Rest for the Warrior

[Palehorse Redivivus]

This is kind of a continuation of my train of thought in this thread...

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14597

...but I think it is, in itself, an important enough landmark realization to warrant its own post, which I put in the PSD forum because that's what it seems to have the most implications for. I hope it will also help those who have never experienced serious negative interference, to gain some understanding of those who do.

I personally have a lot of "warrior spirit" stuff going on. This has meant that I have had one HELL of a time reconciling that side of myself with any of what we typically hear in spiritual circles about love, peace, oneness, finding rest, stop striving and it will come, etc etc. All these concepts are totally foreign, at least in the form they're typically presented.

The warrior hears all this and thinks "are you mad?! How can I rest when the opposition is at the gates, surrounds me on all sides, and continues to attack as we speak? If I rest now, I'll be taken into captivity, tortured, ripped apart and will finally be no more!"

Telling the warrior that his opposition is imagined, and has no objective existence, does more harm than good. He is absolutely correct that if he does stop fighting in the middle of the battle, he will indeed be tortured, mangled and damaged further. He won't cease to exist as he believes, but he will be put in a position that requires more fighting to come back from. Namely, he has to fight his way to a position of safety so he can heal himself. You can't solve the warrior's problem by telling him to drop his weapons and join a monastery, because that's not who he IS -- if he did that, he'd just be taking the battle into a new setting. What's more, if he takes these sorts of suggestions onboard, he may lose his will to fight -- this is the worst thing that can happen! All such suggestions that amount to "just stop being a warrior" are just as much of an attack on him as everything else he's enduring. "Warrior" may be another image, but it's also a tool, and the warrior can't just drop his tools and adopt yours anymore than you can just one day choose to put on his armor, pick up his weapons and take on his role.

The way to peace is found, not in the cessation of fighting -- the warrior fights because that's part of who he is -- but in the realization of what he's fighting for.

The warrior fights for his right to exist (honor), and to have his existence affirmed (glory), in the face of everything about his experience trying to take those two things away.

Both of those things, as well as rest, are found in love, as is being explored in the thread I linked.

The function of all negative interference is to draw attention to the false images. The problem is that they do so in such a way that is so violent and painful that usually, more attention is focused on ending the pain, first by destroying opposition and then by healing damage, rather than examining the images. You can never end a neg interference problem by destroying enough of them -- but you can at least hack out temporary positions of enough safety to gain more objectivity before the battle resumes.

The other problem is that negative interference (and often those trying to "help", for that matter) attempts to rip those images away. You can't TAKE something from a warrior -- even if it is something not worth having, just the fact that you are trying to take it will provoke him to defend it till the bitter end as a matter of principle. In the case of false images, he will defend them until he reaches "higher ground," the place where he has some temporary room to breathe, enough times to fully examine them for what they are, so he can relinquish them voluntarily. For the warrior, relinquishing his delusions are not an act of submission, but an act of will.

As I said in the other thread, "love is where the rest is." Find love, and the "honor and glory" which are the warrior-spin on the basic need for approval and self-affirmation, will manifest.

This is why all campaigns of neg interference start by attacking the heart chakra.

Shut that down so the warrior doesn't have access to love, and you can continue to mount attacks which serve to distract him from ever finding it.

Create a safe space in which to find love, and all the attacks cease -- not because they were never "real," not because the attackers didn't really exist -- but because with the false images gone, there's nothing left to attack. There is only what IS, which cannot be attacked or distorted once recognized.

I'm hoping to put this one into "polished article" form sometime soon, but it was one of those things that insisted "express me! NOW!" Woo...

[CFTraveler]

I would say (and feel free to disagree with me) that like any archetype, the warrior serves its purpose until you're ready to let it go and pick up another one. I found myself fighting and fighting (and still wake up in the middle of the night poking someone's eyes out (I think I know who it was, lol) ocassionally. But it is still part of an evolutionary process, and at some point it stops serving the purpose.
The problems is that 'helpers', that is, people that have adopted the 'wise peacemaking old man' (or whatever you call it) assume that this is who they are, and what everyone is supposed to be (once again, confusing roles with identity) and then give advice that doesn't fit.
I can't speak for anyone else, but at some point I decided to stop fighting, and I was able to take the abuse, pain, etc. and transcend it into something else (perhaps it was love, as you indicated) and then things started to happen differently for me.) But the point is that no archetype is absolutely 'you'- you are simply using that which serves you at the time, and when it stops working, there are many others to choose from.
I think you know what I'm saying.

