American Awakening

In America, as we reckon with technological change, old internal wounds, and new external threats, our nation is full of depression, anxiety, loneliness, division, alienation, and despair. We've lost the ability to connect, debate, and disagree without anger and even hatred. These are threats to our very existence as the United States and they are wreaking havoc in the lives of individuals and families.

The answer is not a wholesale return to the past. While recent progress toward the great ideals of freedom and equality should be celebrated, there is clearly more work to be done.

In Us, I underscore eight principles that are threaded through the annals of humankind, in history's most prominent philosophies, artwork, books, studies, speeches, and legacies. While I make no claim to being an innovator or the creator of these principles, I've spent the better part of my life trying to find the threads that knit us together; it's in this same spirit that I aim to synthesize these threads and share them with the reader. From the prophecy of Job to the philosophy of Aristotle to the legacy of Rosa Parks; from the poems of Homer to the parables of Jesus to the speeches of Emmeline Pankhurst and songs of Lady Gaga, I recast humanity's most enduring principles for individuals today, in light of current trends and in collaboration with some of the world's best social and neuroscientists. By reminding readers of humanity's surest foundations and the noteworthy progress we've made, I combine the best of the past and present to illuminate new pathways to better individual lives, stronger communities, and a future we all desire but have yet to realize.

These ancient lessons can be summed up in eight principles that withstand the test of time and can create a life we all desire, not just in this country but across the globe. While these timeless principles sometimes run contrary to today's cultural mores, they still remind us that beneath the mainstream current flow truths more timely than trends:

1. Share your highs and lows.
2. Engage in-person.
3. Love now not when.
4. Make less more.
5. Prioritize your purpose.
6. Be more than money.
7. Respond instead of react.
8. Seek to belong not to fit in.