At the start of "The Confessions", JRR opens with this statement that any Christian will recognize for the sad empty wish that it is:
" Let the trumpet of the Last judgment sound when it likes; I will present myself with this book in hand before the sovereign judge ... Eternal Being, assemble around me the numberless throng of my semblables; let them hear my confessions, let them groan at my disgraceful actions, let them blush at my wretchedness, but let each of them reveal his heart with the same sincerity at the foot of your throne, and let a single one say, if he dares, "I was better than that man."
Sadly, JRR worshiped in and took communion at various times in both Catholic and very conservative Calvinist Protestants Churches, yet somehow missed the core of Christianity that any works of man, confession, or otherwise, are of no use in the covering of sin. One can hear the sound of liberalism though, nobody is any "better" than anyone else, BUT, MY works point out that I'm really the best. Certainly nobody is any better.
The first JJR work that was widely noted then, and is still well known is "Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality among Men". His breakthrough thought is that primitive man with "no socialization" (whatever that means) is "good", and there would be no evil or "inequality", which to JJR and the liberals who follow is basically the ultimate evil. This is one of these points at which a conservative thinker must return for nearly childlike thought patterns to gain anything but laughter for what a significant number of people find to be nearly holy writ. Conservatism is grounded in reality, and believes that there is such a thing as objective truth, and it is the same for all. All may not find it, or be able to comprehend it even when faced with it, but it exists.
For the liberal thinker, such is not that case. What is a "human" without "society"? What is a bee with no other bees? Well, nothing of course, they don't exist. They don't exist because man is a social creature just as bees are social. In order to function, we come together in groups. Reality is never going to get in the way of liberal thought however, so JJR decides that "solitary man" is "good" (as defined by each solitary man), and "men", groupings right down to the family are "bad" ... because they breed "envy", "inequality", the potential and the reality of "evil".
Unsurprisingly, JJR was uncomfortable in social settings, had a urinary tract problem that caused him to need to relieve himself extremely frequently, and was plagued with depression, psychosomatic illness, and was unstable to the point that he bordered on being paranoid. He never married, but had a couple very long term affairs. He had 4 or 5 illegitimate children which he consigned to the orphanage, a death sentence in his day, yet he is considered a foundational thinker for liberal education, especially "Emile". He never really held a steady job, didn't believe in income inequality or aristocracy, yet regularly availed himself of living arrangements and sustenance from the elite of the day. Liberals have never believed that consistency was of any interest, and JJR fits that very well.
Part of his "genius" was "emotion over reason", and "the personal confession and childhood events as key to psychological understanding". If the self is God, and the ultimate good, we can see where "understanding the self" is of primary importance and interest. "It is all about you". JJR is one of the founders of "be true to yourself", and the search to find out where "events", or "family", or "society" have damaged this believed innate goodness and happiness of the almighty individual. The task for the liberal life is to discover your own unique good and perfect inner plan, and live according to your own personal dictates. If you ever do wrong, it is the fault of your family, society, organized religion, corrupt politics, or inequality, anything but yourself. JJR was one of the original "victims". He was never treated fairly, and was constantly pursued and hounded by governments and enemies.
In truth, he did manage to ruffle enough feathers to have enemies, and some sanctions against him, but he also received enormous patronage and kindness, often from the very same aristocracy and governments that he maligned. I never fully realized his fame in Europe, a fairly major street named after him in Paris, and a number of historic sites. He was one of the key figures looked up to and admired by many of those that instigated the French revolution, and was read by many of the American founders as well.
The book has a lot more detail on his life than I would likely care to know, and in many ways I would have been better served by going directly to his writings than this biography, however the insight into "what kind of person often becomes a liberal" is also worthy. For whatever reasons, they choose to believe that their lives are not their own, and they are "victims". They see the "specialness of their feelings", and assume that their feelings and their thinking is of special use and merit over that of others, and believe it to be "good" by their own standards, rather than any outside standard. It becomes easy to see why conversation between liberals and conservatives can be quite difficult.
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