by Robert Wilkinson
In life there are battles we cannot win, but must “fight” anyway, the best we’re able. Most gentle Souls do not want conflict, but given the way of the world, there are contentious people who will draw us into their drama whether we want to or not.
I last gave this to you over 3 years ago, when I was in the heart of a battle. Since then, countless people have told me they also have had to do battle they didn’t want to do, since it didn’t seem there was anything to “win.” Right now it seems that decent, kind, and gentle people around the world are being drawn into battles they neither wanted nor asked for, but have to fight anyway. Perhaps this article can help you find the courage and perseverance to hang in there, remembering your Spiritual Warrior cannot be vanquished.
As I gave you then:
I have been in many such battles. Unfortunately, I’m in one now. This battle is about the truth of a matter.
I cannot “win” since there’s literally nothing to win, and even if I do hold sway (since facts are on my side), I cannot possibly gain anything. But I also cannot “lose,” since by simply engaging in this battle, I win, as long as I take the high road and do not yield to the lower ways of the opponent.
Sometimes we must hold faith and truth even in apparently “losing” propositions. The Bhagavad Gita has been a source of comfort in this specific battle as well as countless others, since I’d rather have Spiritual Law and Truth on my side than all the armies ever assembled on Earth.
This is also where the I Ching has great wisdom. If we’re in a battle, we must be so clear-headed that we’re willing to meet the opponent halfway while making no compromise with “evil.” We cannot force the battle to the end, since by staying in the battle for any length of time we lose, if nothing else than our peace of mind and our precious time.
That means the best strategy is to use the correct means to accomplish our objectives while bringing the battle to quick completion. It also counsels to find someone who can be a good arbiter, to settle the conflict justly.
We are also told always to examine the causes of conflict, to see if they can be prevented in advance. This usually means a clear definition of roles, duties, boundaries, and terms, or alternately, the spiritual trends of those involved in the conflict. These can help us prevent conflict if everyone has a common clear understanding up front. Though others may be contentious, and some splits do seem inevitable, if we are clear up front we can mitigate or completely prevent conflicts from arising or escalating.
In my current battle, these aphorisms from the I Ching will not be helpful in resolving this conflict, since this battle is about an entrenched lie. To paraphrase a great truth, “a lie will go round the world while the truth is pulling its boots on.”
We have also been told by many venerable sources that if we’re in a conflict, it is an opportunity to grow spiritually through standing aside and letting the Spiritual Warrior within fight the battle. That cannot be vanquished, since the Spiritual Warrior, also known as the Guardian, never knows fear, never knows doubt, never knows humiliation, never knows uncertainty. The Spiritual Warrior is ever joyous, whether preparing for battle, doing battle, or reflecting on a battle already done.
I understand the mixture of feelings that create the edge between my mind and feelings relative to the Spiritual Warrior. My mind thinks what it will think; my feelings feel what there is to feel; but my Spiritual Warrior cannot suffer, cannot fear, and cannot be defeated. So I suppose it really doesn’t matter what my mind and feelings are doing, as long as I hold faith with my Spiritual Warrior.
Sometimes we must show courage and perseverance, even if we don’t want to, don’t feel like it, and would rather be at the beach. Even when we must fight, it must be with as much courage as we can muster and a deep sense of the least and most precise force to be used to accomplish completing the battle. And since our minds can fall into error, that’s why we must stand aside and allow the Spiritual Warrior to fight as it knows best.
Though I didn’t know these things as a child, I learned to practice courage despite my ignorance and fear. I was timid as a child. Being small, I had to learn to stand courageously against bullies and mean-spirited people without stooping to their tactics.
Each time I had to find courage, it grew stronger. As it grew stronger, I found myself unafraid of bullies, since the worst they could do was beat me, but win or lose I grew in my spiritual strength. I learned to speak the raw truth to bullies, and eventually they began to melt away. All I needed was to be courageous. I renounced the scared separate self, and spoke the truth of my invincible Self.
Each time we allow the Spiritual Warrior to “fight the good fight,” we gain in the long run. Generating courage is always a good thing. In a world of dualities, it’s always good to re-ground ourselves in the highest we can be. And to live the Highest, we must learn to put our personality under the guidance of the Spiritual Warrior, or Guardian.
That’s why whether there’s something or nothing to win or lose, all we have to do is allow our Spiritual Warrior to use our positive defenses, courageously stating clear ideas and firm convictions expressing truth, fairness, and justice. It really doesn’t matter what our opponents think. Speaking truth to power is a victory, regardless of appearances.
From the ancient and venerable “Light On The Path,” section II, a few words about this:
1. Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.2. Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.
3. Take his orders for battle and obey them.
4. Obey him not as though he were a general, but as though he were thyself, and his spoken words were the utterance of thy secret desires; for he is thyself, yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself. Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry meet his listening ear, then will he fight in thee and fill the dull void within. And if this is so, then canst thou go through the fight cool and unwearied, standing aside and letting him battle for thee.
Then it will be impossible for thee to strike one blow amiss. But if thou look not for him, if thou pass him by, then there is no safeguard for thee. Thy brain will reel, thy heart grow uncertain, and in the dust of the battlefield thy sight and senses will fail, and thou wilt not know thy friends from thy enemies.
He is thyself, yet thou art but finite and liable to error. He is eternal and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee and become thy warrior, he will never utterly desert thee, and at the day of the great peace he will become one with thee.
5. Listen to the song of life.
6. Store in your memory the melody you hear.
7. Learn from it the lesson of harmony.
8. You can stand upright now, firm as a rock amid the turmoil, obeying the warrior who is thyself and thy king. Unconcerned in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any care as to the result of the battle, for one thing only is important, that the warrior shall win, and you know he is incapable of defeat—standing thus, cool and awakened, use the hearing you have acquired by pain and by the destruction of pain.
Only fragments of the great song come to your ears while yet you are but man. But if you listen to it, remember it faithfully, so that none which has reached you is lost, and endeavor to learn from it the meaning of the mystery which surrounds you.
In time you will need no teacher. For as the individual has voice, so has that in which the individual exists. Life itself has speech and is never silent. And its utterance is not, as you that are deaf may suppose, a cry: it is a song. Learn from it that you are part of the harmony; learn from it to obey the laws of the harmony.
So I do believe I’ll eat, drink, and make merry, for in this battle there can be no defeat. Besides, only ego is apparently defeated, and out of all loss of ego arises the Phoenix Firebird anew to take what’s left of ego into ever higher realms. Every battle in which we stand aside and allow the Spiritual Warrior to do what it must is a victory for Spirit.
If you want more, here's Light On The Path – Ending Separateness And Finding At-One-Ment With All-That-Is
Copyright © 2014, 2017 Robert Wilkinson
Brilliant now as it was the first time you posted it.
Lessons in detachment, harmlessness and leaning to take at stand at the razor's edge are major lessons in life.
Thanks Robert.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | July 03, 2017 at 02:50 AM