The Happiest People Take This Risk | Happiness Hour

Life Audio.

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

I begin with the question of trusting people. Uh, unless given reason not to, I am prepared to trust people.

I'm currently dealing with, uh, trust, and I believe it also goes hand in hand with lies. I think everybody lies, including myself, but the thing is to face those things. Um, one of my friends Has, has been continually lying to me. And, um, I really like—

By the way, that, that's— by the way, the interesting thing about lying is, uh, especially when adults do this— kids have their own reasons— but when an adult lies to another adult, it is because the lying adult doesn't trust the other one. The reason that people lie to a friend is, is very simple. If you knew the truth, you would— you wouldn't love me or wouldn't like me or wouldn't be with me or wouldn't stay with me.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

Hey everybody, welcome to The Dennis Prager Show, the Happiness Hour. Every week at this time, I devote an hour to the great subject of happiness. Happy people make the world better, and the unhappy don't. And that's why I devote an hour a week to this subject. It is more important than almost anybody thinks. It's up there with integrity, kindness, goodness, honesty. All right, join me everybody here, wherever you are. It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour.

Yes, it is.

It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Yep, that's correct. Come hell or high water, or even trillions trillion-dollar deficits, we will speak about happiness. And I'm dead serious about it. The happy make the world better. The unhappy make it worse. It's true in your personal lives and it's true in the world. The happiest in, in countries do not tend to become communists or Nazis or terrorists. Is that fair to say? What a happy terrorist. No, no. I'm so in love with life, I think I'll blow myself up. It's an oxymoron. It doesn't work that way. Oh, I am so happy. I'm going to go to the communist rally and see how many more Ukrainians I can starve because I'm such a happy dude. Doesn't work like that. It does not work like that. The happy make the world better. It is a moral obligation to act happy even if you are not happy. And that is the reason that I devote an hour a week to this subject, plus all the lectures I've given around the world on the subject. And the book that I have written. It is that important. I never realized how important it was. I thought as a kid that, that happiness was a selfish pursuit. Now, as an adult, I have come to realize over the last 20, 25 years, it is a moral obligation to inflict one's unhappiness on others. And everybody has unhappiness. To inflict it on others is like inflicting bad odor and bad breath on others. And that's the way it is. Hence, I tell you to act happy even if you don't feel it. Doesn't mean you hide what you feel. You can tell your— you should tell your best friends, that is your spouse hopefully, and others, you know, what's bothering you. Of course.

Of course.

That's very different from inflicting a bad mood. Okay, what's today's subject? Today's subject is a dual one because they are so related. And I begin with the question of trusting people. The world is divided, you know, there are all these divisions. The world is divided between those who love dogs and those who love cats. We have all of these types of divisions, right? And that's fine. I get a kick out of that. One division is those who trust people and those who don't trust people. And I am in the group that trusts people. In my life, and I think any of you who have heard me over any period of time know that I don't think people are basically good. So you would think, if you don't think people are basically good, why would you trust anybody? Well, on my— on a daily basis, I am prepared, unless given reason not to, I am prepared to trust people. And the reason that I am is ironically selfish. I will have a happier life based on that than on not trusting. That's why. And I'll tell you why. And this brings me to the, the related twin topic. What's the worst thing that could happen if you trust somebody and they betray your trust? That you get hurt? But if you live a life trying to avoid getting hurt all the time, you don't live life. And that's the reason that unless I'm given signals, and there, believe me, and I can tell you, that's a great subject for another hour. I could tell you the signals of whom not to trust. I am stunned often. I have seen this. And in fact, I spoke about this on the Male-Female Hour when I talked about the subject of humiliating a spouse publicly. I remember being very, very friendly. This is a very rare thing in my life, but it happened. I was very friendly with a guy, and I won't give more data because it's not important that he be identifiable, though he wouldn't be, but nevertheless. Anyway, I was very friendly. We would socialize together. We even played ball together. And then one day I met his wife. And he so humiliated her in, in, in my presence and, uh, and others' presence, I, I ended the relationship. I just knew then and there, and here is the way it goes. If he's going to do that to his wife, he's going to do that to me. It's, it's very interesting, by the way. If you have a friend who badmouths people to you, Please know rule 849A in life. They will do that to you to somebody else. If you receive badmouthing, uh, I promise you, you will be the subject of that person's badmouthing to somebody else. So if you want to avoid getting hurt, by people. Avoid people who display bad behavior. Not weak behavior, not flawed behavior— everybody does. I mean bad behavior. Bad is mean-spirited. Bad is destructive.

