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he anthem of autonomy—that each man determines his own fate— resonates as a boon and a curse of the secular, modern era. On the one hand, it is inspiring to imagine that every person can illuminate the purpose of his life. Modernity, after all, sings of emancipation from external and supernatural forces, and campaigns that man’s capacity for critical reflection and freedom of choice can fight against the mystification of thought and action. In this post—Kantian and post—Nietzschean climate, the lesson is that there need not be room for God or even small gods; the power of humanity suffices to brighten the dark corners of the universe. The authority of tradition and the institutions of domination thus find their match in the figure of the Enlightened Man. On the other hand, the impressive gains of autonomy also come with magnificent losses. The tendency to portray personal choice as an imperative of every individual—an imperative that guarantees neither satisfaction nor certainty—also heightens the consciousness of isolation and responsibility. Instead of empowering, the availability of too many options and the burden of defining one’s life have produced a distressing atmosphere of confusion and lostness3, as unlimited freedom appears to be too overwhelming atop the shoulders of a mere human being. This realization is worsened by the modern disbelief in the existence of powers outside us that can console in times of defeat. Looking up or beyond the means of our human agency for aid can be judged as weakness or escapism. The secular age hence displays a

Dreyfus, Hubert and Sean Dorrance Kelly, All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age