Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

My rating* – 2.5

A book that changes lives

I have had this book on my Amazon wish list for some time. That’s how it is with me and books. If someone recommends a book on a blog or in an article, I usually look for it on Amazon and add it to my wish list to review at some later date and decide if I want to purchase or not.

It so happened, my friend Lucy during a conversation spoke about the book and at that time Mastin Kipp on his blog shared a quote from the book and I remembered that I added it to my wish list a while back. So when I got home that night, I bought it. It arrived on Friday juste à temps for my trip to Tobago. Perfect. I would be at this Zen eco resort for the long weekend and what better book to read than something about being a peaceful warrior.

This is a part-fictional, part-autobiographical book based upon the early life of the author Dan Millman. The story tells of a chance meeting with a gas station attendant who becomes a spiritual teacher to the young gymnast, Dan. The attendant, whom Millman names Socrates, becomes a kind of father figure and teaches Millman how to become a “peaceful warrior.”

On our laziest day, I took my book down to our private beach and found a nice spot and started reading. I went through a lot of emotions. I liked it, I hated it, it was ok, it was funny and it seemed really contrived at times. It’s a narration of his story with some made up parts. This was the biggest disappointment about this book for me, the whole time all I really wanted to read about was Dan’s real story.

As I was reading I couldn’t understand, why if Dan wanted enlightenment so badly and was actively seeking it by returning night after night to the gas station there was so much resistance to what Socrates had to say. I liked the short stories or fables littered throughout the book. I started looking forward to them as they broke up the monotony of the story. I especially liked the one about Gandhi.

When I got to Book Two, it hit me, here I was in this moment, at the beach reading a book on being fully present to the moment and I was ignoring all the gorgeousness around me. There was a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower to my right, the lovely ocean in front of me. I felt this desperate need to put down this part fantasy, part real life storybook and immerse myself in the moment, in what was real. This is exactly what I did. I got up and went into the water. I had to touch it, be in it. Feel it.

I eventually went back to the book, if only to finish it. It is a slow read. It takes a while to make its point. I thought maybe that was part of the lesson. In this world were bullet points are the norm, this book required that you slow down and really take the time to get into the message that “there are no ordinary moments”.

Most poignant message for me is that the “warrior is here, now.”

the time always was, is and always will be now! Now is it the time; the time is now … Remember, the time is now and the place is here.

I had a roll eyes moment with the whole Joy/romance thing. For me that wasn’t necessary. Socrates’ “death” was very anti-climatic and I could have done without that particular embellishment as well. And before he vanished in a flash of light in a toilet no less, Socrates could have at least given us a recipe or two for the teas that he shared with Dan; I kept trying to figure out what was in them.

There are lots of quotable quotes. But for the most part, if you are a seeker, you’ve already heard most of these messages in one form or another. It just re-enforced what I already knew, that the time is always now because this is all we have. I give this book a 2.5. It does not live up to its title A book that changes lives. But it is definitely an ok read, if you’re just starting out on the path to being present to the Present.

*my personal quality ratings are the scores I give books on a scale of 0-5 based on my personal opinion of a book. 0 is “birdcage liner” and 5 is “off-the-hook good”