Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives

Self-help and spiritual discovery books have acquired a growing popularity and interest among readers. Aiming to inspire and help people find a higher meaning and purpose in their daily lives, spiritual discovery books often focus on the author’s personal journey or life experience. Personal viewpoint is key in spiritual discovery stories that explore ways self-realization and personal growth can be attained. These narratives can be fiction or nonfiction and include classics like Siddhartha (1920) and Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) as well as contemporary narratives like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love (2006). Fictional narratives on spiritual discovery blend fact and fiction, using storytelling devices to amplify the author’s main ideas and inspire readers toward conscious and mindful living. Millman’s story is based on his own experience of self-growth, which underlies his work teaching and writing about personal development and spirituality. By transforming Socrates, a real person, into a mythical figure, Millman can convey his real journey in a way that feels palpable and compelling.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior as a literary narrative falls into the category of autofiction. Autofiction refers to autobiographical fiction that combines details from the author’s life with fictionalized elements, events, or characters and centers on the search for self. Autofiction stories are often first-person narratives with a protagonist that shares the author’s name and that represents life and the world according to the author’s experience and viewpoint. The distinction between fiction and reality is often unclear to the reader, who cannot easily distinguish the factual from the fictional.

Scholarly views on autofiction and its characteristics are diverse. Critics note that autofiction differs from autobiography because it can bend the truth or add fictional elements that go beyond the subjective narrative framing inherent in straight autobiography. Marjorie Worthington stresses the popularity of the genre in the United States and notes that “readers can recognize the simultaneous yet contradictory idea that an autofiction might be both factual and fictional” (Worthington, Marjorie, The Story of Me: Contemporary American Autofiction, University of Nebraska, 2018). Accordingly, autofiction can reflect “larger cultural anxieties” in their subjectivity (Worthington). Worthington notes that men write most American autofiction, which relates to “a perceived ‘crisis of masculinity’” as gender roles shift over time (Worthington).

Millman’s novel includes autofiction characteristics and centers on two men’s relationship as a student and teacher exploring the self. The author draws from his life events to create a fictionalized narrative about a character’s spiritual quest through a series of experiences that ultimately transform his life and worldview.

In 1966, Millman did meet a mysterious character at a gas station, whom he nicknamed Socrates, an encounter that transformed his life. He suggests that he had to change his mindset and worldview and “learn how to live” since, despite his success, he felt unfulfilled and dissatisfied (1). Millman was also involved in a road accident when his motorcycle crashed into a car. He eventually recovered and was able to return to gymnastics. Finally, Millman’s wife is named Joy, sharing a name with the book’s love interest. The fictional format of the text reinforces the ideas and lessons included in the narrative and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about personal transformation and spiritual exploration.