Thaddeus Kozinski recently published one of his most popular essays: “Seeking ‘well-being’ instead of God as our goal will lead to hell.” He asserts that “The totalitarians ruling us are satanists, whether officially or not, and they want to abuse us to such an extent that we no longer ask questions in the mode of salvation…There are only two paths in life, the one that leads to heaven and the one that leads to hell. And there are only two modes of living, salvation and well-being.”
In the interview, Kozinski discusses the “satanic” Olympics opening and responds to Laurent Guyénot’s dismissal of “satanic panic” on last week’s show.
Excerpt:
“It's not as if the pursuit of wellbeing is evil in itself. I mean, it's something we do, and we're supposed to. We're supposed to desire goods—worldly goods, emotional goods, earthly goods. But the problem here—and this is sort of Plato's insight— we have a deep existential and spiritual desire for something more than just feeling good or being happy in the contemporary sense. We have a longing for something that transcends all that.
“And the different religions, especially the monotheistic religions, tell us what this is and how to get there. And sometimes it's at odds with the pursuit of immanent, worldly, therapeutic kind of wellbeing. And when it's at odds, that's when this choice comes of how we should live. And sometimes we have to put wellbeing second and put something else first. And it's kind of mysterious what this is, what we're searching for, but we call it, God, salvation, and heaven and the spiritual life and the cross in Christianity.
“And I think that the main theme of the article has to do with truth. Truth is very important. So how does one value the truth of things? And most people would say, “yeah, I want to know the truth. I'm interested in the truth.” Well, here's the thing. Are you interested in the truth no matter what? Is it first? Is it your priority at all times? Are you willing to even die for it, sacrifice for it? And as I argue in the essay, it seems like our culture is sort of very systematically, deliberately oriented to cultivate in the citizens of the world, in the West especially, the tendency to not put truth first—to be willing to sacrifice it to something else.
“And this is really the most damning thing you can do, I argue in the article.”
Thaddeus Kozinski: Is "Well-Being" the Road to Hell?