Archetype 2: The Warrior - The 12 Virtues of the Primordial Artist

This is the eighth in a series exploring 12 virtues that can liberate artists from cultural enslavement.

ATTEND

Without a body, without courage, without the ability to alternate and select our level, we a trapped, not free, impotent as artists. We cannot create, we cannot perform, we cannot share our gifts with the world.

Without a body, we cannot exist in time and space. We cannot claim our ground. We cannot dance with another. We cannot build and hold.

Without courage we cannot overcome our rational inhibition against uncertainty, we cannot overcome the hard confrontations, we in fact cannot speak our truth. Our words die in our throats. We are invisible.

Without alternation we become Holdfast. Despite our best efforts. Despite our love, despite our intentions, we become stuck, and our ego is able to take hold.

ENVISION

The Physicality provides the Warrior’s presence and grounding.

The Courage provides the Warrior’s willingness to act despite uncertainty.

The Alternation provides the Warrior’s tactical wisdom and flexibility.

The Warrior is the one who can stand, speak truth, lead when needed, and follow when needed, in the service of something greater. They understand mission, they understand that there is never enough information, they understand physical, feasible, suitable, acceptable objectives. They can act in the world. They can be the champion. They can forge a path. They can make something that has never existed before. They can trail blaze. They can cut through the noise. They can cut through the Gordian knot.

Alexander the Great was on his conquest of Eastern Europe. He came upon a beautiful valley renown for the intelligence of its people and its culture. Three wise men came to meet his war party in a moment of truce. They said they would give him their city without resistance, if he could solve their greatest puzzle. If he could not solve it, he would pass their city untouched and leave them in peace. Alexander was interested and he agreed. The wise men presented the Gordian Knot. A knot of such complexity and beauty that it was said would take a lifetime to untie. Alexander looked at the knot, drew his sword, and cut it in two. The wise men bowed and Alexander entered the city.

The Warrior is the one who knows action. The simplicity, the power, the trans-thought nature of action. Action can act ahead of thought, ahead of reason. It can move into a realm all its own, one that reason will reflect on and philosophize over, but will never be able to master. The realm of action is the realm of the warrior.

As artists, we are tested, our values questioned, our taste challenged, our ideas seem to be ever vulnerable to criticism. The Warrior archetype allows us to set boundaries with directors or producers or patrons who compromise our integrity. The Warrior enables us to take creative risks that serve the work, not the ego. The Warrior enables us to lead projects while still being receptive to divine guidance.

The Warrior exists on the abundance of love. They are able to operate from this abundance, not scarcity and panic. The protect and serve, not destroy. They fight for something divine, not against something human. In this sense the Warrior energy is generative – building and creative. The Warrior’s is an act of love.

They exist in time, they exist in space, they trust their action to support them and defend them and to be their only path forward despite their limitations despite their lack of knowledge despite the fact that they know they cannot control the outcomes. And despite the seeming dominant nature of the Warrior, they in fact know how to follow, they know how to support, they know how to set security, they know how to enable further operations. They know how to hold space.

I studied Okinawan Shudokan Karate. I was deeply struck by its philosophical power. I had some understanding before, but when I learned the basic forms, it blew my mind. For karate, which is a martial art of defense, all the actions: blocks or punches – all are blocks. Karate is a boundary setting martial art. It was created by a people who liked where they were. They lived in a beautiful, fertile, peaceful place, and they wanted to remain there. As various forces would come in to try and take the place they lived, they learned to create a defensive art that would be non violating, but boundary setting.

The blocking actions have their beauty – the fact that you always make sure to counter something hard with something soft. For example if a person is punching you in the nose, your block moves across your body so that soft part of the forearm is presented to the opponents forearm arm. Your lower forearm meets their upper forearm so that you can send their arm away without breaking your own bone, or theirs.

The Punch is similar, Your targets are always soft parts of the opponent. The nose, not the forehead. The solar plexus, not the chest. And the way the pouch is actualized is fascinating. You send the fist from the hip as fast as you can – without tension. You send the fist as if it were a bullet thrust from your core. And only at the moment of impact do you make a snap of tension. Your whole body becoming locked from your fist to your heels. The whole body becomes suddenly a wall – an unshakable boundary that the opponent cannot cross. A wall with one face – the two knuckles of the fist.

For myself as an artist, a director, a teacher, the Warrior is crucial. The Warrior gives the artist courage to create from the mystery and then to share what has been found. As a director the Warrior gives me the presence and courage to lead other artists, and also the wisdom when to let them lead me, when to get out of their way, when to listen and trust the process unfolding. And as a teacher, the Warrior allows me to offer my truth without assurance that it will be received, that it will make sense, that anyone will care. It allows me the humility to set up a system of support – a base of fire of other artists to bound.

