May 25, 2026 • 40 mins
Are you happy? Do you want to be happy? Why is it so hard to find happiness? In this episode, we evaluate a philosophy of happiness to find out if life has more good or bad moments, to what degree does our brain chemistry affect our happiness, and whether we even deserve to be happy.
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(00:00):
Most people have no idea why they get up and grind every day.
You don't have the infinite capacity to be happy.
If you will not find the thing that excites you to keep living,
then you don't deserve to be happy.
(00:27):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Ideological Podcast.
See how happy I am? We're talking about?
Look, I'm smiling. So sometimes you can be really
creepy if you smile but don't smile with your eyes.
So you do something like this, someone tells a joke and you go
and it looks really creepy. Welcome to the ideological
(00:47):
podcast. If this is the first time you've
ever listened to this, this is avery strange introduction.
Why are we doing these weird things?
Why am I smiling to like a scarydegree, like a joker degree?
Because today we're going over how to be happy.
Let's do a philosophy of happiness.
Maybe you are happy. Maybe you're a happy person.
(01:08):
Generally, you just want to like, have a balloon and go for
a walk in the park. Maybe you're somebody who's
depressed. You've always struggled with
happiness. You don't actually think there's
much joy in life. Some people listening are more
optimistic, some are more pessimistic.
We're going to ask questions like, does life contain more joy
or more sorrow? We're going to ask, what do you
really want out of life? And so some of the episodes that
(01:31):
we do are very head in the clouds, right?
So if we're going over Hegel, we're just learning about some
interesting philosophy. This one I hope is a bit more
practical, but we're going to betalking about happiness, which
is something that we all want, but we don't really usually
think about it through a philosophical lens.
That's what I love about philosophy.
You can have a philosophy of anything because we're looking
(01:54):
at truth, we're looking at connections, we're looking at
implications. And so I'm going to go over
something like 13 thoughts randomly about happiness.
And we're going to do a philosophy of happiness.
So how to be happy. Let's learn from smarter people
than us in the past. All right, look at that.
Look at that smile. This episode's brought to you by
(02:16):
teeth. Teeth keep them in your mouth.
The tooth fairy, by the way, is really kind of creepy when you
think about it. Like, what's, what's she or he?
Could we, I mean, we say the tooth fairy like she's a she.
I don't know that that's official.
It could be some dude What? What?
What's she doing with all these teeth?
(02:36):
I mean she uses them to like, cast a spell or curse her
enemies. We don't know.
Stop giving your teeth to fairies.
OK, so random thoughts about happiness.
You ready? Here's the first one.
What do humans want more than anything else in the world?
The short answer is happiness. It is the thing that we're all
(03:00):
trying to get. In fact, the reason we do
everything else is to be happy. Now, by the way, some people
will say, well, it's not about happiness, it's about joy.
Philosophically, those are the same things.
I don't care if you call it joy,if you call it happiness, if you
call it lasting pleasure, I, I don't care.
That's a variable to me. I'm going to use the terms
interchangeably. We want to be happy.
It's why we do everything, right?
(03:22):
Everything. Why do you want more money?
Because you think it will make you happy.
Why do you want to get married if you're single?
Because you think it will make you happy.
Why do you want to get divorced if you don't have a good
marriage? Because you think that will make
you happy. Why do you want to have kids?
Because you think that will makeyou more happy than not having
kids. In fact, I'm going to say
something strong. Even the person who commits
(03:42):
suicide thinks that whatever is on the other side of that bullet
is better than what they're going through now.
There, there's still a sense they think it's better than what
they're going through now. Like meaning this life produces
more sadness than death in a sense.
They think that happiness, even if it's non existence, is on the
other side of that bullet. It's why we do absolutely
(04:06):
everything Zach. I don't care about happiness.
I just want to succeed. I want to be a legend.
Do you know why? Because that thought makes you
happy. It is the thing for which we do
everything else is happiness. So it's very, very important.
It's why we do all the other things.
It's why we put up with all the other stupid stuff in life is
because we want to be happy. So knowing that that's kind of
(04:26):
the goal universally for humans is pretty powerful.
That's the first step. So that's the first point.
Very basic, but very helpful #2 let's talk about how most people
think that they will be happy. Most people are super, super
stupid when it comes to pursuinghappiness.
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I had this conversation with a lot of so I, I know a weird
amount of super rich guys and you know, no big deal when you
look as handsome as this and you, you know, you're a scholar
then like people just want a piece of your time.
And I have a conversation that goes something like this with
different friends and different people that I know that are
generally wealthier. What do you want out of life?
(05:08):
That's what I asked them and they say I want more money.
And I say, done. I'm a genie, right?
You rub my lamp, wink and I, let's say I make you a
billionaire tomorrow. Somehow I can just snap my
fingers and you have all the money.
Why do you want it? And then they're like, oh, I
don't know. Really.
I don't know if I've ever thought about that.
Maybe. I mean, I I guess if I had the
(05:29):
money then then I wouldn't have to work.
And I'm like, OK, great, let's pretend you have a billion
dollars and you don't ever have to work again.
Great, Now what? Now what do you want to do?
Oh, I don't know, Zach. I've never really thought about
it. I mean, I guess I would like,
like, sleep in and go for a walkwith my family.
(05:50):
And I'm like, hey, bitch, you can do that now pay attention.
You, you've never even thought about this.
Most people have no idea why they get up and grind every day.
They want to make more money so that they don't have to work so
that they can. And here's the answer for most
people. So they can die.
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Well, if the goal is to just exist to make money so you can
keep existing and then die, I mean, you can save a lot of time
and just end it now. Like if you want some good
investment advice, buy a gun with one bullet if you have a
billion dollars and you have no other goals.
By the way, this is not an official endorsement of suicide.
Please do not suicide ideological.
Please speak to a mental health professional if you are
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suicidal. OK, so do you understand what
I'm saying though? Like it's it's money does not
have use value. It just has what marks, who's
the worst, But it just has what's called exchange value.
It's freedom points. But if you don't know why you
want the freedom points, that's crazy to me.
(06:55):
That's why. Well, Zach, when we use the
money, because then I can buy cool things and then I have
bodily pleasure. I, I can buy a boat and I can
buy, you know, a yacht, which I guess is another boat.
I don't know why I mentioned it twice.
I could buy an airplane. I could have nice wine and a
cool house. And I'm like, yeah, great.
You think things make you happy.Don't get me wrong, not having
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anything does not make you happy.
But the things eventually wear off.
Like I I know guys who just cry in a bigger house like it
doesn't make you happy. And we know that, but we do it
anyway. We just jump from thing to thing
to thing, like a high, like a drug, and then it goes away.
So if I say great, you want money, why you want, you want
some things, cool. What do you want out of those
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things? You want to be happy and yet you
know they don't produce happiness and you pursue it
anyway because you don't have anything that makes life worth
living. Oh dear.
We're going to talk more about that in a second.
Think about that though. How do you have long term
happiness? How do you have something that
doesn't just fade right away like a hit?
Meth is awesome I've heard, I'venever done it, I have all my
(08:04):
teeth, but I've heard that it's like at six hour high like the
highest you can get and it feelsgreat until it ruins your life
and you die. Third thing to think about, let
me ask you this question, is your happiness determined 100%
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by you, 100% by your mental state, by by skin in, by you?
Or is part of it determined by things outside of you?
We've got a whole lesson on Stoicism.
You should listen to it if you want to be smarter.
But here's something that peoplemisunderstand.
Stoicism is not saying never have emotions, OK?
The Stoics thought that there were appropriate emotions and
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such. Really the question of Stoicism
comes down to this, is your happiness 100% dependent upon
you or is dependent upon things outside your control?
So for somebody like Aristotle, your happiness at least
partially, was dependent on things outside your control.
Are you healthy? Are you, for Aristotle, a male?
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He didn't think a woman could beas happy as a man.
You know, do you have education?Do you have certain social
status, etcetera. Some of these things that are
outside of your control, he thought were necessary to really
be happy. Well, the Stoics would say no,
100% of your happiness is mental.
You can sit on the beach stressed and not be happy.
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Conversely, you can be in a prison.
And if your mind is joyful, if you walk according to virtue and
duty, you can be happy. So which one is it?
Is it? Do you determine your happiness
100%, and if so, that means you can change it?
