First published 2011
Modern life bombards us with endless decisions, yet our culture provides no clear guidance for choosing. This predicament feels inevitable, but it represents a recent development. Medieval Europeans found direction through God's calling. Ancient Greeks drew upon an entire pantheon of radiant deities to inspire right action. Like athletes performing in the zone, people achieved harmonious alignment with the world, becoming so absorbed they could not choose wrongly. Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly examine whether we can recapture those Homeric feelings of wonder and gratitude without traditional religious belief. They guide readers through Western literature's greatest works to show how we lost our passionate connection to the world. Their exploration moves from Homer's polytheistic openness through Dante's monotheism, from Kant's autonomy to Melville's multiple realities, finally addressing spiritual struggles in contemporary writers like David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Gilbert. The authors uncover ancient wellsprings of meaning and demonstrate how to rediscover the sacred elements surrounding us daily.
Genres: philosophy, religion, spirituality, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, spiritual-journey
Setting: Europe, Greece
Period: Ancient, Medieval, Modern
272 pages · Hardcover · Free Press