The Missing Tile Syndrome and the Power of Gratitude | Happiness Hour

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, what is the missing tile syndrome?

I have a crew in here right now videoing me for a, a documentary on happiness, and they asked me, what is your subject? You may know, crew, I am in for total transparency. Whatever goes on here, I tell my, my listeners. Anyway, what's your subject? I said the missing tile syndrome. And because the guy who's directing is Canadian, I excuse him for not knowing what that meant. All Americans by now should know, but he didn't. So I said, look at the ceiling in my studio, which happens to be tiles. He said, all right. And I said, now I want you to imagine that just one tile were missing. What would you be staring at? And he said, the missing tile. The missing tile syndrome is when we focus on the one thing we don't have.

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.

It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Nobody expected me to do it then. They always expect it on the second time around. Hey everybody, it's the Happiness Hour, the Dennis Prager Show. And no matter what is happening in America or the world— lice, vermin, smiting of the firstborn, blood— no, no, I meant blood in the Nile.

Here we go.

Come on everybody, America, join me. And in fact, the German listener group too. It's the happy— it's the glücklich, glücklich hour. Yes it is, it's the glücklich, glücklich, glücklich, glücklich hour. All right everybody, Everybody, why do I do an hour every week on happiness? Happy people make the world better. Simple as that, okay?

This is—

I am making a war on the miserable. I am. And those of you who inflict bad moods on others, please know that that is identical to inflicting bad breath on others or bad body odor. You owe it to the world to be in a good mood. You owe it to the world to shower. That's the way it works. It's a moral obligation. To your children, to your parents, to your spouse, to your friends, to your coworker, to the person sitting next to you in the airplane or on the airplane. Is it on the airplane or in the airplane? I'm serious. The person sitting next to you on the airplane or in the airplane? Okay. And anybody else in your life? That's the point. It is a moral obligation. Hi everybody, this is Dennis Prager, the Happiness Hour, every week at this time, come hell or high water. And now, and now, today's subject. Today's subject is one that Alan, the Alan, has been badgering me to talk about for so long, and I keep saying, oh, but Alan, I've already discussed it. He says, Dennis, that was years ago. And he said that years ago, so now it's really years ago. Actually, this is a big one, and I'll tell you how I know, because the truth is I don't always know. I get feedback from you folks, and here is an example. I would say that along with perhaps the chapter in my happiness book— Happiness Is a Serious Problem is the name of the book. If you got a used copy for a dollar, that's fine with me, just please read it. But I get feedback that in Happiness Is a Serious Problem, the chapter that most touches people— and they, and I hope they all do— but if people isolate one more than any other, or there, I guess two are tied. One is to not have expectations, and the other is the missing tile syndrome. So it is time to offer my thoughts on the missing tile syndrome, as well as some new thoughts on the subject, since we all live longer than we did if we're still living, and we get new thoughts or deeper thoughts. What is the missing tile syndrome? I have a crew in here right now videoing me for a, a documentary on happiness. And they asked me, what is your subject? You may know, crew, I am in for total transparency. Whatever goes on here, I tell my listeners. Anyway, what's your subject? I said the missing tile syndrome. And because the guy who's directing is Canadian, I excuse him for not knowing what that meant. All Americans by now should know, but he didn't. So I said, look at the ceiling in my studio. 'Which happens to be tiles.' He said, 'All right.' And I said, 'Now I want you to imagine that just one tile were missing. What would you be staring at?' And he said, 'The missing tile.' The missing tile syndrome is when we focus on the one thing we don't have. And that is, folks, It is so natural. There are so many ways of putting this. I am chilled. I really am. I have goosebumps at how important this is. It is such— it's a truism. No matter how much you have, you focus on what is missing. I do too, by the way. It's not when I say you, I am a member of this group of humanity. If folks, if I didn't have these issues, I couldn't have written my book. That book was as much about me as it is about you. The only difference is I thought it through and I have tried to put these principles into practice and they work. I am not a happy disposition person because I haven't suffered. I am a happy disposition person because I have implemented the ideas that I give to you every week. By the way, parenthetical point: the unhappy think that those walking around with a happy disposition have had less pain than they do. So I have a very important point to make to those of you who are unhappy. The happy have not suffered less. Than the unhappy. They have chosen not to allow that pain to make them miserable. There are a handful of exceptions. I mean, if you have lost your family to a band of rapist murderers, I have to stay mum. I cannot— there are certain levels of suffering to which I cannot address. I will tell you though And then I'm getting back to the missing tile syndrome. I knew a family, and this, this couple lost all three of their sons to this same form, I think, of cancer. It was just congenital, all in their early 20s or late teens. If you met this couple, you would never ever know what they have endured. The deaths of all of their children in the most horrific way. It's not like a car crash that took all three, which is also horrific, obviously, but where they saw it coming through no, no bad thing that anybody had done. Anyway, my only point is that if these people could walk around with a pleasant and happy disposition, I think the rest of us can. Now back to the missing tile syndrome. The human nature, and I very rarely note this, there is a sub, there is a, what is it, subtitle to my, to the title of my book. It's called A Human Nature Repair Manual because my thesis is that you have to fight your nature to be happy. Human nature makes you miserable.