Or do you not determine it 100% and if so, that means you might
be able to change it? Can you change your
(09:52):
circumstances? Can you change your mindset?
You know, even if it doesn't make up 100% of your happiness.
Interesting thought, forethoughtabout happiness.
Here's a bombshell from Aristotle.
Listen to this. Even if I if I ask you this
question, are you happy? You know what you just did?
(10:13):
You just gave a subjective answer.
You said, how am I feeling? And you think that's happiness.
Here's Aristotle's bombshell with happiness.
You ready? What if happiness is not
subjective at all? What if it is objective?
What if happiness has nothing todo with a feeling of happiness
which comes and goes? Your feelings are powerful, but
(10:35):
they lie to you a lot. You can have inappropriate
feelings. What if happiness is not
subjective at all and it's not afeeling?
What if it is objective? What if happiness is whatever it
means to have human flourishing?If you understand this, this
will change your life. What if being happy is being
(10:58):
good at humaning? Being a flourishing human, what
he called eudaimonia. And it's not just like this
feeling of happiness or something.
It's like you're flourishing as a human.
What if happiness is objective? Then you could look at your life
and say, hey, where am I not humaning?
Well, maybe I don't have the right kind of job.
Maybe I am not leading my familylike I should.
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Maybe I'm not in shape. Maybe I don't have enough time
to read and grow my mind. Maybe I don't know any other
languages or play any instruments.
Maybe I need to be a better human and then not care about
what my feelings tell me, 'causeyour feelings can lie to you and
instead say this is happiness. Now this would be radical.
You could go up to somebody and they would say, you know what?
(11:40):
I OK, so, so let's take, let's take somebody who's like, you
know, my three-year old son sayshe's a girl.
So we're going to go ahead and do a sex change operation even
though he's 3 and that will makehim happy.
What if happiness was objective human flourishing and not
subjective? Then you wouldn't have to worry
about how they felt. You would just say no lopping
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off body parts for no reason. For somebody that can't consent
and doesn't understand things yet, maybe that's not the best
option, right? Because objectively, they would
not be flourishing as a human. That is fascinating what we find
out. Like the reason that Aristotle's
really smart here, you say, Zach, I totally disagree.
(12:24):
Happiness has to be you feeling happy.
At the end of the day. It's subjective because certain
people find happiness in other things.
And I say, really? So a pedophile who is happy
harming children, you think that's what they should do
because it makes them happy? What if their happiness meter is
broken? What if, like, I, I don't know
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that I don't know that, that, that actually, I don't know that
your subjective feelings are actually correct.
Oh, Zach, if I just had all the money, then I'd be happy.
Really. You think Jeffrey Epstein was
happy? Should he have been happy?
Or was he happy and evil things which actually make you unhappy,
but he just doesn't know 'cause he thinks it makes him happy
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because he's looking at happiness subjectively, like
you, instead of objectively likeAristotle.
Aristotle greater than Zion. Epstein.
OK, so think about that. Number 5 is happy.
Listen to this. Is happy the default state of
our lives? And should we feel like
something is off when we are nothappy?
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This is a weird thing. We assume that something's going
wrong in life anytime we're not happy.
Like we think that should be thenormal default.
I'm not sure that's true. Ready.
I think most of life is just life.
Most of life if you just say, hey, how you doing?
Sometimes I'm doing great, sometimes I'm doing terrible.
Most of the time I'm just like existing.
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Well, like I'm, I'm doing work. I'm kind of bored.
I'm mad at this person. I would like normal life isn't
always happy. Happy is like the good parts of
life. But if you realize that maybe
you don't feel so terrible aboutyourself all the time because
maybe nothing's wrong with you. Life, just life's sometimes.
I think that's a fascinating question.
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Should that be the default? Like if someone's like, how are
you? We just say, fine.
But if you're like, hey, I'm normal, like I'll be happy
later, I'll have a glass of wine, tell some jokes with
friends, then I'll be happy. Is happy a default state for
you? It's what we strive for, but we
strive for it because a lot of times we don't have it.
To what extent should you naturally be happy?
(14:32):
I think that's a fascinating andfantastic question.
Now listen to this next one. Whoo, this is a big one.
You ready? To what degree does brain
chemistry, upbringing, personality, temperament,
culture and education affect your ability to be happy?
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What like, I think we like to think that we just have this
like not linked to anything elsetype of libertarian free will
regardless of your worldview. But I mean, doesn't your brain
chemistry determine certain things?
Like it's wild to me that somebody can be depressed, take
medicine and then not be depressed, or at least not as
(15:15):
much. They didn't do anything.
They, they, they just got some different brain chemistry.
What about your temperament? Some people like, and dude, you
see it if you have kids, you'll have two kids, very similar
genetics, same family, same nurture, same upbringing.
And like, one will be super feisty and rebellious and the
other will be super compliant. Or one will be really funny and
the other will be really serious.
Like, what do you have to do with your temperament?
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What about your culture? What about your education?
What about like traumas and things that have happened to you
when you're younger? Like, where do these things
shape your happiness? Are there some people that won't
be able to be happy even if theyreally try because they're just
fighting biology? Like to what degree does do
those things affect who you are?We like to think that so.
(16:01):
So to say it another way, I always like to say this to
stress people out when it comes to the philosophical problem of
free will. I think we have free will.
And I'm just like, if you're free to do what you want, which
I'm not sure that you are, but let's go with that for a second.
You're not free to want what youwant.
Like if you're free to do what you want, you're not free to
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want what you want. Do you 100% fully determine your
wants? They're not determined at all.
Like your food choices and your favorite food wouldn't change at
all if you had been born in India or China or Somalia or
England where the food is awful.Love England, great people,
great education and the food is like really makes me want to
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drown in the British Navy. OK, there you go.
Next number 7 is happiness, eventhe thing that is most valuable.
OK, let me let me ask you a little scenario here.
Let's say, OK, let's say you could be Tiger Woods.
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OK, you're Tiger Woods and people will talk about you being
the best golfer for 300 years. The cost of that, though, is
that you do not have subjective happiness and everyone you love
in your life you never get to see again.
Never see your spouse, never seeyour if you're not like
girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, whatever you are.
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Don't get to see your kids, don't get to see mom or dad,
don't get to see best friends. All the ones you have, you never
see them again. But you get to be a legend.
Would you make that trade? Most people say no.
Some people, they'll say yes. Some of this will depend on your
temperament to say yes. Worth it 100%.
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Maybe. There are things that actually I
value more than being happy. Tim Grover, who was Michael
Jordan's mental coach, one of the things that he points out is
he's like, forget happiness. I don't care about happiness at
all. I don't give a damn about
happiness. I care about winning.
I care about success, I care about accomplishment.
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That's it. I can be miserable and die early
and whatever. I don't care.
I will say that my life is successful if I'm winning.
What about that thought? Are there some things?
Self sacrifice, being a martyr, are those things more important?
This is like a David Goggins. He's like, I'm miserable, I'm
not happy. I do this so that I don't hate
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myself when I look in the mirroris that, does that play into
happiness? Now here's the pushback on that
that I would give. If you're like, Yep, that's me.
Why does Tim Grover want to win or be a legend 'cause that
thought makes him happy. Why does Goggins want to be this
tough ultra marathon runner, youknow, former Navy SEAL guy, even
(18:56):
though he says he's miserable, because that thought gives him
some sort of value to himself, which makes him a little bit
happier than not doing it. I don't know if you can get away
from that happiness principle. Even if you say I don't care
about happiness, I care about, you know, my legacy, OK, So like
to not have the legacy would make you less happy.
OK, that's still happiness. So think about that.
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What do you think? You know, the comments and such
below 1 must consider this is number 81 must consider not just
the quantity of pleasure, but the quality.
OK, so we've got a whole lesson on John Stuart Mill again, of
course, you should go listen to it.
You might not know who that is. It's an underrated episode.
It's got a lot of really good things there.
And but that's more about his his views of liberty.
(19:43):
One of the things that he does with his ethic is he does a good
job saying we can't just take into account the quantity, how
much pleasure we have to take into account the quality.
Meaning, let's say it another way.
Let's say that there's somethingthat gives you a little bit of
joy, like like check this out. Look at this little look at this
(20:05):
little squishy thing. It's just a little stress ball.
It's a Penguin. Adorable.
I get a tiny amount of pleasure by squishing this thing and it
sounds like crunch snow. Listen.
