Lessons in Life: A Warrior’s Journey

We all get caught in systems of belief, sticky as a spider's web... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
We all get caught in systems of belief,
sticky as a spider’s web…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Chuck, Jeanne and I write often of warrior skills, of learning to hone the skills and mindset of a warrior. We like to say that we are all warriors on our personal journeys. It might be difficult to grasp what we mean by this or to feel an attachment to the term, but be assured it’s not really that foreign.

The first step of acceptance of the self as a warrior comes in acknowledging that we are all spiritual beings seeking to graduate from Earth School, to find the means to connect with our High Self and move on from repeated lives here and to advance into other realities. Earth school is the preparation for doing just that.

A warrior does not seek to promote or aggrandize the self, but uses the term only as an anchor, as a focus. Much as a practitioner of meditation, yoga, tai chi, karate, etc., might practice the skills of those disciplines, in deep inner silence, so does a warrior practice the skills of the warrior in private. It is not something one talks about. It is something one does, all the time and to the best of one’s abilities, seeking always to advance to new levels of accomplishment, like learning to improve at playing a musical instrument or to perfect an athletic skill.

To bring attention to the self, to believe or state that one is better or more advanced that another being is not in the warrior’s best interest. The only thing that matters is the personal journey toward awareness, and so a warrior remains innerly focused on that intent. Awareness is whatever it is for the life one is in and the journey one is presently on. One person’s awareness might be another person’s confusion, or already assimilated into another person’s life, but all will discover what they need over time, when they are ready, and so awareness is very personal too.

And so, the only thing that really matters is the personal journey, and thus we use the term “warrior” in a very specific way, to describe a being who is privately intent on figuring life out on ever-deepening levels, intent on taking the inner journey to understanding and completion, in whatever way that is meaningful for the current lifetime.

Curiosity might be the catalyst to advancement... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Curiosity might be the catalyst to advancement…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Thus, references to the skills of the warrior and the processes of the warrior’s journey are always made with a far bigger picture in mind, the ultimate goal being that of the eternal spirit’s connection and union with its energetic self, with the Earth School being finding out that it is something else entirely. Experiences in life provide us with the direct means and the tangible products to take the journey to understanding what that might mean for us individually, utilizing what is personally relevant.

If you have any doubt about being a warrior yourself, stop right now. Instead, accept that because you are here, living in Earth School, you are already taking the warrior’s journey. You are curious, a seeker of something beyond that which is normally perceived, or you have been thrust into experiences and perceptions that you did not ask for but have had to contend with nonetheless. So the truth is, we are all warriors seeking meaning, understanding, and connection. If you are reading this—and I write this without any self-aggrandizement but simply as fact—you are already well on your way.

There comes a point during your time in Earth School when it becomes clear that “warrior” is indeed an appropriate term of description for what you are doing, for what you are attempting to achieve, to figure out, to sort through. In seeking deeper explanation, in the search for self-knowledge, for spirit connection, in the deep work of recapitulation, you are learning and honing the skills of a warrior. You might even discover that you have always been a warrior; you just didn’t know it!

So, when we speak or write of warriors and their doings, do not dismiss yourself from the mix, but more fully embrace your own journey as a warrior’s journey. Perhaps finding a context for what you are attempting to do and giving it a label, such as “I am a warrior taking a warrior’s journey,” will be just what you need to lock-in the practice and the deepening search for meaning that you have embarked on, even without your knowing, giving it a most fitting name. Do not doubt that you are worthy of the name, for in truth we are all warrior’s taking the warrior’s journey, just as we are spiritual beings taking the spiritual journey. They are one and the same.

At some point along the way we discover what it means to be in Earth School. We wake up to the fact that we are here to learn something. We become intensely aware that there is something else beyond this learning ground. That awakening offers us the opportunity to seek advancement beyond Earth School. It’s always our choice, of course.

What's out there waiting for us? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What’s out there waiting for us?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With our warriorhood practices firmly rooted, with our skills honed, our doubts melt away more easily and we move on more easily too. For now, however, we do the work we are challenged with in this life, both that which comes from within and that which comes from without.

The lessons of this lifetime, whether we are aware of them as lessons or not, whether we see a bigger picture or not, offer us the opportunity to connect with our future self. Making the decision to find out what that might mean is another step on the spiritual warrior’s journey.

Taking the journey too,
Jan

Soulbyte for Friday July 3, 2015

A warrior knows that there are times to let go and times to hold back, and so a warrior uses control when appropriate. Along with discipline and intent, control offers the antidote to life’s challenges and desires. Without control a warrior’s journey would be long and arduous, too unfocused to matter, for a warrior does not live at the whim of the energies of life but learns how to work with them, to be fluid and available to life’s experiences but not be swallowed up by them.

