Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Author:Dan Millman [Millman, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H J Kramer Book
Published: 2006-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Realm of the Warrior

“The realm of the warrior is guarded by something like a gate. . . . Many knock, but few enter.”

If we lie down in a quiet location and put our thumbs over our eardrums, we’ll hear only silence at first; in that silence, our awareness begins to fine-tune. After a few seconds or a few minutes, we hear a high-pitched tone at the edge of our awareness. We may realize that it has always been there, and that it’s natural to us. We can meditate on that inner sound, using it as an object of attention. With time we may hear deeper, more subtle sounds — up to twelve different tones — each more refined than the last, drawing attention into deeper places.

The sounds are always with us, but few of us have the free attention to notice. This attunement requires practice. Similarly, “the realm of the warrior” to which Socrates refers in this passage is not somewhere else, in a different dimension of time or space, or in a parallel universe. This realm is right in front of us, here and now — in this world, this life, this moment.

There’s no physical gate we have to find, in some shamanic netherworld, to enter the realm of the warrior — although such images make for good fiction and fascinating imagery. The “warrior’s gate” is a metaphor about our daily lives — the arena of our training — in which we eventually pass through not one gate, but twelve (see my book Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth).

The realm of the peaceful warrior is open to all, and all of us find these gateways along the path. Passage requires heart, courage, clarity, energy, and attention. As the Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma, said, “All know the way, but few walk it.”

This way to which I refer is open to all — not some private club based on status, popularity, wealth, or academic credentials. There are no colored belts to earn, nor is there one dramatic initiation, but rather many — all provided perfectly, within the context of our everyday lives. This universal path reveals itself in each passing moment, wherein we behave as peaceful warriors — or we don’t.

In some moments, I’m more of a peaceful warrior; in other moments, less. The same is true for anyone. The great challenge of each day is to increase our moments of courage and kindness.

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