{"id":4749,"date":"2023-10-28T04:44:05","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T08:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/alain-de-botton-on-the-qualities-of-a-healthy-mind-the-marginalian\/"},"modified":"2023-10-28T04:44:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T08:44:05","slug":"alain-de-botton-on-the-qualities-of-a-healthy-mind-the-marginalian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/alain-de-botton-on-the-qualities-of-a-healthy-mind-the-marginalian\/","title":{"rendered":"Alain de Botton on the Qualities of a Healthy Mind \u2013 The Marginalian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Therapeutic-Journey-Lessons-School-Life\/dp\/1915087473\/?tag=braipick-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"504\" class=\"cover alignright size-medium jetpack-lazy-image\" alt=\"Alain de Botton on the Qualities of a Healthy Mind\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?w=953&amp;ssl=1 953w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?resize=320%2C504&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?resize=600%2C944&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?resize=240%2C378&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?resize=768%2C1209&amp;ssl=1 768w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/atherapeuticjourney_debotton.jpg?fit=320%2C504&amp;ssl=1&amp;is-pending-load=1\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav\u2019n of Hell, a Hell of Heav\u2019n,\u201d Milton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2014\/02\/13\/william-blake-paradise-lost\/\">wrote<\/a> centuries before modern science came to illuminate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2023\/06\/20\/the-experience-machine-andy-clark\/\">how the mind renders reality<\/a> \u2014 the mind, this sole lens we have on what the world is and what we are. The quality of our mind, then \u2014 the clarity of it, the composure of it \u2014 shapes the quality of our lives. Viktor Frankl knew this when he observed amid the most unimaginable of circumstances \u2014 the barbed-wire inside of a concentration camp \u2014 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2013\/03\/26\/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning\/\">\u201ceverything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms \u2014 to choose one\u2019s attitude in any given set of circumstances.\u201d<\/a> That choice, that attitude, is what we call mindset, and it is as trainable as a muscle, as teachable as piano.<\/p>\n<p>How to cultivate a mind that faces the gauntlet of living without making of it a hell is what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/tag\/alain-de-botton\">Alain de Botton<\/a>, philosopher of poetic pragmatism, explores in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Therapeutic-Journey-Lessons-School-Life\/dp\/1915087473\/?tag=braipick-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>A Therapeutic Journey: Lessons from The School of Life<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/1376496409\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>public library<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_64202\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/society6.com\/product\/i-will-confront-these-shows-of-the-day-and-night_framed-print?sku=s6-8968158p21a12v52a13v54?curator=brainpicker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1558\" class=\"size-full wp-image-64202 jetpack-lazy-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/margaretcook_leavesofgrass19.jpg?resize=768%2C973&amp;is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/data:image\/gif;base64,https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazy-fallback=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/margaretcook_leavesofgrass19.jpg?resize=768%2C973&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1558\" class=\"size-full wp-image-64202\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration by Margaret C. Cook for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2018\/04\/11\/leaves-of-grass-margaret-cook\/\">rare 1913 edition<\/a> of Walt Whitman\u2019s <em>Leaves of Grass<\/em>. (Available <a href=\"https:\/\/society6.com\/product\/i-will-confront-these-shows-of-the-day-and-night_framed-print?sku=s6-8968158p21a12v52a13v54?curator=brainpicker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as a print<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Recognizing that the mind is at bottom an attention machine \u2014 and, as cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz observed in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2013\/08\/12\/on-looking-eleven-walks-with-expert-eyes\/\">exquisite experiment in widening the lens<\/a>, \u201cattention is an intentional, unapologetic discriminator [that] asks what is relevant right now, and gears us up to notice only that\u201d \u2014 De Botton writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A mind in a healthy state is, in the background, continually performing a near-miraculous set of maneuvers that underpin our moods of clear-sightedness and purpose\u2026 A healthy mind is an editing mind, an organ that manages to sieve, from thousands of stray, dramatic, disconcerting, or horrifying thoughts, those particular ideas and sensations that actively need to be entertained in order for us to direct our lives effectively.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A mind at its best, De Botton argues, is equally capable of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2016\/09\/05\/school-of-life-self-compassion\/\">self-compassion<\/a> and of what Iris Murdoch so wonderfully termed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2019\/10\/21\/iris-murdoch-unselfing\/\">unselfing<\/a>. He writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A well-functioning mind recognizes the futility and cruelty of constantly finding fault with its own nature\u2026 [It] can quieten its own buzzing preoccupations in order, at times, to focus on the world beyond itself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Undergirding his formulation of a healthy mind is the intimation that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2022\/04\/05\/gabriel-marcel-nick-cave-hope-cynicism\/\">cynicism is the unhealthiest of mindsets<\/a> and the surest pathway to despair:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A healthy mind knows how to hope; it identifies and then hangs on tenaciously to a few reasons to keep going. Grounds for despair, anger, and sadness are, of course, all around. But the healthy mind knows how to bracket negativity in the name of endurance. It clings to evidence of what is still good and kind. It remembers to appreciate; it can \u2014 despite everything \u2014 still look forward to a hot bath, some dried fruit or dark chocolate, a chat with a friend, or a satisfying day of work. It refuses to let itself be silenced by all the many sensible arguments in favor of rage and despondency.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Complement with neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2021\/12\/24\/feeling-knowing-damasio\/\">the relationship between the body and the mind<\/a> and psychologist Carol Dweck\u2019s pioneering framework of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2014\/01\/29\/carol-dweck-mindset\/\">the two basic mindsets that shape our lives<\/a> (and how to cultivate the far more fruitful one), then revisit Alain de Botton on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2019\/11\/25\/the-school-of-life-book\/\">what emotional maturity really means<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2021\/10\/13\/alain-de-botton-normalcy-breakdown\/\">the importance of breakdowns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav\u2019n of Hell, a Hell of Heav\u2019n,\u201d Milton wrote centuries before modern [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}