I won't make too much a show of it but I do believe that the contextual definition of the term "Warrior" as it is perceived by many needs some fiddling. We can wax poetic about our ancestors as much as we wish, but we are products of our time and culture as much as they were. Honoring and respecting them means filling the same niche in our culture as they did in theirs. Defending and providing for the tribe was first and foremost what the charge of the Warrior is about and that is, in large part, what I am trying to point out in this series of posts. What does that niche look like now and how can we, women and men who are far cries from the tough, no frills warrior of our ancestors, hope to fill that niche?
In the first post in this series I talked about those ancestors and pointed out some of the commonalities they shared across cultures. In this post, I seek to take aim at a relatively modern development: The Warrior Code.
I had originally intended to look at specific Warrior codes and break them down, specifically Bushido and Chivalry. There are a great many people however that I feel may become offended by my interpretations of either or both of these Warrior codes of conduct and the purpose of all of this is not to offend, not even to educate, but to discuss.
The only problem I have with either Bushido or Chivalry as warrior codes is simple: They are too rigid. Rigidity creates centralization and does not take into consideration the needs of individual communities as much as it should. For instance, the 7th Virtue of Bushido is loyalty. The Samurai were duty bound to commit ritual suicide for violating loyalty to their liege lord and many did so to avoid disgrace as it was considered a manner to reclaim your honor to die that way. Even if that liege lord was a petty, merciless thug (and many were), his Samurai had to do what they were told. There were a great many more factors to it than Samurai simply following orders but the drift I am hoping that you will catch is simple: If a warrior intends to support and defend her/his own community, then doesn't it seem a bit of a stretch to kill those people on the order of the local Retainer or warlord? Unfortunately, things like that happened all the time and it wasn't simply because a Lord or Retainer told their Knights and Samurai to go slaughter innocents. It happened because those who were trained and given the power to grant death under protection of the aristocracy had no intention of following any moral code no matter how many times they might have sworn to it as long as they had land and title. Both Chivalry and Bushido were widely accepted and both Knights and Samurai boasted great numbers, yet only a pittance compared to the total number really applied themselves to fulfilling the tenets of their warrior codes.
While both Chivalry and Bushido have their merits neither really speaks to me as being truly inclusive of my own personal philosophy, nor do they speak specifically enough about the concepts I hold dear to my Warrior heart.
So, I created my own Warrior code. It's tenets are something I can live by but not so comfortably that I feel I have nothing to achieve. I won't pretend that I am perfect, I stole most of it from Bushido. As a Warrior code I rather prefer Bushido. It is simple, it calls on the warrior to weigh their decisions before making them and it holds them to honorable word, deed and thought. In my opinion, it is a head above Chivalry which was originally a set of instructions for wooing ladies of the court. In essence, a Knight may lay his cape over a muddy puddle in order for a lady to cross it but a Samurai who held Bushido as his code would lay himself over the puddle and never think another thing about it.
So, the changes I made are simple. I added a virtue, Harmony, something I felt was missing from the overall picture. It could easily be said and perhaps rightly so that if one follows all eight virtues of Bushido then what I added need not be spoken. That is all well and good but I also feel that it deserves mentioning so I included it. I also included my personal definition for each and named it something different. Perhaps it will be difficult for some people to swallow but if that is the case, it is not my intent to improve upon nor culturally appropriate. I have long believed that if you see something that works and add your own spin on it then it is not cultural appropriation, it is cultural respect. This should not be confused with the context of wearing Native American brave costumes on Halloween. People like that should have to face down a Native or better yet an entire Tribe of Natives, get their blessing and then deposit the costume in the nearest incinerator...
I do not call myself a Samurai nor do I don the traditional clothing and armor of a Samurai. What I do have is a deep and abiding respect for their ways, traditions and culture which is a reason that I was so willing to not only adopt Bushido as a code but also adapt it in a manner befitting my own philosophy.
To set it apart, I decided to call it "The Nine Fold Path of the Warrior". I wanted to do it in Gaelic but, quite frankly, I don't know Gaelic (although I am, at some point, intending to learn). The 9 virtues are as follows:
I. Harmony
The Warrior seeks harmony in three ways: Physical, Mental and Spiritual. In seeking harmony on all three planes, the Warrior enters their first, last and most prolonged combat. The Warrior is a human reflection of Nature, constantly at war with itself, constantly shifting back and forth over a fulcrum in an effort to maintain stability, harmony and balance.
