Esther Perel

And I know that it will land in my comedy because it will become part of the story. Now I'm annoyed maybe, but you don't get completely frazzled. You absorb it. You have a shock absorber. And that shock absorber is what allows you to not be as anxious about the unknown, about mortality, about the unpredictable, all of that.

You know, having all the answers in the palm of your hand is not making us less anxious. It's making us more anxious. because we're no longer making bad choices, discovering something, realizing we don't like it. We begin to expect immediate, perfect answers for everything. And relationships and life, our existence, doesn't operate this way in many aspects.

You know, having all the answers in the palm of your hand is not making us less anxious. It's making us more anxious. because we're no longer making bad choices, discovering something, realizing we don't like it. We begin to expect immediate, perfect answers for everything. And relationships and life, our existence, doesn't operate this way in many aspects.

Some of them do, but the majority of things are way more complex than that. So this piece of uncertainty, matched with all the changes that are happening at full speed, are making us very, very fraught.

Some of them do, but the majority of things are way more complex than that. So this piece of uncertainty, matched with all the changes that are happening at full speed, are making us very, very fraught.

And that to me, because everybody wants to talk about the loneliness epidemic, but people are not necessarily addressing what I think is the other piece, which is how do we deal with so much uncertainty all at once? And when you can't deal with uncertainty and you don't have the resilience to help you with anxiety, then you don't know how to deal with frustration, conflict, differences.

And that to me, because everybody wants to talk about the loneliness epidemic, but people are not necessarily addressing what I think is the other piece, which is how do we deal with so much uncertainty all at once? And when you can't deal with uncertainty and you don't have the resilience to help you with anxiety, then you don't know how to deal with frustration, conflict, differences.

And then you become more intolerant and then you go to look for people who sell you certainty. And that comes with certain political regimes as well. You want somebody who's going to help you feel more certain. I'm going to solve this for you. So to me, that's all interconnected and that's happening on a geopolitical level and it's happening in relationships.

And then you become more intolerant and then you go to look for people who sell you certainty. And that comes with certain political regimes as well. You want somebody who's going to help you feel more certain. I'm going to solve this for you. So to me, that's all interconnected and that's happening on a geopolitical level and it's happening in relationships.

And so to just look at the dilemmas of mating in captivity is not enough anymore for me. I think there's something bigger happening that is touching at the core of our existence. Every research tells you that you only live longer and you live better when you have meaningful relationships and people are having less and less of it.

And so to just look at the dilemmas of mating in captivity is not enough anymore for me. I think there's something bigger happening that is touching at the core of our existence. Every research tells you that you only live longer and you live better when you have meaningful relationships and people are having less and less of it.

My world was certain, but my parents' world was a world that was completely decimated. So predictions... So I think it's two different things. On the one hand, you know, one of the most important aspects of my background is that I am a child of two Holocaust survivors and my parents were the sole survivors of their entire family.

My world was certain, but my parents' world was a world that was completely decimated. So predictions... So I think it's two different things. On the one hand, you know, one of the most important aspects of my background is that I am a child of two Holocaust survivors and my parents were the sole survivors of their entire family.

So my mother was the youngest of seven. My father was the youngest of nine. Nobody, nobody, nobody survived but my parents. So they definitely dealt with uncertainty and they dealt with the unknown and they dealt with a world where you have no idea where kindness will come from. And where order will be restored and where humanity will come back and all of that.

So my mother was the youngest of seven. My father was the youngest of nine. Nobody, nobody, nobody survived but my parents. So they definitely dealt with uncertainty and they dealt with the unknown and they dealt with a world where you have no idea where kindness will come from. And where order will be restored and where humanity will come back and all of that.

So I have all of this in my background. They each spent four years in concentration camps. I think that all of that is extremely important in how I look at the world, how I look at who is good and who is not.

So I have all of this in my background. They each spent four years in concentration camps. I think that all of that is extremely important in how I look at the world, how I look at who is good and who is not.

Who thinks of others, who doesn't, who can be kind? How much is our ideology defining who we are versus how much does our behavior and our actions actually define who we are? All of these big questions. But then I think in addition, whenever I see dogma or bias. groupthink or mass psychology or crowds, I tend to think there must be something else. There must be another way. Is this really so?

Who thinks of others, who doesn't, who can be kind? How much is our ideology defining who we are versus how much does our behavior and our actions actually define who we are? All of these big questions. But then I think in addition, whenever I see dogma or bias. groupthink or mass psychology or crowds, I tend to think there must be something else. There must be another way. Is this really so?

Or is this just so because that many people think like it? And I think it's the combination of those things. I act very fearlessly, but I am not. But I act fearlessly.