After a little longer than I’d expected, the paperback of Xuemo’s The Way Forward is now in my hands. It’s a beautiful book, and I heartily recommend setting aside some time over a period of a few days or weeks to read it in sections. I don’t agree with all of its prescriptions, but I’ve found the act of reading it through a couple of times and reflecting on how I can apply it to my own approach to life very rewarding.
If you’re in the UK, USA or Australia, you can order your copy directly here at a 20% discount off the RRP.
Elsewhere the ebook is already available at bookshop.org and the Kobo store. We’ll keep you posted as both the paperback and ebook appear in all the same places where you can currently buy Eden’s Alternative to Appeasement.
In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more about the book, including Riccardo Moratto’s Foreword, and a sample of the translated text.
Drawing on his renowned fictional works and his own life story, Xuemo presents what he sees as the path to meaning, fulfillment and self-determination. How should we live? How can we deal with loss? What, in the end, is truly important?
Xuemo’s adopted name means literally ‘Snow Desert’, reflecting the landscape of his native Gansu province of Western China. All of his works draw upon and reflect the culture of the people of this harsh and isolated environment, as well as upon his deep scholarship of the Confucian and Buddhist traditions. In The Way Forward he tries to answer the fundamental questions of how we should be in the world, how to make important life decisions, and how we should set our fundamental priorities. This is no glib self-help book, the answers it offers are by no means easy ones. Instead, Xuemo challenges us to reflect upon what we truly value and what we truly need in life, rejecting distractions and whatever is ultimately inconsequential.
