Adam I may be quick, clever, popular and successful: but unlike Adam II will never ‘cultivate strong character’, and ‘inner constancy, the integrity that can withstand popular disapproval or a serious blow’. Basically Adam I is all about the résumé Adam II will get a great eulogy. Borrowing from Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s The Lonely Man of Faith, he also discusses two versions of the creation story in Genesis, which ‘represent the two opposing sides of our nature’, Adam I and Adam II. If you don’t like those labels, don’t worry: he has others. The latter are ‘deeper… the ones that get talked about at your funeral… whether you are kind, brave, honest or faithful what kinds of relationships you formed.’ The former category consists of the ‘skills you bring to the job market’. Here, he divides character traits into ‘Résumé’ virtues and ‘Eulogy’ virtues. In his role as a columnist, Brooks is superb at creating clear distinctions which serve as effective tools for digging into a particular subject. I should not judge myself against the index. Indeed, Brooks believes that American society – indeed, perhaps Western culture more generally – needs a wholesale shift of mindset, away from individualistic, meritocratic materialism towards a quieter, smaller, less selfish way of life. After all, humiliation is the painful path towards humility, and most of us could do with a little more of it. Imagine my humiliation, then, on discovering that I don’t get a single mention. He has even written about my work in his New York Times column. But the first thing I did with his book was check the index for my own name.Īfter all, I know Brooks a little, we’ve sat around seminar tables together, and I’ve worked on character formation. David Brooks asks us to act with greater humility and restraint, to move away from the ‘Big Me’ model of the self towards a nobler outlook.
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