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Name: The Second Mountain
Rating: 4.4 (164 reviews)
Author: David Brooks

David Brooks

The Quest for a Moral Life

4.4 (164 ratings)

30 mins

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The Second Mountain
summarized in 11 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Learn the secret to living a life of joy and fulfillment.

Have you ever met people who seem to radiate with a sense of fulfillment and joy? Have you ever wondered what their secret is? Or how they became the way they are?

After speaking to hundreds of people from numerous walks of life, studying great works of philosophy and religion, brushing up on contemporary research in psychology and sociology, and reflecting on his own life experiences after he went through a difficult divorce, David Brooks arrived at an answer to these questions. He explains this through the metaphor of climbing two successive mountains, each of which represents a type of struggle that people tend to go through on their journeys toward finding a fulfilling life.

Without giving too much away, the first mountain turns out to be a bit of a letdown, while the second mountain is the place where the secret to fulfillment lies. And finally, to hint at things to come and add some suspense: in between the two mountains, there lies a valley of suffering.

In these blinks, you’ll visit all three of these places. Along the way, you’ll learn

why individualism fails to deliver on its promise of happiness;
why happiness isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway; and
why the Beatles were wrong about love.

Individualism undermines our social connections.

To understand the first mountain that people climb on their journey toward a life of fulfillment, we should begin by mapping out the societal landscape from which the mountain emerges. The nature of this landscape can be summed up in a single word: individualism.

As its name suggests, this is a belief system that champions individuality. It’s the dominant ethos of the United States, which can therefore be called an individualistic society.

Individualism allows a philosophy of life where people are offered almost total personal freedom. Unlike members of non-individualistic societies, you won’t have to conform to the ideas, values or behavioral norms of other people or organizations. For example, you won’t have to live by the dictates of political leaders or religious institutions.

Those dictates represent various things that other people want you to think, value or do. But what do you want to think, value or do? Individualism invites you to answer this question for yourself, and encourages you to follow your own desires. Want to devote your life to whitewater rafting? Or become a powerful business executive? Do whatever you want, individualists say, as long as it doesn’t interfere with other people’s ability to do the same. In the ideal version of an individualistic society, we can all peacefully coexist and do our own thing alongside each other.

Underlying this conception of society is a worldview that sees people as separate individuals, rather than interconnected members of various overlapping communities like churches and neighborhoods. When you belong to one of these communities, you’re bound up with your fellow community members in a set of shared spaces and endeavors: an example of this is a Jewish community worshipping God in their synagogue. In a communal context, it makes sense for people to have mutual commitments to each other and to their shared values and objectives.

But each of those commitments represents a limitation on personal freedom. By committing to follow the Jewish dietary laws of kashrut, for example, a person embraces stringent restrictions on what she can and cannot eat. Individualism balks at such a prospect, because, as far as this belief system is concerned, the fewer our commitments and constraints, the better. But this is a problematic notion, as we’ll see in the next blink.

A lack of social connections leads to widespread societal problems.

With its promise of almost unlimited personal freedom, individualism might sound like a rather appealing vision of life. But when it becomes the dominant philosophy of an entire society, it can lead to many problems.

That’s because the more we focus on ourselves, the less we focus on each other and on the tasks of building, maintaining and deepening our social connections. For a case in point, just look at contemporary United States, where social connections are fraying as a result of rampant individualism. Some sobering statistics bear this out. Over the course of an entire year, only 8 percent of Americans report having a meaningful conversation with their neighbors. Chronic loneliness plagues 35 percent of Americans aged 45 or older. And the fastest-growing political and religious groups in the US are “unaffiliated,” which means these people are disconnected from any community in two of the main areas of social life.

The freedom of individualism makes many people feel adrift, leading them to focus on the pursuit of material success.

Imagine you’re a young adult living in the individualistic United States, and you’re about to begin your pursuit of the American Dream. You just graduated from an excellent university with a marketable degree, so you’re well-equipped to succeed. The only thing left to do is to answer that dreaded question: Now what?

It’s a hard question to answer. Remember all of that personal freedom that individualism promised you? Well, you don’t really get to enjoy it until you finish your education. Up until that point, you spend most of your time attending school, or doing school-related activities such as sports or homework. There are rigid schedules and rules to follow. Your teachers set out clear expectations for you, and your grades tell you how you’re measuring up to them. And you know that if you get good grades, you’ll be able to get into a good university. There’s a clear path to follow.

The pursuit of material success eventually hits a dead end.

Put on some hiking boots and bring some rope because we’re about to climb up to the highest reaches of the first mountain.

Let’s start with the best-case scenario: reaching the summit. Imagine you’ve made it. You’ve ascended to the top of your career ladder. You’re a highly respected professional in a highly respected field. There’s just one problem: you still don’t feel a sense of fulfillment. You feel like something is missing from your life. What is it?