If it's not coherent, sorry, I had to go to the doctor for fasting blood tests, and am waiting for the coffee to perk, and haven't had breakfast yet either.
Didn't stop me from jumping in, though.

[Palehorse Redivivus]

I think you're onto something.

The way I think of it is -- we come into this life with a toolbox, and part of that toolbox are these archetypes. The ones we incarnate with by default are probably ones that we've gained some degree of proficiency with before.

If you're conscious of your "default" tools, then sure, you're in a good position to pick them up, put them down, find new ones and so forth at will.

In contrast I think the situation most people are in is that they have no idea what tools they came here with; not only are their tools unconscious, but they try to force their tools into roles, functions and uses that they aren't designed for. IOW, rather than putting one tool down and picking up another consciously, they're trying to cut and paste a different image over the ones they already have. If I have a screwdriver, but decide that a hammer would be better for the task at hand, I can go buy one... but if I persist in trying to convince myself the screwdriver IS a hammer, I'll continue to experience conflict even if I do figure a way to complete the job with it.

I don't want to use the word "better" but I think it's safe to say that first understanding what you actually have on hand to work with before you try to decide what to do with it, makes for a smoother ride than trying to pick up a tool you have no proficiency with, while neither recognizing what you do have to work with, or that you've picked up something else.

Do we ever completely discard these archetypes? I just realized I'm not sure.

My tentative thought is that it's possible to achieve mastery of any given archetype. Before then, you could pick one up, or put one down and forget about it, and it will cease to influence you. After you've mastered it (i.e. learned what it's used for, relinquished the image and retired it to the subconscious), though? The analogy that comes to mind is that you can get rid of your bike, but once you've learned how to ride, you never forget; you've integrated that skill-set. I get the impression that the higher self (through us) similarly picks up and drops various things, develops preferences, and acquires skill-sets in this way.

So, now that I seem to be integrating "The Warrior" I would imagine that I could relinquish the image per se... but as long as I'm a conscious entity, there will probably be times when I find myself in situations where it comes second-nature to respond as a warrior would.

At the same time, another thing I'm realizing is that all these archetypes have a "fully realized" form... i.e. the point at which the archetype is fully expressing itself as it is, rather than trying to be something else, or put a "reason" to it. It's said that in Valhalla (one of the Norse "heavens") all the warriors fight all day long, only to heal up at night, and pick it up again the next day. I used to read these sagas and think "what's the point of that? What are they fighting for?"

The fighting IS the point. Why do you think war-games are so popular? Because all the strategizing, struggle, victories AND defeats can be fun... once they're detached from this need for self-validation.

All physical wars are fought by people trying to take something away from someone else, which they don't realize they already have.

*hopes some of this is making sense, because I don't know if its fully coalesced for me yet*

[Neil Templar]

i find this interesting.
i have no idea what archetype is active within, tho i'm sure it's very passive in nature, only fighting as a last resort.
to be honest, the only archetype(if it can indeed be counted as one) that i've ever associated with myself is that of a wolf! several other people have said this about me over the years too..

tho in non-physical terms, any time i'm forced into any kind of battle situation, i call upon angelic power, often growing full wings, and sending forth light energy from my heart. so an angel archetype then?

Palehorse, is this warrior within something that is evident in your everyday experiences? i mean, now that you've recognized it, do you see it playing it's part in your day to day interactions? or is it only when dealing with neg-type energies?

it's interesting to think back over my life and see the apparently different characters within myself, dealing with situations in a myriad of different ways.. (was that really me?)

[wstein]

There's a difference between defending and being defensive. You sound more the later. Especially your comment about the heart chakra always being attacked first. This suggests that you are acting in response to pain/hurt more than preservation.

Its also part of the warrior tradition not to fight without cause. Avoiding fighting and keeping the peace is also part of role.

The way to transition (if you want to) to a more peaceful way is to find ways NOT to fight without being slain. Whenever you hear the warrior's call to arms, ask yourself, "why do I need to fight?" If you are not able to do it before the battle begins, ask afterwards "what was I fighting for?". Maybe you find yourself at war and there seems ample reason to battle. In this case start by asking the questions of any activity you are about to start. Hopefully, you will notice that some potential conflicts can be handled in other ways.

Do not discard the warrior, there ARE times that it is kill or be killed; but hopefully at that point you will have a choice.

