The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

The meeting will take place in the Orchid Room in The Los Altos Library on Sunday June 14 from 11am-1pm. Ask the librarian for the room’s location if you don’t know where it is.

This will be the first meeting of The Los Altos Spiritual Books Meetup. I thought a lot about what our first book should be and decided on Tolstoy’s short novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Unlike War and Peace and Anna Karenina, the book is short and can be read in 3-4 hours.

I first read The Death of Ivan Ilyich in college and it made a powerful impression on me. I have read it a number of times since and it hits just as hard every time. I think you will find it compelling as well and it will cause you to reflect deeply on your life.

Ivan Ilyich is a successful judge. He went to the right schools, met the right people and achieved wealth, status and success. But when he gets sick, he starts to wonder if he lived his life the right way. He did everything he was supposed to do, everything his culture told him was the right way to live. But he ultimately realizes that while he lived a conventionally successful life, he did not live authentically.

Imagine yourself on your deathbed. When you look back on your life, will you have regrets about how you lived? Because one day you and I will be in the same position as Ivan Ilyich - and it will be too late. But it’s not too late now….