The Art of Manliness - July 31, 2025


Why Are We Restless？


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1

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10


Summary

Restlessness is a feeling of wanting more, but being unsure of how to find it, of struggling with distraction, of striking out in various directions but not feeling any more fulfilled. While we tend to think of restlessness as a very modern phenomenon, a French diplomat and philosopher named Alexis de Tocqueville observed the very same problems in America two centuries ago, and the roots of our restlessness go even further still. My guests today will trace some of these genealogical branches for us.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Brett McKay here, and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
00:00:10.540 Now, most everyone has experienced restlessness from time to time.
00:00:13.320 It's a feeling of wanting more, but being unsure of how to find it,
00:00:16.040 of struggling with distraction, but being unsure of what to focus on,
00:00:18.880 of striking out in various directions, but not feeling any more fulfilled.
00:00:22.280 While we tend to think of restlessness as a very modern phenomenon,
00:00:25.340 a French diplomat and philosopher named Alexis de Tocqueville
00:00:28.080 observed the very same problems in America two centuries ago,
00:00:31.040 and the roots of our restlessness go back even further still.
00:00:33.960 My guests today will trace some of these genealogical branches for us.
00:00:37.180 Their names are Benjamin and Jenna Story, they're a married couple,
00:00:39.920 professors of political philosophy, and the authors of the book,
00:00:42.460 Why We Are Restless, on the modern quest for contentment.
00:00:45.520 We begin our conversation with how the story's inquiry into restlessness
00:00:48.260 began from observing existential meltdowns in their students
00:00:51.060 and a constant but unfulfilling busyness in their friends.
00:00:54.020 The story then explains how Tocqueville observed a similar phenomenon
00:00:56.860 at the start of the 19th century, before digging into two of the philosophers
00:01:00.020 Tocqueville's observations were shaped by,
00:01:01.940 Michel de Montaigne and Blaise Pascal.
00:01:04.120 They first unpack Montaigne's ideal of living a life of cool,
00:01:07.460 nonchalant, existential indifference, which sought contentment in the here and now,
00:01:11.420 and then discuss Pascal's critique of that philosophy,
00:01:13.980 in which he argued that seeking diversion and distraction for its own sake
00:01:16.920 only makes us miserable, and that humans must engage in an anguished search
00:01:20.380 for something beyond ourselves.
00:01:21.720 We then explore what happened in the West,
00:01:23.280 when Montaigne's approach to life was adopted by the masses,
00:01:25.740 and how it's led to feelings of existential failure,
00:01:28.260 an impossible search for constant happiness, envy, loneliness,
00:01:31.440 and acrimonious political debates.
00:01:33.060 At the end of our conversation, the stories argue that while restlessness
00:01:35.660 can never be entirely extinguished, it can be tamed,
00:01:38.280 and suggest a few ways on how.
00:01:39.800 After the show's over, check out our show notes at awim.is
00:01:42.260 Benjamin Story, Jenna Story, welcome to the show.
00:01:57.740 Thanks, Brett, for having us on.
00:01:59.660 So you are the co-authors of a book called
00:02:02.060 Why We Are Restless on the Modern Quest for Contentment,
00:02:05.340 and this is, I would describe it, as a philosophical genealogy
00:02:09.660 to figure out why Americans in particular feel so angsty, restless,
00:02:15.120 like you don't, like, just life is, you don't have it quite figured out,
00:02:18.560 you don't feel situated.
00:02:20.020 I'm curious, what led you to explore this history of American restlessness?
00:02:26.020 Yeah, thanks, Brett, for the question.
00:02:28.280 Initially, the problem of restlessness was, for us,
00:02:31.420 a kind of pedagogical problem.
00:02:33.560 So we both teach at a liberal arts university,
00:02:36.840 Furman University, and we advise a lot of students,
00:02:40.780 and we were finding that they were having kind of inexplicable meltdowns
00:02:45.540 often in the fall of their senior year.
00:02:48.800 And this was happening, puzzlingly, among those,
00:02:51.940 especially among those students who had done everything
00:02:54.060 that the college had asked them to do.
00:02:56.520 So they had taken a vast array of courses,
00:02:59.020 they had done very well in all of those courses,
00:03:02.320 they had explored things outside of the curriculum,
00:03:05.300 they'd been on study abroad, sometimes two or three,
00:03:07.860 they had done staged internships their whole time throughout college,
00:03:11.380 and all of a sudden, you know,
00:03:13.640 they should have been prepared to launch,
00:03:15.900 but they were just kind of fizzling out on the pad,
00:03:19.040 and they would come to us
00:03:21.000 just not knowing what to do with their lives.
00:03:23.880 And we started to think there must be something wrong
00:03:28.360 with the standards we're setting for these young people.
00:03:31.440 There must be something wrong about what we're telling them to do
00:03:34.940 that would make them happy.
00:03:37.160 Because what we found is that they were kind of,
00:03:39.280 at the end of, in their senior year,
00:03:40.440 they just were kind of restless,
00:03:42.680 turned in on themselves,
00:03:44.300 running around in circles,
00:03:45.700 full of activities,
00:03:47.020 but devoid of purpose.
00:03:48.180 And have you two, besides your students,
00:03:50.340 have you seen this manifest itself in the broader culture,
00:03:53.000 or even amongst your circle of friends
00:03:54.560 that are about the same age?
00:03:56.520 Well, sure, Brett.
00:03:57.860 We are middle-aged, middle-class Americans with kids,
00:04:02.860 and people like us spend a great deal of their time running around,
00:04:08.240 schlepping the kids from Aikido to dance to piano lessons,
00:04:13.840 going to our own professional meetings,
00:04:15.980 and taking care of the house,
00:04:18.040 and so on and so forth.
00:04:19.680 And so we see this circuit of frenetic activity
00:04:24.560 very much alive in our own lives,
00:04:27.400 as well as in the lives of our students.
00:04:30.220 And so we don't think this is merely a problem
00:04:33.980 of young people who are in kind of late-stage,
00:04:38.860 angsty, teenager-nish.
00:04:40.640 This is a problem that pervades American life up and down.
00:04:44.760 And it's something that we see in ourselves.
00:04:47.120 Now, a lot of people, I'm sure, are listening,
00:04:49.380 and they say, yeah, I experienced that.
00:04:51.000 I know what you're talking about.
00:04:51.920 And they think, well, this must be just like a modern,
00:04:54.320 you know, late 20th century, early 21st century problem.
00:04:58.320 But as you guys explore in your book,
00:05:00.760 that this is something that's been going on in America
00:05:03.140 way back to the 19th century.
00:05:06.620 And in fact, there was this French aristocrat,
00:05:08.880 came over to America, did a tour,
00:05:10.940 and ended up writing a, you know, one of the foundational works
00:05:15.320 of sociology that we go to.
00:05:17.280 His name is Alexis de Tocqueville.
00:05:19.000 It's Democracy in America.
00:05:20.460 And when he was going around looking at America
00:05:23.660 in the early 19th century,
00:05:25.360 he noticed, too, that even back then,
00:05:27.580 Americans were really restless.
00:05:29.840 So how did restlessness manifest itself
00:05:32.100 in the early 1800s?
00:05:33.460 Yeah, so Tocqueville was here for 18 months
00:05:37.400 in 1831 to 1832.
00:05:40.260 And coming from the old world,
00:05:42.300 he was absolutely astonished by the kind of energy
00:05:45.100 he saw here in the new world.
00:05:47.880 Americans have been for a very long time
00:05:49.520 an amazingly energetic people.
00:05:51.560 We have what we call land of opportunity, right?
00:05:54.060 And it's very hard for us to resist chasing every lead.
00:05:58.020 And Tocqueville saw that back then.
00:05:59.360 We can see it now.
00:06:01.140 We're also a technological people.
00:06:02.960 We like, and we're good at innovating.
00:06:05.980 That makes us think that our problems
00:06:07.760 will be solved tomorrow,
00:06:09.380 probably by something that we can do and manage.
00:06:11.940 So that makes us restless, too.
00:06:14.060 We're always eager to get on to the next thing.
00:06:17.180 We have also a remarkable mobility,
00:06:20.040 geographic and social.
00:06:21.220 Of course, when Tocqueville was here,
00:06:22.300 people were moving out west.
00:06:24.420 There was just a lot of opportunity out there.
00:06:27.360 And that made people restless,
00:06:28.700 just looking to find the perfect spot.
00:06:31.160 And if I could share a kind of passage from Tocqueville,
00:06:35.000 that really gets me because he's writing about things
00:06:37.140 he saw back then in the 1830s,
00:06:38.720 but that I find myself and I find ourselves still doing today.
00:06:42.500 He's remarking on the fact that Americans,
00:06:44.580 you know, buy a new house,
00:06:46.180 maybe a fixer upper,
00:06:47.460 and they spend many years polishing it up
00:06:50.420 and putting in all sorts of new systems
00:06:52.320 and tricking it out.
00:06:53.800 And just as they're putting on the finishing touches,
00:06:57.060 they decide to sell it.
00:06:58.900 Now, we had read this passage.
00:07:00.040 We'd been reading this passage for like 15 years
00:07:01.860 before we did the exact same thing.
00:07:03.840 And, you know, we just felt like,
00:07:05.660 oh, he called it and we're doing it.
00:07:07.440 And we know this is somewhat ridiculous.
00:07:09.760 But nonetheless, we have a kind of internal mechanism
00:07:12.620 that pushes us to do those kinds of things.
00:07:14.920 And the consequence of us kind of moving around like that,
00:07:19.300 always looking for the next best thing is,
00:07:21.780 as Tocqueville says,
00:07:23.140 nothing is less suitable for meditation
00:07:25.860 than the interior of a democratic society.
00:07:28.900 Because we're moving around so much,
00:07:31.600 everything is attracting our notice, our attention,
00:07:34.600 but that makes us distracted.
00:07:36.580 And we're not able to meditate or observe anything very deeply.
00:07:41.060 No, I thought that was interesting.
00:07:41.820 Yeah, I thought it was interesting you noted that,
00:07:43.200 yeah, Americans were distracted
00:07:44.760 people and was like, man, nothing's changed.
00:07:47.180 Nothing's changed at all.
00:07:49.080 That's, you know, there's lots of wonderful books
00:07:52.180 being written now on, you know,
00:07:54.560 the problem of attention and the digital society.
00:07:57.560 But amazingly, Tocqueville wrote in the 1830s
00:08:00.900 that the problem of inattention
00:08:03.340 is the greatest vice of the democratic mind.
00:08:05.920 So he saw this all the way back then.
00:08:08.400 Surely our digital world accelerates
00:08:10.840 the difficulties we have with this,
00:08:12.740 but it's something deeper.
00:08:14.280 More than merely a technological phenomenon.
