Introduction

It is not without some trepidation that I embark on this endeavor. Writing a book that proposes to tell you why and how to become perfect sounds perfectly egomaniacal, if not entirely ludicrous, but I hope you will stick with me for a bit to give it a chance. You see, I do not propose to prescribe any particular form of life—and that is essentially what the subject of this book is, a guide to understanding and living life to its fullest—instead, I propose to lay before you both reasoning, evidence, and, I hope, some motivation for living the good life in its deepest sense.

I am not naive enough to suppose that the way I propose is complete in the sense that it considers all aspects of all human life for all time in all places, nor would I presume to believe that my exposition of life is the only one through which individual persons will find fulfillment. What fulfills you, what makes you happy and satisfied with your life at a very personal level, will vary as much as individuals vary.

At the same time, I do propose that there are universals to the human condition that can be treated in a general way and from which particular modes and means of fulfillment can be derived. It is these universals that I intend to consider in this text, and I hope to present the considerations in such a way that they are relevant and comprehensible by my contemporaries, if not those who come after.

Note, too, that the substance that we will consider together is not novel—I am not a guru proposing a new way of life. I have not the genius, gall, or desire to do that. Rather, what you and I will reason together about is as old as time for it flows out of the very foundations of time and existence as we know it.