Know Yourself, Forget Yourself

December 17, 2012
In his third book (after Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less), Zen monk Lesser makes a case for embracing paradoxes to succeed in every arena of life. Modeling his views on Buddhist tenets, Lesser espouses five core truths: “Know Yourself, Forget Yourself”; “Be Confident, Question Everything”; “Fight for Change, Accept What Is”; “Embrace Emotion, Embody Equanimity”; and “Benefit Others, Benefit Yourself.” The key message is that only through paradoxes can one gain a balanced view of any situation (an idea similar to Aristotle’s golden mean), as nothing is all black or all white. The author, also the CEO and cofounder of the nonprofit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, offers a host of practical exercises designed to show readers how to fully understand and apply these guidelines to daily life, and wisely counsels how to banish fear. In the end, Lesser maintains that only one person can transform a life: the person living it. This compassionate and sage tome—which Lesser freely admits he wrote as a manual for himself (see core truth #5)— is likely to help many make life-enhancing changes. Agent: Stephanie Tade, the Stephanie Tade Agency.