Should we be optimistic that we all have the capability to do the, hard but necessary, work of healing from our past trauma? Or should we be pessimistic that the world requires such healing, because pain, suffering, and trauma are so common place? Should we view ourselves as good people because we are willing to do the work to be better each day? Or should we view ourselves as bad people who are just trying to do all we can to make up for the fact that we aren't naturally good?

Those are a some heavy questions, but they are the ones that have consumed my mind since this conversation with Brad-- one of the many benefits of having these thought provoking discussions. Brad (an author who recently wrote a book called The Peaceful Man: Heal Within Yourself the Personal Effects and Historic Patterns of Male-on-Male Violence") stated "healing" as his most important value. He believes that each of us experiences some form of trauma in our lives and if we don't do the work to heal it we end up making decisions from an emotionally unhealthy place. Simply put, humans hurt each other and that creates an unending cycle of unnecessary suffering. Brad takes the optimistic view and believes if we (most notably men who statistically initiate most of the violence) acknowledge this fact and do the work to heal, the world can be a vastly better place.

I very much agree with Brad that if more of us do the work to heal our trauma, and also to account for our natural human imperfections, there would be far less suffering in the world. However, the reason for this show is to take good ideas and dissect them to see if they really can provide tangible value. So Brad and I spent much of the show trying to dig deep on concepts like the inevitability of violence for humans, the double edge sword of humility, and how hard we should be on ourselves when trying to be "better." He had some really insightful views on all of these topics.

Through all of this, I think my main take-away is: suffering is an inevitable part of life, but to Brad's point, let's experience that suffering in an effort to heal ourselves rather than in an effort to hurt others.