Dan Millman, former world-champion gymnast, coach, martial arts teacher, and college professor, is the author of 17 books published in 29 languages and shared across generations to millions of readers. His internationally bestselling book Way of the Peaceful Warrior was adapted to film in 2006. Dan speaks worldwide to people from all walks of life. He lives in New York City and is celebrating the revised 25th anniversary edition of his bestseller The Life You Were Born to Live.
After writing your autobiographical novel, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, what drew you into the speculative field of numerology with The Life You Were Born to Live?
Dan Millman: My first books in the peaceful warrior saga convey transcendent teachings through story. I then wrote No Ordinary Moments in response to readers who asked how they could apply those teachings in everyday life. At that point it seemed a natural progression to explore life-purpose and self-knowledge, which led to immersive work on The Life You Were Born to Live.
Such a progression may seem pre-planned and organized, but the process was nothing like that. My books emerged from my own winding path of discovery, as well as meetings with unusual mentors.
I had no innate interest in numerology, which seemed irrational to me — after all, how can adding up the digits in one’s date of birth provide valid and accurate information about the core issues of one’s life? I remained skeptical until a life-changing session with a man I’ll call “the warrior-priest.”
I had previously studied many systems of insight, including the MMPI and so-called enneagram material (years before any books were published on the subject). But none of these systems seemed as objective, accessible, and accurate as the material that I learned and internalized for nearly eight years, until I finally wrote The Life You Were Born to Live. It was an extraordinary challenge, but more than a million readers validated the effort.
What new information does this anniversary edition cover?
DM: The original book described 37 life paths, one of which will apply accurately to anyone born between 1750 to 1999. But some children born after the new millennium have new (single-digit) birth numbers. The revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition covers all 45 birth numbers (life paths).
Like the original edition, it reveals a quick and accurate means to determine one’s own birth number (and corresponding life path) and the life paths of friends, loved ones, colleagues, parents, and acquaintances. It also covers the strengths and challenges of each life path in areas of health, money, and sexuality, as well as key spiritual laws to help anyone overcome the hurdles on their own path.
In addition, the new edition reveals what makes a “master number” and why — how the single-digit numbers impact the life paths of many young people — and how this knowledge helps to clarify all the other life paths. I also added new examples of well-known people on each life path, as well as how I learned the system and why I chose to share it.
What is a birth number? How does it relate to a life path?
DM: Both mystics and physicists have proposed that all existence is comprised, at the atomic and subatomic levels, of numbers (frequencies or vibrations). In a way that no one has fully articulated, each of us is connected to the rhythms and dynamics of the universe, our solar system, and the solar and lunar cycles. But what seems to happen is that when we take our first breath, our parents give us a name and the universe gives us a frequency, expressed as our birth number. How? You’ll have to ask Pythagoras.
Once we derive our own (or someone else’s) birth number — either by looking it up quickly and accurately at the “Life Purpose Calculator” at my website, www.peacefulwarrior.com, under the menu item, “Life Purpose,” or by doing the math as shown in the Appendix at the end of the new edition — that number reveals our life path and all that entails.
I need to clarify here that if we divide the 45 life paths into the population of the planet, that means millions of people are working the same life path. Does this make them the same in some sense? Of course, not — each of us is unique, and has our own story to live.
Let’s point to a tree growing nearby. That tree is also unique, since no other tree on the planet is exactly like that tree (i.e. the angle of every leaf and branch). Yet we can outline qualities of redwoods that are different from aspens or oaks or cypress trees. In the same way, we each have genetic heritage, life experience, and other factors uniquely our own — yet we also fall within certain overall patterns (or life paths) which we then manifest in our own ways.
Can your life path change?
DM: The local date and time you are born; that is, when you take your first breath (whether you arrived as expected, or induced, or via C-section), that is when you take on a birth number (or frequency) and life path. You have this path for a lifetime.
There are related factors I address in the new edition, such as whether you were born at or near midnight, or influences of the day before or after, or if you don’t know your date of birth for certain.
Although our life path remains the same, as we grow, mature, and evolve, we can face the issues on that path in more mature and resourceful ways, reducing the liabilities, overcoming the hurdles and challenges, and engaging the strength of that path (as outlined in the book).
Ultimately, through spiritual practice, we may even liberate ourselves or transcend that life path, so that it no longer defines or delineates us.
What’s the best way for a new reader to make use of this system?
DM: The book begins with a one-page guide titled, “How to read this book.” To answer the question more generally, I encourage new readers to approach the material with healthy skepticism, but also an open mind.
Anyone reading can visit www.peacefulwarrior.com, click on the menu link, “Life Purpose,” access the free Life Purpose Calculator, put in their date of birth, find their birth number (and primary meanings) and read a summary paragraph or two about their life path. Of course, the book reveals more detail, including spiritual laws key to overcoming the hurdles on that path — and also presents the dynamics of the composite number and path of any person or relationship, and insight into our current place in the nine-year cycles of our life.
How is this system similar to or different from the numerology systems in other books on the topic?
DM: The ancient Hebrews, Chinese, Mayans, and Aztecs, as well as Islamic cultures, each had its own calendar and numerological systems. And each system differs considerably in how the birth numbers are calculated and interpreted. My book has become a central resource work for many numerologists (and psychologists and intuitive coaches) due to both its accuracy and articulation of elements not included in any other texts, ancient or modern, including the spiritual laws key to each path.
Based on correspondence and feedback I’ve read and received, I can only state that the information in this book has helped to clarify and enhance, and maybe even change, the lives of its readers — the same way my life was changed decades ago in that single session with the mentor who introduced me to the Life Purpose System.
The Life You Were Born to Live (Revised 25th Anniversary Edition): A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose is published by New World Library. For more info, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.
This article is a part of the 2018 OCT / NOV issue of Whole Life Times.