Awesome. That doesn't match the pleasure
of like winning a battle in a war.
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That doesn't match the the pleasure of finishing, you know,
a doctoral dissertation. That doesn't match the pleasure.
Like watching pro wrestling while having a Bud Light does
not feel the same as like winning the Medal of Honor
because you did something brave in battle or, you know, even
even Bud Light, which I don't even think is a a pleasure.
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I think it's just a pain becausethere's no flavor that that
can't match having a, a glass of, you know, Chateau Mouton or,
or Chateau Lafitte or Screaming Eagle or some sort of fancy
wine. So like we have to take into
account not just pursuing pleasure, but the quality, not
just the quantity, the quality of the pleasure.
(21:08):
The way it's often said. This is a slight misquote from
what he says, but it's it's a helpful way to remember it.
Would you rather be a pig satisfied or Socrates
dissatisfied? Meaning you get to choose.
So again, I'm the genie. You rub my lamp, wink.
And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna grant you this one wish,
but you have to pick these one of one of these two options.
On the one hand, I can make you a pig.
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And as a pig you can have all the food and sex you want, food,
sex, sleep, mud, whatever pigs love.
But your pleasure capacity will only be that of a pig.
Or you can be a human, a smart human, someone like Socrates,
and be dissatisfied, but know you're dissatisfied so that you
can't have all the food and sex and, you know, comfort, whatever
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that you want. You have a higher capacity
threshold. Your ceiling is higher because
you're a human and not a pig. Which one do you choose #9
Listen to this. Does overcoming adversity and
hardship produce a type of pleasure?
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If so, OK, so. So let me pause there real
quick. So a lot of times we think, OK,
adversity, hard things in life are actually good.
They suck when you're going through it.
We don't like them per SE. We don't like them simplicity or
we don't like them when we, you know, just have pain for pain's
sake. But they produce something in us
that we like, right? You train to run a marathon and
then you successfully run the marathon.
You've overcome some mental barriers and some physical
(22:37):
barriers or you go through something really tough and it
makes you stronger or you work really hard in academics and
then all of a sudden you, you know more and you're a clear
thinker and you're able to teachor whatever it is.
We, we have a tendency to think that those things overcoming
this adversity is good. And it might be, here's a
question for you, and this is for those of you that are, are
(22:58):
more religious. What about the idea of heaven or
some sort of afterlife where youdon't have adversity to
overcome? Does it therefore lose value?
Did the adversity ever have value?
Was the value found in the good thing you got from it and not
from the bad thing? Right.
Like maybe the, the it's not that you like overcoming
(23:18):
adversity. You like just getting whatever
bad thing was already out of your way.
The adversity was just a way, a bad way to fight a bad thing.
What do you think #10 Listen to this one.
I think this one's very important.
Does the world contain more pleasure or more pain is most of
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life? This is really kind of the
question philosophically. Is life more pleasure or more
pain? Is it primarily good or
primarily bad? This is an important question.
If you think that life is primarily good and there are
some bad things, that's going tobe very different when it comes
to your happiness versus if you think life is primarily bad and
(24:02):
has some good moments. Is the only reason that you
don't kill yourself because you're scared of death, not
because you actually love life? OK, the Question of Pessimism
and suffering, a book I'd highlyrecommend to you if if you're a
nerd. It is academic, but it's great.
Dark Matters by Mara Vanderlut, who's a prophet.
(24:23):
Saint Andrew's very bright. She's a, she's a early modern
scholar. So my my speciality is the early
modern period and philosophy as well.
So I really appreciate her work.But she does a great job tracing
the ideas of pessimism and optimism really throughout the
Enlightenment and beyond. And so is life main?
(24:43):
Like, if you think about it, seems like life is mainly just
kind of not great. You get up and you're tired,
Then you work at a job that evenif it's a good job, still a job.
And then there's some good things through the day, right?
You get to eat lunch, you get togo home and maybe watch a show.
And then there's like all this hard stuff and it's like people
hurting you fear, sickness, anxiety, like all these other
(25:05):
things. Especially when you include all
the mental suffering. We do have a tendency to think
that suffering is primarily likephysical.
Most of your suffering is mental.
Most of it is the anxiety, the depression, the fear, the
betrayal. Like I I I can go a long time
without physically feeling bad. It is hard for me to go more
(25:26):
than an hour without thinking negative thoughts.
Does the world contain more pleasure or pain?
And by the way, if it contains more pain, is it worth it when
you bring a child into the world?
If the world is primarily bad, should you not have kids
instead? Or if the world is primarily?
Or do you say, you know what theworld is primarily bad, but
(25:49):
bringing a kid into the world isstill worth it for some other
reason? Let the you, you know, comment
you but but give us give us yourthoughts, blah, blah, blah.
OK, let's go through a few more.Listen to this one.
Is optimism wicked? Is optimism wicked?
Whoa, Zach, why would it be wicked?
(26:12):
Optimists and pessimists like tofight each other.
And people have a tendency to think the pessimists are the
ones that are bringing everyone down, right?
Like you're making our lives worse 'cause you're focusing on
the bad stuff. There's some pessimists that say
no, no, no, no, no. That's absolutely the the other
way around. So let's use Arthur
Schopenhauer, who's like the poster boy for philosophical
(26:33):
pessimism. Schopenhauer is an interesting
figure. He looks totally like a mad
scientist with his crazy hair. You know, you know, the Germans
that you got to, you got to, yougot to keep an eye on them
sometimes. But Arthur Schopenhauer,
basically, he thought that life vacillated between pain and
boredom. That's most of life, pain and
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boredom. Well, that sucks.
Pain and boredom, like pain, is when your desires are unmet,
right? There's something you want that
you don't have. We don't just need physical
pain. That's a type of psychological
pain. There's something I really want
and I can't have it or don't have it.
That's a type of pain. And then when our desires are
met, then we get bored with it. So we really want a new car.
(27:16):
We don't have it. So it's a type of pain.
And then we get it and it's exciting for like a week and
then we're bored and we want something else.
So life is just moving back and forth between pain and boredom
for Schopenhauer. You know, so this is like this
dude. I mean, he, he just, I don't
know, he needs to like, get a popsicle and like, go on a walk,
(27:38):
stand in the sunshine a little bit.
He's a, he's a negative guy, buthe really thinks that pleasure
isn't, it is really just the absence of pain, which is the
dominant state in our lives. So we, it's not that pain is the
absence of pleasure. Most of our lives is just pain
or boredom, like we're anxious or we're bored.
That's kind of it. We're we're frustrated.
(27:59):
We are usually not content. That's a good way to say it.
Most of life is discontentment. We finally get something we
want, it lets us down, the bad things, the things we're afraid
of, and the pains are way worse than we thought they would be.
And the good things kind of let us down and they're not as good
as we thought they would be. This is all Schopenhauer.
And and so he has this view thatlike pains, the state of our
life and pleasures, just when there's not that pain, right?
(28:20):
It's not like actually that positive.
It's just who you get a break from the constant pain.
What's interesting, though, is within the pessimist tradition,
which is a tradition, and PierreBale, who's who I love, who's
one of my favorite philosophers,he does a good job of
highlighting this even before Schopenhauer.
(28:41):
Like maybe the pessimists are actually being honest and it's
the optimists who are making things worse, right?
Like what the optimists do is now, in addition to a difficult
life, they just put one more burden on you, which is now it's
your fault. Now, if you were just better, if
you could just muster up the strength, if you could just
(29:02):
conjure up better thoughts, thenyou would also be happy.
And an optimist that's kicking someone while they're down, like
that's, that's worse. If somebody has cancer and
you're like, hey, also you shouldn't have cancer.
You're like, thank you. And so sometimes what the
pessimist will do is they'll kind of flip it and they're
like, no, no, no, no. My view actually allows us to
(29:22):
sympathize with other people whoare suffering.
So it's actually the gracious kind view, your view, the fake
rainbows and butterflies. Put a Band-Aid on it.
But life mainly sucks for most people.
Is is wrong. Schopenhauer has this this great
quote. I'm going to quote it for you
here. He says I cannot here withhold
(29:42):
the statement that optimism, where it is not merely the
thoughtless talk of those who harbor nothing but words under
their shallow foreheads, seems to be not merely an absurd but
also a really wicked way of thinking, a bitter mockery of
the unspeakable sufferings of mankind.
