"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, but rather spiritual beings on a human journey." Teilhard de Chardin
Samurai list of principles statements
Instructions To A Warrior
For your sword like nothing else.
To care most for what expresses
Your whole soul is the one necessity.
Practice with your weapon daily.
It is not what you can do
but what you cannot do that is
The measure of your success or unsuccess.
Never draw your blade unless
Your purpose is greater
Than your reluctance to pursue it.
For without purpose more than ourselves
We fail the true challenges of this life.
Once you have drawn your sword
Show no hesitation or lack of commitment.
Commitment cures ambivalence,
As choice is the one pure act
At the crossroads of new life.
Carry your sword loose in its scabbard.
Be ready at all times for the impossible.
Choose not only the moment to act
But also choose to deal
Each moment with what comes your way.
A sword too tight in its scabbard
Kills its wearer, not the opponent.
When you have drawn the blade of your truth,
Strike home with all your heart.
Questions of right and wrong are solved
In one pure act and its consequences.
There can be no remorse in a committed choice.
Only consequences.
Be ready to deal with outcomes
Before you strike, not after.
Once the moment of choice is lost,
It is gone forever.
Strike now! There is no later.
Consequences arrive whether
You want them to or not.
You are not your choice,
Yet you must choose
And take the consequences.
The Oneness is All.
We are what we choose.
What we choose defines us.
Every loss is somebody else's gain.
There are no winners and losers in life.
Life is all. Life is all we have.
What we do with life is what counts.
When the arc of your blade is flying
To meet its opportunity,
Think not of winning or losing,
But of the purity of the moment,
Open to all possibilities.
You are not the captain of your destiny,
But only a crucial player in its unfolding.
Sheath your sword when action is complete.
There are no victors
And no defeated in the game of life.
There are only actions and their consequences.
We deal with the possible in the now.
To hold onto any moment
Creates extremes in the next.
A cowardly sword breaks into pieces.
A true sword strikes home to the core.
An uncommitted sword falls from the hand,
And is picked up by another.
Accept the sword and you accept its purpose.
Deny the sword and it will cut its owner.
What you let go of too soon,
Will not let go of you.
Hold on too tightly to the sword,
And you become brittle as metal,
Not capable of bending with the wind,
Not able to master the elements of your life.
Hold on too loosely to your sword,
And your hold on life weakens.
Grasp with full commitment,
Yet not with fear.
Let the sword act of its own volition,
But guide it down its true path.
A warrior never acts unless the purpose
Is greater than his or her personal self.
We learn to meet life through death in every moment.
Oil your sword. Clean it after every activity.
Reflect on the experience to obtain its essence.
For without caring for what is essential,
We lose ourselves to what is not essential.
A fallen warrior is only noble when the value
Is greater than the life itself.
Do not be a fool and die for causes!
Retire peacefully from the battle arena,
Honoring both your losses and your successes.
There can be no reward in victory.
If you have won, you have also lost.
A sword used without purpose is a sword no longer.
Worship not the blade but honor its maker.
Grasp the handle firmly, yet be wary of the edge.
A sharp sword cuts cleanly.
The right choice at the right time
Cuts even more cleanly.
A dull sword wreaks havoc and chaos.
A sword without its scabbard itches for any action.
A sword without commitment misses its mark.
A sword following its true arc
Is the final path of action.
We live best by eternal precepts.
Enter no activity without cause.
Press no advantage without a value.
Leave the past behind in every action.
Open rather than seek a goal.
Act when the moment is ripe.
The readiness is all!
© Strephon Kaplan-Williams - November 13, 1994
The Dream Warrior Credo
I have no dreams, I am born in the night
I have no problems, my problems I take as my own and give them to nobody
I have no lust, I live creatively life's energies as they arise in me
I have no love, I express caring and passion in all that I do
I have no innocence, I take things as they come
I have no guilt, I have betrayed no one by meeting their expectations
I have no hate, all can deny me at any place and at any time
I have no anger, I am continually wounded by the rough edges of life
I have no peace, my heart is full of emptiness as I let all of life in
I have no center, the center is not where I can place it
I have no I, the I that is me resides in all my choices
I have no life, what I want is never what I get
I have no death, there is no place that I can call home
- Strephon Kaplan-Williams - September 16, 2003
Warrior's Creed
I have no home: I make awareness my home.
I have no life or death: I make the tides of breathing my life and death.
I have no divine power: I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means: I make understanding my means.
I have no magic secrets: I make character my magic secret.
I have no body: I make endurance my body.
I have no eyes: I make the flash of lightning my eyes.
I have no ears: I make sensibility my ears.
I have no limbs: I make promptness my limbs.
I have no strategy: I make "unshadowed by thought" my strategy.
I have no designs: I make "seizing opportunity by the forelock" my design.
I have no miracles: I make "right action" my miracles.
I have no principles: I make adaptability to all circumstances my principles.
I have no tactics: I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.
I have no talents: I make ready wit my talent.
I have no friends: I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy: I make carelessness my enemy.
I have no armor: I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.
I have no castle: I make immovable-mind my castle.
I have no sword: I make absence of self my sword.
-Anonymous Samurai, Fourteenth Century [p. 2 "The Awakened Warrior : Living With Courage, Compassion, and Discipline" Rick Fields, editor. 1994]