Well Read

WELL READ By: Maj. Chris Davis

Staff Judge Advocate 2nd Marine Raider Battalion

THE SECOND MOUNTAIN, BY DAVID BROOKS

“When you take away a common moral order and tell everybody to find their own definition of the mystery of life, most people will come up empty. Without a compelling story that explains the meaning of their life in those moments, life gets hard.”1

“The Second Mountain” – a metaphor by award-winning author David Brooks – describes a common story of the well-worn path taken by society today. In that life, each of us climbs a first mountain of individual achievement, most-recognizable to citizens today. During the ascent up the first mountain, we perform certain life tasks, such as, establishing an identity, constructing our professional reputation, achieving personal happiness and independence. Our focus on that journey is individualistic, and, after cresting the ridge of personal achievement, we face the daunting realization that this climb is lonely.

The theoretical foundation of the first mountaintop, as Brooks asserts, is that this path is not fulfilling. Nevertheless, the first mountain epitomizes life in the U.S. today. Following a century of war waged against the principles of fascism and communism, principles rooted in the collective over the individual, the concept of individualism is noble. Therefore, the result for our society (and therefore our legal profession), is a society that cultivates and encourages the climb up the first mountain.

However, individualism itself has not resulted in a world where everybody is happy. Rather, it leads both the individual and our societies far from the summit of the first mountain and into the valley of suffering and defeat. Brooks is also careful to note that not everyone must climb the first mountain or descend into the depths of a valley to begin their climb up the second mountain.

As stated by Brooks, the second mountain is the mountain of commitment. The second mountain specifies four commitments which, according to Brooks, provide a path towards developing a sense of meaning and fulfilment: to a vocation, to a spouse and family, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. This is where Brooks spends considerable ink, and consequently is why this book is a great read for KBA members.

Because the second mountain is the mountain of commitment, it is through a deep understanding of these four commitments that you can reach its summit. Brooks echoes the sentiments that, “Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.”2 Failure to exercise this kind of thinking will result in the very pangs plaguing society.

The idea that our commitments to others provides great value should surprise nobody. After all, we are ultra-social animals who thrive in community.3 The challenge to climb this mountain is within our grasp: just like in the case of choosing a vocation, a partner, or a religion, one must put the needs of your community above your needs.

The second-mountain ethos says that a worldview which focuses on self-interest does not account for the full magnitude of the human person. Humans are capable of great acts of love that self-interest cannot fathom, and murderous acts of cruelty that self-interest cannot explain. The main activity of life is giving – humans at their best are givers of gifts.

The inherent problems of a single mountain of individualism are far-reaching. As Brooks states, “People who are left naked and alone by radical individualism do what their genes and the ancient history of their species tell them to do: They revert to tribe. Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism.”4 Tribalism seems like a way to restore the bonds of community, and while it certainly does bind people together, it is actually the sinister twin of community. Community is connection based on mutual affection, Tribalism… is the connection rooted in mutual hatred. Tribalism always erects boundaries and creates friend/enemy distinctions. The tribal mentality is a warrior mentality based on scarcity: Life is a battle for scarce resources and it is always us versus them, zero-sum. The ends justify the means. Politics is war. Ideas are combat.5

The Second Mountain argues that radical individualism leads to a random, busy life with no discernible direction, no firm foundation, and in which, as Karl Marx dispassionately describes a life dictated by consumerism: “all that is solid melts into air.”6 It turns out that freedom is not an ocean you want to spend your life in. Freedom is a river you want to get across so you can plant yourself on the other side and fully commit to the climb up your own second mountain.

“We make a living by what we get,” a quote most typically attributed to Winston Churchill starts, “but we make a life by what we give.” The measurement of what we give in this life, therefore, is found on the second mountain of life.

1 David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (New York: Random House, 2020), 34. 2 David Foster Wallace, “This is Water” Commencement Speech to Kenyon College (2005). 3 See generally Sebastian Junger, Tribe (New York: Twelve, 2016). 4 Brooks, The Second Mountain at 35. 5 Id. 6 Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Chicago: Pluto Press, 1996), Sect. 1, para. 18.