Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Happiness | 20180720 | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 4: Beyond Happiness
This final programme in the series features environmentalist Eddie Thornton and members of the Kirby Misperton anti-fracking community in Yorkshire, the Breathing Space group for those with dementia and their carers at Hoot Creative Arts in Huddersfield and author, neuroscientist and pleasure supremo, Professor Morten Kringelbach, Fellow of The Queens College, Oxford and founder of the Hedonia Research Group.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo: Breathing Space group at Hoot Creative Arts. Copyright Hoot Creative Arts.
What if happiness isn\u2019t about the self at all? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. | |
| Beyond Happiness | 20180720 | 20190130 (R4) | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 4: Beyond Happiness
This final programme in the series features environmentalist Eddie Thornton and members of the Kirby Misperton anti-fracking community in Yorkshire, the Breathing Space group for those with dementia and their carers at Hoot Creative Arts in Huddersfield and author, neuroscientist and pleasure supremo, Professor Morten Kringelbach, Fellow of The Queens College, Oxford and founder of the Hedonia Research Group.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo: Breathing Space group at Hoot Creative Arts. Copyright Hoot Creative Arts.
What if happiness isn\u2019t about the self at all? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. |
| Existential Cool - Buddhism and the Art of Acceptance | 20180719 | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 3: Existential Cool - Buddhism and the art of acceptance
This episode was recorded on location at Plum Village Buddhist Monastery near Bordeaux, France, set up by Thich Nhat Hahn, the monk who persuaded Martin Luther King to oppose the Vietnam War. We meet the Brothers and Sisters of Plum Village including Sister True Dedication, Brother Phap Ung and Sister Trenian and, at the Happy Farm, we meet Brother Simon.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo: 16 Buddhas, Plum Village Buddhist Monastery. Copyright Plum Village CBZ.
Does true happiness, Nirvana, come from dissolving the self? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. | |
| Existential Cool - Buddhism and the Art of Acceptance | 20180719 | 20190123 (R4) | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 3: Existential Cool - Buddhism and the art of acceptance
This episode was recorded on location at Plum Village Buddhist Monastery near Bordeaux, France, set up by Thich Nhat Hahn, the monk who persuaded Martin Luther King to oppose the Vietnam War. We meet the Brothers and Sisters of Plum Village including Sister True Dedication, Brother Phap Ung and Sister Trenian and, at the Happy Farm, we meet Brother Simon.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo: 16 Buddhas, Plum Village Buddhist Monastery. Copyright Plum Village CBZ.
Does true happiness, Nirvana, come from dissolving the self? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. |
| Fight Club of the Soul | 20180718 | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised
Episode 2 : Fight Club of the Soul
In Fight Club of the Soul we meet authors and academics, Carl Cedarstrom and Andre Spicer and Muay Thai Women's World Champion Ruqsana Begum in a gym in East London.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo caption: Ruqsana Begum.
Is what matters denting the universe and unleashing the biggest you? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. | |
| Fight Club of the Soul | 20180718 | 20190116 (R4) | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised
Episode 2 : Fight Club of the Soul
In Fight Club of the Soul we meet authors and academics, Carl Cedarstrom and Andre Spicer and Muay Thai Women's World Champion Ruqsana Begum in a gym in East London.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo caption: Ruqsana Begum.
Is what matters denting the universe and unleashing the biggest you? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. |
| Self-Harm Nation | 20180717 | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kick-boxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 2: Self-Harm Nation
The programme features poet Clare Shaw in interview and reading from a poem in her new collection 'Flood', we hear from members of London's asexual community and we meet Dr. Liz Gloyn -author and Classics academic from Royal Holloway, University of London - at Stoicon X.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo credit: Photo of poet Clare Shaw by Claire McNamee.
Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. | |
| The Perfect Life | 20180716 | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kickboxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 1: The Perfect Life
The programme features contributions from psychotherapist and author Susie Orbach, "I had the Dream Life" social media icon Essena O'Neill, Marco Iacaboni, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, UCLA, Chief Happiness Officer and Mr Happiness Arnaud Collery and sociologist and political economist, Dr. Will Davies of Goldsmiths, University of London.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo of Leo Johnson. Copyright Marcus Jamieson-Pond.
Is hedonism getting hacked? And if it is, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. | |
| The Perfect Life | 20180716 | 20190109 (R4) | Are we pursuing happiness, or is the happiness industry pursuing us? And if our model of hedonism isn't working, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson goes on a year-long journey to pick up life lessons of happiness from modern day practitioners of radically different philosophies.
It's a journey that takes us from Yorkshire's anti-fracking grannies to the slow footballing Vietnamese monks of Plum Village, from self-cutting poets to the Chief Happiness Officers Convention in Paris, from London's asexual community to multi-orgasmic Swedish academics, and from World Champion Muay Thai women kickboxers to Elvis-loving dementia sufferers.
What emerges is a set of starkly competing visions of the good life - ancient philosophies still duking it out to get punched in as the destination in our psychic Sat Navs.
What we meet is a set of individuals who have questioned the default comforts of the IKEA catalogue, defined the shape of the self, and chosen lives that give us a glimpse of how each of us can reclaim peace, reclaim purpose, reclaim pain, and reclaim pleasure - the real pleasure that hedonism promised.
Episode 1: The Perfect Life
The programme features contributions from psychotherapist and author Susie Orbach, "I had the Dream Life" social media icon Essena O'Neill, Marco Iacaboni, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, UCLA, Chief Happiness Officer and Mr Happiness Arnaud Collery and sociologist and political economist, Dr. Will Davies of Goldsmiths, University of London.
A Reel Soul Movies production for BBC Radio 4
Photo of Leo Johnson. Copyright Marcus Jamieson-Pond.
Is hedonism getting hacked? And if it is, how do we hack our happiness back? Leo Johnson explores radical philosophies of happiness. |