00:08:17.700 So we're going to come back to Tocqueville,
00:08:19.700 but I think in order to understand, you know,
00:08:22.080 why Tocqueville saw what he did in the American people
00:08:25.620 way back in, you know, in the 19th century,
00:08:27.540 you have to understand,
00:08:29.340 this is what the case you all make,
00:08:30.800 you have to understand the observations he made
00:08:33.100 were shaped by thinking about human happiness
00:08:36.660 and flourishing that other philosophers had made,
00:08:39.780 you know, centuries before him.
00:08:41.220 And you make the case that a lot of our restlessness
00:08:46.200 that we experience today in America,
00:08:48.120 but also I'd say in the West too,
00:08:50.320 goes back to the 16th century,
00:08:52.840 another French guy,
00:08:54.060 another French philosopher named Montaigne.
00:08:56.060 So for those who aren't familiar with Montaigne,
00:08:58.420 what's his story?
00:08:59.440 And how did he end up writing a series of essays
00:09:02.520 that changed the way we think about human happiness?
00:09:04.800 Yeah, so Michel de Montaigne stands as the fountainhead
00:09:09.300 of this tradition that we're tracing in this book,
00:09:11.640 this tradition of the moraliste.
00:09:13.480 And the word moraliste in French,
00:09:15.860 it's not actually best translated as moralist in English,
00:09:18.940 it's best translated as observers of men.
00:09:21.340 So these are writers of this,
00:09:23.460 who cultivate this art of very acute psychological penetration.
00:09:27.640 They're excellent observers of what's going,
00:09:30.180 of the hidden movements of the human soul.
00:09:31.700 And the first of these is Michel de Montaigne,
00:09:35.040 who is a 16th century French nobleman
00:09:38.220 who lived during the wars of religion.
00:09:41.540 That is, France had 30 years of religious war
00:09:44.120 during Montaigne's adulthood.
00:09:46.140 So roughly the second half of the 16th century.
00:09:49.680 These were particularly nasty three-way conflicts
00:09:52.620 between a sort of ultra Catholic party,
00:09:55.060 a Huguenot party,
00:09:56.180 and then the monarchy that sort of caught
00:09:57.940 in the middle between these two forces.
00:09:59.480 Montaigne had friends and family
00:10:01.740 on all sides of these conflicts,
00:10:03.560 and it touched him very directly.
00:10:06.820 So at one point,
00:10:09.320 a war party invaded the chateau,
00:10:11.780 invaded Montaigne's home.
00:10:13.680 They were in the courtyard of his chateau.
00:10:15.840 Another point, he was out riding along the highway
00:10:17.800 and was taken hostage and robbed,
00:10:20.540 and he thought he was on the verge of being executed.
00:10:23.660 And so the war was something that he knew firsthand.
00:10:28.060 And through it all,
00:10:29.480 as he tells us the story
00:10:30.820 in his semi-autobiographical essays,
00:10:33.980 through it all, he maintained his signature cool.
00:10:37.540 And keeping one's cool
00:10:39.360 is the center of Montaigne's moral philosophy.
00:10:43.360 And I think there are two elements of this
00:10:45.380 that one needs to understand
00:10:47.300 to really grasp what he's up to.
00:10:49.200 The first is intellectual,
00:10:50.740 and the second is moral.
00:10:51.980 On the intellectual front,
00:10:54.420 Montaigne makes an extraordinarily powerful case
00:10:56.860 for skepticism.
00:10:58.720 So in the classical and Christian tradition
00:11:01.560 leading up to Montaigne,
00:11:02.900 philosophers were constantly arguing
00:11:04.600 about the summum bonum,
00:11:06.040 about the highest good,
00:11:07.660 about the definition of human happiness.
00:11:11.600 And Montaigne looks at this tradition of argument,
00:11:13.620 and he says,
00:11:14.420 they've come up with at least 288 different answers
00:11:17.080 to this question.
00:11:18.380 There's no consensus whatsoever
00:11:20.120 about what makes human beings happy.
00:11:23.260 Moreover, these people
00:11:24.680 who do all this arguing about this,
00:11:26.160 who take themselves so seriously,
00:11:27.800 are often figures who don't really deserve
00:11:29.980 to be taken seriously by the rest of us.
00:11:31.920 And so he tells the story
00:11:33.020 of Thales, the astronomer,
00:11:35.320 who stumbles into a well
00:11:37.080 while he's stargazing,
00:11:38.500 and Diogenes, the cynic,
00:11:39.860 who makes his home in a barrel.
00:11:41.500 He says,
00:11:41.760 these people are kind of ridiculous,
00:11:43.100 and maybe we shouldn't worry so much
00:11:44.600 about the kinds of arguments they make
00:11:46.760 and the kinds of questions that they ask.
00:11:48.800 So Montaigne launches this critique of philosophers
00:11:51.060 who are interested in the question
00:11:52.340 of the highest good,
00:11:53.220 of what makes human beings happy,
00:11:54.880 and he clearly means that critique
00:11:56.740 to apply at least as pertinently
00:11:59.020 to theologians,
00:12:00.480 although he doesn't name them as much
00:12:02.500 as he does the philosophers.
00:12:04.400 And so the first point
00:12:05.440 that Montaigne wants to make
00:12:06.720 is this case for skepticism.
00:12:10.320 Now, the moral dimension of this
00:12:12.020 is what it looks like
00:12:14.180 when one makes skepticism the backdrop
00:12:16.280 and nonchalance the central virtue
00:12:18.340 of one's way of life.
00:12:20.180 And we can see this very powerfully
00:12:22.240 in Montaigne in a meditation
00:12:23.920 that he offers us on death.
00:12:26.220 Montaigne says,
00:12:27.300 I want death to find me
00:12:28.820 planting my cabbages,
00:12:30.300 but nonchalant about it
00:12:31.840 and still more about my unfinished garden.
00:12:35.340 So Montaigne says,
00:12:36.720 look, you know,
00:12:37.320 the ancient philosophers thought
00:12:38.440 you had to learn to die.
00:12:39.860 He says, learning to die,
00:12:40.880 it's not that hard.
00:12:41.500 Death isn't that big a deal.
00:12:43.260 In fact, nothing is all that big a deal.
00:12:45.640 So Montaigne paints a portrait for us
00:12:47.860 of a life of kind of satisfying
00:12:50.100 existential indifference.
00:12:51.660 He doesn't think anything
00:12:52.640 is all that important.
00:12:54.280 So Montaigne reads,
00:12:55.580 but he does so without the ambition
00:12:57.040 of the scholar.
00:12:58.080 He travels,
00:12:59.100 but without the pride of the explorer
00:13:00.640 or the hopes of the pilgrim.
00:13:02.720 He has love affairs
00:13:04.560 and eventually a family,
00:13:06.100 but he doesn't really hope
00:13:07.320 for too much from either.
00:13:09.140 He has a garden,
00:13:10.360 but he doesn't really care
00:13:11.760 if there's a little fungus
00:13:12.740 on the plants
00:13:13.440 or some weeds
00:13:14.960 growing next to the tomatoes.
00:13:16.900 He glides lightly
00:13:19.380 over the surface of life
00:13:21.180 as he puts it to us.
00:13:22.700 And that's the center
00:13:23.540 of his art of living.
00:13:25.240 Okay.
00:13:25.440 So just to recap there.
00:13:26.520 So before Montaigne,
00:13:27.620 you would say that
00:13:28.340 the way humans
00:13:30.040 ordered their lives
00:13:31.520 was around some,
00:13:32.980 there's like a telos.
00:13:33.900 So Aristotle had this idea
00:13:35.200 that, you know,
00:13:35.600 human beings,
00:13:36.740 their telos is
00:13:37.520 to be rational animals.
00:13:39.660 So you're supposed to be
00:13:40.180 as rational as possible,
00:13:41.180 et cetera.
00:13:41.940 Plato had his forms
00:13:43.200 and then you bring in religion.
00:13:45.140 Augustine said,
00:13:45.800 you're supposed to order your life
00:13:47.360 according to God's,
00:13:49.440 you know,
00:13:49.920 will or whatever.
00:13:51.140 Montaigne said,
00:13:51.780 yeah,
00:13:52.220 no one really knows.
00:13:53.240 I'll just,
00:13:54.000 I'll paint and plant my garden
00:13:56.160 and read books
00:13:57.000 and that's life.
00:13:58.900 Exactly.
00:13:59.940 So if we,
00:14:00.800 I think a nice comparison
00:14:02.120 can be made
00:14:03.740 to the classical
00:14:04.700 and Christian tradition
00:14:06.240 by remembering
00:14:08.020 the famous line
00:14:09.220 of Socrates
00:14:09.820 from his speech
00:14:11.840 to the Athenian jury
00:14:12.820 when he's on trial
00:14:14.040 for his life
00:14:14.660 in which he says,
00:14:16.040 the unexamined life
00:14:16.980 is not worth living
00:14:17.840 for a human being.
00:14:19.420 And I think
00:14:20.280 we often read that
00:14:21.400 as a kind of
00:14:22.060 hyperbolic statement
00:14:23.240 about how important
00:14:25.440 philosophy is
00:14:26.500 to Socrates.
00:14:27.360 I don't think
00:14:28.140 it's hyperbolic.
00:14:29.340 I think Socrates
00:14:29.980 means that literally.
00:14:31.300 Life is not worth living
00:14:33.360 without the crown
00:14:34.760 of philosophy.
00:14:35.700 Philosophy is what
00:14:36.720 makes life worth it.
00:14:38.940 We can see the same thing
00:14:40.240 in the Gospels
00:14:41.160 where Jesus tells us
00:14:42.920 that we should seek
00:14:44.160 the pearl of great price.
00:14:46.540 And without
00:14:47.360 that saving faith,
00:14:50.080 life is hell on earth
00:14:51.360 and damnation hereafter
00:14:52.500 from that point of view.
00:14:54.860 And so Montaigne
00:14:55.780 inherits a tradition
00:14:56.940 of people
00:14:57.520 who are really serious
00:14:58.920 about whatever version
00:15:01.200 of the summum bonum
00:15:02.140 it is that they adhere to.
00:15:04.560 What the philosopher
00:15:05.680 Pierre Manon
00:15:06.440 has written about Montaigne,
00:15:08.060 he remarks that
00:15:09.300 Montaigne offers something
00:15:11.000 to all those human beings
00:15:12.800 who don't care
00:15:13.920 either about the salvation
00:15:15.500 of their cities
00:15:16.220 or the salvation
00:15:17.040 of their souls.
00:15:18.260 It's a life
00:15:18.960 of splendid,
00:15:20.920 seeming,
00:15:21.560 existential indifference.
