 So it's two days after the big Roe v. Wade ruling and Things still pretty quiet It's Santa Monica And there's some pretty awesome parks with blacks here If you were an African-American Visiting the Santa Monica Beach in 1900 there weren't many places where you could stay overnight so Santa Monica is still distressingly Distressingly why I mean where's the diversity around here, right? Just just don't see the diversity Sad So there are no African-American doctors or dentists in Santa Monica It's only because of white racism bro. Look at that video of a whole field Where's the diversity? anyway, it's two days now since the big Roe v. Wade ruling and When you walk around life just seems the same Right? You don't notice many many differences Land of our own owning property is considered a sign of success so There's some African-Americans who bought property And we're employed by the United States Postal Service All right, trying for the free market here Yeah, it's two days since Roe v. Wade And life just goes on it just makes me reflect that The news is overwhelmingly not particularly Particularly applicable to our lives right Right Roe v. Wade this momentous ruling That supposedly shook the country to its core and I did see one piece of graffiti On my right here, so there's one piece of graffiti that said Defend Roe v. Wade and fight fascism, but otherwise life goes on I mean, I'm sure there are some riots in LA and some expressions of disappointment but Rulings like Roe v. Wade Then affect life for 99 Point nine percent of people 99 point nine percent of the time Like it's it's quite rare that Anything in the news is particularly of greater fact So I subscribe to all these newspapers and probably spend an hour a day reading These various newspapers like LA Times New York Times And I do it for fun. I Do it for fun. I do it for free. I do it for you. I do it for me So if the news is distressing you then you can just dial it down All right, you can dial back the duration you spend with the news You can dial back the intensity with which you deal with the news you can dial back the frequency So I know the news gets a lot of people really upset and It makes them unhappy They're just like individuals, right? Well situations that make you upset Just dial back the frequency the intensity Duration We're back in Santa Monica, bro Trying to look for some diversity, but It's distressingly Lily White I've been reading a terrific book by Leah Greenfield These are these are prescription glasses, bro. I can see clearly now the rain has gone I've been watching reading this 2013 book By Leah Greenfield a sociologist and it's on mind, culture and madness She makes the point that the freer Freer we are the more likely we are to go mad And so I don't think about times in my life when I've been particularly distressed It's when I've had the most options right when I've settled on a identity and the path then a lot of my mental problems just go away, so when I was Didn't know what I wanted to do with my life That caused confusion and upset But in eighth grade I settled on being a journalist and so having that clear identity for the next Seven or eight years like that really helped my mental health Then I decided I wanted to become a professor so About two or three years that That gave me like clear direction identity Then when I got sick at age 22, I didn't know what I wanted to do then And that was a time of great distress and I started to convert to Judaism and That reduced my freedom in life right This plethora of choices can make you mad. I can just drive you crazy It's a beautiful day here in Santa Monica And so many different ways that I could spend the day and You can drive you a little bit mad Obviously if you have more friends more community more identity then you have fewer choices and You're less likely to be driven mad by all the choices of life in Southern California That is my first time back at the beach Since I got bit by the stingray I'm gonna overcome my trauma What happened to the Sun? It's a beautiful sunny day ten miles away Nothing like a good old breakfast burrito. Oh man, call it with the music. I don't want Don't want copyright claims I'm a very respectable man trying to trying to Need a very respectable life So anyway, yeah, this culture on this book on mind culture and madness makes the point the more free we are More vulnerable we are to going mad because when faced with a plethora of good choices we have abundant opportunities to Feel bad about our choices constantly measure up against What we think alternatives could be on the other hand if we're poor Like we have far fewer choices like poor people aren't spending wildly They don't have the resources to spend it and so she analyzes these stories of madness and They usually like people who are middle class and above like the more choices you have right having having wealth and opportunity like the more more opportunities the more freedom than the more chance you have to feel really Really bad About whatever whatever Decision you've made and so that's why a lot of Psychiatric illness is much more common among among the affluent and among the poor See some beautiful beach out there mate