The Art of Self-Help in a Self-Absorbed Era

This is the best book on the problem of self and community written so far in the 21st century. Luke Burgis, an entrepreneur who teaches at the Catholic University of America, synthesizes the wisdom of the Western intellectual tradition, drawing on the thought of philosophers ranging from Diogenes of Sinope to René Girard and cultural figures as various as German ethicist Dietrich von Hildebrand and YouTube celebrity Nicholas Perry (a.k.a. “Nikocado Avocado”) to grapple with the central problem of identity formation today. Whom do I belong to? Am I made for myself, an atom of self-interest, or am I made for my community, my tribe, my herd, “my people,” and should I therefore subject my individual identity to the crowd?

Burgis articulates the paradox of “the one and the ninety-nine,” of self-possession and belonging to others, with striking nuance. To paraphrase a famous claim made by the Second Vatican Council, in a document that the future Pope John Paul II helped write, we cannot fully find ourselves except through making a sincere gift of ourselves. But self-gift requires self-possession.