Pehriska-Ruhpa of the Dog Band of the Hidatsa tribe of Native Americans

Starting a 7^th year teaching the Spirit Paths program, I am afforded the opportunity to examine again what it means to be a warrior. The word has often confusing meanings in our Western culture, and many of our images of warriors seem to be stuck in the past. Don Miguel Ruiz offers a contemporary definition of a warrior (in the Spirit Paths Program we spend a good deal of time focusing on Ruiz’s Four Agreements):

“The big difference between a warrior and a victim is that the victim represses and the warrior refrains.”

― Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

This description hardly seems to fit our typical image of a warrior as a samurai, chief, or soldier ready for battle. Of course it takes courage and action to not repress and to refrain. But refrain from what? Refrain from… repression? Refrain from acting without intent? Refrain from doing… anything? This is interesting, because the person who represses something is avoiding it, and therefore not taking action. But a warrior who refrains from action, is also seemingly “not doing anything.” From the outside, it might be hard to tell whether a person’s inaction is from a point of strength or from repression (which of course is where Ruiz’s 3^rd agreement rings true: Don’t make assumptions.)

Implied in Ruiz’s quote is that warriors know when to act and when not to act, and their decision is an active choice rooted in Freedom. Warriors act with intent, and only act when their intent is aligned with their authenticity. Thus warriors are always tuning in, checking in, and actively participating in their own authenticity. That’s why in the Spirit Paths program we teach tools for developing our authenticity, tools that often mimic the spear or blade to help us defeat our internal enemies and align ourselves with intent. In effect, then or now, the internal work of a warrior is very likely the same.

Learn more in the book, Spirit Paths: The Quest For Authenticity, available from Amazon.com.