Hey Friends,
The year two thousand twenty three of our human history is already thirteen days in, and here is the first new issue of Caesura, a newsletter that is happy to have you on board as we, — and I mean you and me, Adil, the author — embark on a new and hopeful journey in the world of writing.
Happy New Year, folks, let it be one year in the many following after that, full of hope, love, friendship and kindness.
Let us start.
I mentioned in my last year’s list of books I have read, that in January 2022 Amazon offered me a free month trial for its Audible audiobooks service. Well, it happened again last week and I joyfully jumped on it and started listening to few books. Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, which is freely included into subscription is the first book I finished in 2023.
Status Anxiety appeared as a pleasant surprise in a rather gloomy post-celebration days of 2023, that always follow when you wait for something, it happens, and then it is gone, taking your excitement with it. Status Anxiety is a deep philosophical book that acts as if it is a popular non-fiction book (and it is not), but does it a very smart, subtle and funny way.
De Botton has a charming ability to strip naked human desires and emotions and provide their close examinations in a very funny, friendly and empathetic way. I was a big fan of his YouTube channel “School of Life,” and in moments of pressure and depression during my bachelor years, I would randomly play any of his videos and his soothing voice and narratives used to have a calming almost a therapy-like effect on me, as if someone listened to my thoughts, put a hand on my shoulder, smiled and said, “it is fine and this shall pass too.”
Regrettably, De Botton did not narrate this book, and yet, his writing is as charming and entertaining and kind as I remember his videos used to be. Status Anxiety examines our desire to be recognized, to be differentiated and ultimately, to be cared about and loved by those surrounding us. I experienced a range of emotions while listening to the book, ranging from the disgust for human nature, shamefulness for noticing social status seeking in myself, feeling depressed of the social system we locked in, and finally, feeling at ease and laughing a bit at how endlessly stupid we humans are.
De Botton argues that status anxiety that we all experience have five causes: lovelessness, snobbery, expectation, meritocracy, dependence. He suggests that instead of constantly chasing after status, one can find contentment and fulfillment in other aspects of life such as art, philosophy, religion, relationships and what he refers as “Bohemia”.
You may agree or disagree with what he has to say, but De Botton masterfully unpacks a very complex human phenomenon, examining it from social, political, evolutionary, cultural, artistic and economic points of view, and yet staying simple, engaging and entertaining in his writing. The amount of literary, economic, political and philosophical thinkers he cites and summarizes is worth of several course syllabuses, and yet, he is able to do so in a more understandable and relatable way than any Sparknotes summaries could. His desire to reach out to wider, and possibly mass audience — who is understandably not a primary target for philosophical books — is clearly intentional, and to my view, admirable, as it is certainly a worthy cause to bring more self-aware and mindful thinking into everyone’s lives.
At the end of the day, Status Anxiety, although full of philosophical and sometimes depressing discussions, is a hopeful book, giving its readers a kind glimpse into hopeful future rather a dark view into unavoidable internal conflicts that we tend to be stuck in for the whole duration of our lives (that many philosophical books I have read in the past had).
I am looking forward reading more of De Botton’s book and I recommended Status Anxiety to anyone who is looking for engaging reading and/or listening experience.
See ya,
Adil.