Historian and Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff explores the cracks in our seamless worldviews… or at least the worldviews we thought were seamless until we’re faced with tragedies of all kinds. In this wide-ranging exploration, Kate and Michael probe humanity's enduring attempt to console ourselves and construct meaning from our pain.
In this conversation, Kate and Michael discuss:
Why truth and trust are so important when it comes to finding meaning in our pain
The difference between comfort and consolation
The limits of stoicism and hyper-futurism
What it means to be hopeful
The importance of community through pain and suffering
Michael does not denigrate anyone’s attempt for comfort, but asks us to look carefully at the consolation that lasts. He asks: What is consolation? And why do we all crave that practice of meaning-making?
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