GUEST: Bestselling author August Turak, new book Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life

August Turak, author of the new book Brother John: A Monk, A Pilgrim and the Purpose of Life is available for interview. This is a story of the redemptive power of an authentically purposeful life. Turak’s message comes at a critical time for us in America; a time when our nation seems to be experiencing a cultural crisis of meaning and purpose, a nation that seems to be searching hopelessly for a cure.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently made depression the number one health issue in the Western World. Suicides rates are spiking and mass shootings are becoming more common. Despite historically low unemployment rates, the Labor Participation Rate is at an all-time low as more and more people simply drop out of the work force. All of these are symptomatic of the spiritual crisis afflicting America that is most easily described as a lack of higher meaning and purpose.
New York Magazine recently published a powerful article on the opioid epidemic in America titled “The Poison We Pick.” In the article, writer Andrew Sullivan says, “To see this epidemic as simply a pharmaceutical or chemically addictive problem is to miss something: the despair that currently makes so many want to fly away. Opioids are just one of the ways Americans are trying to cope with an inhuman new world where everything is flat, where communication is virtual, and where those core elements of human happiness — faith, family, community — seem to elude so many. Until we resolve these deeper social, cultural, and psychological problems, until we discover a new meaning or re-imagine our old religion or reinvent our way of life, the poppy will flourish.”
It is these core elements of human happiness — faith, family, community that August Turak and the story of Brother John addresses. It’s the true story of an encounter between the author, going through a midlife crisis, and an umbrella wielding Trappist monk that asks us to reconsider the meaning and purpose of life.

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