Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story

(Paperback)

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In this classic memoir, a gay man living a fast-track life in NYC (working for artist Andy Warhol), escapes to India, confronts his demons, and takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride to realise his dreams and discover the true meaning of life and holiness.

It's hard to know when you're having a breakdown in New York City. The symptoms of living here, succeeding here, and losing your mind here are almost identical.'

So begins Matousek's 1996 breakout memoir about leaving a fast-track publishing life (working for pop artist Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine) and hitting the dharma trail in search of a meaningful life and spiritual wisdom. Hailed by Publisher's Weekly as 'brave, beautiful, and brilliantly observed,' Sex Death Enlightenment became an international best seller. Like Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love and Paul Monette in Borrowed Time, Matousek takes the reader on an insightful, rollicking search for answers to life's deepest questions in this landmark memoir.

'Mark Matousek takes you everywhere his title promises - and then some. Sex Death Enlightenment is the most gripping and elegantly written memoir I've read in ages. It tugged me onward like the best suspense novel, though I couldn't help lingering time and again to savor its wisdom.' Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City

'An extraordinarily articulate chronicle of how the sickness of our time can spawn spiritual awakening and compassion.' Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now and Grist For the Mill

'Brave, beautiful and brilliantly observed.' Publishers Weekly, starred review

Author Bio

Born in Los Angeles on February 5, 1957, Mark graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979, and received a fellowship to Worcester College, Oxford, after being awarded an M.A. in English Literature from UCLA in 1981. After graduation, he moved to New York, worked as a stringer for Reuters International, then in Newsweek Magazines letter department, before being hired as a proofreader at Andy Warhols Interview Magazine, where he became the magazines first staff writer and then senior editor the following year. Between 19821985, he conducted hundreds of interviews with well-known figures in film, television, books, fine art, politics, design and science. Mark left publishing in 1985 and spent most of following decade as an itinerant dharma bum and freelance journalist in Europe, India, and the United States. Shifting professional gears from pop culture to psychology, philosophy and spiritual exploration, he was a contributing editor to Common Boundary Magazine, where his column The Naked Eye appeared from 19941999, and where Americas Darkest Secret, his expos about incest in the United States, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. During these peripatetic years, he published essays in Harpers Bazaar, Details, Tricycle, The Utne Reader, Yoga Journal, and The Chicago Tribune; and later in The New Yorker, O: The Oprah Magazine, Out, Modern Maturity, Good Housekeeping, and The Saturday Evening Post. Mark began teaching in 2006 at Manhattanville College and is now on the faculty at The New York Open Center and The Omega Institute, as well as a regular teacher at Esalen, Hollyhock, The Rowe Center, and 1440 Multiversity. As a teacher and speaker, his work focuses on personal awakening and creative excellence through transformational writing and self-inquiry. His workshops, classes, and mentoring have inspired thousands of people around the world to reach their artistic and personal goals, which is the mission of his company Mark Matousek Media LLC. He is the Creative Director of V-Men, the male arm of V-Day, Eve Enslers movement to end violence against women and girls. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and PEN International, he lives in New York City.