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Mini Episode: The Elephant and The Rider

June 13, 2015 2 Comments

elephant and the rider- the one you feed

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Mini Episode: The Elephant and The Rider

One of my favorite books is The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt.

In it, Haidt poses several “Great Ideas” on happiness espoused by thinkers of the past – Plato, Buddha, Jesus and others – and examines them in the light of contemporary psychological research, extracting from them any lessons that still apply to our modern lives. Central to the book are the concepts of virtue, happiness, fulfillment, and meaning.

He uses a metaphor of a rider on the back of an elephant in which the conscious mind is the rider and the unconscious mind is the elephant. The rider is unable to control the elephant by force: this explains many puzzles about our mental life, particularly why we have such trouble with weakness of will. Learning how to train the elephant is the secret of self-improvement.

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. agelesseyesblog.com says

    July 2, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    These are truly wonderful ideas in concerning blogging. You have
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    Reply
  2. Stacey says

    September 13, 2015 at 12:09 am

    I totally agree. Clarity is so important in everything that we do. I find that when I am not clear in my efforts to move forward, I barely move forward. I love the analogy of the elephant. Thanks!

    Reply

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