00:15:23.700 And you call this
00:15:25.300 sort of philosophy,
00:15:26.280 this philosophy of Montaigne
00:15:27.220 imminent contentment.
00:15:28.500 So you're just trying
00:15:28.920 to find contentment
00:15:29.840 in the here and now.
00:15:30.960 You're not worried about,
00:15:32.260 you know,
00:15:32.860 some platonic form
00:15:34.800 or some hereafter.
00:15:36.140 You're just thinking about
00:15:36.760 what makes me happy right now.
00:15:39.020 That's right.
00:15:39.760 So we're looking for
00:15:40.480 what makes us happy right now.
00:15:42.020 And the essential element,
00:15:43.800 the originality
00:15:44.580 of the Montaigne formula
00:15:45.780 is the emphasis
00:15:47.360 that he places
00:15:48.380 on variety.
00:15:49.700 So there's an ancient
00:15:51.540 adage of moderation,
00:15:53.400 nothing too much.
00:15:54.960 And Montaigne echoes
00:15:56.100 that adage,
00:15:57.320 nothing too much,
00:15:58.060 but he adds to it
00:15:59.240 a softening
00:16:00.540 modern corollary,
00:16:02.440 nothing too little.
00:16:03.640 So he achieves
00:16:04.960 an attitude
00:16:06.720 of nonchalance
00:16:07.640 toward every good
00:16:08.740 that he pursues
00:16:09.720 in his life
00:16:10.540 by leavening it
00:16:13.200 with the pursuit
00:16:14.380 of other goods.
00:16:16.220 And so
00:16:16.600 while Montaigne
00:16:17.980 likes books,
00:16:18.660 he doesn't like them
00:16:19.860 too much
00:16:20.460 and he takes breaks
00:16:21.560 from books
00:16:22.200 to go putter about
00:16:24.100 in his garden.
00:16:25.760 So moderation
00:16:26.440 through variation
00:16:27.640 is the Montaigne formula
00:16:29.640 for finding
00:16:30.500 imminent contentment.
00:16:32.300 I think we can
00:16:33.480 actually see
00:16:34.660 that formula,
00:16:35.980 moderation
00:16:36.260 through variation,
00:16:37.040 as my husband put it,
00:16:38.480 at work in our lives.
00:16:40.440 We say it a little bit differently.
00:16:41.740 We talk about
00:16:42.200 finding balance,
00:16:43.440 right?
00:16:43.920 And when we want
00:16:45.240 to find balance,
00:16:46.000 that's the kind of indication
00:16:46.960 that we really don't want
00:16:48.000 to do too much
00:16:49.000 of any one thing.
00:16:49.840 We're a little bit worried
00:16:50.600 about becoming
00:16:51.280 overly bookish
00:16:52.420 or, you know,
00:16:53.800 too buff
00:16:54.420 or something like that.
00:16:55.680 And so we try to do
00:16:56.760 a little bit of everything.
00:16:57.880 We kind of try to dabble
00:16:59.320 our way to happiness.
00:17:01.320 And we've come to think
00:17:02.780 that this idea
00:17:03.480 of finding balance
00:17:04.680 in your life
00:17:05.320 is actually
00:17:06.140 really mistaken.
00:17:08.160 We're going to take
00:17:08.680 a quick break
00:17:09.080 for your word
00:17:09.500 from our sponsors.
00:17:12.920 And now back
00:17:13.760 to the show.
00:17:14.700 All right.
00:17:14.840 So eminent contentment
00:17:15.980 is this idea,
00:17:17.300 you know,
00:17:17.620 you can't figure out
00:17:18.400 what the summa bonum
00:17:19.120 is in life,
00:17:19.720 so just enjoy yourself.
00:17:20.640 And it sounds awesome.
00:17:21.540 You know,
00:17:21.700 you just like read books,
00:17:23.140 you paint,
00:17:24.200 plant some cabbage,
00:17:25.580 talk to your friends.
00:17:26.680 But then another French
00:17:27.980 thinker comes along
00:17:28.660 and says,
00:17:29.060 actually,
00:17:30.320 Montaigne's idea
00:17:31.040 of happiness,
00:17:31.940 that's just
00:17:32.420 keeping people miserable.
00:17:34.280 And this guy's name
00:17:35.260 is Pascal.
00:17:35.960 I'm sure people
00:17:36.800 have heard of Pascal
00:17:37.400 with Pascal's Wager.
00:17:39.140 But for those
00:17:39.660 who aren't familiar
00:17:40.040 with him,
00:17:40.560 tell us about Pascal
00:17:41.380 and what did he contribute
00:17:43.220 to this idea
00:17:43.800 of human flourishing
00:17:44.800 and happiness?
00:17:46.200 So all the thinkers
00:17:47.880 that we treat
00:17:48.620 in this book
00:17:49.760 are extraordinary minds,
00:17:52.360 people who lived
00:17:53.200 extraordinary lives.
00:17:54.720 But there's none
00:17:55.960 more extraordinary
00:17:56.840 than Blaise Pascal,
00:17:59.260 whom a later French writer,
00:18:01.240 Chateaubriand,
00:18:02.220 called a frightening genius.
00:18:04.920 And this label
00:18:06.020 is truly fitting.
00:18:08.380 Pascal was a,
00:18:11.060 world historical figure
00:18:12.800 in mathematics
00:18:14.420 and geometry.
00:18:16.060 He discovered
00:18:16.880 what's the arithmetic sequence
00:18:18.900 known as Pascal's triangle.
00:18:21.520 He did important work
00:18:22.960 on the geometric
00:18:24.100 phenomena,
00:18:25.620 the conic section.
00:18:27.280 He was also
00:18:28.480 a world historical physicist
00:18:30.520 who did experiments
00:18:32.520 on,
00:18:33.480 designed to show
00:18:34.100 that air had weight
00:18:35.180 and also attempting
00:18:38.160 to abolish
00:18:39.300 the scholastic
00:18:40.960 commonplace
00:18:41.800 that nature
00:18:42.500 abhors a vacuum.
00:18:44.420 He was also
00:18:45.360 an inventor
00:18:46.320 and invented
00:18:48.040 the world's first
00:18:49.180 working calculator,
00:18:50.840 which could add,
00:18:52.000 subtract,
00:18:52.620 multiply,
00:18:53.280 and divide
00:18:54.020 numbers of up
00:18:54.860 to eight digits.
00:18:56.160 He presided
00:18:56.820 over the manufacture
00:18:57.700 of these things.
00:18:58.500 They're called
00:18:58.840 Pascadien,
00:18:59.820 and there are
00:19:01.100 still several examples
00:19:02.740 that exist now
00:19:04.240 and work,
00:19:04.940 which you should try
00:19:06.580 with your Texas instruments
00:19:07.920 in 400 years.
00:19:09.880 So he,
00:19:11.360 in addition to these
00:19:12.380 mathematical
00:19:13.020 and scientific
00:19:14.080 accomplishments,
00:19:15.660 he was a great
00:19:16.360 literary stylist
00:19:17.360 in his provincial letters.
00:19:19.620 He set some
00:19:20.840 of the forms
00:19:21.480 of French language
00:19:22.800 that would be used
00:19:23.580 for writers,
00:19:24.280 by writers
00:19:24.780 for generations
00:19:25.480 after him.
00:19:27.280 He was a philanthropist
00:19:29.160 who helped
00:19:30.100 give Paris
00:19:31.000 its first system
00:19:32.940 of public transportation
00:19:34.920 called the Five-Cent Carriages,
00:19:37.120 and he was a great
00:19:38.400 philosopher
00:19:39.440 and religious
00:19:40.560 apologist
00:19:41.340 in his final
00:19:43.320 and greatest work
00:19:44.600 called
00:19:45.360 The Pensée.
00:19:46.720 And Pascal
00:19:47.260 did all this
00:19:48.480 before 40 years
00:19:50.120 of age.
00:19:50.740 He died
00:19:51.220 at the age
00:19:51.740 of only 39,
00:19:53.240 having completed
00:19:54.040 all the accomplishments
00:19:54.760 that I just described.
00:19:56.400 So Pascal
00:19:57.240 was a genuinely
00:19:58.680 extraordinary figure
00:20:00.180 in many different
00:20:01.720 dimensions,
00:20:02.940 and he was raised
00:20:05.120 among a class
00:20:06.240 of people
00:20:06.820 who were deeply
00:20:07.980 influenced
00:20:08.780 by the Montaigne
00:20:10.660 vision
00:20:11.180 of the good life.
00:20:13.480 And Pascal
00:20:13.940 spent a lot of time
00:20:14.860 with these folks.
00:20:15.700 He hung around
00:20:16.800 in the salon
00:20:17.260 with them
00:20:17.760 when they were flirting.
00:20:19.160 He gambled
00:20:20.340 with them.
00:20:21.040 He went hunting
00:20:22.000 with them.
00:20:23.200 And he examined
00:20:24.400 the kinds of lives
00:20:25.500 they're living,
00:20:25.960 and he said,
00:20:26.340 this all looks
00:20:27.380 very charming,
00:20:28.860 these variegated
00:20:30.120 and artful lives
00:20:31.240 my friends
00:20:32.020 had built up
00:20:32.520 for themselves.
00:20:33.640 But secretly,
00:20:35.140 they're miserable.
00:20:36.520 And he thinks
00:20:37.340 he sees the key
00:20:38.560 to their misery.
00:20:41.080 He thinks he sees
00:20:41.860 the tell
00:20:42.420 in their taste
00:20:44.060 for diversion.
00:20:45.600 That is,
00:20:46.660 when he looks
00:20:47.500 at, say,
00:20:48.000 for example,
00:20:48.500 his friends
00:20:49.240 and their love
00:20:50.400 of gambling,
00:20:51.400 he asks himself,
00:20:53.100 what do people
00:20:53.840 actually experience
00:20:55.760 when they're gambling?
00:20:57.340 And he says,
00:20:57.880 when you're in the
00:20:58.360 middle of the game,
00:20:59.160 you're thinking
00:21:00.320 about the stakes.
00:21:01.280 You're thinking
00:21:01.600 about what you stand
00:21:02.420 to win.
00:21:03.540 And so,
00:21:03.820 your mind is actually
00:21:04.500 kind of elsewhere.
00:21:05.820 And he says,
00:21:06.460 when you've won,
00:21:07.720 you long for the game
00:21:08.880 to begin again.
00:21:10.500 And so,
00:21:11.020 whichever of these
00:21:11.740 states that you're in,
00:21:13.660 you're thinking
00:21:14.400 about the other state.
00:21:16.040 That is,
00:21:16.400 your mind is not present
00:21:17.760 in the place
00:21:18.900 and the time
00:21:19.740 where you are.