That—

those—

now, by the way, you don't always see this the first time you know somebody. It may only come out later, and then you get hurt. Of course that's true. People can put on terrific acts And they do all the time. The world is a stage and we are all actors on it, or something like that from Shakespeare. And so that is a possibility. But so I don't— when I say trust people, I don't say trust everybody no matter how they act. Obviously, there are people who should be ruled out. I am stunned when people don't rule out some people from their trust. And I think, don't you, don't you see what type of person this is? What are you, nuts? But having said that and excluded those people, by and large, it's worth trusting. Because, and this is the larger issue of today's Happiness Hour, the larger issue is that the only reason there are people who don't trust anybody is they don't want to get hurt. And living a life of not wanting to get hurt, of avoiding hurt, is not to live a life. I prefer to be hurt and live a full life than to live half a life and never be hurt. I don't want on my tombstone, here lies Dennis Prager, nobody ever hurt him. I don't. That's not an aim of mine. And I don't like getting hurt any more than the next guy. Or the next Gayette. But in fact, that's not how I live my life. Nor— and I advise the same to you. Well, I'm just gonna, you know, I'm gonna really, you know, keep my distance from everybody I meet until, you know, if I'm gonna ever open up to anybody or trust anybody, it's gonna take a really, really long time. I don't know who's gonna hang around you that long, to be perfectly honest. People who don't— who don't— I don't like to be mistrusted by people I meet. You don't like to be mistrusted, so you should generally have the same approach toward everybody else, or toward most everybody else. I mean, what's going to happen? My father had a funny— or has actually a funny statement on that. He says, it's only pain. I mean, he went, you know, I mean, this is a guy who wouldn't take an injection before having his teeth drilled. So, you know. We have to put my father in a certain, you know, special area of, hey, pain, that's great. But, but for most of us, it's still a good— it's still a good phrase for most of us. In most occasions, it's only pain. And if you get hurt, you get hurt. And then you move on and you hopefully learn a lesson of what type of person to avoid. Believe me, there are people to avoid. I am, I am not telling you to trust every person on earth. But there are plenty of people you can trust, and waiting a very, very, very long time until you do so— now, I'm not talking about the dating situation where people have all sorts of motives going in. Dating is its own world. Okay, I would, I would say that a woman is a little foolish if she, if she trusts every guy that she dates and, you know, who murmurs anything romantic and goes to bed with him. All right, forgetting moral issues and sexual issues, it's just foolish because he has it. Most men have an agenda there, and that's understandable. Even good men have that agenda. That's why I want to title my book on male sexuality, Your Husband Is Not a Pervert. But that's a separate issue. Isn't that a great title? Every woman thinks her husband's a pervert if he's a normal guy. 1-8-PRAGER-776 is the phone number here. 1-8-PRAGER-776. G-E-R-7-7-6, which translates digitally into 877-243-7776. And, uh, again, the subject is that yes, it's better to live a life where you trust and you get hurt, you know, periodically. Not if you get regularly hurt, then you're— you are trusting too easily. But not— it's not that you're trusting too easily, it's that you're picking the wrong people. I think you should trust easily. I just think that you have to, to pick the right people in which to do so. I'm going to take your calls as soon as we come back, and, uh, I have some interesting ones coming up. We'll begin with, I guess, Las Vegas, but we'll see. 1-800-PRAGER-776. This is the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

I'm all right. If the economy continues in its direction, that's all you will have is the sun in the morning and the moon at night. It's gonna become the theme song of the country. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. This is the Happiness Hour, and the issue here is trusting people and how I advocate that you do. You obviously, you don't trust everybody, and you, you have to discern whom to bring into your life. That's another subject for another, another show. We must do that. It doesn't have to be even a Happiness Hour, but we have to do that. Uh, but it's, it's related. This theme is related to another theme.

