July 2005

The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace
by Don Miguel Ruiz

Don Miguel Ruiz has a knack for taking complex concepts and simplifying them into basic principles that are easy to digest. In The Voice of Knowledge, he describes how, as we move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, we gradually accumulate unconscious filters through which we interpret everything and everyone we encounter in life. Those filters -- or lies, as he calls them -- color our perceptions, not only about others but about ourselves. We bury our authentic self in layers of interference and succumb to our "inner voice", the critic who convinces us we are not enough. As a result, we feel inadequate, but more importantly, we lose our sense of connection with the infinite.

When I first cracked open this book and began reading, I felt disconnected from the book's true intent due to the description of knowledge as the primary source of our problems. There were many references to what Ruiz calls our "voice of knowledge," all pointing toward what most would consider the inner critic, and what some might even consider the ego -- not what most of us would first imagine when hearing or reading the word "knowledge." I tend to feel that knowledge together with experience breeds wisdom -- wisdom of the self, wisdom of our incredible potential - and, through that process, assists us in ultimately realizing our infinite nature. As such, I have never viewed knowledge as a bad thing. Therefore, the usage of the word "knowledge" in such a negative sense did not resonate well with me, but in the end it was a small matter of semantics, as on page 58 the clarification was made: "The problem is not really knowledge, the problem is what contaminates knowledge." This I could certainly agree with.

The book eventually finds its footing, and then lands steadily on very solid ground. Ruiz distills practical, everyday wisdom about conquering your inner critic and reestablishing your authentic self. As mentioned above, he has a knack for presenting things in a very straightforward manner and making everything quite easy to understand, yet the true depth of the material is never in question.

Some of the book's major points touch on the source of problems most of us encounter on a day-to-day basis: the tendency to distort what we perceive in order to make it fit our preconceived notions, the ingrained patterns that cause us to take things personally when we shouldn't, and the unconscious habit of trying to change others rather than change ourselves.

The book's foremost message is about learning to control the inner voice that feeds us a continuous stream of negative self-talk. Though the book contains only basic instructions in how to accomplish the task, by simply making us more aware of that inner voice, it inspires us to rise to the challenge. Overall, The Voice of Knowledge presents a valuable lesson in overcoming self-judgment, making it worth the read.

Book Details:
234 pages
Released: April, 2004
Publisher: Amber-Allen Publishing
ISBN: 1878424548

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