The Atlantic

Many people think college is a place where students go to figure out career plans and life ambitions, where they form clear and confident goals for the future. But this, Arthur C. Brooks writes, is not true: “You should not have your future all figured out. Not now, and not later.” https://lnkd.in/eTmMvVh6 This lesson comes in part from the 13th-century Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart, who taught that we should “live without a why.” Eckhart did not mean that people should be directionless, or that life is meaningless. Rather, he believed in teaching the ultimate objective of life: “to act in a spirit of pure love before all else, and not to let worldly aims of money, power, and prestige distract us from this objective,” Brooks explains in a column adapted from a commencement speech he delivered at Providence College, a Catholic institution founded by Dominican friars. Goals such as getting a decent grade, graduating college, and finding a full-time job are all healthy, but “what is not healthy is to be attached to worldly goals in such a way that your happiness depends on them.” This, Brooks continues, is “a belief that almost invariably leads to frustration and disappointment.” Ultimately, setting goals should not distract you from love and service; that way, “you can also stay open to finding yourself on another, better path,” Brooks says. And for many, this path begins with unlearning a series of false lessons. “The first untruth is that you must know your destination,” Brooks writes. “The second is that a good life is one that minimizes suffering, and the third is that you must know and live your own truth.” In the place of these untruths, your new life path should begin with repeating three affirmations each morning, Brooks argues: “1) I do not know what this day will bring, but I will live it the best I can, with an attitude of love and generosity. 2) I am grateful for the good I experience today, but I do not fear the bad, which is part of being alive and an opportunity for learning and growth. 3) I do not possess the absolute truth, but today I will seek it with honesty, an open heart, and a spirit of adventure.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eTmMvVh6

New York City Mayor Eric Adams ran as a law-and-order candidate, Noah Shachtman writes. In office, he’s all too frequently been a force for chaos.

American democracy is showing signs of decay. Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomeranzev, two experts on foreign policy and propaganda, will show you where authoritarian tactics are in play—and how they can still be rooted out. Listen to "Autocracy in America," coming this September.

Introducing “Dear James,” The Atlantic’s newest advice column: https://lnkd.in/eVJ3znwn Are you something of a mystery to yourself? Do you suffer from existential panic, spiritual fatigue, or libidinal tangles? Is every straw, for you, the last straw? In other words: Are you a human being? If so, “Dear James” might be for you. Let staff writer James Parker supply answers to your lifelong or in-the-moment problems. Now accepting submissions. Send questions to [email protected].

Why do so many Americans live in #poverty? Because so many #rich people benefit from it, the sociologist Matthew Desmond tells Annie Lowrey. ⁠https://lnkd.in/eb2rx3tb ⁠ Desmond says that being poor is different in the U.S. than in other rich countries. “We have so many resources,” he told Lowrey. “Our tolerance for poverty is very high, much higher than it is in other parts of the developed world. I don’t know if it’s a belief, a cliché, or a myth. You see a homeless person in Los Angeles; an American says, ‘What did that person do?’ You see a homeless person in France; a French person says, ‘What did the state do? How did the state fail them?’” ⁠ ⁠ Desmond argues that many wealthy people will fight against poor families moving into their neighborhoods. “If you think of #zoning laws—that is how we build walls around our communities, how so many affluent communities keep out not just affordable #housing, but any multifamily housing,” Desmond said⁠ ⁠ The segregation that is created with exclusionary zoning contributes to racial disparities in poverty. “It is impossible to write a book called ‘Poverty, by America’ without writing a book about racism,” Desmond continues. “In white America, there’s no equivalent of the incredibly segregated and poor neighborhoods so many Black families find themselves in.” He notes that segregationists in the 1930s and ’50s used “the same exact arguments that we do today. They talk about property values, schools, and crime.” But, he adds, there are solutions to America’s poverty problem. Read more of Lowrey’s interview with Desmond: https://lnkd.in/eb2rx3tb (From 2023) ⁠ 📷: Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Getty; Shutterstock.

Leaders around the world justify their foreign-policy decisions in the name of the “national interest." It's a stirring phrase that evokes collective aspirations and geopolitical goals—and can be divorced from reality, Phillips Payson O’Brien writes:

A new book on the Scopes "monkey trial," which took place roughly a century ago, traces a long-simmering culture war—and the fear that often drives both sides, writes John Kaag.

Do you suffer from existential panic, spiritual fatigue, libidinal tangles, and compulsive idiocy? “Dear James” might be for you. Introducing a new advice column from James Parker. Send your lifelong or in-the-moment problems to [email protected].

Sabrina Carpenter tackles the exasperation of being young, female, straight, and single in 2024, Spencer Kornhaber writes.

Young adults are more depressed, more anxious, and lonelier than any other age group in America—but their distress has gone widely unnoticed. Faith Hill reports on this ongoing mental-health crisis: https://lnkd.in/eXtnmS3r