Dear Friend,
The Way of the Passionate Warrior is a journey of exploration. It is a life of discovery, courage and excitement for men.
But learning isn’t always wonderful. Sometimes, ignorance really can be bliss.
The more we discover about ourselves as men, the more we are forced to face things that, up until now, we have tactfully avoided.
The more awake we become to what is, as opposed to what we wish was, the more we are forced to consider what to do about all of it.
The Man’s Journey
The man’s journey is a path that starts with dreams and imagination. The boy imagines a magical world. As he grows the rest of the world forces him to comply with its rules, and his dreams are forced into a box, hidden from view but still kept alive by hope.
He enters the age of manhood still clinging to those dreams, but doing as he is told, or specifically rebelling against that, either way often making little progress toward the life he had imagined.
Things happen, of course. Relationships, pregnancies, jobs become careers, all whether we wanted them or not. It is as if our life was on rails, headed to some unseen but promised destination.
Our “Matrix” Moment
Eventually, we begin to seriously doubt that destination. It is at this moment we realize that, perhaps, we really don’t know where we are , exactly how we got here, where we are going, or why.
This is the quintessential “Matrix” moment, when we finally decide whether to face the choice of awareness – the red pill or the blue pill.
Many of us make this choice by refusing to make the choice. We hold onto our “hope”, and in doing so, we swallow the blue pill by default. We stay on the path we are living while steadfastly deciding that we will find a way to the promised land – somehow – even though we have no idea what or where that promised land is. We keep doing the same things we have always done, imagining that our efforts will somehow bring about different results – Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Others of us surrender hope, exchanging it for bitterness. We blame others for forcing us to give up our dreams. The world tricked us, and we have lived a lie. And now, years later, we coast into a miserable and lonely death.
A few of us – too few I think – decide to take that red pill, and “see where the rabbit hole goes”. There is no guarantee that the results will be good. By giving up on the fantasy that all will turn out as we thought, we have lost our sense of comfort in life, exchanging it for an edgy energy that can be perceived as either anxiety, which transforms into panic, or as excitement, which transforms into passion.
Shall It Be A Life of Panic or Passion?
The Way of the Passionate Warrior is the choice to swallow that red pill, to go down that rabbit hole which holds who knows what, to embrace that energy as passion, and to boldly take on whatever awaits us with the strength and determination that only the warrior brings to any challenge.
It sounds fun, and it can be. But it can also be very scary. By choosing this path we must embrace courage, and adopt a new hope, not for what was promised or was supposed to be in our lives, but for that which might be, which could be – the wonderful unknown. This is truly the life of the explorer. For the man who embraces it, this life promises mystery, excitement, and wonder.
As I see it, what do we have to lose? If we’re going to live our lives, why not live them with purpose and passion? Or would you prefer “The Way of the Panicking Zombie”? 🙂
Where Are You?
Where are you in this journey? Or, perhaps, you are one of those rare ones who has been awake for some time. If so, know that your awareness brings with it the opportunity to help so many others, the “walking dead” I like to call them, who are sledging through life all around you.
They need your guidance during this difficult awakening, and you have insights that can sooth their panic and sorrow. I hope you will choose to help.
For those of you who, like me, have chosen to follow the Way of the Passionate Warrior, I hope you will stay with me, here at this blog, and share your experiences with all of us. Together, we can illuminate the way for each other, and for men everywhere.
Yours in manhood,
Hugh DeBurgh, “The Passionate Warrior”
