By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.

Jay Shetty Podcast

Robert Greene: "You Feel Empty Because You’re Living Someone Else’s Life!" – Reclaim Yourself Today

Today we welcome Robert Greene, the bestselling author of "The 48 Laws of Power," "The Art of Seduction," "The Laws of Human Nature," and more.

Robert GreeneguestGreat Minds Jay Shettyhost

Aug 5, 20241h 18mWatch on YouTube

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

Great conversations run long. Their best ideas don't have to.

uListen is free on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Claude.

CHAPTERS

Jump to publisher timestamps

Chapter summaries

Introduction and Touring Chat
Jay Shetty introduces Robert Greene and explains how rereading The Daily Laws of Power helped him after a long tour. The two chat about the tour and whether Jay is an introvert or extrovert.
- •Jay introduces Robert Greene and his books
- •Jay toured nearly 40 cities in 90 days and felt the need to learn and nourish himself afterward
- •The Daily Laws of Power became Jay's daily read
- •Jay describes himself as an ambivert who craves alone time
Dealing with Negative People
Greene explains how to deal with negative people: accept that everyone has dark traits, don't take their behavior personally, and create distance. He notes narcissists are the most common type and urges care about who you let into your life.
- •Everyone has dark traits, and people have their own histories behind their behavior
- •Negative people stir up drama to gain attention and power
- •Remind yourself that they are separate from you
- •Recognize deep narcissists, who can seem charming and charismatic, before getting involved
- •Judge people on character rather than appearance, intelligence or charm
Spotting Strong vs. Weak Character
Jay asks for signs of character, and Greene says people are born actors, so you must look behind the mask. He lists how people handle criticism, stress, power, partner choice and competition as revealing traits.
- •Some people feign humility because it is seen as positive
- •A strong character can take criticism and accept blame
- •Stress makes the mask fall off weak characters
- •Power reveals whether people become abusive to those below them
- •Partner choice and over-competitiveness reveal character
Why We Are Drawn to the Wrong People and Filling Emptiness
Jay asks what it says about us that we are attracted to the wrong qualities. Greene admits he tends to get involved with narcissists and links this to inner emptiness. He explains he fills that emptiness through his work and ideas, while also valuing emptiness through Zen meditation.
- •Inner emptiness draws people to those who seem to fill it, including charismatic leaders
- •Some people repeatedly choose the worst partners because the pain makes them feel alive
- •Greene fills his emptiness through work, reading and new ideas
- •Zen practice sees a purpose and beauty in emptiness and the absence of a fixed self
Surprising Kindness and Our Capacity for Empathy
Asked what has surprised him about humans, Greene says that since his stroke people have been kind and eager to help. He discusses how empathy is innate but deadened by modern life, social media and self-focus.
- •Greene says history shows repetition, but people's kindness after his stroke surprised him
- •Jay notes the kindness shows that side of us always exists
- •Connecting with another person gets us out of ourselves
- •Inner lives are repetitive, while other people are like other countries
- •Modern life makes the empathy muscle atrophy
Thoughts Are Not Who You Are
Greene describes his most repeated thoughts and how meditation reveals the machinery of the mind. He argues thoughts are phantoms, compares them to social media, and Jay adds that repeated thoughts become beliefs and reality.
- •Trivial scheduling thoughts intrude during meditation
- •Thoughts are not real and are separate from who you are
- •Social media mirrors the brain's habit of grabbing emotions
- •Jay says repeated thoughts become habits, patterns and reality
- •Buddhist ideas suggest the self is a construction of the mind
Gurdjieff, Awareness and the Invisible World
Greene introduces Gurdjieff's idea that people walk around asleep on automatic pilot, and says becoming aware has changed his life. Jay and Greene discuss how we mostly live in an invisible world of interpretation, symbols and language, and Greene questions his own beliefs.
- •Gurdjieff held that people live on automatic pilot
- •Greene has practiced growing awareness for 14 or 15 years