What's that?

And that is you can't lead a life— and that's the bigger theme— you cannot live a life whose primary goal is to avoid being hurt or avoid pain. Then you don't live a life. See, here's the question that everybody has to ask him or herself, and that is, do I want to live a full life? And a full life involves more pain than a non-full life. It does. If you, if you opt to, to have children, you are opting for pain. You are opting in many instances for spectacular joy as well. It's not only pain, obviously. But if you want to avoid pain, if that is primary, I would say don't have kids. I think most people would acknowledge that. Even— even I'm not talking about that the kids will be bad or, God forbid, very sick, or even just normal course of events, the challenges that kids pose to a marriage, for example. I mean, it's inevitable. In fact, you might even argue don't get married. Look at all the pain that has resulted from, from poor marriages. If half the people divorce, or whatever the statistic is, And, you know, people debate, oh, it's 45%, it's 50%, it's not really half. It's a silly debate to me. A lot of people divorce. And believe me, not everybody who didn't divorce is happily married. So if you really want to avoid pain, one of the— and by the way, there are a lot of bachelors who will say that. Hey, listen, you know, maybe there's something to be said for marriage, but hey, the single life, you know, I could do— I go where I want, when I want. I don't have to answer to anybody. I eat what I want. I watch what I want. You know, that's great. In fact, some of the men sitting with me right now have a big smile on their face thinking, that is one cool life. Yeah, I mean, you know, so, so that's the question that you have to pose. Do you want to lead a full life, or do you want to lead a life that minimizes the possibility of pain? All righty, who did we promise? We promised Vegas. All right, Jack in Las Vegas, you're on Dennis Prager. Hi. You're not on Dennis Prager, you're on the Dennis Prager Show.

Hi.

Thank you for taking my call, Dennis. I can't thank you enough for your work you do. You've helped me change my life and face myself.

Oh, wonderful.

Thank you.

I'm currently dealing with, uh, trust, and I believe it also goes hand in hand with lies. I think everybody lies, including myself. But the thing is to face those things. One of my friends has been continually lying to me, and I really like him.

By the way, that's— by the way, the interesting thing about lying is, especially when adults do this— kids have their own reasons— but when an adult lies to another adult, it is because the lying adult doesn't trust the other one. The reason that people lie to a friend is, is very simple. If you knew the truth, you, you would— you wouldn't love me, or wouldn't like me, or wouldn't be with me, or wouldn't stay with me.

Right.

So ironically, it comes from his mistrust of you.

Right, I guess. I don't know, but it hurts so much, you know.

Well then, look, you know, you, you explain this. If you can tell me on a national show, you should also tell him privately. And you should say, look, you know, I just— I, I've always, you know, adored you, and you know how close I feel, but you're rupturing our friendship because I, I can't trust what you say to be true.

Right. And then see, that's where I know really who the person is.

Well, that's right, you don't. That's the reason lying is so awful. That's right, Jack. And I hear the pain. I mean, I hate to say it, you know, I feel like Bill Clinton, I hear your pain, but I do. And it is painful. Look, a rupture with a friend is like, is like a divorce. Friend, I value friendships in the most sacred manner there. It's essential to my well-being, friendship. And I've always felt that. And so if, if a friend starts or, or continues to, to lie to you, it's terrible. But there's no way around that. Either they stop or you can't continue. I mean, there's no way around that. And the irony, as I said, is the person lying is doing so because he doesn't trust you. Because if Jack knew the truth, Jack wouldn't be with me. All right, let's go to Fort Worth, Texas, and Christina. Hi, Christina. Dennis Prager. Hi, Dennis.

