Friday Knight News
A warrior must first learn to control themselves both physically and mentally. To do this a warrior must learn how to recognize fear in themselves. Only by learning the face of fear in your own skin can you recognize it in others. So what is it to be a warrior? By definition a warrior is a person skilled in the combat arts. By profession a warrior will probably encounter violence or the threat of violence in the performance of their day-to-day duties, but not necessarily on the magnitude of a life and death scale. Warriors may be from police or military backgrounds, martial art combat or they may fall under the guise of a protective spiritual warrior category (teachers of the warrior's ways).
Teachers of martial arts have, at least from my experience, occasions to defend themselves or their student from unruly trouble makers from time to time. Drunks, thieves, and/or bullies who want to show off and fight, test their ground and pound skill from watching YouTube or pay for view type of events. Some of these situations only seek to test their skills to see if it is worth their money to join. So, even if it is only dealing with sporting related violence, there still is that element of danger involved no matter what type of safety precautions a person takes. Still sometimes it is the fear of losing that causes someone to give up.
Traditional martial arts often relies on a bigger picture approach to what being a warrior is about. This generally includes a mind and body connection where the pathway for mental development in the warrior culture develops. These elements of strategic, ethical, and philosophical portions of the warrior's behavioral code comes heavily into play in this phase. Achieving your full potential as a warrior helps you prioritize life better. It helps shape and put into focus if things are merely a frustration, or a potential life and death hazard. It helps you learn how to compartmentalize and control your fear.
A good sensei or sifu can point you into the direction you need to go to change your life. Making that change takes courage. Courage to build, repair, and/or change your life is rewarding, but it is the knowledge that you are overcoming illogical fears that brings the most satisfaction. Overcoming irrational fear has brought students more pride than the color of their obi ever could. It has been my observation that individuals find great comfort and self-worth from hard won achievements in training and dedication. Martial art titles and rank should only be a reminder of these internal gains. A true warrior knows how to overcome their fear to defend themselves and to preserve their life as well as the lives of others. Keeping your fears under control is something that must be continually polished to stay prepared. A person without fear is not paying attention. Fear teaches us to be cautious and aware; so in the end fear is our friend. These skills are taught in progressive steps in the dojo and hopefully they will be able to help you confront your fears throughout life.
“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.” Miyamoto Musashi
My stories are about martial arts adventures that are intertwined with some science fiction, a dose of conspiracies theory, along with laughter, love and mystic experiences. The following links are to the Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker” series. Our adventurers find themselves on a quest where they are confronted with both conspiracy and mystery. Their challenge is to unite their mind and body skills together utilizing what they have learned in the martial arts with the transcendental power of dream meditation. They attempt to do this while they are trying to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.
Conversations with a Sage: This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to cope with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past.
The Assassins Gift: Xander Davidson struggles with the conspiracy of his family and the group that is actively trying to manipulate him to join them or die. The young Dream Walkers learns an early lesson to be careful about whom they let into their circle.
Warriors of Perception: Xander Davidson and his band of friends embark on a mission to free themselves from their oppressors. They bravely face the challenge all the while vying for the right moment to turn the tables.
Jace Lee The Shift: We find a new apprentice, Adam, which is fighting for his life. He is struggling to understand the amazing skills of his mentor, Jace Lee; a younger man that has trained under Xander Davidson. All the while his mentor attempts to reconcile the fact that his skills do not match up with the other Dream Walkers.
Jace Lee No Agenda: Jace Lee attempts to find himself on a self-imposed vision quest of sorts. Instead he finds himself being stalked by the same group that had previously sought after his teacher, (Xander Davidson). Instead of mastering his odd Dream Walking skills he finds love and the potential loss of his powers.
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