
English: 
thank you so much for that
that was fantastic
and this song apart from being one of my favorites
I sing like this everyday
I am not joking
the reason i picked this song is because it's called angels
the reason i picked this song is because it's called angels
and yet there is no God at the heart of that song

English: 
and yet there is no God at the heart of that song
but there is a lot of feelings that was formerly directed at our God's art
is nowadays our new religion and museums are our cathedrals
this is not me stating it that's something that Theodore Zeldin a cultural historian said
art is our new religion and museums are our  cathedrals
that is a beautiful ideal
because religion is on the decline
and culture is something that is eminently suited to filling its shoes
that is take a look at the historical background to that
you know up until the middle of the 19th century this was a pious nation
and then around the middle of the 19th century church attendance fell off a cliff
and people start to worry
what were people going to do when there is no longer a god to hold a society together
where were people going to find consolation  meaing
a sense of morality a sense of dignity
and somewhere to go to in moments of distress
and with fears and tears and terrors of mortality

English: 
and a small but influential group of critics in the UK
came up with an answer which reverberates and challenges us to this day
critics like Matthew Arnold and John Ruskin began to argue that there was something
that could fill the gap created by the decline in orgranized faith
and that thing was culture with a capital C
culture could replace scripture
this was the great promise of the 19th century
political thought that there could be something that could take up the slack the essays of Plato
the novels of Jane Austen the paintings of Titian and Botticelli the poetry of Matthew Arnold
these things could fill the  gaps left by the departure of religion
It's a beautiful idea one that at the School of Life we take deeply seriously
and one that myself take deeply seriously
but i can't help but notice that there are a lot of lip service

English: 
is paid to this idea in the cultural establishment among the cultural elite
in fact the idea is dead
and i'll tell you why it's dead and how you can prove it's dead
if you were to show up at any of Britain's elite institutions
the University of Oxford the University of Cambridge the National Gallery the taint
and you said i've come here at the funtain of culture
and i've come to study because i am lost
i don't know right from wrong
i am confused i'm terrified of death
the people in charge of those elite institutions will be picking up the phone and dialing
if not the insane asylum the police
it is simply not acceptable to bring the aches and pains of our souls to the guardlians of culture
whatever lip service is paid to the importance of culture it cannot be done
now what should you do with these pains and troubles
well if you 're a relatively stupid person there is one answer that is customarily given
and that answer is read a self-help book
these things are for stupid people

English: 
there are some of those people around and they'll tell you how to live
but the elite answer says that anyone who's clever doesn't need that sort of stuff
and the reason is that life is relatively simple
after all all you need to do in an average life is grow up separate yourself from you parents
find a job that's moderately satisfying
creat a relationship where you can relate to someone
start rasing some children
watch the oneset of mortality and your parents generation
and then starting to laugh at the shores of your own
and then eventually when it gets you lie down in the coffin and shutthe lid politely
and go off into the next world or no world at all
and that's simple who's got any problem with that
well i think it's desperately wrong
i think we are very vulnerable fragile creatures in desperate need of support
and we generally don't get it
this is why the school of life was founded it's the founding idea of the school
that culture can support us in our life

English: 
That culture can support us in our life

English: 
and it's constant uphill struggle to get that point across
what i'm trying to talk to you about today is a new book that i've written with a fellow faculty member John Armstrong
 

English: 
Which argues for the particular utility for art as a source of help with our problems our inner most problems, the problems of the soul if you like
and in a way its arguing that art can be a form of self help
and that there is nothing demeaning  about the concept of self help
I think there is nothing wrong with the art that is being produced in this country
its not the art that is the problem, its the frame around the art
we are simply not encouraged to bring ourselves to works of art and for that reason many a museum or a gallery visit goes off at half-cock
but as we descend the white was gallery steps, their might be a sense of puzzlement
