Answering Questions

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At 7 0'clock this morning, I finished reading my latest morning reading book.  As you may recall, in January I decided to spend the first half hour (or longer) of each day reading a book by one of my gurus, or some other book of inspiration.  A week ago, I pulled Dan Millman's Living on Purpose off my shelves and said "This will be my next book."  Please understand, this is not a book to have sitting next to your recliner with the idea in mind that you will read the whole book in the following week, yet that is exactly what I did.  I do not recommend that you follow my example.

Instead, let's look at how the book is structured.  Inside the covers are twenty-five "House Rules."  Each of these "rules" is designed to help us answer life's questions, and questions form an important part of the book's content.  Each section, or "rule" starts with a question.  The first is "Is there a larger purpose for living."  I never said these were easy questions.  The opening question stands on its own otherwise blank page. Turn the page and there the House Rule is spelled out. House Rule #1 is "Earth is a School and Daily Life is our Classroom."  Millman then expands on the rule with several pithy aphorisms.  "We are here to learn by expanding our awareness about the world and about ourselves.  This is followed by five more, the final one being "Each and every day we find new lessons to learn." 

The Colony Takes Flight

The third page of each section opens with a question someone has asked Millman in the course of his life.  These questions tend to be personal, and very specific, yet, at least in my experience, also very applicable to my own life.  Millman follows the question with an answer, usually taking about two pages to do so.  A second question tops page five, with, again, roughly two pages for Millman to answer.  Millman never devulges the identity of the asker, but that identity is not necessary.  As I said above, the questions, again, at least to me, seem applicable to each and every one of us, a question that we might well have asked ourselves.

The final two pages of each rule are for personal homework, or "Personal Applications" as Millman puts it.  After an introductory statement, Millman asks questions for the reader to consider, and a lined, otherwise blank page, for the reader to note down his/her own answers.  Obviously, the book is not meant to be read in a single, or even multiple sittings.  I would recommend that this book should be kept on your desk, or perhaps your nightstand, so that you can refer to it daily and use it as a workbook to help gain enlightenment, or at least understanding of ourselves and our personal situations.

Which Way is Up?

While reading the book, several of the "House Rules" spoke directly to me, and others brought to mind friends and their situations.  Two rules toward the end of the book brought to mind a high school classmate who now, in her early 70s, has been diagnosed and is living with Stage 4 cancer.  The rules are "Life moves in cycles:  All things change," and "Life is a series of moments."  My friend posts a short missive every morning on Facebook.  She does not write about her struggle with cancer.  Instead she writes about the little things that make up her day; the moments that bring her joy, whether that be the antics of her dogs, having a meal with friends, or a spear of sunlight over the sea near her New Jersey home.  She has learned the lesson, the rule, that life is a series of moments," and she exults in these moments.  That is one way to live on purpose.

Dan Millman and I were students at the University of California at the same time.  His first book, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, sets out the lessons he learned, not in the classrooms but rather on the streets of Berkeley where seemingly by accident he met his own guru, a man he calls Socrates.  I never met Millman personally, but his descriptions of Berkeley took me back to my own time there, a time when I wish I had met the author.  This is not a review of the first book, but I also heartily recommend that book.  You can find it on Amazon in several different editions.  I have placed a link below.

The Library of Congress catalogs this book under the rubric Spiritual Life--Miscellanea and the back cover indicates that this is a book for "Personal Growth."  The book's subtitle, "Straight Answers to Life's Tough Questions," is perhaps a bit misleading.  Yes, Millman answers the "tough questions" his readers have asked, but the real value in this book is doing the exercises at the end of each House Rule and answering the questions for ourselves.  I intend to keep this book close at hand and do exactly that.