Warriors, wars, Power......subtle attacks...and the way of peace

Above: Plain of Jars, Laos, 2006. The most bombed country on earth, in a war that officially never took place.

Instead of writing what I think about warriors and war and power I'll just tell the story, the way my thoughts ran ...and took me to where I am now.

At Aikido last week my teacher said something about "...subtle attacks can be a lot harder to resist, and more dangerous...". She went to say that if someone touches you forcefully in an obvious attack then your whole body becomes aware of this instantly and locks up into fighting mode. If they gently  touch your hand without wrapping their fingers around it to hold and force, then you will likely not interpret this as a threat. It is subtle.

That week I read an article about "The way of war - Godnx essence - (the level of war and warrior hood) 
One particular passage struck me:

"[ Warriors ]draw from the energies that which must be used to protect the weak, for the protection of the weak is the task of the intuitive warrior. To draw from the energies for any other reason is to give strength unnecessarily, thus creating an overboundedness of energy where it is not meet" - from: The Way of the Ancients, 1998 - Chiron.

~ Be strong and generous of deed.

Discussing this with a friend, she wrote back something that threw a different light on what I had thought of as warriors: 

...some of the best 'warriors' in the world have never fought another Being - but get on with the task of 'standing firm' - which is virtually what a Warrior is. The one who stands firm against the elements, the dangers to protect others, but not to over whelm them. Merely to stand firm. -Jan.Thomas

 This was a different way of warriorhood than what I used to think of as warriors: the image of fighting, and rough, tough, fierce. The image of strength subjugating the weak, the Darwinian survival of the fittest idea. Dog eat dog stuff. 
Yuck!!! 
That always felt wrong and brutal.
But this new definition of warriorhood I could accept. 
I like it. 
I remembered then times in my life when a true warrior had taken me under his or her wing: I knew they were strong and could easily have hurt me, or taken advantage of me, but instead, I felt protected. 
I could get on with my life within that circle of protection - it felt really good.

Hm... that is the kind of warriorhood I can accept and can aspire to.
 

 

Above: Luang Prabang, former Royal Capital of Laos.

 

Above: Bombs from the Plain of Jars. Every year ~100 people die from left over unexploded bombs (UXO)

---o(O)o---

 Swordmanship’s first achievement

Is he unity of man and sword.

Once this unity is attained,

Even a blade of grass can be a weapon.

The second achievement is when

The sword exists in one’s heart

When absent from one’s hand,

One can strike an enemy at a 100 paces, even with bare hands.

Swordmanship’s ultimate achievement

Is the absence of the sword in both hand and heart.

The swordsman is at peace with the rest of the world

He vows not to kill,

and to bring peace to mankind

The king of Qin, in “Hero” by Zhang Yimou

Below: Stones Jars in the Plain of Jars, one of the most heavily bombed places in the world, in a war that officially never happened.

It seems to me that in the path of a warrior one needs to experience the negative sides of power, the war, the dog eat dog, the strong taking advantage of the weak, the survival of the fittest and all that brutal stuff. Then when the warrior is sick of that comes the time to learn to use strength to protect the weak: 
for the protection of the weak is the task of the intuitive warrior. To draw from the energies for any other reason is to give strength unnecessarily, thus creating an overboundedness of energy where it is not meet

 There is a philosophy that says: 

"The cure for the bite of the dragon is in the dragon's breath"

 or in other words: The disease carries the cure, or everything carries within it the seeds of its own birth and its own destruction or everything has its own internal balance inside it.


This fits with the idea of the next stage of warriorhood: the turning of the art of power once used to destroy and subjugate the weak, is then used to "fight fighting" i.e. to balance, to protect the weak (not by more fighting but by meeting equal strength in the middle).

Note: it does not say to weaken the strong ! That way leads to again to war.

The warrior uses the way of war, to contain war. It becomes a way of "fighting the fighting", but not with more fighting, which only makes it worse, but with a different kind of fighting i.e.

 with the task of 'standing firm' - which is virtually what a Warrior is. The one who stands firm against the elements, the dangers to protect others, but not to over whelm them. Merely to stand firm.

