Once faith waned in the existence of a higher divinity guiding human affairs, as it has for most who inhabit the modern world, the central metaphysical questions rise to the fore. These are the questions of where we have come from, what we should do with our lives in order to make sense of them, and what happens when we die, if anything. The discontents of our time lie squarely in the domain of life-meaning—or rather, in a feared lack of it.
The toll on teenagers will be heavy if their society does not provide them with secure entry to adulthood. At issue is belief, training, and morale. Accordingly, the principal rite of social passage is that from child to adult—Plato put it that the most important body in a society is the one that teaches the teachers.
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