[CFTraveler]

If you're conscious of your "default" tools, then sure, you're in a good position to pick them up, put them down, find new ones and so forth at will.

In contrast I think the situation most people are in is that they have no idea what tools they came here with; not only are their tools unconscious, but they try to force their tools into roles, functions and uses that they aren't designed for. IOW, rather than putting one tool down and picking up another consciously, they're trying to cut and paste a different image over the ones they already have. If I have a screwdriver, but decide that a hammer would be better for the task at hand, I can go buy one... but if I persist in trying to convince myself the screwdriver IS a hammer, I'll continue to experience conflict even if I do figure a way to complete the job with it.

This post reminds me of things other people wrote: CaterpillarWoman with the 'you don't know 'til you know', until something goes 'ding' thread. Awareness eventually comes, sometimes after the fact.

I don't want to use the word "better" but I think it's safe to say that first understanding what you actually have on hand to work with before you try to decide what to do with it, makes for a smoother ride than trying to pick up a tool you have no proficiency with, while neither recognizing what you do have to work with, or that you've picked up something else.

Do we ever completely discard these archetypes? I just realized I'm not sure.

To quote the second thing, remember Forrest Gump's wise words about life being a box of chocolates? Depending on the flavor you get, you pick up the archetype that best suits you to enjoy it. Or spit it out, depending.

Palehorse, is this warrior within something that is evident in your everyday experiences?

Hee hee- have you ever seen him? You could put a horny hat on his head and give him an axe and a hammer and call him Thor.

[Neil Templar]

Palehorse, is this warrior within something that is evident in your everyday experiences?

Hee hee- have you ever seen him? You could put a horny hat on his head and give him an axe and a hammer and call him Thor.

Hehe, yeah.

[Palehorse Redivivus]

There's a difference between defending and being defensive. You sound more the later. Especially your comment about the heart chakra always being attacked first. This suggests that you are acting in response to pain/hurt more than preservation.

Don't mind me if anything sounds defensive... I've got an aspect of myself other than the warrior that I haven't written about purging and healing a lot of old stuff... formerly marginalized and wounded, now finally being recognized, heard and understood (by me). PH may go down for maintenance shortly; leave a msg after the beep...

Aaaanyway, I shouldn't have spoken in absolutes, but between myself, people I've come to know in the metaphysical community over the years, and people I encounter in my healing practice, the heart chakra as the first target of an attack campaign seems to come up a whole lot. IMO it kind of stands to reason; the heart chakra can be considered a "hub." Attack that, and you not only take down a person's support network on several levels, it causes a lot of pain, and prolonged and/or severe pain shakes up survival issues and personal power, plays hell with the emotions, clouds intuition and eventually allows for the blocking off of higher help. Also due to being in the physical center of the body, anything wrong with the heart chakra disrupts the connection between the high and low end. All things considered direct attack on the heart chakra seems to affect the entire system like few other things can, especially if allowed to proceed because the individual doesn't know what's happening.

Its also part of the warrior tradition not to fight without cause. Avoiding fighting and keeping the peace is also part of role.

Definitely agreed there, and (to answer Neil's question) this is one of the main ways its played out for me in this lifetime. I'm not physically big or athletic by any stretch, so any "warfare" I engaged in has always been psychological, and more recently, learning how to project energy in ways that affect perception like a sort of "pufferfish effect", lol. Oddly enough there have been very few times in my life where I've felt physically threatened in anything other than a medical sense, but I've always had a talent for diffusing situations (whether they involve me directly or not). The hunch is that I got most of the "physical violence" side of the archetype out of my system a few lifetimes ago. Being skinny and having a distaste for violence were actually major reasons why it took so long to figure out that this archetype was in play for me at all. In everyday life, I'm a lot more laid back and hippie-esque than anyone reading this forum might expect.

Metaphysically speaking has been another story. Once the neg thing started, and got very intense very quickly (mostly after I started finding fun little (exploding) easter eggs throughout my system), the first approach that had any effect on the situation was the "full force and weapons" one. I always said that it wasn't ideal; I would've preferred to have the sensing ability to take a more diplomatic approach and actually know whether it was effective... but at the time, in practice, it was "myself and everyone else in the house are being rocked by this stuff, so I'm going to use the tools I actually have, because I can't afford to wait around to develop new ones with this going on." Nowadays, after a whole lot of work on things like personal boundaries at the subconscious / energetic level, clearing implanted stuff out of my system and getting my heart chakra back up and running, neg issues have gotten relatively rare, and mild when they do show up, so its gotten pretty rare to have to go into war-mode on that front.

