I’m still reeling from excitement that my friend Coleman Hughes’ podcast is now part of The Free Press network. (And loved being his first guest post-relaunch!) This holiday weekend, I urge all of you to listen to his most recent episode, featuring happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks. In today’s piece, Coleman explains how his conversation with Arthur changed the way he thought about himself. —BW
I’ve done my fair share of therapy in life—two years in fact. And I can say that in my case, it served its purpose. Even the harshest critics of therapy—like the very sharp Abigail Shrier—concede that talk therapy can be useful for addressing specific, acute problems. And at 19 years old, after the death of my mother, I did indeed find it useful—until my therapist started dozing off during our sessions, but that’s a story for another time.
What I have never done is a public therapy session. And that is what my recent Conversations with Coleman podcast with Arthur C. Brooks turned into. About halfway through the podcast, Brooks—an expert on the science of happiness—asked me if I wanted to play a self-knowledge game based on Thomas Aquinas’s concept of the four worldly idols.
Well, who could say no to that?
Brooks explained that there are four earthly desires that lead people astray: power, wealth, pleasure, and honor. None of these things are inherently evil. But if you obsess over any one of them, they will destroy your life.