The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny

“The young man standing before me was none other than that long-lost yogi of India: Julian Mantle. I was dazzled by his incredible transformation. Gone was the ghost-like complexion, the sickly cough and the lifeless eyes of my former colleague. Gone was the elderly appearance and the morbid expression that had become his personal trademark. Instead, the man in front of me appeared to be in peak health, his lineless face glowing radiantly. His eyes were bright, offering a window into his extraordinary vitality. Perhaps even more astounding was the serenity that Julian exuded. I felt entirely peaceful just sitting there, staring at him. He was no longer an anxious, "type-A" senior partner of a leading law firm. Instead, the man before me was a youthful, vital—and smiling—model of change.”

This is John’s first time encountering hard evidence of the positive effects of the sages’ wisdom. Julian is transformed in every way; he looks young, exudes life, and even appears to have a new personality. Julian will insist on the importance of inner change to affect outer change throughout the book, but he will also attribute his youthfulness to practical lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. This passage lays out the optimistic vision that people are capable of fundamental change with the right mindset and tools.

“The decision to give up my practice and all my worldly possessions felt natural. Albert Camus once said that 'Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.' Well, that's exactly what I did. I knew I had to change—so I decided to listen to my heart and do it in a very dramatic way. My life became so much simpler and meaningful when I left the baggage of my past behind. The moment I stopped spending so much time chasing the big pleasures of life, I began to enjoy the little ones, like watching the stars dancing in a moonlit sky or soaking in the sunbeams of a glorious summer morning. And India is such an intellectually stimulating place that I rarely thought of all I had left."

The advice to simplify life and indulge in simple pleasures plays like a refrain throughout The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Thanks to Julian’s prodigious income from his years of lawyering, he could pause the need for income generation and take a spiritually enriching trip to India. This book makes it clear that money is not a requirement for happiness, but people with less means than Julian will need to approach the advice to simplify and leave the past behind more strategically. 

“‘I still remember the words that were going through my mind up there,’ said Julian. ‘I thought that, ultimately, life is all about choices. One's destiny unfolds according to the choices one makes, and I felt certain that the choice I had made was the right one. I knew my life would never be the same and that something marvelous, maybe even miraculous, was about to happen to me. It was an amazing awakening.’”

This passage highlights the book’s point of view regarding 1) the possibility of having intuitive knowledge that one is making the right choices when things are meant to be and 2) the possibility of changing one’s life by making choices that align with one’s destiny. Julian’s intuitive sense that something miraculous and life-changing was about to happen was true, and his decision to accept the wisdom of the sages and learn discipline was the choice that made the difference.

“Upon learning these timeless truths you must return to your homeland in the West and share this wisdom with all those who need to hear it. Though we are isolated here in these magical mountains, we are aware of the turmoil your world is in. Good people are losing their way. You must give them the hope that they deserve. More importantly, you must give them the tools to fulfill their dreams. This is all I ask.”

When Yogi Raman agrees to share the wisdom of the Sages of Sivana with Julian, he stipulates that Julian must agree to share this wisdom widely with other Westerners. Like the Christian gospel, this wisdom has an evangelical core, and Julian is so enthusiastic about the usefulness of the teachings that he is only too eager to share the wisdom with John and others. The real-world counterpart to this wisdom-sharing is when readers of Sharma’s book pass the book along or buy copies for friends (it is very likely that Sharma intended this reaction when including this evangelical portion of the sages’ wisdom).

“After pausing as if to express disbelief at his own tale, Julian grew philosophical. ‘I've realized something very important, John. The world, and that includes my inner world, is a very special place. I've also come to see that success on the outside means nothing unless you also have success within. There is a huge difference between well-being and being well-off. When I was a hotshot lawyer, I used to snicker at all those people who worked at improving their inner and outer lives. 'Get a life!' I thought. But I have learned that self-mastery and the consistent care of one's mind, body and soul are essential to finding one's highest self and living the life of one's dreams. How can you care for others if you cannot even care for yourself? How can you do good if you don't even feel good? I can't love you if I cannot love myself,’ he offered.”

Through experience, Julian has learned that prioritizing one’s own knowledge acquisition, well-being, and training is the best way to be of service to others and the world. Julian offers a philosophical version of the classic airline safety demonstration’s “please secure your own mask before helping others” message. This is a piece of wisdom that has become mainstream since the publication of this book.