Calling on the warrior is calling on power – power to achieve our transcendent ends. We as artists need this strength just as soldiers do, just as EMTs do, just as athletes do. We need to call on this energy so that we can arrive, be present, be what is needed, in order to achieve our mission.

DIRECT

Solo

Foundation: The Centering Practice

Before engaging with any archetype, begin with this centering sequence:

Ground: Feel your feet on the earth, your body in space
Breathe: Three deep breaths, releasing control on the exhale
Invite: “I call forth my authentic creative self, free from human approval”
Set Intention: “I am here to serve the Great Mysterious through my art”

Exercise 1: Awakening the Sacred Warrior

Physical Activation: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Feel your connection to the earth.

Embodiment:

Slowly raise your arms, feeling strength in your shoulders
Take a wide, grounded stance
Place hands on hips, chest open, chin slightly raised

Invitation: “I call forth my Sacred Warrior – the protector of my authentic creative expression.”

Dialogue:

“What do I need courage for right now?”
“What boundaries need to be set in my creative life?”
“What am I avoiding that requires my warrior spirit?”
“How do I serve my art with fierce devotion?”

Action: Have the Warrior give you one specific action to take this week.

Exercise 2: The Body Electric Practice

Movement: Begin with gentle movement – stretching, swaying, or walking.

Invitation: “I invite my body’s wisdom to speak.”

Body Dialogue:

“What does my body want to express through my art?”
“What creative energy is stored in my muscles, my breath, my bones?”
“How does my body want to create today?”

Physical Expression: Let your body move or gesture in response. Don’t think – just move.

Integration: “How can I honor my body more fully in my creative practice?”

Exercise 3: The Alternation Practice

Situation: Think of a creative project where you feel stuck or resistant.

Leadership Dialogue: “Inner Leader, where do I need to take charge?”

“What decision am I avoiding?”
“Where do I need to step forward courageously?”

Followership Dialogue: “Inner Follower, where do I need to surrender?”

“What am I trying to control that I should release?”
“Who or what is trying to lead me that I’m resisting?”

Integration: “In this situation, when do I lead and when do I follow?”

Stand and embody the Warrior archetype. Let it fill your bones and muscles and heart with energy, with power, with strength, with the ability to stand your ground, with the ability to defend, to create, to cut through, to deliver. Stand in the Knowledge that you can use this power for good. That this power is your freedom to act in service of the great mysterious.

Integration: How is it to make contact with this archetype? How is it to have contact with this power in service of good?

Pairs

Meet as Warrior partners who have not seen each other in some time.

No language, just sounds and gesture. The gestures are genuine, sincere – embodying and building on the power of the Warrior archetype. There is humor, grandiosity, loud sounds, bravado, encouragement, great expansive physicality. Act out your last warrior action for your dear friend. Let them enjoy your exploits. Act out the great enemy, the dragon, the thousand enemies you had to fight through to accomplish your goal. Support each other, and shine for each other. Alternate the storytelling with gusto, love and power.

Integration: How is it to play in this warrior space? How is it to develop your warrior’s story?

Artist and gatekeeper

One takes the role of the artist, the other as the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper will be pushing the boundaries of the artist back, making their world smaller. They will use furniture, objects, etc, to push the space smaller and smaller. The artist must gather their strength, and their love, and move the objects back out, one by one, in pairs, in groups. The warrior energy is able to hold the line, to keep the boundary back where it belongs.

Integration: How is it to channel loving power to set boundaries, and reset boundaries that have been challenged?

Group

Two opposing groups of warriors face off. Great gestures of power and ferocity are made. Great noise is made. The two groups are clear in their purpose, clear in their own power, and willing to die to accomplish their ends. They overcome the fear and they stand tall and free of the fear of death.

Integration: How is it to stand in your warrior energy with other warriors beside you? How is it to stand even in the midst of fear – of the ferocity of the opposing warriors? Is there any respect you feel for them and their ferocity?

CURTAIN

The warrior is our strength. The warrior is our actuality. The warrior is our willingness to act without certainty – to enter they Mystery bodily. We get to be the champions in the arena when we call on the warrior. The warrior gives us power, strength, courage, action, instinctual intelligence, and an instrument with which to contribute to the primordial symphony.

The Warrior gathers their power from love – the foundation that we have developed in the Lover virtues. The warrior does not need to be victim to irrational fear and reactivity. They can lead or follow with an abundance of self love, love of other, and love of god/reality. They can shape the world without hatred or disgust. They can make a difference while still loving that which they affect.

The warrior becomes not a dominator, but a protector of sacred artistic space.

This warrior strength will be needed as we enter the next realm, that of the Mystic. In this realm there will be great storms of unknown, terrible insights, and unsolvable puzzles. The Warrior will help us brave this wilderness with presence, courage, and tactical wisdom.

Next week we’ll look at how piety opens the door to the mystery beyond the simulacra.