Book excerpt: The World is My Mirror sparkles with a commonsensical humour, but Richard Bates is serious when it matters. Richard is an “ordinary bloke” with his own small business in England. A little less ordinary is this simple, yet profound, book about his experience of trying to find out the meaning of his life and what happened when the trying stopped. In straightforward language he takes us with him into an exploration of the very foundation of existence, while suggesting no special practices, no charismatic teachings—just investigation of a very practical nature.