“As I sat in my office quietly, I realized how small our world really was. I thought about the vast pool of knowledge that I had not even begun to dip my fingers into. I thought about how it might feel to regain my own zest for living, and about the curiosity I had had when I was younger. I would love to feel more alive and to bring unbridled energy to my days. Maybe I too would leave the legal profession. Maybe there was a higher calling for me as well?”

John receives his first spark of elation upon tasting the wisdom of the sages. He begins to understand the vastness of his own ignorance and the thrilling opportunities for learning that lie before him. This tantalizing but also overwhelming sense of one’s own ignorance is an important fixture of ancient Greek philosophy; Socrates, aware of the infinity of his own ignorance, resolved to ask questions rather than provide answers. Although the relationship between John and Julian in this text resembles more of a teacher-student relationship, there are moments of Socratic dialogue in which John asks a question and Julian responds with another question until they reach higher wisdom.

“‘Julian, what are you doing? My cup is overflowing. No matter how hard you try, no more will go in!’ I yelled impatiently. He looked at me for a long moment. ‘Please don't take this the wrong way. I really respect you, John. I always have. However, just like this cup, you seem to be full of your own ideas. And how can any more go in…until you first empty your cup?’”

Sharma is not literally saying that John’s brain is too full and unable to process more information like an overstuffed hard drive. The problem is that John’s regular un-enlightened ideas are so entrenched, so all-encompassing, that he cannot open himself to the idea that a better life might be possible or that his own potential is greater than he ever knew. Julian is saying that John needs to forget what he thinks he knows about the possibilities of life and be open and willing to be surprised.

“To live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and let only the very best information enter. You truly cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought—not even one. The most joyful, dynamic and contented people of this world are no different from you or me in terms of their makeup. We are all flesh and bones. We all come from the same universal source. However, the ones who do more than just exist, the ones who fan the flames of their human potential and truly savor the magical dance of life do different things than those whose lives are ordinary. Foremost amongst the things that they do is adopt a positive paradigm about their world and all that is in it.”

Change your thoughts, change your life. It makes sense that Sharma would labor this point because it is very easy to be skeptical about its merit. Somebody who is miserable because they are drowning in debt or medical problems is supposed to simply change their thoughts about the situation and improve their life? Well, yes. Even if it is impossible to change a diagnosis, it is within our power to change our thoughts about the diagnosis, and our misery comes primarily from the negative patterns of thoughts that swirl around our heads. In extreme examples, this can sound harsh, but it is easy enough to digest regarding something as innocuous as a bad day at work or an anxiety-inducing meeting with the in-laws.

“…mental mastery comes through conditioning, nothing more and nothing less. Most of us have the same raw materials from the moment we take our first breath of air; what separates those people who achieve more than others or those that are happier than others is the way that they use and refine these raw materials. When you dedicate yourself to transforming your inner world your life quickly shifts from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary.”

Natural talent or genius is not the focus of this book. From similar starting points, people have differential outcomes based on how disciplined they are in the pursuit of fulfilling their destinies. This wisdom is less focused on differences in the material conditions or starting points of people (for example, somebody who is born rich versus somebody who is born with nothing). The idea is that one with less than average material means can nonetheless cultivate discipline and master oneself.

“No matter what happens to you in your life, you alone have the capacity to choose your response to it. When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstance, your life will move into its highest dimensions. This is one of the greatest of all the natural laws.”

In the face of a crisis, the default mental response might be to feel anxiety and fear and to catastrophize the situation. This book wants to empower readers to understand that how we respond to even dire situations is in fact a choice and not an automatic response. The belief that these responses are automatic comes from years of conditioning and a lack of awareness that we can train ourselves to react differently. We can severely reduce our suffering and increase our joy by choosing to respond positively when the world presents us with challenges.

“Dare to dust off your dreams John. Start to revere life again and celebrate all of its wonders. Awaken yourself to the power of your own mind to make things happen. Once you do, the universe will conspire with you to work magic in your life.”

Julian is constantly nudging John toward accepting that he is capable of great things. In this passage, Julian is offering a version of the Law of Attraction in which John’s belief in his own potential and accepting that his own wildest dreams are viable will activate the universe to conspire to bring these dreams to fruition. The reader is in the same position as John; Julian (Sharma, the author) is telling his audience to dare to aim higher in life, which can be scary.

