When People Refuse Love

Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest people on the planet - and yet dresses like a very ordinary guy. That's both cheering and subtly deeply wounding to our pride.

We often make some very peculiar and regrettable choices on the basis of a hidden and unmentioned fear: that of being alone. But once we realise that there isn't, in fact, anything to fear about being on our own, we'll be liberated to make some far healthier decisions.Uploaded 01-01-20Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/J6oOfBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/6FQDFFURTHER READINGYou can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/2tEYiMX“It’s not hard to understand the fear of being alone: the empty apartment after work, the eerieness of Sunday afternoons, the sense of exclusion during the holidays… We know the agonies of being on our own very well. What is far less well understood, and less eloquently or frequently described, is the enormously high price exacted on the other side of the equation. The fear, or more often simply the phobia, of being alone is perhaps responsible for more unhappy relationships, more throttling of psychological development, more claustrophobia and more pent up misery than almost any other: it is – by any reckoning – one of the single greatest contributors to human misery and the driver of some of our weightiest and most unfortunate decisions. If only we were able to get the costs of what is for the most part a simple misapprehension clear in our minds, we might save ourselves a substantial portion of our lives…”MORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLselfSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with:Natalia Ramos http://www.nataliarama.com/Title animation produced in collaboration withVale Productionshttps://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes, in a cosy moment, one lover might ask another: What do you love me for? It's a moment of huge and philosophical importance: what is a good answer to this complicated question? There are a range of things one should never say - and one or two that will stand the best chance of cementing love.Uploaded 29-04-20Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/N6RgCBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/EABZ_FURTHER READINGYou can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/2KBDkE5“Sometimes, and it often happens in bed, we face an acute test at the hands of a lover to whom we have pledged our affections. We are asked, with little warning, and in a serious tone: ‘What do you love me for?’ Few moments in a relationship can be as philosophical as this – or as dangerous. A good answer has the power to confirm and enhance the union; a bad one could blow it apart. As we try to make headway, we immediately recognise that we can’t simply say ‘everything’. We’re being asked to make choices – and our love will be deemed sincere to the extent that the choices feel accurate to their recipients…”MORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on RELATIONSHIPS in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLrelationshipsSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with: Noelle Smith Designhttp://www.noellesmithdesign.com/ Title animation produced in collaboration withVale Productionshttps://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a particular pleasure to be felt in the mighty things of nature: thunderstorms, the stars, vast deserts, oceans, the icecaps. One philosopher who analysed our pleasure was Edmund Burke, who pinned a word to this sensation and theorised about why it was so nice: he gave us the concept of The Sublime.

Adults may grumble about kids: but what about the other side of the coin? A thoughtful member of the younger generation (9 and a half) shares with us some of the horrors of parents.