The key to this is not to overwhelm or to be overwhelmed, but to meet in the middle. Energy to meet the exact amount of energy coming from the other side. To meet in balance, exchange and then move appart again. 
Again: I used to avoid ALL kinds of confrontations, because I did not want to overwhelm the other person (or be overwhelmed). I knew I could 'flatten' others if I so chose to, but I was afraid of my own power. 
Once I learned about the principle of meeting in the middle, holding the energies in the middle till they dropped of their own accord, I was able to then face my own power and use it. 


In Chi-gong we have  an exercise where two people face each other. They raise their energy, raise the dragons and meet each other's energy equally, balancing so as to meet exactly what is being pushed by the other person. This is a good way to learn about this balance.




Aikido teaches that there is a way of:
"..... becoming one with your partner. This was described as hoyo doka, an all-embracing acceptance of even the negative feelings of others and the re-integration of that magnanimous attitude back to those who would attack us. Practically speaking this acceptance and re-absorption is the ability to receive your partners energy and unify with it in such a way that his power is reduced to zero. In aikido this is a good explanation of what we call the power of kokyu. To master the spiritual and psychological aspects of this ability was called aiki.  - from

Shobu Aikido Aiki News newsletter (May 2001, Vol 2, No. 2) by William Gleason.




There is an energy known by many names "Wind of the Plains", "Spirit of night sky", "Father of the plains", "Coombi". This is the male part of Gaia, the protector of all living things. Coombi transmutes frustrations with man's rules into a force of NOW, for positive purpose. Coombi helps to sort out and deal with the crucial weakness that could bring you down. 
Great warriors wounded without spears - they wounded with the mind. 

Coombi aids to deal with wounds of thought, wounds of mind directed by thought, because often words and thoughts can go deeper and do subtle damage that bring down the person over time. 
(from: "The Essences of the Ancient Civilizations" by Jan Thomas (Trenorden), 2003 )





These ideas about warriors can be applied to one's internal state as well. 
What we see in the physical world is a reflection of the internal and vice versa, ie. "As within, so without. "
When I look inside myself I see an internal war - I often  judge and despise the weak parts of myself and bash them down, despise them with the powerful parts of myself. I am behaving like a first level warrior, towards my own self. 
Thus all the principles of warriorhood that are mentioned above apply to how I treat myself as well. Can I embrace and accept without judging the 'negative' parts of myself and bring a greater unity about ? 

One cannot master the outside without the inside and one cannot master the inside without the outside. 

 ---o(O)o---

Carlos Castaneda, in his books and teachings takes the art of warriorhood many levels deeper, both on the physical world and the internal world. 
I'm tempted to summarize and describe his teachings, but better you go and look at the original books and writings.

"There are two ways of facing our being alive. One is to surrender to it, either by acquiescing to its demands or by fighting those demands. The other is by molding our particular life situation to fit our own configurations. One's particular life situation can be molded to fit one's specifications. Dreamers do that."

Don Juan Matus to Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming

The way Castaneda describes warriors is unique and very beautiful: it is a way of facing the reality of being alive, of existence per se. 
Perhaps another blog in the future...?



Links: 
Carlos Castaneda and warriors:
Some quotes on one of my blogs are on the link below:
http://xylantheum.blogspot.com/2009/10/warrior-castaned-quotes-and-links.html

William Gleason http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gleason_%28aikidoka%29
http://www.shobu.org/sensei.php

so many ways of "seeing" Tea leaves, Tarot Cards & doorways

Tea leaves, chicken entrails, dice, patterns in the sand, crystal balls, Tarot cards, patterns in the hand or eyes or face, whatever... have all been used to look deeper below the surface of life.

Some have used these means to try and divine the future with more or less success, others simply sought to see deeper below the surface.

Question: “Given these many different methods can there be anything true in them ? Would it not be more reasonable to expect there to be ONE method ?”

Yes, it seems confusing that there are so many different ways people have used to ‘see' deeper below the surface of life.

However all these methods basically serve one purpose, which is to enable the seer to access other levels within themselves. The physical methods are simply the vehicle that a particular seer finds useful in accessing that doorway within themselves. For some the crystal ball works, for others the Tarot cards and so forth. Yet each of them ultimately enters the depths of intuitive knowledge within themselves, which is linked to the pool of intuitive being of humanity.