It's learning this gimbal as a Santa Monica pier so Yeah, I'm limited freedom Can really exert a toll on you so I noticed a lot of people really struggling whether they should be religious or secular religious or hedonist and When they're torn between those two choices they tend to be miserable Notice a lot of people say torn between being an orthodox Jew and being secular and That tension makes them miserable It's the choice. Okay. They didn't have a choice. They wouldn't be miserable and I know Jews if you're torn about Continuing on with some very light version of Jewish identity versus getting baptized and converting to Christianity And that choice makes them miserable people torn between choosing between professions Makes them miserable. So this book Which I'll put in the description just Makes that profound point the more freedom more opportunity more miserable people get Because freedom imposes a burden That you're responsible for your position in life if your life choices And you're gonna look around you and you're gonna see people who made a lot better choices than you have Yeah We're back at apricot sky We would have parked the Datsun around here You read box or just listen to audio box both So I'm gonna do a lot of walking today. So I'm gonna be listening to audio box and listening to a book on History of Prussia. So after World War two the Prussian state was Was destroyed by the Allies no more Prussia But prior to that Prussia had a long History going back to the 16th century So I just read listen to an audio book on EO Wilson life of a scientist. So he wrote the classic socio biology But I was reading on my tablet. I like to read on on a tablet or a Kindle iPad I prefer actually to read books on electronics Rather than the hardcover So where I'm coming from it was a bright bright sunshiney day Yeah, not nearly as bright and not nearly as sunshiney So there's orthodox Jews that tend to have particularly strong feelings about Roe v. Wade or abortion in general. It's not It's not something of prime concern. I noticed for orthodox Jews so I can go to synagogue and go to Jewish events and I then encounter a lot of people with With a really strong opinion on Roe v. Wade. So most orthodox Jews would regard abortion definitely as immoral as a form of killing but It's not Not learning passion like it is for many evangelical Christians and Catholics So I had to introduce The Roe v. Wade into the Jewish conversations I had over the Sabbath. It's not a natural It's not a natural topic of conversation so Same with same-sex marriage and a lot of the Christian controversies over sexual morality just doesn't have the same Valence is that the fancy academic word of the same intensity or orthodox Jews So I noticed in orthodox Judaism there's probably a much wider range of moral concerns that they primarily have to do with the the specific behaviors of the individual and less concerned with with politics and They're what a secular government legislates for for all citizens of the country Well for conservative Christians there's much more of an intense concern with issues such as abortion and sexual morality in general So I'm really enjoying Leah Greenfield. She's a scholar of nationalism and She's uncovering that that nationalism Leads to widespread belief in the dignity the individual and with that comes a belief in the equality of all members of a nation and With that comes a belief in Measures of freedom for the individual That the rights come from the nation so you'll notice with human rights campaigners and activists they don't They don't begin with the premise that rights come from the nation state They begin from the premise that there are these universal human rights But there's no entity with any power to enforce these universal human rights only a nation state really bestow rights And it can also take them away depending on the circumstance. That's just the nature of reality So nationalism also breeds Competition so when you watch the World Cup or watch the European Cup or the Olympics you'll see nationalism on wide display as people love competing for their country and so nationalism inspires people to compete for economies to compete for economies to grow right just being static or Indifferent to where your nation ranks among other nations is not general characteristic of nationalism Inspires you to get out and do something you want to show that you're better than Other people and other nations but then though that freedom comes the downside Our people then feel bad about their choices They can't make up their mind between a plethora of choices Then they go crazy So that kind of helped me understand my own life So by converting to orthodox Judaism, I obviously reduced any of my choices in life how I founded a relief to settle on a profession and I remember when I Started training to be an Alexander technique teacher. I'd go in and do daily training for three hours and About two and a half months into that training I quit three of my psychiatric medications and let the Dean let the end on a Dean a lot of Pam and The years I've attributed that to The benefits of studying the Alexander technique on a daily basis Yeah, dog. No leash. That's