Alain de Botton: Is Your Home Making You Happy?

Alain de Botton· Guest0:00

[gentle music] There's always an interesting dialogue between what someone's home looks like and who they actually are. So, you know, a common charge might be, "Well, this place looks very serene. Uh, you must be very calm." N- no, it's precisely because you're not calm that you need that serenity hugely. The reason why people develop OCD is always the same. It's that they've experienced great lack of safety and a lack of love. Love is the great insulator. Literally creates a, a bubble, a home around somebody. If, if, if you encase a person in love, they, they don't need so much casing of architecture.

Matt Gibberd· Host0:39

[gentle music] Hello, and welcome to Homing. I'm Matt Gibbard. Does a home have the power to make us happy? Why do some people feel safest surrounded by objects, while others can only settle in pared down spaces? And what compels us to keep rearranging the rooms around us, as if we're trying to rearrange something inside ourselves? Here to explore these existential questions with me is the writer and philosopher Alain de Botton. For many years, Alain has explored the emotional forces that shape our inner lives, from love and loss to status anxiety. Through his educational organization, The School of Life, he's focused on well-being and self-understanding, and much of this thinking connects back to