In this episode we examine the Four Four Noble Path in relation to emotions. Reactive emotions are the inevitable human response to suffering, in particular as a defensive mechanism to reinforce the notion of a separate, individual "self".

The Buddha in first teaching relayed his enlightenment insight simply as "I teach suffering and the end of suffering". In the Four Fold Noble Truths he 1) identifies the problem: suffering, 2) points out the root cause of suffering: emotional reaction from habituated patterns, 3) offers the solution to suffering: disassembling the conditioning that underlies the misperception of self and other, and 4) offers a way to effectively implement the solution: a way of freedom from conditioned response known as the Eightfold Noble Path.