The Power of Pleasure and Joy

Photo illustration by Mark Riechers. Original images by Mi Pham, Glodi Miessi, Zou Meng, Noah Sillman (CC0)

Original Air Date:

October 12, 2019

What if the most unselfish thing you could do was to pursue pleasure? To look for delight? To feel joy? We make the case for the transformative power of joy, pleasure and delight.

365 Days Of Delight: A Poet's Guide To Finding Joy

Articles

In a dark world, poet Ross Gay recommends "stacking delights." Share what you love, he says — not what you hate.

Length:

12:46

A Queer Theorist On Ecstatic Kissing

Audio

Kathryn Bond Stockton is an English professor and queer theorist and a self-professed lover of kissing. She wrote a whole book just to make out what kissing means in our lives.

Length:

13:27

Laboratory of Joy: A Psychologist On The Science of Feeling Good

Audio

Psychologist Laurie Santos created a college course to teach students how to use what scientific research has discovered about what makes us happy and why. It became the most popular class in the 300 year history of Yale.

Length:

11:37

The Revolution Will Be Joyful: Feminist Lynne Segal On Fighting Power With Pleasure

Audio

Lynne Segal, the British feminist icon, has a theory about happiness: it's both personal and political. She advocates radical happiness — finding joy in collective action.

Length:

10:43

The People Power Of Happiness

Articles

Social scientists are finding that generating happiness in your life may have less to do with an arbitrary number — like your bank account or how many Instagram followers you have — and more to do with how well you connect with the people around you.

Extras