THE ROAD TO WISDOM

Prescriptions for change.

Collins, a physician, evangelical Christian, and former director of the National Institutes of Health, seeks a remedy for the divisiveness and anger that beset our nation. Healing, he asserts, depends on four sources of clarity and wisdom: truth, science, faith, and trust. The Covid-19 crisis, especially, darkened his “usual optimistic view of society,” making him realize “how much we have lost track of the sources of wisdom—how we have let politics on both the right and the left become our touchstone.” He examines controversies that emerged about protocols for managing the virus (masking, business and school closures, social distancing), the cause of the pandemic, and the effectiveness of vaccines; he also discusses other incendiary topics, including climate change and the results of the 2020 presidential election. People’s opinions on these issues have been swayed, Collins asserts, by six kinds of untruth: ignorance, falsehood, lies or “intentional distortion of the truth,” delusion, bullshit, and propaganda. Those who use social media as their main source of information about the world can be “unwittingly manipulated” by these forms of untruth. Collins asserts that identifying falsehoods boils down to trust in the integrity and competence of the person or institution conveying information, and he cautions against believing only those whose values align with one’s own. Drawing on examples from his personal and professional experiences, he reveals times when his trust has been honored and times when it has been broken. As a scientist who finds belief in a Christian God “entirely consistent” with his faith in evidence-based truths and scientific methods, he recounts his journey from atheism to Christianity. Overall, Collins urges each reader to create a renewed sense of community through “reanchoring your worldview”; engaging with family, friends, and community; and carefully distinguishing facts from fakes.

Thoughtful guidance in tumultuous times.