Hi Dennis, thanks for taking my call. Your efforts on helping people know themselves have really helped me change my life and evolve into a person I am learning to love now, and I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Oh, I appreciate your telling me. Go ahead.

Okay, well, my parents have been married for about 43 years, something in there, and it seems to me they've spent their entire life trying to avoid pain and trying to avoid conflict, and in doing so, they avoid trusting. They have very few friends. And, and now as an adult and as a parent myself, I've realized I've absorbed that same kind of behavior of not trusting and therefore having very few friends. And it's only when I had my children that I realized I have a problem trusting people. My husband had to point it out multiple times for me to even acknowledge that he had a point. And, and now I learn I have to I have to go outside of myself and find strength where I didn't know I had it to trust the pediatrician or trust the grandparents to watch the kids for an evening, and it's nerve-wracking.

Wow, wow.

Yeah.

That's powerful. Look, thank God for your husband.

Yes, absolutely. He's an amazing blessing. We're meant to help each other grow, for sure. I didn't know. I didn't trust.

Does the trust manifest itself in that you don't open up fully to people, to anyone?

Yes. Yes, I'm very guarded.

I'm curious, if you and I were— if you and I were stuck on an island, would you open up to me?

Oh, I'm sure I would, because you open up so, so much, you know, and I've listened to you for a few years now and So I feel like I know you even though I don't know you personally.

No, you do, right? But you do know me, as I always say. But that— your answer is very, very interesting and one I am gonna— I'm gonna share with everybody. Christina, you're going in a great direction. That's all I can say. You are. You see, folks, you know what she opened up with? Remember, you've helped me know myself. That was— that's been a theme of some of my Happiness Hours. You have to know— you can't get happy if you don't know yourself. So she knows now that she doesn't trust easily.

Okay.

That's, that's step number one. That's 50%. Then I want to react to this thing about Dennis opens up so I can open up when we come back.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

It's so important to make someone happy.

Make just one someone happy.

Make just one heart-to-heart you. You sing to one smile that cheers you. One face that lights when it nears you. You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show, and it's the hour I devote each week to happiness, titled, not oddly, the Happiness Hour, because it is such an important subject. Happy people make the world better and make the lives, certainly, of those around them so much, so much better. My subject today is dual because they, they have to be related. One is the people, people who mistrust just about everybody, and it's a terrible way to go through life. And why people do that, well, there, of course, there are psychological reasons from their past why they would do that, but the, but the philosophical reason, or the rational reason, is they don't want to get hurt. And my point about that is That avoiding getting hurt is a terrible way to live a life. You can't live a full life if you don't take risks, and I mean emotional risks here. And that's the way it is. And there are other risks too, by the way, which I would, I would say the same thing about. It's better to live a full life with pain than a half life with much less pain. The purpose of life is to live it, not to avoid pain. At least that's my take. Others certainly differ. Now, the last call was very moving to me, and, uh, this— I think she was 34, was it Christina? And she said that she does not trust easily, or even the pediatrician, or even grandparents that take care of her children, let alone opening up to people.

Nice.

I asked her Because she had opened up with kind words about my role in her life. Would you, if we were stuck on an island together, would you open up to me? Said she would, but that's because you open up on the air and I feel I know you. Which leads me to another point. If you want people to open up, you have to open up. That's pretty much— if you're guarded, by and large, the next person will be guarded. People pick up immediately. And so, and I don't mean you, you know, you immediately divulge every aspect of your life, but, but if you keep the conversation on a, on a macro level and not, not mention your own life, then people will, will keep it likewise on some more superficial level. There are people that I know very well who I, I've known my whole life. And when I, whenever I talk to them, the discussion is about politics or about religion, but it's always about some subject. It's never about what's going on in their life, which I don't find all that interesting, frankly. I can discuss, I find religion and politics and all these other subjects of endless, endless fascination, as you well know. But if— but in intimate talk, if it's only that, then it's not intimate. Alrighty, let's go to Houston, Texas, and Daniel. Hello, Daniel. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. I absolutely adore listening to your show, and I wish I could spend a lifetime speaking with you.

