Jordan Peterson sits down with professor, author, and columnist Dr. Arthur Brooks. They discuss the physicality of happiness, how aim sets perception, the paradox of progress, the need for proper discernment, and how sustained maturity sets you up for the adventure of your life.
Dr. Arthur Brooks began his professional life as a classic French hornist. He left college at age 19, touring and recording with the Annapolis Brass Quintet and, later, the City Orchestra of Barcelona. While still performing in his late 20s he returned to school and achieved a Ph.D. by 34. Brooks is now the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of the Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. He is also a columnist at the Atlantic and the author of 14 books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier” (2023).
This episode was filmed on January 7th, 2025.
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| Links |
For Dr. Arthur Brooks:
On X https://x.com/arthurbrooks/highlights
Website https://arthurbrooks.com/
Dr. Brooks’ most recent book Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier https://a.co/d/e5fJY2R
| Chapters |
(0:00) Coming up
(0:32) Intro
(3:26) Studying happiness and behavioral psychology
(7:38) Trying to think of prayer technically: aim and action
(11:04) “People would rather shock themselves than let their default network run free”
(13:10) How “affect” determines if you should be a surgeon or a poet
(15:28) The aim sets the frame of perception, humans are made for progress — not arrival
(20:37) The paradox of progress
(22:41) Jacob’s vision, discerning proper dreams from destructive nightmares
(33:13) Discernment: the process of discovering your meaning
(36:07) What brought Brooks to a belief in the implicate order
(41:01) Conscience as an orienting function, the evolutionary move toward long-term goals
(46:59) The dominant lobster and what it means to be human
(51:49) Happiness is not gratification: why you should turn from hedonism in a hyper-stimulating world
(59:51) Enjoyment is permeant, pleasure is temporary
(1:03:06) The characteristics of those who cannot feel happiness
(1:05:20) The role of memory creation in the achievement of happiness
(1:06:50) Sustained immaturity manifests as the Dark Tetrad, the criminality falloff
(1:13:50) Meaning must be discovered: “to invent your essence is gnostic heresy”
(1:20:37) Business is another form of human expression, the enterprise of you
(1:25:01) The corruptive lie of starting a business to sell out and retire young
(1:26:01) Use the “What’s your idol?” elimination game to determine what matters most
// LINKS //
Peterson Academy https://petersonacademy.com
ARC https://www.arcforum.com
Books - https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/books/
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