5 Books That Have Impacted My Philosophy On Life
A short list of books that I revisit to remind myself of my true values.
I am regularly asked to recommend books that have influenced my thinking on life and health.
None of the books I recommend concern exercise, nutrition, sleep, medicine, or health.
They are all books on what I call ‘Soul Span’ or how to live a life of meaning and purpose.
Lifespan and healthspan are the domains of science and facts.
Soul span is the domain of philosophy, literature and art.
These are domains that you cultivate over your lifetime.
Your list of books might look very different from mine, and I hope they are because they reflect your highest values.
But here are five that have significantly influenced how I think about living my life with meaning and purpose.
The Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker.
Ernest Becker was a cultural anthropologist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for his book The Denial Of Death.
The same year, at age 49, he died from colorectal cancer.
The book's central premise is that all of us are on an immortality quest of some sort.
The key is to realise which one you are on because when you do your life, behaviours and actions will make far more sense to you.
Becker describes our search for immortality as falling into two categories: literal and symbolic.
Literal immortality has traditionally been the domain of religions. Think afterlife and rebirth. Contemporary versions have been rekindled with attempts at extreme longevity and cryogenics etc.
The latest version is ‘The Singularity,’ in which your mind is uploaded into a digital format to exist for eternity.
Symbolic immortality is where we recognise that we are mortal souls, but we endeavour to do something during our lifetimes that outlives us.
Think of having children, great works of art, buildings in our name and fame.
The real problem arises when we do not realise we are on an immortality quest with these approaches. When someone challenges an idea we have regarding these core concepts, we often respond with aggression.
This book, more than any other, profoundly impacted my thinking on death and how it influences our lives.
“The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.”
― Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
Waking Up by Sam Harris.
Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and author.
His views on religion have made him a somewhat polarising figure, but his early work on meditation and spirituality made a big impact on my life.
The fundamental takeaway of Waking Up is that the idea of the ‘Self’, the identity of yourself you carry around in your mind, is an illusion.
The thoughts that pepper your conscious awareness arise from a place we do not understand, and without realising it, we identify who we are with these thoughts.
We become our thoughts.
It is because of this fact that we suffer needlessly.
As the line goes, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional“.
More than any other book, this book has allowed me to suffer less.
It has provided the groundwork for a meditation practice to draw me back into the present.
Undistracted by anxieties about the future or rumination about the past.
This book is a reminder that all we have is our attention and how we use it.
Training yourself to remind yourself of this fact and how to direct your attention will change your life.
“Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others.”
― Sam Harris, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
The Great Work Of Your Life by Stephen Cope.
There is a pervasive modern myth that you can become whoever you want to be.
You can’t.
You can only become who you truly are.
The Great Work Of Your Life is an interpretation of the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita.
The Gita, as it is commonly referred to, is the story of the warrior Arjuna and the God Krishna as he attempts to make the difficult decision about whether to go into battle against his own family and kin.
The story is about confronting what can seem like impossible decisions in our lives where there does not seem to be a clear right and wrong answer.
It is about how we make those decisions based on following our Dharma or what can loosely be translated as our calling or the expression of our highest selves.
It is about understanding that when you deny your Dharma, you will pay a price far greater than if you had the resolve to believe in yourself when there does not seem to be a correct choice.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
Becoming Who You Are.
'“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you are.”
Carl Jung.
A core meaning of life, I believe, is the honest pursuit of the process of becoming who you are.
This is something I have written about extensively in previous posts.
No one book has crystallised this idea for me.
There have been many.
Here are a selection:
Man’s Search For Himself by Rollo May.
Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Pretty much anything by Carl Jung - The Undiscovered Self: The Dilemma of the Individual in Modern Society.
These books, among many others, have given me a framework for thinking about how to live a meaningful life.
It does not mean that it is the solution for you, but for me, it has given me exceptional clarity on how to live my life.
Above all, it makes me feel fearful when I think about becoming who I am.
Because when you start to sense fear, you know you are on the right track.
It means that you will require courage to take the next step.
“They fear their higher self because, when it speaks, it speaks demandingly.”
Friedrich Nietzsche.
The Numinous Beauty Of The World.
The last one is not a book.
It is better.
For years, I have loved photography and videography.
The reason is that it sharpens your appreciation for all the beauty you see in the world.
Every day, we pass by stunningly simple examples of beauty.
Learning photography and videography has focused my view of the world to appreciate it.
To see it.
To learn to savour it.
And sometimes. Just sometimes, capture it.
The real world has taught me more about living a meaningful life than any book ever could.
For me, this is where soul span is most easily found.
Although I believe becoming who you are is the primary purpose of life, I believe that the real meaning of life is to engage with the world in such a way that we would never even think of asking what the meaning of life is.
When you look up at the stars at night.
When you stand back and appreciate the majesty of mountains.
When you pick up a newborn child.
We are never thinking, “What is the meaning of life?”.
Because the question simply falls away.
The goal is to continually find ways of engaging with the present moment in such a way that the question of the meaning of life does not even arise.
The five books and ideas that I cover highlight keystone ideas of my philosophy on life.
They by no means capture everything.
I read and consume information constantly.
I am always updating my view of the world, but some things I have learned are for certain:
Life is short
Our minds are all we have
This world is unbearably beautiful.
Have the courage to become who you are.
Realise that this moment is all we have and ever will have.
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The Great Work of Your Life will definitely be added to my want-to-read list.
Love these!