Foreword ix Introduction xiii PART ONE: DOLLARS AND SENSE 1 Are the Rich Smarter than You? 5 Are You Losing Your Soul? 10 Impatient Optimism . and Radical Generosity 14 You Can't Google This 18 The Only Thing that Really Matters 22 The Principle Thing 25 The One Thing that Changes Everything 28 The Trouble with Happiness 31 The Key to Personal Freedom 35 Change Your Perspective, Change Your Life 38 How Your World Will At Last Be Built 42 The Most Important Job on Earth 46 One of Life's Great Miracles 51 The Power of Negative Visualization 55 How to Reclaim Your Life 58 Why It's One of the Seven Deadly Sins 62 The Ruling Passion of the Noblest Minds 65 PART TWO: WEALTH BEYOND MEASURE 69 Are You Uncurious? 71 The Road Not Taken 74 They Make Us All Richer 77 Are You Ready for the Grand Tour? 81 The Quintessence of Life 85 What Women Really Want 89 An Incandescent Drop of American Fire 92 The Most Civilized Thing in the World 95 How to Eat Like a Zen Master 99 The Sublimest Activity of the Human Mind 103 Drunken Monkey Ice Cream . and the Wisdom of Thornton Wilder 107 The Lost Art of Conversation 110 What Success Really Means 113 What Are Your Sins of Omission? 116 The Beauty of Slowing Down 120 When Entertainment Becomes Art 123 Do You Have a Secret? 128 Are You Amusing Yourself to Death? 133 In Praise of Idleness 137 The Tyranny of the New 140 Why You Should Know "The Indispensable Man" 143 A Revelation at 4,500 Feet 146 PART THREE: KNOWING AND BELIEVING 149 Tolstoy's Forbidden Book 151 A Shameless Veneration of Heroes 154 A Path to Personal Freedom 158 Your Greatest Risk 162 Are You Part of "The Great Conversation"? 166 A 2,600-Year-Old Manual for Living 170 If You Knew What Jim Brown Knows 176 The Noblest Expression of the Human Spirit 179 The Art of Living Consciously 183 How to Let Your Life Speak 188 A Legacy of Inspiration 192 The Only Thing New in the World 195 The University on Your Shelf 198 We Are All Greeks Now 202 The Wisdom of Hillel 205 Meditations of the Philosopher-King 208 PART FOUR: MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 211 Discovering a New Sense of the Sacred 214 The Highest of Arts 218 Emerson: The Quintessential American 221 The Life You Can Save 224 Coming of Age in the Milky Way 229 The Literature of Truth 234 Your Connection to Everything 238 The Difference between Knowing and Believing 241 The Lessons of Haiti 244 Your Trip to "The Undiscovered Country" 247 The Beginning of Wisdom 252 Of Lost Souls and Lucky Stiffs 255 How to Pull the Universe Out of a Hat 258 It Makes Everything Meaningful 262 The Truth about Myths 265 Your Place In "The Great Story" 269 Seven Principles of Spirituality 277 Afterword 285 Appendix 287 Further Reading 289 Acknowledgments 295 About the Author 297 Index 299.