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Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment
"When it comes to spirituality and life, Turak is as authentic as it gets. Wonderful read!"
— Michael Keaton , actor
Not Less Than One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment is the inspirational true story of how author, August Turak overcame depression and meaningless despair through a daring quest for life’s ultimate meaning and purpose. A search for transcendence .
As a troubled young college student in 1971, Turak was seized by the idea that the mystical experience various religious traditions call Enlightenment, Satori, Nirvana, Samadhi, the Unio Mystica, or Cosmic Consciousness not only exists, but might be attainable by him.
This sparked a life altering quest as Turak became in turn, the first student of a rough-hewn, hillbilly Zen master; the protégé of the founder of the IBM Executive School; the client of a mystical psychologist doing government funded research with LSD; a member of the original team that launched Music Television; a successful hi-tech entrepreneur and even a longtime, part-time Trappist monk. It was this same spiritual roller coaster that dropped him off twenty-five years later in a tiny room of a rundown motel in Baltimore, Maryland deeply depressed, fearing for his sanity, and with nowhere else to turn. Or so it only seemed…
Through a series of true, wildly entertaining adventures and practical life lessons, Turak offers his readers an accessible, universal blueprint for a life overflowing with joy, peace, higher purpose and above all gratitude.
— Michael Keaton , actor
Not Less Than One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment is the inspirational true story of how author, August Turak overcame depression and meaningless despair through a daring quest for life’s ultimate meaning and purpose. A search for transcendence .
As a troubled young college student in 1971, Turak was seized by the idea that the mystical experience various religious traditions call Enlightenment, Satori, Nirvana, Samadhi, the Unio Mystica, or Cosmic Consciousness not only exists, but might be attainable by him.
This sparked a life altering quest as Turak became in turn, the first student of a rough-hewn, hillbilly Zen master; the protégé of the founder of the IBM Executive School; the client of a mystical psychologist doing government funded research with LSD; a member of the original team that launched Music Television; a successful hi-tech entrepreneur and even a longtime, part-time Trappist monk. It was this same spiritual roller coaster that dropped him off twenty-five years later in a tiny room of a rundown motel in Baltimore, Maryland deeply depressed, fearing for his sanity, and with nowhere else to turn. Or so it only seemed…
Through a series of true, wildly entertaining adventures and practical life lessons, Turak offers his readers an accessible, universal blueprint for a life overflowing with joy, peace, higher purpose and above all gratitude.
- GenresSpirituality
427 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 18, 2023
302 people are currently reading
2810 people want to read
About the author
August Turak
3 books28 followersAUGUST TURAK is a successful corporate executive, entrepreneur, award-winning author, speaker, and consultant. He is the founder of the educational nonprofit the August Turak Foundation (previously Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation).
His book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One Man’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity, uses 1000 years of Trappist business success and his own entrepreneurial experience to demonstrate the monks are not successful businessmen despite adhering to only the highest ethical values, but because they do.
An inspirational true story, Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life, combines Turak’s $100,000 Templeton Prize winning story with original oil paintings from award-winning artist, Glenn Harrington.
His new memoir, Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment, reveals how August Turak overcame meaningless depression through a daring quest for life’s purpose. Through a series of wildly entertaining spiritual adventures and life lessons, Turak offers a powerful blueprint for a purposeful life. A life overflowing with joy, peace, and above all gratitude.
Turak has published many popular leadership articles for Forbes and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Selling Magazine, the New York Times, and Business Week.
Turak writes and raises cattle on his seventy-five-acre farm outside Raleigh, NC.
His book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One Man’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity, uses 1000 years of Trappist business success and his own entrepreneurial experience to demonstrate the monks are not successful businessmen despite adhering to only the highest ethical values, but because they do.
An inspirational true story, Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life, combines Turak’s $100,000 Templeton Prize winning story with original oil paintings from award-winning artist, Glenn Harrington.
His new memoir, Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment, reveals how August Turak overcame meaningless depression through a daring quest for life’s purpose. Through a series of wildly entertaining spiritual adventures and life lessons, Turak offers a powerful blueprint for a purposeful life. A life overflowing with joy, peace, and above all gratitude.