00:21:21.320 So,
00:21:21.720 what Pascal thinks
00:21:22.860 human beings
00:21:23.840 are often genuinely
00:21:24.760 seeking
00:21:25.220 is distraction.
00:21:27.120 We don't love things
00:21:28.200 and therefore get
00:21:28.800 distracted by them.
00:21:29.760 We love distraction
00:21:30.600 for its own sake.
00:21:32.240 And he asks,
00:21:32.980 why is that?
00:21:34.180 He thinks we want
00:21:34.900 to get away
00:21:35.360 from ourselves
00:21:36.120 because we are
00:21:37.980 secretly miserable.
00:21:39.600 And what's the cause
00:21:40.600 of that misery
00:21:41.160 according to Pascal?
00:21:42.900 Yeah,
00:21:43.220 so Pascal thinks
00:21:44.720 human beings
00:21:45.840 are both greater
00:21:47.260 and more wretched
00:21:48.980 than Montaigne
00:21:50.740 made them out to be.
00:21:52.640 And so,
00:21:53.000 in one of the most
00:21:53.660 famous pensées,
00:21:55.320 and the pensées
00:21:55.880 are literary fragments,
00:21:57.280 so Pascal
00:21:58.360 made the notes
00:21:59.380 for a great book
00:22:00.740 and he gave
00:22:01.540 some lectures
00:22:02.140 on the basis
00:22:03.140 of what he was
00:22:03.640 working on,
00:22:04.060 but he never
00:22:04.420 got to compose
00:22:05.000 it into a book.
00:22:06.240 And so,
00:22:06.760 his heirs
00:22:07.920 went into his study
00:22:08.740 after he died
00:22:09.400 and they found
00:22:09.820 like piles
00:22:10.700 of paper everywhere
00:22:11.560 and they composed
00:22:13.380 this into this
00:22:14.560 work that's come
00:22:15.620 down to us
00:22:16.060 as the pensées.
00:22:17.060 So,
00:22:17.480 one of the most
00:22:17.840 famous pensées,
00:22:18.880 one of the most
00:22:19.240 famous of these thoughts,
00:22:20.340 that's what pensées
00:22:20.960 means in French,
00:22:22.260 is one called
00:22:23.620 the thinking read.
00:22:24.500 And so,
00:22:26.080 what Pascal
00:22:26.520 tells us
00:22:27.200 about ourselves
00:22:27.820 is that we are
00:22:29.600 as fragile
00:22:30.500 as a blade
00:22:31.900 of grass,
00:22:32.620 as a reed
00:22:33.400 that is a vapor
00:22:34.600 or a drop of water
00:22:36.020 can kill us.
00:22:38.220 On the other hand,
00:22:39.660 we have these minds
00:22:41.080 with absolutely
00:22:43.280 extraordinary powers.
00:22:45.560 So,
00:22:45.920 while the universe
00:22:46.560 will eventually
00:22:47.420 crush all of us,
00:22:49.340 through our minds,
00:22:50.240 we can think
00:22:51.220 the thought universe
00:22:52.300 and as far
00:22:54.000 as we know,
00:22:54.620 there's nothing else
00:22:55.500 in the universe
00:22:56.100 that does that.
00:22:57.780 And so,
00:22:58.280 the mind
00:22:58.840 is the first
00:23:00.280 locus of human
00:23:01.260 greatness
00:23:01.720 for Pascal
00:23:02.960 and
00:23:04.260 but our
00:23:05.840 very intellectual
00:23:06.960 capacities
00:23:07.660 are a part
00:23:09.560 of our misery.
00:23:10.820 So,
00:23:11.060 for example,
00:23:12.000 trees are
00:23:12.620 every bit as mortal
00:23:13.520 as we are
00:23:14.400 but they don't know it
00:23:15.540 and we do
00:23:16.260 and that makes us
00:23:17.660 profoundly unhappy.
00:23:18.700 Okay,
00:23:20.040 and so,
00:23:20.600 he would say,
00:23:22.160 Pascal would say,
00:23:22.780 well,
00:23:23.100 that misery,
00:23:24.640 what Montaigne is doing
00:23:25.360 is you're just
00:23:26.040 distracting from
00:23:26.840 that misery.
00:23:27.960 That's right.
00:23:28.500 So,
00:23:28.840 what would Pascal,
00:23:29.500 does Pascal offer a solution
00:23:30.780 or is he just like
00:23:31.520 a problem pointer outer?
00:23:33.480 Yeah.
00:23:34.940 Pascal
00:23:35.380 wishes to make us
00:23:38.340 into what he calls
00:23:40.300 seekers in anguish.
00:23:43.040 And so,
00:23:44.920 in another famous fragment,
00:23:47.220 Pascal says
00:23:48.080 about human beings,
00:23:49.800 he says about man,
00:23:50.620 he says,
00:23:51.540 if he humbles himself,
00:23:53.080 I exalt him.
00:23:54.300 If he exalts himself,
00:23:56.120 I humble him
00:23:56.920 and I continue
00:23:58.180 to contradict him
00:23:59.460 until he understands
00:24:00.700 that he is an
00:24:01.740 incomprehensible monster.
00:24:03.860 So,
00:24:04.260 Pascal
00:24:04.580 wishes
00:24:05.560 to
00:24:06.180 hold up the mirror
00:24:08.060 to the paradoxical
00:24:10.520 character
00:24:11.060 of
00:24:12.300 the human person.
00:24:14.660 He wishes
00:24:15.220 to make us
00:24:16.200 into mysteries
00:24:16.980 into mysteries
00:24:17.000 to ourselves.
00:24:18.740 And by making
00:24:19.620 us into mysteries
00:24:21.120 to ourselves,
00:24:22.660 Pascal incites us
00:24:24.120 to seek.
00:24:25.580 And he himself
00:24:27.280 follows this seeking motion
00:24:29.360 through philosophy
00:24:30.740 and ultimately
00:24:31.720 into religion,
00:24:33.460 where he thinks
00:24:35.720 we're most likely
00:24:37.000 to find
00:24:37.740 the answer
00:24:39.040 that constitutes
00:24:39.920 the human soul.
00:24:40.720 So,
00:24:41.500 that's what
00:24:41.900 Pascal wants
00:24:42.640 us to do,
00:24:43.260 where
00:24:44.220 Montaigne wants
00:24:45.240 to make us
00:24:45.720 come home
00:24:46.280 to ourselves
00:24:46.880 and be content
00:24:47.640 in the little circle
00:24:49.060 of imminent contentment.
00:24:51.640 Pascal wants
00:24:52.500 to kind of
00:24:52.840 crack us open
00:24:53.620 and set us
00:24:54.100 in motion.
00:24:55.300 And is he
00:24:55.620 wanting people
00:24:56.340 to,
00:24:56.820 I mean,
00:24:56.960 is it sort of
00:24:57.260 an Augustine
00:24:58.700 approach to life?
00:24:59.860 You know,
00:25:00.000 like,
00:25:00.180 you know,
00:25:00.340 Augustine said,
00:25:00.900 our hearts
00:25:01.200 are restless,
00:25:02.180 Lord,
00:25:02.360 until they rest
00:25:03.040 in you.
00:25:03.900 Are we supposed,
00:25:04.320 does Pascal think
00:25:05.040 we should like
00:25:05.500 seek God?
00:25:07.000 Is that how we
00:25:07.580 extinguish
00:25:08.240 this restlessness
00:25:08.800 or will we
00:25:09.340 always be
00:25:09.820 restless,
00:25:10.660 according to
00:25:11.080 Pascal?
00:25:12.560 Yeah,
00:25:13.020 Pascal was a,
00:25:14.020 he was close
00:25:15.540 with a group
00:25:16.420 of 17th century
00:25:17.640 thinkers
00:25:18.620 called the
00:25:19.480 Jansenists,
00:25:20.560 but the Jansenists
00:25:21.460 is a name
00:25:21.980 given to them
00:25:22.540 by their enemies.
00:25:23.580 What they thought
00:25:24.120 of themselves
00:25:24.620 as was
00:25:25.900 Augustinians.
00:25:27.080 So,
00:25:27.440 Pascal is a
00:25:28.400 very Augustinian
00:25:29.520 thinker.
00:25:30.520 And I think
00:25:31.140 that he
00:25:32.500 thinks,
00:25:33.440 as Augustine
00:25:34.360 does,
00:25:35.400 that there
00:25:36.340 is a certain
00:25:36.900 kind of
00:25:37.460 restlessness
00:25:37.920 that is
00:25:38.420 natural
00:25:38.900 to the
00:25:39.300 human soul
00:25:40.000 and that
00:25:41.040 that restlessness
00:25:41.840 ultimately
00:25:42.600 points us
00:25:43.420 beyond anything
00:25:44.380 that we can
00:25:45.180 find in the
00:25:45.960 world of
00:25:46.480 nature
00:25:46.880 or human
00:25:47.920 art.
00:25:49.340 But
00:25:49.860 Pascal does
00:25:51.400 not think,
00:25:52.020 and I don't
00:25:52.340 think Augustine
00:25:53.020 thinks either,
00:25:54.300 that we
00:25:55.460 ever find
00:25:56.520 complete
00:25:56.980 satisfaction,
00:25:57.820 we ever
00:25:58.140 become at
00:25:58.840 home
00:25:59.280 in the
00:26:00.500 here and
00:26:00.820 now.
00:26:01.160 And this
00:26:01.420 is the
00:26:01.680 way in
00:26:01.960 which Pascal
00:26:02.420 really reverses
00:26:03.540 the Montaigne
00:26:04.780 vision of
00:26:05.660 life.
00:26:06.480 And so
00:26:06.740 Pascal wants
00:26:07.580 to launch
00:26:08.200 us on
00:26:08.980 a search
00:26:09.440 that ultimately
00:26:09.980 his own
00:26:10.440 search ultimately
00:26:11.020 leads him
00:26:11.560 towards God,
00:26:12.460 but he
00:26:12.860 doesn't think
00:26:13.360 that he
00:26:13.600 can give
00:26:14.080 us God.
00:26:14.760 He doesn't
00:26:15.160 think that he
00:26:15.620 can give
00:26:15.940 us a
00:26:16.280 formula for
00:26:17.500 how we
00:26:17.820 ought to
00:26:18.040 live or
00:26:18.560 answer the
00:26:19.540 question of
00:26:20.460 the haunted
00:26:21.340 and seeking
00:26:21.960 human soul
00:26:22.740 that we are
00:26:23.920 on his
00:26:24.380 account.
00:26:25.180 He thinks
00:26:25.660 we have to
00:26:26.080 seek for
00:26:26.540 ourselves
00:26:27.100 and that
00:26:27.920 what we're
00:26:28.280 seeking for
00:26:29.080 is not
00:26:29.920 something that's
00:26:30.440 within human
00:26:31.260 control.
