Listen now (24 mins) | In the first episode of Samsara Audio, I provide an overview of the essay series I've been running at my blog Samsara Diagnostics. The series is titled "what sort of problem is a human being?" and focuses on the philosophical problems raised by the question of self-destructive behavior in humans. I draw on an eclectic set of sources, including Nietzsche, Lacan, and Girard, and I begin to put Christianity and Buddhism into dialogue on the question of the relation between consciousness and harm. In particular, I focus on the central role which the development and the function of the ego plays in self-destructive behavior. If you'd like to learn more, please visit