No, thank you.

I have a unique problem in the sense that If you were to ask any one of my friends or anyone who's ever met me, any— even for a brief moment, they would tell you what a wonderful and, you know, caring and good person I am to be around.

Mm-hmm.

But I have the most horrible time trying to make peace with my mother, and it has gotten so bad to where whenever we're in a room together, It, you know, it's just an instant clash. And this all stems from my parents' divorce and her infidelity with my father, which has ultimately led me to mistrust the majority of, of women. And I continue to try to trust them, but I seem to continue to get into relationships where women mistreat me by cheating on me or You know, doing something that would lead me to mistrust them. Well, I guess my—

look, all right, yeah, go on.

I guess my question to you is, how can I resolve the issues with my mother? We both acknowledge we have many, many problems, and we are actually trying to resolve them, but we are so much alike, it is very, very difficult to gain any headway.

All right, all right. I have a theory on what Why what is happening with the women you date is happening. I'll tell you that when we come back. I am curious, how were your relations with your mother prior to the divorce?

Um, I—

Okay, we'll get an answer when we come back. You're listening to the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

Hi, this is a message for Dennis Prager and the Happiness Hour and Choosing to Be Happy. I also have been very emotional and very moody. I let myself, for no real reason in college— I thought the artistic side of me being genuine to my emotions, um, spiral down into depression. And it was so bad. I mean, literally, I got the point of almost being like suicidal. But, but what I learned was it's a constant choice. You do have to fight it, but all you got to do is just one domino at a time. That's Mike. And so I love Dennis Prager. Thank you. I hope this will help. And this is one of the most important things I've learned in my life, going from an emotional person to being— people love my positivity and happiness, but I choose it and I fight it. Thank you, Dennis and Jennifer and everybody else. Love you guys. Bye.

Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776. And leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support.

I love it.

I love this. I love the lyrics. I love the music. Alrighty, that was quite a call. Uh, is he still there? Yes, he is. Okay, folks, this is the Happiness Hour, and I've been talking to you about the subject of trusting people and how you can't live a happy life if you don't trust people. It's, it's pretty self-evident. And therefore, the larger issue, and the more interesting one perhaps, is That people who don't trust people don't want to get hurt. And not wanting to get hurt is a poor recipe for a happy life.

Okay?

A full life is a happier life, even if it has pain. And that's the better life. Now, obviously, Daniel's issue— Daniel, this would— we would be on for the hour at least. And indeed, this— you are the classic example of a person who probably could be helped. by a good therapist. I always emphasize good therapist because most of the therapists are not good, and every therapist I've talked to has always said that. Anyway, uh, your relationship with your mother— I asked you, my last question was, was it a, uh, a difficult relationship prior to your parents' divorce?

No, it was very loving. And I'm, I'm sorry I misspoke a little. It wasn't that my mother, uh, was cheating on my father. They just had a horrible relationship, and my father had explained to us that she had cheated on him. But what was most traumatizing for me was how quickly after they split up she brought other men into her life and started dating again. And I've never been able to get over that.

How old were you?

9.

Hmm.

This is a, this is a very common issue. It's a— to a certain extent, it's a— it's— there are 2 things going on. There are probably 10 things, and I will just share 2 of them. One is childhood narcissism. My parents exist for my pleasure. And I don't mean that in a condescending way at all. It's just that's a childlike view, and when one is no longer a young person, one should not have that. Your parents have as much right to happiness as you do. And they, they, the, the constant belief that they should forsake it for the sake of the child is, is a primitive narcissistic one. So that's— but that doesn't help you psychologically. It only helps you intellectually. But the older one gets, the more the intellect can, can play a role here. Uh, and, uh, the, the other is that you may have very well simply identified with your same-sex parent and felt that he was betrayed. And therefore your loyalty to your father would have caused that resentment. Do those 2 things make sense?

