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When I was eighteen years old, in my 􀐙rst year of college, at Cass Business School in London, one of my friends asked me to go with him to hear a monk give a talk. I resisted. “Why would I want to go hear some monk?” I often went to see CEOs, celebrities, and other successful people lecture on campus, but I had zero interest in a monk. I preferred to hear speakers who’d actually accomplished things in life. My friend persisted, and 􀐙nally I said, “As long as we go to a bar afterward, I’m in.” “Falling in love” is an expression used almost exclusively to describe romantic relationships. But that night, as I listened to the monk talk about his experience, I fell in love. The 􀐙gure on stage was a thirty-something Indian man. His head was shaved and he wore a sa􀐐ron robe. He was intelligent, eloquent, and charismatic. He spoke about the principle of “sel􀐜ess sacri􀐙ce.” When he said that we should plant trees under whose shade we did not plan to sit, I felt an unfamiliar thrill run through my body. I was especially impressed when I found out that he’d been a student at IIT Bombay, which is the MIT of India and, like MIT, nearly impossible to get into. He’d traded that opportunity to become a monk, walking away from everything that my friends and I were chasing. Either he was crazy or he was onto something. My whole life I’d been fascinated by people who’d gone from nothing to something—rags-to-riches stories. Now, for the 􀐙rst time, I was in the presence of someone who’d deliberately done the opposite. He’d given up the life the world had told me we should all want. But instead of being an embittered failure, he appeared joyous, con􀐙dent, and at peace. In fact, he seemed happier than anyone I’d ever met. At the age of eighteen, I had encountered a lot of people who were rich. I’d listened to a lot of people who were famous, strong, good-looking, or all three. But I don’t think I’d met anyone who was truly happy. Afterward, I pushed my way through the crowds to tell him how amazing he was, and how much he’d inspired me. “How can I spend more time with you?” I heard myself asking. I felt the urge to be around people who had the values I wanted, not the things I wanted. The monk told me that he was traveling and speaking in the UK all that week, and I was welcome to come to the rest of his events. And so I did.