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The Craft of the Warrior
A big house, fancy cars, and money in the bank seldom lead to a fulfilling life, a life true to one's potential and essential nature. Ordinary life can be a prison, but it doesn't have to be that way.
In this updated edition of The Craft of the Warrior , author Robert Spencer asserts that a new myth is emerging—one that guides people to a life of conscious living, where they escape the rat race and forge a new destiny based on real choice. The warrior's way leads from compulsion to freedom, from boredom to adventure, and from darkness to awareness. Synthesizing the works of Carlos Castaneda, Dan Millman, G.I. Gurdjieff, and Chogyam Trungpa, and combining personal growth processes including the Feldenkrais Method and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Spencer opens the gate to anyone with enough spunk to enter this way of life.
"The amount of free will we have is directly proportional to the degree of freedom we have from our compulsions," writes Spencer. "Getting that freedom is the task of the warrior's life."
In this updated edition of The Craft of the Warrior , author Robert Spencer asserts that a new myth is emerging—one that guides people to a life of conscious living, where they escape the rat race and forge a new destiny based on real choice. The warrior's way leads from compulsion to freedom, from boredom to adventure, and from darkness to awareness. Synthesizing the works of Carlos Castaneda, Dan Millman, G.I. Gurdjieff, and Chogyam Trungpa, and combining personal growth processes including the Feldenkrais Method and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Spencer opens the gate to anyone with enough spunk to enter this way of life.
"The amount of free will we have is directly proportional to the degree of freedom we have from our compulsions," writes Spencer. "Getting that freedom is the task of the warrior's life."
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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April 28, 2016This book took me a long time to read. It was boring. It was pedantic. It was analytic. There were also nuggets of great stuff every so often.
Having just finished it, the great bit at the front of my mind is the very last two pages, where Spencer discusses how to know if you've found a good teacher for yourself in your Warrior journey. It's a beautiful description of what to look out for, and what to look for, and how to know when to stick with a teacher despite feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Therefore, it's also a good description of what not to be, and what to be, and how to stay present for a student who is overwhelmed and anxious.
I wavered back and forth in this reading between thinking, "but I don't want to be a warrior - this isn't my path!" and "so much of the warrior's path is part of the recovery and spiritual paths I've taken in my life so far, isn't that cool!" There is much that honestly doesn't appeal to me about the language and paradigm of warriorship. I am not attracted at all to altered states of consciousness, "personal power", "freedom", etc. But it's not the actuality of these things that isn't attractive - it's the . . . marketing of them. When I read carefully and try to understand the essence of these aspects of warriorship, that essence is something that I seek and value, in slightly different ways (mostly) than any of the warrior paths Spencer is describing. I seek serenity. I seek awareness, acceptance, the ability to act. I seek a path with heart.
I don't tend to seek "a mentor" much of the time. Rather, I tend to seek a community qua mentor; a circle of elders or peers who have walked or are walking the path I've been set on, to guide me as a collective. I wonder if this is a more feminine form of discipleship than the male teachers and authors Spencer is digesting describe. I wonder what a consciously feminist description of warriorship would read like. I am aware that quite a lot of what Spencer describes seems to me like it would work quite well for the men and boys in my life - the appealing aspects of warriorship as he describes them are things that I do think would appeal quite well to the masculine mindset of the males I know best.
Favorite quote (actually from Nelson Zink): "You see, when you don't do what somebody wants you to do, that's rebellin'. But if you do what you want to do then that's revoltin, and Boondoglgle is a revoltin' kind of mule. He don't care so much what you think is right as he does about what he thinks is right. Rebellin' is when you want to hurt somebody and revoltin' is when you want to help yourself. So in a funny way, rebellin' is when you say 'no' and revoltin' is when you say 'yes.' Rebellin' is when you fail at revoltin'. Mules are famous critters for rebellin', but Boondoggle is famous because he's a choice-makin' mule."
Having just finished it, the great bit at the front of my mind is the very last two pages, where Spencer discusses how to know if you've found a good teacher for yourself in your Warrior journey. It's a beautiful description of what to look out for, and what to look for, and how to know when to stick with a teacher despite feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Therefore, it's also a good description of what not to be, and what to be, and how to stay present for a student who is overwhelmed and anxious.
