There Is No Somewhere Else

Book excerpt: In There Is No Somewhere Else: Insights from the Tao Te Ching, Francis Pring-Mill takes us on a journey up the same mountain from which Lao Tzu pointed out amazing views in his Tao Te Ching. Written over twenty-five hundred years ago, the Tao Te Ching shows us how to live a meaningful life in harmony with the world around us. Its timeless wisdom still resonates with people everywhere as though it had been written yesterday. As we live our lives, why is it that some of our actions tend to create confusion and stress? Why do other actions seem to flow effortlessly and add to the harmony around us? Could the answer depend simply on where we’re coming from? Is this the difference between being centered in ourselves, and in our own thoughts and desires, and being centered in the Tao? There Is No Somewhere Else will appeal to anyone curious about answers to questions like these. Author of In Harmony with the Tao: A Guided Journey into the Tao Te Ching, Francis Pring-Mill reveals a new path up the mountain by exploring between the lines of a series of contemporary observations about life. The chapters in There Is No Somewhere Else are short, easy to read, and the style is conversational. Francis Pring-Mill draws again on the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching and succeeds in bringing its messages down to earth where they can make a practical, positive difference in how we live our lives today. If the Tao is the only eternal reality, this book suggests we lose the harmony the moment we try to live “somewhere else.”