“The warrior must let each of his actions be his last battle on earth. Only under those conditions will his acts have their rightful power. Otherwise they will be, for as long as he lives, the acts of a fool.” — Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time.

In ancient times, the warrior would train and go to battle with a single purpose: to defeat the enemy and return home victorious. This single-minded commitment allowed great warriors to emerge, for battles to be won, and for the course of history to change in the process.

When we conjure up an archetypal image of the warrior, we see a human figure who, in many ways, has transcended his humanness. He has offered up his actions, and ultimately his life, for a purpose that he considers above and beyond himself.

By living under the constant threat of death, the warrior can act with intention and commitment.

He understands that every battle could be his last, and takes decisive action accordingly. He respects the gift of existence. He’s willing to put aside his fears and doubts. This approach to life makes the warrior effective in battle and earns him the admiration of those who have not yet been able to cultivate a similar mindset.

It’s one of the reasons we become so easily engrossed in the characters presented in the epic stories we read about in our books and watch on our screens. We momentarily glimpse the potential for ourselves to be the heroes of our own stories, to take action with the same tenacity, the same commitment to higher ideals. There’s a spark of recognition, a remembrance of the fragility of life and the limited time each of us has.

Despite these brief moments of clarity, most of us never come close to achieving a similar level of courageous intention demonstrated by the warrior. Instead, we tend to be risk-averse and hide away from the perilous adventures that could have provided an intense sense of meaning to our lives. We never enter the arena and never fully embody the essence of the warrior in our short time here.

Intention

“Think for a moment. Can you deviate from the path that your fellow men have lined up for you? And if you remain with them, your thoughts and your actions are fixed forever in their terms. That is slavery.” — Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time

Consider your long-term goals and choices leading up to this point. What do you spend your time working towards and why? The answer to this question reveals your current intentions.

Having clear intentions is vital for moving towards the warrior’s mindset.

Most of us have goals and are striving towards actualizing them. While hard work is key to making progress, it’s also important to be conscious of what’s motivating us to pursue them.

If you’re honest with yourself, you may be surprised to discover that many of these goals haven’t been authentically chosen by you, but pushed onto you by a society desperate to mould you in its image.

We tend to tailor our goals around the expectations of society. And it’s understandable why. Social and economic incentives push us in that direction. Aligning your goals with the intentions of the collective is going to provide you with an easier path to success and a comfortable life.

But is that what you want? Will it motivate you to face the day with passion and courage? Are you entering the battlefield? Or are you sitting on the sidelines?

Going against the grain in this way is by no means easy. It’s one of the most challenging things you can do. But while it’s difficult, if you can develop an authentically meaningful intention, you’ll have already taken a step towards aligning yourself with the modern warrior’s mindset.

I believe that many mental health issues, specifically depression, can partly arise from a lack of personally meaningful goals and a sense of making consistent progress towards these goals. It’s easy to convince yourself that what you’re pursuing is meaningful to you if you rely on it to put food on the table.

In an ideal world, your authentic intentions would be aligned with society’s wants. If this is true for you, great! You're one of the lucky few who can go to battle every day and be rewarded for your efforts. But the truth is that much of what society wants and what it’s willing to pay for is destructive to both the individual and the collective. Here I'm referring to mindless consumerism, immoral marketing, poisonous media content, and the general profiteering off the suffering of others.

Authentic Intention

Approaching life with the mindset of a warrior means making authentic decisions even if they are difficult. It means following your intuition, your moral compass, and making changes in your life accordingly.

Often the decisions that feel most authentic to you will also appear impractical and go against the status quo. Those around you may fearmonger or warn you away from making what they believe are bad choices.

Remember that the warrior is self-reliant. He relies on his refined judgement to navigate the treacherous paths of life. When the warrior intuits it is time to turn left, he will do so, even if everyone else is turning right.

A Sense of Direction

Using our authentic intentions as a road map frees us to experience life in its natural state, as it was meant to be experienced. There’s no well-trodden path, and no guarantee of safety, but there is a sense of adventure. As the warrior makes discoveries, he further understands himself and the world. This rapid growth makes him stronger. His newfound capabilities are used to defeat the creatures lurking in the dark.

The alternative is to be guided by basic needs. You’re choosing to be the farmer who never leaves his farm. Who never explores the mysteries of the world and never discovers who he truly is. It may be a safe, comfortable existence, but you’re turning your back on the grand challenges that offer meaning.

