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Monument Valley, USA – for Calm
You are – quite literally – in the middle of nowhere – and, unexpectedly, it’s helping. A lot. How frantic we otherwise normally are. We live competitive crazed lives: we compare ourselves constantly...
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Food as Therapy
At the moment, food is highly prestigious. A vast amount of attention is paid to celebrity chefs, dietary advice, new restaurants and cooking shows. We have, it seems, become collectively obsessed...
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On the Importance of Drawing
Whenever something looks interesting or beautiful, there’s a natural impulse to want to capture and preserve it – which means, in this day and age, that we’re likely to reach for our phones to take a...
View ArticleWhat Is Literature For?
We have a general sense that these sorts of places are filled with things that are deeply important. But what exactly is literature good for? Why should we spend our time reading novels or poems when,...
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What Is Therapy For?
In almost all countries and communities around the world, there is one central (usually unvoiced) suspicion that arises whenever someone lets slip that they are ‘having therapy’: they are crazy....
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What Is History For?
If you had the misfortune to do too much, or the wrong kind of it at school, you’ll probably remember one thing about history: how dull it can sometimes be. You might harbour painful memories of the...
View ArticleWhat Is Art For?
People flock to museums like never before, so they must have their motives. But when it comes to art, people get strangely afraid to ask too directly what it all might be for, because everyone except...
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What Is Philosophy For?
People are understandably confused about what philosophy is. From a distance, it seems weird, irrelevant, boring and yet also – just a little – intriguing. But it’s hard to put a finger on what the...
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Travel as Therapy – an Introduction
Nowadays we’re used to thinking of travel as the ‘fun’ bit of life, but enjoyment isn’t a reason why it shouldn’t also do some very serious things for us. At its deepest level, travel can assist us...
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What Is Comedy For?
Although many of us like comedy a lot, it feels odd to ask basic questions about its purpose. ‘What is comedy for?’ sounds like a leaden inquiry directly opposed to the spirit of humour. But really it...
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On Ugliness and the Housing Crisis
People living in pleasant rural towns across the south of England, places like Chipping Norton and Ashford, are horrified by government aspirations to build thousands of new homes in the surrounding...
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Books as Therapy
We have a general sense that books can teach us things, make us value our everyday lives and even shape the way we think. But the question of which books we should read, not just for knowledge or...
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Art as Therapy
There is widespread agreement that art is very important. But it can be remarkably hard to say quite why, or what it is for. Here at The Book of Life (and its associated arm, The School of Life) we...
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Should Philosophers Be on Youtube?
Traditionally, philosophy has been nervous around the idea of communication. Reaching out has not been high on the agenda. Academic philosophers have frequently erected barriers to wider participation:...
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What Is the Point of the Humanities?
We have a general sense that the humanities are filled with things that are deeply important. But what exactly are they for? The humanities are a repository of useful and consoling ideas that can help...
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On How to Make an Attractive City
Cities are a big deal. We pretty much all have to live in them. We should try hard to get them right. So few cities are nice, very few out of many thousands are really beautiful; embarrassingly the...
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What Comes After Religion?
Fewer and fewer people believe nowadays. It’s possible that in a generation there simply won’t be religion across Europe and large sections of North America, Australia and Asia. That’s not...
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On Good and Bad Taste
When it comes to design and decoration, it feels extremely tricky and dangerous to accuse anyone of having ‘bad taste’ or to pride oneself on having good taste. The official story is that anything goes...
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On Aphorisms
Aphorisms are short sentences capturing a large truth in a pithy way. Here are some of the world’s finest.
View ArticleArt – the Movies
The great artists have a therapeutic effect on us; re-opening our eyes to the overlooked beauty of the world; helping us to feel less isolated about our sorrows; reminding us of the more hopeful sides...
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