Relationships and the Warrior's Way Pt. 1

The stress of family life can trigger arguments and can leave us almost no time to nurture own personal ‘path of the warrior,’ tonal issues and or hardships. Life can turn out much, much different than we expect.

We might not even recognize our anger as it is often layered under discontent, fear, or anxiety. When our reality is at odds with our hopes and dreams, we become hard to please. Nothing our spouse does is acceptable because we are living in a perpetual place of discomfort. 

Let’s ask ourselves a few questions. Are we complaining to others about our spouses? Do we have a critical spirit? These are telltale signs of an angry heart. Discovering this about ourselves is no reason to feel guilt or shame if we allow the discovery to push us toward impeccability, dropping of self-importance and other teachings concerning the warrior’s path. 

Our paths may turn out to be unexpected to us, but that doesn’t mean that the Spirit has made a mistake. Hope that comes from the Spirit is genuine, deeply rooted in a warrior’s knowledge that the warrior’s way is impeccable, and the Spirit is rooting for us. If you don’t believe that the present circumstances in your marriage are for your own good, then you are under the influence of a lie. 

We may not have control over how our lives have turned out but we always have the power to make the best of the life we have. We always have a choice to trust the warrior’s way with the circumstances of our lives. One day, we will understand why things turned out the way they did. Today is not that day. Today is the day for trusting the great Spirit, the warrior’s path, and all that this entails.

We can either survey the twists and turns of our lives and become angry, making ourselves and everyone around us more miserable, or we can accept the peace of the Spirit, and look to the warrior’s way to make something beautiful out of our lives. Your spouse will fail you. Jobs will come and go. When you can’t believe what has happened to your life, take the next step that warrior’s path lays before you. 

Make meals, do your work to the best of your ability, speak kindly to your husband or wife, be patient as you wait in line to be seated at a restaurant, send a card to a service man or woman oversees, mentor a group of young men, shovel your neighbor’s driveway. Do the next right thing in front of you yielding to the great Spirit’s will for your life. And every time you do, hope rises. Impeccable actions become easier. Ego and self-importance decline.

If you are reading this, potential looms before you. We may need to let go of our own versions of our fairy tales, but we have a warrior’s Spirit who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or imagine. On the mountain top, or in the valley, working the warrior’s way is ours for the taking. Dream on. Put it to practice. Your story isn’t over yet.

Let’s meditate: My life is not at all what I thought it would be and neither is my marriage. I trust that plans for my life are good. Great Spirit, give me hope. I yield the picture of what I thought my life would look like. Let me be a good wife/husband, even when I’m struggling. Anything is possible with the warrior’s way and the Great Spirit! 

Warrior of Lite

Warrior's Log - Intro

A Man of Knowledge does not have anything to teach in the conventional sense of the word, does not have anything to give or add to you, such as new information, beliefs, or rules of conduct. The only function of such a Man of Knowledge is to help you remove that which separates you from the totality of yourself, as well as the truth of who you already are and what you already know.

The Man of Knowledge is here to uncover and reveal to you that dimension of yourself that is infinite. If you come to a Man of Knowledge searching for books or blog posts, etc., looking for stimulating ideas, theories, beliefs, intellectual discussions, then you will be disappointed. In other words, if you are looking for food for thought, you won't find it. And you will miss the very essence of the teaching, the essence of the warrior’s way, which is not in the words but within yourself. It is good to remember that, to feel that, as you listen to the great Spirit as it continuously whispers to you.

Words are no more than signposts. That to which they point is not to be found within the realm of thought, but a dimension within yourself that is deeper, and infinitely vaster than thought. A vibrantly alive internal silence and peace are a few of the characteristics of that dimension. So, whenever you feel inner silence arising, and a connection with the Spirit as you read, these posts are doing their work and fulfilling its function as your teacher. They are reminding you of who you are and pointing the way back home; your infinite connection with the great Spirit.

These Warrior’s Log posts are not to be read one after another and then be done with them. Live with them. Visit them frequently. And, more importantly, click-away from them frequently. Or, spend more time contemplating the posts than clicking through them. Many readers will feel naturally inclined to stop reading after each post, to pause, reflect, become one with the information the Spirit is pointing to. It is always more helpful and more important to stop reading than to continue reading. Allow the posts to do their work, to awaken you from the old grooves of your repetitive and conditioned thinking.

