DUNBAR SELF DEFENCE

 

 

Dan Millman-30/4/08

 

Question

Dan, as a successful athlete by all accounts leading a happy go lucky life what events inspired you to pick up the pen a sart writing.

 

 

Dan

I had quite a good time writing some short stories for a demanding English teacher in the 9th grade (middle school in the U.S.) But my interest in writing remained latent until I had completed my last college assignment.

Then I realized that I actually liked writing. Actually, I discovered how much I liked rewriting — improving and refining what I’d already written.

So when I graduated, and while coaching gymnastics at Stanford University, I started writing articles for a gymnastics magazine. Over time, my interests expanded from “talent for sports” to “talent for living” and my writing did the same, eventually taking shape over the years (based on my life experience) in the form of 13 books and counting.

 

 

Question

Everyone has a different view of personal success,

could you tell me for you what success is and if you have reached it when did you reach it?

Also if you reached success say 20 years ago, why keep going and not rest on your laurels knowing you achieved success years back?

Little thought provoking but something I have personal interest in.

 

 

Dan

Because success is a vague and relative term, an external goal not really in our control — (we cannot control whether we sink a putt in golf, make a basket from the free throw line, find love or succeed in business) — I like to focus on excellence (rather than on “winning” or on “success.”)

For me, life is a process or journey. The direction seems more important than reaching the goal. Most life life is the journey between birth and death (and then who knows?).

Still, along the Way, we can have many small “successes,” many goals we reach and pass along the way.

 

 

Question

What books inspire you? What kind of read do you like?

 

 

Dan

I read all kinds of books, both fiction and non-fiction. I rarely read books in the self-help or personal development area due to my own sense of discernment (where I am in life at present). But when I do read such a book, it’s usually a good one, at least for me.

 

 

Question

I was interested in this quote you made about your new book, “and another key teacher who must remain a secret for now. He learns that we have no friends; we have no enemies; we only have teachers.”

Would you say this shares your own philosphy of life. That there are no friends just people who share parts of your life are there to teach you something about yourself.

How do you know when the lesson is taught? What about people that you have grown up away from are now back in your life? If you remain “friends” with someone through out your life is this beacuse you have always soemthing to learn from them?

 

Dan

We know when we’ve learned a lesson when either our actions or perspectives change — ideally, both.

The idea that “we have no friends or enemies, only teachers” is one way to state a higher truth that Earth is a divine school and daily life is our classroom, and everyone we meet has lessons to teach. Maybe not always in words, but perhaps by example, or by challenging us to grow. That’s the meaning of this statement.

We may remain friends, or part them come back together, for many reasons. It is as it is.

 

 

Question

What was your age when you had the enlightening experiences with Socrates. I am almost 30 and sometimes feel I should have progressed more.

 

 

Dan

It’s all to easy to second-guess ourselves, to believe we should be somewhere other than we are, or that we should have made more progress, and so forth. I’m now 62 and still learning all the time.

There is no time-table. From the view of a higher reality, we exist in a timeless place, doing exactly what we are meant to do.

Do not compare yourself or your story to the one I wrote. The Buddhist sages suggest that “comparison is a form of suffering.” Just be you. It’s enough. You’re not here to be anyone else or to be anywhere else.

Be the perfect Nick, and do what you do. I’m not here for you to trust me; I’m here to help you to trust yourself.

 

 

Question

What prompted you to set off on your spiritual journey? Was it something that you needed to find? To be the best you can be? And did you decide out on a specific path or focus on one thing and let this guide you into what you needed to do?

 

 

Dan

In my view, wherever we step, the path appears beneath our feet. So I “set out” on my spiritual journey, as do we all, at birth. We’re all on a spiritual journey; it’s just that for some of us, this quest is conscious; others haven’t yet found the words to articulate that deeper yearning for meaning, purpose, connection.

So the search takes on symbolic side-tracks like looking for the person or work or next high or excitement to bring some temporary sense of satisfaction or “happiness.” Until we discover the “secret” of service - making some small difference in the lives of others.

I’ve never aimed for “winning” or for success — only for excellence, moment to moment.

In my own life and winding path, I just kept my eyes open and followed my heart. It’s all any of us can do.

 

 

Question

How much do you draw on personal experience for your characters?

Do you go out with the intention of getting an experience in order to write it into a character?

 

 

Dan

For those not familiar with my work, I’ve written several books that are best read as novels: Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior, and The Journeys of Socrates (definitely recommended for all martial artists) - as well as The Laws of Spirit (more a parable than a novel, but a narrative work as well).

The rest of my books are non-fiction guidebooks, each conveying different content and purpose.

So, your question about my characters relates to the largely fictional narratives (the main excepting being Way of the Peaceful Warrior, based on autobiographical events in my life, blended with elements of fiction).

Every character is based somewhat on personal experience - on real people, or composites of people I’ve known, or sometimes drawn from my creative imagination. It varies.

Being a Pisces, I’ve lived intuitively rather than strategically. I did go to Russia to do “intuitive research” — to get a feel for the place, before writing The Journeys of Socrates. But mostly I just trust my muse and start writing, in the context of a larger purpose of providing a readable, moving, and hopefully illuminating experience for the reader.

 

 

Question

In the early part of the movie it seems like you were on a mission to self destruct by pushing the limits both in the gym and on your motorcycle, looking back now do you feel that this was the case.

 

 

Dan

Keep in mind that the movie was written by a screenwriter, not by me, and it only loosely covers the first two-thirds of the book, which addresses some elements in my life. So I can’t respond about the movie as if it directly reflected the reality of my life. Movies are movies.

I did train diligently in gymnastics, and I did have a motorcycle crash which shattered my right femur (thigh-bone). However, I wasn’t on a “self-destructive” mission in the gym or on the bike. (I didn’t drive as crazily as depicted in the film).

 

 

Question

How would you differentiate between spitualism and religion or do you have another take on things.

 

Dan

I’m not really fond of the words “spiritualism” or “religion” because they mean so many different things to so many different people.

Objectively, someone’s religion centers around a set of beliefs, or approach to devotion to or worship of a Diety of many names, along with moral codes, rituals, and a community of people.

Spirituality (spiritualism) is the acknowledgment of a higher or transcendent possibility for realizing our higher purpose or destiny — a path or search for a direct realization of higher truth (life beyond news, weather and sports!)

There are many spiritual people (”seekers” and hopefully “finders”) who do not necessarily follow, or become members of, an organized church or religion.

That’s my take, anyway.

 

 

Question

When we read books we build a mental image of each character based on our own perception of that character, when I first read Peaceful warrior I had an image of Socrates looking and sounding like the actor Morgan Freeman, I was really quite surprised when I found out that Nick Nolte was playing Socrates in the movie.

Did you have a hand in the casting and how close are the characters in the movie to they way you pictured them when you wrote the book.

 

 

Dan

I didn’t have a say in casting of the film, but in the end, Nick did quite a nice job with the role.

The man I called Socrates was more lean and lithe, and had an easy laugh (and quite a sense of humor).

I’d also thought of Morgan Freeman, who would have also done an excellent job of playing the role. But if you read The Journeys of Socrates, you’ll learn that Socrates’ real name was Sergei Ivanov, Russian by birth. His life, and the difficulties he faced, helped to forge his character and temper his spirit. The book is about how a man became a warrior, and how a warrior found peace.