What to Do When Life Feels Empty

What to Do When Life Feels Empty

From The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

July 6, 2026 · 1h 24m

About this episode

Jordan Peterson explores the connection between personal darkness and the journey of becoming who you are meant to be.

What does a 75-year-old man leaving his father's house for the first time have to do with the darkest question a human being can ask about themselves? In this lecture, Jordan Peterson traces a single obsession — how ordinary people commit extraordinary evil — from a teenage encounter with books about Nazi Germany and the Soviet gulag, through unsettling visits to a maximum security prison, to a startling personal reckoning with his own capacity for darkness. What he found waiting at the bottom of that question wasn't despair, but something far more unexpected: an ancient story about calling, sacrifice, and the kind of adventure that makes the weight of being alive feel worth carrying. The story of Abraham turns out to be less about faith in the conventional sense and far more about a question you already know the answer to — whether you're listening. Lecture filmed in Little Rock, Arkansas on February 27, 2024 Unlock the ad-free experience of The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast and dive into exclusive bonus content on DailyWire+. Start watching now: http://dwpluspeterson.com/yt ALL LINKS: https://feedlink.io/jordanbpeterson // LINKS // Peterson Academy https://petersonacademy.com…

People in this episode

Host: Jordan Peterson

Topics covered

  • identity
  • evil
  • personal growth
  • sacrifice
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • ordinary evil
  • darkness
  • calling
  • sacrifice
  • adventure

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Nazi Germany, Soviet gulag, Abraham

Places: Little Rock, Arkansas

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