The method is different and varied, but the destination is the same.

Yet the results are different. Two different seers will usually say different things.

Three people going to the same party, will describe it in three different ways. You might recognize it as the same party but each account will be coloured by the person giving it.

The same applies in the area of ‘seeing'.

This is because different people have different personalities and different abilities. The information a seer can bring through to this level of reality depends on her:

• intent
• ability
• experience
• particular strengths and weaknesses
• connection with you, the one asking

and many other factors we don't even know about yet.

In addition the seer needs to use their skill in transferring and interpreting information. This is a little similar to how we all ‘know what we want to say but need to search for the right words'. In a similar way the seer searches for what ‘feels right' and intuits the information to then put it into words. And like all human activity nothing is perfect, though it can be very good at times J .

How do I know if a seer is trustworthy ?

The important thing to look for in a seer is YOUR own gut level instinct. Do you trust the basic intention of the seer ? Is the seer generally interested in the “greater good”, or is he more interested in glory, fame and being ‘right' or impressing you ? Does the seer use her talents primarily for the good of all or for personal gain ? And lastly, do you trust and feel ‘ok' about the seer ? If you do not then there is little point in listening to what they have to say.

Hint: anyone telling you how often they ‘got it right' is probably trying to impress you and win your sympathy.

Please remember: As in anything in life, there is the real and the fake.

In the end it is YOUR gut feeling that matters more than anything else. You are responsible for your actions and decisions, no matter what anyone else tells you, in the end YOU are the one who has to deal with the consequences of what YOU do or do not do.

No need to be afraid, use your commonsense and gut feeling.

© 2003, 2005, 2007 Windrider Energy Healing

from http://www.wyndrider.com/2/waysofseeing.htm

The butterfly effect.... (from Chaos theory) every damn little thing is important

Just read a story about how a word of kindness at the right time made a child change his mind about leaving life.

It got me thinking  how in life every moment, every tiny thing, is really just as important as any other, - without that tiny thing, the other things would not happen, the big things would not happen.

How a small child is treated by a teacher one day at school and that treatment in the mix of all things can determine the path of nations.

It does not mean I don't aim for different "small things"

Choice and aim and purpose still exist, and yet every tiny little thing, however insiginficant seeming makes a difference and is part of the story of life. And yet: we are not responsible for all things... all I can do is the best according to the light within me.

There is not really any big or small or important or unimportant... those are all human things...things that humans add.

The butterfly effect.... (from Chaos theory)

But lest we are overwhelmed: all things work out perfectly in the end. There is that mysterious trust....

Warrior - Castaneda Quotes and links

My favourite Castaneda quotes and links

When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to.
     
      A warrior doesn't seek anything for his solace, nor can he possibly leave anything to chance. A warrior actually affects the outcome of events by the force of his awareness and his unbending intent .

 Nice site with audio readings and quotes.

http://www.prismagems.com/castaneda/donjuan5.html 

Power - its limits - it's seductive illusions

Power: the strength to get what I want.

To do what I WANT

I see and I judge: "yes, I can do this. I can FORCE this "

Power.

Yet always and ever, there is something and someone stronger.

for every power which ever existed and will exist

there is a greater,

there is a stronger power.

I may be clever and strong in mind and have power in the University where I work, yet that is nothing, if I am taken to the rice fields or to dig ditches. There the power I have at the University is - nothing.

So power is a gift.

it is not a part of ME,

it is not ME.

it is a gift.

It is given me where I am now.

It can be taken away.

Easily.

Life is short.

The body is fragile

And like alcohol, can make me drunk

it makes me believe I am invincible.

I'm not.

A small microbe,

a bullet,

an accident

my body

all have their own power

power

use it wisely use it well.

Power: man's best friend, and worst enemy

inspired by the scene Kushiel's Justice where Imriel challengesBerlik, the 

Maghuinn Dhomm. Imriel's skills may be powerful in his own world, but against the power of Berlik he is like a child. Berlik warns him..."you don't want to do that" and Imriel is given a small glimpse of the true nature of the power he has thought of challenging. 1Oct09