Log #5

One day when I was waiting for my friend at 7-11, which had a bookstore in it, I picked up this book and started to read it. I had heard about this book and its adapted movie before, but I never got the chance to read or watch it. 

The first two chapter was talking about how the life of the main character, Dan, had changed after he met his mentor, Socrates, at a gas station. Dan thought he had a successful life. He was an excellent Gymnast, who won many prizes. Socrates challenged the way of Dan's life by asking him a lot of questions. Dan started to feel confused about his life. Although he looked successful from other's perspective, he did not feel satisfied within his heart. 

I felt a sense of excitement while reading this novel. This book was definitely the book that I needed for my life now. The questions and words saying from Socrates also gave me a chance to reflect on myself. I was also confused about my life just like Dan. I like the way that Socrates taught Dan. Socrates did not give Dan a solution or an answer, instead, he let Dan figure out the answer by raising a question to him. A few years ago, I started to read some books related to Buddhism. The books that I read did not actually talk about the religious doctrine or teaching of Buddhism but provide some techniques that you can use to make your life happier. I think the way and the word of Socrates gave me a similar feeling of these Buddhism books.

"Understanding is one dimensional. It is the comprehension of the intellect. It leads to knowledge, which you have. Realization, on the other hand, is three dimensional. It is the simultaneous comprehension of the 'whole-body'---the head, heart, and physical instincts. It comes only from clear experience." 

Above is one of the paragraphs that I like from this chapter. Sometimes we all know many rules, knowledge, and truth. However, understanding is one thing, realization is another thing. Only through experience can we really learn and understand the meaning of a thing. Just like swimming and driving, you have to really go into the situation and learn from it. You can not call yourself being able to swim or drive if you only read the instruction from books.

I felt lucky that I picked this book by chance. I could have missed this book if I did not go to that 7-11 and waited for my friend. I hope that by reading this book, I can also follow the growing path with Dan and find out the true happiness of my life.