- •How we process experience becomes our reality
- •Language, government and social codes are invisible symbols
- •Greene questions where his beliefs come from and considers the opposite
Questioning Yourself Without Losing Yourself
Jay asks how to question beliefs without losing identity. Greene says to cut away what family and culture programmed into you and find your essence, using his early knowledge that he would be a writer as firm ground. Jay adds that fear of what others think keeps people from their purpose.
- •We are programmed by parents, culture and teachers about who we should be
- •Questioning should get closer to who you are rather than lead to an abyss
- •Finding your core gives a degree of certainty
- •Greene knew from a young age he wanted to be a writer
- •Fear of being unsuccessful at what you love holds people back
How People Perceive You and Feeling Like an Imposter
Greene says authenticity matters to him and that he hates pretending, which led him to write The 48 Laws of Power. He feels like an imposter as a so-called self-help guru, warns that perception can become self-image, and notes famous people can become trapped in an image.
- •Greene hates people pretending to be what they are not
- •He feels like an imposter in the self-help guru label
- •Others' perception can become your self-perception if you're not careful
- •Greene acknowledges his own flaws, including narcissism and envy
- •Famous people can become trapped in the image others hold of them
The Before-and-After Myth and Timeless Books
Jay says growth is cyclical rather than a linear before and after, and Greene recalls being the same person before and after his book's success. They discuss old books, with Jay citing Pavlov and Einstein and Greene explaining why ancient writing moves him.
- •Challenges are cyclical: Jay still feels envy and anxiety but deals with them better
- •Greene was the same person before and after The 48 Laws of Power
- •Jay cites Pavlov on reading an old book and Einstein on explaining simply
- •Greene loves old books and Zen classics
- •Jay suggests the privacy of old writers gave their work power
Creative Process and Trusting Your Daemon
Greene explains he refused to repeat The 48 Laws of Power, since each book must challenge him and feel alive. He describes the daemon, a second self that signals what feels right, and how he trusts he will get through the wall of doubt.
- •Greene refused to write a sequel to The 48 Laws of Power because it would feel hollow
- •Each book must be a new challenge
- •Jay also chooses topics that feel alive and uncertain
- •The daemon is an inner voice guiding toward right or wrong
- •Greene has hit the 'wells are dry' feeling about 85 times and learned to trust himself
Expanding the Self and Limited Language
Greene says he writes about the self and wants readers to see they are larger than they think. Jay shares antariksha, the inner sky, and they discuss how social media and homogenized language limit thought, while other languages open up new ideas.
- •Greene avoids abstraction and seeks what is real
- •Our sense of self and consciousness is limited and much larger than we think
- •Antariksha means inner sky
- •Social media exposes us to limited language
- •Words like sunsum carry meanings English lacks
Opening the Mind Through Music, Ancient Cultures and Travel
Jay asks how else people can open their minds, and Greene discusses music from other eras, books on daily life in ancient cultures, and Aztec thought. They compare homogenized global culture with places like Bhutan and Hawaii, where older ways remain.
- •Pop music is a limited circle of harmony compared with ancient and world music
- •Daily Life In books help imagine the sensory world of the past
- •Greene is fascinated by Aztec spectacles and philosophy
- •Jay describes Bhutan as slow and protected from generic culture
- •Chains like Starbucks homogenize the world
Final Five Questions
Jay closes with rapid-fire questions. Greene wishes he had learned the piano, is less sure about good and evil, would visit the Paleolithic era, picks Nietzsche, Buddha and Socrates for dinner, and is trying to be more forgiving of himself.
- •Wishes he had learned piano
- •Less sure about right and wrong than when young
- •Would go to the Paleolithic era to learn about early consciousness
- •Dinner guests: Nietzsche, Buddha and Socrates
- •Learning self-forgiveness after an upbringing of never feeling good enough

Publisher timestamps

Get more out of YouTube videos.

Read along on your phone, search it beside the video, or ask your favorite AI app what was said.