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For more information on talks by Augie Turak, contact...
Kavita Kapur
Public Relations Director, Self Knowledge Symposium
Kavita@SelfKnowledge.org
919/247-8188
www.SelfKnowledge.org
"Five Years with a Zen Master" recounts Turak's first few years spent with Zen Master Richard Rose, who launched Turak into his lifelong spiritual search. A popular lecture nationally for the past several years, "Five Years" has garnered rave reviews from college students and adults alike.
On the surface, Turak is a successful businessman who has run several award-winning Triangle software companies. But Turak's real passion throughout his life has been what he calls "spiritual seeking"—struggling to answer age-old questions about life and death. In his twenties Turak quit college and studied with Rose for five years. A powerful storyteller and frequent lecturer alongside such luminaries as Huston Smith (author of The World's Religions), Turak seeks to inspire people to find deeper meaning. He is also the founder of the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation.
"As a college student in 1972, there was one problem primarily on my mind: death," says Turak. "The question I was asking myself was, 'How can I live a meaningful life, when no matter what I do, no matter how successful I become, I still die?'" Turak pursued his question in the libraries, digging through Nietzsche, Plato, Shakespeare, Alan Watts—any author who might have an answer. "I agreed with all of them, but none of them agreed with each other. What was I supposed to do?"
Fortunately, an answer presented itself in the form of Richard Rose, a cantankerous, witty, and profound West Virginian farmer—a most unlikely-looking Zen master. Turak recalled how he chanced upon a lecture by Rose at the University of Pittsburgh, where Turak was a student. Although Rose supported research such as Turak had already done, his main message was a call to action. "The first thing Rose said was, 'Some people think Zen is about finding peace. There's plenty of peace in the cemetery. I'm not here to give you peace—I'm here to wake you up.' I walked out of that lecture with my head spinning."
Walking the Razor's Edge
In searching for the title of this lecture, we came across Somerset Maugham's book, "The Razor's Edge":
The man I am writing about is not famous. It may be that he never will be. It may be that when his life at last comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water. But it may be that the way of life that he has chosen for himself and the peculiar strength and sweetness of his character may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow men so that, long after his death perhaps, it may be realized that there lived in this age a very remarkable creature.This could very well describe the life of Augie Turak. Turak's stories of spiritual experience and intimate conversations with friends and family, given in this lecture, are the best entree into really understanding a life lived for the sole purpose of knowing Truth.
What is Zen?
Zen has a fascination for people of all backgrounds, spiritual seekers and skeptics alike. Trappist author Thomas Merton, psychologists and authors Erich Fromm and Carl Jung, popular authors such as Joseph Campbell are just a few. What is the nature of this attraction? And what does Zen have to teach us in our lives today? Businessman and lifetime spiritual seeker August Turak contends that the heart of Zen isn't in the robes or meditation postures—it's the fact that Zen is the most direct path to spiritual insight he's ever seen. A process of spiritual seeking useful for anyone, rather than the content of a particular religious approach.
| 1973: | Leaves the University of Pittsburgh to study under American Zen Master Richard Rose. |
| 1977: | Returns to the University of Pittsburgh and graduates with a BA. |
| 1978: | Moves to Washington, DC, to work as the protégé of recently retired IBM Executive School Founder & Director, Lou Mobley (author of the best-selling book Beyond IBM). |
| 1981: |
Begins working with a small, little known cable television programming venture known as MTV: Music Television.
Moves on to become National Director of Marketing for The Arts & Entertainment Network, and Vice President of Marketing for Adelphia Communications. |
| 1985: | Moves to Raleigh, NC, and begins lecturing extensively on his experiences with Richard Rose. |
| 1989: | Several students at North Carolina State University approach Turak after a lecture and ask him to teach on a regular basis which begins the first chapter of the Self Knowledge Symposium that later expanded to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University. |
| 1993: | Turak founds a software company called Raleigh Group International (RGI) with friend and fellow spiritual seeker, Dave Gold. |
| 1995: | RGI awarded as one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in the triangle region of North Carolina. |
| 1999: | RGI acquired by Mutek Solutions, Inc. under the leadership of Turak. |
| 2000-2002: | Vice President, Sales and Operations, Mutek Solutions, Inc. USA |
| 2002: | Retires from Mutek Solutions |
Other Important Facts about Augie
Augie currently lives on a farm on the outskirts of Raleigh. He spends his time lecturing, working with students in the Self Knowledge Symposium, and complaining about never quite getting the perfect watermelon out of his garden.
What Other People Have to Say about Augie
"Turak is a modern-day Socrates, and his revolution, the Self Knowledge Symposium, is the hottest thing happening in higher education today. I feel like I should be following behind him writing down the things he says."
Dr. William Willimon"Augie is probably the most unique individual I've ever met...and I've had the opportunity to meet many of the rich, the famous and the renowned. Augie has an uncanny ability to establish an immediate rapport with people and see right through to their soul. I have never met anyone who can make people feel so at ease and yet so uncomfortable at the same time. He is so quick-witted, jovial, and empathetic in one moment, and yet in the next, he can identify character weaknesses and false motivations. There is no one who is a better friend. There is no one who tries harder to make me a better person.
Dean of the Duke Chapel
Ranked by Newsweek as one of the top ten preachers in the English-speaking world
Author of the best-selling The Search for Meaning
New York is full of businessmen who know everything about money and nothing about life. But when I want advice about anything really important, I turn to Augie Turak."
Steve Grubbs"When I attended his 'What is Zen?' lecture, I felt as if he had carried me through an eye-opening, real moment of clarity. I left in that intense mood for the following few days. I know I cannot recapture that mood now, even if I wished to, and sometimes it takes a learned, experienced, intense man like Aug to bring that mood about. I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to meet a person as incredible as Aug in my life."
Executive Vice President
BBD&O
Manisha Verma, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, '99"This talk [Five Years with a Zen Master] was the most intense two hours of my life."
Rob Nikander, Duke University, '00"I think people are unprepared for how involved they get—we find ourselves sitting listening long after the talk should have ended, after we should have gotten back to our work at home...realizing how many questions we have . . .and maybe that's the beginning."
Anne Starling