“Primates are super smart and organized just enough to devote their free time to being miserable to each other and stressing each other out,” he said. “But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, you’re going to compromise your health. So, essentially, we’ve evolved to be smart enough to make ourselves sick.”

He backs up his assertions with baboon studies he’s done.  But, why baboons you ask?

“The reason baboons are such good models is, like us, they don’t have real stressors,” he said. “If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don’t mess with you much. What that means is you’ve got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop. So the baboon is a wonderful model for living well enough and long enough to pay the price for all the social-stressor nonsense that they create for each other. They’re just like us: They’re not getting done in by predators and famines, they’re getting done in by each other.”

It turns out that unhealthy baboons, like unhealthy people, often have elevated resting levels of stress hormones. “Their reproductive system doesn’t work as well, their wounds heal more slowly, they have elevated blood pressure and the anti-anxiety chemicals in their brain, which have a structural similarity to Valium, work differently,” Sapolsky said. “So they’re not in great shape.”

A great talk on the nature of suffering with correlations between Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish systems of belief and practice.  The formal talk is followed by a reading of some amazing new poems (even if you’re not usually into poetry these are quite good!).  I have a hunch that Fischer will resonate with fans of John Darnielle / The Mountain Goats, as both have a striking, compassionate way of crafting new mythological characters in an endearing first-person narrative.

Complete talk available here from Dharmaseed.org or cut into smaller mp3′s below.

01 – Talk on Suffering

02 – Intro To Poems

03 – Prayer To Remove Fear And See The World’s Beauty

04 – Prayer For My Wife

05 – Prayer Of Gratitude

06 – Prayer For Laborers

07 – Closing Comments

If you haven’t yet watched this extraordinary BBC documentary by the masterful Adam Curtis, do yourself a favor. Excerpt from Wikipedia: The Century of the Self asks deep questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitude to fashion and superficiality. The business and, increasingly, the political world uses PR to read and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people’s rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how, by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population. He cites a Wall Street banker as saying “We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.” Unfortunately, due to copyright laws, this video is prohibited for sale in the U.S. However, thanks to internet, you can watch the whole series here!

Part One – Happiness Machines

Part Two – The Engineering of Consent

Part Three – There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He must be Destroyed

Part Four – Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering

Posted by: Benjamin

I’ve recently discovered the work of Slavoj Zizek.  Žižek is well known for his use of the works of 20th century French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in a new reading of popular culture.

This documentary on YouTube is a great introduction to his energetic theories and cultural critique. If you enjoyed learning about Freud’s effect on 20th century American industry and consciousness in Adam Curtis’ Century of the Self (A must-watch!), you must see where Slavoj Zizek takes the theories of Jacques Lacan (one of Freud’s famous disciples).

Why is this useful? Because Zizek breaks down the psychology of enjoyment, religion, diversity, and true freedom in 21st century context; subjects quite relevant to America, if it plans to make it through the rough patches with skill and grace. Don’t get me wrong, this man is not without controversy. Post your opinion about Zizek after you watch him, let’s talk.

Benjamin