Dan Millman: Return of the Peaceful Warrior

An Interview with Dan Millman: Return of the Peaceful Warrior

Dan Millman, a former world champion athlete, Stanford University coach, martial arts instructor and Oberlin College professor, has authored 17 books published in 29 languages, including his classic, Way of the Peaceful Warrior (released as a film with Nick Nolte by Universal in 2007). A popular speaker, Dan has influenced people from all walks of life. He speaks with OMTimes about his newest book, The Hidden School, and more.

OMTimes: Dan, though you’re an internationally bestselling author, with Way of the Peaceful Warrior reaching millions of readers since it was first published. But your life began on a very different trajectory. Can you tell us something more about your earlier sports career and how it intersected with a life of writing?

Dan Millman: As a kid, I liked to climb trees, swing on ropes, and later, I discovered trampoline and acrobatics. I did not show great promise at the beginning but loved somersaulting and improving each skill. That love eventually led to a national then world championship title on trampoline, and a gymnastics scholarship to college.

Writing wasn’t in the picture. I felt intimidated by any writing assignment longer than two pages in school. Other than a few creative (two-page) short stories in middle school, I showed no particular talent or penchant for writing. But I did enjoy improving on my work, just as I’d done in gymnastics.

When I was in my late 20s, I imagined, for the first time, that I might write a book about an intriguing service station attendant I’d met and life-lessons learned just prior to my senior year in college. Seven years later, Way of the Peaceful Warrior was published.

 

Way of the Peaceful Warrior Culminates in The Hidden School

I didn’t write another book for ten years. But my coaching experience sparked a desire to influence and inspire others. This carried over into the realm of writing. I went on to write numerous other books over the years, culminating with The Hidden School. That impulse to teach, which began in the gymnasium, expanded into the larger arena of daily life.

OMTimes: How would you personally describe the “spiritual” shifts in your life? Were you always interested in deeper questions of philosophy or mysticism from early-on? Or did this come later?

Dan Millman: I suppose the first shift of a spiritual nature was a recognition that the satisfaction of achievement didn’t last – that happiness was fleeting. I wondered whether any sort of lasting happiness was possible – whether my next achievement or relationship or ‘win’ was the purpose, or even a purpose, in life. This led to a yearning to gain not just knowledge, but wisdom – not that I had any clue to what real wisdom might look like.

Then a motorcycle crash fractured not only my leg and changed the course of my life. That injury also shook me up(ward) and began a spiritual journey into the depths of my mind and heart. I began to read and study topics I had not considered before – perhaps much like my readers today – which led to teachers, insights, and experiences that formed the basis for my early writing.

 

Dan Millman Explains the Missing Piece

OMTimes: You’ve said that your newest book, The Hidden School, is not the conclusion to The Peaceful Warrior story, but rather a “missing piece.” Can you clarify for readers what this means?

Dan Millman: Sometimes, I envy writers who produce a clearly-delineated series of books, with part one, part two, and so on. But in my case, the second and third books in the peaceful warrior saga, Sacred Journey, and The Hidden School, are parts of the original book. They take place within the time frame and between the covers of Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Just prior to the final chapter of that first book, I refer (in a few short pages) to travels I took around the world, but nothing more.

So, ten years after writing Way of the Peaceful Warrior, I shared more about those travels about in Sacred Journey, recounting an adventure in Hawaii. And finally, 37 years later, I felt ready to offer the final revelation – experiences and challenges that prepared me for the death, rebirth, and awakening I describe in the concluding chapter and epilogue of Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

OMTimes: Your signature genre for the peaceful warrior trilogy has been called “autobiographical fiction.” It doesn’t fit neatly into either fiction or nonfiction-memoir. Can you tell us a little more about this genre?

Dan Millman: When first published, Way of the Peaceful Warrior bore the subtitle, A basically true story. My editor’s idea. But the bookstores didn’t have a shelf for it. It wasn’t exactly nonfiction or memoir; it didn’t fit neatly into psychology or philosophy or religion. My readers didn’t care. They loved the story and lessons, perspectives, reminders which spoke to their lives as well.

