The Way of the Warrior

I recently recorded a podcast of The Way of the Warrior  <<<<click the link to hear it/ download it. I’ve found this life stance to hold up even during the darkest moments.  Here’s the first couple of paragraphs:

WHAT IS A WARRIOR?

Why is being a Warrior important, and what is meant by being a Warrior anyway?

Language is so often a barrier to understanding. The word, ” Warrior ,” for example, presents many problems. Sometimes the best available word has a shadow, a dark area of connotations that may be alien or even contradictory to what we are trying to convey. If we want to convey the possibility of a more effective focus in our lives, the word “discipline” comes to mind. But “discipline” can also mean to punish, and our Puritan heritage gives the word an unwanted sadistic resonance. In Sanskrit the nearest word to discipline is “tapas,” which has a range of meanings such as the use of austerities to generate and conserve transformational inner heat.  There’s no sadistic or punitive connotation to “tapas,” but it is not a word readily available to most people. “Warrior” is a word that is readily available, but, like the word “discipline,” it carries much unwanted baggage. The word “war” is in “Warrior,” and the connotations of aggression and violence are obvious. But “Warrior” is also a word that in certain circles has been undergoing major redefinition and rediscovery.  Essentially, the archetype of the Warrior is being salvaged from millennia of patriarchal associations.  The best definition I have been able to come up with for “Warrior” that reflects its archetypal  meaning is as follows: A Warrior is someone who strives to live alertly,  intelligently, attuned to the moment in order to serve life affirming  transpersonal values.

Warrior with a capital “W,” is one who efficiently serves life affirming transpersonal aims. A warrior with a lower case “w” could be a mercenary, one who serves selfish aims, or one who serves transpersonal but anti-life aims — a Nazi SS officer, for example. Someone could have rippling muscles, be a potent martial artist, highly efficient, focused and determined and yet only be a warrior. Someone else could be confined to a wheel chair and yet be an exemplary Warrior.