With On Equilibrium, John Ralston Saul convincingly stakes his claim for a place in the great philosophical continuum by contributing his own perspective to the key questions: What is a good life? What constitutes a good society? That Saul’s answers are ultimately fraught with doubt, uncertainty, and paradox is deliberate, and intrinsic to Saul’s model for human fulfillment.

Long-time Saul readers will already be familiar with some of the material in On Equilibrium from his earlier books, especially the philosophical trilogy Voltaire’s Bastards, The Doubter’s Companion, and The Unconscious Civilization. In those works, Saul examined, among many ideas, unthinking conformism, the role of corporatism, and the failure of democracy to create a truly human, truly good society. All of these are examined again in On Equilibrium, which functions as both a distillation of the basic principles of Saul’s previous books and a re-envisioning of their conclusions as a single, holistic system, applicable to everyday life.

On Equilibrium devotes a chapter to each of what Saul regards as the six essential human qualities: common sense, ethics, imagination, intuition, memory, and reason. The qualities are presented in alphabetical order to avoid any sense of a hierarchy.

This non-hierarchical arrangement is key. According to Saul, the good life is not to be reached by elevating any single quality above the others. Such an approach results in a bastardization of the quality elevated (common sense transformed to dangerous ideology, for example) and a commensurate reduction of the power of other qualities to counter it. Instead, the good life is attained not through finding static balance but through equilibrium, a dynamic, ever-changing flow of these qualities, interacting, countering, and reflecting one another in response to the concern of the passing moment.

The dynamism of this model requires a constant attention, an awareness of the qualities themselves, and how their interplay affects every decision we make. It also involves a willingness to abandon false certainties, embracing instead a continual state of doubt and uncertainty, accepting that not only are there no easy answers, there are likely no true or correct answers either.

It is a complex, paradigm-shifting model, likely difficult for some readers to absorb, accept, and appreciate. Saul presents the model as straightforwardly as possible, but while it lacks the sheer density and volume of Voltaire’s Bastards, On Equilibrium is far from an easy read. John Ralston Saul will never be mistaken for John Gray; this is a how-to/self-help book for those looking beyond pat solutions for lasting, and revelatory, change.

Saul is dazzling in his intellectual rigour and breadth, drawing from not only Western philosophy but from Eastern thought as well, demonstrating a universality of these qualities which defies culture, politics, and ethnicity. In addition to his use of historical examples, Saul demonstrates an intuitive and insightful perspective on contemporary events and figures, incorporating the philosophical underpinnings of the martyrdom of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, the difficult ethical stand of Major-General Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda, and the post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa as examples of these human qualities in action.

There is much food for thought in On Equilibrium, perhaps too much at times. While Saul guides the reader toward an independent contemplation of the six essential qualities, he stops short of extending this contemplation into concrete action. The rationale is apparent (every reader will approach their own qualities, their own inner life in a unique and specific manner), but without specific action, there is a danger that some readers will proceed no further, thereby hampering the individual and social change that Saul presents as so tantalizingly within reach.