That's it.

Everybody is born with human nature. That's why it's called human nature, not your nature. And we all have to battle it to be happy. Part of human nature is to focus on what we are missing. Now, how did I learn this? Some of you know the answer, but many don't. It was in fact told to me by a bald man. Dennis Prager, who told me many, many years ago, Dennis, I want you to know, when I walk into a room, all I see is hair. And that man opened my eyes to a phenomenon. I never see hair when I walk into a room because I have my hair. I therefore never think about it. I am sure if I were bald, I would have a very similar view. By the way, the brilliance of that comment is that it applies to whatever you think is missing. A woman who wants children, all she sees are babies. Talk to a woman who wants to get pregnant and is having trouble, and she will tell you all her friends are pregnant. Everywhere she goes, she sees baby carriages and babies. The rest of us don't see babies everywhere. People who want babies see babies.

Everywhere.

Whatever it is you don't have— a woman who thinks that her thighs are a little too heavy or a lot too heavy, all she sees when she sees women are thin thighs. The world is composed of thin thighs. There is no exception to this. Whatever it is that people want— people, you having trouble with your kid? All you see are well-developed, happy kids around. Everybody has a fine, happy child except me. That's the way people who have— it doesn't matter what it is. It does not matter what it is. That is human nature. Now it's time for you to call to verify what I say, to ask about what I say, to, uh, to ask how you combat it, whatever is on your mind. How, in fact, if you can give me more examples of how you experience the missing tile syndrome, I can then bring it to others and you will have done a service. Maybe you differ, maybe you think that that's not true. I can't imagine though. I think this is so universal that it's hard for me. I've never encountered somebody who said, gee, I don't know what you're talking about. 1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER-776 is the number. 1-8-P-R-A-G-E-R-7-7-6, which is 877-243-7776. What is it in your life that would constitute that missing tile? It's perfectly wonderful ceiling except for the one missing tile. I'm Dennis Prager. This is the Happiness Hour.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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

You're listening to the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show, 1-800-PRAGER-776. The subject is the missing tile syndrome, and I will tell you, it's interesting. I love when people who have not heard me hear me. 'Cause then I am revived in my understanding of how important the— and life-changing a lot of these ideas are. I told you there's a film crew in here right now filming the show for a documentary on happiness. And some were saying, you know, had not— they had not thought about this. People don't think about this. Who thinks through happiness systematically? Very few people, because people think it's a feeling. My service to you is that I, as it were, deconstruct happiness. Here are the aspects of it that make you happy or unhappy. And so you, that way you don't rely on feelings alone. We all have feelings of happiness. My point is that's not enough, that it is the mind that has to direct our happiness, not the feelings. All right, so the point here is the missing tile. Whatever you don't have or think you don't have— you may even have it, but think you don't have— is the thing that you concentrate on most. We don't concentrate on most on what we do have. That's as simple as that. And I told you how I learned it. A man so many years ago said that he was— he was a bald man who told me that whenever he walks into a room, all he sees is hair. He is missing hair, all he sees is hair. You are missing X or Y or Z, all you see is X or Y or Z. By the way, you may not even really be missing it. I mean, the case of bald men, I have all my hair, so I have no vested interest here, so you can certainly believe what I'm about to say. I think that a lot of bald men way, way, way exaggerate its significance, including in the eyes of the opposite sex. But it doesn't matter. Men want their hair, by and large, and that's, that's the way they've thought about it. Although today bald is in more than I think certainly I ever recall that in the past. After all, they all used to wear wigs, right? We didn't know who was bald. We don't know how many of the Founding Fathers were bald. They all had wigs on. It would be odd, wouldn't it? A bald, I don't know, Thomas Jefferson? Just who knows, maybe he was. I don't know if he was. Alright, 1-800-PRAGER-776, and let's go to Carrie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Carrie, Dennis Prager, thanks for calling.