II. Rectitude
The Warrior sets a goal and decides on a course of action to achieve that goal. They do not waiver, they do not back down. This is why the Warrior must always make a decision based upon consideration of Balance and Harmony. Any course of action that begins to upset Harmony and Balance must be reconsidered and a new plan put in place. Warriors may do this many times but the goal will remain the same unless it is discovered that the goal is not reflective of harmony.
III. Courage
The Warrior will know fear and so the Warrior will learn courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but the determination to overcome fear in service of Harmony and Rectitude.
IV. Benevolence
A Warrior is a person who makes it their responsibility to change their own life in an effort to be of service to to others. This means that the Warrior becomes a force for change when needed and change requires benevolence, the placing of others needs before the Warrior's own. A true Warrior will do this not because it is a part of his Warrior code but because it is the right thing to do.
V. Courtesy
The Warrior displays courtesy to others, even at times, those who identify themselves as the Warrior's enemy. The Warrior does this because they can. They are fighting a war with their own Harmony on the Physical, Mental and Spiritual levels and should not allow themselves to be dragged into petty rivalry. Such issues are about ego. A Warrior does not need others to feel exactly as they do, a Warrior needs only to know through the battles they have fought, that they know and understand the path they must take. Knowing this allows the Warrior to be courteous even with those who refuse to return that courtesy.
VI. Honesty and Sincerity
A Warrior, in order to be a resource to their community must be Honest and Sincere. In this way, those who come to the Warrior for advice or assistance will know and understand that what the Warrior says is what they mean. Knowing this allows the Warrior to be a quantifiable presence in their community. Honest and sincere, open communication is essential to a good working relationship within the community the Warrior has accepted the responsibility of supporting and protecting.
VII. Honor
Honor is a reflection of personal dignity and value. The Warrior achieves a state of honor by fighting the battles within themselves towards the goal of harmony on the physical, mental and spiritual levels. In this way, the Warrior knows and understands their strengths, weaknesses and limitations and has a legitimate understanding of their own worth.
VIII. Loyalty
The Warrior's first loyalty is towards harmony. Beyond that, it is the purview of the warrior to decide whom they extend Loyalty to. Loyalty should never be blind devotion but a measured and well thought out consideration of what that Loyalty represents. If they find that their loyalty is somehow misplaced, the Warrior should rescind that loyalty as a matter of honor.
IX. Character
The Warrior is true to who they are and what they represent. They reflect this in their everyday actions, words and deeds.
So, there are my Nine virtues...the Nine Fold Path of the Warrior. You may notice a few things about this. I did not use any gender specific pronouns. I believe that Women, Men, any combination thereof or any neutral variant can be a Warrior. To me, there is no limit to who can be a warrior. This is largely because becoming a warrior is such a personal choice that even though I feel qualified to present and discuss the topic, I do not believe it is for me or anyone else to place limitations on someone because they do not represent a specific enough demographic.
To me, a Warrior can be anyone as long as they are willing to do the important work of self discovery and make the effort to strive for Harmony on the physical, mental and spiritual levels. Physically this may mean exercising and eating right in an effort to stay healthy. This doesn't mean that you need to eat rabbit food, it means that you begin making positive changes and you keep making positive changes. On the mental level, it means that you recognize your strengths and weaknesses and how each one of those is both a strength and a weakness. Spiritually is a bit different. I believe an Atheist can be as much a warrior as the most well trained, Kung Fu Master monk. In terms of the Spiritual level, it simply means being in harmony with what you believe and why.
Along the path of the Warrior, a code of virtues that exist already or one that you design yourself in whole or in part can be a valuable tool to help you on your journey. When you come to a crossroad, that code becomes a map key that you can use to make a judgement about the terrain ahead of you and make an educated choice on which direction to choose. If you create your own warrior code you may find that some of the virtues you aspire to do not or no longer apply to your path. You should only discard a virtue you have developed after careful consideration as to what made you choose it in the first place.
For some, the method by which they choose to approach being a Warrior is by means of violence and their only code of conduct is generally to discard "fanciful" notions like protection, support and sacrifice. Next post we will discuss the concept of the Warrior in regards to violence.
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