00:26:32.680 And so
00:26:32.960 the most
00:26:33.660 that Pascal
00:26:34.100 thinks he
00:26:34.860 can do
00:26:35.340 is get
00:26:35.840 us launched
00:26:36.540 on the
00:26:37.040 search.
00:26:38.660 All right,
00:26:38.840 so now we
00:26:39.320 can come
00:26:39.560 back to
00:26:39.880 Tocqueville.
00:26:40.340 And Jenna,
00:26:40.880 this is your
00:26:41.440 area of
00:26:41.800 expertise.
00:26:42.860 Tocqueville,
00:26:43.420 he read
00:26:43.680 Montaigne,
00:26:44.340 he read
00:26:44.540 Pascal along
00:26:45.340 with some
00:26:45.580 other
00:26:45.760 philosophers,
00:26:46.220 and that
00:26:47.380 influences
00:26:47.840 observations
00:26:48.500 of Americans
00:26:49.280 and his
00:26:49.660 thoughts about
00:26:50.360 their
00:26:50.560 restlessness.
00:26:51.800 And one
00:26:52.140 of the
00:26:52.300 observations
00:26:52.740 that Tocqueville
00:26:53.300 makes,
00:26:53.820 and I think
00:26:54.200 this is the
00:26:54.660 case that you
00:26:55.280 two make
00:26:55.960 as well in
00:26:56.280 your book,
00:26:57.140 is the
00:26:57.520 reason why
00:26:57.960 Americans
00:26:58.700 tended to
00:26:59.360 be so
00:26:59.760 restless was
00:27:00.600 that Americans
00:27:01.220 democratized
00:27:02.360 Montaigne's
00:27:03.360 idea of
00:27:04.000 imminent
00:27:04.280 contentment.
00:27:05.480 What does
00:27:06.000 Tocqueville mean
00:27:06.700 by that?
00:27:07.500 Right,
00:27:07.680 so for
00:27:08.040 Montaigne,
00:27:08.660 this idea
00:27:09.280 of seeking
00:27:10.080 happiness in
00:27:10.780 the here and
00:27:11.160 now was
00:27:12.400 very inventive
00:27:13.780 at the time.
00:27:14.560 It was
00:27:14.720 countercultural.
00:27:16.080 It was a
00:27:16.420 kind of remedy,
00:27:17.320 as my husband
00:27:17.940 said,
00:27:18.540 for the
00:27:19.160 fanaticism that
00:27:20.300 he saw
00:27:21.020 swirling about
00:27:21.720 him.
00:27:22.760 For us,
00:27:23.460 it's become
00:27:23.900 a kind of
00:27:24.360 default.
00:27:25.760 So you
00:27:26.140 might think
00:27:26.460 about it
00:27:26.720 this way.
00:27:27.260 Some people
00:27:27.580 have said,
00:27:28.040 some scholars
00:27:28.440 have said
00:27:28.800 that
00:27:29.040 Montaigne
00:27:29.460 is a
00:27:29.740 kind of
00:27:30.000 proto-bourgeois,
00:27:31.240 or at
00:27:31.680 least he
00:27:31.960 gave inspiration
00:27:33.100 to the
00:27:33.580 rising
00:27:34.000 bourgeois
00:27:34.940 class.
00:27:36.020 Now,
00:27:36.220 that makes
00:27:36.580 sense,
00:27:36.920 I think,
00:27:37.400 if you
00:27:37.620 see
00:27:38.020 Montaigne
00:27:39.220 not as
00:27:39.940 a grim
00:27:41.740 capitalist,
00:27:42.540 because that
00:27:42.880 bears very
00:27:43.300 little resemblance
00:27:44.580 to Montaigne's
00:27:45.180 life,
00:27:45.740 but something
00:27:46.180 more like
00:27:46.780 what David
00:27:47.220 Brooks
00:27:47.500 describes as
00:27:48.340 the
00:27:48.680 bobo
00:27:48.980 lifestyle,
00:27:49.860 right?
00:27:50.100 The kind
00:27:50.320 of white
00:27:50.620 collar work
00:27:51.140 with a
00:27:51.440 creative
00:27:51.740 flair.
00:27:52.680 Lots
00:27:53.040 of time
00:27:53.900 for hobbies
00:27:54.900 and other
00:27:55.380 sort of
00:27:55.800 interesting
00:27:56.520 pursuits.
00:27:57.100 That's
00:27:57.680 more like
00:27:58.400 what
00:27:58.680 Montaigne
00:27:59.000 was doing,
00:27:59.500 if you were
00:28:00.320 to make an
00:28:00.720 analogy to
00:28:01.300 our time.
00:28:02.760 So,
00:28:03.160 you might
00:28:03.360 see America
00:28:03.820 as a
00:28:04.060 kind of
00:28:04.320 land of
00:28:05.180 bobos,
00:28:06.100 a land of
00:28:06.640 Montaigneans
00:28:07.120 in that
00:28:07.400 way.
00:28:08.180 To put it
00:28:08.600 a bit
00:28:08.860 differently,
00:28:09.460 J.S.
00:28:09.780 Mill,
00:28:10.180 when he was
00:28:11.080 talking about
00:28:11.680 America,
00:28:12.040 also in the
00:28:12.400 19th century,
00:28:13.380 said America
00:28:13.860 is a land
00:28:15.180 of all
00:28:15.800 middle-class
00:28:16.240 people.
00:28:16.740 It's all
00:28:17.340 middle-class.
00:28:18.940 That's
00:28:19.420 obviously a
00:28:20.180 bit of an
00:28:21.120 exaggeration.
00:28:21.860 We are
00:28:22.900 not all
00:28:23.280 middle-class,
00:28:24.400 but we
00:28:25.280 hold the
00:28:26.520 aspirations,
00:28:27.500 ideals,
00:28:27.840 and expectations
00:28:28.480 of middle-class
00:28:29.320 life as a
00:28:30.180 kind of
00:28:30.640 default.
00:28:31.920 Gotcha.
00:28:32.260 So,
00:28:32.840 there's no
00:28:33.220 longer,
00:28:34.000 I mean,
00:28:34.380 I think
00:28:34.720 Pascal would
00:28:35.380 say,
00:28:35.520 well,
00:28:35.600 there's no
00:28:35.860 longer,
00:28:36.420 people aren't
00:28:37.000 directed in
00:28:37.500 America by,
00:28:38.180 they're not
00:28:38.580 seeking something
00:28:39.560 beyond themselves.
00:28:41.460 They're just
00:28:42.180 trying to figure
00:28:43.080 out how to
00:28:43.880 find meaning
00:28:44.440 with their
00:28:45.380 CrossFit
00:28:46.040 classes or
00:28:46.860 their movies
00:28:47.560 or their
00:28:48.100 sports.
00:28:49.340 And Pascal
00:28:49.900 would say,
00:28:50.700 yeah,
00:28:50.840 good luck
00:28:51.200 with that.
00:28:51.500 You're
00:28:52.120 never going
00:28:52.380 to have
00:28:52.540 any luck
00:28:53.160 with that.
00:28:54.300 I think
00:28:54.560 we sometimes
00:28:55.000 fully reach
00:28:55.820 beyond that,
00:28:56.540 but it's
00:28:56.880 not really
00:28:57.900 necessarily
00:28:58.820 supported in
00:28:59.680 a consistent
00:29:00.160 way by
00:29:01.400 our society.
00:29:03.400 And because
00:29:04.280 we're supposed
00:29:05.300 to be happy
00:29:06.400 within our
00:29:06.960 kind of circles
00:29:07.780 of imminent
00:29:08.340 contentment,
00:29:09.600 that makes
00:29:10.700 us very
00:29:11.340 puzzled when
00:29:12.260 we're not
00:29:12.960 happy within
00:29:14.600 those circles,
00:29:15.400 right?
00:29:15.680 So,
00:29:16.100 if we tell
00:29:16.780 ourselves and
00:29:17.340 each other
00:29:17.780 that outfitting
00:29:19.420 those circles
00:29:20.080 of imminent
00:29:20.500 contentment is
00:29:21.240 what we need
00:29:21.920 to do to
00:29:22.560 achieve happiness,
00:29:23.780 when it
00:29:24.340 doesn't work,
00:29:25.180 we don't
00:29:25.560 know where
00:29:25.920 to go.
00:29:27.260 And there's
00:29:27.660 also a
00:29:28.080 kind of
00:29:28.640 particular
00:29:29.320 pressure,
00:29:30.180 maybe social
00:29:30.680 pressure,
00:29:31.420 put on
00:29:31.980 people to
00:29:33.240 be or
00:29:34.320 seem happy
00:29:35.160 in our
00:29:35.720 society.
00:29:36.580 And I
00:29:36.800 think that's
00:29:37.200 because the
00:29:38.940 pursuit of
00:29:39.420 imminent goods
00:29:40.140 seems more
00:29:40.820 or less
00:29:41.040 possible to
00:29:41.860 attain,
00:29:42.600 right?
00:29:43.400 The goal
00:29:44.740 here is not
00:29:45.260 as extraordinary
00:29:46.120 as something
00:29:47.200 like holiness
00:29:47.860 or heroism.
00:29:49.320 We should
00:29:49.720 be able to
00:29:50.440 outfit our
00:29:50.980 lives so
00:29:51.940 that they're
00:29:52.320 interesting and
00:29:53.060 comfortable.
00:29:54.020 And that makes
00:29:54.800 us assume that
00:29:55.600 happiness is a
00:29:56.300 kind of default
00:29:56.900 way to be,
00:29:57.940 rather than a
00:29:58.860 rare achievement
00:29:59.660 as someone like
00:30:00.980 Aristotle would
00:30:02.180 have pointed out.
00:30:03.680 And therefore,
00:30:04.540 we have a social
00:30:05.100 pressure, as I
00:30:05.780 was saying,
00:30:06.200 to either be
00:30:07.120 or seem happy.
00:30:08.560 And when we're
00:30:09.140 not happy,
00:30:10.040 when we're
00:30:10.340 unhappy,
00:30:10.980 our suffering
00:30:11.540 is kind of
00:30:12.200 compounded by
00:30:13.560 guilt,
00:30:14.400 the guilt of
00:30:14.920 feeling like
00:30:15.520 some kind of
00:30:16.040 inexplicable
00:30:16.720 moral failure.
00:30:18.580 Right.
00:30:19.040 And so this is
00:30:19.520 like a trope
00:30:20.540 in America
00:30:20.980 now, like in
00:30:21.600 literature, in
00:30:22.600 movies, like
00:30:23.080 American beauty,
00:30:23.940 right?
