| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Why Assuming Human Nature Is Good Is Foolish
00:03:40
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|
| Happiness Hour, and the subject is how important the realization that human nature is deeply flawed is to happiness, not just to a moral understanding of the universe. | |
| It's critical, because if you think people are basically good, you're somewhat of a foolish person, and you... | |
| Have decided to ignore all of human history to come to such a truly absurd realization. | |
| Human nature is basically good, is just idiotic and dangerous, because then you blame society, you blame outside forces for all the bad they do. | |
| But I'm not talking about that. | |
| That I've talked about often, and I will again at some point. | |
| I'm talking about happiness. | |
| It's the happiness hour. | |
| If you think people are basically good, you are far more likely to be constantly disappointed. | |
| Whereas if you understand people are not basically good, you are far more likely to be constantly exhilarated. | |
| Big difference, isn't it? | |
| Wow, despite human nature, look at all these good people in my life. | |
| As opposed to, oh, human nature is good. | |
| How did I get stuck with A, B, and C? Not good people or people who do a lot of bad. | |
| That's important. | |
| When I looked at what happened, the massacre of Jews in Israel, the worst day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, the burning alive of families, it's beyond belief. | |
| But it isn't beyond belief to me. | |
| As a student of Jewish history and one who wrote a book on anti-Semitism, this is what, unfortunately, they do. | |
| There's no hatred like Jew hatred. | |
| And it doesn't shock me. | |
| I didn't expect better from Israel's enemies at any time in my lifetime. | |
| They are the heirs to the Nazis. | |
| They want to wipe out the Jews of Israel like the Nazis wanted to wipe out the Jews of Europe. | |
| So my heart breaks for these people. | |
| My heart breaks. | |
| But I'm not stunned. | |
| Surprise is a big factor in unhappiness. | |
| If you're not surprised, you're... | |
| You're more likely to handle it okay. | |
| And it's true in the micro, in your own life. | |
| If you're naive about human nature, you're going to have a lot more unhappiness than if you are rational about human nature. | |
| 1-8 Prager 776 is the number. | |
| How does this strike you as a piece of advice? | |
| Okay, let's see. | |
|
Why Expect Less?
00:01:51
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| Sacramento, California, and Stephen, hello. | |
| Hi, Dennis. | |
| Hi. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | |
| I love this topic because I used to always be angry. | |
| I was angry all the time. | |
| And it was because I expected people to do things. | |
| And an example, one of the days I figured out what my problem was, I always expected people to hold doors open for me. | |
| And if they didn't, I would get angry. | |
| And a lot of times I would say things to them, and it was never pleasant. | |
| And one day, somebody didn't hold doors open for me, and it occurred to me, I was angry because this person didn't act the way I thought people should act. | |
| And then I started looking at all the other things that made me angry, and it was always because people didn't act the way I expected they should. | |
| And so now I don't do that. | |
| Here's how I look at doors and people holding doors for me. | |
| If somebody doesn't hold a door for me, fine. | |
| If they do, I appreciate it. | |
| I don't expect it anymore. | |
| I appreciate it. | |
| And on my Facebook page, my saying is, expect less, appreciate more. | |
| I find ways to appreciate virtually everything. | |
| Like tap water, I appreciate. | |
| I appreciate indoor plumbing. | |
| I appreciate waking up every morning. | |
| I find something to appreciate constantly. | |
| I appreciate having dogs in my life. | |
| Anything. | |
| I mean, the light not being red when I'm in a hurry. | |
| I appreciate things. | |
| I count my blood. | |
| When did you adopt this attitude? | |
| Oh, God. | |
| It was about 10 years ago. | |
| And before that, I was just... | |
| Right. | |
| And what prompted you to adopt it? | |
| Well, like I said, I was walking... | |
| Where I was working, we had like a field trip to another office, a state office. | |
| Oh, all right. | |
| So it was a personal issue. | |
| I was just curious if you'd read something. | |