No one can travel our path for us. No one can take your place in your quest for enlightenment. You have to believe that Joy, Enlightenment, and Wisdom are your spiritual heritage. No one else can free us from the attachments, confusion, and fear that cast clouds of pain on our lives. In accepting this aloneness, you’ll find that it’s not an aloneness of isolation or withdrawal, because you’ll be supported in your spiritual quest by all those of past generations and of all cultures who praise and inspire your search. Your quest will connect you with millions of co-existing peers who seek inner peace. In the readiness to know your own aloneness, you will begin to discover a wisdom and compassion that connects you to all living things.

There has to be a balanced harmony within us all emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Only then can we be individuals of courage, dignity, and even of compassion, caring, and love. Having respect, a positive attitude, confi¬dence, and self-esteem are also qualities that should be carried with us throughout our lives.

When the word “Warrior” is spoken, most people will automatically connect it to aggression. That’s not the case here, because a true warrior is a person of knowledge and wisdom. I’m a warrior and you can be a warrior. Anyone of any age can be a warrior. All it takes is the acceptance of wisdom into your life, from the knowledge gained through life’s experiences. The Way Of The Warrior is being able to solve problems without aggression as your primary solution. The Way Of The Warrior is knowing there’s something you’re willing to live for and, at the same time, knowing there’s something you’re willing to die for too. Universal Yin-and-Yang at work. Complete opposites like day-and-night, man-and-woman. They’re fused together and can never be separated, because one force cannot exist without the other. They will always co-exist together, just as Creation-and-Destruction has co-existed since the beginning of time.

The Way Of The Warrior is about avoiding trouble, and it’s about who you can help. It’s about Life, Friendship, Love, Family, and Cooperation. “Budo” means “The Warrior Way,” and Budo means balancing your peace and harmony with your warrior way. Budo calls for bringing our inner energy to order with the universe, and for the protection of peace and good¬ness in the world.

The essence of a person who is balanced by being a warrior is self-protection, protection of their loved ones, and the prevention of danger. The essence is not only the protec¬tion of the physical body, but the mind and spirit as well. It’s the way of enduring, surviving, and prevailing over all that would destroy you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s the way of getting what we need to fully live, while making the world a better place.

Numerous people in our culture hold the belief that the spirit is separate from the body. What they don’t understand is that every facet of reality is one piece of an enigma, an aspect of over-arching totality, the entirety of what-is. Atoms, molecules, amoebas, sand, rocks, mountains, planets, stars, and the human body are “Physical Illustrations” of existence. Sadness and happiness are “Psychological Illustrations” of existence. Kindness and romance are “Spiritual Illustrations” of existence. Putting the Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual Illustrations into balance will make your life truly whole. This “Unity” brings comfort and safety, and you’ll feel confident of your place on earth and in the universe. You will be able to accept the actuality of being continuously surrounded by “Creation and Destruction” on earth and throughout the universe as they engage themselves, and you can ascend to a realization that’s not touched by Destruction by being in a state of union where all experiences, however upsetting and hurting, serve only one purpose, which is—enlightened, loving, properly ordered things in your life. A person cannot be compelled into this type of combined perspective. Your consciousness has to be ready to accept it openly and clearly.

Our physical existence is confined to Space and Time, but our “Awareness” is not. Your “Spirit” is experiencing the physical world through transparent glasses of perception, and yet, even if you hear and see nothing, you are still yourself—a presence of awareness. Overall, this comprehension becomes real when external forces can no longer disturb your sense of self. A person who wisely knows his- or herself, and the spirit within, never loses sight of their-self in the middle of life’s experiences.

A need to “Control” is a natural response to past pain, frustration, and anxiety because it’s the memory of old traumas that drives people to manipulate the “Present” and anticipate the “Future.” In “Unity,” every second and minute is-as-it-should-be. The cloud of the “Past” does not hinder the fullness that’s possible only in the “Present,” because each moment is like a clear window, letting in the possibility of balanced joy and balanced appreciation of what is unfolding in front of you. Your desires are also part of that moment, and what you need is provided for you, if you’re willing to accept it.

“The Unknown” is a part of the overall order of things. “The Known” and “The Unknown” are two aspects of our nature. At one point, things have to be “Known” or order could not exist. At the other point, things have to be “Unknown” or there would be no newness. Evolution moves ever onward by giving us surprising situations, and the most robust attitude is to realize that “Uncertainty” is just another name for “Creation.”