On the 114th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Andrew Alexander. Andrew is a husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a teacher, educator, and writer. Writing about intergenerational relationships in learning and the significance of education in a time of uncertainty.
For nearly forty years he worked with students in independent, informal, progressive/alternative schools, including Brockwood Park School - founded by the educator and philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.
In this insightful conversation, we delve into the nuanced nature of freedom, exploring its relationship with responsibility and the importance of mutual respect. We discuss how societal narratives often distort the understanding of freedom, leading to an illusion of individualism that neglects the interconnectedness of human relationships.
This conversation is an invitation to reconsider what we think about freedom, a theme deeply connected to our sense of a good life.
For more of Andrew's work, check out the following:
Newsletter:
https://andrewalexander.substack.com/01:30 How have we not learned?
06:20 Questioning our ideas of freedom
12:10 Limitations with individualised ideas of freedom
18:20 Freedom and responsibility
23:20 A deeper sense of freedom
30:45 Why is freedom important?
36:31 Freedom and our interconnectivity
44:00 The trap of creating an image of ourselves
48:30 The relationship between freedom and fear
56:30 Attention, time, and freedom
1:04:48 Recap and what is a good life for Andrew?
What is What is a Good Life??
A project to help you realise you are enough, by noticing and inhabiting life more fully.
What Is a Good Life? is a long-form conversation project exploring how people actually live, feel, and make meaning of their lives. Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry, "What is a good life for you?"
The conversations explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that shape a life - love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life. There are new episodes every Tuesday.