“I am the Warrior -- the perfect line which never wavers.”

Line from character Riva, “Loud As A Whisper,” Star Trek: The Next Generation

This image is from promo for the movie, “The Last Samurai.” This film depicts one of the purest historical warrior paths -- that of the Japanese samurai. They were fierce and skilled warriors who adhered to a strict honor code known as bushido.

   Our culture addicts us to external forms of power -- and we excel at creating and using them. Such outer forms of power are weapons, power plants, allopathic medicine, another person (spouse, partner, coach, etc.), automobiles, microwave ovens and telecommunications, the Internet, money, and even populations manipulated by the media into supporting you. All of these constitute the “fuel” to get the job done.

    If you can’t do the job, then a lack of sufficient external power is given as the reason. “I can’t do it because I don’t have (a car, enough money, health, time, help).” You are full of excuses. If you lack anything, it is the ability to amass sufficient external power. You are a victim of scarcity. It's not your fault. Boo hoo.

    The succinct message of the movie “Gladiator” (2000) with Russel Crowe is one of having sufficient internal power that you can get the job done, even when all external power is taken from you. Crowe’s character, Maximus, is the commander of Caesar’s armies and a great warrior. Caesar recognizes in Maximus a soul of tremendous strength and integrity and charges him with accomplishing a goal: bringing a republic to Rome. When Caesar dies before he can name Maximus as his successor, Caesar’s son takes the throne, strips Maximus of his command and makes him a slave, confiscates his lands and kills his wife and son. With no external forms of power in his grasp, Maximus fulfills his Caesar’s wish through integrity, skill and inner strength.

    The Universe wants us all to develop this inner power; it is why we are here. Your life’s journey has been leading you to this state of being -- your embodiment of the Luminous Warrior.

ARCHETYPE OF THE WARRIOR

    Notwithstanding the current "support the troops" fad, in our Western society, the warrior archetype has become so perverted as to bring the concept of warriorship into disrepute. Military enlistment is down, and a popular opinion is that only the desperate join the military at the enlisted level -- that of the common foot soldier, the grunt who gets the job done. Can we salvage and polish the image of one of the historically valuable paths to enlightenment?

    How can the practice of being a trained killer be a path to expansion of consciousness? Certainly not as it is practiced in Western culture. Notwithstanding the fact looting and raping are no longer condoned, today’s warrior is better equipped, better educated and better behaved -- but no more spiritually enlightened -- than the barbarian hordes that ravaged and ravished their way across many an ancient empire.

    Asian martial arts training has always encompassed both the internal and external arts of the warrior. Not only did the warrior train with weapons or body, he meditated or wrote poetry. The writings of Bruce Lee, particularly his book “The Tao of Jeet Kune Do,” are filled with teachings of the internal and external arts. The Japanese samurai and Lakota tokala were exquisitely balanced in this regard, as well. A warrior thus trained is a peacemaker, not a warmonger.

    Unfortunately, in the United States, the vast majority of teachers have omitted the internal arts which develop soul force. For example, yoga has become an exotic and extreme form of stretching exercise; yet yoga is the practice form of an ancient spiritual philosophy, which is usually not taught. In karate studios across the country, students are schooled in kicks and strikes that can kill or injure another, but they are not taught to face their own inevitable deaths.

    Even Chinese medicine has not escaped this tendency. There are eight pillars to the REAL traditional Chinese medicine: acupuncture, herbs, meditation, chi kung, I ching, astrology, self-massage, and feng shui. As you can see, there was a deep spiritual aspect to Chinese medicine. Now, all of the practices mentioned here, except for acupuncture and herbs, have been separated out and never mentioned as having been part of an ancient medical practice. Isn't it interesting that the two that are left -- herbs and acupuncture -- are something someone else does TO you?

WHY DO WE GET SICK AND FEEL POWERLESS?

    Frankly, if we could snap our fingers and have all the external wherewithal we would need to accomplish our goals, we would never develop internal strength.

    Our species is very opportunistic and masterfully conserves its resources. A very valuable resource is thought and the time in which to do it. Thinking will consume a tremendous percentage of available attention; it is also a greedy calorie hog. Many people therefore perceive it as hard work, which indeed it is. If you are tired or ill, the body will restrict resources to the neocortex -- you feel “brain dead” and disconnected.

    Time to just sit and think is a luxury in many parts of the world. Keeping yourself and family alive can demand every bit of attention you have. The environment can be so dangerous, restrictive and/or resource poor that you have no time or energy left at the end of a very hard day.

    When this happens, sometimes we are sent an illness. Such times are precious opportunities to be still, turn inward and ask what it is we need to learn in order to continue to awaken spiritually and empower ourselves internally.

    At other times, events strip us of some or all external forms of power, as happened to Maximus. Then we must turn inward to develop the power.

BUILDING INTERNAL POWER

    In his book, "Non-Violent Resistance," Mohandas Gandhi defines the soul force of the warrior, which he calls satyagraha: "Satyagraha is literally holding on to Truth and it means, therefore, Truth-force. Truth is soul or spirit. It is, therefore, known as soul-force. It excludes the use of violence because man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth and, therefore, not competent to punish... It is not conceived as a weapon of the weak." Gandhi, a tiny man in a loincloth, managed to make the British leave India, a seemingly impossible undertaking. Using Gandhi's methods, Martin Luther King was non-violently instrumental in the passage of our own landmark Civil Rights Act.

   I look at so many situations which could have responded to Gandhi's methods: the Iraqi resistance could embarrass the United States into leaving, the Chinese students of Tian An Men might have brought democracy to their country, abortion protesters in this country could be much more effective. These methods require great courage because the practitioner of satyagraha risks death or imprisonment. Most take the coward's way out and use violence, or plead "not guilty."

    Character is a muscle that must be developed and exercised. The character of the Luminous Warrior consists of integrity (a code of honor and conduct), impeccability in the practice of this code, the use of intelligence in lieu of force whenever possible, quantum consciousness, courage and a healthy connection to a spiritual practice. The Luminous Warrior has faced her fears and stepped into the power and freedom that comes from confronting and embracing her own death. She has conquered her anger and the violence within, transmuting them to compassionate action; she has no enemies.

    There are many paths to this internal power and they all require mastering a state of internal stillness: shamanism,yoga, tai chi, meditation, satyagraha, lo jong, chöd, et al. All mystical states are a manifestation of this internal power and they also bring in more power, like accruing interest. The next mystical state is then even more powerful, bringing in additional power. The more, the more .......

[See related essays in this blog, “When Things Fall Apart.”, and the "Quantum Consciousness" series.]