Episode Details

The idea of ‘atonement’ sounds very old-fashioned and is deeply rooted in religious tradition. To atone means, in essence, to acknowledge one’s capacity for wrongness and one’s readiness for apology and desire for change. It’s a concept that every society needs at its center. Enjoying 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/2-Rjr Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/MJ7xZ FURTHER READING “‘Atonement’ is a slightly unfamiliar, old-fashioned and alien word. It means, according to the dictionary, the action of making amends for a wrong or injury and, especially in religious contexts, reparation or expiation for sin. The modern world chiefly believes that the rightful way to amend for a wrong is either to pay a fine or go to prison. These are, in certain circumstances, surely the best moves – but they fail to deal with what is, in the end, the far largest category of wrongs that humans commit: instances of everyday nastiness, error, foolishness, lack of empathy and shortsightedness. Fining or imprisoning on a mass scale is not realistic here and yet, leaving the wrongs unaddressed seems not quite right either. We need a procedure for atonement that is both real and functions outside of the judicial system…” You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/D9bsxV MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on RELATIONSHIPS in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLrelationships SOCIAL MEDIA Feel 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/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Mike Booth https://www.youtube.com/somegreybloke #TheSchoolOfLife

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