Symbolic vs. Literal Interpretation of the Bible

What is the relationship between symbolic meaning and historical/literal interpretation of stories in the Bible? I explore what this mean in the context of Christianity and in relation to the ideas proposed by Jordan Peterson.

[Chris-ijxb]

"There is no reality which is not symbolic. The nature of our existence in the world is symbolic. Events coalesce around centres of meaning, through our Attention and our Memory.
We all experience this constantly, and if one is attentive, what it does is it makes the world a magical place" - Jonathan Pageau

[edwardhall]

Every time I listen to Jonathan, I am so moved, so edified, so encouraged! I'm a new catechumen in the Orthodox Church and I am simply blown away! How exciting that here, now, in my 67th year on earth, I am truly comfortable regarding my Christian beginning and ending, and I can say truthfully, life is good!

[KonnerScottMusic]

As a former hyper-rationalist atheist, I've been trying to get my spiritual mind oriented for the last year or so with Jordan Peterson at the helm of the ship. Your channel definitely seems like the next deep dive for me, as there is an absolutely unfortunate dearth of this kind of content in the mainstream. Thank you for making these videos. They do not go unappreciated.

[patrickturner]

I'd totally go to church if I could find a pastor who talked like this.

[jameswhitman]

My introduction to symbolism was something I noticed about Jesus. He speaks in parables, and the Bible is full of stories, so I concluded that God teaches us through the stories of the Bible and even Jesus didn't interpret it at face value. This was after I realized that the running theme of literal interpretations of Christianity is not compatible with my view of reality.

[hness]

Wow slow clap applause for the questioner. Literally asked ALL of the questions I would ask

[blackmarketgoodness]

Incredible - loved this so much. As someone raised catholic, then fundementalist, then atheist, to now returning to the symbolism inside Christianity this verbalizes the ways symbolism is actually more true, more potent and eternal that a brief moment of personal reality. Well done analysis.

[CAT-]

I watched you when I was a Christian.

I watched you when I was agnostic.

I watch you now that I’m born again.

[DennyVlogs]

Please make more of these, they are extremely valuable, you don't even know how much

[brizbizel]

that's why "symbol" and "devil" are absolute antonyms, which is something that modern people often fail to understand, both intellectually and in practice.

[tyemann]

My wife's friends had dreams about her being pregnant a few days before we found out...and that was for both our kids three years apart. Crazy.

[ruslpit]

I have been following you for a while, but since I have been looking into church, fathers and orthodoxy, I have come to realize how absolutely brilliant you are. You are truly a gift. The veil is lifted and you are such a big part of that for me. Thank you very much.

[reilysmith]

Wow. I am not (yet) a Christian. I'm watching video's like this and trying to get a better understanding. And this video was tremendously helpful. The idea that the Bible has compressed events and meaning is not something I considered before. Thank you.

[thattimestampguy]

4:51 Attention
5:40 Memory: string of coherence
6:53 Rambling

7:28 Orthodox Church ⛪️
8:34 The Nature of Existence is Symbolic
9:00 Pregnancy
3 dreams of pregnancy
10:24 Coalescence of Events
11:17 Reality works through ordering the chaos into a pattern

12:55 Hierarchy of Remembering
14:51 Memory at a Cosmic Level
16:13 How do I deal with that question?
17:15 Disciples on the road
18:31 The Culmination

[julijanacvejic]

I started to go to my church ( also Ortodox) two years ago, before that I knew very little about my religion and I almost never vent there. Now I am attending services regularly and learning more and more, and I am so happy to be there. Your videos have been very helpful to me and I like your channel. Thank you very, very much!!! 💙💙💙

[carljungdepthpsychologyrea]

I am very happy to have finally found this video, Jonathan! You have done humanity a tremendous service here. You have finally made it possible for me to bridge the term "symbol." Though I have been studying the works of Dr. Jung for 3 decades, which is almost entirely about symbolism, no where have I found such a succinct and important discussion of why a symbol is important until I viewed this video. You definitely have earned the notoriety you are beginning to receive, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future. I am planning to add this video to one of my own playlists, which spotlights the work of others, and I will mention it in our Group meeting this evening.

[TheFeralcatz]

I feel like I could watch this 20 more times and learn something new each time. Brilliant work!

[zarathustrap]

Synchronicities are some of the things that can not be explained "rationally" or factually. Those who have experienced know how incredible they are.

[jessieissocoollike]

This way of understanding the Bible grew my faith. Through you and Jordan Peterson I’ve let go of my lifelong pursuit to understand all the technical details of the Bible stories and my need to know of things “actually” happened. I’ve had seeds of these ideas for years, but they were never fleshed out, and I never had words for them until I discovered you two. Thank you for sharing this.

[AlixPrappas]

Jonathan, I know you must have felt the Spirit in you strong this night. That was an incredibly powerful flow of wisdom that was obviously free flowing not from your willing. It reminded me of a person freestyle rapping in a flow state. Wow. Thank you for reminding me that there are more dimensions of being and reality seeking expression than the purely scientific lens our current culture is infatuated with.

Some moments in some days I feel a profound connection to the current moment and a deep connection with being. Colors are more vivid, my emotions are heightened, sound are sharper, and I know that God is acting through me by the power of his presence inside me...Thank you for the reminder my brother.