It’s rare or unknown today to meet, or even to become aware of, someone who is genuinely educated, insightful, profound, good, or great. Someone who is healthy, strong, confident, light-hearted, fun-filled, serene, joyful, or happy. This failure and misery is because virtually everyone nowadays is so illiberal.
Their philosophy, culture, society, and personal milieu is low, weak, dark, empty, vapid, foolish, corrupt, and depraved. Our post-Enlightenment, post-modern, post-liberal Dark Age is so irrational, ignorant, brainwashed, diseased, absurd, and bizarre that it doesn’t much allow any such solid, fine, accomplished, impressive, magnificent, or heroic person to emerge and thrive. Not even to humbly subsist and precariously survive.
Of course, every philosophy, culture, and society have some contact with reality and truth. Some rationality, understanding, virtue, and excellence. Some liberalism. They’d die without it.
But, nowadays, such persons and societies haven’t much.