“Alright, the secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it. If you study the happiest, healthiest, most satisfied people of our world, you will see that each and every one of them has found their passion in life, and then spent their days pursuing it. This calling is almost always one that, in some way, serves others. Once you are concentrating your mind power and energy on a pursuit that you love, abundance flows into your life, and all your desires are fulfilled with ease and grace.”

This is at once the best and most refreshing advice in the book, and also the most frustrating for people who have tried and failed repeatedly to find a passion in life, especially one that can be monetized. It is helpful how simple Julian lays out the theory, though: Happiness is simply doing what you love. Nothing complicated about that. Pouring one’s energies into a passion will not feel like traditional work and is the fulfillment of one’s purpose on Earth.

“Understand once and for all that your mind has magnetic power to attract all that you desire into your life. If there is a lack in your life it is because there is a lack in your thoughts. Hold wonderful pictures in your mind's eye. Even one negative image is poisonous to your mindset. Once you start to experience the joy this ancient technique brings, you will realize the infinite potential of your mind and begin to liberate the storehouse of ability and energy that currently sleeps within you.”

This is a different way of saying that one’s thoughts control one’s destiny. Positive visualization (paired with consistent hard work) leads to positive results, while negativity poisons the mind and can bring hopes and dreams crashing down. Sharma is prioritizing what is within the power of the individual to accomplish despite all other considerations. So, if the living situation outside one’s mind is bleak (perhaps there’s a financial recession, family tragedy, and career disruptions afoot), Sharma wants to always point to what is in one’s power to change, which will always be one’s thoughts.

“…if you want to improve your life and live with all that you deserve you must run your own race. It doesn't matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself. Do not be concerned with the judgment of others as long as you know what you are doing is right. You can do whatever you want to do as long as it is correct according to your conscience and your heart. Never be ashamed of doing that which is right; decide on what you think is good and then stick to it. And for God's sake, never get into the petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people's net worth.”

If the key to happiness is going all-in on one’s passion, the guaranteed way to nip happiness in the bud is by comparing oneself to others. The cliché version of this paragraph is the old saying, “comparison is the thief of joy.” What Julian is asking John to do is difficult and scary; being confident enough to forge one’s path despite the warnings and suggestions of friends and family is endlessly hard. The concern is that the reader, like John, might be in danger of throwing away all of life’s possibilities because of a lack of confidence in one’s own vision. Then, having mustered the confidence to believe in that vision, the next pitfall is to look at how successful other people are and minimize one’s achievement. Julian advises avoiding this line of thought.

“…the purpose of life is a life of purpose. Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of your life will serve a role similar to that played by a lighthouse, offering you guidance and refuge when the seas become rough.”

The lighthouse symbolizes razor-focus on the important things in life. This will vary from person to person. Living completely in service of one’s higher purpose, whatever that might be, is the meaning of life. Sharma takes a practical approach to achieving this; it takes goal-setting, creating lists, and blocking time in your schedule to live a life of purpose. For people who find the discipline to commit to this, nothing life throws at them will be enough to shake them away from fulfilling their mission in life.

“My point is this: never do anything because you have to. The only reason to do something is because you want to and because you know it is the right thing for you to do.”

This advice pairs with the advice to follow one’s passion, no matter what. The logic goes: When one finds one’s passion, one will naturally want to do it. Any distraction from fulfilling one’s purpose in life is bad. So, the advice to refuse to do anything one doesn’t want to do is the same as advising someone to avoid anything that distracts from engaging one’s passion; be single-minded in pursuing dreams, and don’t waste time.

“Here, in our society we have lost our passion. We do not do things because we love to do them. We do things because we feel we have to do them. This is a formula for misery. And I am not speaking of romantic passion, although this is another ingredient for a successful, inspired existence. What I am talking about is a passion for life. Reclaim the joy of waking up every morning, full of energy and exhilaration. Breathe the fire of passion into all that you do. You will quickly reap great material, as well as spiritual, rewards.”

