Last week, Moment ran an interview with David Brooks, whose “evolution” has been an object of interest for many.  Brooks’s The Road to Character was one of the better reads of 2015.  The interview included some candid tidbits worthy of reflection.

For instance, when asked about his quest for meaning, balance, and generosity of spirit, Brooks replied:

It’s going okay. Every day, I try to read something of some meaning. This morning, I read a book about how we find our callings. I always try to keep a book like that open. The question is: Am I a better person? I hope so. My mornings are sadder.

I had a student come up to me at the end of this class I taught at Yale, and he said, “Since I’ve been taking the class, I’m much sadder than I used to be.” And I took that as a win. Sadness is not quite the right word. Hunger and longing is what I mean. There’s a biblical verse, “Blessed are the hungry ones.” So I’m hungry for this sort of knowledge. I have this vision that if I do this long enough, I’ll be the sort of person who, when people come to you for advice, I’ll have answers, I’ll have wisdom. I’m not sure it will really work that way, but the one measurable thing I’ve noticed in my life is that people never used to confide in me, and now, they do. I don’t always know what to say, but I’m getting there.

These days I’m finding the “quest for wisdom” compelling because too much advice seems too short-sighted.

Most pertinent to me today, though, is his view on the individual versus the communal.  Today we talk ethical systems in class, which has become more boring the more students can’t articulate anything beyond a kind of moral subjectivism.  When asked about our inability to talk big picture:

Universities and a lot of institutions became very amoral because they didn’t know what to say. We became such a diverse society that it became hard to know what to say without insulting somebody. And then we became a very individualistic society. If there’s something I’ve been frustrated with, it’s our excessively individualistic society. That’s led to a belief that everyone should come up with their own values and no one should judge each other. That destroys moral conversation and becomes just a question of feelings. That, to me, was the big wrong turn.

You can read the rest of the interview here.  It’s worth your time.