back when,
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when things were a lot better.
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And honestly,
that's because they were.
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You and I are remembering
something quite real,
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and we remember it because
the Bible says God has put
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eternity in our hearts.
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I mean, that's what it says
in Ecclesiastes three, verse 11.
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And as you and I are busy trying
to sew fig leaves together
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to cover up our moral nakedness,
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God is busy solving the problem,
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the only way it can be solved.
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He became one of us.
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The Son of God
became the Son of man,
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and he now stands at the head
of a new human race that will
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once again walk into
the garden of paradise.
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Let me just read to you from
my absolute favorite passage
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of the Bible.
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This comes from
Revelation chapter 21.
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It says, "Now I saw a
new heaven and a new earth
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for the first heaven,
00:26:08.86\00:26:10.07
and the first
earth had passed away.
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Also, there was no more sea.
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Then I, John saw the holy city,
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New Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God,
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prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband,
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and heard a loud voice
from heaven saying, "Behold,
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the tabernacle
of God is with men,
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and he will dwell with them
and they shall be His people.
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God himself will be
with them and be their God.
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And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes.
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And there shall be no more
death or sorrow, nor crying.
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There shall be no more pain,
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for the former
things have passed away."
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You know, maybe it's
time to take another look
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at this very ancient book
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because it's quite possible that
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what you're
actually looking for in life
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is found right here.
00:26:56.88\00:26:59.38
You and I, we both do it.
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We run through life
building little paradises,
00:27:02.12\00:27:04.85
little
conveniences that we think
00:27:04.85\00:27:06.39
will take the
ultimate pain of living away.
00:27:06.39\00:27:08.99
And it's true.
00:27:08.99\00:27:10.16
We can make life a
little more comfortable.
00:27:10.16\00:27:11.76
We can alleviate
some of the problem,
00:27:11.76\00:27:14.30
but it never seems to
solve the deepest problems
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the human race has.
00:27:16.63\00:27:18.13
This book says It
knows what the problem is.
00:27:18.13\00:27:20.94
It knows where you can
find completeness and happiness.
00:27:20.94\00:27:23.97
And if it's been a while since
you've picked up and read it,
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I mean, I know you've
heard people critique the book.
00:27:26.51\00:27:29.08
You've heard people say it's
a collection of fairy tales,
00:27:29.08\00:27:31.81
but maybe read it for yourself.
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Look at what it,
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don't let other people
tell you what's in this book.
00:27:36.69\00:27:38.15
Read it for yourself.
00:27:38.15\00:27:39.79
It's entirely possible
00:27:39.79\00:27:41.39
because you have
eternity in your heart
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that you're going to find
00:27:43.69\00:27:44.89
what you're
looking for right here.
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Thanks for
joining me again today.
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I'm Shawn Boonstra, and
this has been Authentic.
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[rhythmic music]
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