At this point it seems the warrior-arch manifests mostly in the form of things like general personality traits, really messed up gallows humor, and enjoyment of things like epic movies, music and strategy / war games, heh. A friend and I have a running joke: "few are the problems that cannot be solved with a claymore" ...which has turned into either one of us interrupting the other's description of a current problem with "CLAYMORE!" It's also something I can turn on for uses one might not expect, like when I'm working on an article that I want to give a bit more of a "storming the burning fields" vibe.

And I only wear my horny-hat when I'm... nevermind.

[Ouroboros]

At this point it seems the warrior-arch manifests mostly in the form of things like general personality traits, really messed up gallows humor, and enjoyment of things like epic movies, music and strategy / war games, heh. A friend and I have a running joke: "few are the problems that cannot be solved with a claymore" ...which has turned into either one of us interrupting the other's description of a current problem with "CLAYMORE!" It's also something I can turn on for uses one might not expect, like when I'm working on an article that I want to give a bit more of a "storming the burning fields" vibe.

Totally and completely with you here. I have a running joke of my own, but a little different. Whenever someone has a problem with something, my immediate suggestion is to "punch it in the face." Doesn't matter what it is. Car won't start? Punch it in the face. Computer acting up? Punch it in the face. People often come back with "it doesn't have a face!" to which I naturally respond, "Doesn't matter, punch it in the face!"

So yeah...definitely relate to ya. Especially with the gallows humor...I have to be really careful most of the time, because if I'm not I'll start laughing or cracking jokes about something that other people definitely do not find funny. What's weird is that the more I release my fears, the "worse" my sense of humor gets...

[Palehorse Redivivus]

i find this interesting.
i have no idea what archetype is active within, tho i'm sure it's very passive in nature, only fighting as a last resort.
to be honest, the only archetype(if it can indeed be counted as one) that i've ever associated with myself is that of a wolf! several other people have said this about me over the years too..

tho in non-physical terms, any time i'm forced into any kind of battle situation, i call upon angelic power, often growing full wings, and sending forth light energy from my heart. so an angel archetype then?

Forgot to answer this...

The book Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss is what really influenced my work and experience with archetypes. The premise of the book is that you have 12 primary ones that are your "team" in this lifetime, they hold influence in different areas of your life, and by learning what yours are and what areas they're influencing, it can help clarify what you have to work with and the reasons for this incarnation.

As for me, I don't necessarily believe in a "soul contract" (and have renounced any I may have had in any case) and I've tweaked Myss' system to suit my personal experience along the way. But I will say that IDing my archs and seeing which areas they fell into according to her system, caused a lot of things to fall together and start making sense. Also, due to the way I operate and techniques I was using most often already, I found that I could interact with these archs directly like you would any other entity, in order to get everybody on the same page and working more efficiently with myself and each other.

The book is a good read, although all the "how-to" stuff for selecting your archs and casting the "archetypal wheel" that gives more info on exactly what they're doing for you is posted on her website.

http://myss.com/library/contracts/

Totally and completely with you here. I have a running joke of my own, but a little different. Whenever someone has a problem with something, my immediate suggestion is to "punch it in the face." Doesn't matter what it is. Car won't start? Punch it in the face. Computer acting up? Punch it in the face. People often come back with "it doesn't have a face!" to which I naturally respond, "Doesn't matter, punch it in the face!"

So yeah...definitely relate to ya. Especially with the gallows humor...I have to be really careful most of the time, because if I'm not I'll start laughing or cracking jokes about something that other people definitely do not find funny. What's weird is that the more I release my fears, the "worse" my sense of humor gets...

Oh yeah, another one of mine in response to anybody saying, doing or thinking anything vaguely displeasing is "a swift kidney-shot (alternately: swift headbutt) will straighten you out."

*walks into room*
"Anybody here need straightening out?"
"...No."
"You suuuure? *shakes fist; winning smile*"
"...Uh huh."
*sighs, wanders out... sticks head back in a minute or so later*
"How 'bout now?"

But see, I'm not violent and never have been... I just enjoy being irritating. Probably a "had to be there" thing, tho. Heh.

And yeah, the sense of humor is definitely getting more twisted as I go on with this whole process. I also envy your sword collection you've talked about... I keep saying that when life circumstances make it more feasible, my living room is probably going to look like a medieval armory.