BOOK-READING SATSANG: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE HAPPY TO BE WHOLE
Can the pursuit of happiness make us less free?
Join author and long-time Three Boons student Anastasia Shevchenko for an intimate reading and philosophical conversation inspired by her debut novel The Happiness Engine.
Through fiction, yoga philosophy and contemporary questions around technology, ambition, consent and spiritual authority, we'll explore a provocative possibility:
What if the good life isn't about eliminating suffering, but becoming free enough to live with the whole spectrum of human experience?
Reading · Conversation · Q&A
About the book:
In near-future Berlin, Zoe Malkovich has built the life she was supposed to want: a successful career at one of Europe's most ambitious tech companies, a celebrated artist for a husband, and a place in the city's glittering creative elite.
Just as GAIETY's newest invention promises what humanity has always sought - happiness on demand - Zoe's carefully constructed life begins to unravel.
The harder she has worked to become the right person and build the right life, the further she has drifted from herself. As uncomfortable truths about her marriage, her ambitions, and the technology she has helped bring into the world begin to surface, Zoe is forced to question the very ideas of happiness and success that have shaped her life. Now, she must decide what kind of life is worth living, what she must let go of, and what is worth fighting for.
Set against Berlin's worlds of tech, contemporary art, wellness and alternative culture, The Happiness Engine is a provocative novel about our pursuit of happiness, the seductive promise of technology, and the freedom to choose an imperfect life for ourselves.
Anastasia Shevchenko
Anastasia Shevchenko is a Ukrainian-Canadian-German writer based in Berlin since 2012. Her writing is shaped by a life lived across cultures and by a long-standing fascination with the question of what makes a good life. Before turning to fiction, she studied communications, cultural studies, and economics, worked in Berlin's startup scene, taught yoga, and built a career at the intersection of business, ethics, and social change. The Happiness Engine is her debut novel. www.the-happiness-engine.com