The form of these Warrior’s Log posts can be seen as a revival for the present age of the oldest form of recorded spiritual teachings, the sutras of ancient India. Sutras are powerful pointers to the truth in the form of aphorisms or short sayings with little conceptual elaboration. The Vedas and Upanishads are the early sacred teachings recorded in the form of sutras, as are the words of the Buddha. The sayings and parables of Jesus, too, when taken out of their narrative context could be regarded as sutras as well as the profound teachings contained in the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese book of wisdom.

The advantage of the sutra form lies in its brevity. It does not engage the thinking mind more than is necessary. What it doesn't say, but only points to, is more important than what it says.

The sutra-like character, of the writings in these Warrior’s Log posts, is particularly marked in the first couple of posts, which contains only the briefest of entries. These posts contain the essence of the entire Warrior’s Log topic, and may be all that some readers require. The other posts are here for those who need a few more signposts.

Just like the ancient sutras, the writings contained within these specific posts are sacred and have come out of a state of second attention awareness we may call stillness of the Spirit. Unlike those sutras, however, they don't belong to any one religion or spiritual tradition, but are immediately accessible to the whole of humanity. Especially those interested in the warrior’s way or those just choosing impeccability. 

There is also an added sense of urgency here. The transformation of human consciousness is no longer a luxury, so to speak, available only to a few, isolated individuals, but a necessity if human kind is not to destroy itself. At the present time, the dysfunction of the old consciousness and the arising of the new are both accelerating. Paradoxically, things are getting worse and better at the same time, although the worse is more apparent because it makes so much noise.

These Warrior’s Log posts, of course, uses words that in the act of reading, become thoughts in your mind. But those are not ordinary thoughts: repetitive, noisy, self-serving, clamoring for attention. 

Just like every true spiritual teacher, such as a Man of Knowledge, just like the ancient sutras, the thoughts within these posts don't say “look at me", but “look beyond me.” Because these thoughts came from the great Spirit, they have power, the power to take you back into the same great infinity from which they arose. That energy of the Spirit is also inner peace; a silent internal dialogue. And that great Spirit and peace are the essence of your being. It is the great Spirit that will save and transform the world as well! 

Warrior of Lite

Impeccability - Way of the Warrior

Impeccability is a commitment for the warrior. It has never been an abstract idea. It is the way we live, the way we teach, and ultimately the way we give our lives. Everything the warrior’s accomplish flows from impeccability. Without it, ruthlessness becomes harshness, cunning is cruelty, patience turns to negligence, and sweetness should not be foolishness.

Warrior’s do not define impeccability as sentiment or agreement. Warriors define it through action. We are impeccable with people who misunderstand us, opposed to us, and eventually abandoned us. The warrior’s impeccability stretches across boundaries of ethnicity, religion, morality, and power. The warrior’s impeccability is not selective or safe. It is intentional and, at times, can be costly.

Many of us struggle with impeccability because it asks more of us than belief ever will. Impeccability requires proximity. It requires patience. It requires forgiveness. And sometimes, impeccable behavior requires us to stay when leaving would be easier.

The warrior makes it clear that impeccability is the true measure of faithfulness. Not how much we know. Not how right we are. But how we treat others, especially those who are difficult to understand. In the way of the warrior, impeccability is not weakness. It is strength, anchored in intent and will, coupled with the great Spirit.

Being impeccable like a warrior does not mean ignoring truth or avoiding hard conversations. It means refusing to dehumanize others even when disagreement is real. It means choosing dignity over dismissal and mercy over revenge.

Impeccability shows up in ordinary ways more often than dramatic ones. Listening longer than feels comfortable. Choosing kindness when bitterness feels justified. Continuing to show up when the relationship feels strained. These quiet practices form the warrior.

In the end, impeccability is not just one part of the way of the warrior. It is THE WAY. When we practice impeccability faithfully, even imperfectly, we begin to reflect the heart of a warrior to a world desperate for hope.

Warrior of Lite