Hello, I just wanted to call and just speak to this notion. I do have the book, I just haven't gotten to that chapter yet, but This is really new to me, and I had the syndrome and am now cured of that syndrome. I was a teen mom and a single mom and lived in poverty for many years and really believed I was the have-not and really focused everything and bought into the mentality that I was a victim and I don't have it, and there's the haves and there's—

and that everybody else does.

Yes, and I actually, it actually, a symptom of that too was I started to have the symptom of entitlement, like I was entitled to have these things, and became very active in pursuing why didn't I get my $23 of food stamps, why did they short me $10 of my AFDC check that I'm supposed to get on the first of the month. And instead of focusing on the other $422 I did get, I was focused on the money that I, that I was shorted. And, um, really, you know, every, every day and every, every day was survival. Every day was focused.

How did you get out of it?

Um, well, I went to school and—

No, no, not out of poverty. How did you get out of the missing tile syndrome?

I, I guess I just had a newfound appreciation for, for what you had, faith and family, and just You know, all the blessing and blessings that God has given me, my little girl. I'm a mother of 5 children. I'm 34 years old. I was raising 5 children before I was 26 years old.

Are you married now, by any chance?

I'm married now, um, for 7 years.

Well, that's beautiful. That is beautiful. I, by the way, you know, there's no politics on the Happiness Hour, but I would just raise this issue, and there really isn't. I'm quite adamant about that. This is a politics-free zone, the Happiness Hour, but it is worth asking if in fact the, the, the missing tile syndrome creates unhappiness, and of course it does, is there any political philosophy that is more or less likely to create a missing tile syndrome in people? I'll just leave it at that. It's just something to think about. 1-800-PRAGER-776. And let's go to, let's see here, line 4, which doesn't help anybody. I always— whenever people do that, talk show hosts, it gets me annoyed. Who cares what line number it is, right? All right, line 4 in the world-famous Wasilla, Alaska, the most famous little city in America. Hello, Jake. Hi, Jake. Hi.

Hey, you're talking about, about, about this, this, this problem, this syndrome, as though it only has a cure. I have a vaccine for you.

Oh, good man.

The— I see this all the time. I see it with my friends. You know, I don't know how many other men out there have wives that every time you get in a fight or even an argument, every one of our friends has idyllic marriages, and, uh, and, and our marriage is, is falling apart because we have a little fight. Um, obviously it's a transient thing, but what— the way that we got out of that pattern, and it's been years now, uh, the way that we got out of that pattern is by making a point to give— almost in a list form— to give thanks for the things that we have. And it's like counting the, the tiles that are there on the—

that's correct. The vaccine is gratitude. Correct.

Yeah, absolutely.

Good man. By the way, he is absolutely right on the couples issue, and I have a chapter on that very subject, but it's, it's not in the chapter on missing tile syndrome. It's in the chapter on comparing ourselves to others. You are listening to 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.

It's so important to make someone happy Make just one someone happy. Make just one heart to heart view. You sing to one smile that cheers you. One face that lights when it nears you.

One girl, you're, you're everything.

Thank you.

