The Web of Illusion
- Spring is in the air. Dan goes to see a movie called The Great Escape, then heads over to the gas station and tells his teacher about the film.
- Socrates tells him he too needs to escape—from his illusions about himself and the world, and from his addicting distractions, like sex and movies, that keep him from facing the underlying fear, doubts, and suffering plaguing his mind.
- Socrates explains. He tells Dan his mind is the source of his suffering, because it gets attached to goals or to the hope of being free of pain or change or death. He tells Dan to let go of the attachments and just live life for the ride, no matter what happens.
- As they eat vegetables and tofu—the old man enjoys tasting small bites whereas Dan gobbles his food inattentively—they continue discussing the mind. Dan argues the mind is to be praised for achievements such as books, libraries, and arts.
- Socrates replies that those are works of the intellect, whereas the mind is cerebral fidgeting, random uncontrolled thoughts. All and all, an aggravating evolutionary mistake. The intellect is just a tool, but the mind can take people over and swamp them with worries, in other words.
- Socrates tells Dan to observe his mind in action. He says when Dan has an angry thought, he becomes angry, and is controlled similarly by any other thought and emotion. His emotional state is the result of knee-jerk responses to emotions he can't control.
- Dan goes back to school for a few days, Socrates' words stuck in his mind, except during gymnastics, when his thoughts give way to action. Throughout the days, he writes his thoughts down in a journal. This soon makes him aware of the blaring noise of thoughts in his head.
- He returns to the gas station seeking Socrates' help in silencing his thoughts. But he finds him singing and dancing with a young, attractive woman with big dark eyes. Her name is Joy. Dan falls in love at first sight.
- She invites the two men to a picnic lunch on the coming weekend. When the Saturday arrives, Dan heads to the park shirtless, hoping to impress her with his gymnast muscles. Once they're at the park, a sudden rain bursts down. The rain makes the food soggy, and the three are getting soaked. Dan curses, angry at this fate of the picnic; Socrates and Joy, meanwhile, laugh and dance in the rain.
- Socrates uses the rain to explain to Dan that his upset at the weather was caused by his mind, not the rain itself. He could have chosen to see the situation otherwise rather than become frustrated that the two warriors, Socrates and Joy, were having fun. That their fun had aggravated Dan further suggests, Socrates says, that Dan is having trouble accepting that he should change to become more like them.
- Dan finally relaxes and rolls around in the wet leaves.
- Headed back on the bus, Dan snuggles with Joy, ignoring Socrates' lessons. But Joy gets off the bus and leaves him hanging when he asks if he'll see her again. Her response plunges Dan into despair, and he vows to win Joy over at the gas station next time he visits.
- Sure enough, she's there. Laughing, Socrates goes off on Dan for being a slave to his mind's moods and impulses. Joy nods along to Socrates' diatribe. The old man calls Dan a jackass once more. The youth lashes out that Socrates' world is the one of suffering, and that he, Dan, was doing just fine before they met. With that, Dan storms out of the station, sick of always playing the fool around Socrates—and now in front of Joy.
- Dan promises himself he will forget Socrates. He drowns himself in schoolwork and gymnastics, but his teammates notice how sleepless he looks. Dan focuses on his gym training. Everything else is unenjoyable; he can't even bring himself to spend time with Susie.
- His despair comes to a head during a college class with an instructor named Watkins. In the middle of the lecture, Dan yells out, “Bullshit!” We don't recommend you try this with your professors.
- Anyway, Watkins asks the student to explain, and Dan heads to the front of the class. He asks loudly what any of the class has to do with happiness, with life. Students begin to applaud.
- But then the students start to laugh as Dan tries to explain about meeting a wise man at a gas station and his memory of the story of townspeople who had gone mad drinking polluted water. The laughter keeps getting louder. Watkins whispers to Dan that his fly is open. Dan flees, crying, feeling he's the jackass yet again.
- Dan tries to visit Socrates one last time. From a distance, the student sees the old man laughing with station customers. Dan flees—and this time he collapses.
- He awakens in an infirmary. The next afternoon he makes an appointment with Dr. Baker, a psychiatrist, threatening suicide. Poor guy.
- The secretary lets him visit that very day. In the office, Dan feels ridiculous at the prospect of having to explain a gas station ninja who takes him on magic journeys. He leaves the office abruptly.
- Dan goes back to the gas station—Joy isn't there. He admits to Socrates that he, Dan, is stuck halfway between the two ways of life and doesn't want to live.
- Socrates tells the student he won't kill himself. Once more the old man puts his hands on Dan's head. Dan finds himself in a hotel room with Socrates. The old man orders the youth to go save a suicidal undergraduate student, Donald, who's out on the ledge preparing to jump. Dan climbs out and tells Donald that most people effectively kill themselves with the unhealthy ways they live. He suggests Donald go hiking in the mountains.
- Donald isn't persuaded. Dan gives up and says that he might as well jump too. Donald asks why, pointing out that Dan looks healthy, like he has a lot to live for. Somehow Dan begins to merge with Donald, the two becoming the same. Dan, on the ledge alone, slips and tumbles down.
- Dan comes to on the sofa, Socrates smiling over him and encouraging him to persist with the lessons. The student asks about Joy, and the old man says she might appear at some point in the future.
- Socrates tells Dan to stop seeing the world from the perspective of his personal cravings and until he can do so, at least continue observing the debris of his mind.
- In the next several weeks of the now-audible noise of thoughts blaring in his head, Dan keeps going to the gas station to ask for Socrates' help. The old man deflects the question, telling Dan to continue observing his mind and to develop a sense of humor. Finally Dan decides he'll no longer by the teacher's victim, but instead, he'll stalk Socrates.
- Dan hides behind the bushes until Socrates' shift is over. When the old man leaves the station, the student stealthily follows. He sees the old man enter the university library and disappear into the bathroom. Dan waits outside, but Socrates doesn't come out. Finally Dan enters. Socrates is nowhere in sight. The youth checks the stalls, only to discover Socrates inside one grinning at him, obviously aware that Dan had been following. Socrates laughs and reminds Dan who is the teacher and who is the student.
- That afternoon, Dan trains in the gym, raging and bent on becoming a warrior. A teammate gives him a note from the coach's office. It's from Socrates. It tells Dan anger is stronger than fear and so his spirit is soaring. “You are ready for the sword,” it concludes.