By passion for life, Julian is not simply referring to finding one true career path; he is talking about an attitude toward life. This passage is an extension of Sharma’s commentary about learning to enjoy simple pleasures like flowers and the moonlight. There are things in life we are obligated to do, but Sharma wants his readers to find ways to minimize these moments and maximize the time we spend doing exactly what we want. Embedded in this excerpt is the idea that even doing “mundane” chores or routine things can be imbued with wonder if we train ourselves to live passionately.

“‘Look, the sages are not extreme people. All of their wisdom was based on the ageless principle that 'one must live a life of moderation and do nothing to extremes.' So if you like meat, you can certainly keep eating it.”

It is Sharma’s purpose to help his readers effect positive and practical change in their lives. He knows that his reach and influence would be limited if he insisted on extreme lifestyles with no room for error. He acknowledges that perfection is impossible and that cloistering away like a monk to live a pure life is inaccessible and undesirable for most people. So, recommending a move toward a more vegetarian diet and showing how discipline can help one achieve one’s goals rather than insisting on strict veganism and ruthless commitment to an ideal is more helpful for more people.

“Try not to live your life bound by the shackles of your schedule. Instead, focus on those things that your conscience and your heart tell you to do. When you invest in yourself and start to devote yourself to raising your mind, body and character to their highest levels, you will almost feel as if you have a personal navigator inside you, telling you which things you must do to see the greatest and most rewarding results. You will stop worrying about your clock and start living your life.”

Sharma introduces an interesting theory about what happens over time as one learns discipline and commits to spending time on what is important. One will develop an instinct for how to spend time, like a moral inner voice that directs one’s activity. The suggestion is that initially keeping a rigorous schedule and minimizing distractions is crucial so one doesn’t immediately fall back into bad habits, but that over time, this will become less necessary as one learns to naturally want to do what’s best for oneself and the fulfillment of one’s purpose.

“Every answer to every problem you have ever faced is in print…All the mistakes you will ever make in your life have already been made by those that have walked before you.”

A humbling message, Sharma writes that one’s problems are not so special. Becoming a curious reader and learning about the life experiences of people from all different walks of life around the world and throughout history will demonstrate that humans who came before have struggled in identical ways an infinite number of times. It is a cathartic experience to know that countless people have made it through similar struggles. For many iconic people in history, like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and countless others, their struggles define their influential lives.

“Failure is not having the courage to try, nothing more and nothing less. The only thing standing between most people and their dreams is the fear of failure. Yet failure is essential to success in any endeavor. Failure tests us and allows us to grow. It offers us lessons and guides us along the path of enlightenment. The teachers of the East say that every arrow that hits the bull's eye is the result of one hundred misses. It is a fundamental Law of Nature to profit through loss. Never fear failure. Failure is your friend.”

When John begins to adopt the wisdom of the Sages of Sivana, he will inevitably make a mistake. This is not just a likely outcome of trying to change one’s life; repeated failure is a certain outcome. Sharma wants the reader to get comfortable with failing and even embrace it as an opportunity to improve. Trying one’s best over and over again until improvements are made is a success; being afraid to try is a true failure.

“Freedom is like a house: you build it brick by brick. The first brick you should lay is willpower. This quality inspires you to do what is right in any given moment. It gives you the energy to act with courage. It gives you the control to live the life you have imagined rather than accepting the life that you have.”

The road to freedom is paved with bricks laid with willpower. Willpower is the quality that makes a person get up when the alarm clock rings instead of hitting snooze over and over again. The most difficult part of the journey toward living a life of purpose is laying this foundation of willpower. Somebody with willpower will build and maintain healthy habits in the service of living a purpose-filled life. Without willpower, any ground that is gained in the early weeks or months could be lost overnight.

“You see, John, self-control is really nothing more than mind control. Will is the king of mental powers. When you master your mind you master your life. Mental mastery starts with being able to control every thought that you think. When you have developed the ability to discard all weak thoughts and focus only on those that are positive and good, positive and good actions will follow. Soon you will start attracting all that is positive and good into your life.”

Julian is describing a Buddha-like master of the mind who can handpick each thought that enters the brain. This is an ideal that is likely unattainable for the vast majority of readers, or even Yogi Raman himself. The goal is to move toward a situation in which one’s mind is a curated space where one can choose to indulge in positive thoughts and expel unhelpful negative thoughts most of the time. Julian describes this level of self-mastery as a kind of superpower.