Here, courtesy of an ongoing dialogue with ChatGPT, are concise and focused definitions of each of the 7 virtues of the Warrior.
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Integrity: Being whole and undivided, demonstrating consistency in all actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. It’s about authenticity and staying true to oneself.
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Respect: Acknowledging the inherent dignity and worth of all individuals. It’s about treating others with kindness, consideration, and valuing them for who they are.
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Courage: The willingness to face fear, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. It’s about standing up for what is right, even when it’s difficult or risky.
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Honor: A commitment to a personal code of ethics. It’s about being true to your principles and values, fulfilling duties and responsibilities even in the face of adversity.
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Compassion: Showing empathy and kindness to others, particularly in times of suffering or distress. It’s about caring for others and seeking to alleviate their pain or hardship.
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Honesty: Speaking the truth and acting truthfully in all matters. It’s about transparency, sincerity, and freedom from deceit or fraud.
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Loyalty: A strong feeling of support or allegiance, often towards other individuals or a cause. It’s about staying true to your commitments and standing by those you’ve pledged your loyalty to, even in times of difficulty.
I found this helpful because I find that there is a lot of synergy and overlap between the different principles. I wanted descriptions that highlighted the unique core of each one.
I feel like one can strive for these virtues in a way that is rigid and dead, or in a way that is dynamic, pliant, and alive.
The dead way is to treat them as strict titles to be “achieved or not achieved”. In my personal view, this is the inferior way to deal with them. Like trying to live by remote control. Denying how you feel and who you are. It’s a performance. It’s focused primarily on impressing an external observer. But in your own heart, should ever choose to risk facing it, you’ll know how you really feel.
The living way is different. Rather than trying to sweep imperfection under the rug, imperfection is embraced. The hands of the clock will never be able to perfectly display all possible times in one instant. The arrow of the compass will never point to all directions simultaneously. And (to refer back to the Musashi quote from Saint), even if we embrace the full cycle of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, on any given day only one of those will be in evidence.
Instead of trying to be All Things at All Times to All People, the living way takes a full engagement with the potential of what is Here Right Now and combines that with an openness to What Will Be in the next moments to come.
My clock may not show all times in this moment, but over the course of a full day? It will show all times.
My heart and my actions may not display all virtues in every moment, but–if I embrace and strive for my highest good in each moment–then over the course of my life, all virtues will be manifested.
It’s the ongoing, evolutionary spinning of a wheel, rather than the painting of a static picture of a wheel.
There’s no time for crippling judgment or self-reproach, because the next moment is already here to be faced RIGHT NOW.
If you’re wasting time stuck in the failure of yesterday, all you’ll do is unintentionally recreate a new failure today.
So, instead we run the gauntlet. From birth to death. No time to stop, because it’s still going on.
And when you get knocked down, f–k it; get back up.
Let’s do it.