00:30:24.100 The guy who's
00:30:24.900 middle-aged,
00:30:26.340 got wife, kid,
00:30:27.720 nice house,
00:30:28.260 and he's like,
00:30:28.520 I just, the
00:30:29.400 midlife crisis,
00:30:30.280 I don't know
00:30:30.620 what's wrong
00:30:31.000 with me, I
00:30:31.320 should be happy,
00:30:32.100 but I'm not.
00:30:33.280 Yeah, and this
00:30:33.920 is something that
00:30:35.100 I think we can
00:30:36.500 see in midlife
00:30:37.860 crises, but I'm
00:30:39.760 always struck by
00:30:41.380 how resonant
00:30:43.400 this Pascalian,
00:30:45.920 Tocquevillian
00:30:46.480 view of the
00:30:48.800 underlying
00:30:49.380 unhappiness of
00:30:50.960 most human
00:30:51.760 souls is with
00:30:53.060 students.
00:30:53.500 That is, when
00:30:54.760 Pascal comes
00:30:55.780 along and
00:30:56.920 tells them that
00:30:58.460 human beings are
00:30:59.560 naturally unhappy,
00:31:02.280 my students are
00:31:03.120 always absolutely
00:31:04.420 riveted.
00:31:05.440 They feel like
00:31:06.320 somebody has
00:31:07.080 finally said the
00:31:08.260 truth that no
00:31:09.100 one around them
00:31:10.040 will admit, and
00:31:11.900 it's immensely
00:31:12.820 liberating for them.
00:31:14.160 in this sense, I
00:31:15.600 think facing the
00:31:17.400 truth about the
00:31:18.800 commonness, the
00:31:19.840 normalness of
00:31:20.700 unhappiness as
00:31:21.680 opposed to
00:31:22.200 happiness, is
00:31:23.660 really one of the
00:31:24.360 things that's most
00:31:26.260 important for
00:31:27.100 Pascal to, that
00:31:29.060 Pascal has to
00:31:30.060 offer us, because
00:31:31.300 it can give us
00:31:32.180 some relief from
00:31:33.780 the guilt that my
00:31:35.240 wife was describing
00:31:35.900 a moment ago that
00:31:37.400 comes with
00:31:38.100 unhappiness in a
00:31:39.260 society that assumes
00:31:40.560 that happiness is
00:31:41.560 normal.
00:31:41.880 All right, so
00:31:43.220 Tocqueville, he
00:31:43.740 observed this in
00:31:44.840 the 19th century.
00:31:46.020 Americans, they
00:31:47.280 don't recognize that
00:31:48.820 they're miserable, and
00:31:50.100 so, but there's
00:31:51.140 something there, they
00:31:51.780 know something's
00:31:52.340 wrong, so he's
00:31:52.840 constantly looking for
00:31:53.920 diversions to ease
00:31:55.600 them of that
00:31:56.420 misery.
00:31:57.400 Also, he observed
00:31:58.420 too, Tocqueville, is
00:31:59.460 that this sort of
00:32:01.080 frenzy that Americans
00:32:02.100 have, it increases
00:32:03.880 misery because it
00:32:04.820 also makes us, one,
00:32:06.520 more lonely and
00:32:07.800 also cultivates envy.
00:32:09.460 So how does the
00:32:10.600 democratization of
00:32:11.500 imminent contentment
00:32:12.340 contribute to
00:32:13.120 loneliness and just
00:32:14.640 wishing the other
00:32:16.000 guy next to you
00:32:16.680 wasn't as successful
00:32:17.900 as you are?
00:32:19.700 Yeah, so I think
00:32:20.580 it's a kind of
00:32:21.340 default expectation
00:32:22.120 that we expect our
00:32:23.120 children to grow up
00:32:23.940 to be independent,
00:32:25.300 right?
00:32:25.620 By which we mean
00:32:26.600 maybe primarily or
00:32:27.760 at least significantly
00:32:29.180 materially independent,
00:32:30.800 right?
00:32:31.320 So our children are
00:32:33.060 pressured to go out
00:32:34.720 there and make
00:32:35.700 their own ways of
00:32:36.380 life, and that
00:32:37.380 often means chasing a
00:32:39.000 job somewhere other
00:32:40.440 than your hometown.
00:32:42.580 Dependence on your
00:32:43.760 family is thought of
00:32:44.900 as a kind of strange
00:32:45.960 and maybe even
00:32:46.960 shameful thing.
00:32:47.840 This is really
00:32:48.420 different than it is
00:32:49.460 in other cultures.
00:32:50.460 I have friends from
00:32:51.340 the Middle East, for
00:32:52.020 example, who cannot
00:32:52.720 imagine being asked
00:32:54.280 to make decisions on
00:32:55.280 their own, whereas
00:32:56.680 American parents are
00:32:57.720 pressuring their
00:32:58.340 children from, you
00:32:59.460 know, preschool age to
00:33:00.320 make decisions on
00:33:01.000 their own, which is
00:33:02.020 kind of strange.
00:33:03.240 So naturally, like,
00:33:04.640 this kind of pushing
00:33:05.220 the kids out of the
00:33:05.900 nest, even from an
00:33:06.760 early age, disconnects
00:33:08.820 them from what might
00:33:10.300 be their kind of
00:33:10.880 natural realm of
00:33:11.960 attachments, and people
00:33:13.940 become lonely.
00:33:15.860 And at the same time,
00:33:16.660 I think democratic
00:33:17.500 peoples, Tocqueville
00:33:18.740 observes, have a
00:33:20.240 particular facility for
00:33:21.600 identifying in some
00:33:22.900 way with all sorts of
00:33:24.220 other kinds of people.
00:33:25.820 He says that democratic
00:33:26.980 peoples easily see
00:33:28.500 resemblance in a wide
00:33:31.440 variety of people, and
00:33:32.940 that's because we have
00:33:34.280 the experience of
00:33:35.240 existing at sort of
00:33:36.360 various stages on the
00:33:38.240 social scale.
00:33:39.380 Many of us have
00:33:40.860 climbed a ladder, many
00:33:42.200 of us have fallen down
00:33:43.280 a ladder, we're not
00:33:44.500 exactly sure where we're
00:33:46.400 going to end up, and so
00:33:47.800 we can kind of imagine
00:33:48.800 ourselves in lots of
00:33:50.500 different situations.
00:33:51.900 So we have a sort of
00:33:53.100 fellow feeling with a
00:33:54.380 lot of people.
00:33:54.880 We even feel badly if we
00:33:56.080 hear somebody on the
00:33:56.860 other side of the world
00:33:57.600 is suffering.
00:33:58.240 We feel an immediate
00:33:59.600 connection with that.
00:34:02.000 But that doesn't really
00:34:03.320 help our loneliness
00:34:04.360 because we generally
00:34:06.460 don't have a lot of
00:34:07.640 time because of our
00:34:09.200 scramble for
00:34:10.100 independence.
00:34:10.680 We don't have a lot of
00:34:11.380 time to do anything
00:34:12.480 about that and to
00:34:13.820 make something out of
00:34:15.720 our acute sense of
00:34:17.340 connection that we
00:34:18.320 feel.
00:34:19.280 Yeah, I thought that was
00:34:19.900 an interesting observation
00:34:20.620 about how Americans,
00:34:22.440 they feel, they have
00:34:23.900 like a lot of fellow
00:34:24.520 feeling, compassion.
00:34:25.540 If there's like
00:34:25.900 something that, some
00:34:26.460 tragedy that happens on
00:34:28.220 the other side of the
00:34:28.840 world, they'll just
00:34:29.520 start donating money,
00:34:31.440 clothes, etc.
00:34:32.160 But then you can have
00:34:33.880 a neighbor who just
00:34:34.900 lives 100 feet from
00:34:35.720 you.
00:34:35.840 They're going to be
00:34:36.120 going through a really
00:34:36.680 hard time and you
00:34:38.260 have no clue and you
00:34:39.440 just, whatever, I don't
00:34:40.740 care.
00:34:41.220 I got to take my kids
00:34:42.380 to football practice.
00:34:44.500 Well, and sadly, I've
00:34:46.500 done some self-examination
00:34:48.180 on this one as well as
00:34:49.160 we were writing about
00:34:49.720 Tocqueville.
00:34:50.500 There's part of you that
00:34:51.460 doesn't want to have a
00:34:52.620 clue because you know if
00:34:53.540 you get involved in your
00:34:54.380 neighbor's life, that is
00:34:55.700 going to be very time
00:34:56.840 consuming and you're
00:34:58.300 going to have a lot less
00:34:58.980 time to write another
00:35:00.180 article or, you know,
00:35:01.740 attend to your promotion
00:35:03.280 at work or something
00:35:04.020 like this.
00:35:04.440 So, it's relatively
00:35:06.020 easier, obviously, to do
00:35:08.260 something that, in which
00:35:09.340 you don't establish an
00:35:10.300 intimate personal
00:35:10.920 connection and you can
00:35:11.920 still kind of help
00:35:13.300 somebody out because
00:35:14.640 they're not going to
00:35:15.400 really make any more
00:35:16.200 demands on your time.
00:35:17.820 So, the kind of
00:35:18.560 restless activity with
00:35:19.960 which we fill our lives
00:35:21.400 makes us want to meet a
00:35:23.000 lot of people, you know,
00:35:23.960 kind of, we get
00:35:24.940 interested in a lot of
00:35:25.760 other people, but it
00:35:26.840 also really prevents us
00:35:29.020 from establishing deep
00:35:30.760 connections.
00:35:32.420 And you asked also about
00:35:33.760 the question of envy,
00:35:35.520 about the prevalence of
00:35:36.600 envy in American life,
00:35:38.000 and I think that's really
00:35:39.540 interesting.
00:35:40.040 I find a lot of people
00:35:41.740 asking, am I as famous
00:35:44.440 as I should be?
00:35:45.840 I mean, shouldn't I be
00:35:46.600 rated a little higher?
00:35:48.080 And I think that's
00:35:49.280 because, for a similar
00:35:50.840 reason, as we find
00:35:52.300 ourselves kind of lonely,
00:35:53.860 we don't know where we
00:35:55.860 stand ever.
00:35:57.240 You know, there are no
00:35:58.500 fixed markers in American
00:35:59.700 life.
00:36:00.120 We're told from the
00:36:00.680 beginning that we could
00:36:01.260 be anything that we want
00:36:02.300 to be, and therefore
00:36:03.900 we're always questioning
00:36:04.900 ourselves whether we've
00:36:06.940 made enough of our lives.
00:36:08.600 And we kind of are
00:36:10.080 curious and also envious
00:36:11.200 about those who seem to
00:36:12.460 have made more of
00:36:13.440 themselves.
00:36:14.580 Yeah, so instead of
00:36:15.240 situating your sort of
00:36:16.660 social circle with
00:36:17.820 community, like we
00:36:19.200 situate ourselves, like,
00:36:20.760 I think in the social
00:36:22.140 media, like you're
00:36:22.920 trying to find a place
00:36:24.300 amongst 300 million
00:36:26.180 different people all
00:36:27.320 vying for attention.
