Product Description

Written by a former world-champion athlete, coach, and educator, Dan Millman's books present practical ways to transform daily challenges into vehicles of spiritual growth. In Living on Purpose, Millman tackles some of the toughest questions, and in the process, refines and expands on the teachings of his other books. Millman applies timeless principles to questions about metaphysics, destiny and free will, control and surrender, goal-making, marriage, child-rearing, money and work, sexuality, priority setting, and simplifying life. He combines hard-won personal wisdom with common sense to shed light on real-world problems.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88709 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781577311324
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
The Sufi poet Rumi once claimed that it is better to live the questions than always know the answers. In this spirit, bestselling author Dan Millman offers a book of contemplative answers to the common spiritual questions that we all live with. Millman has created a very readable format where he poses a question, offers a brief response (which he calls a "House Rule"), and then elaborates with lengthier thoughts and anecdotes. For example, when he asks, "Where can I find the right teacher for me?" he answers with this House Rule: "Our teachers appear in many forms." He then goes on to discuss how teachers can appear in the form of nature, strangers, children, or unexpected circumstances. Other questions include, "Why does my life seem to be getting worse?" (HR: "If we don't learn easy lessons, they get harder.") "What's the best way to make a big difference in the world?" (HR: "Little things can make a big difference.")

Although Millman became famous as a storyteller in the parable Way of the Peaceful Warrior, his spiritual roots come from the discipline of martial arts. As a result, he sounds much more natural when conveying codes of honor than writing realistic dialog. To his credit, Millman has mastered a difficult and highly needed art form: writing an accessible guidebook on living purposefully that could soften the most jaded of hearts and sharpen the most undisciplined of spirits. --Gail Hudson

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Q: We grow up, attend school, earn a living, maybe get married and raise a family, go on vacations, provide a service, and live until we die. Isn’t this enough? Why all this interest in spirituality? What’s the point?

A: Most of us agree that life is a school in the sense that we learn many lessons. But if death is the end, what is the purpose of living in the first place? Questions about death may lead us to wonder about our lives. Are we a random experiment or part of a much bigger picture? One question leads to the next and all questions end in Mystery. Some of us turn to belief and faith; others simply wonder. And in this field of wonder grow the seeds of spirituality.

At some point we may glimpse one of the fundamental lessons in the school of life: Our awareness resides, moment to moment, in one of two separate realities, each with its own truths. The first is conventional reality, which you describe in your question. The second is a transcendent reality—the spiritual dimension.

Most of the time, conventional reality monopolizes our attention with the stuff of everyday life—the challenges of education, earning a living, relationships, family, and health—everyday experience. Our dramas, played out in the theater of gain and loss, desire and satisfaction, seem entirely real and important. Conventional life involves the natural pursuit of satisfaction and fulfillment, which depends upon events unfolding in line with our desires, hopes, and expectations. In trying to make things work out, we suffer the pangs of attachment, craving, and anxiety.

Then one day—maybe through a trauma, a death in the family, an injury, or other adversity, we notice that conventional reality, even at its best, leads to dissatisfaction. We feel frustrated when we don’t get what we want, when we get what we don’t want, and even when we get exactly what we want, because in this world of mortality, we will lose all that we love.

Adversity and psychological suffering stimulate a yearning to transcend the conditional world, to wake up and find the higher wisdom that uplifts our soul even as we live in the conventional world. Life’s challenging lessons generate a willingness to make a leap of faith, to relinquish familiar truths that no longer serve, and to venture into the unknown. As Anaïs Nin wrote, "Finally the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." In the school of daily life, spirituality is not separate from this world; it allows us to live an ordinary life while remembering the transcendent truths that set us free.

Customer Reviews

Living On Purpose On Traget!
Dan Millman remains one of the world's great thought provoking sages. Millman's newest book bids the reader follow along a question and answer path that leads to a journey of steps climbing towards higher self awareness. I loved the inserted, boxed quotes. If I could buy one book of a purpose filled life, I would buy this one. I did buy it, many times, for gift giving. If there was a higher rating for Amazon books, I would give this book a 10!

Living on Purpose
Best-selling author and lecturer Dan Millman refers frequently to the "House Rules" when responding to questions in Living On Purpose: Straight Answers to Life's Tough Questions. He explains that the House is life or reality and the Rules are universal laws, adding that "the House Rules presented in this book-distilled lessons from the school of life-provide reliable strategies for living on purpose."

Millman has divided his book into twenty-five short sections. Each section begins with a general question about life, such as "why do I sometimes cause problems while doing what I feel is right?" These are answered with one of the House Rules, such as "Timing is Everything." An explanation of the House Rule and how it may be applied follows.

After that comes two specific questions people have asked him on subjects as varied as free will, metaphysics, child rearing, health, and money. He answers these with practical examples, often using his own life, or with illuminating anecdotes and parables. Many of his answers include humor along with the insights.

He finishes each section with "personal applications" in which people are encouraged to complete two or three simple exercises designed "to test these House Rules in your own experience; tailor them to fit your particular circumstances."

While he isn't a channeler, Millman does say that his answers come through him, not from him. He also says he isn't giving people wisdom that they don't already have, instead he's helping them search within for their own truths.

"In Living On Purpose, Dan Millman combines the wisdom of Solomon with the common sense touch of Dear Abby, taking on real-world questions with the insight and knowledge that have drawn millions of readers to his books." It's an essential reference for anyone seeking practical guidance in answering the difficult questions faced every day.

Life as an opportunity.
Dan Millman's LIVING ON PURPOSE provides a clear and simply structured view of what Millman calls "House Rules," guiding principles for living one's life on purpose rather than by accident. Each chapter presents a House Rule, then a clarifying summary of the rule, two related question/answers, and a personal exercise page. I found the tone of the book supportive and compassionate. The anecdotes are light-hearted and helpful. Some of the ideas I was particularly struck by include: "If we wait for the perfect moment to come alive, we may discover that we never lived at all," and "By paying attention to the present moment, and the next, and the next, we determine the quality of our lives."

LIVING ON PURPOSE gently nudges the reader in the direction of living in the moment. If you are a fan of the power of awareness to dramatically enhance your ability to live fully, I also highly recommend "WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN'T WORK" by Ariel and Shya Kane. These are books that can make a real difference in the quality of people's lives.