Why Pain & Suffering Are Necessary For A Good Life - Paul Bloom - #402

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Howdy, everyone. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Paul Bloom. He's a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, professor emeritus of psychology at Yale University, and an author. People do strange things to feel pleasure. Eating spicy food, having rough sex, watching scary movies. On top of that, they make huge sacrifices to find meaning, like having children or starting a business or training for a marathon. This suggests that perhaps there is more to living a good life than simple hedonistic pleasure. Expect to learn the four ways that we enjoy suffering, how the sexual fantasies of men and women differ, the true red pill around whether more money will make you happier, what you can learn about mindfulness from a dominatrix, why people love to watch sad movies, how a life without discomfort will become hell, and much more. This is a conversation that I'm having so much at the moment. The fact that a hyper-convenient world leads to us actually being miserable. That challenge is inherently something that makes us feel good about life. And Paul's gone so deep with this, finding what he's called the sweet spot in between pleasure and pain, the amount of suffering that we need in order to live a meaningful and enjoyable life. I really hope that you enjoy this. If you do, check out the book. It's a really good read. It's linked in the show notes below as always. And share it with a friend. Share this episode with a friend. And the only way that this show grows is from people like you sharing the episodes with other people like you. In other news, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. There might be something which is interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals. BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist who you can start communicating with in under 48 hours. It's not a crisis line or self-help. It is professional counseling done securely over the internet. You do not know how good your life could be with a therapist helping you to work through problems from your childhood or that issue that you've got at work. They do couples and relationship counseling if you're having troubles at home, whether it's something to do with your relationship with your kids or a family member or just concerned about yourself. BetterHelp has a broader selection of therapists that have expertise which you may not be able to get wherever it is that you are. The service is available for clients worldwide. You can log into your account at any time and send a message to your counselor. You get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus, you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you don't even have to leave the house. BetterHelp is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches so they make it easy and free to change counselors if needed. It's more affordable than traditional offline counseling and financial aid is available. You can get 10% off your first month by going to betterhelp.com/modernwisdom.
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