Turak has published many popular leadership articles for Forbes and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Selling Magazine, the New York Times, and Business Week.
Turak writes and raises cattle on his seventy-five-acre farm outside Raleigh, NC.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 19, 2023
"There is a God, or Absolute Truth, and He knows what He's doing. There's a little piece of Him in you, and your reason for being here is to bring that spark of divinity to the surface and become it" (76).
This is the moving story of one man's serious lifelong search for the way to live to feel fully alive, find spiritual Truth, his place in the universe, and a relationship with God.
I won't be lending this book to friends because I have marked it up too much. That's a compliment. In the book, The Wandering Mind: what medieval monks can teach us about distraction (2023), we learn that for millennia, even dedicated monastics needed to read for the periodic spiritual tune-up. Turak's book will do that. It will shake you by the shoulders to consider your priorities, your behavior, and your goals.
I'll try to avoid spoilers in this review; they would interfere with a reader's experience of the book.
It is a truism that we attract what we need and/or seek. It is a virtual cliché that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Turak found a spiritual teacher, Richard Rose, a demanding, quirky and cantankerous West Virginian former monk, who charges Augie with spreading the word about his Zen-inflected teachings. As a result, Augie forms and even leads communities pursuing self-knowledge and Truth in various cities and teaches a house course at Duke, but always somehow remains an outsider on the inside, even or perhaps especially at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, where he is a frequent guest with his own room.
While various prophets appear unbidden at the right moments to offer significant insight, Turak also seeks out psychoanalysis and dream work to plumb the depths of the subconscious and the spiritual realm. Serious injury (not to mention the occasional demonic attack) renders him immobile and despairing. The success of his various business enterprises prove more seductive than he had anticipated.
Time is an important motif in this journey. Turak doesn't want to waste time, i.e., life, but the universe unfolds as it will. God's time is not ours, and our own readiness determines the timing of epiphanies.
Every reader will have his or her own experience with this book. Different statements will resonate. For me, some of the most profound were as follows:
God is always seeking us.
"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it" —Albert Einstein.
"...[T]he biggest obstacle to finding the Truth is the insatiable human appetite for self-deception, compartmentalization, denial, and rationalization" (244).
Take "a hard look at your life and eliminat[e] what is obviously absurd, counterproductive, and a waste of time" (63).
"There were many things I like about my current situation, and spirituality was supposed to complete, enhance, and fulfill my existing life, not yank it up by the roots" (67). "...highly structured spiritual systems, disciplines, and practices merely reinforced the 'mechanical thinking' and 'sleep walking' that he was constantly trying to upend" (123).
This one is similar to an axiom in the sociology of religion, "Make decisions that put spiritual stones in your shoe if you want to stay awake...Every religion in the world uses the same word for these stones: they call them sacrifices. The more sacrifices you make the more committed you become, and the more committed you become the more sacrifices you're willin' to make" (145).
"One reason why so much of Trappist prayer life takes place before dawn is because in those wee hours the mind is not completely awake and the ever-vigilant ego is still half-asleep" (293).
Folks "want the truth as long as it turns out to be what they want it to be. Truth is a wonderful thing, in the end it's the only thing....The Truth will set you free, but it ain't your Truth. You got to want it for its own sake and damn the consequences. Most of humanity don't have the stomach for that kinda trip" (72). Coincidentally, this echoes a statement I came across this week from Flannery O'Connor:
In response to the idealistic environmentalists who have never lived for extended periods on a farm or in a rural area as I have, which was a true awakening for me, Rose said, "I don't know what living in harmony with nature means...Look around. Maybe it seems like beauty, tranquility, and peace, but it's actually a slaughterhouse. Every living thing in this forest is eating its neighbor while trying not to get eaten in turn. You call it harmony because your ears aren't good enough to hear the screaming" (65).
Referring to August Turak's father when Augie was at boarding school: "Rather than sympathy, he always offered practical advice, and this advice was invariably a slightly more articulate version of: man up, buckle down, keep your chin up, bear down, grit your teeth, work harder, tough it out, and above all, stop feeling sorry for yourself" (101). Tough to hear, but good advice. We need more of this over coddling. On the same lines: "All of this gritty, blue-collar work paid off handsomely when I became a business executive and later an entrepreneur. I met many businesspeople who were smarter and more talented, but none who could outwork me" (147). And, "The first step to a spiritual life--hell, any kind of life--is getting control of yourself. If you lack self-control, you'll always live with shame" (108). Self-discipline is key.