As an ultimate goal of life, happiness is a flawed objective.

Remember that enticing promise of individualism – that it will grant you almost unlimited freedom if you adopt it as a philosophy of life? Well, here’s a question to ask before you sign the contract: What’s the point of having so much personal liberty in the first place? Sure, you get the freedom to do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t harm other people – but what exactly do you want?

Well, from the standpoint of individualism, the precise answer to that question depends on the individual’s personality. For one person, it could be a life of adventure. For another, it could be fame. But there’s a general desire that underlies most answers: in one way or another, we all just want to be happy.

Instead of self-centered success and happiness, a life of service leads to self-transcendence and joy.

Giving up on the pursuit of happiness so you can devote your life to the service of others is a pretty noble proposition. But it’s also a pretty unappealing one for most of us. Sure, happiness is fleeting, but it feels really good while it lasts. A life of service, in contrast, sounds like a difficult affair.

Before you begin climbing the second mountain, it would therefore be reasonable to ask: What’s in it for me? Are there any benefits, besides moral brownie points?

Living a life of service requires hard work, and a love for humanity alone is not enough to pull you through.

A life of lasting joy is a life of service – and a life of service is a life of overflowing love. But if that sounds like everyone should just join hands, gather around a campfire and sing “Kumbaya,” well, put that image aside because that’s not what a life of loving service is all about.

There’s some serious work to be done in climbing the second mountain. From poverty and homelessness to drug addiction and chronic loneliness, there are myriad problems to be solved in the world around us. And whether it’s maintaining deep, healthy and loving relationships with our friends, family or romantic partners, there are many additional problems to be solved in our personal lives as well, such as working through communication issues and finding the time for others in today’s hectic world. If you believe in a monotheistic religion, you’ve also got another problem on your plate: living a life of service to others while simultaneously living a life of service to God and your religious community. No pressure, then!

A life of service requires commitment, as can be seen in the context of marriage.

If you want to climb the second mountain and live a joyful life of service to others, love is a fantastic and necessary place to start. But it’s just that: a place to start. By itself, love leads to short-lived acts of kindness and generosity. To turn it into something that’s longer-lasting and more impactful as a result, you need to build a structure of behavior around it.

That means making a commitment to the service of other people by adopting a set of rituals, protocols and agreements, which are designed to ensure that you continue to treat people in a loving manner even when your feelings of love flicker and fade. The most obvious example of this is the commitment you make when you enter a marriage.

Pursuing a vocation is another way to live a life of service, and it requires commitment as well.

When you live a life of service, you don’t just have a job, which is work you do primarily for money or status. Instead, you have a vocation – work you do primarily out of passion.

Finding a vocation follows a similar pattern to getting married. First, you fall in love with an activity, a field or a cause. It could be writing, biology or campaign finance reform. Motivated by this love, you want to become a writer, a biologist or a political activist. Then you take a “vow” to pursue your vocation: you declare your major at a university, or you commit to a particular graduate school or vocational training program.

Practicing religion is yet another way to live a life of service.

For many people, religion is the most important domain in which they feel called to a life of commitment and service. Focusing on the Judaism and Christianity that shaped his upbringing, the author contends that religion provides its adherents with a number of benefits when it comes to living such a life.

One of them is ritual. Remember, commitment is all about taking your love for someone or something and then building a structure of behavior around it: a set of protocols and practices which ensure that you act on your love in a consistent manner, even if your love flickers. And that’s precisely what religious rituals are all about.

Secular community-building provides a non-religious alternative path to living a life of service.

We began these blinks by looking at how communities are falling apart in the contemporary United States. This last blink is all about how they can be put back together – and how you can live a joyful life of service by being part of that rebuilding process, whether it’s in the US or in other countries facing similar issues.

If you’re interested in playing such a role, then you’re in luck: your society needs you. The keys to rebuilding our crumbling communities lie in the hands of the people who have committed themselves to a community-centered life of service. The author calls these people weavers, in reference to the idea that they weave the members of broken or not-yet-existing communities together.

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What is The Second Mountain about?

The Second Mountain (2019) poses an age-old question: What’s the secret to living a joyful, meaningful and fulfilling life? David Brooks provides a provocative answer that rubs against the grain of present-day society: reject individualism and the almost totally unrestricted personal freedom it promises, and embrace a life of service to other people instead.

Who should read The Second Mountain?

Professionals feeling a lack of fulfillment in their careers
Individuals feeling a lack of joy in their lives
Citizens feeling a lack of connection in their societies

About the Author

David Brooks is a center-right columnist for the New York Times, where he writes about politics, culture and society. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. He is a regular commentator on The PBS NewsHour, NPR’s All Things Considered and NBC’s Meet the Press. He also teaches at Yale University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Categories with The Second Mountain

Mindfulness & Happiness Philosophy Religion & Spirituality

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