The Language of Creation | with Matthieu Pageau

Matthieu Pageau's book, The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis is now available on Amazon. Matthieu and I discuss the impetus for writing such a book on Biblical symbolism. We look at the basic ideas in the book as well as how these answer the major problems we are faced today in terms of worldview.

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[nikolabanovic]

Never gonna give you up [heaven], never gona let you down [earth], never gonna round and round [time] and desert you [space]

[patrickturner]

Matthieu said once you understand symbolism you can kind of predict what's going to happen in a story. I've noticed that since I've been listening to Johnathan I'm always predicting what's going to happen in books and movies. I didn't know it was related to understanding symbolism. This channel is full of great knowledge.

[animula]

This book deserves so much more recognition, as does this channel. It not only helped me understand my own faith intellectually instead of just intuitively, but it helped me witnessed patterns of sin in my own life that I never would have without this level of understanding. Thank you for helping me realize how I’m destroying myself without noticing it.

[benjaminlquinlan]

This book saved my faith. Godbless it.

[dogismyjudge]

Top 5 Brothers

5. Manning Bros.
4. Wright Bros.
3. Cain & Abel
2. Super Mario Bros
1. Pageau Bros.

[zachknox]

As a Christian who has been trying to contend with the schism between the ancient and modern perspectives, I've felt very hopeless and insignificant, like a small cork bobbing helplessly about on the surface of great waves in an ocean of thought, much too big for me to absorb or comprehend. Though I had seen a glimpse of the ancient way through Jung's thought, I could never fully commit my trust to him as a guide, since I sensed in him a sort of theistic atheism(which I think to a large extent Jordan has inherited) that I felt would somehow compromise the integrity of my own faith.

But now through you two, finally I feel safe exploring both the world of symbology and the world of modern thought, as I can view modern thought and understand it best by looking at it through the lense of ancient thought. It's almost as if I've been walking around my entire life trying to imagine what I look like, having never seen myself in an undistorted reflection, and you two hold up a mirror that I can trust will show me what I truly look like. Thank you so much. I finally understand how the scientific worldview can be nested inside of my religious worldview, not the other way around.

[carolbriwn]

I have a Mona Lisa smile on my face after reading the first 8 chapters. So much going through my mind. Remember others and myself saying "give me space", "I don't feel grounded". Scripture: "In the beginning was the Word". Jesus = Heaven+Earth, Jesus as Symbol, Jesus as Creation (Meaning combined with Matter), Jesus as The Way (heavenly) The Life (earthly) and the Truth

[fragwagon]

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

[sennewam]

Graduated religious studies major. Can confirm it is feminism: Mary Daly's deconstruction of patriarchy was required for a 300 (400?)-level course. It caused me so much confusion that I completely lost faith in myself and others until recently, with help from generous intelligent people like the Pageaus. Because Daly and the transqueer agenda remains so prevalent in modern universities as the dominant narrative advocating for heterogeneity in all aspects of life - especially our new globalized economies - I generally perceive homosexuality to be inherently chaotic and destructive of stable culture and civilization. But without the symbols in Christ, I wouldn't feel comfortable standing up for myself against the postmodern bullies I studied alongside.

[MarkBrown-mlxd]

Jonathan, we REALLY need another podcast of you and your brother! Well, past due!

[PaulVanderKlay]

I look forward to checking it out. A few years ago I began to notice that if I tried hard to read the Bible through what I call the Gen 1 representation (ANE cosmology) so much more of the Bible made so much more sense. What remained was of course the present assumptions about being on a globe rushing through space around the sun. I think at a deep level this split between the worlds causes dissonance and doubt in ordinary believers which the church does little to address. It really struck me when I met a young man who had "converted" to a flat-earther in order to fully inhabit the Biblical story in order to fully hold at bay the destructive desires that had wrecked his life in earlier years. Conversations with that young man really got me thinking. I knew flat earthers in the developing world and they didn't have an agenda, they simply assumed the world was as it appeared to them. None of this made me a flat-earther but it did get me thinking a lot about perception, representation and how we interact with reality. This was what drew me to JBP early on because some of my watchers (in my heard) began to suggest (not voices. :) ) that JBP's work might be helpful in fixing the schism.

Sounds like this book might also be helpful in this area.

[tensevo]

Finding out that religious studies was about power politic, feminism and marxism, makes a lot of sense now. Why I rejected religion thinking it was something it was not, at all.

[ar]

Your brother's decision to use images and models to explain these concepts was incredibly wise. The problem of language and communication is a serious contributing factor to misunderstanding symbolism, religion etc. and often symbols are based on shapes. Biblical narratives with all of the ancient Jewish names can make an important cosmic pattern seem like a Star Wars fan fic because we can't get past the words to understand the meaning.

You should consider using more models like in your video on Moses and the Cosmic Mountain. It was a much easier video to follow. Love the content, keep it up.

[crakhaed]

Crazy watching this in 2021 and seeing them talk about how religion dying out is gonna be replaced by something else that's worse when that's exactly what culminated last year. When Pageau said this is Weimar Germany we're at right now, right on the precipice of disaster looming, and this video came out 3 years ago... chills

[joolz]

I LOVE BOTH OF YOU BROTHERS!
YOU HELP US UNDERSTAND!
Please keep updating!
It is now 2023!
Keep them coming!

[elfin]

As a muslim woman who is interested in different versions of cosmology, I've enjoyed this a lot! Please keep making videos with your brother. I'm sure he has a lot of interesting things to talk about. Peace be upon you all!

[DeonDSilva]

Too late guys I’m going “insane” just listening to this talk. Just ordered the book cant wait for the guaranteed transformation. I’m getting queasy with the implications of what you are saying.

[Lundalf]

Gotta say, that is probably one of the most neat front covers I've seen in my life. It's just so amazingly satisfying to look at..

[arlentolentino]

God, Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau and now Matthieu Pageau bring me back to my faith. Something was missing in my life. Thank you so much, I don't know if you guys are aware of what you are doing in the world! God bless you all

[RogerTheil]

At first glance I thought this was a book on Norse religion. Shows you how universal these symbols are, and yet they don't even teach these things in school. Thanks for posting Jonathan, I'm really excited to get a copy of this book!