I wavered back and forth in this reading between thinking, "but I don't want to be a warrior - this isn't my path!" and "so much of the warrior's path is part of the recovery and spiritual paths I've taken in my life so far, isn't that cool!" There is much that honestly doesn't appeal to me about the language and paradigm of warriorship. I am not attracted at all to altered states of consciousness, "personal power", "freedom", etc. But it's not the actuality of these things that isn't attractive - it's the . . . marketing of them. When I read carefully and try to understand the essence of these aspects of warriorship, that essence is something that I seek and value, in slightly different ways (mostly) than any of the warrior paths Spencer is describing. I seek serenity. I seek awareness, acceptance, the ability to act. I seek a path with heart.
I don't tend to seek "a mentor" much of the time. Rather, I tend to seek a community qua mentor; a circle of elders or peers who have walked or are walking the path I've been set on, to guide me as a collective. I wonder if this is a more feminine form of discipleship than the male teachers and authors Spencer is digesting describe. I wonder what a consciously feminist description of warriorship would read like. I am aware that quite a lot of what Spencer describes seems to me like it would work quite well for the men and boys in my life - the appealing aspects of warriorship as he describes them are things that I do think would appeal quite well to the masculine mindset of the males I know best.
Favorite quote (actually from Nelson Zink): "You see, when you don't do what somebody wants you to do, that's rebellin'. But if you do what you want to do then that's revoltin, and Boondoglgle is a revoltin' kind of mule. He don't care so much what you think is right as he does about what he thinks is right. Rebellin' is when you want to hurt somebody and revoltin' is when you want to help yourself. So in a funny way, rebellin' is when you say 'no' and revoltin' is when you say 'yes.' Rebellin' is when you fail at revoltin'. Mules are famous critters for rebellin', but Boondoggle is famous because he's a choice-makin' mule."
September 23, 2019
SELF-IMPORTANCE (EGO) IS OUR GREATEST ENEMY. IT CONSUMES THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF ENERGY.
LETTING GO IS RELAXING WITHIN DISCIPLINE. DISCIPLINE AND LETTING GO LEAD TO FREEDOM FOR THE WARRIOR.
The first tool in reducing self-importance is awareness.
Self-pity is the real enemy and the source of man's misery. Without a degree of pity for himself, man could not afford to be as self-important as he is.
Essence needs no defence. Personality, on the other hand, needs enormous amounts of defence.
The ideal student is seen as someone who has already demonstrated success in some field of endeavour but who is still dissatisfied.
Warriors know that improvement is infinite; that perfection can only be approached, never attained.
Awakening involves making one's actions conscious and intentional as opposed to automatic and habitual.
A lot of energy is bound up in our habits, beliefs and the truth, and warriors set out to free themselves of these.
Imagination is a major power leak. Imagination is out of control and is, in fact, controlling the one who imagines. It distracts us from the here and now.
One important test for whether your thought process is imagination or not is to determine if you initiated the particular line of mental activity or if you suddenly found yourself caught in it. Thinking is controlled and productive, imagination is not.
The power of not-doing - spin another reality from the thread of the universe.
I will permit fear to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Guilt tells you that you transgressed a personal standard and warns you against doing it in the future.
To live a contented life there is 3 needs; I) the physical need for health, ii) the psychological need is knowledge, iii) the spiritual need is inner peace.
Even the most ordinary things, feelings, or thoughts can be surprisingly rich with information if you observe them openly and honestly.
An important attribute of warriors is detachment. It allows the warrior to move through the world with flexibility necessary to change course when he should and the speed required to grab his cubic cm of chance when it appears.
Detach from outcome.
Relate actions to intentions, not win or lose.
The basic fear of 'the achiever' is of being unworthy or without inherent value. The desire to be valuable deteriorates into chasing after success. It is very rare that a person who has had a need for success will be able to choose to give it up. The craving for success is much stronger than their free will, so even though they may be able to choose what kind of success to pursue, they cannot choose to abandon the pursuit, at least not for long.