Without a doubt.

Okay, so all right, these are— that's why I say these are things that you can, you can and, and will, I'm sure you will, work through because you want to work them through. You don't want this relationship with your mother, right?

No, not at all.

Okay, then I, I promise you, I promise you it will work out. I mean, I'm not saying painlessly. I'm just curious though. Oh yes, the issue, because none of that is directly related to my topic except insofar as you spoke about the women you date, how they repeat your mother's pattern.

Yeah.

If they do, the reason is so obvious that it doesn't take, you know, particular insight. But the reason is that you're choosing to undo the damage in your home Through having women like your mother in your life and then making it good. That's why many first marriages don't work, because people choose the spouse based on the opposite-sex parent and try to fix their family life.

Huh.

Okay?

Well, uh, I guess one last question. If you would recommend therapy, uh, would you recommend that we try to do some sort of group therapy together?

Oh, you and your mom? Oh, if only if you have found that, that others have recommended that it works. I don't have any, any, uh, that on that question. It, to me, the only issue was what works, not, not which specific way to do it. But, but I, I tell you, the human complexity is such that, you know, this is a perfect example. You know, repeating the sins of, of the family is, is one of the most common things. It's almost as if people Sometimes I think people ought to have a first marriage and not be allowed to have kids for 2 years and then be allowed by society to annul it. I mean, of course, I don't advocate that. I'm just saying though that so often people choose in a first marriage or in a second or in a third or the 10th, I mean, for that matter, or at least here is not marriages, but here is successive relationships, again, choosing the mother. So as to, so as to undo the damage and fix it. It's all done, by the way, subconsciously. None of it is done consciously. In fact, consciously, you may want to choose the opposite of your opposite-sex parent. All right, back to the trust issues in any event, and let's go to San Antonio, Texas, and Deborah. Hi, Deborah. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis. Um, I really love you. I tell my husband I have an intellectual affair on him every day with you.

Uh-oh.

I hope he takes it well. I don't want to get white powder in the mail from San Antonio. He's the reason why I listen to you.

Oh, okay.

Bless him.

When you came to San Antonio, he took me to see you.

Right.

Good, good.

Actually, I had a friend or a coworker who used to constantly talk about other people and, I guess, share with me stuff that was going on in their lives. And I would never stop her from doing it. And somebody told me something that I shared with her that was very personal about me. She shared it with somebody else, and I knew I had not shared that with anybody else.

Oh, so you lived exactly what I said earlier.

Exactly! So I remember being so upset and I said, okay, I'm not going to trust anyone at work. That's it. It happened that about a week after that, our pastor did a Hebrew teaching on gossiping. He said there are 3 people affected: the person gossiping, the person listening, and the person that is gossiped about.

That's right. That's exactly right. That's Exactly from the Hebrew teaching. A comment when we come back and more calls on the Happiness Hour.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we work, communicate, and live. The question isn't whether AI will shape our future, the question is how. That's what makes Carbon Zero such a fascinating read. Author Craig W. Stanfill isn't just a novelist, he's an AI pioneer who's taken today's rapidly advancing technology and imagined where it could lead if we're not careful. I have my copy and I gotta tell you, I can't put it down. Carbon Zero combines suspense, believable technology, and thought-provoking questions about freedom, responsibility, and the unintended consequences of letting machines make decisions that affect all of us. It's a great thriller with lots of action, But it's also a story that stays with you long after you've finished the last page. Carbon Zero, available for pre-order now, and for a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99 for my audience. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during the pre-order time now. Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