probably against each rules. Yes. I'm discovering that different groups seem to have differing degrees of Devotions the laws of the land Truly shocking But maybe Going into train. It's an Alexander technique teacher and being around the same people every day gave me a much clearer and firmer more solid more definite identity and also a place to be three hours a day and An intense experience that then colored the rest of my time and so maybe developing that Clearer identity also helped me get off their psychiatric medications and naturally Moderate my my tendencies before that to To a mild version of bipolar So It makes sense to me that having a clear identity and a clear in group you belong to Would be a great Weapon against mental illness that we all contain quote unquote the virus for depression or Schizophrenia or Manic bipolar, but by having a clear identity in a clear in group We're much less likely to succumb to this quote-unquote virus and It also explains why often when people move Their circumstances change they lose a job or lose an in group But they often go mad Right because we don't know what slender strings our sanity hangs by And so maybe you lose one very important person in your life And the loss is profound. So for example Kathy Sype played a huge role in my life between 2002 and 2007 He was a freelance writer. He just introduced me to dozens of people and Took me along to dozens of gatherings and meetings and events and I got to meet the creme de la creme of the Los Angeles journalist scene Had a very active social life through my friendship with Kathy Then the whole time I knew her she had terminal lung cancer. She died in 2007 and Much of my social life died with it and so kind of reminds me of how Various times in my life. I've been adopted like I I've often given off this vibe of the stray dog then I've been adopted and That that stray dog feeling has gone away and with it the mania and the acting out and the attention seeking is moderated and Remember at Kathy Sypes Memorial People would talk about how Kathy liked to adopt stray dogs and this one woman was like looking at me I He knew what I meant and Kathy didn't smoke so Didn't get it from smoking never was a smoker. She died at about age 50. It's a brilliant writer Very smart woman like a good 15 IQ points smarter than me and so Went from having a very active social life when I was connected to Kathy to losing much of my social life And not really being able to make up for it just on my own merits If I ever get tempted say between Living in Sydney or living in Los Angeles We have a good support system in Los Angeles have a good way of life in Los Angeles Good solid ways of earning money Strong community Have lots of places where I feel at home and then if I were to lose all that But be It might really throw me for six It's very normal first three months that you move move to a place that you become filled with anxiety and Much more prone to to depression. So you'll notice people who are prone to anxiety and depression when they move It often gets worse because the bullwarks they've They've developed a hot off mental health problems get get stripped away So so much of the research into mental health problems is devoted to finding Things going on in the brain like genetic explanations but Leah Greenfield argues that it's culture that is the primary determinant determinant of the degree of mental illness in a society and That the free of the culture the more wide open the culture the more mental illness Ready to move from my comfort zone area that I've lived in most of my life Yeah, but I think your comfort zone doesn't From what you said doesn't really constitute many people So you develop practices and habits to give you comfort doesn't sound like you have community and a lot of bonds to Give yourself comfort Ready to go to new places and new stores in another town of city Excellent, I'm getting ready to go in the ocean again Make sure I drag my feet to avoid any more stingray bites I don't believe I'm getting a good good reception out here Beach is not jam. It's just moderately full So yeah, she she talks about the fruitlessness of seeking Genetic explanations for what can be much better accountable by by culture I don't have human community connection anymore locally, right? So no need to worry about losing that. Yeah So I don't know about you, but for me Quality of my life comes down to the quality of my connections with other people When I'm connecting Then my life is thriving But I'm not connecting it's not so just watched a good video on Ten Ten ways people can reduce social awkwardness So one is to understand it in America, for example that the normal degree of body space is 12 to 18 inches Another thing to understand is that in America The norm is to cover up your natural odors. So you should pay there every day You should use deodorant also talk about the importance of Of beginning and ending interactions So you're not abrupt talk about the importance of Eye contact not too little and not too much Right, so you don't want to be staring at people intently for long periods of time, but Maybe 50-50 So it disturbs people if you make no eye contact and it