In this interview, Dennis Prager explains his newly adopted mission to help people who suffer severe emotional, psychological, or physical pain learn to endure it and achieve happiness. He frames his approach as a rational, biblical‑based philosophy, referencing his "Rational Bible" commentary and the three‑choice model he derived after becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down: death, depression, or perseverance. Prager emphasizes that he refuses to accept the first two options and chooses to persevere, a stance he has codified in his book Happiness Is a Serious Problem. He argues that his personal experience of paralysis gives his teachings greater credibility, and he urges anyone in pain to take his guidance seriously.
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Dennis, my friend, it's so good to see you. So good to see you.
It is completely mutual. Yeah. I have to ask, how are you feeling?
I can give you a few sentences or a book worth answer. I'm serious about that. I have a new mission in life, and that is to help people who have terrible pain in their lives, emotional, psychological, or physical, endure it and even achieve happiness.
I tell you, Dennis Prager, I've heard from friends that they are amazed. Every day they would come to your hospital room when you're in the hospital and you would have this great attitude. And your attitude was, what choice do I have? I mean, I don't want to be miserable. And I don't know how you do that.
I'll tell you how I do it. I'm an extremely rational thinker. The title of my biblical commentary is the Rational Bible. Uh, I— if it doesn't make sense, I don't, I don't believe it. I don't— I reject it. So anyway, I, uh, I realized from day one I had only 3 choices: death, death, depression, and, uh, or, uh, persevere. That's it. There really, there is no fourth alternative. So I thought about that, and I don't want to die, and I don't want to be depressed. So I have to persevere. And I will say this, in my book on happiness, I— Happiness Is a Serious Problem, I have, I have now vindicated everything I wrote. And now with much greater credibility because having endured being paralyzed from the shoulders down, every person with terrible pain in their lives can take what I say very seriously.
You have always been an icon and a hero of mine, Dennis Prager, and you're— you have just grown in my eyes over the last year watching you, even to be a bigger giant.
