In today's episode, our speakers explore this question: How can I live a satisfied life?
You’ll hear from Arthur Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School and author of The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. He’s in conversation with Andrew Huberman, professor at Stanford School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Labs podcast. In this conversation, they explore what it means to find a fulfilling life through scientific and faith-based practices, as well as their own journeys with religious belief. The forum is moderated by Charles Lee, professor emeritus at Stanford.
This forum was held by the Veritas at Stanford student organization in April 2026. Thank you to the Veritas at Stanford student organization for permission to co-release this recording.
Arthur Brooks
Andrew Huberman
Charles Lee
I believe as a Christian man, as a seeker, I'm actually not the seeker. I'm the one who's sought. The problem is, I have to let myself be found.
If you're willing to be open about your understanding, but also your questions about faith, you'll not only bring more people along for the ride of what you know, you'll bring more along for the ride of exploration.
The world is full of worldly rewards, and you're being beguiled by them constantly: money, power, pleasure, fame, success, adulation, adoration. ... But there's one thing that satisfies when you have that transcendent experience of love.
I think that ultimately, most people arrive at the question, whether they admit it or not: What is this all about? Because you hit enough peaks and you garner enough resources and enough positive reputation and experience that you were forced to ask that question. ... Bigger meaning is not going to come from the things of people, of animals, even of nature. This notion of a higher power, of God, is the meaning that you've been trying to either superimpose on everything or set at the foundation of everything.
When I sit down with scientists on my podcast, or I talk to them, they'll talk about the health benefits of faith-based practices. I acknowledge that, I think it's wonderful. But I believe that most people would like to have a relationship with God, whether they know it or not.
Jesus didn't say, "Like your enemies." He said, "Love your enemies—notwithstanding your feelings." Love is something that you choose. And the practices of the happiest people are to love the divine, to love your family, to love your friends, and to love everybody through the way that you earn your daily bread.
Here's the pathogenic formula that sounds right. It's six words: love things, use people, and worship yourself. That's what the world tells you. ... The true formula that I think about every day, that I pray about every day, and that I will follow is one that just transposes the verbs and the nouns: Use things, love people, and worship God.