A warrior knows that to navigate life with awareness and to build one’s energy, prowess and expertise one must have control, discipline, and intent. But a warrior also knows that one must enjoy life to the fullest or the journey will have no meaning, for to live upon the earth and deny its pleasures is the opposite of being fluid and available. So a warrior embraces all of life and all experiences as meaningful, and yet there is always an element of control to balance a warrior’s exuberance, for a warrior’s intent is always to gain, not to lose.

Soulbyte for Thursday July 2, 2015

Inner knowing, a warrior’s companion, comes with practice, with paying attention to the signs and notices that come from within, mirrored without. Without inner knowing, life is a stumbling, rock-strewn path, hard to see. With inner knowing, the way becomes smooth, light-filled, and all is revealed. When all is revealed a warrior’s choices become refined, intent more focused. With inner knowing in place, a warrior’s journey is certain, the goals clear.

How does a warrior hone inner knowing?

Every day a warrior is alert to what is going on inside the self, paying attention to body speak, mind speak, spirit speak, and the language of emotion, which leads the way to greater understanding of just what must be faced in a lifetime.

A warrior knows that seeking stability and fluidity in the world, balanced with inner calmness and awareness within, are key elements to inner knowing, and so a warrior pays attention to everything that is happening inside and out and navigates life without blame or resentment but by taking full responsibility for the self and all that occurs.

Inner knowing naturally develops as a warrior learns to trust the language of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self. A warrior is aware at all times that within the self all that is necessary waits to be discovered and brought into life. A warrior is aware that a path of heart leads there, to self-knowledge, self-awareness, and inner knowing, and so a warrior never hesitates to act according to and in alignment with what is right.

Chuck’s Place: Why Am I Here?

Denial is strong. But it hardly matters. The changes the channels have forecast are indeed upon us. “Anything is possible” is unfolding daily upon the world stage.

Why am I here too? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Why am I here too?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If you are alive today, in human form, you are indeed a part of this sweeping energy of change. What a magnificent time to be here! I suggest, to make the most of the opportunity, everyone of us address the question: Why am I personally here upon this earth at this time of unprecedented change?

The answer to this question lies in where we put our energy, attention, and deepest longing. I stress deepest longing because planet Earth is the playing field of attachment. Robert Monroe went so far as to call Earth the “planet of addiction.”

Attachment and addiction run hand in hand. If you are on this planet you had to emotionally attach. You are seeking something. Until you run the course of that desire, you will not be ready to move on. That is a pretty accurate description of addiction: running the course with an attachment until you’ve learned what you need to learn, or are completely fulfilled and bored, ready to release and move on to new adventure.

As I see it, the planet we are alive on is in a major phase of restructuring. Very clearly, human attachments or addictions have resulted in such an unsustainable environment that the Earth is being challenged in its ability to sustain life altogether. Clearly, the overload of human desire, with its myriad of attachments, has come to a point of total saturation.

The restructuring I speak of is an evolutionary advance that refines our relation to attachments. We must advance from ego want to Self need. Self here is defined as the greater whole of what we are versus the narrow, isolated ego that puts its wants and desires over that of the greater Self, within and without.

If we inventory our deepest driving desires, we might discover them to be issuing from ego’s desire for comfort, security, and attention of the kind that ego calls love. Ego is desperate to achieve its aims because ego, devoid of a connection to its greater self, knows only getting its needs met in the immediacy of this life—and it’s desperate to do so!

Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Resolution may lie in Investigating life and the self on the deepest level…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With the ego in a leadership role of decision making, this can lead to many repetitive, poor decisions for the personality and the planet. Only in turning inward and discovering the greater Self, and acquiescing to its guidance and true needs, can we advance individually and evolutionarily as a species.

Ego on its own is addicted to the pursuit of its attachments, come what may! Ego serving the heart-centered true needs of the Self brings the personality and world itself into interconnected balance.

We are all here to advance beyond our attachments/addictions, to a greater Self and a greater world that drops its illusions and restores balance. That is the contribution we are all afforded in this time of great change and great advance.

May we all advance together,
Chuck

Additional reading: Here is another posting with the same title, channeled back in September 2007 that offers guidance in the process that Chuck writes about in his blogpost today: #153 Why Am I Here

Soulbyte for Wednesday July 1, 2015

Allow the self to relax and be open to what life offers as you traverse your path of heart. In so doing, new creative juices will flow and new ideas will stimulate new visions. To create a new self is a noble idea and to do so with awareness of the importance of becoming spiritually aware and active in today’s world reveals a true caring for the world and all fellow living beings. To change the self is the catalyst now needed to seed deep-seated change everywhere.

So relax and enjoy the journey of creation of a new self, a new life, and a new world. Without you and your input the world’s possibilities for creation of a greater, kinder, more compassionate world would not be fulfilling. You matter more than you think. Your efforts matter. Your energy matters.

A far greater, more spiritual world is already in the making. To join forces with that is more than a noble idea, benefitting you and all beings. As you continue on your path of heart, through all its twists and turns, know that you are truly making a difference. Your intent to change matters! As you join the energy of good, relax and enjoy the journey!