After publishing his first book at 23, Alain de Botton spent the next two decades becoming one of the world’s best known philosophers. A fortnight before the Australian tour that will take in
Brisbane,
Sydney and
Melbourne, Everguide caught up with de Botton for a quick chat via email to cover some of the big questions brought up by his books, in particular his latest, “
Religion for Athiests.”
Everguide: Where are you writing to us from?
Alain de Botton: From a very freezing study in London - it's currently minus 6 degrees, cold air has blown in from Siberia and the whole of the UK is shivering (our houses aren't up to this kind of thing).
EG: You appear to have found a balance in your life and work that brings yourself and others a lot of joy. Doing things that matter to us can be draining, yet we often feel guilty when we're enjoying ourselves. Do you think we need to justify a good time, and is there a way to balance the work/reward or karma scales?
AdB: I think the most important thing in life is to feel that you're doing justice to your talents and interests. Even if you're not that successful at it, or it's deeply stressful, or you're actually quite miserable most of the time, at least you can feel you are on the right track. So I'm not big on relaxation, and yet I'm deeply excited by every day of my life, even the very dark days, which come around more frequently than I'd like.
EG: Money has a strong relationship with freedom and opportunity, which, in turn, give us access to the thing we call happiness. Can money (inadvertently or not) buy happiness?
AdB: I think there are times of life where money, if used well, can make an enormous difference. But then there are plenty of other occasions where it can be wasted and indeed corrupt the spirit. Wisdom is trying to work out which of your problems come down to money and which are being blamed on money while actually lying elsewhere. That requires a lot of honesty and self-knowledge.
EG: Atheists/secularists campaign for the separation of church and state, but in the spirit of true secularism is there not still a need for a religious/conservative influence to balance out political debate?
AdB: I think political space can never be emptied of ideology. Someone is always going to be trying to influence you of something. Not least, the freemarket constantly bombards us with commercial messages. So we need to get more conscious about where propaganda is coming from. It comes in all shapes and sizes and religions certainly don't have a monopoly on it.
EG: If the titles were turned, what would be the things, if anything, you would most recommend the religious to steal from atheist (1.0 or above) ways? I imagine there would hardly be a books-worth…
AdB: I'd want them to steal scepticism and tolerance - atheists don't always have that of course, but that's my ideal. In my book, I argue that believing in God is, for me as for many others, simply not possible. At the same time, I want to suggest that if you remove this belief, there are particular dangers that open up - we don't need to fall into these dangers, but they are there and we should be aware of them. For a start, there is the danger of individualism: of placing the human being at the center stage of everything. Secondly, there is the danger of technological perfectionism; of believing that science and technology can overcome all human problems, that it is just a matter of time before scientists have cured us of the human condition. Thirdly, without God, it is easier to lose perspective: to see our own times as everything, to forget the brevity of the present moment and to cease to appreciate (in a good way) the miniscule nature of our own achievements. And lastly, without God, there can be a danger that the need for empathy and ethical behaviour can be overlooked.
Now, it is important to stress that it is quite possible to believe in nothing and remember all these vital lessons (just as one can be a deep believer and a monster). I am simply wanting to draw attention to some of the gaps, some of what is missing, when we dismiss God too brusquely. By all means, we can dismiss him, but with great sympathy, nostalgia, care and thought...
EG: If they are fully aware that works like Harry Potter or The Satanic Verses are fiction, why do you think some religious fundamentalists hate them so much?
AdB: A work of fiction isn't nothing, fiction can lay out truths just as effectively as non-fiction. So the issue isn't that they are novels, but that they offend people's beliefs - to which the answer is that one should be able to tolerate being offended without wanting to kill the offender.
EG: Being an avid and pensive traveller, what are your thoughts, broadly, on xenophobia and immigration in developed, supposedly tolerant countries such as Australia and the UK?
AdB: It's no solution to xenophobia to tell people it's bad to feel it. You have to help people overcome it. Liberal politics takes it for granted that normally people feel no suspicion of foreigners. But in fact, such suspicion can easily arise - and so we have to take steps to mitigate it, rather than moralise immediately against anyone who feels it.
EG: On travel … flight is the biggest contributor to each of our individual carbon footprints. Does this weigh on you? Do you feel the social benefits of travel outweighs the environmental catastrophies it is generating?
AdB: Like most people, I'm deeply torn about this. It's not just flying that's the problem, it's existing. The most environmentally friendly thing to do is, of course, to cease existing.
EG: Do you feel any responsibility to tackle environmental issues like the above?
AdB: Yes, I do, and I take the steps I can.
EG: Taking complex or costly things and making them accessible to the average person seems to be something you're very interested in. In your experience, which avenues reach the widest audiences and which get the most gratifying response from your work: Your books? School of Life? TED Talks? Twitter?
AdB: Well, TED is amazing at spreading ideas, but Twitter isn't bad either. However, my life ultimately built on making and selling books - that's where the love is truly poured and where I feel the deepest connection with readers.
EG: What do you enjoy about Twitter?
AdB: It's immediate, feedback is there three seconds after posting and I love the idea of compressing a complex thought in an apparently throwaway line.
EG: How successful has the School of Life been and, in your opinion, which programs and speakers have been the most well received and why?
AdB: It's been a wonderful experiment. What we've tried to do with
The School of Life is to say that we all need guidance and there's plenty of amazing suggestions on hand in works of culture, be that philosophy or art, history or psychotherapy. So we built the school as a place to meet others for fascinating insights into how one can live. It's a place of community, of friendship and of insight. We're hoping to come to Australia with one soon.
EG: Do you think being Swiss-born has made you one of the more diplomatic or polite of the intellectual chaps to have come out of Oxford?
AdB: Oh, I came out of Cambridge actually, not that that matters. I found my studies there quite disappointing. It was meant to be the top of the world... but how disappointing the teaching was, I still haven't recovered! As for being diplomatic and polite, that's only a good day... but yes, it's important for all of us, isn't it, to try to show respect and love. I try my hardest, and sometimes succeed.
INTERVIEW: Blair Elton