"Avoid traumas that damage the intuition. Traumas are mice that chew the wires and distort the signal. Distorted signals lead to bad decisions. Bad decisions lead to more trauma and even worse decisions until your life descends into a death spiral of ever-increasing confusion. Stick to the Ten Commandments and you'll be OK. Be careful with sex. Some of the most traumatized people are folks who think the sexual morality that humanity spent a few million years of trial and error figurin' out no longer applies. Jesus said we must become like little children, and that means maintaining your innocence or regaining it through celibacy or a health monogamous relationship. You'll never get valid intuitive readings if you're all tore up with shame and guilt" (164).
"The devil always uses a little truth in order to tell a more convincing lie" (326). "Will we love what is foolish and seek what is false?" (337).
"...the tragedy of human life is we prefer possibility over actuality, and as a result we never really live" (354).
"...I realized every religion and the entire human race is undergirded and stitched together by her and countless women like her selflessly laboring away in relative obscurity" (361). This one struck me because it connects strongly with the book I'm reading now that says our society tells us we must be visible and attract attention and recognition to have value.
And finally, God is always seeking us.
Read the book. It's time for a tune-up. Get back on the path.
This is the moving story of one man's serious lifelong search for the way to live to feel fully alive, find spiritual Truth, his place in the universe, and a relationship with God.
I won't be lending this book to friends because I have marked it up too much. That's a compliment. In the book, The Wandering Mind: what medieval monks can teach us about distraction (2023), we learn that for millennia, even dedicated monastics needed to read for the periodic spiritual tune-up. Turak's book will do that. It will shake you by the shoulders to consider your priorities, your behavior, and your goals.
I'll try to avoid spoilers in this review; they would interfere with a reader's experience of the book.
It is a truism that we attract what we need and/or seek. It is a virtual cliché that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Turak found a spiritual teacher, Richard Rose, a demanding, quirky and cantankerous West Virginian former monk, who charges Augie with spreading the word about his Zen-inflected teachings. As a result, Augie forms and even leads communities pursuing self-knowledge and Truth in various cities and teaches a house course at Duke, but always somehow remains an outsider on the inside, even or perhaps especially at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, where he is a frequent guest with his own room.
While various prophets appear unbidden at the right moments to offer significant insight, Turak also seeks out psychoanalysis and dream work to plumb the depths of the subconscious and the spiritual realm. Serious injury (not to mention the occasional demonic attack) renders him immobile and despairing. The success of his various business enterprises prove more seductive than he had anticipated.
Time is an important motif in this journey. Turak doesn't want to waste time, i.e., life, but the universe unfolds as it will. God's time is not ours, and our own readiness determines the timing of epiphanies.
Every reader will have his or her own experience with this book. Different statements will resonate. For me, some of the most profound were as follows:
God is always seeking us.
"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it" —Albert Einstein.
"...[T]he biggest obstacle to finding the Truth is the insatiable human appetite for self-deception, compartmentalization, denial, and rationalization" (244).
Take "a hard look at your life and eliminat[e] what is obviously absurd, counterproductive, and a waste of time" (63).
"There were many things I like about my current situation, and spirituality was supposed to complete, enhance, and fulfill my existing life, not yank it up by the roots" (67). "...highly structured spiritual systems, disciplines, and practices merely reinforced the 'mechanical thinking' and 'sleep walking' that he was constantly trying to upend" (123).
This one is similar to an axiom in the sociology of religion, "Make decisions that put spiritual stones in your shoe if you want to stay awake...Every religion in the world uses the same word for these stones: they call them sacrifices. The more sacrifices you make the more committed you become, and the more committed you become the more sacrifices you're willin' to make" (145).
"One reason why so much of Trappist prayer life takes place before dawn is because in those wee hours the mind is not completely awake and the ever-vigilant ego is still half-asleep" (293).
