A SPIRITUAL WARRIOR
Difficulties and obstacles, if
properly understood and used, can be an unexpected source of strength…
… To be a spiritual warrior means to
develop a special kind of courage, one that is innately intelligent, gentle,
and fearless. Spiritual warriors can still be frightened, but even so they are
courageous enough to taste suffering, to relate clearly to their fundamental fear,
and to draw out without evasion the lessons from difficulties.
Glimpse After
Glimpse,
Sogyal Rinpoche
&
This “spiritual
warrior” talk can be confusing to some. The topic of spirituality was being
discussed in martial terms in a meeting I attended some time ago. A woman
protested, “Why all this military talk? That way of thinking is behind all our violence
and wars…” I still think about that woman’s objection.
First off: Wars today are usually
declared by politicians. The most peace loving people I know are veterans of
war. Secondly: martial terms are used universally in the texts of nearly every spiritual or
religious teaching. The Christian Bible has several references to armor. My
favorite one is from the Epistle to the Ephesians (6:13-18) where it admonishes
us to “put on the whole armor of God… for we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
darkness of this world, and against wickedness in high places.” The writer continues, identifying the rest
of a soldier’s equipment: loins girded with truth (I find it interesting that
the truth is a jock-strap protecting our most valuable assets); breast-plate of
righteousness; feet shod with the gospel of peace; and the shield of peace.
It doesn’t take much to see the rest
of the military terms used to create a cooperative and disciplined cohesion of
a fellowship. The Buddhists call it the dharma and the Sangha to be taken as seriously
as a soldier preparing for war.
geo 5,901
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