Plus, bonus, he marries Joy… and finds joy. His work continues to evolve over time to meet the needs of a changing world.Dan’s eighteen books, including Way of the Peaceful Warrior, have inspired and informed. Finally free from his mind, Dan dances blissfully with Socrates. Dan Millman is a former world champion athlete, university coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor.After an intensive, twenty-year spiritual quest, Dan’s teaching found its form as the Peaceful Warrior’s Way.

He also learns that he's one with everything, beyond his mortal self.ĭan, returning from the vision, sees the truth that nothing can possibly matter. Dan witnesses his own death: his body decomposes and even the landscape changes, over thousands of years. The teacher takes him to a cave for a final vision. Socrates surprises Dan by showing up in the mountains. C'mon, Dan: what would Socrates say to that? Despairing, he finally sells all his possessions and heads off into the mountains, determined to find happiness.

Socrates sends him away to look for answers in adulthood.ĭan lives a conventional, unsatisfying life for several years, with a marriage and a divorce and work in sales and gymnastics-coaching. The young man quits gymnastics, finishes up school, and learns a bit more from Socrates.

Go Dan!īut by this time, Dan has learned from Socrates that achievements aren't the route to happiness. So, thanks to Dan, his gymnastics team wins the 1968 national collegiate championship. He follows Socrates' instructions to meditate, eat a super-healthy diet, develop attentiveness, and maintain an inner calm regardless of circumstances. His leg is all smashed up, and we're not sure if he'll ever be back to gymnastics. Just as Dan is making progress down Socrates' path, the young man gets into a motorcycle accident. Bonus: he has a major crush on this other student of Socrates' that shows up on rare occasion. Eventually he accepts his teacher's advice to take the way of the peaceful warrior.

Socrates, with lectures and the ability to give Dan visions, teaches the young man that the mind is the source of his dissatisfaction, and that to become truly happy, he must stop trying to figure the world out and instead learn the difficult discipline of living in the moment, healthy and free.ĭan straddles the fence between Socrates' philosophy and conventional wisdom for a few months, feeling alienated from his classmates and gymnastics team. Dan meets him at a gas station suddenly, names him Socrates, and becomes a student of his way of life. In the dreams, though, this weird, white-haired dude seems to be the answer to everything.Īnd in fact, the old man is the solution. Recurring nightmares about his mortality drag him down. What more could a guy want?īut there's a problem. His studies are going well he's got a girlfriend named Susie. A junior at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s, he's a popular gymnastics star piling up trophies.

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