The Shadow of the Warrior

We are on to another powerful section in our slow and careful contemplation of “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover.” In the sub-section titled: The Shadow Warrior: The Sadist and the Masochist (pages 88-94), we are asked to look at some of the darkest, most brutal parts of this archetype.

It is here that I remind us that we turn towards this work with the courage to look deeply inside of ourselves. We are not here to imagine that evil exists in some manifestation of patriarchy outside of ourselves, in a world of ignorant men who have not seen the light we’ve seen. We are here to consider how each and every part of this archetype is present inside each and every one of us.

We are asked to consider how our violence shows up when we are unable to be “tender and genuinely intimate.” How this spirit shows up when we are frightened and very angry. How “men are right to fear the Coward within them, even if they don’t have the sense to fear their macho exteriors.”

But we are also shown how “the man who becomes obsessed with ‘succeeding’ has already failed.” And how an obsessive-compulsive drive for performance can be just another manifestation of the fear that hinges between sadism and masochism.

I do this work with you because I know the violence inside of me.

But I also feel like I’ve only recently started to unlock from a striving for achievement that has defined most of my life. I am becoming more aware of the way I compare myself to those I admire, and to what they have accomplished in the public sphere. I can feel the freedom that comes as I start to let go of this comparing and striving. I experience how I become more open, available, and ready to serve. I like how I feel when I let go of wanting to be somewhere else.

Come to our call next week with a sense of how the shadows of the warrior tend to manifest in your own life. Let’s share our stories with each other. Let’s keep nurturing the space of trust, healing, witnessing and becoming better.

Saludos,

Gibrán