The Way of the Dreamcatcher: Spirit Lessons with Robert Lax: Poet, Peacemaker, Sage (Contemporary Pastoral and Spiritual Books)

For me reading the book was like a breath of fresh air (a cliche, I know, but true) – it completely transported me out of my own world with its immediate concerns and tribulations, and I found myself with the young disciple and the sage, listening to their evening conversation as the fire flickered in the hermitage overlooking the port town of Skala on the sacred isle of Patmos. “Go with the flow” is the major message that comes through – become who you are, find out a little more everyday about who you are and become that person. Like the ageing hermit of the Aegean, living his simple life, writing his poems, becoming a little more holy everyday. As I said, deceptively easy. But I also found the book tremendously challenging – in a gentle but insistent way. It made me ask questions about my own life and why I do what I do. Questions about who I am. And more than that it raises disturbing questions about the world and culture in which we live, the culture of activity and busy-ness, the strenuous struggle to survive. Going with the flow is all very well on the tranquillity of Patmos but how do you go with the flow when everyday existence is a raging torrent? The answers are not contained in this book though there are plenty of hints and pointers – perhaps not least the need to be asking the questions in the first place.