Some thoughts about the warrior and creating a more enlightened society on Memorial Day weekend ~ RIP Donald Levine, creator of GI Joe, the action figure and cartoon. Thank you for helping me connect with my inner warrior archetype. And thank you, Carl Jung for writing so eloquently about archetypes. While integrating and working with the warrior archetype in my consciousness over the years, I have sought to balance it with the scholar, priest, monk, father, and mother archetypes. Btw, Owen means warrior in Welsh. And Way of the Peaceful Warrior was a favorite childhood book. It is very interesting indeed that the creator of GI Joe passed on the eve of Memorial Day weekend. Like Carl Jung, I have never believed in coincidence. Rather, I have always believed in synchronicity and that everything happens for a reason. Carl Jung defines synchronicity as the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer. Unless one is unusually inclined or instructed by a wiser parent or mentor to broaden their views on what it means to be a warrior, their perspective will largely be shaped by popular culture. It is doubtful that even one percent of those schooled in the U.S. will graduate with having read a biography of a great statesmen or warrior like George Washington, General George S. Patton, Hannibal, Joan of Arc, Geronimo, Ghandi, or Saladin. They may come across these names in a history class, have to memorize some dates, or maybe see them in a movie or documentary. Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock, Sylvester Stallone, and people like this do far more to shape our image and understanding of warriors. This is unfortunate. Arjuna, one of the worlds greatest warriors came from India. He was instructed by Krishna in the inner and outer battles of the Bhagavad Gita. These are virtually unknown to Americans, despite the fact that Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson poured over their pages whenever they could. What of Gautama Buddha and his fierce battle with Mara? Or the wrenching battle of Sir Thomas More with King Henry VIII and the knife fighting Cardinal Woolsey? What was Jesus doing on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights? Whistling old songs of good times past? If you stand in the presence of the Shroud of Turin as I have in Turin, Italy, you will see that Jesus/Yeshua was a large, tall, and thick man with broad shoulders and distinct and prominent facial structures. He was no long-haired pushover, as he is often depicted. And he is not depicted this way in the apocryphal and secret gospels. You get some more of the money changers in the temple. But the physical, ascetic or material aspect to a warrior is the least important. Size matters little; consider Bruce Lee. I have always been reminded that Navy seal training is 10/15 percent physical; the rest is mental (as well as emotional and spiritual). But Bruce Lee would likely tell us that these compartments of being, especially the masculine and feminine aspects of each, must all work seamlessly together in a balanced and harmonious fashion. The heart, head, and hand must also be synchronized. Advances in technology have allowed mankind to gain a comparative advantage over certain adversaries and compensate for this inharmony and lack of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual sensitivity, receptivity, agility, vision, foresight, and quick recuperation time. Our evolution in these respective areas, however, is possible. Our physical biology will evolve as we access parts of consciousness yet dormant and latent within. Cutting edge research in neuroplasticity and epigenetics, for example, is already illustrating that spirit and consciousness is the driving force of evolutionary change. The evidence of things not yet seen is quickly becoming apparent. The irony is that the more we evolve and grow in Spirit, individually and collectively, the less likely we are to have to use material and brute force, whether as a individual person, policeman, soldier, or nation. A fort is not fortified and defended by physical means alone. Abraham Lincoln warned that if America was ever destroyed it would be from within. The best offense is a good defense. But a better defense will ultimately weaken, transform, and liberate your adversaries. Eating consciously, looking within, harmonizing the masculine and feminine energies, and contemplating the holy wisdom of the ages, in the pursuit of self-realization, is not for weaklings, hippies, or New Agers. It actually has the potential to create the fiercest warriors this planet has ever seen. Such warriors raise all into a higher state by their mere existence, whether living in a cave or working unsuspecting in the world. And when they utter a prayer, decree or project an intention to defend, protect, or bless another part of life, it ripples across time and space...or echoes throughout eternity, to use the popular phrase. The eccentric and mystical General George S. Patton rewrote some of the stereotypes of what it means to be a warrior, together with George Washington, especially his prophetic vision at Valley Forge. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Aung San Suu Kyi were also profound warriors, capable of deploying non-violent direct action, within the socio-cultural, religious, and political environments of their times. Needless to say, there are many more who we can learn from. But we have only begun to think about what made these profound souls effective and powerful leaders and warriors. The warrior of spirit glows as a manifestation of light; she is illumined by the rays of the fires of Infinity. The response must be understood, and one must strive to the Cosmos with all fires and all flowers. -El Morya, Infinity I, 1930.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 18:15:03 +0000
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