[January 12, 2023] If you want to hear a philosopher discuss what he sees as some of the biggest lies our young are told today, listen to Dr. Peter Kreeft. On May 14, 2022, Dr. Kreeft gave the commencement address at Franciscan University, where he alerted graduates about 10 lies of contemporary culture. You can find his address at this link (click here, 19:07 minutes).
I like when Dr. Kreeft says he will save them “a little time by summarizing what thousands of other commencement speakers have been telling you for the last generation or two.” He warned them that he would speak about ten uncomfortable things that those speakers say you need; identity, self-esteem, service to the world, creativity, critical thinking, peace, justice, openness, love, and freedom. “These are ten nice, happy-face words, but unlike most commencement speakers, I will not tell you happy lies about them.”
Here are the ten common comfortable lies, according to Dr. Peter Kreeft:
- You can be whatever you want to be. Good cannot be evil, and evil cannot be good. There is a little good in the worst of us and a little bad in the best of us. Hobbits cannot become wizards, only better or worse hobbits. Men cannot become women, only better or badder men. You cannot make yourself immortal. You can’t even make yourself a saint; only God can do that. Nothing can escape from its essential nature.
- The most important person in the whole wide world is you. This was a theme song for a TV show for small children back in the 70s called “The Electric Company.” This is the essence of Satan’s philosophy and the motivation for his rebellion. And, whenever we worship ourselves, we make hell.
- The world needs you; you can save the world. You are the Messiah.
- You need education in creative thinking. You are encouraged to be spiritual but not religious. The Devil is very spiritual, so you can create your world. That old superstition of objective truth is oppressive, and that’s an objective truth.
- You need education in critical thinking. That means not any positive truth but a hostile skepticism towards anything that claims to be true.
- All peace is good. This means that all peace is good in the world. Our only enemies are those who speak of enemies. We must be tolerant of everything except intolerance. When anyone comes calling, even the Devil, we must accompany him and welcome him and open the door and invite him to dialogue. Still, the Devil won’t dialogue with you if you invite St. Michael the Archangel. He is a warrior and, therefore, evil. If all peace is good, then all war is terrible, including the war against greed, lust, and pride, the war against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, and the war against sin (because that assumes there is such a thing as sin) and that is intolerant and must be judged as being judgmental. The only really evil thing is to believe there is a thing called evil. There is no Devil. You have no enemies. Stop fighting and dine with me. Your religion is simply escapism.
- Christianity can be reduced to peace and justice. This slogan summarizes the most popular and successful modern version of the reduction of Christianity to secularism. Christianity is radically different, distinctive, surprising, and controversial, but everyone is for peace and justice. So, if Christianity can be reduced to peace and justice, it becomes uncontroversial. Note the standard coupling of peace and justice; “if you want peace, seek justice.”
- The exaltation of openness and welcoming, and tolerance as the supreme good. The mind is like an open mouth. It will close if eating nourishing food and will be sustained by it. That food is the truth. But if that openness is treated as an end in itself, then your mind will never close but stay open all the time. You will never eat anything, and the flies will enter to deposit their maggots in your soul.
- All you need is love, sweet love. In other words, you don’t need truth, whatever that is. And you don’t need discrimination between truth and lies or between true love and hedonistic false love. All discrimination is evil, especially the discrimination between good and evil.
- The exaltation of freedom as an end rather than a means. If freedom were a means, that would mean that we would have to ask the question, “Freedom for what end?” What is the true end? This is the sweet land of liberty, but liberty for what?
Dr. Kreeft jokingly ended his commencement with the note that he might be arrested for hate speech. And if you, too, oppose these lies, you may also receive hate. Remember that no matter how smoky, stinky, and slimy the darkness is, it cannot endure the light. All lies die. Truth alone remains.
Dr. Kreeft ends with a quote:
“God did not put you in this world to be successful. He put you in this world to be faithful.” – Mother Teresa
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Gen. Satterfield is good at highlighting some of the best thinkers of the subject of culture! We are told lies all the time. Gen. S. has indentified many of them. Keep up the great work you are doing, sir. We love your website.
Loved the list.
I really like this list. I’m not the first to point this out, but note the similarities between Dr. Kreeft and what Gen. Satterfield has written for us. MANY parallels.
Yep, I see them too.
Don’t ya just love this guy? You should.
“Dr. Peter Kreeft | The Most Certain Principles for a Philosopher | Franciscan University” must see video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzjtQRy_mnU
Just a quick note to say thank you to Gen. Satterfield for bringing Dr. Kreeft to our attention and linking to his commencement address. I like it when Dr. K says that he is covering all the lies that other commencement speakers are giving us. That alone made me laugh, along with those graduating. Great job. More articles like this are certainly welcome.
And yes bless General Satterfield for being a man of God and showing us the path to Heaven.
Wow, all I can write is WOW.
ha ha ha, ……… yep, the Beatles, “All you need is love.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJi4iDdxY5M (see it in this YouTube video)
Nailed it Patriot Wife —— and this is just another lie for us to take in and them wonder why our lives have gone so wrong. When you build a life based on secular “fads and promises of fun” then you have built your mental house on a foundation of sand.
“All you need is love.” Wasn’t that a theme song or something.
My favorite here is #6. “All peace is good. This means that all peace is good in the world. Our only enemies are those who speak of enemies. We must be tolerant of everything except intolerance. When anyone comes calling, even the Devil, we must accompany him and welcome him and open the door and invite him to dialogue. ” Dr. Peter Kreeft is to be commended on this thoughts about the lies we are told. Like Gen. Satterfield has noted the lie we tell to young women is “your career is more important than anything you will ever do.” These lies distort our young people and helps create massive mental problems, increased suicides, alcoholism, drug use, etc. The results are terrible and can easily be avoided by simply telling the TRUTH.
Yep, but telling the truth is just too hard and beyond the ability to many.
Right guys and spot on comments today.
Yes, and I do believe that Gen. Satterfield has addressed this problem on a number of occasions. In fact, I do think he writes about lying often and recommends against it, even small lies.
Lying to Yourself: so Easy
https://www.theleadermaker.com/lying-to-yourself-so-easy/
Thank you for the Mother Teresa quote.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/mother-teresa-quotes
Great quote among many from this wonderful, Godly, Christian woman.
I do appreciate this list but more importantly I also get to hear Dr. Kreeft on youtube (I don’t like youtube because of their censorship). Altho I do admit, that because Dr. K. is so straight forward, I’m a bit shocked that youtube didn’t censor him. He is definitely non PC.
How similar these are to the ideas promoted by so many of those who are the real thinkers of the 20th and 21st century! Karl Jung, Jordan Peterson are just two.
Yes, and where we can also find more is right here in this website: https://www.theleadermaker.com. I find the ideas strewn throughout. Maybe we could get an article from this website’s author too …. just a thought. Ideas?
And of course we are all fans and what a great thing to read Gen. Satterfield’s newest book, “55 Rules for a Good Life.” Get your copy NOW or miss out. It is a book full of some great rules of life and if you go by them, not as a tyrant to yourself, but as a mentor to yourself, you will actually gain an appreciation of life and be stronger and more resilient for it. ❤❤❤❤❤ I just loved his book. Five thumbs up.
Yes, great book ,,,,,,,,,, I hope Gen. Satterfield writes another one soonest.