Every once in a while, you come across people who are happy, who seem to know why they are on earth, who glow with some kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed a pattern we call two mountains. They graduate from school, start ...
Every once in a while, you come across people who are happy, who seem to know why they are on earth, who glow with some kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed a pattern we call two mountains. They graduate from school, start a career, and start climbing the mountain they thought they had to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are those that our culture endorses: success, impact, and the experience of personal happiness. But when they reach the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and see a sight... dissatisfaction They understand: this was not my mountain at all. There is another bigger mountain that is really my mountain.
And so they begin a new journey. In the second mountain, the self-centered form of life moves towards other-centeredness. They want things that are really worth wanting, not what others tell them they want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not dependency. They surrender to a committed life.
In The Second Mountain, David Brooks describes the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: commitment to spouse and family, career, philosophy or faith, and community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how we choose and implement these commitments. Brooks looks at a wide range of people who have lived happy lives, lived lives of commitment, and embraced the necessity and beauty of dependency. He explains his knowledge of how to choose a life partner, how to choose a career, how to live by the philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one important goal.
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