fearless

There are many similarities between a Warrior and Spiritual Warrior, but there is one huge, overall difference between the two.  A Warrior is solely focused on mastering an art form, a technique or a set of skills (e.g. Olympic Athlete, musician) while a Spiritual Warrior embraces courage, compassion, discipline, and training to master one’s own ego and alter ego.

A Spiritual Warrior may still want to be the best in a sport, trade, or in their own personal disciplines, but they are working on being their best while remaining humble.

In our minds Hollywood has successfully destroyed and ruined the Noble Characteristics of the Warrior Archetype, portraying the warrior as hot-headed, arrogant, self-serving, ruthless; the warrior is presented as someone with deeply flawed characteristics that you really don’t want.

Hollywood would have us believe that all the jerks in the world have strong warrior traits and if we didn’t have warriors we wouldn’t have wars.

Being a Spiritual Warrior, however, means making a lifetime commitment to embrace discipline, study, and long intense training (sometimes at the sacrifice of comfort and convenience) to live a purposeful, meaningful life of service.

I have seen the term Spiritual Warrior used in a variety of contexts and adopted by a variety of individuals who may not share a common understanding of the term. For the Master Teachers of the Shin Dao in general terms, a Spiritual Warrior is someone who:

If any or all of these points resonate with you, then stepping onto the Path of the Spiritual Warrior may be for you?

A Spiritual Warrior is someone who embraces courage, compassion, discipline and training to master one’s own alterego.

Being a “Spiritual Warrior” means a life commitment. It means the embrace of discipline, study and long intense training sometimes at the sacrifice of comfort and convenience.

According to the Random House Dictionary, the term “warrior” has two meanings.

Regardless of our current moral perception of the term warrior; all warriors have a few basic things in common:

All of these traits apply to the Spiritual warrior as well … and for the very same reasons.

There is a difference between a warrior and a soldier. A soldier is trained to follow orders, to respect authority, and to subjugate their individual thinking process and will to the command hierarchy.

It should be noted that victory and defeat are a matter of Spirit more than of body. One is never defeated as long as his/ her Spirit is not defeated or broken. When a warrior falls in battle without surrendering or giving up, his Spirit grows stronger. When a warrior survives the battle without surrendering or giving up, his Spirit grows stronger. Of course, most warriors prefer surviving.

The term “Spiritual Warrior” has been used in a variety of contexts and has been adopted by a variety of individuals who may not share a common understanding of the term. In general, a “Spiritual Warrior” is someone who embraces the more noble personal attributes and strengths associated with warriors in general. In general, a “Spiritual Warrior” is someone who masters him or herself, and overcomes personal desire, moral issues, and all weaknesses of character. In general, a “Spiritual Warrior” is someone who embraces a journey of self discovery in order to benefit others as well as enlighten him or herself.

Some martial arts traditions maintain a system of ethics and honor and pursue a path of self mastery. Others emphasize combat, competition and fighting. Being a fighter does not make one a Spiritual Warrior.

Some military organizations have a creed of honor and service as their core guiding principles. In the fog of actual warfare these may become lost, ignored or forgotten. Being a soldier does not make one a Spiritual Warrior.

Being a Spiritual Warrior has nothing to do with physical battle, making war, fighting or being mean and tough.

The battle of the Spiritual Warrior is the mastery of one’s self.

Being a Spiritual Warrior also means understanding your principles and not compromising them. Which is much easier said than done.

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