The Way of the Warrior: Holding Space for The Fourfold Way

Michael Herman mherman at globalchicago.net
Mon Sep 24 10:09:10 PDT 2001


Harrison Owen wrote:

>  At 09:24 PM 9/23/01 -0400, you wrote:
>
> The capacity to take a stand, regardless of consequences -- I mean
> really take a stand is core for me. But I think it is important to
> note that The Way of the Warrior in not only found in the military --
> although the military without the Warrior Spirit is a sad thing, I
> think. Having worked with a number of elite military units, I came to
> the surprising understanding that even though I have never fired a gun
> in anger, or been under (serious and sustained) fire we shared much.
> Anyhow, Angie and I might quibble on the details -- but not on the
> essentials. The are Four Ways. And one of them is Warrior. No matter
> how you spell it.

think this is a critical distinction, between warrior and war.  i heard
these blurred in your first message, harrison.  still a bit blurred
here.  perhaps intentionally, though i'm not sure what purpose that
would have, except to invite this conversation.  this begins to poke at
something of the art that you don't talk much about... this blurry
vagueness that creates a meaning vaccuum, open space, that invites us
into conversation.   hidden intention or mysterious gift?  a practice or
possibility?

>
> I'm not so sure. How about "I do not bring peace, but a sword" Serious
> commitment and radical encounter always raise the stakes. It is never
> comfortable. So --"whoever saves his life will loose it, but whoever
> looses his life for my sake will save it.." I think the message may be
> that dying in not the worst thing. But Dying without meaning is.

...and physical dying while fighting in a military sort of war is but
one sort of dying... makes me wonder if we wage military war because we
are willing to die or because we are unwilling to let our worldviews,
expectations and preferences die...  are we fighting for a new world or
for the return of the old...  how can we win a military war against
fear?  ...as in the beatings will continue until morale improves.  wish
the public debate was more open about dying, in its many possible,
fruitful forms just now, but there is still time...


> As for the flood, and all other such inconveniences -- I am reminded
> of The Perfect Storm. Knocked the hell out of the East Coast, and blew
> away the Sword Fleet -- but it was just doing what a storm does --
> perfectly. And if the storms of our world did not carve out the sandy
> beaches, we would have no place to go on a sunny day. Somewhere along
> the line Homo sapiens got the swelled ego such that he/she/we come to
> the mistaken conclusion that this planet is organized for our
> convenience. I don't think so.

  seems people and politics are storms as well, but harder to accept
without storming back ourselves...

> I would certainly agree -- and for sure War, even for Warriors
> (particularly for Warriors) is the ultimate last resort. That great
> treatise "The Art of War" seems to me to be more about how to avoid it
> (war). But if and when it comes, I want Warriors with Warrior Spirit.
> Folks who manifest-
>
> The Power of Presence--Charisma and magnetism.
> The Power of Communication
> The Willingness to take a stand --to stand up for oneself--to know
> what it is we can stand up for.

as you've taught us harrison, story is so important in shaping our
world.  i think i watched the planes and buildings come down on tuesday
and didn't *really* dismay until i heard cnn and others label the whole
thing "attack on america"... attack seems to demand counterattack.  and
so we'll probably have one and another and another... until we find a
different story, like 'world trade collapse' or 'shattered peace
(day/week/decade)'  that invites an opposite/balancing response that can
be other than attack and more helpful to working and living together.

so i understand that what is done is done and named is named.  i'm still
looking for leadership in the world that can take a direct, powerful
stand for a story different from attack, in a way different from
attack...   people warrior enough to do battle with our willingness to
attack and all the chaos that comes from not defending an
economic/political/military order whose time maybe nearing over.  as you
say, it still takes all four voices... and i think we must *really* pay
attention and notice what is *most* important now (healer) and must
speak *very* clearly and truthfully (visionary) about that which we are
standing up for (warrior) and that which we must now be letting go
(wisdom).

seems the yogurt has never been deeper in my lifetime and the need for
really open space never greater.  at the same time, the space is always
wide open and the world has rarely if ever been more aware of and
energized by a single global reality of uncertainty.  if this space is
already open, what is our theme?  the vastness of spirit and space are
ever real AND so is the inescapability of our limits and the pressure to
compress it all into a single physical, human, real-world theme, story
and response.  this, for me is what the warrior does, makes a choice,
takes a stand, acts.  in the absence of the other three voices, i
understand how warrior becomes war.  in concert with the others however,
as you mention about the 'art of war,' warrior can choose to attack
war... integrating, focusing, directing, applying the powerful,
pressurized flow of spirit into higher human forms.

it's my sense that it is the job of warriors is to change the *shape* of
the space.  this happens when they push forward in battle and move
national borders, when they 'choose their battles', when they stand up
and choose one story and allegiance from among many, and when they
*look* and *speak* and *move* between outer and inner, war and peace.
they change the shape of reality, not just their own shape in reallity.

if we live in open space, then we are *all* warriors.  my hope is that
we can use the tremendous attention, truth and movement that's been
released in this collapse of humanity, to do more than choose *in* this
space, but to choose to move *as* this space into a bigger, better, more
powerful shape *as* this space... to fight our way out of our
national/economic/military space and into something more.

i want the next world to *hatch* and  i'm finding this to be a very
different sort of fight.  breaking through by bringing together.
changing the world by changing myself.  speaking loudest by listening.
on that note, i think i'd better sit down. <grin>

thanks to harrison, winston all here, michael


--

Michael Herman
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