We covered a lot of ground with the law of the warrior poet series. Here we’re going to summarize what we covered for reference purposes as well as going back over everything to help tie it all together. So let’s get started.
The 10 Laws Of The Warrior Poet
Let’s go back over the laws.
Law #1 – Develop All Aspects Of Oneself
Strive for balance. Don’t be “one thing”. Work to develop all aspects of who you are as a man. Seek to develop yourself mentally, spiritually, and physically. Don’t define yourself by some narrow straightjacket. Don’t just a this or that, a jock or a nerd, a introvert or an extrovert, a critical thinker or a creative thinker, work on all aspects of who you are as a person. Work for balance and make sure to shore up any weak parts that you have. For the average man it’s much better to be a jack of all trades, a renaissance man, a 7/10 in five areas than a 10/10 in one area.
Law #2 – Be A Living Example
Acta non verba. Deeds not words. Actions are what define you and break you apart from the masses that only wish and pine but never do. It is doing that changes things, it is doing that’ll get you where you want to go in life. What is your ideal in life? Who do you hold in high regard, what ideals do you think are worthy of striving for? Don’t preach about them, don’t even talk about them, embody them. Be a living example of what you think is worthy and worthwhile in this world. Embody your ideal as much as you can.
Law #3 – Curb Vice, Cultivate Virtue
Work to cull the bad habits and cultivate the goods habits. Make a list of how you spend your time for a week and be honest, otherwise this is pointless. Look at how you spend your time, what you spend your time doing. These are your habits. What do you do after a long day of work? When you have a few moments of free time on the weekends? And so on and so forth. Make a list of the habits that aren’t helping you and the one’s you’d like to develop. Work on culling one bad habit and cultivating one good habit at a time. Go through the list like this.
Law #4 – You Must Do These Four Things
While there is a lot of ground for variety in the warrior poet ideal, there are a few things that I consider non-negotiables. Four to be exact. Those four things are read, write, fight, and spend time in nature. I recommend reading fiction and nonfiction books, one each, read a few pages a day. Write either in a journal or articles about something that interests you. Join a gym and choose a combat sport, if you’re older find one that can go softer and look for good sparring partners you can actually work with. And finally camp, hike, go for a walk, just make sure you’re spending time in nature.
Law #5 – Have A North Star
You have to have goals. Small goals, medium goals, large goals, and life goals. You have to have a direction you want to head in. Any goals, even a misguided goal is better than having no goal at all. Even a foolish goal is better than no goal. Because you’ll gain skills in the pursuit of any goal. You need to have daily goals to accomplish. Couple month goals. Year to ten year goals. And then what you want to achieve over this lifetime. The legacy that you want to leave. Of those all I’d say daily goals and life goals are the most important. Are your daily goals going to take you to the accomplishment of your life goals?
Law #6 – Help Others, Help Yourself
We come back to balance again. There are people out there who spend all their time helping others but never work on themselves and they end up in bad places. Likewise we have people who only care about themselves and never help others and end up in bad places as well. Help yourself first and foremost, invest in yourself first, but then help others. You have to help yourself first but then afterwards you should help others. That’s the proper order. Help yourself, then help others.
Law #7 – Constant Development Of Skills
If you’re not growing you’re stagnating. You’re either moving forward or backwards, there is no sit still in this life. Because of this you always need to have skills that you’re working on and developing. Always have a skill that you’re seeking to take to the next level. The fact that you’re looking to improve a skill is more important than the skill that you choose to improve. If you’re not sure where to start then soft, people, or sales skills, whatever you want to call them, that’s the best are to start.
Law #8 – Seeker Of Challenge
You’ll never get the goods staying in your comfort zone. You need to seek challenge, you need to seek failure. You need to seek good suffering. You need to seek ways to get out of your comfort zone and test yourself. If you’re not failing then you’re not growing, you’re not moving forward. It not intuitive, if it was everyone would be successful. But it’s needed. Seek out challenge, seek of good suffering, seek to break free from your comfort zone so that you may grow.
Law #9 – To See With True Eyes
We live in a world of lies and deception. We must seek after truth above all things because it is the truth alone that will set us free, even if it horrifies us at first. Seek to develop a few key skills that’ll help your pursuit of truth. First off critical thinking, learn to think about things, turn them over and look for errors, to think critically. Learn pattern recognition, to see the threads, the connections between things that most people will miss. Don’t shy away from truths that go against what society says. Seek the truth above all else, no matter where it leads.
Law #10 – To Echo In Eternity
Regardless of your religious beliefs you should live every day as if one day you will have to go before God and make an account of your life before all your ancestors and those you respect and admire. What will show up? Will you deeds bring glory and honor to God, your ancestors, and yourself? Or will they all have to look away in shame? When you enter the halls or pearly gates or whatever else will you be met with jeers, boos, and derision or will you be heralded as a man of honor. A man noble and worthy?
A warrior poet?
To Be A Warrior Poet
Is a lifelong pursuit and one that never truly ends. From this day to your last you will be on the path. The path will be hard and you’ll find yourself denying many comforts that others wallow in. But you’ll develop skills, character traits, and a spirit that others will look on in wonder, or unfortunately perhaps envy, but that’s their problem. You’ll develop the fruits that are the sweetest and last the longest. The fruits of character that stand up to eternity. The fruits of the warrior poet.
Walk the path, for it is waiting.
