Dante had a particularly gruesome punishment for the envious: their eyes were wired shut. In this episode of Office Hours, I explore why envy is such a powerful happiness killer—and how to stop feeding it in your own life.
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Where to find Arthur Brooks:
• Website: https://arthurbrooks.com/
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• Email: [email protected]
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
7:15 Dante’s Divine Comedy
11:56 Definition of envy and its purpose
18:46 Benign and malicious envy
24:13 The effects on the brain when you’re feeling envy
28:30 What people envy
33:25 5 ways to be less envious and much happier
45:06 Q&A: Four classic temperaments
46:34 Q&A: Developing your PhD research question
48:40 Q&A: Romantic love: addiction or happiness?
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Referenced:
• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/the-meaning-of-your-life
• Arthur’s newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter
• The Happiness Scale: https://learn.arthurbrooks.com/the-happiness-scale
• Dante’s Purgatorio, Canto 13: http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader?reader%5Bcantica%5D=2&reader%5Bcanto%5D=13
• Josef Epstein.