disturbs people if you don't blink and you don't look away I talked about the importance of making Little sounds or gestures to indicate that you're listening to someone mm-hmm or nodding your head Talks about Importance of saving face. So these people feel uncomfortable when you embarrass yourself or when you Embarrass them or threaten to embarrass them. So for example Telling a woman that she's beautiful Many many situations for many women that Implies some sort of obligation that you want to put on her and or make her uncomfortable. So a lot of compliments Actually end up making people feel uncomfortable and awkward to be around you so also people You spend a lot of time online. I see them tripping themselves up in real life because they know they need to connect but They don't do it smoothly So they They disclose too much too quickly so to avoid being socially awkward there should be a graduated level of Disclosure start with small amounts because if you don't disclose anything and people will find that weird and they'll start disclosing in you But you don't want to dump a whole bunch on people. So graduated moderate levels of disclosure as the conversation and the relationship progresses and Not not embarrassing yourself, right? You don't want to They want to tell someone that you've had You've whacked off three times in the past 24 hours. Most people find that kind of weird You don't want to Tell them that you're having you know incestuous thoughts about a family member. I invest people find that weird You don't want to tell most people that you're hearing voices in your head Or that you're thinking of converting to another religion or Anything too dark How to take public speaking college twice to pass it couldn't handle it initially interesting Yeah, public speaking groups are an excellent way to fine-tune social skills but when I get home I'll throw links into the description of this video about Ten ways to reduce social awkwardness But the concept of face was was really important you don't want to embarrass yourself as I have often often done when interacting with others and You don't want to embarrass them. So one of the very distinctive things I noticed about people is that after about age 25 people very rarely deliberately embarrass Other people face-to-face Like kids do it all the time Teenagers do it a lot but by about age 25 people cease deliberately humiliating other people face-to-face and Yeah, not showing empathy. So if someone looks obviously upset you should Acknowledge that when you're talking to them. If someone seems obviously happy you should acknowledge that if someone seems obviously energized or Sleepy or down or up or Laughing at everything Like the socially astute thing to do is to acknowledge other people's state Like if someone seems really busy really lazy Really dreading something or really looking forward to something like if you don't use some empathy and acknowledge What's going on for someone then that's going to strike people is Socially weird Man, there's so many good videos on YouTube YouTube just suggested that one to me like ten ways to reduce social awkwardness really like that and Also the idea of graduated levels of disclosure Like I noticed some people they don't do anything and it just This kills my desire to communicate with them Then other people disclose like way too much and it also makes me want to move away then thinking about the importance of Developing a strong sense of identity So in the in the manic phase lead Greenfield notes people May write and write and write But it's almost never anything of value so one of the All marks of mental illness is an almost total preoccupation with the self and Rarely produce anything A value to anyone else from a place of mental illness While when you develop an identity Calm down when your inside is calm you naturally have more of an orientation outside of yourself To wanting to look to contribute to others. So That's why I found like volunteer positions have been really helpful for my mental health Like find an opportunity to be useful So I live much of my first 50 years like with like this desperate yearning to be somebody to be somewhat important and then my last five or so years I found by just taking very elementary Volunteer positions where I'm taking orders. I'm taking directions from others. I'm not in charge of anything But having these concrete opportunities to contribute to other people in modest ways Who helps my mental health and gives me an identity like, you know, I'm the person who's responsible for these things every week so I Could be out there chasing a group where I could feel very important And that's how I live much of my life but Just just being relaxed with micro streaming that I can be proud of writing a few blog posts that I can be proud of Contributing in small but meaningful ways that I can be proud of Isn't that definition mental illness highly dependence on one's mid-year? Well, the whole deaf the whole point of this definition of mental illness is That it's entirely related to one's mid-year The challenge to her book and to this line of thinking or any theorizing about mental illness is that there are no objective tests