Wisdom For the Culture!

Today my new publishing endeavor got some great and unexpected publicity from one of the best book and film reviewers in the country, a man I'm honored to know. We had coffee together the other day (actually Diet Coke for him) but we had a great talk that I didn't know would generate a very nice write-up that went out over the wires and into papers this morning. It’s about part of my ongoing effort to bring practical wisdom into the culture by every means possible. I’m just thrilled that philosophers around the country are now asking me to publish their books! And don’t worry. I’ve tamed my hair since this photo of me philosophizing earlier in the year.

For the short piece, click HERE.

A Work of Hope

Most businesses cater to either our realized needs, our desires, or our fantasies. And of course, these three categories are connected in various ways. Some businesses cater to our fears, and a few, to our hopes. Commentators have told me over the years that one reason my talks and books are successful is that they bring people hope. They display the wisdom we need to spark and ground our hopes for a better future. And today, I've realized for the first time that this may also be true of the new novels I've been writing.

I've enjoyed or benefited from various types of dystopian literature at times in my life - from Orwell's books to The Handmaid's Tale to The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. And in troubled times, people often turn to such books as needed cautionary tales, and as instructive explorations into the dark side of human nature. After the Arab Spring of 2010 and 2011 worked out so badly, at least in the short run, writers in North Africa began a sudden turn toward darkness in their own poems and fiction. I certainly understand that. But there's a big part of me sensing now that what we most need in turbulent times is a literature of hope, well grounded, thoughtful, responsible hope. And as I deepen in that realization, I come to see that this is exactly what I've been writing and editing for the past six years—an epic adventure series of books, set in Egypt in 1934 and 1935, that explores the best in our nature as it responds to the worst. Issues of courage, friendship, love, and the power of the mind weave through the books and cumulatively create the elements of a very powerful worldview, anchored in ancient thought and yet responsive to the best of modern science. Without realizing what I've been doing—other than writing as fast as I could to get onto the computer a vivid movie I was seeing in my head each day—I was bringing into the world precisely the sort of literature I think we now most need, in our nation and globally. And that gives me a new sense of excitement and personal adventure about continuing to bring these novels into print for their growing audience. After being told by my agents repeatedly that I'm a nonfiction writer, not a fiction guy, even without looking at the fiction, I decided to create my own imprint and a business to bring these new books into existence in our time. And a new publishing imprint unconnected from the major New York houses that I've worked through in the past gets no publicity, but then provides many distinctive gratifications. And, again, as I've said here before, I deeply appreciate those of you who are reading and writing me your impressions of these books. May we together launch something very new into our time. www.TheOasisWithin.com

An Imagined Exchange Based Loosely on True Events

Editor: We all admire your previous books, and find your platform as an author to be quite impressive. It's wonderful that you bring philosophy into the broader culture! And your current book manuscript doing so is certainly very elegantly written. I enjoyed it immensely. But I'm afraid that there's a problem that prevents our publishing it.

Me: What's the problem?

Editor: There's really nothing new in the book, nothing completely original.

Me: Hmmm. If that were true, why would it be a problem, exactly?

Editor: We publish new books to provide people with new ideas.

Me: Why do you do that?

Editor: Well, to help people solve their problems.

Me: What if that's not the best way to help them do that?

Editor: I don't understand.

Me: You want to provide new answers to old problems - problems people already have, or have had?

Editor: Yes.

Me: Have you ever considered, instead, the very different strategy of providing old answers to new problems?

Editor: What does that mean?

Me: Good. You've asked your first question.

Editor: What?

Me: We're on a roll now. And thank you for asking. I want to address new problems - the next ones that we'll face, the ones that will come our way tomorrow, and next week, and next year.

Editor: Ok. How?

Me: With old answers - ancient wisdom, ideas that have stood the test of time, reliable perspectives and recommendations, the tried and true, the deep and enduring insights that our upcoming problems will require, and that alone can provide the solutions we'll need.

Editor: So, instead of new answers to old problems, you're giving old answers to new problems?

Me: Yes.

Editor: Well, that is indeed original, and new.

Me: You think?

Editor: I do, but we still can't publish anything like that.

Me: You can't?

Editor: No. But, good luck with it. It deserves a great home.

Me: Thank you.

Editor: You're welcome.