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

Toni Petrinovich sacred at anacortes.net
Tue Sep 25 11:58:24 PDT 2001


My turn to stop lurking on the Warriors issue.

I counsel with, have friends who are/were and know many ex-soldiers -
especially men who were in Vietnam.  I do not believe I have ever heard even
one of them say - "Yeah, that was great!  I was being a warrior!   Can't
wait to do it again!"

I do hear:  "Please, don't take me there; I can't think about it.
"I won't talk about that, what I did, what I saw; I don't want to talk with
you about this.
"Please, help me to go to that place where I can forgive myself and others
for what I experienced.
"I don't know how to live now; help me find a new way to live."

These are only a few of the things I have heard and most of them not in a
clinical setting - more over coffee or, if they were more typical, over
their many beers and my coffee.  It is not a place where humans naturally
go - and I do not believe we wish to be there.

Blessings,
Toni


----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Corrigan" <corcom at interchange.ubc.ca>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: The Way of the Warrior: Holding Space for The Fourfold Way


> Hi Barry:
>
> Nice to see you on here.  Thanks for your reply.  I have only a couple of
small
> points in my own defense.
>
> Barry Owen wrote:
>
> > I believe your context is Tremendously skewed. I served in the US Army
12
> > years. I know MORE people who served with me who I consider to be
WARRIORS
> > than SOLDIERS (as you define the words). Most of the people I know who
fit
> > the description of your friend are veterans who saw brutal combat in the
> > "soldier" role.
>
> I have no problem admitting that my context is skewed.  I only know one
guy as I
> said.  Although he never saw combat, he was in some combat like situations
in
> terms of stress and moral positioning.  I only know what he tells me, and
that
> is that he feels singularly unable to adopt to civilian life after what he
has
> been through, and in his words, after what he has been trained to do.   In
terms
> of the folks who have to go and come back and either die or risk spending
their
> lives in cognitive dissonance, it is the ones who will face combat that I
am
> talking about.  I appreciate your clarification, and of course I don;t
mean to
> impugn every soul in the US Armed Forces...it was just a starting point
for my
> thinking about the Warrior.  There are Teachers, Healers and Visionaries
in
> those organizations too.  Bless them all.
>
>
> > I could not continue to lurk while such broad "profiling"
> > happens. These folks are NOT the typical armed forces personnel. Believe
it
> > or not, the military is not entirely made up of "war mongers" and "cogs
in
> > the wheels of the machine" . . . There are many many WARRIORS whose
first
> > choice would be to stand firm without killing and who WILL kill when and
if
> > killing is necessary (when their country is attacked and the safety and
> > freedom of their people is at risk).
> >
>
> Exactly right there Barry.  I realize, as I said in my original mpost that
there
> probably is a time for killing and a time for dying.  I don;t know what
those
> are, but I hope those that have to make that call do.  That's what they
are
> trained to do.
>
> Your thinking and two cents in graciously received in these quarters.
Thanks
> for responding to me with those clarifications.  As I said, I don't mean
to
> "profile" or stereotype, but rather to explore archetypes a little.  I
guess it
> is a fine line when we are talking about only four ways to be in a world
of 5
> billion spirits.
>
> Chris
>
> --
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Consultation - Facilitation
> Open Space Technology
>
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> corcom at interchange.ubc.ca
>
> RR 1 E-3
> 1172 Miller Road
> Bowen Island, BC
> Canada, V0N 1G0
>
> phone (604) 947-9236
> fax (604) 947-9238
>
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