The Second Mountain

I recently heard a podcast episode where David Brooks shared his recent faith journey and it was fascinating. I'd seen this book on the radar for a while, but that moved me to want to read this book.

David Brooks presents two ways of living - the first mountain and the second mountain. Here's a breakdown of what's involved:

1st Mountain / 2nd Mountain:

focus on self / focus on others happiness / joy contracts / covenants freedom from / commitments (freedom to) institutions / relationships social approval / seeking truth tribalism / community can / ought conquer the world / conquered by higher purpse building ego / shedding ego career / vocation building self / growing soul

Brooks identifies the big problem of our day being hyper-individualism. The results are rising suicide rates, unhappiness, and a lack of purpose. The antidote is a life of love, care, and commitment. In particular, commitment in four areas:

Vocation Marriage Philosophy / Faith Community

This is a book about the soul - a book about impacting the moral ecology around you through daily and often hidden decisions.

This book tied together a number of books from this reading project and it was a joy to read.