Folks "want the truth as long as it turns out to be what they want it to be. Truth is a wonderful thing, in the end it's the only thing....The Truth will set you free, but it ain't your Truth. You got to want it for its own sake and damn the consequences. Most of humanity don't have the stomach for that kinda trip" (72). Coincidentally, this echoes a statement I came across this week from Flannery O'Connor:
“M. Sartre finds God emotionally unsatisfactory in the extreme, as do most of my friends of less stature than he. The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally. A higher paradox confounds the emotion as well as reason and there are long periods in the lives of all of us, when the truth as revealed by faith is hideous, emotionally disturbing, downright repulsive. Witness the dark night of the soul in individual saints . . .” https://theamericanreader.com/6-septe...“
In response to the idealistic environmentalists who have never lived for extended periods on a farm or in a rural area as I have, which was a true awakening for me, Rose said, "I don't know what living in harmony with nature means...Look around. Maybe it seems like beauty, tranquility, and peace, but it's actually a slaughterhouse. Every living thing in this forest is eating its neighbor while trying not to get eaten in turn. You call it harmony because your ears aren't good enough to hear the screaming" (65).
Referring to August Turak's father when Augie was at boarding school: "Rather than sympathy, he always offered practical advice, and this advice was invariably a slightly more articulate version of: man up, buckle down, keep your chin up, bear down, grit your teeth, work harder, tough it out, and above all, stop feeling sorry for yourself" (101). Tough to hear, but good advice. We need more of this over coddling. On the same lines: "All of this gritty, blue-collar work paid off handsomely when I became a business executive and later an entrepreneur. I met many businesspeople who were smarter and more talented, but none who could outwork me" (147). And, "The first step to a spiritual life--hell, any kind of life--is getting control of yourself. If you lack self-control, you'll always live with shame" (108). Self-discipline is key.
"Avoid traumas that damage the intuition. Traumas are mice that chew the wires and distort the signal. Distorted signals lead to bad decisions. Bad decisions lead to more trauma and even worse decisions until your life descends into a death spiral of ever-increasing confusion. Stick to the Ten Commandments and you'll be OK. Be careful with sex. Some of the most traumatized people are folks who think the sexual morality that humanity spent a few million years of trial and error figurin' out no longer applies. Jesus said we must become like little children, and that means maintaining your innocence or regaining it through celibacy or a health monogamous relationship. You'll never get valid intuitive readings if you're all tore up with shame and guilt" (164).
"The devil always uses a little truth in order to tell a more convincing lie" (326). "Will we love what is foolish and seek what is false?" (337).
"...the tragedy of human life is we prefer possibility over actuality, and as a result we never really live" (354).
"...I realized every religion and the entire human race is undergirded and stitched together by her and countless women like her selflessly laboring away in relative obscurity" (361). This one struck me because it connects strongly with the book I'm reading now that says our society tells us we must be visible and attract attention and recognition to have value.
And finally, God is always seeking us.
Read the book. It's time for a tune-up. Get back on the path.
November 27, 2023
We, as readers, benefit when people like August Turak decide to share their spiritual journeys. Turak is a good writer, which we know from his past success, and this compelling book stands out among the many valuable books like this that suffer from poor writing. He came to his spiritual journey very early, uncommon for those in this genre. He wanted “to know” at an age most people only thought about sex and partying, and he set out on his quest to learn the great Truths at a time in our history conducive to commune and farm retreats, if not permanent living. As happens, he lost his way (in his words he wasted 20 years), but in my opinion he had to; otherwise he never would have felt the pain that drove him back to finding who he truly was.
Turak’s journey is heavy with the details of despair and insecurity—his hands-on doer mode as a seeker was driven by angst and weltschmerz rather than the calm that underlies the “Be still and know” practitioner. He seemed always to be trying to run as hard as he could to know the Divine. Not until he let go of his fear and faced his internal demons in the midst of crippling depression did he get to the Truth. Eckhart Tolle came to Truth in much the same way, but Turak’s description of what Knowing looks like and how it feels is the best I’ve ever read. It has given me the words to explain it to others. He also helps clarify meditative experiences in ways others may find very valuable in their journey. For those two aspects alone, the entire book is worth reading, so it’s a pleasurable added bonus that he gives us such a good read with his well-told and interesting life story.