The trap is that habits feel familiar, and we associate familiarity with lack of effort. Thus we don't realise the tremendous energy bound up in our habits, unless we somehow experience what I feels like not to do the habit.
LETTING GO IS RELAXING WITHIN DISCIPLINE. DISCIPLINE AND LETTING GO LEAD TO FREEDOM FOR THE WARRIOR.
The first tool in reducing self-importance is awareness.
Self-pity is the real enemy and the source of man's misery. Without a degree of pity for himself, man could not afford to be as self-important as he is.
Essence needs no defence. Personality, on the other hand, needs enormous amounts of defence.
The ideal student is seen as someone who has already demonstrated success in some field of endeavour but who is still dissatisfied.
Warriors know that improvement is infinite; that perfection can only be approached, never attained.
Awakening involves making one's actions conscious and intentional as opposed to automatic and habitual.
A lot of energy is bound up in our habits, beliefs and the truth, and warriors set out to free themselves of these.
Imagination is a major power leak. Imagination is out of control and is, in fact, controlling the one who imagines. It distracts us from the here and now.
One important test for whether your thought process is imagination or not is to determine if you initiated the particular line of mental activity or if you suddenly found yourself caught in it. Thinking is controlled and productive, imagination is not.
The power of not-doing - spin another reality from the thread of the universe.
I will permit fear to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Guilt tells you that you transgressed a personal standard and warns you against doing it in the future.
To live a contented life there is 3 needs; I) the physical need for health, ii) the psychological need is knowledge, iii) the spiritual need is inner peace.
Even the most ordinary things, feelings, or thoughts can be surprisingly rich with information if you observe them openly and honestly.
An important attribute of warriors is detachment. It allows the warrior to move through the world with flexibility necessary to change course when he should and the speed required to grab his cubic cm of chance when it appears.
Detach from outcome.
Relate actions to intentions, not win or lose.
The basic fear of 'the achiever' is of being unworthy or without inherent value. The desire to be valuable deteriorates into chasing after success. It is very rare that a person who has had a need for success will be able to choose to give it up. The craving for success is much stronger than their free will, so even though they may be able to choose what kind of success to pursue, they cannot choose to abandon the pursuit, at least not for long.
The trap is that habits feel familiar, and we associate familiarity with lack of effort. Thus we don't realise the tremendous energy bound up in our habits, unless we somehow experience what I feels like not to do the habit.
January 15, 2021
A good take on the path.
June 6, 2024
10/10
April 8, 2020
I truly enjoyed this book. I learned some valuable lessons about the ego and myself in this book. The language throughout was relatively straightforward to understand and stayed consistent through the chapters. I’ve already been applying some of these warrior lessons in my daily life and have found them helpful. Would recommend and have already!
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February 10, 2015What a wonderful guide to "a life of conscious living." His definition of living well is living with courage and integrity and according to our own individual conscience instead of society's rules for success. This is an articulate synthesis of so many great writers we've already read, like Casteneda and Millman and Chogyam Trungpa. I will start this book over again and read it even more slowly -- it is so rich and enriching. He talks about fear, the unknown, getting over our selves, and how to keep from giving away our power. Not a book for everyone, certainly, but O'm grateful it fell into my hands.
September 16, 2012
I found the disjointed style of summarizing multiple styles of warrior-training to be difficult to get into, but it built momentum further in. I ultimately found a lot of useful application and benefit in the way he pulled together information from so many different styles into one book.
May 19, 2013
It surprised me to see NLP references in the book. When studying material such as Castaneda, and the more recent works on Toltec wisdom, I found huge similarities with the ideas explored by prolific neuro-symantics author, Michael Hall.
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April 24, 2008Very interesting and helpful synthesis of Castaneda, Millman, Gurdjieff, NLP, Course in Miracles, and others.
September 8, 2010
First spiritual book I evern read when I first left home. Highly recommended.
June 17, 2012
I have a few books in my arsenal for living life to the fullest in the best way possible without causing harm to others, and this is one of those.
March 31, 2015
One of my all-time favorites. I turn to this one again and again - and journal through it!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews