Hafiz elaborates on how a warrior prepares for battle when he instructs us to know ourselves and cleanse our wounds from the past. How would history be different if Trump had treated the wounds he received from his father? Or if Hitler had a way to deal with the wounds from his father who beat him daily?
Knowledge of self and compassion toward self is presumed in the warrior—consider Jesus’ teaching: “Love others as you love yourself.” A taming of the beasts inside is often necessary in order to recover the jewel within.
The warriors tame the beasts in their past
so that the night’s hoofs
can no longer break the jeweled vision
in the heart.
We carry a jeweled vision in our hearts that needs protection—including from ourselves and the wounds of our past. The warrior pays attention to past hurts that can turn us into haters instead of lovers. Trauma and the sins of our fathers can poison the heart and the warrior does his/her inner work to heal that. The most important jihad, as Mohammad taught, is first with ourselves.
But the warrior faces the future also with bravery and honesty.
The intelligent and the brave
open every closet in the future and evict
all the mind’s ghosts who have the bad habit
of barfing everywhere.
It takes courage and holiness to wrestle with such strong and evil spirits as these from the past and the future.
But only a Pir [saint] has the talent,
the courage to slay
the past-giant, the future-anxieties.
Where does the warrior learn wisdom? According to Hafiz, he or she learns self-knowledge and humility and unmasking in a circle with others. And then one also learns generosity or giving. (This is not regularly taught in a culture of rabid capitalism.) Says Hafiz:
The warrior
wisely sits in a circle
with other men
gathering the strength to unmask himself,
Then
Sits, giving,
like a great illumined planet on
the
Earth.
Sitting in a circle signifies sitting eye to eye, sitting as equals, learning to receive as well as give. Generosity is learned in circles where one can sees one another’s pain as well as beauty. It takes honesty and vulnerability to sit in a circle to see and be seen. All this nurtures the warrior.
Interestingly, Saint Paul invokes warrior language when speaking of Christ. “Let your armor be the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 13:14)
Adapted from Fox, Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 415-417.
See also Fox, “Spiritual Warriors,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
See also, Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 400-402.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Banner Image: Men’s therapy group. Scene from the motion picture eMANcipation with Peer Alexander Hauk, Michael Schwager, Roland Avenard, Jan Marc Kochmann, Hans Ulrich Laux & Urs Stämpfli. By Philipp Müller-Dorn, PMD Films. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Have you ever confused “soldier” with “warrior”? How did you learn the difference? What difference does that make? How do you develop the courage and holiness to slay the past giant and future anxieties?
Recommended Reading
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
.jpg){kind=link}
3 thoughts on “More Instructions on How To Be a Warrior”
When will Christian writers recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew and expressed the basic Jewish rule to love God and your neighbor as yourself.
Intuitively, as a young adult, I knew that I didn’t want to be a soldier and be ordered to kill somebody. Fortunately, I must have had a liberal draft board that accepted my application for conscientious objection status during the Vietnam war. I had already served two years as a VISTA Volunteer (local Peace Corps), so that also helped my application and acceptance of my co status. My humanitarian and spiritual instincts led to studying the mystics/mystical traditions, and studying Jungian psychology and a career of forty years as a clinical social worker/psychotherapist. Since retirement in 2015, my spiritual journey and studies/webinar spiritual support groups have continued including Contemplative/Creation Spirituality and a Spiritual Guidance ministry. My Faith and the Wholistic/Holistic Values of Creation Spirituality/Lineage such as the SPIRIT of LOVE: Wisdom, Truth, Peace, Justice, Healing, Forgiveness, Transformation, Creativity, Beauty, Joy, Compassion, Loving Diverse Oneness… with others, with Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth/Nature, and with-in All the spiritual dimensions of Our Sacred Evolving COSMOS continue to inspire my inner and outer ongoing Eternal Spiritual Journey….
In an article by Stephanie Kaza (2019) in this month’s edition of a magazine called UU World Wayfinder she says, “Sattva is interpreted as “essence,” “nature,” “mind,” or “intelligence.” Thus a bodhisattva is one whose mind is fixed on enlightenment. Some translators evoke the active aspects of this endeavor, denoting sattva as “strength,” “energy,” “power,” or “courage.” The Tibetan word for bodhisattva, sems dpah, puts together sems or “mind-heart,” and dpah, “hero” or “strong person.” Thus, we have a sense of the bodhisattva as spiritual warrior, someone of strong mind-heart, passionately devoted to relieving suffering in all its forms.”