Many of us have had a long night when we can't sleep because we start worrying about the inevitable fact that we'll die. Yep, grim stuff, but it's the truth. Way of the Peaceful Warrior sees mortality as the big fear behind unhappy lives. So it's not just keeping you up at night—it's the cause of all your unhappiness.
Socrates, the teacher in this novel, offers a way of solving the problem. His idea is that we learn to dispose of our worrying minds and realize our mortal lives are pretty insignificant next to our true nature as an eternal and ever-changing Consciousness. What the heck does that mean? Well, read the quotes to find out!
Questions About Mortality
- According to Dan and Socrates, what is the relationship between the mind and the fear of death? What must we do in order to conquer our fear of our mortality?
- What reasons, if any, are we given to explain why the fear of death is Dan's ultimate bogeyman? What reasons, if any, are we given to explain why the revelation that we are all Consciousness is the ultimate cure for that?
- What is death, according to Dan and Socrates? What is life?
Chew on This
Death is the ultimate fear people must get over in order to have happy lives.
There is no single, ultimate fear you can point to as the problem behind unhappiness.