Human Development
Way of the warrior
Description:
In Amerindian terms, if the brave becomes a warrior, and lives like a warrior, then tonal and nagual can be unified. This is a life in which whatever the task may be it is done in the best possible way, not clinging and with the highest excellence. It is comparable with mindfulness and one-pointedness in the life of a Bodhisattva.The system is described by Carlos Castaneda from his meetings with don Juan. Once the teacher is aware that the pupil is ready he embarks him on the life of the hunter. In order for the hunted not to turn the tables on the hunter, the hunter learns to dispense with all habits. He learns non-attachment, "letting go, but not letting go", so that total energy is concentrated on the task and yet there is complete control over the situation.
This is the exoteric situation. In the esoteric situation, the hunter trains to become the warrior, what is hunted is power - the perpetual and mysterious flow of force underlying appearance. He learns to peep behind appearance without concentrating on making it yet another appearance. When he has learned to face this power with abandon and control he is ready to be a warrior, although there is no strict demarcation between the two. When he has reached the warrior stage he can face any task on his own and without attachment to views, fears, enlightenment or bravado. The impeccable warrior trusts his personal power, whether small (in the case of the young or inexperienced) or enormous (in the case of the older and relatively more experienced, having accumulated much merit). In Buddhist terms, the warrior trusts to the positive karma he has so far accumulated. There is no more a feeling of helplessness in dealing with the world. There is freedom to act, all results follow regardless of the attitude of the actor. The warrior takes responsibility for the act and lives with the consequences - he is not attached to the consequences either. He is thus free to use the power of any facet of karma to its best advantage.
An aid to the denial of all attachments is using death as advisor. Impending death is a reminder that there is no time to waste in perfecting himself. All his action is the action of a man who knows he is going to die.
The four natural enemies of man are fear, clarity, power and old age. The first is combatted as death itself is used to combat fear of death. With fear vanquished, the warrior looks at the contradictions of the world with great clarity. But clarity is only part of possible experience - it is used impeccably when it is advantageous to do so but is overcome when it is realized that power lies outside language. Then power has to be defied deliberately - the power seemingly conquered is never the warrior's. Without control over himself, handling carefully and faithfully all he has learned, clarity and power are worse than mistakes. With this control he will reach the point where everything is held in check and the third enemy is defeated. Handling power unclingingly the warrior becomes a man of knowledge and fends off the invincible enemy, old age. Finally, because the warrior cannot be cold, lonely and without feelings, he has a great love, that of the earth, which he loves with unbending passion and is so released from sadness. It is the equivalent of the compassion of Buddhahood.
Broader:
Way of the warrior Related:
Stopping the world