Wow. So again.
(30:05):
Now, having said that, it seems like people I know who are
optimistic are happier, like it seems like people who are
winners are, they expect to win.Like they, they, they just,
they, they don't get in their own way.
You'll find that a lot of super rich people are very optimistic.
(30:27):
Now, don't get me wrong, there are pessimistic rich people.
A lot of people I know that havemoney are super optimistic
because they just expect to win.They expect life is going to
work out. So they approach life that way.
And guess what? Things happen because of how
they present themselves, their plans, their lack of stress,
whatever it might be. So is Schopenhauer right?
(30:48):
Next, two more Does religion make someone happy?
Does religion make someone happy?
I'm not giving an answer this tosay yes or no.
I'm I'm posing this question foryou to think, OK, would that
make you happy? You have something if it's true,
that can't be taken away. Or can it be taken away?
(31:10):
It'll depend on your religious tradition.
Are there religious people that are miserable?
Yeah. Are there religious people that
are happy? Yeah.
Are there non religious people that are miserable?
Yeah. Are there non religious people
that are happy? Yeah.
Does that determine your happiness?
Does it determine your happiness?
Now? Is it one of those things where
(31:32):
no, you're you're not even from a religious view, you're not
supposed to be happy now that's like a later thing that's like
the the next life or, or whatever it is.
But like, what about now? Can you grow in happiness
forever? So take this idea of like some
sort of positive afterlife, heaven or you know, if you're a
(31:53):
Muslim paradise or Abraham's bosom, it's sometimes called in
Judaism. Or maybe you're reincarnated
into something cooler, you know,if you're Hindu or whatever.
Like does eventually that, like you don't have the infinite
capacity to be happy? Like as a human, as somebody
who's limited your, your happiness can't grow forever,
(32:17):
even if God exists and even if he's infinite, you're not.
And so your capacity at some point caps out How, how does
that work? Like does that, does that make
you happy? Is, is happiness not to be found
here at all and just to be foundin the next life?
If so, does that make suffering down here easier to figure out?
Or does it make it worse? Because why is there suffering
(32:37):
here to begin with? These are all good questions.
I sure hope you figure it out. Hoo Hoo.
Let's take a little stress break.
I need a good name. If you want to comment on what
we should name this little squishy Penguin.
I'm I'm, I'm all ears because hehas none.
OK, this episode's brought to you by Penguins.
Penguins. They are actually very
(32:58):
aggressive and the mothers smother their children 'cause
they just mother so hard. Last 113, you ready?
Here we go I want to end with this question.
Despite everything we just talked about, most people
listening to this are not going to be happy and you so so my
question is why won't you be happy?
Why won't you decide to figure out what happiness is Zach, I'm
(33:22):
not happy. I don't know now based on your
lecture, if like we're even supposed to be happy.
I don't know how to be happy I don't know if it's objective or
subjective cool. At least you're asking the
question though. If you want to be happy and
you're not, you should be doing everything in your power to
figure out what that is. Right, wrong, or indifferent.
Don't just sit there and die. Like I said, if your goal in
(33:45):
life is to exist and make money so you can keep existing and
keep making money so you can exist and then just die, you can
save a lot of time and not go. If your goal in life is to die,
you don't have to keep waiting. Again, there's not an advocation
for suicide. It's a philosophical question
that I'm trying to get you to think about.
Some of you will never be happy because you have no purpose or
(34:05):
goal. I didn't even tell you what the
goal should be. Maybe it's religious, maybe it's
non religious, maybe it's related to others, maybe it's
related to self. I I don't know.
I'm just telling you, You aren'teven asking the question.
You're too busy just being in the matrix, getting up each
morning and grinding. Some of you will never be happy
(34:25):
because you're lazy to actually do what you would want to be
happy, to lose that weight, to do something successful in your
career, to get them to get more education, to have a bigger
influence, whatever. You're just not willing to wake
up an extra hour or early or sayno to something that you want.
So why won't you be happy? The answer for some of you is,
(34:45):
is just pure laziness. Why won't you be happy?
Here's one. Here's another reason.
Some of you prefer to live in a little bit of pain the rest of
your life instead of going through a short season of a lot
of pain and then being free. Let me say that again.
Some of you prefer to have a little bit of pain the rest of
(35:08):
your life instead of going through a season of ripping off
the Band-Aid of maybe something that is going to be really
painful. Maybe it's a conversation you
don't want to have. Maybe it's a relationship that's
unhealthy. Maybe it's a job that you hate.
Maybe it's whatever. Why won't you be free?
Well, Zach, that's going to hurt.
Well, yeah, you're going to hurteither way.
Do you want a little bit of hurtforever, or do you want like, a
(35:29):
lot of hurt for a short season and then freedom?
Some of you won't be happy because you're not willing to
RIP off that Band-Aid. Do you feel guilty when you're
having fun? Some of you don't want to be
happy because you feel guilty. You feel like it's bad.
You would rather not feel guiltysome of you won't be happy
(35:51):
because you spend all your time pursuing things that don't bring
joy, that don't bring happiness,right?
Like instead of doing that big thing that could make you happy,
you'd rather just do boring stuff, check sports stats on
your phone and like whatever. There's nothing wrong with that.
By the way, that's not like a judgement thing.
(36:12):
I'm just saying life is probablybigger than that.
What do you want? And here's another one.
Let me say it's stronger. You ready?
Again, I'm not advocating for suicide.
Do not sue me. If you kill yourself, don't kill
yourself. Talk to somebody.
You know, there's there's, there's, there's people out
there. Many of you look at me or open
(36:33):
your ears if you're just listening instead of looking at
this brilliant, beautiful face that I video every time.
You know, it takes more work to have video, but it's fine for
those of you just, you know, spotifying or doing the whole
like listen to the YouTube without watching a thing.
Some of you will never be happy because you haven't found a
reason not to commit suicide. You haven't found a reason not
(36:57):
to commit suicide. You're just existing.
You don't have a reason why you're existing.
This is why Albert Camus, who isso much fun to read as a
philosopher, and his work The Myth of Sisyphus, which by the
way, if you're going to get intoCamus, you got to read The Myth
of Sisyphus, The Stranger and the Rebel.
At least he's got others. But those those three, I'd
highly recommend listen to this.He says this in the Myth of
(37:20):
Sisyphus is a very famous quote,but I think it's it's important.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that
is suicide. Judging whether life is or is
not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental
question of philosophy. Whoa, that's enormous.
Here's what he's saying. Camus, he's an atheist.
(37:42):
So there is no other life after this.
There is no God, so your life iskind of pointless.
It's absurd. Absurdism is, is related to
Camus. We live, we pass on our genes
for no purpose 'cause there's nothing beyond this life.
No matter what you have, you're going to lose it, and then
you're going to be forgotten in a few generations, and then we
die. Well, that leads to the question
of why not then commit suicide? Like, why?
(38:04):
Why do that if it's absurd? Camus's answer is objectively,
it's hard to like. Like his answer is you kind of
make your own value by though, though you know, it's absurd.
You find a way to deal with lifethe way you decide to deal with
it. We've got more on on this Myth
of Sisyphus thing elsewhere, butthat's the idea with Camus.
(38:28):
Let me say it's stronger and I will end with this.
Are you ready if you will not take the time to wrestle?
If you will not take the time tofind whether it's right or
wrong, No judgement, whether it's religious or not religious.
What if you will not find time to figure out your purpose,
(38:51):
goal, or vision in life? Listen, then.
You don't deserve to be happy ifyou will not if you don't know
why you're doing anything. Most people just exist because
they're not good at anything. Most people like even if they
were billionaires, they would just sit in a room and put
numbers in a computer on a spreadsheet because it would
make them feel because they theydon't have other skills.
(39:13):
If you will not find the thing that excites you to keep living,
then you don't deserve to be happy.
Wow you you. This was titled like how to be
happy and maybe now you're not. I appreciate you taking the time
listening through these things. These are fascinating questions
to me and to other people who think like me.
(39:36):
And we call those people correct.
If you appreciate what we do, ifyou like this, subscribe and
send it to some friends and repost and like and hit that
bell. Whatever I'm supposed to say.
More people need to hear interesting things.
Thanks for joining us on Ideological and we will see you
(39:56):
soon.
Most people have no idea why they get up and grind every day.