 

A Series that Defies Genres and Appeals to Readers

I never claimed any of these books were memoir, because memoir should not contain any deliberate fiction. I blended autobiography with creative elements to serve the story and for the sake of my readers’ experience. (As Picasso put it, “Art is a lie that helps us to see the truth.”)

OMTimes: How do you reflect your in-depth experience with gymnastics and martial arts in your books and stories? Was this a deliberate choice?

Dan Millman: Since gymnastics and martial arts contributed such a significant and formative part of my life, my habits, and character, it seems natural to include this experience into my writing. My martial arts and acrobatic training became a master metaphor, showing me how I might overcome nearly any obstacle through sheer persistence. Martial arts taught me nonresistance – going with the flow, and gymnastics training revealed how everything is difficult until it becomes easy. I came to understand that all practices are related – how into one practice provides insight into all.

The Hidden School uses acrobatics and martial arts to reveal my transition from student to teacher and from seeker to writer.

OMTimes: What is it about the Peaceful Warrior saga, including The Hidden School, that continues to garner readers all over the world and across the generations?

Dan Millman: If I had an easy answer to that I’d bottle it. As author Somerset Maugham wrote, “There are three essential rules for writing a successful novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” But I do have a few clues: The most successful narrative works are said to capture the universal in the particulars. The best stories aren’t just about a few literary characters; they’re about all of us.

 

The Hidden School – The Full Scope of Transformation

Apparently, the transformation I recounted in Way of the Peaceful Warrior spoke to both men and women, young and old, and readers from around the world. And as with that first book, I wrote The Hidden School so that my teacher could also become their teacher.

I write for readers to seek wisdom and understanding, who wish to live illumined lives. I’m newly delighted by all those who have chosen to join me on this journey. They’ve seen my (character’s) transformation from a self-absorbed young athlete to a more mature adult. The Hidden School reveals the full scope of that transformation – how it all happened and what it means.

OMTimes: You’ve said that as a young man you never expected to become a bestselling author. How did it happen? Is it a path or process that others might follow? And how might it link to lessons in your books?

Dan Millman: A lot of it was luck and timing. My life experiences and work habits led to my writing a book whose subject and style resonated with a growing audience ready to explore life’s higher promise and possibilities. Here and now, in daily life.

But there is no trail of bread crumbs or stardust. We each have to blaze our own path. I’ve expressed on numerous occasions the reminder that we can control our efforts, but not the outcomes. Still, by making a good effort we vastly increase the odds of a good outcome over not making the effort.

 

Dan’s Creative Process – Writing with his Daughter

A book consists of two primary facets: content (or what we write about) and style (how well we write it). So, the only process I know is to write as clearly and energetically as you can, then rewrite, get feedback, and rewrite again. My author-daughter and I present the entire creative process from dreaming to drafting to developing to refining to sharing in our book, The Creative Compass. That process and persistence reflects all that I’ve shared over the years.

OMTimes: What are you working on now?

Dan Millman: My next and likely final book I need to write will be my first all-true memoir – the story behind the story – expressing the elation and pitfalls of the spiritual quest, and the experiences and lessons I’ll describe about the four primary mentors (besides Socrates) who most influenced my writing and life. Once again, I’m out to capture some universal truths within the particulars of my story.

 

Hopeful Message from Author,  Dan Millman

OMTimes: In closing, do you have a message you hope readers take away from The Hidden School? And what did you learn while writing it?

Dan Millman: There are many lessons and insight sprinkled throughout this adventure tale – from the deeper meaning hidden in a popular children’s song, to a paradoxical key to understand and reconcile fundamental questions about the nature of time, free will, the self, death, and the reality of eternal life.

But most of all, I wrote The Hidden School to remind and reawaken in my readers something we inevitably take for granted – that we have each receive the rarest of opportunities – to live a human life on Planet Earth. In the process of writing this final book in the Peaceful Warrior saga, I’ve come to appreciate life to a degree that surprises me. If my readers take away this single offering, then all my labors are justified.

 

Learn more about Dan Millman, his books, speaking events, online courses, audio programs, and life-purpose guidance at: www.PeacefulWarrior.com