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THE WARRIOR'S ART..... Stuart Shaw
Presentation at the 2nd annual Stamping Ground, 21 January, 1998
So here we are, spiraling towards the year 2000. Watching with mixed apprehension
as the moment of infinite possibilities descends upon us. Karmic fears snap at our
heels as we clutch for desperate salvation, running headlong over the cliff of the
unknown. So what is it going to be? Is Armageddon upon us? Is this truly the end
times our ancestors have prophesied? Is our world going to be swallowed by human
greed, bathed in nuclear blood? Or are the people of our world going to have an 'awakening',
remembering their responsibilities as guardians of our beautiful planet? Perhaps
our space brothers and sisters are going to descend en masse to aid us in our plight.
Or perhaps they are evil and only wish to have our planet for themselves. Or perhaps
the dimensional barriers are going to dissolve and we will be cast into a time ripe
with wizardry and mythical wonders. Perhaps Mother Earth is going to scratch like
a dog at the fleas suckling greedily upon her blood, and our world map will be remade.
Or perhaps the ozone layer will be destroyed completely leaving the surface of the
earth inhospitable, some of us may have to live below the ground while the rest join
the Americans on Mars. But perhaps it will be none of these and we will continue
onwards, evolving to a Star Trek reality. Perhaps... perhaps not... perhaps... perhaps
not... perhaps, perhaps, we will have the lot!
So in a time when our future is uncertain at best, what can we do to prepare ourselves
for what seems to be infinite possibilities? Where lies the path of survival and
freedom no matter what the circumstance?
In my experience I have found that there is such a path of survival and freedom.
A path blazed for us by our ancestors during their life challenges. It is a path
that has become known throughout all our cultures as the Warrior's path, and has
been well traveled by many, men and women who through either choice or necessity
are willing to commit their lives to the struggle for survival and true freedom.
And through the legacy of their impeccable spirits we ourselves are challenged to
engage life to our fullest capacity; to take responsibility for our lives rather
than allow external factors to dictate our circumstances.
However, I must state that I am not so presumptuous as to assume a stance of mastership
of the Warrior’s path, for I consider myself to be merely an apprentice struggling
for impeccability. As such it is merely my intent in this discussion to share with
you the principles of warriorship as they were presented to me, and how, by adopting
these same principles we can approach an uncertain future with a sense of peace and
clarity.
One of the greatest misconceptions of our modernised society is the misassociation
of the term 'Warrior' to killing and wars. For when we examine most non-industrialised
cultures, past and present, we find that the term warrior implies a totally different
individual than our stereotyped ideas. Our socialised warrior is commonly known as
one whose intent is to impose his/her will on others through either subtle or outright
violence . Whereas, the true warrior recognises that the greatest challenge and most
worthy opponent is themselves.
In his book "The Teachings of Don Carlos", Victor Sanchez accurately writes:
"The true warrior is so called because he or she is always struggling against
personal weaknesses and limitations; against the forces that oppose the increase
in knowledge and [personal] power; against the forces that are driving us to our
destiny as ordinary men and women, forces determined entirely by personal history
and circumstances. The warrior wants to rescue the possibility to choose how to be
and how to live. It is a struggle for harmony and tranquillity. It is a struggle
for freedom, knowing that this struggle begins inside, projecting itself from there
toward everything that makes up the world of actions. It is a quiet, gentle and joyful
fight."
A Warrior is an impeccable Hunter, he stalks his prey until he is completely familiar
with its every routine and habit, and then with this knowledge he lays his trap to
the best of his ability. However, whether he succeeds or not is of no concern to
a warrior, for the warrior’s views winning or losing, life or death as equal expressions
of the one life. To a warrior the only difference between success and failure is
whether or not one has given their absolute everything to the act of survival. It
is this facet of a warriors impeccability that gives life to the popular aphorism
"it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game that
counts."
