EF32 SHOW NOTES
Looking to play or download the episode? Click here… EF32 (AMA-EF10): Mind Control Through a Well-Chosen Tattoo and the Unlikely Case of Being Happy Enough — Ask Me Anything for Episode EF10
Episode EF32 Summary
Spoiler alert: You’re about to listen to an Ask Me Anything (AMA) of Episode EF10, which was Season 1, Episode 8 of the Evolve Faster Podcast titled The Road to Happiness is Inked in Suffering. The driving question of this episode (and this BTP) for you to think through is … Does happiness define the good? It’s a fascinating question that actually has surprisingly little research or philosophical investigation.
As a reminder about Episode EF10: Coming from a wealthy family, most others would only dream of the life Alex leads. Every moment is another silver platter where he is handed all the best education, can have his pick of expensive items and to experience seemingly infinite joys. Although grateful for everything, Alex can’t shake the reality he isn’t happy or fulfilled by any of this at all—nor could he really even define what happiness would look like for him. But why? What could possibly be missing when having everything you want? “It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.” This trite expression is one of the modern favorites in a bin of overused cliches we tell ourselves when we start to lack that next hit of happiness. But is it really trite or just misunderstood? Being a cliche doesn’t necessarily make something wrong. Instead, that comes when we don’t actually change things in order to live by the message of such wise life lessons. From Ancient India and Greece, to modern Western Culture, we can find countless theories on what happiness is and how to attain it. So why is our ability to attain it no better today—and, by some measures, on the decline—even after thousands of years of intellectual progress?
The eighth episode of the first season of the Evolve Faster Podcast Episode is driven by the big question Does happiness define the good. Suffering isn’t exactly something we strive to achieve. Yet, we have it at every corner. Is it possible that suffering is more than just an annoying pain we can’t seem to shake?
To peek behind the curtain of Episode EF10, we’ll dissect the following submitted questions:
- Is there a moment where we are happy enough? Or, is there a point when sadness and suffering are less of a problem?
- Do you have a tattoo that makes you look at it, or where did this idea come from? Should I get a tattoo? And if so, what should it say?
- Is technology the reason we’re getting less happy?
- What if I don’t have real suffering in my life? Could this yin-yang be off for me, making happiness elusive?
- Does the Seneca quote mean people who I think are happy really aren’t, and the other way around?
- This memorizing quotes to try and force yourself to become wise (by trying them out) is interesting, does it really work?
- And more…
dedication
DEDICATION: Episode EF10 is dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut, a writer whose ingenuity comes from the purposefully averageness of his perspective. Satirical irony dominates his work, managing to make people laugh out loud and still see the light at the end of some very dark tunnels in the themes of his work.
Kurt Vonnegut quickly emerged as a new star in the world of literature with novels like Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan and Cat’s Cradle. Nevertheless, both before and after fame, Vonnegut struggled with the hardships of a literary writer.
There’s a belief that people with a unique ‘funny bone’ are often the saddest people. Although this sounds like a paradox, happiness likely does come from grief, and it probably works the other way around as well. Thus, Vonnegut’s work is a testimony to this “satirical fact” about life that happiness many times comes at the price of sadness. And what can we do? His writing generally instructs us to laugh, cry and enjoy all the moments as best we can.
It’s impossible to say if Vonnegut managed to incorporate this in his life, but one thing is sure: he’s been making people around the world laugh — and think — for more than half a century.
HOW KURT VONNEGUT INSPIRES EF10
Vonnegut and his work are the proof that life will never be just happy or sad, no matter how miserable or happy life makes us. Life will always be life and we have only one option: to ride the river we’re presented with just like the Episode EF10 protagonist. There’s wishful thinking hardwired into our system that one day life will be painless. Sorry. Vonnegut could have written his novels if that was the case.
If you need a good laugh and a fresh insight into the everyday troubles you’re facing, read some of Vonnegut’s work. You won’t be sorry:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, (1969).
- Cat’s Cradle, (1963).
- Breakfast of Champions, (1973).
- Bluebeard, (1987).
- TED-Ed: Why Should You Read Vonnegut
- Kurt Vonnegut Video Interview
inspirations
INSPIRATIONS: Gustave Flaubert, a novelist who knew that without stupidity it’s extremely hard to be happy. Bertrand Russell, a man of many talents, who understood you have to lack things to be happy. Seneca, a stoic who taught us that nobody is constantly happy; if they seem like they are, they probably have more problems than we think. Buddha, who dedicated his life to teaching for us to be happy, we need to be sad. Episode EF10 was further inspired by Morris Mandel, John Lennon, Wataru Sato, Seneca, Aristotle, Chuang-Tzu, Voltaire, Dante Alighieri, Cliche Tattoos. For a full list of data and references please see Episode EF10 Show Notes.
references
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power. Penguin Classics, 2017.
episode quotes
Any of these quotes make you think? If so, please support the show by sharing…
What makes us become better, smarter and more skillful: the feeling of comfort or the feeling of danger?
Isn’t it time we start accepting suffering as an important element in the equation instead of constantly trying and failing to eliminate it?
People get blinded by what they don’t have and forget the things they do.
Is it possible that we simply fail to notice when we are happy?
We twist happiness into something impossible to attain. What if it’s just a state of mind you need to practice maintaining your entire life?