Jimmy, Dennis Prager here. The bailout was just passed by the US House of Representatives, but we continue with the Happiness Hour. Just letting you know the news, so that should increase your happiness. I just see you all jumping up and down. Talking about, that's what the market is doing, is jumping up and down. In other words, the prices. The market is up, the market is down. My friends, I'll tell you this: if we do go through a difficult time economically, and I mean this just with sincerity, the Happiness Hour will take on even greater importance. If it was important during the good times, it will be certainly important during the bad times. And so That is just a thought tying the two together, the Happiness Hour and the news. We'll talk about, of course, that— we'll talk about that in last night's debate when we come back next hour and re-enter the prosaic problems of life. But this is the, the real reality, the Happiness Hour, talking about the happiness issue of the missing tile syndrome. We focus on what we don't have. Here comes a perfect example, I believe. Susan in Englewood, Colorado. Hi, this is Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, this is Susan.

Hi.

Nice to talk to you.

Thank you.

I have to tell you, I was, um, 36 years old and the clock was ticking and I wanted to be married more than anything. And I was working, I was a teacher, and in the summer I took a little job as a, um, checkout girl at a grocery store. And you see people and their purses and their hands, and I would notice everyone's wedding ring. And I thought, how are all these people married and I'm not?

You have given me as powerful an example as the bald man.

Thank you.

All she saw were wedding bands.

Yep. And I thought, and I would see women that I thought, I'm competitive with her. I'm not terrible looking and she's just okay looking. How come she's married and I'm not?

What's missing here?

What's wrong?

And everyone was And what did you do?

Well, I'll tell you, I remember, um, it's been a while now, but I remember the day that I was sitting on my couch and I had a big cozy blanket around me, the television on, and I was eating dinner sitting on the couch in my pajamas with that blanket with the remote in my hand. And I thought, you know, I need to really enjoy this. This is cozy and it's nice, and you don't get this when you're married. I'll tell you, within 4 months I was engaged. Within 6 months I was married, and within the year I had a baby. And now, 8 years later—

and now you look at all these women without wedding bands and think, oh wow, they can sit on the couch.

And now I sit on a hard table eating dinner and my husband has the remote in his hand.

That's, that's a great story.

But I think I was just, you know, grateful.

By the way, here's the point though. You were able— your story is even more powerful for this reason. You would— the day you decided to be happy in your situation, you attracted a man.

That's right. That's right.

I tell singles who want to get married that the happier you can be in your single state, the more likely you are to get married. The irony of ironies. And I want people to get married, but I also want people to be happy whether they're married or not.

That's right.

What a great story. God bless you. That's, that's just terrific. You're welcome. That's, that's a treasure one. I'm telling you folks, this is not rocket science. Happy people attract people. I'm tempted to, to say the following: Hello, But I won't. I don't like that. So I won't go, "Hello!" You know, the film crew is probably thinking that I'm doing this because they're here. They don't know that this is how I am normally. Oh, is that the truth? You want to bring people into your life? Act happy. Somebody— what was it? Somebody either wrote some essay or somebody sent me a letter. Oh my God, you could tell they were a bunch of intellectuals. They wanted to know, well, Dennis, we agree, but it's not really authentic to walk around in an elated state. So what do you mean by act happy? You need to go to graduate school. To ask those questions. I'm serious. We shall return momentarily on the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

Dennis, I just wanted to call and say— I'm trying not to get too emotional because you have changed my life. I have read your books, I listen to your Timeless Wisdom Show every day, and I want to be like you when I grow up. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for being a true person for God and showing the light in God, in you, in this world, because this world needs it. I can't say thank you so much, uh, enough. My name is Tina. I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I am praying for a full recovery. Continue to fight it. You're doing awesome. Thank you again.

Goodbye.

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 Prager. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877 1-800-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support.

