I want to talk about Peaceful Warriors since I am writing about the Warrior archetype this month. The WARRIOR archetype appears to be so out of balance in so many parts of the world and in so many people these days that I want to emphasize that any archetypal part-of-Self acting ‘alone’ is liable to be out of harmony with the Whole; meaning both the whole of the Total Self System of a person’s archetypal cast, and the Whole of humanity and Life itself.
Dan Millman popularized the phrase “the Peaceful Warrior” in his best-selling book of that title. He speaks of a spiritual warrior, a Mystic + Warrior archetype pairing, at least. I find it pertinent that Millman’s experience was that of an Olympic oriented athlete; he was a gymnast in training when he met his spiritual guide whom he names Socrates in his book. Socrates taught Dan to develop a neutral overview perspective on any situation so as not to be attached to the outcomes or to the results of any action or occurrence. As a warrior-athlete—a highly trained and focused gymnastics competitor—Millman’s goal was to be and to perform at the highest level he could. He competed with himself to achieve highly, even after experiencing a crushing motorcycle accident by which he broke both of his legs not long before a qualifying gymnastics tournament.
So, what is a Peaceful Warrior? Is it an oxymoron? I don’t believe so. It is someone with positive, life affirming goals, a dedication to achieve those, and a balanced attitude about results. Strive to find that CENTER within your Self, and compete from that Center. To do so, you will find yourself manifesting not only a Warrior’s energy, but also that of the Nourisher, the generous Golden Child, the Idealist and/or Artist, and possibly also, the Mystic.
I invite your insights and I would love to post relevant guest blogs!
Better Endings 