“We’ve created a culture based on lies. Here are some of them: Career success is fulfilling; I can make myself happy; Life is an individual journey; You have to find your own truth; and Rich and successful people are worth more than poorer and less successful people.”

Those are the powerful words of New York Times columnist David Brooks, who wrote an op-ed earlier this year entitled “Five Lies Our Culture Tells” to promote his new book, The Second Mountain. Brooks’ core argument is that America has “overdone” it with the concept of hyper-independence. The only way forward to a meaningful life is to focus on our relationships. “We are formed by relationship, we are nourished by relationship, and we long for relationship. Life is not a solitary journey. It is building a home together. It is a process of being formed by attachments and then forming attachments in turn.”