You don't have the infinite capacity to be happy.
If you will not find the thing that excites you to keep living,
then you don't deserve to be happy.
(00:27):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Ideological Podcast.
See how happy I am? We're talking about?
Look, I'm smiling. So sometimes you can be really
creepy if you smile but don't smile with your eyes.
So you do something like this, someone tells a joke and you go
and it looks really creepy. Welcome to the ideological
(00:47):
podcast. If this is the first time you've
ever listened to this, this is avery strange introduction.
Why are we doing these weird things?
Why am I smiling to like a scarydegree, like a joker degree?
Because today we're going over how to be happy.
Let's do a philosophy of happiness.
Maybe you are happy. Maybe you're a happy person.
(01:08):
Generally, you just want to like, have a balloon and go for
a walk in the park. Maybe you're somebody who's
depressed. You've always struggled with
happiness. You don't actually think there's
much joy in life. Some people listening are more
optimistic, some are more pessimistic.
We're going to ask questions like, does life contain more joy
or more sorrow? We're going to ask, what do you
really want out of life? And so some of the episodes that
(01:31):
we do are very head in the clouds, right?
So if we're going over Hegel, we're just learning about some
interesting philosophy. This one I hope is a bit more
practical, but we're going to betalking about happiness, which
is something that we all want, but we don't really usually
think about it through a philosophical lens.
That's what I love about philosophy.
You can have a philosophy of anything because we're looking
(01:54):
at truth, we're looking at connections, we're looking at
implications. And so I'm going to go over
something like 13 thoughts randomly about happiness.
And we're going to do a philosophy of happiness.
So how to be happy. Let's learn from smarter people
than us in the past. All right, look at that.
Look at that smile. This episode's brought to you by
(02:16):
teeth. Teeth keep them in your mouth.
The tooth fairy, by the way, is really kind of creepy when you
think about it. Like, what's, what's she or he?
Could we, I mean, we say the tooth fairy like she's a she.
I don't know that that's official.
It could be some dude What? What?
What's she doing with all these teeth?
(02:36):
I mean she uses them to like, cast a spell or curse her
enemies. We don't know.
Stop giving your teeth to fairies.
OK, so random thoughts about happiness.
You ready? Here's the first one.
What do humans want more than anything else in the world?
The short answer is happiness. It is the thing that we're all
(03:00):
trying to get. In fact, the reason we do
everything else is to be happy. Now, by the way, some people
will say, well, it's not about happiness, it's about joy.
Philosophically, those are the same things.
I don't care if you call it joy,if you call it happiness, if you
call it lasting pleasure, I, I don't care.
That's a variable to me. I'm going to use the terms
interchangeably. We want to be happy.
It's why we do everything, right?
(03:22):
Everything. Why do you want more money?
Because you think it will make you happy.
Why do you want to get married if you're single?
Because you think it will make you happy.
Why do you want to get divorced if you don't have a good
marriage? Because you think that will make
you happy. Why do you want to have kids?
Because you think that will makeyou more happy than not having
kids. In fact, I'm going to say
something strong. Even the person who commits
(03:42):
suicide thinks that whatever is on the other side of that bullet
is better than what they're going through now.
There, there's still a sense they think it's better than what
they're going through now. Like meaning this life produces
more sadness than death in a sense.
They think that happiness, even if it's non existence, is on the
other side of that bullet. It's why we do absolutely
(04:06):
everything Zach. I don't care about happiness.
I just want to succeed. I want to be a legend.
Do you know why? Because that thought makes you
happy. It is the thing for which we do
everything else is happiness. So it's very, very important.
It's why we do all the other things.
It's why we put up with all the other stupid stuff in life is
because we want to be happy. So knowing that that's kind of
(04:26):
the goal universally for humans is pretty powerful.
That's the first step. So that's the first point.
Very basic, but very helpful #2 let's talk about how most people
think that they will be happy. Most people are super, super
stupid when it comes to pursuinghappiness.
(04:47):
I had this conversation with a lot of so I, I know a weird
amount of super rich guys and you know, no big deal when you
look as handsome as this and you, you know, you're a scholar
then like people just want a piece of your time.
And I have a conversation that goes something like this with
different friends and different people that I know that are
generally wealthier. What do you want out of life?
(05:08):
That's what I asked them and they say I want more money.
And I say, done. I'm a genie, right?
You rub my lamp, wink and I, let's say I make you a
billionaire tomorrow. Somehow I can just snap my
fingers and you have all the money.
Why do you want it? And then they're like, oh, I
don't know. Really.
I don't know if I've ever thought about that.
Maybe. I mean, I I guess if I had the
(05:29):
money then then I wouldn't have to work.
And I'm like, OK, great, let's pretend you have a billion
dollars and you don't ever have to work again.
Great, Now what? Now what do you want to do?
Oh, I don't know, Zach. I've never really thought about
it. I mean, I guess I would like,
like, sleep in and go for a walkwith my family.
(05:50):
And I'm like, hey, bitch, you can do that now pay attention.
You, you've never even thought about this.
Most people have no idea why they get up and grind every day.
They want to make more money so that they don't have to work so
that they can. And here's the answer for most
people. So they can die.
(06:11):
Well, if the goal is to just exist to make money so you can
keep existing and then die, I mean, you can save a lot of time
and just end it now. Like if you want some good
investment advice, buy a gun with one bullet if you have a
billion dollars and you have no other goals.
By the way, this is not an official endorsement of suicide.
Please do not suicide ideological.
Please speak to a mental health professional if you are
(06:33):
suicidal. OK, so do you understand what
I'm saying though? Like it's it's money does not
have use value. It just has what marks, who's
the worst, But it just has what's called exchange value.
It's freedom points. But if you don't know why you
want the freedom points, that's crazy to me.
(06:55):
That's why. Well, Zach, when we use the
money, because then I can buy cool things and then I have
bodily pleasure. I, I can buy a boat and I can
buy, you know, a yacht, which I guess is another boat.
I don't know why I mentioned it twice.
I could buy an airplane. I could have nice wine and a
cool house. And I'm like, yeah, great.
You think things make you happy.Don't get me wrong, not having
(07:18):
anything does not make you happy.
But the things eventually wear off.
Like I I know guys who just cry in a bigger house like it
doesn't make you happy. And we know that, but we do it
anyway. We just jump from thing to thing
to thing, like a high, like a drug, and then it goes away.
So if I say great, you want money, why you want, you want
some things, cool. What do you want out of those
(07:40):
things? You want to be happy and yet you
know they don't produce happiness and you pursue it
anyway because you don't have anything that makes life worth
living. Oh dear.
We're going to talk more about that in a second.
Think about that though. How do you have long term
happiness? How do you have something that
doesn't just fade right away like a hit?
Meth is awesome I've heard, I'venever done it, I have all my
(08:04):
teeth, but I've heard that it's like at six hour high like the
highest you can get and it feelsgreat until it ruins your life
and you die. Third thing to think about, let
me ask you this question, is your happiness determined 100%
(08:24):
by you, 100% by your mental state, by by skin in, by you?
Or is part of it determined by things outside of you?
We've got a whole lesson on Stoicism.
You should listen to it if you want to be smarter.
But here's something that peoplemisunderstand.
Stoicism is not saying never have emotions, OK?
The Stoics thought that there were appropriate emotions and
(08:47):
such. Really the question of Stoicism
comes down to this, is your happiness 100% dependent upon
you or is dependent upon things outside your control?
So for somebody like Aristotle, your happiness at least
partially, was dependent on things outside your control.
Are you healthy? Are you, for Aristotle, a male?
(09:09):
He didn't think a woman could beas happy as a man.
You know, do you have education?Do you have certain social
status, etcetera. Some of these things that are
outside of your control, he thought were necessary to really
be happy. Well, the Stoics would say no,
100% of your happiness is mental.
You can sit on the beach stressed and not be happy.
(09:31):
Conversely, you can be in a prison.
And if your mind is joyful, if you walk according to virtue and
duty, you can be happy. So which one is it?
Is it? Do you determine your happiness
100%, and if so, that means you can change it?
Or do you not determine it 100% and if so, that means you might
be able to change it? Can you change your
(09:52):
circumstances? Can you change your mindset?
You know, even if it doesn't make up 100% of your happiness.
Interesting thought, forethoughtabout happiness.
Here's a bombshell from Aristotle.
