Creating Warriors

From time to time the word “warrior” pops up in these posts. Knights certainly are a form of warriors (King Arthur is a legendary example), but in our case, warriorship does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is one of the sources of the world's problems, not the solution. In our case, “Warrior” here means “one who is brave.”

Yesterday, Lady Suzanne, our older daughter Amy, and I dropped off our daughter Lucy to become a Knight of Bellarmine University. Our world needs new warriors to help solve the myriad of very serious problems facing the world today. Fortunately, there are men and women and universities out there that are teaching the basic human wisdom that can help save us from ourselves. I have grown to believe that this wisdom must not come from any one culture or religion, but from a collective effort. Though Bellarmine is a Catholic University, around 50% of its students are of other faiths. It seems that the one of its missions is a common Knight theme: Unity Through Diversity.

While everyone -- united -- has a responsibility to help the world, we can actually do more harm than good if we try to impose our ideas and ideals on the world. With all the problems now facing human beings, it’s is more important than ever to find simple ways – nonsectarian ways – to work with each other and share our understanding. Where do we start? We must first look inside ourselves. In spite of all our problems, there is something basically good about ourselves. As Sir Hook wrote in a previous post, unless we can discover that ground of goodness in our own lives, we cannot hope to improve the lives of others.

According to the Shambhala tradition, there are several principles of warriorship. The first, and key, is not being afraid of who you are (and that takes a very brave person). When we are not afraid of ourselves, we open up and share our wisdom with the world.

Yesterday, while moving Lucy in and setting her free, we experienced some of that unity and diversity. We also experience some of what makes life such a wonderful experience: fellowship with family, the generosity of strangers, the bright blue sky, freshness of a wooded campus, breaking bread with friends, and finally riding into a glorious sunset as we left our daughter in the hands of wise men and women who will work to awaken her inner “warriorship” -- to grow brave and wise!

Sir Bowie of Greenbrair