The Path of the Warrior

The Path of the Warrior

Whenever I speak of the path of the warrior, especially to spiritually minded folks, I can almost feel the disdain, but as with most ‘words’, context and intent are often misunderstood.

Each of us ‘walk’ our own ‘path’ and we are all warriors who face a battle each and every day, and that battle is with our ego. Our ego is a necessary part of our physical existence and plays an important role in our growth. If we look very closely within our ego we see that is a major (if not the sole) influence on how we view ourselves and the world. Many times, even logic will fall prey to the emotions generated by an ego trying to ‘get its way’. It will fight unmercifully to maintain its control of an individual’s view of the illusion we call reality.

From our ego flow many feelings and emotions, such as our judgment of ourselves and others. Although the ego is a necessary part of our physical existence, allowing it to ‘rule the roost’ prevents us from seeing clearly through the emotions it generates. I have come to know my ego somewhat and its unrelenting jabber at different times in my life. In fact, I now use this excessive outpouring of internal dialog, that is for or against any particular thing, as a signal that my ego is ready to do battle. Hence the actions of my warrior come into play.

To be clear, I am not saying that emotions are right or wrong, or that logic is the way to proceed. What I am saying is that if I experience an internally generated dialog that repeats itself in a looping fashion, and it generates negative emotions within me, I do become suspicious of its origins. Once identified, the battle begins, and if you don’t agree that it is a battle then just think back on the last time someone said or did something that you really felt slighted by. The ego typically responds with something like, “how dare they blah, blah, blah”. Different versions of the same theme repeat. Emotions rise and the looping of this one issue within your mind continues, over and over. Now ask yourself, could I just turn this off? Well, I don’t know about you but I can’t flip a switch and regain internal peace and silence, but I can raise the red flag and defend myself against the onslaught. This takes practice and continual vigilance to bring the ego under the control of the heart.

The ego will present lies and illusions to try and make you succumb to ‘the correctness’ of what it is touting. If you do not resist, you strengthen its position of authority and reinforce its view of the world. If you are truly listening to your heart you will see that it never lies. Within the heart, silence, peace, truth, and love are available to you for guidance.

ILAL

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