James Van Der Beek, the actor who played the titular character in the late 90s drama series Dawson’s Creek, offered up some sage advice for the new year that captured people’s attention.

“Here’s my favorite lesson of 2023: The cure is in the disease,” Van Der Beek said in a video clip while sitting in front of a wood-burning stove.

The actor explains that he has tried many remedies to remove the soot from the window of the stove only to finally discover an unlikely solution.

“It’s very, very hard to get off,” Van Der Beek said. “You can rub it, you can scrub it. I’ve tried Windex. I’ve tried different chemicals. I’ve asked around. Somebody said you can get a wax, all these outside sources to get soot off of the window.”

Caution: Adult language

Dude, the Dawson just blew my fucking mind. @YakuzaCasey pic.twitter.com/4nenUOGj2C

— Brodigan (@brodigan) December 31, 2023

“You know, it works magic? Ash. Literal, just ash, from the fireplace. Dip it in some water, put it on a paper towel and it melts right off like magic,” he continued. “And there are countless examples of this all throughout nature.”

Van Der Beek then applies that logic to life itself.

“The antidote for a snake bite is in snake venom and it just makes me think how many of our problems are we looking to solve with outside sources, outside medicines, outside help,” he said.

“When really if we just looked directly into the problem, we would actually find the solution. The cure,” he added. “Obviously, sometimes, you know, outside medicine, outside help is necessary. But what else in life can we solve by looking directly into the heart of the problem and looking for clues there?

“May 2024 be full of solutions and cures and I wish you all the very best Happy New Year,” the actor concluded.

While it’s not clear if the intent here was to plug natural immunity, that was certainly the take some walked away with — here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from X:

The best argument ever
for natural immunity.

— Mark Jackson (@YouDude60) January 1, 2024

This dude gets it

— Stranger By The Hour Podcast (@arenb) December 31, 2023

The same principal can be applied to the wasteful existence of the federal government when we could just not have a federal government and most of our problems would disappear overnight.

— TooLateBlue (@TooLateBlue) December 31, 2023

Like cures like.

Controlled burns to prevent forest fires, and exposure therapy to overcome phobias are other great examples of this!

— wannabe futurist (@psidart) January 1, 2024

You can use a non-permanent marker to remove ink from a permanent marker.

— Waldrada (@Waldrada) January 1, 2024

The solution to every problem is borne within the problem. As a child— way before I could comprehend it— I would repeat this as though it was I planted in my mind.

— Charles Taylor (@chaswick) January 1, 2024

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Tom Tillison

Senior Staff Writer
Tom@bizpacreview.com

The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.

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