Alain de Botton: Status Anxiety
I am currently reading Alain de Botton’s book “Status Anxiety”. It will take some time, as I pick it up again only when I happen to feel like it. It’s an interesting book. I just happened to bash the yellow press a month ago, when I got fed up with the strange news that are flashed as newsworthy these days. In his book, Alain makes a similar observation.
Although Alain puts a lot of effort into defining what “status” might mean, and why it may be a cause for anxiety, I think that the core idea behind the book is very familiar. If you let other people define what you value in life, and what you should aspire to, you may very easily find yourself living a very unfulfilled life. This idea is reflected in the solutions Alain has to offer—philosophy, art, politics, Christianity, and bohemia.
I cringed a bit at first at the inclusion of Christianity in Alain’s list, but it does seem to offer a solution. The thought that your status in life doesn’t matter, because your true status is determined in an afterlife, does offer consolation for status anxiety. In this case, it strikes me that the cure may be worse than the disease.
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2005-05-30Alain de Botton: A Guide to Happiness
Every now and then I return to de Botton’s book “The Consolations of Philosophy”. It is quite thin, to the point, and is very easy to read. I was thrilled to find that the Finnish broadcasting company YLE chose to broadcast the TV series “A Guide to Happiness”, which is based on the book.
Rather than spending an hour praising the book, I’ll settle for recommending it. If you think life sucks, pop out to the bookstore and see what de Botton has in store for you. You can get it really cheap, and that’s excellent value for money.