Commitment

“We don’t experience the world fully, unless we are willing to give everything away. Samaya means not holding anything back, not preparing our escape route, not looking for alternatives, not thinking that there is ample time to do things later.” — Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart

Once we have familiarised ourselves with our authentic intentions, we need to commit to fighting for them, no matter how overwhelming the odds may seem. By committing, we’re making the statement that we’re willing to sacrifice everything for our intentions. We’re emulating the warrior and heading into battle where death or glory awaits.

The Buddhist concept of Samaya is an example of fully committing. The word Samaya literally means commitment in Sanskrit and refers to the vow undertaken by Buddhists to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of awakening. It describes the realigning of words, thoughts, and actions toward a single unified intention that is bigger than oneself.

Why make a vow like this? Why take such a formal approach to commitment?

I’d argue that challenging goals are only ever achieved when we fully commit to them. This means redirecting every area of life toward embodying these commitments. Truly going after our intentions requires more than just a few passing thoughts.

To commit is to accept the risks and hardships. Without commitment, the challenges that present themselves may appear insurmountable and scare the would-be warrior back to the safety of the farm.

The Problem With Playing Defensive

For most people, there’s a tendency to approach life from a defensive position. We are encouraged to structure our lives in a way that provides us with the most security. We want a stable job, income, routine, and relationships, and we’re willing to sacrifice core aspects of ourselves to possess these things. We’re playing not to lose, rather than to win.

A defensive attitude does not allow the warrior to fully commit to his authentic intentions, because he is always thinking of what could go wrong, of the worst-case scenarios. He then constantly modifies his behaviour and decisions based on his fear of the future.

But by taking on this mindset, you’re ignoring the uncertainty of being alive. There’s no way you can completely rid yourself of this uncertainty no matter how hard you try to structure the pieces of your life into an insurmountable defence. Things change. The economy crashes. You get let go from your job. Relationships fizzle out. Illness strikes. World War 3 is declared.

Impermanence is fundamental. Death and destruction are coming sooner or later. The only way to prepare is by training yourself to adapt, and you do this by embracing the warrior’s mindset.

Taking Responsibility

The core shift in attitude comes when you take full responsibility for dictating your path.

In the modern world, it’s easy to outsource decision-making to your culture. We are trained to believe there’s a set way of doing things. The systems of our time have been put in place to offer some semblance of order and direction for the individual. These cultural systems are like protective handrails to stop you from falling over the edge of the well-trodden path and into the unknown. But the unknown is where the warrior thrives. The unknown is where life begins.

To willingly leap over these cultural handrails you should be prepared to take responsibility for finding your own sense of meaning. This takes a level of self-confidence and assertiveness that most people just haven’t developed in themselves. It’s more difficult to live this way because the risk of failure is higher and failure has greater repercussions. Once you have crossed over, you have committed to sink or swim based on your capabilities alone. If you fail, you haven’t just taken a step back on the path, but have become completely lost in the mist.

Accepting the Possibility of Failure

To live by the warrior’s mindset, you should accept failure as a possibility, accept death as an inevitability, and walk into the unknown anyway.

By doing this you free yourself from the shackles of success and failure, from the clinging to life and the fear of death. You live as though you were already dead. And it’s through this attitude of acceptance that you become free to approach your battles with intention and commitment.

You don’t take anything for granted. You do nothing half-heartedly. There’s no looking back with regrets. You do your best to make the most of the talents you have been gifted with and to minimize the impact of your weaknesses. You take a deep breath and commit to the outcome.

Realities of the Warrior’s Mindset

What this idea of intention and commitment comes down to is not taking life for granted. It’s a call to realise the shortness of life and to make decisions today that you would be proud of if you died tomorrow.

Everything you take on should be based on your highest vision for yourself and not just because you were told it’s the right thing to do. These decisions include career, family, relationships, location, consumer habits, diet, hobbies, and any other way you choose to spend your time. Your heart needs to be fully engaged in what you do. This is the key. Approach everything with sincerity, from the heart, with love.

My journey through life so far has been dictated by a lack of clear intention and a failure to commit. I’ve always tried to protect myself from all sides and make sure every possible outcome was planned for. The problem is that this attitude has left me blowing in the wind. My true intentions were slowly eroded by fake intentions which I could never commit to. By trying to account for every situation, I stalled any concrete progress.

As I’m getting older, it’s becoming clearer to me that taking right action today, despite fear and self-doubt, is the only way to live a life that can be looked back on with pride. Failure may be inevitable, but it’s the act of approaching every day with the mindset of a warrior that makes the journey worth taking.

Ben Worrall