for mental illness of which I'm aware so Diagnosis of depression would would be Many people just medicalizing normal sadness, right? You lose a job. You lose a girlfriend. You lose it get divorced You lose a community. You lose your faith Normal natural reaction is to be sad So the book I left it's by Leah Greenfield. It's on the mind culture and madness I'll put it in the description when I when I get home her basic point is Mental illness is proportionate to the amount of freedom in society So the upper classes tend to have more mental illness than the lower classes because the upper classes tend to have much more freedom and When you have more freedom in your life So you say you're choosing between being religious and not religious choosing between Girlfriends choosing where you want to live choosing between professions mind of modernity madness. Yes, right, Leah Greenfield Like the more freedom you have in your life The more likely you are to get depressed or highly anxious or bipolar as opposed to when you settle into an identity I'm gonna go this way to get a get away from the tinkle of the ice cream man So, yeah when people settle down and get married They usually tend to get a little happier And when they're out on the town People in stable relationships tend to be happier than those who aren't people who have a community tend to be Happier than those. So leave Greenfield was born in Russia and then she moved to Israel and Then she moved to the United States And she just accidentally became a scholar of nationalism In in the 1980s and prior to studying it. She just thought that nationalism was some primitive tribal component that was gradually being Worn away and removed from modern life and then more she studied nationalism the more she realized that nationalism is the whole foundation of modernity and the notion of rights and freedom That is nationalism that drives the competitive impulse which drives capitalism Which drives the? notion of the dignity of every individual Family gives you the randomness of being busy when you're alone and have too much freedom to be busy Then it feels kind of poor. Yeah, so People usually do better when they have some obligations right, so For some it might be an obligation to take care of a spouse and kids and That's that's all they need Other people it's the obligation of a job and then for others it's They're volunteer commitments But yeah, I don't know how one could be happy without some commitments and some obligations in your life And it just seems so paradoxical and more freedom you have more likely you are to go mad It's just a really interesting thesis I haven't Haven't seen any strong Strong ways of rebutting it yet Except for noticing the highly subjective nature of mental health diagnoses Part of the reason I think we have so many mental health Mentally ill people in the West is that we have a profession the psychiatric profession that's highly incentivized like all professions to increase its status to increase its power to increase its income opportunities and That wants to bring more and more society under its way So I think all professions try to do these things But the way that psychiatry gets its power and influence is by Medicalizing more and more of what is otherwise normal but the more you can More you can describe in a depression as the number one killer in the West the number one health problem in the West and the more power status influence control and money-making opportunities psychiatrists have and in poor countries and Autocratic countries I suspect that the mental health profession doesn't have the same incentives Like in North Korea, I don't think that Psychiatrists are looking to dramatically expand their influence power and status and prestige and money-making opportunities I don't think the same is true in most of Africa If you're in some poor African country and you're a psychiatrist like people don't have the money to pay for your services so you don't face the same incentives to try to expand The reasons why people should seek out your services So number one thought for today is two days after the momentous Roe v. Wade decision When you walk around 99.9% of people's lives are unaffected just like it is with almost all the news How can you daily life? There's no difference between Donald Trump being president and Joe Biden being president makes Absolutely no difference. And so if the news upsets you then one has to dial down one's consumption of the news. I Read a lot of newspapers because I enjoy it But if I ever get to a point where it makes me anxious or unhappy And just dial it back like when I watch the highlights of a sporting event. I only almost ever I almost only ever watch highlights of a sporting event where my team won. So, yeah Roe v. Wade protesters, you know what percent of them are on SSRIs so you would expect with Roe v. Wade protesters that they're heavily invested in In the news in public events in politics and culture changes in the law These are things over which the individual has virtually no influence and no power so Less influence and power you have over something the more likely you are to be unhappy. I would expect Okay, talk to you later