One of the ways that we develop and evolve is in our relationship to suffering, both our own pain and the pain of others. This relationship to suffering is intimately connected with our relationship to life itself--being a human being in the universe.How do we relate to this life we have been given? It’s a big question, but if we don’t face into it, things remain murky and confused, and we allow our life to be governed by ideas and voices and beliefs that may no longer be relevant to us.
How do we relate to sorrow, disappointment and loss? Are we still struggling to change or get rid of these aspects of life on earth?
Here is another question that is part of this inquiry:
How do we care for ourselves in midst of the wildness and unpredictability of human life?
Many practices help us cultivate certain aspects of who we are..One dimension our being that can help us a great deal is the warrior.
We can contrast the warrior with the soldier. The soldier represents the parts of our conditioning that we developed as young children: our survival personalities,which often start to feel very oppressive, like a heavy burden, as we grow older.
Let’s feel into this living sense of the difference between the warrior and the soldier:
The warrior carries nothing on his back. The soldier carries a lot--guns, food, maps, clothes.
The warrior shows up fully in each moment. The soldier plots a course from past to future and attempts to follow it.
The warrior follows his inner knowing. The soldier follows orders.
There’s more,,but take a moment and open your heart and body to the felt-sense of the warrior. There is an intelligence and an energy that the warrior transmits.
What else could you say about this warrior? How does she move? What does she care about? If you were to call her into your life, how would you do that? Can you feel, or see her? Or is she an invisible presence?
The energy of the warrior lives in each one of us. It allows us to face directly into each moment of our life, without collapsing or running away. The warrior knows how to sit, and listen. She also knows how to act decisively, when she needs to.. She can ask for help, and receive it, without shame.
She is not without feeling, but she does not allow her feelings to submerge her, and she does not believe that the circumstances of her life are more powerful than she is.
Her strength lies in her fluidity, her resilience, the power of her acceptance.
Where is your warrior? What is her name?
