Step Over the Abyss

This is a book about a big idea, and the idea is this. Slowly, over the last few decades, everything has lost Meaning, and now suddenly Meaning has collapsed completely. Fundamentalism and nihilism fill this vacuum, and everyone feels the consequences. In a world that demands we be the best version of ourselves, illness, despair, tribalism, and deadly fatigue turn us into ruins. It is important to regain power over our identity and values because they shape the future that is still in our hands. To do this, we need to remember what inspires us, heal our pain, cope with apathy, and return to the circle of people. If we succeed, it will be a step towards solving the huge problem that stands before us. And if not? History has swallowed civilizations older and more sophisticated than ours. As a solution to the problem, the author offers the toolkit of hedonic engineering, which combines the best practices of optimal experience psychology and neuroscience. This is an intensive body-oriented program that helps deal with mental wounds, increase engagement, and strengthen connections with people — to awaken, rise above ourselves, and integrate into the world that needs all of us. Jamie Wheal is an expert in management and personal productivity, based on the principles of neuroanthropology — the convergence of culture, biology, and psychology; founder of the international organization Flow Genome Project, which studies the limits of human capabilities and seeks means to expand them; a consultant to Olympians, military personnel, climbers, as well as executives of giants like Google, Goldman Sachs, and Cisco. The author's ideas have been featured in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and TEDx.