00:36:28.940 And there's going to be
00:36:29.960 a lot of losers in that
00:36:30.900 game, and people are
00:36:31.880 going to feel sad and
00:36:32.880 more lonely and angsty.
00:36:35.160 That's right.
00:36:36.740 And something that I
00:36:37.800 observed, too, I don't
00:36:38.420 know if you observed this
00:36:39.360 as well, but as I read
00:36:40.920 the book, and it got me
00:36:41.860 thinking, too, one thing
00:36:42.580 I've noticed, and you
00:36:44.000 guys can push back on
00:36:45.040 this, but one thing I've
00:36:46.280 seen Americans do is
00:36:48.260 that, okay, they know
00:36:49.500 like diversions are just,
00:36:51.600 they're making them
00:36:52.220 miserable.
00:36:52.560 They're miserable.
00:36:53.080 They don't want to
00:36:54.840 follow, like, a
00:36:56.100 religion, but what
00:36:57.080 they'll do instead is
00:36:58.020 they'll make their
00:36:59.360 diversion, whether it's
00:37:00.700 exercise or diet or
00:37:02.840 what, like, could be
00:37:04.360 Harry Potter, you know,
00:37:05.840 fandom.
00:37:06.680 That becomes, like,
00:37:07.720 their new thing that,
00:37:08.640 like, they just really
00:37:09.640 invest into it and sort
00:37:10.960 of their sense of self.
00:37:11.900 So they're kind of
00:37:12.380 being, like, they're
00:37:13.400 taking their diversions
00:37:16.160 and making them
00:37:17.440 sessions.
00:37:17.880 Yeah, that's a really
00:37:20.200 good point.
00:37:21.720 I think that what sort
00:37:23.760 of lies behind all
00:37:24.800 this is a kind of
00:37:27.840 unconscious memory of
00:37:30.280 the rejection of
00:37:32.200 fanaticism that lies at
00:37:33.960 the beginning of the
00:37:35.200 modern era, and as
00:37:36.000 we've talked about,
00:37:37.980 that rejection of
00:37:38.800 fanaticism goes hand
00:37:40.920 in hand with a
00:37:42.700 setting aside of the
00:37:43.860 question of the highest
00:37:44.800 good, a setting aside
00:37:46.180 of the question of what
00:37:47.060 is really worth doing.
00:37:48.440 So, in other words,
00:37:49.040 we're putting sort of
00:37:49.980 all the goods on a
00:37:51.960 single plane.
00:37:53.380 Nothing is totally
00:37:54.480 hollow, but everything
00:37:55.340 is somewhat hollow,
00:37:56.920 is kind of the way
00:37:57.900 that we, so we can't
00:37:58.680 really distinguish
00:37:59.760 between that which is
00:38:01.180 really important and
00:38:02.340 that which is trivial.
00:38:03.880 And so people feel,
00:38:05.400 just as you've
00:38:06.060 described, that they're
00:38:07.240 divided, that they're
00:38:08.080 pursuing too many
00:38:09.100 things, they want to
00:38:09.820 plunk down on
00:38:10.400 something, but yeah,
00:38:11.480 it ends up being
00:38:12.160 something like Harry
00:38:12.840 Potter, which is kind
00:38:15.560 of obviously silly.
00:38:17.000 And this affects, you
00:38:18.240 know, politics, well,
00:38:19.620 civic life, because,
00:38:21.000 you know, everyone
00:38:21.700 doesn't, like, we're
00:38:22.560 bringing our sort of
00:38:24.120 imminent contentment
00:38:24.840 ideas of what it is to
00:38:26.500 be a good life.
00:38:26.900 There's no agreement on
00:38:27.720 what is the sumo bonum,
00:38:28.640 and so debates end up
00:38:31.180 just being sort of
00:38:32.100 yelling, like, my thing
00:38:34.060 is better than your
00:38:34.800 thing.
00:38:35.220 It's like debating, like,
00:38:36.900 you know, which ice
00:38:38.100 cream flavor is the
00:38:38.920 best, almost, like
00:38:40.080 chocolate or vanilla.
00:38:41.020 It's like, well, it's
00:38:42.060 subjective.
00:38:42.800 Like, how do you know?
00:38:43.580 And so the only thing
00:38:44.100 you can do is just yell
00:38:45.320 at each other, saying
00:38:47.100 chocolate's the best or
00:38:48.000 vanilla's the best, and
00:38:48.940 it makes civic life
00:38:50.460 really cantankerous.
00:38:53.240 Okay, that's really
00:38:54.220 interesting.
00:38:54.580 I think that you're
00:38:56.920 right, that if we
00:38:58.360 don't have the belief
00:39:00.460 that we can argue
00:39:01.340 meaningfully about
00:39:02.980 things, we are going to
00:39:03.960 end up just yelling at
00:39:04.760 each other, right?
00:39:05.620 So if we don't have the
00:39:06.880 belief that there is
00:39:07.600 some kind of
00:39:08.260 architecture of truth
00:39:10.040 and meaning, as, say,
00:39:11.180 Aristotle saw when he's
00:39:14.420 talking about the
00:39:14.920 possibility of political
00:39:15.940 life to kind of
00:39:17.480 transcend itself and
00:39:18.460 become philosophic,
00:39:19.820 conversely, for
00:39:20.780 philosophy to kind of
00:39:22.100 penetrate political
00:39:23.700 life.
00:39:24.080 If we don't have the
00:39:25.900 belief that we can
00:39:26.640 really talk meaningfully
00:39:27.760 about what goods are
00:39:28.940 worth pursuing and
00:39:29.760 which ones we should
00:39:30.460 let fall by the
00:39:31.080 wayside, we're just
00:39:32.340 going to shout about
00:39:33.900 imminent things.
00:39:34.880 I think it's also
00:39:35.540 interesting because
00:39:36.660 liberal politics is
00:39:38.980 supposed to be a
00:39:39.960 low-boil politics,
00:39:41.180 a politics where we
00:39:42.540 explicitly lowered the
00:39:43.820 temperature by not
00:39:44.740 concentrating on
00:39:45.840 questions of
00:39:46.420 transcendental meaning,
00:39:47.460 right?
00:39:47.680 So we separate out
00:39:50.060 religious concerns,
00:39:51.020 for example, from our
00:39:52.240 political debates in an
00:39:53.900 effort to concentrate on
00:39:55.400 kind of low but solid
00:39:56.380 goods.
00:39:57.360 And I think that that
00:39:58.680 worked for quite a long
00:40:00.640 time.
00:40:01.520 But as people lose
00:40:03.320 belief in anything other
00:40:05.380 than the imminent and as
00:40:06.820 they concentrate their
00:40:07.840 quest for happiness more
00:40:08.880 and more on the imminent
00:40:10.440 circle, that takes on the
00:40:12.520 same kind of existential
00:40:13.980 angstiness that the
00:40:15.920 transcendent quests had
00:40:17.180 once taken on.
00:40:18.180 So you see around us that
00:40:19.920 imminence can be as mad a
00:40:21.740 master as transcendence
00:40:23.120 once was.
00:40:24.300 Yeah, I think Alistair
00:40:25.360 McIntyre in After
00:40:27.100 Virtue sort of describes
00:40:28.260 that, what happens when
00:40:29.760 you lose a common
00:40:31.420 sunabonum or lose the
00:40:33.480 vocabulary to talk about
00:40:35.100 moral issues that it just
00:40:36.720 ends up to, he calls it
00:40:38.120 emotivism, you just yell
00:40:39.340 at each other.
00:40:40.140 And then even like Nietzsche
00:40:41.040 saw this as well, right?
00:40:42.560 When there's no longer a
00:40:43.420 unifying or underlying
00:40:45.540 thing to just, you know,
00:40:46.380 how you see the world,
00:40:48.140 well, it's just, all
00:40:49.160 right, everyone's up, it's
00:40:49.780 up to everyone else, it's
00:40:50.720 up to everyone to make
00:40:51.440 their own values.
00:40:52.580 And it's like, what do
00:40:53.320 you do when values
00:40:54.360 conflict?
00:40:55.020 It's like, well, I don't
00:40:55.780 know.
00:40:56.480 I think at that point
00:40:57.460 you had to be like, I
00:40:58.140 just become Montaigne,
00:40:59.020 build a tower and, you
00:41:01.000 know, read books and
00:41:01.640 plant cabbages.
00:41:02.200 That sounds like the
00:41:03.280 best solution.
00:41:03.840 But I imagine you all
00:41:05.340 don't think that's the
00:41:06.080 best solution.
00:41:06.540 Like, what do you think
00:41:07.200 is the solution to this
00:41:08.140 restlessness that we feel?
00:41:10.740 Well, I think, you know,
00:41:11.380 first of all, I think
00:41:11.980 we'd say there isn't a
00:41:13.080 solution.
00:41:14.160 And actually part of the
00:41:15.380 problem of the
00:41:17.060 Montanian life is to
00:41:18.220 believe in a solution,
00:41:19.820 to believe that we can
00:41:20.760 be perfectly content.
00:41:22.900 So there's not a
00:41:24.740 solution in our view
00:41:26.400 because we think
00:41:27.820 Pascal's critique of
00:41:29.160 Montaigne has hold
00:41:30.240 some water, that human
00:41:31.360 beings are not purely
00:41:33.100 imminent creatures.
00:41:33.760 We are beings that
00:41:34.460 naturally kind of
00:41:35.220 transcend the temporal
00:41:36.680 or straddle the
00:41:37.560 imminent and the
00:41:38.020 transcendent.
00:41:38.640 And that's going to
00:41:39.700 make us kind of uneasy,
00:41:40.880 restless, off-kilter in
00:41:42.480 the world, right?
00:41:44.880 But we do think there
00:41:46.660 are ways that you can
00:41:48.300 learn to manage this
00:41:51.600 restlessness, as it
00:41:52.460 were, to handle it
00:41:53.740 better and turn what we
00:41:56.960 see as a kind of
00:41:57.940 pointless busyness into
00:41:59.420 what we call a pointed
00:42:00.180 quest, right?
00:42:01.260 So to take yourself from
00:42:02.960 the sort of everyday
00:42:03.900 runaround and set
00:42:05.260 yourself on, turn your
00:42:06.600 restlessness into
00:42:07.280 something that is
00:42:07.980 actually productive and
00:42:09.400 purposeful.
00:42:09.900 And in our lives, we
00:42:12.140 spend most of our days
00:42:13.040 at the college, and so
00:42:14.820 we think a lot about
00:42:15.520 liberal education and
00:42:16.380 the place it could play
00:42:17.400 in helping us deal with
00:42:19.580 our restlessness.
