There is a reason, as the historian Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen has put it, that “wisdom-talk is big business in America”; in the absence of a coherent spiritual tradition, a debased popular-wisdom culture springs up in its place. Think kabbalah strings, meditation apps, positive thinking, or the trendy embrace of autoimmunity as a manifestation of the perils of modern life, for which, of course, a pricey turmeric latte powder is prescribed. (A powder I myself bought and still use.)