I'm just listening. Happy music. I'm talking to you today on the Happiness Hour about the missing tile syndrome, that the human nature is such that we focus on the tile that is missing. You can see— you could be in a gorgeous room, some public place, a chapel, anything, an auditorium, and you look up and one tile is missing, and that's what you stare at. That's what we do with our lives. We can have everything and one tile is missing. The woman who wanted to get married, all she saw were wedding bands. The bald man who only saw hair. The overweight woman who only saw thin women. I mean, it's endless. What we do. The people who want children will only see children. The people who are economically challenged only see rich people or people who are comfortable. You know, my theory on happiness, incidentally, will be— is so deep on the importance of it. I have a theory on who wins elections: the happier candidate. And that is why— it's a major reason why Ronald Reagan had a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter did not exude happiness, and, uh, Ronald Reagan did. And I have not seen an exception. The happier candidate wins. The happier person generally wins the marriage. The happier person wins the job interview. Happy people make the world better, and happy people get more for themselves. You would think it's self-recommending to act happy, wouldn't you? It's so obvious, and yet it's so not universal. Alrighty, 1-800-PRAGER-776, and we go to Pearl— excuse me, Palm Harbor, Florida. Patty, hi Patty, Dennis Prager.

Oh Dennis, this is the best birthday present I could have gotten.

Today is your birthday?

Well, not today, but it's coming very quickly and I'm happy about it.

All right, well, I pre—

don't ever understand that either, but that's funny.

That's true.

People almost got in was I think last year right before my birthday, so it must have been really—

you did? That's very sweet. Okay, pre-happy birthday.

Hi, there's so many things I love this hour because it's so— for some reason you think like I do and I've always been this way, so I've always had this question about You know, because I had a brother and sister who didn't, and it's like with the same circumstances, was there something in me from the beginning that tended to, you know, you talk about probably missing tile. Yeah, but then something inside of me, some instinct, always, even from when I was very young, always then instantly refocused on the rest, on, on something that was going to make me—

well, look, here is the sad truth of life. We are born with a lot of traits. Some people are born happier than others, but some people are born more musical than others, but still everybody can play piano, right? See, even that— if you take lessons in happiness, like lessons on the piano, you can then play happiness. But some people have a more natural affinity. You are one of them. Your brother and sister are not.

Well, this led me to a career the last 16 years of working with people with pain and with unhappiness and different things.

What is the career? What do you do?

I'm a hypnotherapist, and it's all about shifting focus to something that's going to make you feel better, whether it's pain, better, whether it's pain or, you know, the lack of being married or a relationship, those kind of things. But recently I had a lady who I gave her an article that I'd written about pain, because even research shows the more you focus on it, the more it It hurts, you know, literally. So I gave her an article that I'd written and she came back and she was, she still wanted to work with me, but she was actually a little angry and she says, "You are obviously someone who has never experienced pain in your life." And that was such a perfect example of how people—

That's it.

They think you've never—

Well, did you hear me say that at the beginning of the show?

Exactly.

This is, every time I give a speech on this subject, Patty, and thank you and happy birthday again, I always say, I am now making— and I did it this, this hour— I hereby wish to inform the unhappy that we who act happy have suffered just as much as you. And this is a revelation to those who walk around in bad moods. It's a revelation. Time to go to Texas and Irving, Texas. Danny, hi Danny, Dennis Prager, thank you for calling.

Hello, Dennis Prager. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Uh, yeah, uh, I, I guess I've suffered from the missing cow syndrome for quite a while. Uh, I've, uh, never been in a serious relationship. Uh, I've always Uh, that's all I've ever noticed. Oh, it really is.

You've all— you— all you've ever noticed is what you're missing?

Yes.

Yeah. Well, you— I'm gonna make a leap here, uh, based on both your content and your tone. Have you actually sought therapy?

Um, I've tried, uh, it's, uh, I'm not sure if—

Have you ever, have you ever tried one of the pharmaceutical drugs to, to help, uh, elevate a mood somewhat?

I don't know what those would be.

Well, you might want to give that a thought. You might be battling something that is not just psychological. And I grant that there is a physiological component to some people's being constantly down, and, and you should look at that no differently than if you had a congenitally bad leg. You'd get it operated on. We'll be back in a moment.

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 don't care what the weatherman says. I'm not interrupting him. It says it's raining, you never hear me complaining.

I'm certain sunshine.

I don't generally read biographies of entertainers. If there's a good one of Louis, or Lewis as some of you tell me to say, I want to read it. Is there— I'm sure there are a few of them, but if you tell me a good one. You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show, and this is the Happiness Hour. I'm going to summarize the calls up there. Don't hang up. Bonnie in Fort Worth says she works for the county hospital and works in OB, and observing the physical defects— it's obstetrics for those who don't know— and observing the physical defects and problems in the hospital makes it impossible for her or anyone want to feel the missing tile. And today's your birthday, Bonnie. Happy birthday. That's right. That's exactly right. Maybe when you see how many others have it, you can't have a missing tile syndrome as much. That's right. For those just tuning in, the missing tile syndrome, a major chapter in my book on happiness— Happiness Is a Serious Problem is the name of the book— is about our focusing on the missing things in our life. And again, the same thing. Carrie in Minnesota, her tile has been lack of acceptance and acknowledgement from others until she got sick, and her illness helped highlight what really matters and changed whole perspective. That's exactly right. I have so much to say about that, but I don't have the time. St. Petersburg, Florida, Doug says wife has bipolar syndrome And reassessing what we have and enhanced our love has helped us with the missing tile syndrome.

Yep.

My favorite in some ways is Marilyn in Aurora used Dennis Prager's comments about happiness as a state of mind rather than emotion as means of overcoming missing tile syndrome. I, I, I probably say this too often. This is the most important point I can make. But it probably is the most important point I can make. And that is, if your mind is in control and not your brain— the brain is the seat of feelings, the mind is the seat of thought and values— then you will have a better life. You will lead a more ethical, a more moral, and a more happy life if your mind is in control. That's where it starts. And it starts by understanding that there are a lot of tiles that you do have and not to focus as naturally you would on those that are missing. This has been the Happiness Hour.

On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah: If the God that Judaism introduced to the world exists— not Aristotle's unmoved mover, but the God, the personal God of Judaism, the judging God of Judaism, the merciful God of Judaism— then there is an afterlife. To me, it is, it is impossible for a good God, a just God, to have created a world with so much intrinsic injustice and cruelty and not had a working of it out in some afterlife. It is impossible for me to believe that the world was created and the only reality is physical, that the human being possesses no soul that outlives our decrepit skin. It's just just, uh, it's inconceivable to me on logical grounds. I can entertain atheism intellectually. I cannot entertain belief in God but no afterlife. It's a God that I, that I, that is alien to Judaism. But again, it's a tape you'll have to get or an article of mine you'll have to read. I am about to be gathered to my kin. Bury me with my fathers in the cave which is is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave which is in the field of Machpelah— remember where Abraham and Isaac and their wives are buried— facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. How many of you have been with me since chapter 1? Oh, there actually are, uh, 20 or so. That's 20, maybe a dozen, 6. No, no, about 15 of you. Uh, I'm very touched by that. Uh, the, uh, do you recall how the Torah went out of its way almost hilariously to say we bought the land, the Jews bought the land? Here again it comes back at the very end of Genesis. Let nobody say the Jews got that land in any illegal way. So here it is again, like it needs to be mentioned. The guy is dying, you know. And, and, and even now he— the one we bought and from whom we bought it is mentioned. It is so fascinating. The Torah is so sensitive to the possibility that anyone would accuse the Jews of having that area not totally fairly legally bought. So here, here it is again. It just— I got a kick out of it seeing it. You know, boys, The one that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. There Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried. And there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it bought from the Hittites. In case you missed, boys, one of you was talking while I spoke. Is that funny? I mean, you know, when you become aware of it, it truly, it's comical. When Jacob finished his instructions to to his sons. He drew his feet into the bed, and breathing his last, he was gathered to his people. It's very touching. The last chapter of Genesis is not about Jacob. I mean, you know, he could have died in the last chapter, but it's a way of saying nope. The continuum is what happens with Joseph and the brothers. The children of Israel take over now, not Israel himself. He she dies in chapter 49. It's very touching that it works that way. And so we go to the final chapter in the book of Genesis, chapter 50.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis' 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 Center podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

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