“On finding out from another summer intern that I was in a financial squeeze, Julian arranged for me to receive a generous scholarship. Sure, he could play hardball with the best of them, and sure, he loved to have a wild time, but he never neglected his friends. The real problem was that Julian was obsessed with work.”

Before his enlightenment, Julian was fundamentally a good and kind man. He helped John in his career and had great talent. This passage suggests that the real problem was his obsession with work, but throughout the book, we get a more comprehensive sense of the problem. Julian’s overwork was a distraction from his crumbling family life and his lack of access to practical tools for self-improvement, which he would later receive among the Sages of Sivana.

“The young man standing before me was none other than that long-lost yogi of India: Julian Mantle. I was dazzled by his incredible transformation. Gone was the ghost-like complexion, the sickly cough and the lifeless eyes of my former colleague. Gone was the elderly appearance and the morbid expression that had become his personal trademark. Instead, the man in front of me appeared to be in peak health, his lineless face glowing radiantly. His eyes were bright, offering a window into his extraordinary vitality. Perhaps even more astounding was the serenity that Julian exuded. I felt entirely peaceful just sitting there, staring at him. He was no longer an anxious, "type-A" senior partner of a leading law firm. Instead, the man before me was a youthful, vital—and smiling—model of change.”

This is John’s first time encountering hard evidence of the positive effects of the sages’ wisdom. Julian is transformed in every way; he looks young, exudes life, and even appears to have a new personality. Julian will insist on the importance of inner change to affect outer change throughout the book, but he will also attribute his youthfulness to practical lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. This passage lays out the optimistic vision that people are capable of fundamental change with the right mindset and tools.

“The decision to give up my practice and all my worldly possessions felt natural. Albert Camus once said that 'Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.' Well, that's exactly what I did. I knew I had to change—so I decided to listen to my heart and do it in a very dramatic way. My life became so much simpler and meaningful when I left the baggage of my past behind. The moment I stopped spending so much time chasing the big pleasures of life, I began to enjoy the little ones, like watching the stars dancing in a moonlit sky or soaking in the sunbeams of a glorious summer morning. And India is such an intellectually stimulating place that I rarely thought of all I had left."

The advice to simplify life and indulge in simple pleasures plays like a refrain throughout The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Thanks to Julian’s prodigious income from his years of lawyering, he could pause the need for income generation and take a spiritually enriching trip to India.