Thursday, January 8, 2015

David Brooks: The Problem With Meaning

The things you learn in maturity aren’t simple things such as acquiring information and skills. You learn not to engage in self-destructive behavior. You learn not to burn up energy in anxiety. You discover how to manage your tensions. You learn that self-pity and resentment are among the most toxic of drugs. You find that the world loves talent but pays off on character.

“You come to understand that most people are neither for you nor against you; they are thinking about themselves. You learn that no matter how hard you try to please, some people in this world are not going to love you, a lesson that is at first troubling and then really quite relaxing.”
 
(read the whole thing)

3 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm not "spiritual." I'm religious.

Went through the spiritual thing and found it depressing and empty.

Religion is about, among other things, obligation and duty to family and ancestors. Religion conveys the the stories of the formation of your culture, and of the cyclical realities of human existence.

Religion is, indeed, anti-intellectual in the strictest sense of the word.

Brooks' discourse is all about looking for a meaning in a world in which every person is alone and decides everything for himself. That's the problem.

ricpic said...

Religion is about....duty to family and ancestors.

Which is why the beautiful people revile and rebuke religion. For them it's all about overthrowing the ancestors.

Emilia said...

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