Listen to this. Even if I if I ask you this
question, are you happy? You know what you just did?
(10:13):
You just gave a subjective answer.
You said, how am I feeling? And you think that's happiness.
Here's Aristotle's bombshell with happiness.
You ready? What if happiness is not
subjective at all? What if it is objective?
What if happiness has nothing todo with a feeling of happiness
which comes and goes? Your feelings are powerful, but
(10:35):
they lie to you a lot. You can have inappropriate
feelings. What if happiness is not
subjective at all and it's not afeeling?
What if it is objective? What if happiness is whatever it
means to have human flourishing?If you understand this, this
will change your life. What if being happy is being
(10:58):
good at humaning? Being a flourishing human, what
he called eudaimonia. And it's not just like this
feeling of happiness or something.
It's like you're flourishing as a human.
What if happiness is objective? Then you could look at your life
and say, hey, where am I not humaning?
Well, maybe I don't have the right kind of job.
Maybe I am not leading my familylike I should.
(11:20):
Maybe I'm not in shape. Maybe I don't have enough time
to read and grow my mind. Maybe I don't know any other
languages or play any instruments.
Maybe I need to be a better human and then not care about
what my feelings tell me, 'causeyour feelings can lie to you and
instead say this is happiness. Now this would be radical.
You could go up to somebody and they would say, you know what?
(11:40):
I OK, so, so let's take, let's take somebody who's like, you
know, my three-year old son sayshe's a girl.
So we're going to go ahead and do a sex change operation even
though he's 3 and that will makehim happy.
What if happiness was objective human flourishing and not
subjective? Then you wouldn't have to worry
about how they felt. You would just say no lopping
(12:02):
off body parts for no reason. For somebody that can't consent
and doesn't understand things yet, maybe that's not the best
option, right? Because objectively, they would
not be flourishing as a human. That is fascinating what we find
out. Like the reason that Aristotle's
really smart here, you say, Zach, I totally disagree.
(12:24):
Happiness has to be you feeling happy.
At the end of the day. It's subjective because certain
people find happiness in other things.
And I say, really? So a pedophile who is happy
harming children, you think that's what they should do
because it makes them happy? What if their happiness meter is
broken? What if, like, I, I don't know
(12:47):
that I don't know that, that, that actually, I don't know that
your subjective feelings are actually correct.
Oh, Zach, if I just had all the money, then I'd be happy.
Really. You think Jeffrey Epstein was
happy? Should he have been happy?
Or was he happy and evil things which actually make you unhappy,
but he just doesn't know 'cause he thinks it makes him happy
(13:08):
because he's looking at happiness subjectively, like
you, instead of objectively likeAristotle.
Aristotle greater than Zion. Epstein.
OK, so think about that. Number 5 is happy.
Listen to this. Is happy the default state of
our lives? And should we feel like
something is off when we are nothappy?
(13:29):
This is a weird thing. We assume that something's going
wrong in life anytime we're not happy.
Like we think that should be thenormal default.
I'm not sure that's true. Ready.
I think most of life is just life.
Most of life if you just say, hey, how you doing?
Sometimes I'm doing great, sometimes I'm doing terrible.
Most of the time I'm just like existing.
(13:50):
Well, like I'm, I'm doing work. I'm kind of bored.
I'm mad at this person. I would like normal life isn't
always happy. Happy is like the good parts of
life. But if you realize that maybe
you don't feel so terrible aboutyourself all the time because
maybe nothing's wrong with you. Life, just life's sometimes.
I think that's a fascinating question.
(14:11):
Should that be the default? Like if someone's like, how are
you? We just say, fine.
But if you're like, hey, I'm normal, like I'll be happy
later, I'll have a glass of wine, tell some jokes with
friends, then I'll be happy. Is happy a default state for
you? It's what we strive for, but we
strive for it because a lot of times we don't have it.
To what extent should you naturally be happy?
(14:32):
I think that's a fascinating andfantastic question.
Now listen to this next one. Whoo, this is a big one.
You ready? To what degree does brain
chemistry, upbringing, personality, temperament,
culture and education affect your ability to be happy?
(14:54):
What like, I think we like to think that we just have this
like not linked to anything elsetype of libertarian free will
regardless of your worldview. But I mean, doesn't your brain
chemistry determine certain things?
Like it's wild to me that somebody can be depressed, take
medicine and then not be depressed, or at least not as
(15:15):
much. They didn't do anything.
They, they, they just got some different brain chemistry.
What about your temperament? Some people like, and dude, you
see it if you have kids, you'll have two kids, very similar
genetics, same family, same nurture, same upbringing.
And like, one will be super feisty and rebellious and the
other will be super compliant. Or one will be really funny and
the other will be really serious.
Like, what do you have to do with your temperament?
(15:38):
What about your culture? What about your education?
What about like traumas and things that have happened to you
when you're younger? Like, where do these things
shape your happiness? Are there some people that won't
be able to be happy even if theyreally try because they're just
fighting biology? Like to what degree does do
those things affect who you are?We like to think that so.
(16:01):
So to say it another way, I always like to say this to
stress people out when it comes to the philosophical problem of
free will. I think we have free will.
And I'm just like, if you're free to do what you want, which
I'm not sure that you are, but let's go with that for a second.
You're not free to want what youwant.
Like if you're free to do what you want, you're not free to
(16:22):
want what you want. Do you 100% fully determine your
wants? They're not determined at all.
Like your food choices and your favorite food wouldn't change at
all if you had been born in India or China or Somalia or
England where the food is awful.Love England, great people,
great education and the food is like really makes me want to
(16:48):
drown in the British Navy. OK, there you go.
Next number 7 is happiness, eventhe thing that is most valuable.
OK, let me let me ask you a little scenario here.
Let's say, OK, let's say you could be Tiger Woods.
(17:12):
OK, you're Tiger Woods and people will talk about you being
the best golfer for 300 years. The cost of that, though, is
that you do not have subjective happiness and everyone you love
in your life you never get to see again.
Never see your spouse, never seeyour if you're not like
girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, whatever you are.
(17:33):
Don't get to see your kids, don't get to see mom or dad,
don't get to see best friends. All the ones you have, you never
see them again. But you get to be a legend.
Would you make that trade? Most people say no.
Some people, they'll say yes. Some of this will depend on your
temperament to say yes. Worth it 100%.
(17:53):
Maybe. There are things that actually I
value more than being happy. Tim Grover, who was Michael
Jordan's mental coach, one of the things that he points out is
he's like, forget happiness. I don't care about happiness at
all. I don't give a damn about
happiness. I care about winning.
I care about success, I care about accomplishment.
(18:14):
That's it. I can be miserable and die early
and whatever. I don't care.
I will say that my life is successful if I'm winning.
What about that thought? Are there some things?
Self sacrifice, being a martyr, are those things more important?
This is like a David Goggins. He's like, I'm miserable, I'm
not happy. I do this so that I don't hate
(18:35):
myself when I look in the mirroris that, does that play into
happiness? Now here's the pushback on that
that I would give. If you're like, Yep, that's me.
Why does Tim Grover want to win or be a legend 'cause that
thought makes him happy. Why does Goggins want to be this
tough ultra marathon runner, youknow, former Navy SEAL guy, even
(18:56):
though he says he's miserable, because that thought gives him
some sort of value to himself, which makes him a little bit
happier than not doing it. I don't know if you can get away
from that happiness principle. Even if you say I don't care
about happiness, I care about, you know, my legacy, OK, So like
to not have the legacy would make you less happy.
OK, that's still happiness. So think about that.
(19:19):
What do you think? You know, the comments and such
below 1 must consider this is number 81 must consider not just
the quantity of pleasure, but the quality.
OK, so we've got a whole lesson on John Stuart Mill again, of
course, you should go listen to it.
You might not know who that is. It's an underrated episode.
It's got a lot of really good things there.
And but that's more about his his views of liberty.
(19:43):
One of the things that he does with his ethic is he does a good
job saying we can't just take into account the quantity, how
much pleasure we have to take into account the quality.
Meaning, let's say it another way.
Let's say that there's somethingthat gives you a little bit of
joy, like like check this out. Look at this little look at this
(20:05):
little squishy thing. It's just a little stress ball.
It's a Penguin. Adorable.
I get a tiny amount of pleasure by squishing this thing and it
sounds like crunch snow. Listen.
