#warrior's path

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

The warrior's path lies before us... Let us follow its guidance... Let us see where it leads.

from Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn

[karloskastaneda8]

People tell us from the time we are born that the world is such and such and so and so, and naturally we have no choice but to accept that the world is the way people have been telling us it is.

[themodernsouthernpolytheist]

so, as part of a study plan (because i learn best in structured ways) i read something that included the term "warrior path"; i've seen mentions of different "paths" within Irish polytheism before but don't really know what they refer to, what they mean. could you explain?

Great question! This was a topic that was really popular a year or two ago, so it’s not surprising that it pops up when reading. Basically, the idea of paths in this sense means taking a particular approach to your religious practice as part of a/the community. So a warrior’s path would take, imo, an aggressive approach. People on the warrior’s path might take up a martial art, be heavily into fitness, physically put themselves between a Nazi and a PoC, etc. These are all elements of it. 

There were other roles described, too, like that of a priest, a bard, etc. Tbh, I can’t remember what they all were because, in typical ADHD Gemini fashion, a singular approach doesn’t work for me like it does for others. I take a more combined path, specifically aspects of the warrior’s path, the healer’s path, and what I call a druid’s path. For me, I pull from the warrior’s path in that I’m a big guy with a lot of strength. I want to train regularly and seriously, but that hasn’t happened yet. But in the meantime, I can deflect the wrath of white supremacists when at rallies; I’m big enough that most people don’t mess with me. I pull from a healer’s path because I’ve spent so long in veterinary medicine and find that it comes fairly naturally to me to fall into that role. I know a lot about herbs, folk medicine, etc. as well. But I find myself gravitating more and more toward using the label of draoí/druid given my formal education in the study or religion, which is inherently layered with anthropology, history, literature, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and so many other things. But that’s another post for another day, haha. 

Idk if that totally answered your question, but if not, let me know! 

[karloskastaneda8]

A warrior is only a man, a humble man. He cannot change the designs of his death. But his impeccable spirit, which has stored power after stupendous hardships, can certainly hold his death for a moment, a moment long enough to let him rejoice for the last time in recalling his power. We may say that that is a gesture which death has with those who have an impeccable spirit.

[karloskastaneda8]

A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That’s control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That’s abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions.

[karloskastaneda8]

A man, any man, deserves everything that is a man’s lot — joy, pain, sadness and struggle. The nature of his acts is unimportant as long as he acts as a warrior. If his spirit is distorted he should simply fix it — purge it, make it perfect — because there is no other task in our entire lives which is more worthwhile. Not to fix the spirit is to seek death, and that is the same as to seek nothing, since death is going to overtake us regardless of anything. To seek the perfection of the warrior’s spirit is the only task worthy of our temporariness, and our manhood.

[karloskastaneda8]

A warrior-hunter knows that his death is waiting, and the very act he is performing now may well be his last battle on earth. He calls it a battle because it is a struggle. Most people move from act to act without any struggle or thought. A warrior-hunter, on the contrary, assesses every act; and since he has an intimate knowledge of his death, he proceeds judiciously, as if every act were his last battle. Only a fool would fail to notice the advantage a warrior-hunter has over his fellow men. A warrior-hunter gives his last battle its due respect. It’s only natural that his last act on earth should be the best of himself. It’s pleasurable that way. It dulls the edge of his fright. ***  A warrior is an immaculate hunter who hunts power; he’s not drunk, or crazed, and he has neither the time nor the disposition to bluff, or to lie to himself, or to make a wrong move. The stakes are too high for that. The stakes are his trimmed orderly life which he has taken so long to tighten and perfect. He is not going to throw that away by making some stupid miscalculation, by mistaking something for something else.

[karloskastaneda8]

In a world where death is the hunter, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions. It doesn’t matter what the decisions are. Nothing could be more or less serious than anything else. In a world where death is the hunter, there are no small or big decisions. There are only decisions that a warrior makes in the face of his inevitable death.

***

Once a man worries, he clings to anything out of desperation; and once he clings he is bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whomever or whatever he is clinging to. A warrior-hunter, on the other hand, knows he will lure game into his traps over and over again, so he doesn’t worry. To worry is to become accessible, unwittingly accessible. 

***

A warrior must learn to make every act count, since he is going to be here in this world for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.  

***

Acts have power. Especially when the warrior acting knows that those acts are his last battle. There is a strange consuming happiness in acting with the full knowledge that whatever he is doing may very well be his last act on earth.

*** 

A warrior must focus his attention on the link between himself and his death. Without remorse or sadness or worrying, he must focus his attention on the fact that he does not have time and let his acts flow accordingly. He must let each of his acts be his last battle on earth. Only under those conditions will his acts have their rightful power. Otherwise they will be for as long as he lives, the acts of a fool.