Pathwalking 48
Are you a lover or a fighter?
As a Pathwalker, you will find that you need to be both.
The pen may well be mightier than the sword, but sometimes the sharpness of the sword is what stands between you and your path.
Let’s leave the metaphor and examine this notion more closely.
Different jobs require different tools. A pen will do you no good when you need a spoon, just as a rock is not very helpful when you need a sharp blade. As we walk along our chosen path, at different times, in unique situations, we require different tools. At times a lover needs to become a fighter just as a fighter needs to become a lover.
Part of Pathwalking is finding balance. This is not about walking a literal tightrope, it is about finding inner balance. To walk the path, we need to know ourselves, know what we want, to know that we are consciously undertaking the journey.
I believe that I have previously expressed the importance of love. Love is a many-faceted idea, tangible and intangible, that drives us. To walk the path we need to love the path, love ourselves. Without love, we will not see the path clearly, nor even comprehend that we are on it, or why.
But being a lover does not deny one from also being a fighter. Pathwalking is not the easiest idea, it requires conscious choice, focus and attention. Sometimes as we walk this path, obstacles will get in our way. And while some obstacles are there to redirect us or help us make necessary alterations to our path, some obstacles need to be removed or overcome.
This is where the lover becomes a fighter. We have to fight for our path, fight for our goal, fight for what we believe. We do not set aside love, we are fighting from a place of love.
A lot of people see these things as opposite. Lover/Fighter are two diametrically opposed people. Except that they are not. And that is how you know that your fight is just.
How does that work, you might ask? I see it as thus: if I am coming from a place of love, a place of peace, then I am choosing to fight FOR my love. I am not using hate or anger or discord, I am standing my ground to defend my position and continue on this path of my choosing.
This gets very Jedi in a lot of respects. “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense – never for attack,” states Yoda. But this is the important key about becoming a fighter while remaining a lover. You are fighting for knowledge and to defend yourself, not attacking another for different beliefs and different choices.
You do not become a fighter to show someone else that they are wrong. You do not become a fighter to force someone else off their own path, even if it is in disagreement with yours. You do not become a fighter in anger, or any other negative emotional reaction.
You become a fighter because you feel you are right. You become a fighter to stay your path and stand your ground with one in disagreement of that. You become a fighter to prove your love, and to use positive energy to overcome negative.
Warrior monks are an old archetype. Truly, this is the embodiment of the idea of lover as fighter. A more modern take on this is Paulo Coelho’s Warrior of the Light. You are a warrior for good, a fighter for positive, not fighting against this or against that, but fighting FOR this or FOR that.
Pathwalking is choice. As mentioned previously, that is a choice for something, not a choice against something else. It is a small distinction, but a VERY important one. The energy to fight against poverty is very different from the energy to fight FOR wealth. The energy to fight against lack is very different from the energy to fight FOR abundance. The pen now returns to its place of importance, as our choice of language impacts our path – are we positive, or negative? Why that matters in Pathwalking has been covered pretty extensively previously.
I am a lover, and I am a fighter. But I strive to do so from a place of love, from a place of positive energy – because the result I seek as I walk my path is only positive.
Can you be both a lover and a fighter, too?
This is the forty-eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
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