On Rod Dreher’s recommendation I purchased and have started to read and study David Brooks’ The Second Mountain. I have been for quite some time a David Brooks fan. My own personal label for him is that he is a thinking conservative.
When I get a new book to read I do what I call a “scan read.” This involves studying the “Contents” and the headings in the book. I also very quickly (but not superficially) peruse the book. Hence, my use of the label “scan read.”
David Brooks is about 20 years younger than me.
From my scan reading and from what I have read so far It has became apparent to me that the path/trajectory of his life has and is taking the same path/trajectory as mine.
Since I was an early teenager I have been interested in developmental psychology and in developmental stage theories. I have 10 books about this in my library. My fiction reading has been oriented towards life stories such as those by Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky
Starting the summer of 1992 I entered what I call a late mid-life crisis. After four years or so of hard (not physical) work I came to the conclusion the crisis I had faced and was facing was one of meaning and purpose in my life. Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning was one of the pivotal resources in coming to that conclusion.
Fast forward some 20 years – a few years ago – I came across the work of Jordan B. Peterson and, as they say, the rest is history. His book Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief is, according to Wikipedia, “The book describes a comprehensive theory for how people construct meaning, in a way that is compatible with the modern scientific understanding of how the brain functions.” His 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is about the rules one needs to follow to lead a meaningful life.
John Vervaeke (and many others) believe that we (the world) is in a meaning crisis. He is doing weekly lectures labeled “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” where he is discussing this topic.
For quite some time, a couple of decades, I have been thinking about all of the changes that have been and are occurring in the world. In my dissertation I studied how computers were affecting how engineering was done. The bigger (everything) picture involves how these technologies are affecting our (all humanity) ways of life.
I have come to believe that the “traditional” paths/trajectories that we (David Brooks and I) have lived and are living need to change. In future blog posts I will explore how I believe that things need to change given the new realities.