Lama Marut’s Latest Book: Be Nobody

Book Description

We are all desperately trying to be somebody, to be “special”.
We collect “friends” and “followers” online as symbols of our worth. We hunt fame and visibility.

But maybe we’ve got it all wrong.

With his edgy tone and radical perspective, Lama Marut follows up A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life by calling for the biggest revolution of all: the overthrow of our obsessive quest to be somebody. He shows readers that living an ethical life—a life of selflessness rather than unbridled egoism—is the key to true happiness and the foundation for creating a better world.

Without the need to seclude oneself in a monastery or retire to a cave in the Himalayas, Marut gives readers action steps and simple meditations to find true fulfillment.

Want to read an excerpt? Great!
You can preview Lama Marut’s newest
book on our publisher’s website >

Order Now on Amazon.com > 
(Also available via your favorite book seller)

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Press Reviews for “Be Nobody”

“When we strive to be somebody, we are actually striving to be somebody else. This somebody else is the root of all our problems. The key to awakening is being who you already are. But as Lama Marut dares to tell us in this delightfully written and wise book, this authentic somebody is nobody at all. Reading this book is easy, and understanding it is liberating. I invite you to do both.”

—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent

“In his refreshing and compelling new book, Be Nobody, Lama Marut gives us a road map to living life in the realm of an Everyday Joe in order to accomplish great happiness and connectedness and to begin to offer the very best we can access. He gives us a truly clear and vivid understanding of the present-day dilemma of the drive toward ‘I’ and the fact that this drive is leading to depression, isolation, and diseased thinking. And then he outlines a way that leads to joy by showing us how to practice a new thought pattern that encourages focus on anything but self. This is an amazingly powerful piece of work from a truly unique and dynamic nobody.”

—Mary McDonnell, actress

“In his trademark emphatic and no-nonsense style, Lama Marut provides a much-needed critique of modernity that cuts to the root of every problem we currently face on the planet. Be Nobody exposes our culture of narcissism that precludes personal happiness, social equality, and ecological balance. Rather than taking us from our deluded state of alienated self-absorption to some exalted state of equally misguided self-annihilation, Marut guides us through an inner transformation and re-emergence as awakened altruists contributing to a sustainable future for all.”

—Dr. Miles Neale, Buddhist psychotherapist and assistant director
of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science

“Here’s some help in kicking your ego’s butt so that you can create a genuine spiritual life. Instead of endless self-improvement, you’re invited to let go of your self. This really is the only way to be happy. Lama Marut is brilliant, a Chogyam Trungpa for new generations mixed with a little Louis C.K.–style humor.”

—Lisa Selow, life coach and author of A Rebel Chick Mystic’s Guide

“Lama Marut’s Be Nobody fiercely examines our preoccupation with the ‘I,’ revealing how living on the ‘Me Plan’ can never satisfy the hungry ego. The antidote he offers is truly liberating, not only for oneself but for all sentient beings.”

—Michael Bernard Beckwith, author of Life Visioning

“Writing with great sensitivity to the stress we all feel, Lama Marut helps us see that we strive to be valued by trying endlessly to be more and more special. We aim to be somebody, but only find tension and loneliness as we never reach the bar. What good is getting star billing if you never feel like a star? Laying out a clear spiritual alternative, he dares us to become nobody: a state of complete authenticity, where we are present to our lives and joyfully connected to all. This is no mystical pipe dream; the ideas in this book point to something every one of us can do. All of us want to be happy. We owe it to ourselves to become nobody. Put this transformative book by your bed, and read it again and again.”

—Lindsay Crouse, Academy Award–nominated actress

“Be Nobody is a great spiritual guide for people of all faiths. Lama Marut’s description of our bondage to our egos is both entertaining and sobering. After providing an incisive diagnosis of the human condition, he not only offers an understanding of how to leave suffering behind, but also provides practical and achievable steps for doing so. I am recommending
this book to all my friends and parishioners.”

—Rev. Dr. Brian Baker, Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, CA

The quest to “be somebody” is an obsessive one fraught with negative emotions that can make life difficult. In his follow-up to A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life, Lama Marut exposes this obsession and suggests a different way of life based on intentional ethics, selflessness, and compassion. He shows how individuals cause suffering for themselves and others by unknowingly prioritizing the quest to be somebody special. Instead, Marut offers an alternative: be nobody. To “be nobody” is not nihilistic; emptiness of identity acknowledges tangled relationships with people, creates space for consideration of others, and enables compassion. Marut focuses heavily on a nonreligious understanding of karma. To be a good person, one must acknowledge past actions, perceive current situations, and begin sowing the seeds for future change. He emphasizes the importance of bringing intention to thought and action. In a conversational tone, Marut offers a nondenominational, effective, and accessible challenge to “being somebody” and a method for engaging with the “nobody” found in the everyday and every one.

PublishersWeeklyLogoPublishers Weekly Review
May 2014
PublishersWeekly.com

Lama Marut, aka Brian K. Smith, Ph.D., dissects the uglier side of social media and the trend of standing out in the crowd as a low-level spiritual search. In his Zen tactic, he reveals the ultra-neediness of our culture which lies beneath the compulsion to be special. Guiding his readers gently toward enlightenment, Lama Marut addresses the universal emotional afflictions of human nature that result in suffering and unhappiness and the need to be special everywhere, especially on social media. Each chapter presents simple daily actions which can result in effective and immediate change for the better.

Every social media “junkie” will find something they can relate to in Be Nobody. They might even discover another someone within themselves who can enjoy living with or without being “somebody.”

Retailing Insight Magazine
Connecting the Best in Body/Mind/Spirit
RetailingInsight.com

Additional Online “Be Nobody” Book Reviews, Commentaries, and Interviews

Short Book Introduction:

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Full Book Trailer:

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Be Nobody Interviews

InterviewsWithLamaMarut-SepiaHeadShotBelow are some of the interviews with Lama Marut for his
Be Nobody 2014 book tour.

Be Nobody Book Tour Interviews (Audio Recordings):

Videos

The Contagious Optimism Show’s video is ready to watch! Big thanks to a fun and well-informed host Sunny Chayes! Great discussion about optimism, interconnection and being nobody – on the Universal Broadcasting Network. The Lama Marut part of the interview begins about 20 minutes in, but the first 20 minutes is also a wonderful discussion about “contagious optimism” with David Mezzapelle.

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Be-Nobody-WebGraphic-OS-Bio-Praise-v1Be Nobody 2014 Book Tour — Media Releases