Don Miguel Ruiz has a brillant book with information that pours out of his glass of truth like. This book has the chance to change your life. Reading this book provides a way to spiritually and/or intellectually ask the big questions of life.
Why are we here? What is my purpose in life? Is this is? Not a fluff book, it will either change your life or you are not ready to hear this.

Everyone has a constant rhythm of talking in their head. Sometimes it seems as though that voice is never quiet. It is constantly telling us things. Usually things we already know. Miguel Ruiz calls this the Voice of Knowledge or the "prince of lies." The voice of knowledge knows everything about you and everyone else or so it would like to have you believe.

Miguel Ruiz's latest book The Voice of Knowledge focuses on that voice. The majority of what the voice says is negative; even if you think it's positive it probably isn't as positive as you would think. Ruiz wants us to be able to understand how the voice works so we can better control it. Most of what it says is useless information. This negative voice is what causes the majority of people to seek releases elsewhere with alcohol, drugs or even food.

To better explain how the voice works, Ruiz uses personal anecdotes. Right from the beginning I was on guard. I have a problem with knowledge being looked at as a bad thing and a great part of the opening was about how bad knowledge is. It wasn't until later he confirmed knowledge isn't the problem, "the problem is what contaminates it." Another thing about the opening that bothered me was his comment that his perspective may or may not be true because it was from his perspective.

I continued to swim in and out of skepticism as I read. According to Ruiz our head is full of lies and everyone is always trying to inflict their story on us and us on them. I put him in this category as well. He's just another story teller trying to tell us what we are doing wrong with our lives. Supposedly, once we are able to understand this we'll stop trying to control things we have no control over: each other.

A big part of his book is about faith. He wants readers to regain their lost faith in themselves, their lives, the world and most of all in love.

Half way through I had a Dr. Phil book plug moment when Ruiz brought up his other book, The Four Agreements. This section seemed more like a long advertisement for this book which was disappointing. The information is also available on his website.

At certain points the book becomes "God" preachy but I survived and feel one step closer to quieting the prince of lies. The Voice of Knowledge is a very short book and is very repetitive in trying to get its main points across. Basically knowledge is bad, don't believe yourself and don't believe other people. I felt like he was dancing around what he really wanted to say but that could be me imposing my story on his. Or maybe not.

Ruiz didn't offer many suggestions for quieting the voice other than wordless music or prayer (he provided a couple in the back of the book.) He also didn't make any promises that you could. Everyone's different and the way they control their voices I expect it is also different.

As you can see I'm a bit resistant to most of the book. On a positive note, I did find myself more aware of my voice. With that awareness I was able to quiet it more than I have in a while. With that there is a feeling of peace. The kind you get when the kids are away for the day and there are no appointments in your day planner. Now that my scepticism has wavered slightly I'd like to re-read The Voice of Knowledge again with my new perspective.

If this is something you want to do then this book will help. If you are looking for a miracle to inner peace well I think you'd be better off searching elsewhere.

Review Originally Posted at http://www.linearreflections.com