Coming of Age -- A Father/Son Dialogue
charleseisenstein.substack.com
Coming of Age -- A Father/Son Dialogue
I sat down with my 18-year-old son, Philip, at his suggestion to record a conversation about the anxieties and worries of young people about earth's future; why they are drawn to dystopian and nihilistic worldviews; the search for meaning and purpose; embracing the unknown; wonder, and beauty; the truth and the lie in the concept of "deserving"; the problem with rewards and approval, coming of age then and now, and some other subjects that Philip has noticed come up a lot in himself and among his peers. Audio version here, video below.
Fascinating what 10 years will do. I’m 10 years older than you Charles. I was born in Germany and left before the wall went up in Berlin. Lived all over the world. Saw abject poverty in Panama. But I never felt fear. And I grew up in the middle of the Cold War. I have always remained optimistic. My worse fear is living out in current times. Because I see powerful forces that don’t give a crap about people and the world. But even with all that I remain optimistic. Primarily because of people like you share and others here share The More Beautiful World. We are not alone. It is not logical. But we are here for something magnificent. We are here to learn everything we can learn. To feel everything we can feel. Good and bad. To be fully and authentically human.
Charles, I’m curious if you have seen the movie, “C’mon, C’mon” ?
In this movie about the relationship between adults and children, it begins by adults asking children about what they think the future will look like...feel like. It’s an amazing movie, and this conversation urged me to recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. Fascinating.