Awesome. That doesn't match the pleasure
of like winning a battle in a war.
(20:26):
That doesn't match the the pleasure of finishing, you know,
a doctoral dissertation. That doesn't match the pleasure.
Like watching pro wrestling while having a Bud Light does
not feel the same as like winning the Medal of Honor
because you did something brave in battle or, you know, even
even Bud Light, which I don't even think is a a pleasure.
(20:46):
I think it's just a pain becausethere's no flavor that that
can't match having a, a glass of, you know, Chateau Mouton or,
or Chateau Lafitte or Screaming Eagle or some sort of fancy
wine. So like we have to take into
account not just pursuing pleasure, but the quality, not
just the quantity, the quality of the pleasure.
(21:08):
The way it's often said. This is a slight misquote from
what he says, but it's it's a helpful way to remember it.
Would you rather be a pig satisfied or Socrates
dissatisfied? Meaning you get to choose.
So again, I'm the genie. You rub my lamp, wink.
And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna grant you this one wish,
but you have to pick these one of one of these two options.
On the one hand, I can make you a pig.
(21:30):
And as a pig you can have all the food and sex you want, food,
sex, sleep, mud, whatever pigs love.
But your pleasure capacity will only be that of a pig.
Or you can be a human, a smart human, someone like Socrates,
and be dissatisfied, but know you're dissatisfied so that you
can't have all the food and sex and, you know, comfort, whatever
(21:53):
that you want. You have a higher capacity
threshold. Your ceiling is higher because
you're a human and not a pig. Which one do you choose #9
Listen to this. Does overcoming adversity and
hardship produce a type of pleasure?
(22:15):
If so, OK, so. So let me pause there real
quick. So a lot of times we think, OK,
adversity, hard things in life are actually good.
They suck when you're going through it.
We don't like them per SE. We don't like them simplicity or
we don't like them when we, you know, just have pain for pain's
sake. But they produce something in us
that we like, right? You train to run a marathon and
then you successfully run the marathon.
You've overcome some mental barriers and some physical
(22:37):
barriers or you go through something really tough and it
makes you stronger or you work really hard in academics and
then all of a sudden you, you know more and you're a clear
thinker and you're able to teachor whatever it is.
We, we have a tendency to think that those things overcoming
this adversity is good. And it might be, here's a
question for you, and this is for those of you that are, are
(22:58):
more religious. What about the idea of heaven or
some sort of afterlife where youdon't have adversity to
overcome? Does it therefore lose value?
Did the adversity ever have value?
Was the value found in the good thing you got from it and not
from the bad thing? Right.
Like maybe the, the it's not that you like overcoming
(23:18):
adversity. You like just getting whatever
bad thing was already out of your way.
The adversity was just a way, a bad way to fight a bad thing.
What do you think #10 Listen to this one.
I think this one's very important.
Does the world contain more pleasure or more pain is most of
(23:41):
life? This is really kind of the
question philosophically. Is life more pleasure or more
pain? Is it primarily good or
primarily bad? This is an important question.
If you think that life is primarily good and there are
some bad things, that's going tobe very different when it comes
to your happiness versus if you think life is primarily bad and
(24:02):
has some good moments. Is the only reason that you
don't kill yourself because you're scared of death, not
because you actually love life? OK, the Question of Pessimism
and suffering, a book I'd highlyrecommend to you if if you're a
nerd. It is academic, but it's great.
Dark Matters by Mara Vanderlut, who's a prophet.
(24:23):
Saint Andrew's very bright. She's a, she's a early modern
scholar. So my my speciality is the early
modern period and philosophy as well.
So I really appreciate her work.But she does a great job tracing
the ideas of pessimism and optimism really throughout the
Enlightenment and beyond. And so is life main?
(24:43):
Like, if you think about it, seems like life is mainly just
kind of not great. You get up and you're tired,
Then you work at a job that evenif it's a good job, still a job.
And then there's some good things through the day, right?
You get to eat lunch, you get togo home and maybe watch a show.
And then there's like all this hard stuff and it's like people
hurting you fear, sickness, anxiety, like all these other
(25:05):
things. Especially when you include all
the mental suffering. We do have a tendency to think
that suffering is primarily likephysical.
Most of your suffering is mental.
Most of it is the anxiety, the depression, the fear, the
betrayal. Like I I I can go a long time
without physically feeling bad. It is hard for me to go more
(25:26):
than an hour without thinking negative thoughts.
Does the world contain more pleasure or pain?
And by the way, if it contains more pain, is it worth it when
you bring a child into the world?
If the world is primarily bad, should you not have kids
instead? Or if the world is primarily?
Or do you say, you know what theworld is primarily bad, but
(25:49):
bringing a kid into the world isstill worth it for some other
reason? Let the you, you know, comment
you but but give us give us yourthoughts, blah, blah, blah.
OK, let's go through a few more.Listen to this one.
Is optimism wicked? Is optimism wicked?
Whoa, Zach, why would it be wicked?
(26:12):
Optimists and pessimists like tofight each other.
And people have a tendency to think the pessimists are the
ones that are bringing everyone down, right?
Like you're making our lives worse 'cause you're focusing on
the bad stuff. There's some pessimists that say
no, no, no, no, no. That's absolutely the the other
way around. So let's use Arthur
Schopenhauer, who's like the poster boy for philosophical
(26:33):
pessimism. Schopenhauer is an interesting
figure. He looks totally like a mad
scientist with his crazy hair. You know, you know, the Germans
that you got to, you got to, yougot to keep an eye on them
sometimes. But Arthur Schopenhauer,
basically, he thought that life vacillated between pain and
boredom. That's most of life, pain and
(26:55):
boredom. Well, that sucks.
Pain and boredom, like pain, is when your desires are unmet,
right? There's something you want that
you don't have. We don't just need physical
pain. That's a type of psychological
pain. There's something I really want
and I can't have it or don't have it.
That's a type of pain. And then when our desires are
met, then we get bored with it. So we really want a new car.
(27:16):
We don't have it. So it's a type of pain.
And then we get it and it's exciting for like a week and
then we're bored and we want something else.
So life is just moving back and forth between pain and boredom
for Schopenhauer. You know, so this is like this
dude. I mean, he, he just, I don't
know, he needs to like, get a popsicle and like, go on a walk,
(27:38):
stand in the sunshine a little bit.
He's a, he's a negative guy, buthe really thinks that pleasure
isn't, it is really just the absence of pain, which is the
dominant state in our lives. So we, it's not that pain is the
absence of pleasure. Most of our lives is just pain
or boredom, like we're anxious or we're bored.
That's kind of it. We're we're frustrated.
(27:59):
We are usually not content. That's a good way to say it.
Most of life is discontentment. We finally get something we
want, it lets us down, the bad things, the things we're afraid
of, and the pains are way worse than we thought they would be.
And the good things kind of let us down and they're not as good
as we thought they would be. This is all Schopenhauer.
And and so he has this view thatlike pains, the state of our
life and pleasures, just when there's not that pain, right?
(28:20):
It's not like actually that positive.
It's just who you get a break from the constant pain.
What's interesting, though, is within the pessimist tradition,
which is a tradition, and PierreBale, who's who I love, who's
one of my favorite philosophers,he does a good job of
highlighting this even before Schopenhauer.
(28:41):
Like maybe the pessimists are actually being honest and it's
the optimists who are making things worse, right?
Like what the optimists do is now, in addition to a difficult
life, they just put one more burden on you, which is now it's
your fault. Now, if you were just better, if
you could just muster up the strength, if you could just
(29:02):
conjure up better thoughts, thenyou would also be happy.
And an optimist that's kicking someone while they're down, like
that's, that's worse. If somebody has cancer and
you're like, hey, also you shouldn't have cancer.
You're like, thank you. And so sometimes what the
pessimist will do is they'll kind of flip it and they're
like, no, no, no, no. My view actually allows us to
(29:22):
sympathize with other people whoare suffering.
So it's actually the gracious kind view, your view, the fake
rainbows and butterflies. Put a Band-Aid on it.
But life mainly sucks for most people.
Is is wrong. Schopenhauer has this this great
quote. I'm going to quote it for you
here. He says I cannot here withhold
(29:42):
the statement that optimism, where it is not merely the
thoughtless talk of those who harbor nothing but words under
their shallow foreheads, seems to be not merely an absurd but
also a really wicked way of thinking, a bitter mockery of
the unspeakable sufferings of mankind.
