How to Forsake the World: What Those Who Leave Society Can Teach Those Who Stay

A mix of philosophy, history, and journalism that illuminates individuals in closed off communities who have left society to find their own meaning —offering insight for everyone yearning to pursue a deeper, more fulfilled life. When journalist and scholar Shira Telushkin was a girl, she was entranced by stories of men and women who removed themselves from the world to seek eternal truths. The daughter of a rabbi who strongly believed the best life was one that alleviated the suffering of others, Shira felt conflicted about her curiosity. “These people, to whom I was so drawn, lived lives with no clear utility to others, and yet in reading their stories I felt convinced, briefly, that there was a purpose to life, and this was it.”

What is the highest level of being? Is it a life lived in sacrifice to others to make the world a better place, or is it sacrificing the world and ignoring its needs to reach an eternal truth? This book is Telushkin’s journey to uncover answers and find peace between seeking and serving. How to Forsake the World chronicles her odyssey to understand her own yearnings.

Telushkin introduces four fascinating communities—Talmudic scholars seeking knowledge, off-the-grid anarchists seeking freedom, Buddhist renunciants seeking enlightenment, cloistered nuns seeking salvation—and asks how their values and determination to walk paths on their own terms might broaden modern conceptions of meaning and purpose in a society where success and worthiness are deeply tied to productivity and being useful.

With keen writing, affable voice, extraordinary access, and extensive research, Telushkin brings her subjects to vivid, urgent life, providing a rare opportunity to explore the uncharted territory where wellness and burnout intersect with deeper philosophical and historical inquiries about what we owe to others and to ourselves.

© 2026 HarperAudio (Audiobook): 9780063385665

Release date

Audiobook: March 24, 2026