Turak’s journey is heavy with the details of despair and insecurity—his hands-on doer mode as a seeker was driven by angst and weltschmerz rather than the calm that underlies the “Be still and know” practitioner. He seemed always to be trying to run as hard as he could to know the Divine. Not until he let go of his fear and faced his internal demons in the midst of crippling depression did he get to the Truth. Eckhart Tolle came to Truth in much the same way, but Turak’s description of what Knowing looks like and how it feels is the best I’ve ever read. It has given me the words to explain it to others. He also helps clarify meditative experiences in ways others may find very valuable in their journey. For those two aspects alone, the entire book is worth reading, so it’s a pleasurable added bonus that he gives us such a good read with his well-told and interesting life story.
April 30, 2024
This has been one of the more enjoyable books that I’ve read recently, and it’s full of memorable moments and thought provoking bits of wisdom. The quest for wisdom is something that I’ve always cared about, albeit sometimes more than others. Sometimes I get distracted from the possibility of accomplishing a higher state of being by my worries in the everyday human world. Books like this help me to keep such worries in perspective. I can’t go out and camp and have a great time outdoors all the time (what normally nourishes my spirit) so I have to figure out a way to make meaning out of my everyday mundane stressors and to maintain an attitude of wonder for a meaningful life.
October 9, 2023
A More-Than-Serious spiritual searcher
The author spent decades chasing enlightenment, truth, ultimate knowledge. While the book is sometimes exhausting, if you’re someone who has spent a lot of your own life endlessly seeking, you’ll find it profitable. If you’re not, you might find Turak’s adventures a bit tedious. I probably fall somewhere in between. He’s a writer whose still is rich and enjoyable. Not for everyone, but certainly for some. Thanks, Aggie.
The author spent decades chasing enlightenment, truth, ultimate knowledge. While the book is sometimes exhausting, if you’re someone who has spent a lot of your own life endlessly seeking, you’ll find it profitable. If you’re not, you might find Turak’s adventures a bit tedious. I probably fall somewhere in between. He’s a writer whose still is rich and enjoyable. Not for everyone, but certainly for some. Thanks, Aggie.
May 28, 2024
Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars just because we don’t share the same beliefs and it got heavy on Christianity at the end. I decided to rate it a 4 because August is an incredible writer and I really enjoyed the first 75% of the story. I won this book for my kindle and decided to go in blind without any research on the book, author, or reviews of the book. Overall, it was a pretty good read but I was hoping he’d end up following the Zen Buddhism path, which I find extremely interesting.
June 5, 2024
One man’s awakening
Turak has done a lot of searching in his life, and in this book he relates his search in many melodramatic ways. That’s not to take anything away from his experiences, but my sense is that it is so difficult to express his personal epiphanies that it all feels a little overdone when it is put into words. Anyone interested in the spiritual life will find this book interesting.
Turak has done a lot of searching in his life, and in this book he relates his search in many melodramatic ways. That’s not to take anything away from his experiences, but my sense is that it is so difficult to express his personal epiphanies that it all feels a little overdone when it is put into words. Anyone interested in the spiritual life will find this book interesting.
October 27, 2023
Roller Coaster vs Roundabout
Bought eBook on friends recommendation. August Turak clearly experienced life on the "Roller Coaster" vs comfort of the Roundabout. The book contains some universal archetypal stories for males and the importance of embracing and integrating the feminine aspects of the psyche! ☯️
Bought eBook on friends recommendation. August Turak clearly experienced life on the "Roller Coaster" vs comfort of the Roundabout. The book contains some universal archetypal stories for males and the importance of embracing and integrating the feminine aspects of the psyche! ☯️
November 18, 2025
I very much wanted to love this novel. It sounded so intriguing. However, I just could not get into it at all. I had to force myself to read it. He certainly has a story but maybe I could just not relate.
December 26, 2023
"Yeah, you spent your life building a magnificent mansion - only to discover you built it on another man's land." How insightful Turak's friend was, and so applicable to anyone of us today.
April 2, 2024
Ordinary Man
What a wonderful story of one man’s recognition of connection. We have walked similar roads always towards the same direction. Thank you.
What a wonderful story of one man’s recognition of connection. We have walked similar roads always towards the same direction. Thank you.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews