Brian Johnson reflects on themes from David Brooks’ The Second Mountain and Road to Character, contrasting resume virtues with deeper moral joy. He reframes character-building as gym-like training aimed not at self-aggrandizement but to gain strength "for two" so one can serve others; he illustrates this by dedicating each exercise rep to members of his community.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. David Brooks wrote a great book called the Road to Character. In it, among other things, we learned about resume virtues versus eulogy virtues. So when Alexandra told me she got his newest book called the Second Mountain, I immediately snatched it and started reading it. It's awesome. In the book, David makes the distinction between the first mountain we all tend to climb, featuring the normal metrics of success that society tells us we should go after, and the second mountain, the mountain that the most joyful of us climb after realizing the happiness from the first mountain was unfulfilling. Now, the second mountain involves deep commitments to something bigger than ourselves. David identifies four vocation plus family plus faith and philosophy plus plus community. We'll probably come back to those for more. And of course, check out the notes. Today I want to chat about one of the distinctions David makes between the Road to Character and the Second Mountain. As he explains in the Second Mountain, he no longer believes that character building is like going to the gym. And now I'm quoting him. You do your exercises and build up your honesty, courage, integrity and grit, he says. I continue, I now think good character is a byproduct of giving yourself away. Andy tells us that character is a good thing to have, and there's a lot to be learned on the road to character. But there's a better thing to have, moral joy. And that serenity arrives as you come closer to embodying perfect love. Now I agree, only I'd frame it in a slightly different yes and progression. I think that character building is like going to the gym, with one important distinction. We're not going to the gym for ourselves per se, which would be the equivalent of snapping a six pack selfie for Instagram. We're going to the gym and training hard to have heroic strength for two. We know that the ultimate end is not our own character development for its own sake, but character development such that we can serve as profoundly as possible and have the necessary strength to give ourselves most fully to the world. Which leads us to our always evolving optimized approach. Optimize equals optimist. Best equals eudaimon equals hero. We do the hard work to have the strength for two so we can give ourselves to the world. Period. Repeat, enter moral eudaimonic joy. But that's not quite the point of today's 1. This is as I was reflecting on that wisdom when I got up from my chair to bang out my burpees and pull ups and all that for the thousand second Micradian oscillations to keep my energies strong in service to my work, I found myself dedicating each rep to a different person in our community. This one's for Anthony. This one's for Wendy. This one's for Julie. I'm rigorously training my mind and body and soul to forge my character so I can serve our optimized community profoundly. All the wisest teachers and faith traditions tell us that there's a joy in moving beyond ourselves. I say we find it one rep at a time. I'm off to bang out some more burpees, and these ones will be for you.
