
Answer all the big questions of life in just a forty page book on Kindle – Yeah right! Well, that is exactly what Daniel Socha sets out to do in his book, The Wizard and the Owl: Of Truth and Wisdom. Socha attacks the big issues with a simple Socratic dialogue between an Owl and a Wizard. The Owl is seeking enlightenment and understanding from the wise Wizard, but the Wizard wants the Owl to come to his own understanding, so asks him questions that will make him think and ponder, to come up with the solutions to the questions himself. The author covers most of the big questions in life, including, but certainly not limited to: Death, Religion, Discipline, Forgiveness, Reincarnation, Anger, Love and a whole host of other issues we all ponder from time to time. He certainly doesn’t pretend to have the answer to everything, but what he does is makes you question your beliefs and consider other options.
I loved this neat little book, The Wizard and the Owl: Of Truth and Wisdom by Daniel Socha, if only because the author is not trying to ram a particular philosophy of life down the reader’s throats, but is merely asking questions that makes the Owl and by extension, the reader think long and hard about their own beliefs and where they were formed. Certainly, the book relies heavily on Buddhist philosophy, but at the end of the day, as much of that ties in with my own particular beliefs, it certainly did resonate with me. What I particularly liked was that Socha did not suggest he was the font of all knowledge. On more than one occasion the Wizard was forced to concede to the Owl; “well, we just don’t know, do we? We’ll have to wait and find out”. What was my best take from this pocket philosophy treatise? For me, it was the idea that we have to live in the present and the thoughts and actions of today will determine our happiness and life tomorrow. This is well worth a read and I highly recommend it, if you want to do some serious thinking and introspection.