Pico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He’s not a Christian—or a member of any religious group—but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It’s not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it’s a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way.
In his new book, Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: a house burns down, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other laypeople who have learned from adversity and inwardness. And most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship. In so doing, he offers a unique outsider’s view of monastic life—and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there’s a space for quiet and recollection that’s open to us all.
Our events with Pico Iyer always sell out and leave audiences struck by wonder. Join Kepler’s host Angie Coiro for what is sure to be a deeply moving conversation.
About the Author
Pico Iyer is the acclaimed and bestselling author of more than a dozen books translated into twenty-three languages, most recently the nationally bestselling The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, which was named a New York Times Top 100 book and a Time magazine best book of 2023. His journalism regularly appears in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Harper’s and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide. His four TED Talks have received more than eleven million views. He divides his time between Western Japan and the Central Coast of California.
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