Question:
I suspect that most of our folly has to do with not using the Warrior’s Shield properly? Am I right in thinking this?
Answer:
Yes! The Group in general is still VERY bad at USING the Warrior’s Shield! Most members still prefer to use their normal DOINGS as a shield, and have therefore never really made the EFFORT to start making for themselves a Warrior’s Shield! As with MOST of the teachings, many of you still tend to take the teachings at their FACE VALUE only. To help you in this study the following aphorism:
“Your problem is that you think about your acts, and therefore you fall into the trap of believing that your actions and the actions of others are as important as you think they are. But in reality nothing we do is important, even though you believe that it is our actions that constitute the world. All our doings are merely the shields we use against the forces which surround us and bombard us every day of our lives. Therefore what we do brings us a sense of comfort and makes us feel safe, and in this respect whatever we do is rightfully very important, but only if we know that our doings are shields. But average man never learns that our doings are shields, and therefore he sees his doings as being more important than the world, more important than life itself, with the result that he allows his doings and the doings of others to wreak havoc in his life and to dictate his decisions.”
Learning about the inner self is not only frightening, but is also the most consuming of all possible pursuits.
Approaching knowledge is to enter into a battle for one’s life. Hence one should only approach knowledge with full alertness, with fear, with respect and with absolute assurance. Any man foolish enough not to approach knowledge in this way will regret his error bitterly. But if he is wise enough to acknowledge that his search for knowledge is a matter of life and death he will have no cause for regrets, for such an approach cancels out the careless actions of the fool. Should such a man fail in any particular pursuit of knowledge he is not defeated, because in walking the Path of Knowledge we fight many battles — some we win, some we lose. Success lies not in how many battles we have won, but in how well we have fought.