Within all of with alive or dead is a being that persuades
us to be more than what we are. All have a spirit that haggles us daily for
that little extra… something. This
journey is not one done alone, but often makes us feel lonely. The path that’s
left unsaid but walked by so many. This is the ethos of the warrior.
What
is a warrior? A warrior is a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of
being. While others view
happenings as a blessing or curse, the warrior stands tall as he or she only
sees challenges. Challenge is the Holy Grail for a warrior. It is this undying search to get
better, be bested, only to arise and get better once again. The way of the
samurai was not only to master war. They are an intriguing people. From the
moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they
pursue. In addition, one mustn’t forget that a warrior is called upon by a
higher power. Which in turn comes down to the Japanese meaning of the word,
“samurai.” Which is clearly a derivative of the Japanese word saburau, meaning, to serve.
Warriors
are forceful souls; they embody qualities of strength, courage and determination.
Like Kings, Warriors are action-oriented beings, and therefore down-to-earth,
single-minded and very willful. Unlike Kings, however, they tend to be more
attracted to the cut and thrust of battle (whether real or metaphorical),
preferring to just get stuck in rather than to stand back pulling all the
strings. Carlos Castaneda says we choose only once, to be warriors or ordinary.
We choose only once. Because choosing to be a warrior alters your fundamental
approach to life.
A
warrior never hopes, but he must have faith. Hope is powerless, useless... The
longer we sit and hope the more time we waste, because the universe gives only
what is sought, what is believed! But yet a warrior must have faith. Because at
times not every path is clear, and not every enemy a fiery dragon. When the
forest is dark the warrior holds his ground with faith that if he remembers the
warrior code, the light to illuminate the darkness will come. The Warrior is a
Believer. As Paulo Coelho says, “Because he believes in miracles, miracles
begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his
life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, love
appears.”
The
mind of a warrior must understand that they are not perfect. Only that they
must strive to be. They must only understand; that a warrior can both be a
negative impact and positive to the universe around them. Given the darker,
survival driven side of human nature, it has and still is common practice for
some individuals, tribes, cultures, corporations and nations to use raiding,
theft, looting and plunder as a means of gaining wealth, power or even
survival. It is also intrinsically true that those from whom they take do not
give voluntarily. Thus, some cultures have a warrior class that act as raiders
while others have a warrior class that acts as defenders or protectors. In
fact, the warrior often serves both roles, sort of like taking turns.
Regardless, the strongest and boldest warriors are generally admired and enjoy
an assortment of privileges within their own group. In our culture we think of
medieval knights as generally being honorable and noble (except for the black
knight, of course). The truth is somewhat less romantic. Proven by a heralded
knight Bertrand du Guesclin saying:
"We have ravaged women, burned
houses, slain children, exacted ransom from everyone, eaten their cows, oxen,
sheep, stolen their geese, pigs, capons, drunk their wines, violated churches… For
God's sake, let us march on the pagans!"
If
he errs, if he wanders, if he indulges in self pity, if he complains... He does
not despair. He knows that he is human, and he remembers the choice he made. He
picks his sword back up from the ground, and resumes the path of the warrior.
A
warrior is not an ascetic. He does not deny himself the pleasures of conquest
simply for the sake of denying them. He realizes that in denying oneself it is
easy to think he is doing great things, when really he is just focused on
himself. But neither is the warrior attached to these pleasures. He can walk
away from them at any time, and sometimes he does, just to prove it to himself.
These beings are disciplined, both
internally and externally. Without discipline, they could not stay alive long
enough to call themselves a warrior. They develop mental focus. No one can
develop essential skills of dealing with life, protecting one's self or facing
a foreboding opponent with an unfocused mind. They develop an attitude of
persistence. They have to face difficulty, pain, discomfort, discouragement,
fear and the prospect of failure and utter doom without quitting. All struggle
and conflict is settled in the mind before it reaches a physical resolution. If
their resolve wavers, failure and defeat are certain. For the warrior, the body
is as important as the mind, because the two are inseparable. Danielle Bolleli
writes “ A person who knows there is a wild wolf living under the skin has less
reason to be intimidated by reality. Even when the power of the mind is in
doubt, the body can provide tangible proof.”
Perhaps,
more than anything else, within every fiber of his or her being, the warrior is
a leader. In Alexander the Great’s massive campaign stretching to become the
largest empire the world had known to that point in time, mutiny had befallen
his camp. Tired and weary of battle his troops wished to return home. Alexander
did not blame instead he got off his horse and stripped naked saying:
“These
scars were for you my brothers. Every wound is in the front. Bring forth a man
from your ranks that has bled more than I, or endured more for your sake. Show
him to me and we will go home.”
Not
a man came forward. Why? Simple, because it was Alexander. His men erupted in
cheer and begged for their king to forgive them for wane of spirit. They
pounded their shields and pleaded him to lead them forward.
A
warrior fights for one reason alone: love. Love of life, love of what is good,
love of family, love of tribe, and love of our infinite soul on the quest for
impeccability. He lets love swell in his heart, flushing through every cell in
his being until he cannot help but proclaim, like Cyrano De Bergerac, “I am
going to be a storm -- a flame -- I need to fight whole armies alone. I have
ten hearts! I have a hundred arms! I feel too strong to war with mortals. Bring
me giants!”
