Book Review: The Craft of the Warrior by Robert L. Spencer
the path with heart
I consider this book to be one of my sacred texts. It is the foundation of my personal philosophy.
In The Craft of the Warrior, Spencer explores the concept of the “warrior’s way,” which is a set of principles and practises for personal development and self-mastery. He draws on various sources, including Eastern and Western philosophy, martial arts, and spiritual traditions, to present a holistic approach to personal growth and self-improvement.
The chapter that has had the most profound impact on me is "The Path with Heart," which is about choosing the path that is right for you based on the essence of who you are.
There are many paths, and the end of each path is the same. Ultimately, we are all going to die, no matter what path we choose.
We are free to choose the path, and the question becomes, "How will you choose to live?"
Carlos Castaneda, one of the primary sources in The Craft of the Warrior, has this to say about how to choose your path:
Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has a heart and the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you!
Every time I read that passage, I’m tempted to tattoo it on my chest.
Engaging the mystery is another concept from the book that resonates deeply with me. As Castaneda writes:
The warrior's path is the opposite of the life situation of modern man... Modern man has left the realm of the unknown and the mysterious, and has settled down in the realm of the functional. He has turned his back on the world of foreboding and welcomed the world of boredom.
When I first read that passage, I was stunned. I had been living my life exactly that way, stuck in the corporate salt mines, doing what I felt I should be doing instead of pursuing my dreams and ambitions. I was a domesticated primate who had lost his drive to be himself and live a life of authenticity. I was living life as one of the walking dead. And it sucked. This book woke me up (not the ridiculous wokeness as it has come to mean today, but rather woke as in no longer sleepwalking through life).
My Key Takeaways
The Warrior's Path
1: Engaging the Mystery
Take care of business from day to day, but seek out the unknown and be willing to disrupt your routine to pursue opportunities as they arise. "The warrior in keeping the sense of mystery alive, never shuts the door to the possibilities of learning more. The mystery, the adventure of the unknown, is the fuel that propels the warrior along his path and energises his personal quest for personal power and knowledge."
2: War
Life itself is much like a battle. Survival is not guaranteed. Most of the struggles are internal—struggles against self-importance, against binding habits, against the state of sleep that most of us take for waking—and the battleground is our own psyche.
3: Death
You can never avoid death. But if you have lived with a sense of reality and with gratitude toward life, then you leave the dignity of your life behind you. Death advises the warrior to do his best and follow his path.
4: Life
Maximise who and what you are. Many limitations we experience have nothing to do with our inherent abilities; rather, they are the products of how other people imagine us to be or how they project their own limitations onto us. The warrior accepts challenges as a part of life.
5: Responsibility
Take responsibility for everything that happens to you, for all aspects of your life, and for everything you witness.
6: Nowness
The challenge of a warrior is to live fully in the world as it is and to find within this world, with all its paradoxes, the essence of nowness. Living in the past or the future is a corruption of the present. Travelling the path with the heart promotes living in the present.
My final thought on this book is this: If I could only recommend one book on personal growth and self-improvement, this would be it.
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