Consider that a metaphor is like a seed. If the seed is planted, watered, nourished, and cultivated, it will grow. Metaphors are explanations (and creators) of reality.
The metaphor being watered in this book is the metaphor of the warrior of spirit. All reality is seen as one vast continuously emerging, perpetually transforming life force in which all is mutually interdependent. A warrior of spirit opens and trusts this life force.
A cultivator of this metaphor has compassion for all (everything is kin), owns (clings to) nothing, and allows “self” to vanish so life force can flow unimpeded.
The embodying of spirit may be seen by some as too fanciful a prospect. This is primarily due to the stance being taken, the continuous identification of one’s-point-from-which-one-views with secondary, rather than primary reality. Secondary reality emerges from, arises out of, human fabrication. The world of secondary reality is a world of cognitive structure, of individual and collective belief systems.
These cognitive structures composed of what-I-have-been-told and of what-I-have-learned-so-far and of what-seems-to-work-for-me, are like virtual reality helmets. Standing here, our heads firmly encased, we make moves that are right and proper in relation to our helmet; movements that are out of synchrony with the free-flowing reality of the universe itself.
In the martial and warrior arts, this can get one injured or killed. Anyone living in virtual reality is a prime target for one living in primary reality. This is one reason the true martial masters refuse to fight. (And when two dwellers in primary reality meet each other, it is cause for celebration, not hostility.)
In the daily life of human-created reality, wearing a helmet of cognitive obscuration may achieve you a degree of secondary reality success, as long as you associate with others wearing similar helmets (or if you invade groups of other helmet wearers who are less ruthless than you). And we naturally seek out others caught up in a virtual reality similar to ours. We believe they see the truth.
A major thesis of this book is that one can catch glimpses of and even live a helmet free existence. In practicing the use of the eight keen weapons, one develops great capacity, naturally opening to the continuous source-ing of life. One becomes one with the wellspring. One moves in harmony with, blends with the life force. This embodying of spirit is a natural occurrence.
When a person is unified in mind, in body, and spirit, the power of the life force is present. When self is forgotten and focus is total, we embody great power. Mothers lift cars off their pinned sons, books and poems are written, mountains are climbed, street hoodlums are chased down the street by grandmas with canes, and societies are transformed. The odds of “normal” reality (in which mind is doing one thing and body is doing another) disappear. The impossible is done.
The invitation is to see for oneself by performing the experiments. You are the scientist, the researcher. The exercises in this book are the experiments. You are the research subject. Perform the experiments. Collect your data. Present your results. Draw your conclusions.
In science, one experiment is not enough. In fact, experimentation never stops. One builds on a body of research produced by oneself and other members of the scientific community. The embodying of spirit is a research area with vast amounts of data collected over centuries by scientists from many cultures. This book is one summation of that data, with specific focus on the wisdom developed by masters of hand-to-hand combat.
The universe is our natural home. The universe breathes us, calls us into being at every moment. The specific daily life practice (the inner work) of the warrior, outlined in this book, gives us the tools we need so that each and every one of us can live as warriors of spirit. The inner work of the warrior is the embodying of spirit.
