Durham Herald-Sun, September 24, 2004, by Jim Wise
Original article at www.heraldsun.com/opinion/columnists/wise/63-525829.html

DURHAM—Will Willimon, the gentlemanly caustic former dean of Duke Chapel, has described Augie Turak as "a kind of modern-day Socrates." A couple of days ago, speaking from somewhere on the circuit he now rides in Alabama, Willimon said he sticks by that estimation.

The comment was occasioned by the $100,000 that Turak, a Raleigh entrepreneur with an inclination to mysticism, had just won in an international essay contest.

Far from the ancient philosopher with the uncomfortably probing questions, Turak said he felt like Ed McMahon had just showed up at the door. One of the first people he called to tell was Willimon.

The essay, "Brother John," concerns Turak's own rounds with soul-searching inspired by the offer of an umbrella from an elderly monk on a rainy Christmas Eve. It won out over 7,350 other essays, from 97 countries, in the Templeton Foundation's contest, "Power of Purpose."

("Brother John" can be found online at www.selfknowledge.org/whoweare/templeton_augie.htm; Turak will speak about the essay and the experience that inspired it on Oct. 7 at the Long View Center in Raleigh: 833-6896.)

One may hope it's a sign that there is, after all, a market for those kinds of things—power, purpose, soul-searching and fundamental generosity. And that's a conclusion not at all surprising, in this day and age, considering the odd coupling of Turak and Willimon as mutually admiring fellow travelers.

Willimon is a Southern boy who found his calling in the civil rights movement, went on to become a college preacher and is now a Methodist bishop. Turak is a Pennsylvanian who became a protégé of, first, an Appalachian Zen master and, then, an IBM management guru, before getting in on the ground floor of cable TV with MTV and A&E, diversifying into software, starting his own company and then selling it to retire at age 49.

Along the way, though—actually, in 1989—Turak started a sort of structured bull-session club for people inclined toward matters like purpose, power, vocation and the meaning in life. That led to the Self-Knowledge Symposium of college kids, first at N.C. State and soon branching to Chapel Hill and Duke. Now, there's even a chapter for grownups, in Raleigh.

"He has just been given a gift from God for awakening intellectual interest and potential in students," Willimon said, "and is an amazing, wonderful kind of gadfly."

About this time a year ago, Willimon and Turak gave a two-man talk at Duke. Their timing conflicted with opening of the latest "Matrix" movie and with a basketball game, but they drew a standing-room crowd.

Point is, all appearances and conventional wisdom to the contrary, there is a market for this kind of thing—among the Gen-Y set and their elders, even in a world where, as Willimon put it that night, "It's hard to find a good reason for not cheating."

Not cheating on a test, a deal or one's own life, that is. Turak said it's tempting and easy to "get on the treadmill" or opt for "safe adventure, the 'bliss' thing," but, "We're looking for something bigger than ourselves."

The talk that night was kind of deep, kind of theoretical and kind of what Turak likened to "a splinter in your mind"—which business people and bishops, adolescents and middle-agers all feel occasionally stinging in the spirit. That stinging says we might be missing out on something, something like the prize possessed by Turak's Brother John, standing in the night with his "miraculous umbrella."

"Utterly grateful for who we have become," Turak wrote, "remorseful for who we were, and compassionate towards those who do not understand."

Socratic sure enough. And an umbrella that covers common ground.