Prologue
The Hidden School: Return of the Peaceful Warrior
Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths
that will endure when mere facts
are dust and ashes, and forgot.
Neil Gaiman
In 1966, during my college years, I met a mysterious service station mechanic I called Socrates, described in Way of the Peaceful Warrior. During our time together, Soc spoke of a woman shaman in Hawaii with whom he’d studied many years before. He also told me about a book he’d lost in the desert, and a school hidden somewhere in Asia, but the details soon drifted into the recesses of my memory.
Later, when I graduated, my old mentor sent me away with the words “No more spoon-feeding, junior. Time to learn from your own experience.” In the years that followed I married, fathered a child, coached gymnastics at Stanford University, and then taught movement arts while on the faculty of Oberlin College.
Eight years had passed since I first wandered into Soc’s all-night service station. To the casual eye, my life looked as good as it had during my college years as an elite athlete. But I was haunted by the feeling that I was missing something important—that real life was passing me by while I played pretend in the shallows of convention. Meanwhile, my wife and I had agreed to a formal separation.
Then I was awarded a worldwide travel grant from the college to research martial arts and mind-body disciplines. This opportunity reawakened those memories and the possibility that now I might find the people and places Socrates had mentioned years before. I could combine professional research with my personal quest.
This book, which narrates a journey across the world, opens just after my adventure in Hawaii (recounted in Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior) and concludes just prior to the climactic ending of Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
Having completed the first leg of my travels in Hawaii, I’d now set my sights on Japan. That was before a chance discovery changed everything and proved the saying “Whenever you want to do something, you have to do something else first.”
It all began on a rainy September morning. . . .
PART ONE
A Book in the Desert
Fight nonviolently for a better world,
but do not expect to find it easy;
you shall not walk on roses. . .
Pilgrims of justice and peace
must expect the desert.
– Dom Hélder Câmara
ONE
A shower of leaves in the gray dawn drew my gaze out the rain-spattered window of my motel room on the island of Oahu. Dark clouds matched my mood as I floated between heaven and earth, rootless, drifting through the in-between. My summer on Molokai with Mama Chia had raced by. Now I had a nine-month leave of absence before resuming my teaching duties.
Walking across the carpeted floor, clad only in my underwear, I stopped and glanced at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Have I changed? I wondered. My muscular frame, a carryover from my college gymnastics days and recent labors on Molokai, looked the same. So did my tanned face, long jaw, and customary crew cut from the day before. Only the eyes gazing back at me seemed different. Will I one day resemble my old mentor, Socrates?
Continued in THE HIDDEN SCHOOL. . . .
Return of the Peaceful Warrior
The Hidden School reveals a book within a book, a quest within a quest, and a bridge between worlds.
In the long-awaited conclusion to the international bestselling Peaceful Warrior saga, Dan Millman takes readers on an epic spiritual quest across the world as he searches for the link between everyday life and transcendent possibility.
Continuing his journey from Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Dan moves from Honolulu to the Mojave Desert, and from a bustling Asian city to a secluded forest, until he uncovers the mystery of The Hidden School. While traversing continents, he uncovers lessons of life hidden in plain sight—insights pointing the way to an inspired life in the eternal present.
Along the way, you’ll encounter remarkable characters and brushes with mortality as you explore the nature of reality, the self, death, and finally, a secret as ancient as the roots of this world. Awaken to the hidden powers of paradox, humor, and change. Discover a vision that may forever change your perspectives about life’s promise and potential.