The Summoned Self Summary

The author wrote "The Summoned Self" to inform the reader that there is two ways to view life; The Well-Planned Life and the Summoned Life. The Well-Planned life focuses on planning your life as a youth. The Summoned Life focuses on situations at present, here and now. The narrator argues that people living the Summoned Life are skeptical, but he seems to agree with it. To explain the Well-Planned Life, he uses a Christian basketball player, Clayton Christensen, as an example. The narrator uses Christensen because he said he always took an hour out of his day to think and pray about his purpose in life. The author shifts to questioning how someone so young can know their purpose yet. The author uses Christensen's review as reference for the Well-Planned life example. Christensen's purpose was important to him; he would not play basketball on a Sunday because he was so devoted to Christianity. The author finishes by saying situational awareness is what answers questions to the purpose of life, not long-range planning.