“We control nothing, but we influence everything.”

Through reading Brian Klaas’s book Fluke, I found the perfect explanation for human life and the Buddhist path. He said, “we control nothing, but we influence everything.” I feel like Klaas took the Buddha teachings and confirmed their truth with real life examples we can relate to in a contemporary setting. There were so many fascinating little pieces, all fit together – like a photographic mosaic.

photographic mosaic

In his book, we see the Buddha’s teachings flowing alongside history. We can zoom in and out, seeing the little details and how they make up the whole. It’s like looking at a Georges Seurat painting, we see all these little dots up close, and they don’t look like much. But when we step back, we see this amazing masterpiece. The countless hours it took to place each dot boggles the mind. There’s so much to take in from the big picture and the subject of the painting to craftmanship of the artist. If we look long enough, it’s almost as if we have entered it and become one with it. We experience on a deep level. We can imagine the smell of the paint.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1884

Fluke brought the teachings to life in a really contemporary way. A new dimension if you will. Much like the picture made of pictures and George Seurat’s pointillism, I could see things in a way I couldn’t before. Picture in your mind that you are in a little boat on the lake rowing back and forth and around and around. You are happy just cruising the surface of the lake, then suddenly and unexpectedly, you turn into a submarine in the ocean. The depth below you is unknown. It’s so vast and wide and deep and your vessel can take you to these far-off places. That’s exactly where this book took me. To a depth and dimension I hadn’t known before.

To say I’m exciting for book club would be an understatement. I’m looking forward to the thought-provoking discussion this book will surely create. Join us to explore the Buddhist teachings through a new and contemporary lens. Click here for more details about LBT’s Conversation Group & Book Club.