This is the 10% happier podcast.

I'm Dan Harris.

Hey, hey, today, a compelling Buddhist question.

Does self-hatred or self-love, for that matter, make any sense if the self is an illusion?

I'm going to be chewing over that and other meaty issues with Matthew Brenn's silver PhD,

who is a clinical social worker and a very experienced teacher of meditation retreats.

We're also going to cover how and why to view your anger with skepticism.

The relationship between self-love and personal ethics, what to do if you think you're a good person,

but have no interest in changing your behavior, how to handle a nagging sense of moral unjustifiability,

vis-a-vis your life, the way you live it, and how Matthew has arrived at a place of relative peace,

with his own mortality. A little bit more about Matthew before we dive in here.

Aside from teaching retreats at places like Spirit Rock, he's worked at an organization

called Mindful Schools, which teaches teachers how to teach meditation.

And as a social worker, he has worked with both adults and adolescents with pretty severe

mental health diagnoses and conditions. He's an utterly fascinating guy and I got a lot out of

this conversation. We will get started with Matthew Brenn's silver right after this.

Before we get started with today's episode, if you've been around TPH land for any length of time,

you've probably heard me name drop Joseph Goldstein. He started out as my meditation teacher,

then became my friend, and then we teamed up to help start the 10% happier meditation app.

And I just wanted to remind you that there is a ton of content featuring Joseph and his

humor and wisdom over on the app where he's the lead teacher on six different courses.

I'd recommend you start with the basics, which features your truly and Joseph talking about how to

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