All right, you're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. I try to hit a nerve, as they say, in the best sense, every Happiness Hour, and sometimes I feel that I've really hit one. Today is one of them on this issue of trust. I could tell by the openness with which you spoke, and when I see the subjects of the other callers. So it's a very big deal. Let me say so— let me say something though, because I look at a call here from Sherry in Pensacola, Florida, and, uh, I'm in a relationship where my man is always on the internet, says that I should trust him, that he's not dating other women. How can I trust him? See, the issue of, uh, of betrayed trust or suspicions in, in a marriage or in, or in dating, that's a separate issue entirely. There, there were so many other factors involved. I'm talking about trusting the other 6 billion people on Earth, not all of them obviously, but from among them, and not specific to dating. As I said very early, you know, men dating tend to have an agenda. Some indeed wanted the agenda of marriage, but in any event, men have other agendas, and if— and doesn't make them bad, it makes them male. So you, you, you, you— this notion of, well, I trust every guy I date, and if, you know, and if he wants to take my clothes off, it means that he loves me, that's a little silly. Then you're being naive. I'm not asking people to, to be naive. I'm asking them to be trusting unless they have reason not to be. That's a tough one with Sherry. I mean, I'm on the internet a lot, but it's, you know, I guess the, the answer is one, one way is Since I'm a big believer in couples doing as much together as possible, that you sit, you know, can I sit next to you, honey? I would love to, I'd love to, to do what you're doing. You say, well, you don't trust me. And you say, no, actually, the truth is, whether I trust you or not, I just want to share it with you. The more we share— I mean, if you can really say that. Yeah, I would have a problem with my wife sitting next to me when I'm on the internet. I'd actually probably like it. Uh, let's see here. And, uh, oh, that's interesting. Uh, Jan in Cleveland, my ex-husband was a cop, and in the final stages of marriage, we went to a marriage counselor who said for the first time he only knew one husband, a cop, who was able to trust his wife. Hmm, I'd like to hear about that. I mean, if you can't trust your wife, then it's a big problem.

That's the—

that's a big deal. But I haven't talked about trust in husband-wife things. That's a separate issue. That's about your marriage. In general, my friends, here's the motto. This is what I want you to take away from this hour: that you can't live a life trying to avoid pain. You have to lead a full life, and that will always involve pain. And now call in on any subject under the sun, 1-800-PRAGER-776. 1-800-PRAGER-776.

On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah.

Shakespeare is a genius. In fact, I'm reading Hamlet now, believe it or not. Should have read it in high school, but I'm enjoying it more now, I suspect, than I would have then. I suspect I'll read Hamlet again and yet again, but having read other plays by Shakespeare, the repeated study does not reveal enormous new insights every time I do it. I am amazed at how many new insights I learn each time I study a chapter in the Torah. There is a depth to it that I have found nowhere else in life. Now, you can say brilliant people wrote it, you certainly have that prerogative. I don't believe, though, in such superhuman abilities as I find in the depth of the Torah. I don't believe in superhuman abilities either.

of the words of the Torah.

So I believe that there is a divine-human interaction that makes it. Being that it is to me therefore a religious text, and being that in Judaism it is a religious obligation to study Torah and related texts, I wear a kippah when I teach Torah. So you— that's why I always make this introductory statement. You'll understand why I do it. With that, I will begin.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we work, communicate, and live. The question isn't whether AI will shape our future. The question is how. That's what makes Carbon Zero such a fascinating read. Author Craig W. Stanfill isn't just a novelist. He's an AI pioneer who's taken today's rapidly advancing technology And imagine where it could lead if we're not careful. I have my copy and I gotta tell you, I can't put it down. Carbon Zero combines suspense, believable technology, and thought-provoking questions about freedom, responsibility, and the unintended consequences of letting machines make decisions that affect all of us. It's a great thriller with lots of action, but it's also a story that stays with you long after you've finished the last page. Carbon Zero, available for pre-order now, and for a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99 for my audience. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during the pre-order time now. Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill.