Short YouTube chapter where Brian Johnson introduces the concept of the “integrity gap”: the difference between what a person is capable of being/doing (arete) and what they actually do. He argues that when this gap exists, negative states (depression, anxiety) arise, and that closing the gap leads to happiness. The chunk is a brief motivational/explanatory monologue.
Hey, this is Brian. Today's chapter is called the Integrity Gap. Guys like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle tell us that if we want happiness, we've got to live with arete, a word that directly translates as virtue or excellence, but has a deeper meaning. Something closer to living at your highest potential, moment to moment. I like to look at it this way. Let's draw a couple lines. One representing what we're capable of doing or being in any given moment, and one representing what we actually do, who we are in that moment. Like, so you've got capable, and below that, you've got actual. Now, if there's a gap between what we're capable of doing or being and what we actually do and who we are, guess what sneaks in. Depression, anxiety, and ick. There you go. There's the integrity gap between what we're capable of doing and in what we're actually doing. That's where ick resides. Now, it's often easier said than done, but close the integrity gap, and there's no room for the negative stuff, just a whole lot of happiness. So how are you out of integrity, and what can you start doing to close the gap?
