Creating Our Own Lives

Alain de Botton — The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships


Listen Later

The philosopher and creator of The School of Life. The question we should ask on an early date is, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this…” The real work of love that is in the stumbling and evolving, skill and surviving — not in the falling. The joy of flirting.
What if the first question we asked on a date were, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this”? Philosopher and writer Alain de Botton’s essay “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” was one of the most-read articles in The New York Times in recent years. As people and as a culture, he says, we would be much saner and happier if we reexamined our very view of love. Nowhere do we realistically teach ourselves and our children how love deepens and stumbles, survives and evolves over time, and how that process has much more to do with ourselves than with what is right or wrong about our partner. The real work of love is not in the falling, but in what comes after.
Alain de Botton is the founder and chairman of The School of Life. His books include “Religion for Atheists,” “How Proust Can Change Your Life,” and the novel “The Course of Love.”
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Creating Our Own LivesBy On Being Studios

  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1

4.1

124 ratings


More shows like Creating Our Own Lives

View all
The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,898 Listeners

On Being with Krista Tippett by On Being Studios

On Being with Krista Tippett

10,350 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,249 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,265 Listeners

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge by Tami Simon

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

1,837 Listeners

TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

22,129 Listeners

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry by David Naimon, Tin House Books

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

442 Listeners

The One You Feed by iHeartPodcasts

The One You Feed

2,512 Listeners

Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield by Be Here Now Network

Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

1,447 Listeners

Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg by Be Here Now Network

Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg

685 Listeners

10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

10% Happier with Dan Harris

12,533 Listeners

Becoming Wise by On Being Studios

Becoming Wise

773 Listeners

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

2,413 Listeners

This Movie Changed Me by On Being Studios

This Movie Changed Me

574 Listeners

Meditative Story by WaitWhat

Meditative Story

3,060 Listeners

Poetry Unbound by On Being Studios

Poetry Unbound

3,496 Listeners

A Slight Change of Plans by Pushkin Industries

A Slight Change of Plans

2,032 Listeners