My son shared with me a book that I found difficult to put down. It’s called Shantaram and I’ve found in it all kinds of ‘wisdom.’ The author is Gregory David Roberts (published by St. Martin’s Griffin, New York). Apparently, there's a sequel coming soon (as I write in September 2015).

Ostensibly a work of fiction, and caution" the book is very earthy but also extremely real – and hauntingly beautiful. Perhaps almost autobiographical, it mirrors much of the experience of the author. In a little and remote farming village in India, he was given the name, ‘Man of God’s Peace’ – i.e. Shantaram. Writes the author: “I don’t know if they found that name in the heart of the man they belived me to be, or if they planted it there, like a wishing tree, to bloom and grow. Whatever the case, whether they discovered that peace or created it, the truth is that the man I am was born in those moments.”

On reviewer states of the book: “Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don’t expect anybody to unseat its all-round performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex and blessed with a perfet voice.” Says another, “I haven’t had such a wonderful time in years. Shanataram is, quite simply, the Arabian Nights of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life.”

Here’s one thought from page 82 of the book, about Truth. “There’s a truth that’s deeper than experience. It’s beyond what we see, or even what we feel. It’s an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from the perception. We’re helpless, usually, in the face of it; and the cost of knowing it, like the cost of knowing love, is sometimes greater than any heart would willingly pay. It doesn’t always help us to love the world, but it does prevent us from hating the world. And the only way to know that truth is to share it, from heart to heart . . . just as I’m telling it to you now.”