So it is with this same attitude that the warrior approached his freedom. He stalks
and examines in detail everything about life, and himself that stands in the way
of true freedom, and then with an unbending intent he makes his bid and commits his
entire being to his chance for freedom. And in a fluid universe where the only constant
is change, the warrior recognises that the only obstacle that impedes his freedom
is the routines and habits of a fixated perception. In other words, to be able to
'Go with life's flow' successfully, one must be both able and willing to change in
equal response to the ever-changing expression of life. In this way the warrior attains
a state of being which can be termed 'formlessness'. Formless in the sense that one
is ever-changing, responding like an echo to the cycles of life both within and without.
But it is perhaps the warrior's attitude towards death that provides him his greatest
clarity of life. For the warrior accepts the certainty that at any moment death may
claim him. Knowing that he does not have time to plan to be happy another day, the
warrior chooses to live that last possible moment to the absolute fullest, thus claiming
the gift of power present within every moment. Also, knowing that every action may
be his last, the warrior takes responsibility for his life by being fully prepared
to die for his every action. This attitude is in stark contrast to the socialised
attitude towards death, where the common trend is to disassociate ourselves from
death as much as we can. In a predominantly meat eating society only a bare few would
have ever witnessed the death of the animals they feed off, yet alone actually killing
the animal themselves. And the children of such a society believe the meat they eat
originate in the supermarket, not from their fellow world in habitants.
As to our individual deaths, most people prefer not to think about it at all, instead
they blindly put their faith in modern medicine and scientific technology to some
how save and prolong their lives. This attitude is both ludicrous and potentially
dangerous. For whether we like it or not our own deaths are inevitable. To think
or desire otherwise is to separate one self from the natural processes of life. The
consequences of which are potentially dire indeed. This immortalist attitude is also
dangerous in that when one believes that death cannot touch them they become lazy
in thought and action. Thinking they have all the time in the world such individuals
are prone to irresponsible and degenerated behaviour that all too often results in
a distortion of life. When observing our present civilisation and the effects it
has wrought on its environment, the effects of such an attitude are painfully obvious.
So the warrior embraces death as one of his most trusted advisers and constant companion.
When to the warrior it appears life is about to deliver the blow of annihilation,
the warrior gives his everything to the act of survival, never, even for a moment,
allowing death to take him easily. For, as has already been mentioned, a warrior
fails only when he hasn’t given his best effort to each and every moment.
Undoubtedly the warrior's greatest attribute is that in following the warrior’s path
one is also following the path of the heart. For warrior recognises and embraces
the inter relatedness of all life, and that everything in life is neither more, nor
less important than anything else. With this humility the warrior attempts to experience
all of life to the fullest, to be a full participant in the process of life rather
than to simply skim its surface. The warrior opens his being to life, knowing that
the gift of life, is so precious and so great that the only worthy thing he has to
give in thanks is his own life, and this he gives without hesitation.
Another facet of the warrior’s path of the heart is that, when coming to a crossroad
in the passage of life the warrior will consider either option and then ask himself,
"which of these paths have heart?" Then trusting the response from within
his own heart he steps forward with total commitment. In the warrior's view only
in following the path of heart can one possibly hope to obtain true freedom, for
in truth the path of the heart is also the path of freedom.
So these are the fundamental principles of the warrior’s path. In accepting the challenge
of life the warrior commits his entire being to the search of true freedom. In doing
so the warrior encounters the obstacles life has laid before him, which on closer
examination it is found that these obstacles lie only within. In the breaking of
limited and conditioned routines and habits the warrior attains formlessness and
learns to respond like an echo to the expression of life. By accepting one’s own
impending death the warrior learns responsibility and how to experience life to the
fullest. Finally, in following the path of the heart the warrior learns to joyfully
open himself to all of like, loving and accepting all individual expressions equally
as the interrelated expression called life.
So it is that in following in the way of the warrior I propose is our path to survival
and true freedom. For in such a way we can approach our destiny with sobriety and
impeccability, knowing, with a calm spirit that we have given life our very best.
The Warrior's art is truly the art of Life, and maybe, just maybe, in following the
way of the warrior we as human beings are provided the only justification we have
for receiving this truly wondrous gift of simply being alive.
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