#518: The Quest for a Moral Life

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2019

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Do you ever feel like you're spinning your existential wheels in life? That outwardly, you seem to be doing ok, but inwardly, you feel kind of empty? My guest today would say that you've got to move on from trekking up life's first mountain, to begin a journey up its second. His name is David Brooks and he’s the author of The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life. In that book, David makes the case that there are two mountains that we climb in life: The first is about the self -- getting a college degree, starting a career, buying a home, and making your mark on the world. But at some point, that mountain starts to feel unfulfilling. That’s when we discover there’s a second mountain to ascend -- a path of selflessness, relationships, and greater meaning. Today on the show, David tells us what he got wrong in his previous book, The Road to Character, and how The Second Mountain expands the vision of the good life. We then discuss why the first mountain of life gets more attention in the West and how the hyper individualism it encourages has led to an increase in loneliness, anxiety, and existential angst. David then walks us through how we shift courses from the first mountain of achievement to the second mountain of meaning by making commitments to things outside of ourselves. We then discuss the four commitments he thinks bring us real meaning and significance, and how we can seek and find them. Get the show notes at aom.is/secondmountain.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:10.6	Do you ever feel like you're spinning your existential wheels on life that outwardly you
0:14.4	seem to be doing okay but inwardly you feel kind of empty?
0:17.2	I guess they would say that you've got to move on from trekking up life's first mountain
0:20.6	to begin a journey up its second.
0:22.2	His name is David Brooks and he's the author of the second mountain, the quest for a moral
0:25.6	life.
0:26.6	And that book, David, makes the case that there are two mountains that we climb in life.
0:29.4	The first is about the self, getting to college degrees, starting your career, buying
0:32.9	at home and making a mark on the world.
0:35.2	But at some point that mountain starts to feel unfulfilling.
0:38.0	That's when we discover there's a second mountain to ascend, the path of selflessness,
0:41.2	relationships, and greater meaning.
0:42.8	Today on the show David tells us what he got wrong in his previous book The Road to Character
0:46.6	and how the second mountain expands his vision of the good life.
0:49.3	We then discuss why the first mountain of life gets more attention in the West and how
0:52.7	the hyper individualism and encourages has led to an increase in loneliness, anxiety, and
0:57.0	existential angst.
0:58.0	David then walks through how he shift courses from the first mountain of achievement to the
1:01.2	second mountain meaning by making commitments to things outside of ourselves.
1:04.9	We then discuss the four commitments he thinks bring us real meaning and significance and
1:08.5	how we can seek and find them.
	...

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