We are living at a time where warrior energy is being highly scrutinized for its shadow qualities found in warfare, aggression and actions based from suppressed anger/rage. Women have often been the most direct victims of the warrior’s shadow form and have raised legitimate concerns based upon their negative past experiences and are loudly communicating their deep uncertainty and fear against the Warrior’s aggressive energy. Men have become hesitant to opening up to their fullest masculine power and terms such as “Sensitive New Age Guy”, “New Age Dudes” and “The Soft Masculine” emerge into emasculating conversations. As with any other form of repressed (archetypal) energy, feelings or emotions that are pushed underground, the warrior will eventually resurface in it’s shadow forms, in ways that can be verbally blaming or shaming the other and violent physical actions. If the archetype of the warrior in all it’s expression is here to stay then it would benefit everyone to honor and face it.
Let’s be clear about something important. We can not disconnect from true warrior masculine power because, if it is actually a true innate instinct, it will continue to live on in spite of our attitudes towards it. We need to connect to the most life giving ways of the Warrior at his fullest expression. The true nature of the warrior is a total way of living life. The characteristics of the warrior in his fullness include…
- not holding onto any defensive position of being “right” and has flexibility to alter his position
- isn’t interested in his own personal gain
- knows when proper aggressiveness is to be used based on the comprehensive goal at hand
- cultivates his clarity of thinking and fullness of presence
- has an awareness of his own imminent death
If we look over the course of human existence we can see how much war has played a role in defining our history. We need to acknowledge the existence of warrior traditions in many of our civilizations. In the last 100 years we have seen two world wars and the looming battles disputing some of the holiest lands on the planet. One side of the story says that human aggression emerges out of childlike anger and rage while the other side says it’s not that simple. Aggression is often associated with the masculine, even though there are feminine warrior legends, and it’s persistence in our culture is built into our biological DNA structure. Warrior energy is present in us men and shows its shadow side and its fullest expression in the civilizations we have constructed. The Warrior has been a vital ingredient in building today’s world and needs to be recognized because of the important role the warrior has in defining and extending the prosperity of the highest human values and cultural developments to all of humanity.
It is also true that this Warrior energy often goes awry. When this happens. the results are devastating. But we still have to ask ourselves why it is so present within us. What is the Warrior’s function in the evolution of human life, and what is his purpose in the psyches of individual men? What are the Warrior’s positive qualities and how can they help us men in our personal lives, in our communities, for our world’s benefit and in our work?