Wow. So again.
(30:05):
Now, having said that, it seems like people I know who are
optimistic are happier, like it seems like people who are
winners are, they expect to win.Like they, they, they just,
they, they don't get in their own way.
You'll find that a lot of super rich people are very optimistic.
(30:27):
Now, don't get me wrong, there are pessimistic rich people.
A lot of people I know that havemoney are super optimistic
because they just expect to win.They expect life is going to
work out. So they approach life that way.
And guess what? Things happen because of how
they present themselves, their plans, their lack of stress,
whatever it might be. So is Schopenhauer right?
(30:48):
Next, two more Does religion make someone happy?
Does religion make someone happy?
I'm not giving an answer this tosay yes or no.
I'm I'm posing this question foryou to think, OK, would that
make you happy? You have something if it's true,
that can't be taken away. Or can it be taken away?
(31:10):
It'll depend on your religious tradition.
Are there religious people that are miserable?
Yeah. Are there religious people that
are happy? Yeah.
Are there non religious people that are miserable?
Yeah. Are there non religious people
that are happy? Yeah.
Does that determine your happiness?
Does it determine your happiness?
Now? Is it one of those things where
(31:32):
no, you're you're not even from a religious view, you're not
supposed to be happy now that's like a later thing that's like
the the next life or, or whatever it is.
But like, what about now? Can you grow in happiness
forever? So take this idea of like some
sort of positive afterlife, heaven or you know, if you're a
(31:53):
Muslim paradise or Abraham's bosom, it's sometimes called in
Judaism. Or maybe you're reincarnated
into something cooler, you know,if you're Hindu or whatever.
Like does eventually that, like you don't have the infinite
capacity to be happy? Like as a human, as somebody
who's limited your, your happiness can't grow forever,
(32:17):
even if God exists and even if he's infinite, you're not.
And so your capacity at some point caps out How, how does
that work? Like does that, does that make
you happy? Is, is happiness not to be found
here at all and just to be foundin the next life?
If so, does that make suffering down here easier to figure out?
Or does it make it worse? Because why is there suffering
(32:37):
here to begin with? These are all good questions.
I sure hope you figure it out. Hoo Hoo.
Let's take a little stress break.
I need a good name. If you want to comment on what
we should name this little squishy Penguin.
I'm I'm, I'm all ears because hehas none.
OK, this episode's brought to you by Penguins.
Penguins. They are actually very
(32:58):
aggressive and the mothers smother their children 'cause
they just mother so hard. Last 113, you ready?
Here we go I want to end with this question.
Despite everything we just talked about, most people
listening to this are not going to be happy and you so so my
question is why won't you be happy?
Why won't you decide to figure out what happiness is Zach, I'm
(33:22):
not happy. I don't know now based on your
lecture, if like we're even supposed to be happy.
I don't know how to be happy I don't know if it's objective or
subjective cool. At least you're asking the
question though. If you want to be happy and
you're not, you should be doing everything in your power to
figure out what that is. Right, wrong, or indifferent.
Don't just sit there and die. Like I said, if your goal in
(33:45):
life is to exist and make money so you can keep existing and
keep making money so you can exist and then just die, you can
save a lot of time and not go. If your goal in life is to die,
you don't have to keep waiting. Again, there's not an advocation
for suicide. It's a philosophical question
that I'm trying to get you to think about.
Some of you will never be happy because you have no purpose or
(34:05):
goal. I didn't even tell you what the
goal should be. Maybe it's religious, maybe it's
non religious, maybe it's related to others, maybe it's
related to self. I I don't know.
I'm just telling you, You aren'teven asking the question.
You're too busy just being in the matrix, getting up each
morning and grinding. Some of you will never be happy
(34:25):
because you're lazy to actually do what you would want to be
happy, to lose that weight, to do something successful in your
career, to get them to get more education, to have a bigger
influence, whatever. You're just not willing to wake
up an extra hour or early or sayno to something that you want.
So why won't you be happy? The answer for some of you is,
(34:45):
is just pure laziness. Why won't you be happy?
Here's one. Here's another reason.
Some of you prefer to live in a little bit of pain the rest of
your life instead of going through a short season of a lot
of pain and then being free. Let me say that again.
Some of you prefer to have a little bit of pain the rest of
(35:08):
your life instead of going through a season of ripping off
the Band-Aid of maybe something that is going to be really
painful. Maybe it's a conversation you
don't want to have. Maybe it's a relationship that's
unhealthy. Maybe it's a job that you hate.
Maybe it's whatever. Why won't you be free?
Well, Zach, that's going to hurt.
Well, yeah, you're going to hurteither way.
Do you want a little bit of hurtforever, or do you want like, a
(35:29):
lot of hurt for a short season and then freedom?
Some of you won't be happy because you're not willing to
RIP off that Band-Aid. Do you feel guilty when you're
having fun? Some of you don't want to be
happy because you feel guilty. You feel like it's bad.
You would rather not feel guiltysome of you won't be happy
(35:51):
because you spend all your time pursuing things that don't bring
joy, that don't bring happiness,right?
Like instead of doing that big thing that could make you happy,
you'd rather just do boring stuff, check sports stats on
your phone and like whatever. There's nothing wrong with that.
By the way, that's not like a judgement thing.
(36:12):
I'm just saying life is probablybigger than that.
What do you want? And here's another one.
Let me say it's stronger. You ready?
Again, I'm not advocating for suicide.
Do not sue me. If you kill yourself, don't kill
yourself. Talk to somebody.
You know, there's there's, there's, there's people out
there. Many of you look at me or open
(36:33):
your ears if you're just listening instead of looking at
this brilliant, beautiful face that I video every time.
You know, it takes more work to have video, but it's fine for
those of you just, you know, spotifying or doing the whole
like listen to the YouTube without watching a thing.
Some of you will never be happy because you haven't found a
reason not to commit suicide. You haven't found a reason not
(36:57):
to commit suicide. You're just existing.
You don't have a reason why you're existing.
This is why Albert Camus, who isso much fun to read as a
philosopher, and his work The Myth of Sisyphus, which by the
way, if you're going to get intoCamus, you got to read The Myth
of Sisyphus, The Stranger and the Rebel.
At least he's got others. But those those three, I'd
highly recommend listen to this.He says this in the Myth of
(37:20):
Sisyphus is a very famous quote,but I think it's it's important.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that
is suicide. Judging whether life is or is
not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental
question of philosophy. Whoa, that's enormous.
Here's what he's saying. Camus, he's an atheist.
(37:42):
So there is no other life after this.
There is no God, so your life iskind of pointless.
It's absurd. Absurdism is, is related to
Camus. We live, we pass on our genes
for no purpose 'cause there's nothing beyond this life.
No matter what you have, you're going to lose it, and then
you're going to be forgotten in a few generations, and then we
die. Well, that leads to the question
of why not then commit suicide? Like, why?
(38:04):
Why do that if it's absurd? Camus's answer is objectively,
it's hard to like. Like his answer is you kind of
make your own value by though, though you know, it's absurd.
You find a way to deal with lifethe way you decide to deal with
it. We've got more on on this Myth
of Sisyphus thing elsewhere, butthat's the idea with Camus.
(38:28):
Let me say it's stronger and I will end with this.
Are you ready if you will not take the time to wrestle?
If you will not take the time tofind whether it's right or
wrong, No judgement, whether it's religious or not religious.
What if you will not find time to figure out your purpose,
(38:51):
goal, or vision in life? Listen, then.
You don't deserve to be happy ifyou will not if you don't know
why you're doing anything. Most people just exist because
they're not good at anything. Most people like even if they
were billionaires, they would just sit in a room and put
numbers in a computer on a spreadsheet because it would
make them feel because they theydon't have other skills.
(39:13):
If you will not find the thing that excites you to keep living,
then you don't deserve to be happy.
Wow you you. This was titled like how to be
happy and maybe now you're not. I appreciate you taking the time
listening through these things. These are fascinating questions
to me and to other people who think like me.
(39:36):
And we call those people correct.
If you appreciate what we do, ifyou like this, subscribe and
send it to some friends and repost and like and hit that
bell. Whatever I'm supposed to say.
More people need to hear interesting things.
Thanks for joining us on Ideological and we will see you
(39:56):
soon.
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