Maggie's Farm

I confess that i am a bit of a junkie for self-help books. And i gained insights from the more principled approaches. But you have to wade through a lot of quick-fix pop-shlock to find the good ones.

In a better world people would get these insights and lessons from family, school, community, faith, and work. But in today's isolating and "deconstructed" environment it is easy for people to develop unhealthy notions about self, spirit, and society.

The Left's Long March through Western culture and the heartless game of percentages by which it weakens family and community have been successful. There are many young people who did not get obvious Western lessons in personhood and responsibility through parenting or education. The lucky ones find someone like Jordan Peterson. The unlucky never escape the gravitational pull of modern navel-gazing psychotherapy, or cover their nakedness with the vestments of politicized victimhood.

I was only vaguely aware of what was wrong in my family. Such is the power of the parental relationship. And later i was too scared or fearful to seek help. (As a popular AA speaker says: when you pay that much for a good psychologist, you can't risk rejection by telling the truth.)

The good, insightful, values-based books were a lifeline.