Dueling Book Reviews: Stealing Fire + The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
If you have seen me in person over the past 3 months, you have probably heard me ramble rave about these two books, how they changed how I operate in life and put me on the path to happiness and self improvement. (Admittedly, these books weren’t the only thing that made me change, I did go through some major life changes at the same time but that just made me more open to listening to the books).
I’m combining this book review is because they both are about self improvement and happiness — The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari approaches it from a Zen-Buddhist angle and Stealing Fire is from the neuroscience angle, put together and they feel like a nice wine and cheese pairing for the mind.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is like a intro to Zen thinking and looking inside yourself to find inner peace. It may come across as simple and silly, but it’s a fun read and sends a message that everybody needs to hear and be reminded in this crazy world — that money doesn’t buy you happiness, it comes from within. The book is filled front to back with lines that inspire you to listen to yourself, like,
“There is a huge difference between making a lot of money and making a lot of life. When you start spending even five minutes a day practicing the art of gratitude, you will cultivate the richness of living that you are looking for.”
and,
“Don’t kid yourself into believing that you will start to enrich your mind, care for your body and nourish your soul when your bank account gets big enough and you have the luxury of more free time. Today is the day to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Today is the day to seize the moment and live a life that soars. Today is the day to live from your imagination and harvest your dreams.”
At times the book reads like a children’s book, but I feel like at times that helps get the message across; if I can talk to you like a child and provide you the secrets to happiness, then you should be able to do it! If you feel like life moves too fast, aren’t happy with what you’re doing and are open to help discovering your path — this is a great place to start.
Stealing Fire definitely does not read like a children’s book, this is where we get serious. In this book they explore ecstasis, what it is, the different ways to find it and what it does to you. Ecstasis (or ecstasy) is also known as nirvana, pure happiness, it’s the feelings that make life worth living — this book should be required reading for everybody! Isn’t living in ecstasy what you all want!?!
They break ecstasis down into three different categories, flow states, the feeling you get when you are “in-the-zone”, mystical states where techniques like chanting, dancing, meditation and sexuality are used to feel one with the universe, and psychedelic states induced by drugs. They find that the common feelings experienced across these are selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness and richness (aka STER).
When our brains are experiencing STER or in a state of ecstasy we are completely in the now, processing information faster than our normal consciousness and capable of doing things that people might perceive as inhuman — like when Danny Way jumped over the great wall of china on a skateboard with a broken ankle (yes, that happened)
The part where it really gets interesting though is not the fact that we have these experiences, but what they end up doing to us. In one study a psychologist studied a group of results over time to understand how they changed and grew to understand if there was an upper limit to who we could become.
“Kegan noticed that some people moved beyond generally well-adjusted adulthood, or what he called ‘Self-Authoring,’ into a different stage entirely: ‘Self-Transforming’.
Defined by heightened empathy, an expanded capacity to hold differing and even conflicting perspectives, and a general flexibility in how you think of yourself, self-transforming is the developmental stage we tend to associate with wisdom”
Fewer than 5% of the group reached Self-Transformation, and
“a disproportionate number of them described their frequent access to non-ordinary states as the ‘turbo button’ for their development”.
This leads the authors to one of the best conclusions,
“By bridging the gap between peak states and personal growth, these discoveries validate ecstasis as a tool not only for self-discovery, but also for self-development. So while ecstatic states (which are brief and transitory) aren’t the same as developmental stages (which are stable and long lasting), it appears that having more of the former can, under the right conditions, help accelerate the latter. In short, altered states can lead to altered traits”
So basically this book breaks down what it means to be in ecstasy and become the wise one amongst your friends, and if you read The Monk then you will be on the path to find inner peace. I’m going to make a generalizing statement but I feel it’s true — ISN’T THAT WHAT WE ALL WANT IN LIFE!?
These books were both gifted to me by two unexpected people in my life and at the perfect time for me which gave them that extra magical feeling. They taught me to start looking inward to find happiness and identify when I’m having peak experiences so I can do better at making it part of my regular life. That has also fueled my inspiration to meditate, read everyday and blog about my thoughts and inspiring books (more reviews to come!). I can easily and confidently say that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been and I am starting to live in ecstasy because I know how to get there. You should come too!