On Living in Accordance With Reality

The French abbot and mystic, Bernard of Clairvaux, famously remarked that “A wise man is one who savors all things as they really are.”

I was reminded of this remark a few days ago in a conversation with my younger brother, who lamented how hard it is to find young skilled labor for his general contracting business on Maui.

“All of my skilled guys are now old,” he said. “My electrician is a Vietnam veteran. He loves his job and is very good at at it, but I can’t find anyone to replace him.”

“What do the youngsters on Maui do for a living?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“How do cover their cost of living?”

“I think a lot parents of our generation still support their grown children.”

“What does the younger set do with their time?” I asked.

“Look at their phones.”

To be sure, my brother’s sample size on Maui is very small. However, his personal perception seems to find confirmation in the remarkable fact that, out of a total population of 340 million, only 161 million are employed, or less than half.

Of the 179 million who are not employed, 50 million are retired and receiving Social Security benefits, 11 million are stay-at-home moms, 74 million are minors, and 44 million are apparently none of the above.

I wonder about the social and political outcome for a society when less that half of it does remunerative work and pays taxes. Could this be a major factor in the rapid and steady proliferation of debt to finance America’s high standard of living?

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I mention employment and debt because it seems to me that these play major roles in shaping awareness and attachment to reality. Other factors include technological innovations that insulate humans from the natural elements and a large and powerful state that frequently intervenes in human affairs.

I wonder if the above factors could explain why I am frequently perplexed by the current state of American culture and public discourse. So often I hear people saying things that suggest they have little understanding or appreciation of reality. We Americans seems to have so many fervent attachments apart from the pursuit of ascertaining what is real and living in accordance with it.

My philosophy professor, Roger Scruton, was an expert on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who dedicated his entire life to trying to ascertain reality. Kant never left his native city of Königsberg and never married. He apparently spent every day in study and reflection, breaking only for his daily walk and for his lectures at the University of Königsberg. I sometimes wonder what Kant would think if he were dropped into American society today. Would he perceive us to be insane?

While it’s possible that my perceptions are simply those of an old curmudgeon, I believe that much of American society has lost touch with reality. How long can this state of affairs last? In my brother’s estimation, if the American dollar loses its immensely powerful status as the world’s reserve currency, the American debt-sustained standard of living party—with all of its concomitant delusions—will end in an extremely unhappy way.

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This originally appeared on Courageous Discourse.

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