The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life

　　《品格》、《社會性動物》大衛‧布魯克斯 David Brooks迄今最貼近生活的作品──幸福的風景，看起來應該是什麼樣子？登上個人幸福的山頂，可能並不是旅途的終點，還有第二座山，上頭有著更值得你追訪的景色。

 

　　世界告訴我們幸福來自於追尋與實現最極致、最傑出的自我，於是，我們在生活裡奮鬥，努力往上攀爬，以成績、收入、作品、成就證明自己存在的熠燿光芒。相信著當我們抵達了山頂，會看到人生裡最美好的光景。然而，倘若當自己已付出了所有力氣做到最好，將自我燃燒至最炙烈閃耀，有些時候，無關乎他人肯定與否，卻在心底仍隱隱感受到一絲悵然，覺得眼前的風景並不如想像的心滿意足，這是為什麼呢？

 

　　布魯克斯說，這是因為關於幸福，還有另一座山。與第一座教導我們練習獨立、尋找自我的山不同，第二座山，是關於承諾與倚賴。

 

　　在我們的生命歷程裡會作出四個重要的承諾：對伴侶與家庭、對工作及志業、對一套生命信念與信仰，以及對群體與社會。幸福，取決於我們如何選擇並把自我投身在這四者之中，融合為自己生命的意義。翻越了自我，把生命交付給自己之外的其他，依靠著這四個人生許諾，為之所投注的努力與付出，將帶我們爬上幸福的第二座山，看見充實、滿足與快樂。

 

　　以真實的人生故事──從文學家杜斯妥也夫斯基Dostoyevsky、大屠殺生還者埃蒂•伊勒桑Etty Hillesum、非洲教育創業家佛瑞德•史瓦尼克爾Fred Swaniker等──布魯克斯生動地描繪出他們如何投身於自己的選擇，過著充實喜悅的生活，也將他們的生命濃縮為容易理解、參考的智慧，指引我們如何選擇伴侶、抉擇職志、實踐生活的信念，並將這些承諾彼此結合成為自己人生最重要的生命目的。

 

　　繼《社會性動物》讓我們認識人類的快樂成功來自與他人、社會的關係，《品格》回溯了人類道德發展的歷史，記錄了我們如何平衡想要征服世界，以及以愛為先的兩個自我。《Second Mountain》兼具人生哲理的激勵啟發，以及對當代社會敏銳的觀察評論，這本最貼近個人與生活的作品，帶我們看見若將承諾當作生命的核心，為了不只是自己而踏上登頂路途，這座幸福的山頂會是什麼景色。（文/博客來編譯）

 

　　#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world.

 

　　“Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post

 

　　Every so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain.

 

　　And so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment.

 

　　In The Second Mountain, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.

 

　　In short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it’s also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighborhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In The Second Mountain, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the center of our lives.