A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao [Paperback]

Michael LaTorra (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 1993

Tao Te Ching, or The Classic of the Way and its Virtue, is considered to contain the essence of Taoism. Fr 2,500 years this book has been a major influence on Chinese thought, shifting it from a preoccupation with Confucian rules of day-to-day conduct to concern with a more spiritual level of being. Author Michael LaTorra’s training in internal martial arts and his understanding of the new physics influence his reading of the Tao Te Ching, grappling with the vicissitudes of contemporary culture and the ever-shifting nature of reality.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael LaTorra has explored spiritual paths East and West. He is a technical writer for a computer firm in El Paso and lives with his family in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (June 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556431600
• ISBN-13: 978-1556431609
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I Enjoyed Mr. LaTorra's Book, January 6, 2006

By 

Thomas Palven (Farmingdale, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao (Paperback)

A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao
by Michael LaTorra

On Dec. 5, 2005 the Ludwig von Mises Institute blog had an article by the late Dr. Murray N. "Mr. Libertarian" Rothbard entitled The Ancient Chinese Libertarian Tradition, originally printed in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, Fall 1990. Murray began his article, "The first libertartian intellectual was Lao-tzu, the founder of Taoism", and went on to describe Lao-tzu's recommended minimalist government and "live and let live" philosophy.
Lao-tzu's original book consists of 81 poems titled Tao Te Ching (Book of The Way"). All of the 81 poems appear in Mr. LaTorra's book along with a page of so of his own interpretation along side. The poems include what is standard advice today, such as "The more (people) live for others, the richer their lives become", "The more they give, the more they get" and "The nature of absolute being extends goodness unconditionally and universally, and doesn't pick fights with anyone', all from poem 81.

Poem 75 by Lao-tzu (around 400-500 BC), states:

"Why do people joke about death and taxes?
Because their rulers take too much for themselves,
and care only for personal power and prestige.
That's why people joke about death and taxes."

Poem 28 includes the line "Truly, the best governor governs least", which we often attribute to Jefferson, and also includes the line "Never stray from the truth." Twain said that "When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything", implying that it was the easiest and best way to live.

In Poem 32 Lao-tzu says "Return to simplicity and harmony will be restored", and again in poem 48 he says "To live in the chaos of the moment, simplify! Then simplify again," reminiscent of Thoreau's "Simplify, simplify."

Poem 38 begins "A truly good person is not self-conscious about goodness...When people estrange themselves from the Way, they can't see themselves as they are....When only ceremony and etiquette are left, people lack loyalty and kindness. Their society enters the chaos preceding the next cycle of history."

I circled and penciled in a lot more comments on this book, but if your curiosity is aroused, check the whole work out for yourself. One last point that I found interesting is that the Tao Te Ching seems to have been written a fairly modern style, like the Koran, and doesn't have references to God turning people into pillars of salt, or anyone slaying anyone else.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Tao book I've read, January 9, 2006

By 

Hadar Shapir "Philosopher" (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao (Paperback)

I've read many spirituality books and this one is very good. It contains advice you'll find elsewhere like "keep everything simple," advice often attributed to taoism. It also contains Latorra's interesting interpretations of the Tao Teh Ching such as "when there are free markets, the people's needs are met." But by far my favorite part of the book are the very beginning and very end. It tells Lao-tzu's story of leaving the palace on an ox and meeting a guard at the edge of Chinese territory when he gave the guard the Tao-teh-ching. I plan to buy a copy of this book for my taoist sister for her birthday. Latorra also has comments about the afterlife about a paradisaical earthlike realm where people still live and die, one realm lower than heaven but 6 realms higher than earth. The story of the guard is continued at the end of the book to a beautiful conclusion. In my own conclusion, I recommend this book highly.

Hadar Shapir

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Beautiful, Compelling, February 17, 2004

By 

Michael Tozer (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Warrior Blends with Life: A Modern Tao (Paperback)

This wonderful little book is full of insight, wisdom, beauty, and love. Read it. Enjoy it. Have your life wonderfully transformed. Become the guard. (Once you've read this excellent book, you'll know what I mean.)