It's weird to read nonfiction books written late last century. Often you find writers of the 1980s and 90s quite critical of the state of American culture.
As I read their negative assessments of societal trends, I always think, "You ain't seen nothin yet!"
Nathaniel Branden published The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem in 1994.
Check out his description of "the times" in the early 90s:
The turbulence of our times demands strong selves with a clear sense of identity, competence, and worth. With a breakdown of cultural consensus, an absence of worthy role models, little in the public arena to inspire our allegiance, and disorientingly rapid change a permanent feature of our lives, it is a dangerous moment in history not to know who we are or not to trust ourselves. The stability we cannot find in the world we must create within ours own persons. (xi)
How do you think we have done with "creating stability in our own persons" over the past three decades?
Was Branden a prophet?
Is it coincidence that with our population's sense of identity, competence, and worth being anything but clear, the challenges he outlined in 1994 - the fracture of consensus, loss of role models, loss of faith in public institutions, and the disorientation of rapid change - have only grown a hundred times worse?
I am anxious to read on and see what Branden says can be done to strengthen individuals' self-esteem, which he defines in part as "the health of the mind" and "the immune system of consciousness".
Hopefully, he has some answers. We need some bad.
Hopefully it's not too late.
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