Being Born(01 of16)
Open Image ModalAccording to Jean-Paul Sartre, the accident of birth only reinforces the contingency of all human life. There's nothing necessary about our existence on earth; it's merely random. On the other hand, that meaninglessness means there's nothing to stop us from creating meaning for ourselves.
Learning to Walk(02 of16)
Open Image ModalWhen an infant learns to walk, he or she reprises the process of evolution itself. Man is the bipedal hominid, which means that walking is an emblem of what it means to be human. It puts the head high up off the ground, reinforcing our sense of ourselves as brainy creatures.
Learning to Talk(03 of16)
Open Image ModalLearning to talk is a blessing in that it allows us to communicate with others. But it's also a curse because there's no universal language. Hence the trials of translation which began, according to the story, when God cast down the Tower of Babel, scattering people to the corners of the earth. Vous comprenez?
Starting School(04 of16)
Open Image ModalStarting school is so common an experience that we forget it's not natural. It's culturally determined. The French Marxist, Louis Althusser, went further. He argued that school was a state instrument whose sole function was to manufacture regular, obedient citizens. And you thought schooldays were the best days of your life.
Learning to Ride a Bike(05 of16)
Open Image ModalRiding a bike isn't just something you learn to do in your childhood. It's a metaphor of childhood itself. Although bicycles can be used as practical machines for getting from A to B, their spirit is one of play, of wheeling about, even of going in circles. That's what childhood is: free of the adult need to get somewhere, children zig-zag around at will.
Having your First Kiss(06 of16)
Open Image ModalUnlike sex, which can in theory be used for reproduction, kissing has no purpose beyond itself and the pleasure it affords. In this sense, it's a perfect bridge between childhood and adulthood. There's the playfulness of early life coupled with the first erotic stirrings of being an adult.
Taking Exams(07 of16)
Open Image ModalThere's a paradox in the exam system that was identified by Max Weber. Exams are meritocratic yet they produce an elite. Sitting during them is even more exclusive, because no one can take your place. It's an experience of utter singularity, a direct confrontation with oneself.
Losing Your Virginity(08 of16)
Open Image ModalJokes about virginity induce sniggers, but in the Christian tradition it's deeply serious. Virginity was the condition of Christ's birth. Small wonder that losing it is a big deal. Protecting one's virginity gets equated with remaining pure. The trouble is that most teenagers are besieged by raging hormones that make purity an almost impossible ideal.
Getting Your First Job(09 of16)
Open Image ModalGetting a first job is where macro economics become singularly micro. Now you're in competition with everyone else. But work, at least according to Hannah Arendt, is what makes humans different from animals, who merely labour. To work is to have a sense of purpose.
Getting Married(10 of16)
Open Image ModalNot all wedding vows are the same, but all of them have at their heart a promise. The couple promises to remain faithful to each other. And promising is a way of saying that you will resist the unpredictability of life, imposing what you want to happen on the future. For Paul Ricoeur, that makes promising an ethical act, one that refuses simply to let things happen. Other things may change, but marriage is one way of determining what's going to happen. True, promises can be broken. They wouldn't be special if they couldn't. But the fact they can be kept says something about how wedding vows can shape the future.
Having Children(11 of16)
Open Image ModalWith population growth being what it is, having children is becoming a guilty pleasure rather than an economic necessity. According to Hegel, it's only by having children that a male-female relationship fully realizes the love inherent in it. The love between a couple isn't enough: it needs to be completed by seeing itself reflected in the offspring.
Moving House(12 of16)
Open Image ModalMoving house is said to be one of the most stressful experiences we have. That's probably because our identities become almost literally engrained in our homes. To move is to risk digging up our sense of self by the roots. And yet perhaps we ought to rely less on our sense of place, and more on who we are, regardless of where we pitch camp.
Having a Midlife Crisis(13 of16)
Open Image ModalOne of the chief symptoms of midlife crisis is a nostalgia for youth. Men buy sports cars and women have cosmetic surgery. This must mean that they lack a positive image of themselves in the future. With people living longer, it will be increasingly important to have inspiring role models among the older crowd.
Getting Divorced(14 of16)
Open Image ModalDivorce is always an admission of some kind of failure. And yet it spares couples from further misery at each other's hands. In this sense, it's a great modern innovation, and we have Henry VIII to thank for driving it through so implacably. "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" was always the rhyme about him. Today we could simply say "Divorced, survived."
Retiring(15 of16)
Open Image ModalYou can't retire if you don't have a job. And a job will have defined you for decades. Therefore retirement brings the threat of identity crisis. Who are you now? Just someone who plays golf or goes to book groups? But retirement is also a modern gift unavailable to our forebears who had to work until the day they died. And it's an extraordinary opportunity to learn the things you never learned before.
Getting Old(16 of16)
Open Image ModalSomething strange happens to our memory as we grow old. We remember less but fixate on the past. After all, most of life's significant events occur in the first third. Perhaps we should reconceive old age as an opportunity to start things afresh, rather than looking back.