00:42:21.180 And I think there's a
00:42:22.580 number of ways we could
00:42:23.280 think about liberal
00:42:23.920 education better that
00:42:25.140 would help us do that.
00:42:27.440 First of all, if you're
00:42:28.600 a student, just
00:42:29.260 understand how precious
00:42:30.640 these institutions are
00:42:33.160 in our cultural life.
00:42:35.900 The fact that we
00:42:37.140 routinely give a good
00:42:38.400 number of our
00:42:39.440 young people, four
00:42:41.320 years at the
00:42:42.440 threshold of adult
00:42:43.300 life, to think about
00:42:44.520 what they're going to
00:42:46.300 do and what part
00:42:47.740 they're going to play
00:42:48.440 in the world is
00:42:49.840 really extraordinary.
00:42:51.660 And people who are
00:42:52.900 fortunate enough to do
00:42:53.780 that should be prepared
00:42:54.960 to make the most of
00:42:55.920 it, by which we mean
00:42:58.380 at the very least
00:42:59.660 engage in a
00:43:01.440 systematic study of
00:43:03.620 investigations of
00:43:04.920 what people have said
00:43:05.860 in the past about
00:43:06.740 what might make you
00:43:07.800 happy, have some
00:43:09.300 tolerance and patience
00:43:10.260 for working through
00:43:11.680 these things and
00:43:12.400 developing the
00:43:13.020 discipline to really
00:43:14.640 understand them, and
00:43:16.240 then step back and
00:43:17.380 try to judge between
00:43:18.860 those different ways of
00:43:19.780 life because the fact
00:43:20.820 is you're going to
00:43:21.480 have to choose, and
00:43:22.520 it's best if your
00:43:23.300 choice is informed.
00:43:25.080 It's important because
00:43:26.320 you're going to be
00:43:26.740 faced with a number of
00:43:28.460 very attractive
00:43:29.080 competing goods.
00:43:29.960 It's important to
00:43:30.620 distinguish the
00:43:31.660 merely nice things from
00:43:33.140 the absolutely needful.
00:43:34.220 As we say in the
00:43:36.220 book, we think
00:43:37.140 liberal education
00:43:38.160 might best be
00:43:39.360 understood as an
00:43:40.780 education in the
00:43:41.720 art of choosing, and
00:43:43.640 if students approached
00:43:44.360 it that way, they
00:43:45.600 would probably emerge
00:43:46.260 from college a lot
00:43:47.160 more full of
00:43:48.080 direction and
00:43:48.520 satisfied.
00:43:50.020 And this also
00:43:50.460 applies to adults,
00:43:51.400 like it's not too
00:43:51.840 late for them as
00:43:52.360 well.
00:43:52.580 You can pick up
00:43:53.260 the Iliad or
00:43:54.460 Plato's Republic or
00:43:55.820 Kierkegaard and
00:43:57.560 start informing
00:43:58.300 yourself so you can
00:43:58.820 become a better
00:43:59.360 chooser in this
00:44:00.340 life filled with
00:44:01.760 restlessness.
00:44:02.200 Yeah, we think
00:44:03.580 that's right, and
00:44:05.360 another part of
00:44:06.080 this that we've
00:44:06.880 tried to learn
00:44:08.420 and incorporate
00:44:09.140 practically in our
00:44:11.260 adult lives is one
00:44:13.420 of the reasons
00:44:13.940 we're so restless
00:44:15.340 and frantic is
00:44:16.980 that we say yes
00:44:18.560 to do many
00:44:19.340 things.
00:44:20.580 And so we've
00:44:21.180 developed a kind
00:44:21.860 of private
00:44:22.660 household contest
00:44:23.800 in the art of
00:44:24.340 saying no.
00:44:25.640 You know, this
00:44:27.080 opportunity, you
00:44:28.140 know, that, you
00:44:29.400 know, some of
00:44:30.040 which are, you
00:44:30.600 know, prestigious
00:44:31.840 or lucrative or
00:44:32.940 whatever, we need
00:44:34.560 to be able to
00:44:35.760 set things aside
00:44:36.740 and preserve
00:44:38.020 time for the
00:44:39.300 things that
00:44:40.380 genuinely are
00:44:41.540 the locus of
00:44:43.200 meaning in our
00:44:43.800 lives.
00:44:45.020 And so the
00:44:45.940 art of saying
00:44:46.380 no is one
00:44:47.680 part of this
00:44:48.740 art of choosing.
00:44:50.100 I might add
00:44:50.940 one or two
00:44:51.620 things to what
00:44:52.160 Ben said.
00:44:54.140 Many of us
00:44:55.000 want to cut
00:44:55.840 back, right?
00:44:56.620 You hear that
00:44:57.040 refrain pretty
00:44:58.040 frequently.
00:44:58.740 Everybody wants
00:44:59.480 to say no,
00:45:00.060 but if we
00:45:00.900 don't really
00:45:01.360 understand what
00:45:02.000 we're cutting
00:45:02.420 back to, then
00:45:03.600 it's going to
00:45:03.880 be really hard
00:45:04.360 to cut back.
00:45:05.380 So the contest
00:45:06.220 to say no is
00:45:07.060 important, is
00:45:07.860 kind of an
00:45:08.120 important habit
00:45:08.740 to cultivate, to
00:45:10.100 just, you know,
00:45:11.260 turn down things
00:45:12.200 and feel good
00:45:12.920 about it, but you
00:45:13.900 also have to
00:45:14.600 think carefully
00:45:15.280 about what
00:45:15.840 you're cutting
00:45:16.260 back to or
00:45:16.780 you're really
00:45:17.180 not going to
00:45:17.600 keep up that
00:45:18.960 discipline.
00:45:20.180 And the last
00:45:20.880 thing I'd
00:45:21.200 mention is
00:45:21.900 something we
00:45:22.980 started doing
00:45:24.280 about eight
00:45:25.220 years ago,
00:45:25.740 which is keeping
00:45:26.860 a Sabbath,
00:45:27.780 keeping a day
00:45:28.420 aside where
00:45:29.200 we do not
00:45:30.280 do any
00:45:31.020 work, any
00:45:32.140 office work,
00:45:33.900 any school
00:45:34.400 work, any
00:45:35.180 studying, any
00:45:36.280 yard work, and
00:45:37.780 whether you're
00:45:38.440 religious or
00:45:38.980 not, it's a
00:45:39.780 wonderful, it's
00:45:41.040 a wonderful
00:45:41.340 institution that
00:45:42.860 you can, you
00:45:44.060 can, you can
00:45:44.620 create in your
00:45:45.000 own life.
00:45:45.620 We did this
00:45:46.160 after we read a
00:45:47.160 book called
00:45:47.520 The Sabbath by
00:45:48.220 the Jewish
00:45:48.980 theologian and
00:45:50.140 philosopher Abraham
00:45:50.880 Joshua Heschel,
00:45:52.760 and he basically
00:45:55.220 convinced us of
00:45:56.100 how important it
00:45:56.840 is to take
00:45:57.460 one day to
00:45:58.340 refrain from
00:45:59.720 working, to
00:46:00.280 refrain from
00:46:00.740 trying to make
00:46:01.220 an impact on
00:46:02.300 the world around
00:46:02.820 you, and to
00:46:03.940 let the world
00:46:04.400 make an impact
00:46:05.040 on you.
00:46:06.200 It forces you
00:46:07.120 to stop and
00:46:07.880 observe both
00:46:09.520 what you've done
00:46:11.220 during the week
00:46:11.780 and also what's
00:46:12.980 been done for
00:46:13.540 you.
00:46:14.640 Right, the
00:46:15.080 Sabbath was made
00:46:15.720 for man, not
00:46:17.140 man for the
00:46:17.600 Sabbath.
00:46:18.460 Well, Ben and
00:46:19.680 Jenna, this has
00:46:20.040 been a great
00:46:20.380 conversation.
00:46:20.960 Where can people
00:46:21.360 go to learn more
00:46:22.000 about the book
00:46:22.520 and your work?
00:46:23.920 They can learn
00:46:24.400 more about the
00:46:24.900 book at the
00:46:25.520 Princeton University
00:46:26.420 Press website or
00:46:27.660 on Amazon.com, and
00:46:29.720 they can learn
00:46:30.360 more about our
00:46:31.240 work by looking
00:46:32.640 up firman.edu
00:46:33.900 slash Tocqueville.
00:46:35.020 We run a
00:46:36.260 center at
00:46:37.100 firman called
00:46:37.740 the Tocqueville
00:46:38.200 Program, which
00:46:40.580 we have set up
00:46:42.300 to engage
00:46:43.300 students with the
00:46:44.140 moral and
00:46:44.540 philosophic questions
00:46:45.440 at the heart of
00:46:46.000 political life, and
00:46:46.820 so they can see
00:46:47.460 all the various
00:46:48.380 kinds of things
00:46:48.820 we're trying to
00:46:49.180 do for students
00:46:49.720 there.
00:46:50.720 Fantastic.
00:46:51.100 Well, Jenna and
00:46:51.720 Benjamin Story,
00:46:52.340 thanks for your
00:46:52.680 time.
00:46:52.860 It's been a
00:46:53.160 pleasure.
00:46:53.880 Okay, thanks so
00:46:54.380 much, Brett.
00:46:54.920 Thank you.
00:46:55.320 My guests
00:46:56.840 today were
00:46:57.280 Benjamin and
00:46:57.780 Jenna Story.
00:46:58.400 They're the
00:46:58.680 authors of the
00:46:59.380 book, Why We
00:47:00.100 Are Restless on
00:47:00.820 the Modern
00:47:01.260 Quest for
00:47:01.780 Contentment.
00:47:02.440 It's available on
00:47:02.820 Amazon.com, bookstores
00:47:04.000 everywhere.
00:47:04.640 Check out our
00:47:04.980 show notes at
00:47:05.400 aom.is slash
00:47:06.460 restlessness, where
00:47:07.260 you can find links
00:47:07.660 to resources, where
00:47:08.460 you can delve
00:47:08.640 deeper into this
00:47:09.260 topic.
00:47:16.840 Well, that wraps
00:47:17.640 up another edition of
00:47:18.560 the AOM Podcast.
00:47:19.560 Check out our
00:47:19.920 website at
00:47:20.340 artofmanliness.com,
00:47:21.320 where you can find
00:47:21.620 our podcast archives,
00:47:22.880 as well as thousands
00:47:23.340 of articles written
00:47:23.960 over the years, about
00:47:24.600 pretty much anything
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00:47:48.440 As always, thank
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00:47:50.100 Until next time,
00:47:50.780 it's Brett McKay
00:47:51.380 reminding you not
00:47:52.520 only to listen to
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