Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

This is a book to read and re-read for the philosophical and spiritual issues that it examines. The utopia of Pala is examined by an outsider, much like ourselves. Will has been brought up through the typical patriarchal pedagogy, which resents and demeans anything different.

He learns to embrace a parallel if not complementary way of living. The Palanese integrate teachings across philosophies (not just religions) of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity and accept the spectrum of individuals (muscle men, peter pans) but find ways to allow peaceful interaction. There is no monopolistic forcing of one's ways on others but continuously appropriate and attentive choices made by an intellectually and humanely informed population, all the way from children to adults.

This book gets at an essential that many of us have not taken the time to absorb - but that is evident in the background should we choose to make the effort to observe it - like the saying the democracy depends on a well informed electorate and Albert Einstein's quote: "peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

I choose to believe that the ending is just the future truth being revealed by the moksha-medicine, and that Will wakes up and takes actions that allow the little heaven on earth to still be in existence, resilient to the ever-present outside forces trying to get in and corrupt/conquer. It harks to the daily fight each of us undergoes since we were born. That is the beauty of the ending - you can make up your own!